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Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Alright turn with me to the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 2 Revelation chapter 2 if you don't have a Bible raise your hand one of the ushers will bring you one Revelation 2 Revelation 2 the Bible reads under the angel of the church of Ephesus write These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience and how thou canst not bear them which are evil and thou has tried them which say they are apostles and are not and has found them liars and has borne and has patience and for my name's sake has labored and has not fainted nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou has left thy first love remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent but this thou hast that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate he that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God and unto the angel of the church of Smyrna write these things saith the first and the last which was dead and is alive I know thy works and tribulation and poverty but thou art rich and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not but are the synagogue of Satan fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison that ye may be tried and ye shall have tribulation ten days be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life he that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches he that overcometh shall not be hurt for the second death and to the angel of the church in Pergamos write these things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges I know thy works and where thou dwelleth Satan's seed is and thou holdest fast my name and has not denied my faith even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth but I have a few things against thee because thou has there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication so has thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which thing I hate repent or else I will come unto thee quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth he that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it and unto the angel of the church of Thyatira write these things saith the Son of God who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire and his feet are like fine brass I know thy works and charity and service and faith and thy patience and thy works and the last to be more than the first notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which calleth herself a prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols and I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not behold I will cast her into a bed and then they commit adultery with her into great tribulation except they repent of their deeds and I will kill her children with death and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reigns and hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to your works but unto you I say and unto the rest in Thyatira as many as have not this doctrine and which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak I will put upon you none other burden but that which ye have already hold fast till I come and he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end to him will I give power over the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers even as I receive my Father and I will give him the morning star he that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches brother Timo will you pray for us Amen, the verses I want to focus on start in verse number 18 where the Bible says and unto the angel of the church at Thyatira write these things saith the Son of God who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire and his feet are like fine brass the Lord Jesus Christ here says I know thy works and charity and service and faith and thy patience and thy works so those are pretty good things you know and Jesus he says good things about pretty much every church what is going through these seven churches except for one but you know those are pretty good things to be known by I know thy works and charity and service and faith and patience and thy works and the last to be more than the first notwithstanding I have few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which calleth herself a prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols so it's pretty bad I mean I don't think we've ever had any problems in our church like that but this is still considered a church of God even though this person is doing this but the Bible says in verse 21 and I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not behold I will cast her into a bed and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation except they repent of their deeds and I will kill her children with death and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reigns and hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to your works but unto you I say and to the rest in Thyatira as many as have not this doctrine and which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak I will put upon you none other burden but that which ye have already hold fast till I come let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you Lord so much for this church and Lord for all the blessings that it brings and Lord we thank you for all the blessings that you bring to us and through the spirit of God and we're just so thankful for a church like this where the truth is going to get preached souls are going to get saved, people are going to get baptized, people are going to learn the Bible Lord I pray that for just a little while today that you would fill me with your spirit Lord and I pray that you would just be with our congregation as we need to learn to hold fast till you come in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. The title of the sermon is Hold Fast Till I Come which I obviously got from verse number 25 and you know sometimes we can only just hold fast till Jesus comes and the Bible talks a lot about holding fast, there's several different instances in the Bible but hold fast means to remain tightly secured, to remain tightly secured and when you're talking about like naval or old ships and things like that it means to bear down through or fight through a storm and it says another definition is to continue to believe in or adhere to an idea or principle so there's a few different things that it means but like when you're thinking about going through a storm we need to bear down and fight through a storm and sometimes the storms of life are going to come against us in this life and not only just in the Christian life but just in life in general you know we live in a fallen world where things happen that we have no control over but also as Christians we have storms that we go through, our church will go through and I mean if you just read the book of Acts you'll see that there's many blessings in the book of Acts but there's also adversity that happens to the apostles some of them are killed, some of them are beaten, some of them are thrown in prison they go through trials and cruel mockings and that's part of the Christian life and we live in a country today where, and I kind of brought this up Thursday, that the paradigm has shifted the goal post has been moved and what people think is Christianity is not really Christianity anymore and so when they see a church like this where we're actually preaching the Bible, we're preaching the whole council of God or a church like Steadfast Baptist Church who I stand behind by the way and I love that church, I love Pastor Shelley and all the people that go there, my son-in-law and daughter go there and they're doing great works for God, they're going through a big storm right now but we've gone through storms here, nothing quite like that they're kind of like breaking ground into new types of persecution obviously we're not getting beaten and things like that, not being thrown in prison yet but these things will probably come at some point and I'm not trying to say that to scare you, it's just like if you, what happened to Jesus? what happened to Paul? what happened to John the Baptist? we've got people that are saying to Pastor Shelley that he's being persecuted because he's so mean because the way he preaches and stuff like that, it's like they would say that John the Baptist got his head cut off because he shouldn't have said that Herod shouldn't have married his brother's wife or his wife's brother so we have people that would probably say that Jesus deserved to be crucified because of what he said to the Pharisees or we have people that, you know, I mean just think about this, Jesus said that if you harm a child, if you offend a child it would be better for you to have a rope tied around your neck and a rock attached to you and you cast the depths of the sea than it is to face what he's got coming for you I mean that's a pretty harsh language, I mean think about that fact and people did kill themselves that way, like in medieval times and stuff like that they would read those verses and they would just be like okay well I offended a child, well I'm just going to kill myself so that stuff is in the Bible and people just think that Jesus is the nice buddy Jesus or whatever the statue where he's going like this and smiling or whatever with long hair and a dress on that's not the Jesus of the Bible folks and if you read the book of Revelation, Jesus Christ is going to rain fire and brimstone down when he comes he's going to destroy the armies of the anti-Christ with the sword of his mouth talk about blood being up to the horse bridles as far as depth talks about hailstones, men blaspheming God because of the hailstones that are mingled with fire that are like 50 pound hailstones that are just killing people upon impact and people go well Jesus, the Jesus of the New Testament wouldn't do these things you just don't read the Bible, well you're being persecuted because of what you're saying is inflammatory well they did that to the apostles, they killed Stephen because he said that they didn't keep the commandments and they just killed him for it they said that you received all this information from the Holy Ghost and have not kept it and then they gnashed on them with their teeth and killed them so we're going to go through storms in life as Christians as just in regular life things happen, people pass away, people die, just tragedies happen and we have to learn to hold fast until he comes what does that mean? Well I kind of explained it, we've got to just bear down and try to get through the storm sometimes all we can do is just stand still, sometimes all we can do is just hold on you think of a ship going through this big crazy storm and there's big giant waves coming and crashing upon the ship and these guys are on the deck holding on or roping themselves onto stuff roping themselves to the mast of the ship just so that they can stay on the ship because the waves are crashing so hard against them hold fast till I come and what does that mean? Well Jesus is coming back, he's coming back to save us, he's coming back to give us glorified bodies but he's also coming back to save us from this nation, from this world that we live in that is upside down and just crazy in so many different ways that literal Satanists can protest your church and get your church building taken away from you I mean they're literally saying we love Satan, you need Satan, where my witch is at and just all kinds of weird stuff and 20, 30 years ago that would have been condemned you know in the beginning of this country those people would have been put to death and it's just crazy that a bible believing church can't preach what they want to preach you know when you lease a building and you're using, he's like I'm using it for a church building then they have to know that they can't change your religion, they can't change what you believe they can't tell the church what they can and can't believe or what they can and can't preach but yet this is what happened to Steadfast Baptist Church I really encourage you to watch the one hour little documentary about what's happened with the eviction it's pretty eye opening but Jesus said, but that which you have already, hold fast till I come sometimes all we can do is just hang on to the things that we have sometimes all we can do is just hang on to the doctrine that we believe because like his sermon last week where he says things that they can't take away they can't take your faith away, you know they can't take your doctrine away they can't take soul winning away from us you know we could meet under a tree some place and we're still going to go out soul winning you know and I mean obviously that's not the best case scenario but a church is a group of saved baptized believers that are in one order and one purpose to you know bring the gospel to other people, to preach the bible, to baptize them and so on and so forth so Paul the apostle has, there's a story in Acts chapter 27, go ahead and turn to Acts chapter 27 and in Acts chapter 27 Paul goes through this storm and it's a literal storm it's euryclidean, it's some kind of like you know hurricane or something or some kind of cyclone in the middle of the sea but I'm not going to go to the part where it, I'm just going to have you turn to verse 18 but basically Paul told them we shouldn't go right now, go this way or whatever and then like they sail out and they're like yeah whatever, Paul and it's all calm and everything and as soon as they get past by Crete, right after they get by Crete then this euryclidean, this crazy storm hits them and verse 18 it says, and we being exceedingly tossed with the tempest, the next day they lighted the ship and the third day we cast out with our hands the tackling of the ship and when neither sun nor stars and many days appeared and no small tempest lay on us, it's basically saying this is a huge storm all hope that we should be saved was then taken away so like you can attribute this whole fast term to, you know you can liken it to a storm like this you know sometimes we're going through a storm and the waves keep crashing and crashing and crashing like are we ever going to get any relief from this, but there is going to be relief from it and even if we die, even if we you know whatever happens to us we still you know are going to be able to get to the other side we're still going to make it to heaven no matter what happens to us and we just need to hold fast how Jesus comes we need to hold those doctrines in our heart that we believe and teach and that the Bible teaches we believe it because the Bible says it and we need to be able to hold on to certain things and I'm going to go through a list of some of the things that we need to hold fast to but we need to hold fast how Jesus comes and when's he coming I don't know but today is closer than it was yesterday tomorrow is going to be closer than it was today so you know no matter what it's coming sooner every single day right so you know basically they saw this storm that was so bad and the waves are crashing on them that they lost all hope that they were going to be even saved from this storm verse 21 says but after a long absence Paul stood forth in the midst of them and said sirs you should have hearkened unto me he's like I told you so you know and not have loosed from Crete and to have gained this harm and loss and now I exhort you to be of good cheer see I'm here this morning I want to exhort you to be of good cheer because even no matter what's coming around the corner no matter what storms we're going to be facing in the future no matter what anybody tries to do to us no matter what our enemies try to say to terrify us and to try to make us feel discouraged you know what I'm here to tell you today be of good cheer for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you but of the ship so Paul's you know God has come to Paul in a dream he told him hey nobody's getting nobody's dying and I believe this is a picture of the storms of life that we go through but you know sometimes a man of God's got to stand up and say hey everything's going to be okay it's all going to be fine because we end up winning in the end anyway so this life is a short time period for us it seems long to us now but when it comes to eternity we're like man that was just like a blip on the radar the Bible talks about it being like vapor our lives are like a vapor it's here for a while and then it vanishes away so we only have a short time on this earth and as Christians we have to go through some hard times and sometimes people have a hard time understanding why this is and you know hopefully I can explain that a little bit to you today towards the end of the sermon but it says there shall be no loss of any man's life among you but of the ship verse 23 it says for there stood by me this night the angel of God whose I am and whom I serve saying fear not Paul isn't that what God tells us over and over again in the Bible fear not you know this is what these terrorists that hate our guts these you know and they're terrorists with their words they're terrorists with their actions you know I mean they literally blew up a church in California and their narrative for that now is that one of his own church members blew up their own church or that he blew up his own church pastor Mejia how stupid how ridiculous is that everybody knows that that's not true that's just a weird so I mean people just lie and make up anything that they they just lie about anything and so this is how you know who's right and who's wrong who's the one that has to lie about everything that they do who's the one that has to lie about narratives and just tells dirty stinking lies over and over again if the truth is on your side the truth be told then you know why do you have to lie about everything why do you have to be a sneak why do you have to just go and just plant lies and plant the seed you know try to take over churches try to get that you know move on you weirdos they're like you know crazy ex-girlfriends it just won't leave you alone all these people are nuts you know and they're just raging you know they've been waiting the bottle got uncorked over the weekend or whatever and now they're just all over everything again but you know what who cares they're gonna lose in the end no matter even if they just succeed in everything that they do against us they're still losers we're winners we're gonna win so the Bible says fear not he told Paul fear not you're going through this raging storm and basically most of Paul's Christian life was a raging storm that he was going through and so we can see it in his life but we can also see it in you know this is a real thing that happened to him it says fear not Paul thou must be brought before Caesar and lo God hath given thee all them that sail with thee wherefore sirs be of good cheer for I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me now skip down to verse 31 and it says Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers accept these abide in the ship you cannot be saved let me just exhort you with this also abide in the ship who does the ship represent the ship represents Christ stay on board stay on the ship because if you jump ship was Paul saying you can't be saved and I'm not saying that you're gonna lose your salvation if you quit coming to this church okay don't put words in my mouth don't just try to make stuff up that's not what I'm saying but you know the Bible also tells us to abide in the vine we're supposed to abide in Christ and stick with it and stay with it okay so you know in this thing called life we are either in a storm coming out of a storm or heading into a storm so I believe that that's true I mean that's how it's been through my whole life even before I was a Christian you know this world is full of storms we go through it but you know again it's the same can be said about just the Christian life in general now look at the things that we're dealing with today the wokeness thing that's going on you know all white people are racist and if you don't think you are then that makes you really racist and you know we're dealing with systemic racism where basically it's okay to just be racist against white people because they say that white people were racist before and that they might not even really know that they're racist but you really are and so just shut up you know we're taking over and you're white so you're a devil or whatever I mean isn't that racism I mean if you want to be truly you know have equality and all this stuff then maybe just stop demonizing one side and start just everybody just you know not being racist but you know this is just an agenda and something that we have to go through in our lives and it's just part of this world this crazy world that's starting to slowly crumble before our eyes so what about the destruction of the home the destruction of the Christian home the nuclear family you know there's all this weird stuff that is being taught not only is it this wokeness stuff but from a very early age children are being told that you don't even know what gender you really are you might be a boy but you were really born a girl you know causing confusion to be taught to our children from a very early age and these automites are allowed to adopt children and they ingrained what they believe into those children and then they become like that also how wicked is it that someone can order their children to go through this sex change operation or be given these hormones and their you know parts cut off and be made into something else when they're children children believe anything you tell them oh you're really a boy and then they're like oh I am you know if you start telling people that they're gonna say they're gonna think you know that they actually are you can convince them of that how wicked is it that parents these days are even doing that to their own children even if they're not a sodomite and they're doing this because they're just part of this agenda you know we live in a world that's very strange today you don't know what's gonna be giving you your coffee at the coffee shop anymore look I'm almost 50 years old this stuff didn't happen when I was younger this stuff didn't happen in my 20s this stuff didn't happen in my 30s I mean we're in full blown crazy pill now where you know dude looks like a lady is handing you your coffee and so we live in a strange world and you know we also have to go through you know so the destruction of the home is a main agenda of the devil why because if he can get the dad out of the house and make everything all turmoil then he can make sure those children are lost he can make sure that the mother's lost he can make sure that the family you know doesn't produce godly seed he can make sure you know he wants to just destroy the family why because that's the destruction of the foundation of society because a family is a big deal and god instituted the family in his creation just like he instituted government also he instituted the institution of the church you know and the church is being attacked and eroded you know the government has been attacked and eroded and the home has been attacked and eroded you know what's going to happen is the erosion of the whole society and then some savior you know antichrist whatever his name is is going to come and make people think everything is all going to be better just believe in me just take this mark and you'll be ok so we have the you know the public fool system that just brainwashes children from an early age and on through high school and college and by the time they get to college you know isn't it weird how sending your kids to college is like the big deal amongst worldly parents well you need to go to college I mean I need to pay for their college why so they can just go and play beer pong and sleep around and learn how to you know protest people and learn how to hate god they're teaching them you know evolution and all this other stuff I mean the public fool system shouldn't even exist you got worldliness we have to deal with we have divorce and fornication you know all these things are things that we have to fight against as society as church just in our regular lives the devil has an agenda he wants to destroy your home he wants to destroy your family he wants to destroy your faith he wants to destroy society he wants to destroy proper government he wants to destroy everything the devils agenda is I want to bring this whole thing down and that's the agenda of people that are attacking our church and other churches like it what do they say we just want to bring the whole thing down just like their father the devil that's exactly their agenda so don't get off track with that stuff that is the agenda to bring the whole thing down they're not going after the Mormons they're not going after the Jehovah's Witnesses why I mean aren't they more damaging than us I mean they're literally knocking on people's doors and telling them how to go to hell they say heaven but they don't believe in the they don't believe the Bible they don't believe in proper salvation they don't believe the Trinity they don't believe you're saved by faith without works they teach the opposite of that they're not even going after like really well known cults I mean there's some pretty weird snake handling cults out there but how come they're not going after them you know these backwoods Pentecostal churches where they're holding rattlesnakes and stuff isn't that pretty damaging don't you think it'd be terrifying for a kid to see their pastor get bit by a snake and die in front of everybody it'd be pretty weird wouldn't it but you know I don't see these people going after them who are they going after Bible believing Christians that actually do believe the Bible they actually do read the Bible they actually do pray they actually do care about people they care about the neighborhoods around their church they care about their loved ones going to heaven they care about people and you know their families you know their families their friends the community you know we knock on people's doors and we don't even know them they're strangers to us but you know what the Bible says that that person is our neighbor love thy neighbor as thyself you know we get told that a lot don't we but when you know we actually practice the true loving your neighbor as yourself and they're talking about a neighbor who's a sadistic sodomite these people are in cahoots with literal god hating witchcraft promoting satanist sodomites whatever witches they love them they say they love them all kinds of crazy stuff look if you're a Christian and you love sodomites there's something wrong with you there's something wrong with you if your lifetime goal was to become a missionary that planted churches all over the place and now your goal is to bring down churches all over the place you're a reprobate you're a phony from the beginning you're a fake from the beginning period and you know if whatever shoe fits it fits so you know we have to go through persecution affliction and terror and mocking it's in the Bible it's all over the Bible that Christians have been persecuted for thousands of years start with Abel you know Abel was the first prophet ever born and guess what his false prophet brother murdered him and tried to hide the body and so the first two children born on the face of the planet one was a good godly Christian man prophet the other one was a child of the devil of the seed of the devil he wasn't literally a child I know that there's a false doctrine out there that says that Cain was literally the son of the devil no he was the son of Adam and Eve but the devil had him influenced and he was a false prophet so anyway let's look at Hebrews chapter 13 verse 12 Hebrews 13 12 says wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without the gate let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp bearing his reproach what is the Apostle Paul telling us here that's who I think wrote Hebrews what is he saying to us hey just like Jesus suffered without the gate we need to go forth unto him without the camp bearing his reproach hey the servant is not greater than his Lord if they call the master of the house Beelzebub they're gonna call us worse aren't they for here have we no continuing city but we seek one to come on this earth we are pilgrims we're so journeying on a land that's not really our home you know you might have a house here in Vancouver or somewhere else you might live here but it's a temporary place you know the city that we're looking for is New Jerusalem the place that we're looking for is heaven and while we're on this planet so journeying amongst the people here amongst the world you know we need to realize that sometimes we have to bear his reproach you know are you willing to bear the reproach of Christ or are you just gonna jump off as soon as something bad starts happening well I didn't sign up for this well it all sounds good the preaching of it sounds good but then when it's actually happening people jump ship hey I want to encourage you to hold fast don't jump off the ship grab a hold of that mast grab a hold of something stay in the boat don't just jump ship and leave you gotta hold fast till I come is what Jesus said right now look at Job chapter 13 verse 15 Job chapter 13 verse 15 here's what Job says you know and this is in context I'm talking about persecution Job went through some pretty heavy persecution didn't he some pretty heavy affliction from the devil the heaviest of all look how many chapters are in Job it's a pretty important book you know why it's pretty important so we can get a picture of some of the things we might have to go through as Christians in this life and hey if we don't suffer like Job did you know amen because he suffered a lot didn't he but Job suffered the reproach of Christ didn't he look at what it says in verse 15 it says though he slay me yet will I trust in him do you have that same attitude even if God allowed you to be killed would you still trust in him that's a I mean if you just think about that statement for a minute though he slay me yet will I trust in him Job was willing to die and allow God to just kill him and still would trust in him it says but I will maintain mine own ways before him he also shall be my salvation for an hypocrite shall not come before him only let your conversation be as it becomeeth oh sorry I didn't that's a different verse sorry but anyway it says he also be my salvation for an hypocrite shall not come before him so listen the hypocrites you know people want to say oh you're just a hypocrite you know there's hypocrites at Walmart too you know but you still go there there's hypocrites at the library you still go there but people say oh I'm not gonna go to church it's filled with a bunch of hypocrites now well you're a hypocrite because the Bible says you're supposed to be in church so don't use what some person did that wronged you as a reason for you to not go to church that's a hypocrite you're a hypocrite you know you're saying that it's bad to go to church when God said it was good that's hypocrisy and so look at Philippians chapter 1 verse 27 Philippians chapter 1 verse number 27 the Bible says only let your conversation be as it become with the gospel of Christ let your lifestyle be as it become with the gospel of Christ that whether I come and see you or else be absent I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit isn't that kind of like hold fast you stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel striving is another word for fighting now people are like you guys are always fighting you're always into drama well doesn't the Bible say we're supposed to be striving together for the faith of the gospel and you know what we're attacked a lot for the Bible things that we preach but we're also attacked for preaching the gospel you know people will call us false prophets that you believe in easy believism yep guilty as charged I do believe in easy believism I believe it's easy to be saved but does that mean everybody's gonna choose to be saved? no but Christ made it easy because he did all the hard work for us he did all the heavy lifting he's the one that suffered without the gate he's the one who shed his precious blood his sinless blood for a bunch of people that didn't even want him you know but there's always a remnant that does but the fact is that Christ did everything necessary for your salvation so the easy part is just believing in him that's what the Bible says it says by faith right it says to trust in him it says to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved but yet you know people want to make it hard and they want to say that it's not just believing the devils believe and tremble the devils believe in Jesus because they know he's real doesn't mean they believe in him and trust in him as their savior they rebelled against him there's no chance of redemption for them they're like the reprobate angels or whatever and the devil is the head of them and there's no coming back from that so when you actually have been the covering of God in the throne room you know he was the anointed cherub that covereth the Bible says of satan he literally I mean we've never seen God before and yet we believe in him and trust him as our savior but satan actually covered the throne of God he covered the top of you know he covered as a covering cherub so like yeah the devils believe and tremble but they don't trust in him they know he's real because it's just a fact you know only the dum dums down here that don't believe in them you know but obviously they haven't seen them like the devil has but anyway the Bible says we're supposed to stand fast in one spirit we're supposed to strive together for the gospel look at verse number 28 though see with with striving together for the gospel with taking action and going forth and doing all these things that God wants us to do living for Christ and following his footsteps there's going to be the adversaries that come this is my one of my favorite verses about adversaries I've preached a lot of times look at verse 28 says and in nothing terrified by your adversaries hey don't let them terrify you don't let them send you messages and get you all riled up you know and sit there and lie about you and lie about your character lie about people you love just block them don't feed the trolls who cares you know don't be terrified by them that's what they want they want to terrify you they want us to be afraid that's what the devil wants the devil wants us to be afraid but should we be afraid fear not the Bible says so you know we shouldn't be fearing those things that you know can't you know we should be fearing God who can cast the soul and body into hell right we shouldn't be we shouldn't be worried about someone that can't that can just kill the body and do nothing else hey they can kill our body but you know who saves the soul is God who saves the soul the Lord Jesus Christ and so it says and in nothing terrified by your adversaries which is to them an evident token of perdition what is a token well it's a thing serving as a visible or tangible representation of a fact let me read that again a token is a thing serving as a visible or tangible representation of a fact so when it says it's an evident token that means it's a fact when these people these adversaries try to terrorize you try to come at you try to come against our church try to come at you personally that that's just showing that they're devils that's an evident it's a it's a representation of the fact of what they are and if you if you have any you know if you have any feelings that they these people aren't reprobates then I don't know what else to show you I mean the Bible says that these people will do these things we're gonna get attacked we're gonna try to they're gonna try to make us suffer they're gonna try to make us afraid so we are we're having to deal with all this these things and it's not only just that look at we're in a war now I mean we're not in it but I mean I'm sure we're gonna be in it at some point but there's war going on in our world Jesus said there's gonna be wars and rumors of wars you know people are there's things that are coming upon the world that are making people afraid but you know should we be afraid of those things absolutely not we shouldn't be you know pestilence is gonna come famines are gonna come plagues you know the coronavirus or whatever you know but these things are gonna ramp up and get worse but also the other things that we have to deal with are heartache through people like maybe just betraying us I don't know stabbing us in the back not being your friend anymore not wanting to you know disowning their own children you know there's people that you know when when you get saved they love you they raised you they changed your diapers you know they they fed you meals and then they find out that you love the Lord and they want nothing to do with you anymore that's how big the divide is you think the politics between Democrats and Republicans is big what about the politics between people that are not saved or reprobates and the children of God it's it's ramped up so you know what are whatever we are going through just remember again that life is short and we have wonderful things to look forward to you know what Jesus said hold fast till I come hold fast hang on don't move don't lose the things that you believe don't stop believing the truth hold fast to doctrine hold fast to righteousness hold fast to your salvation stay in the ship don't jump out of the ship stick with it and you know what we're gonna go through storms but sometimes you know and obviously the storms can last for a while this was a big storm that Paul went through wasn't it it was huge to the point where everybody thought they were gonna die Paul said you know what fear not the angel told Paul to fear not he said hey all of you are gonna make it you're all gonna make it so no matter what we go through folks no matter what this church goes through no matter what heartache and pain or death or loss that we suffer we still make it to the other side amen we still make it to the fair havens we still make it to heaven we still have all eternity to enjoy our lives but we got a whole fast you know God said the whole fast he said the stand fast he said to be steadfast didn't he turn to Hebrews chapter number 10 and we got a whole fast to the doctrine you know doctrine is a big deal you know we can't just change our doctrine based upon the times that we live in we got to preach it in season out of season whether it's popular or not right now swim trip wearing swim trunks and tank tops isn't in season is it you know so and in a few months wearing parkas and snow gear isn't going to be in season you know right now preaching against homosexuality is out of season because they've come out of the closet and they're like all we want to do is just marry the people that we love but what does it really become then they're adopting then anytime a church says something they don't like they're protesting them anytime someone doesn't agree with them they're protesting they're mad they dress up and all this weird these weird outfits make signs yell and scream at people's children you know even with the library thing people were protesting the library stuff the the transvestite reading at these at these libraries and police were not even allowing the other side to be heard now I mean obviously I don't think it's it's my thing to go and I don't even want to look at them okay so I'm not going to go to a place where they're reading books and talk to them I'll just preach it from the pulpit but that's not popular to do that anymore that's not popular to preach about that there's a lot of things not popular to preach about that it's not popular to preach you know in roles that married couples in their homes it's it's not popular to preach for wives to obey their husbands that's not popular anymore you're misogynistic that's what the Bible says so you know it's funny I can just preach it a various a degree of topics and still get all kinds of hatred for it why because it's not popular anymore preach that way but you know what we're still supposed to preach it whether it's popular or not Hebrews 10 23 let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised so let us hold fast hold fast to this thing what is it our faith the profession of faith and you know what you're saved no matter what happens to you you're saved if you believed on Christ you're saved and we need to hold fast that profession without wavering without be say oh well I don't know if I really did no don't waver you had the faith stick with it don't doubt your salvation if you know that you believed on Christ and you trusted him alone for salvation hold fast to that profession of faith because the Bible says for he is faithful that promised there's a good eternal security verse that we don't probably use very often on this earth might come to an end but you know you still have everlasting life turn to Hebrews 4 verse 14 Hebrews 4 verse 14 Hebrews 4 verse 14 says seeing then that we have such a great high priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast hold fast our profession so in the book of Hebrews the Apostle Paul tells us this multiple times you know we have a high priest as pastor of the heavens hey Jesus Christ the Son of God let us hold fast let us hold fast to the profession of our faith so and it says for we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin God understands us he understands that we're but dust he understands that we're sinful people and he had to go through those temptations also he had to be tempted like we are but it says yet without sin so he understands it you know he Jesus Christ was God you know he's incapable of sin but he was still tempted so that he could understand what it's like for us to be tempted and it says yet without sin let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need now the Bible also says in Psalm 107 verse 2 let the redeemed of the Lord say so if you're saved tell people you're saved don't be embarrassed about that don't be ashamed of the chain don't be ashamed that you're yoked with Christ and so let's turn to Job 27 verse 6 Job 27 verse number 6 so we should also hold fast our righteousness you know and I guess that was you know our righteousness would maybe be the righteous acts that we do but like we can't hold we're not saved in any way shape or form by the works that we do but are we supposed to do good works absolutely and our righteousness really is Christ's righteousness so hold fast to that righteousness Job 27 verse 6 look what Job said he said my righteousness I hold fast he keeps a hold of it he wants to remain righteous and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live but you know it's hard when we have enemies attacking us all the time to remain steadfast to hold fast to stand fast in the faith and you know look what Job says though he says let my enemy be as the wicked and he that rises up against me as the unrighteous for what is the hope of the hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his soul just remember this these people these weirdos that are attacking us and all this other stuff that's going on these haters of God you know God's gonna take away their soul it says though they have gained hey maybe they gained an advantage over Job maybe you know these people the Sabians came and took this and took that and the Chaldeans came and you know his children were killed and all these other things happened but you know what's the hope of a hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his soul you know we get to go to heaven they have to go to hell they're destined for hell here's what we don't want to hold fast turn to Jeremiah chapter 8 verse 5 Jeremiah chapter 8 verse 5 here's what we don't want to hold fast we don't want to hold fast our sin look what it says in Jeremiah 8 verse 5 it says but then is this people of Jerusalem slid back by perpetual backsliding they hold fast deceit they refuse to return so one thing we don't want to hold fast you can throw that in the sea you can get rid of that the sin that's in your life and we do that through the Holy Spirit we do that through prayer and obviously you know we just try to have Christian character and do the best we can to not sin everybody's still sinful though no matter whether you're saved or not we still have sin dwelling within our fleshly bodies but it says I hearkened and heard but they spake not a right no man repented him of his wickedness saying what have I done everyone turned to his course as the horse rusheth into battle yea the stork and the heaven know her appointed times and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming but my people know not the judgment of the Lord so one thing you don't want to hold fast to is the sin that's in your life we need to get rid of that we need to throw that overboard you know one of the things that they did in this storm and I don't have time to go to those scriptures but one thing that they did is they would light they lightened the load of the ship they got rid of all the wheat and all the all the tools and things that they didn't need to continue floating and so they got rid of all that I would say that's probably a good picture of while you're abiding in the ship hey get rid of the stuff we don't really need when you're going through the storm amen hold fast to the good there's another scripture it's in first Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 21 we need to hold fast to that which is good the bible says prove all things in first Thessalonians 5 21 prove all things hold fast to that which is good so again we need to get rid of the stuff that that we need to get rid of hey that wheat that's not it doesn't need to make it for the rest of the trip get rid of that stuff get rid of the tacklings and all the other things on the ship you don't need you know and like I said that would represent maybe sin but we need to hold fast to things that are good you know the thing one of the things they did before the shipwreck is Paul said hey y'all need to have something to eat here's some bread this is for your strength and so we still need that bread we're going through the storm a lot of times we just stop reading our bibles we stop being spiritual we stop praying but what did Paul say he said hey this bread is necessary for you this is for your strength hey when you're going through a storm don't get unspiritual when something's going wrong in your life don't leave don't say I'm not going to church you stay in church you stay in Christ abide in Christ stay in the boat you don't need you know all that sin and stuff in your life hold fast to that which is good your Bible reading your prayer time your soul winning your church attendance helping the poor your purity those are things that are good how about the vows that you made to as a spouse those things are good right your convictions your beliefs the good traditions that you hold we need to hold fast to those things but get rid of the sin don't hold fast to deceit and make sure that you are repenting of the sins in your life repenting of the wickedness I believe that it's good to repent of your sins after you're saved not to get saved alright so what's another thing we need to hold fast to hold fast to sound words in 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 13 it says hold fast the form of sound words which thou has heard from me in faith and in love which is in Christ Jesus hey what is he talking about here well sound means reliable you know it means sensible you know that you can rely on and that will probably give good results so Paul says to Timothy hey hold fast to the form of sound words so you know the way we speak and the sound you know he's talking to a preacher here and he's saying hey hold fast to the form of sound words which you have heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus so we need to hang on to those things the Bible says a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and pictures of silver hold fast to the sound words in your vocabulary what we what we say to people sometimes could be our detriment so hold fast to the sound words when you're talking what people just realize that you know you could be offending someone very terribly the way you're talking to them especially when it comes to a Christian context because just remember people watch everything you do when you say you're a Christian and so anything you say anything you do can be held against you and will be held against you for the rest of your life and your friendship with them right I mean you can blow your testimony in front of someone and they'll never listen to anything spiritually that you have to say to them again so word fitly spoken hey what is a word fitly spoken saying the right things at the right times saying the right things at the right times you know sometimes people say something it's just like man they really hit the nail on the head there that was a really fitly word spoken so we need to hold fast to those things we need to hold fast to sound words and fitly is you know again means the proper in a proper manner or a place at a proper time so when you're speaking just you know don't just speak to be speaking just you know speak things that are sound words and fitly spoken words here's the other thing we need to hold fast to the rapture we need to hold fast until the rapture Revelation chapter 3 verse 2 Revelation chapter 3 verse 2 I'm trying to hurry here we had a long announcements this morning so I haven't even been preaching for an hour so just quit whining alright I'm trying to hurry ok Revelation chapter 3 verse 2 it says be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die for I have not found thy works perfect before God remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent if therefore thou shalt not watch I will come upon thee as a thief and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee now obviously this is in context to like maybe God judging them or whatever but we are supposed to be watchful you know for the things that Christ told us in Matthew chapter 24 which I don't have time to get into but there are things that have to happen before Christ comes back so you know we really need to hold fast am I saying not to watch no we need to watch there's a lot of things that are going on in the world that would you know allude to you know things are ramping up when a church in America can't preach the Bible anymore or they're threatened to be kicked out of the building that's scary that's a scary trend for Christians so I just you know is this what's going to happen everywhere well they're only trying to kick out people that preach the Bible so you know a lot of churches they're too afraid to put their things out in the open because they're afraid that they're going to get persecuted like this but is that what God said to do he said that which I speak into the ear preach on the house tops so what is that indicating that we need to tell everybody what we believe we have to preach the word of God we have to preach sound doctrine so no matter what we're going through in this life we need to hold fast we need to hang on we need to batten down the hatches and ride out the storm it's going to end at some point every storm ends at some point doesn't it but again some are worse than others some could just be like a one-day storm oh yeah that was rough but some could be longer some could be months some could be years and we need to understand that so but remember Jesus said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee no matter whether you feel forsaken or not no matter whether you're like why why is this happening to me why is this happening to our church why is this happening in my life why did this person have to die why does this person have to hate me why can't they just believe why can't they just get saved I've been praying for them for so long look people still have a choice whether they want to believe or not and no matter how many times you pray if that person doesn't want to believe that's their choice now obviously your prayers will get to the Lord and he'll probably try to send more people that way or send things to them to make it happen but ultimately it's still their choice we're not Calvinists here folks they still have a choice and you know that's hard to deal with isn't it but in Hebrews 13 6 it says so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper I will not fear what man shall do unto me people are trying to do things to us always I mean look I had to taper out a lot of verses believe it or not there's so much scripture about this subject about how you know if we're trying to do great works for God the devil is going to come against us his minions are going to come against us his children of Belial are going to come against us 1 Corinthians 15 verse 57 we're almost done I promise 1 Corinthians 15 verse 57 the Bible says but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast be steadfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord so when we abide in the ship you know we still need to be working for the Lord you stand fast you be steadfast being steadfast means fast fix firm firmly fixed establish constant resolute not fickle or wavering on the things that we believe steadfast we're not going to move hold fast don't move batten down the hatches tighten things up but it says you know it doesn't say to stop working when you're going through a storm it says to keep working doesn't it you know of course you know because it says always abounding in the work of the Lord it's not always about in the work of the Lord unless you're being persecuted always about in the work of the Lord unless something's going wrong in your life obviously sometimes you might have to skip church because something bad happened in your life I get that but I'm just saying don't let something bad happen in your life or something that's bad happening to our church or something that bad is happening to other people in our church steer you away from being steadfast steer you away from holding fast to that which is true and right and good turn to first Peter chapter five or seven then that'll be the last place I have you turn first Peter chapter five or seven the Bible says in first Peter chapter five or seven it says casting all your care upon him or he careth for you God still cares about us no matter what we're going through every hair on our head is numbered he loves us look at verse eight it says be sober be vigilant we need to be watching because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about sneaking whom he may devour he's always after us he wants to nail somebody who's he want to nail who's he want to get who's he want to devour look at verse number nine whom resist steadfast in the faith he's not after the people that aren't steadfast he's after the people that are he's already chewed them up he's already eating them with a smile on his face he's after the people that resist steadfast in the faith so you know you could be doing everything right in your life you can I mean obviously nobody's perfect I'm just saying you could be doing all these things I mentioned that we should be doing you could be soul winning two three times a week you could be going to every single service at church you could be praying three times a day fasting off you know giving to the poor you know soul winning and Bible reading you're reading the Bible you know four times a year whatever that is being steadfast in the faith isn't it but who's he resist those that are steadfast in the faith he's gonna come after you he's gonna come and try to get you you know and he's gonna send the legions of doom against you he's gonna send it against a church like this I just want to tear the whole thing down that's what Satan wants that's what his followers wants what you know when people say that you should just automatically think in your mind they want to tear this whole thing down well you know we got all these soul winning marathons we're doing we got all these things that we're we're trying to accomplish in our community we're trying to teach people in our church the Bible but they want to tear this whole thing down that should make you suspect right away of what their true intentions are so it says cast all your cares upon him for he careth for you be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour whom resist steadfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world the same afflictions are given to everybody but these are but those that are steadfast these after them these same afflictions are accomplished in your brother in the world what is affliction it's tribulation persecution verse 10 but the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after that he has suffered a while this is really important let me read this again this and this kind of helped me like at the very end of writing this sermon because I was just kind of thinking why does this always have to happen why does it always seem like we're losing why does it always seem like we can't you know make traction why why why did you know this thing happen to steadfast why why is why do we get persecuted what is the point of all that look what it says but the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after that ye have suffered a while make you perfect establish strengthen settle you so sometimes we have to suffer for a while so we can get better so we can be made perfect so we can be established so we can be strengthened because when you've gone through the worst when you go through something that's lesser it's like yeah right yeah right you know and I'm not saying that worst storms won't come but the more battle tested you are the more storms you've gone through the more able to stick with it and to go through it than you were before if nothing bad ever happened in our lives we would never be able to fight through adversity and let's look this world we're gonna go through adversity it's happening on all sides on all fronts the devil's after us his children are after us the world's after us you know nobody likes us you know pretty much except for other Christians and some of them don't even like us but you know what after that you had suffered a while make you perfect establish strengthen settle you because it's unsettling to go through the things that we go through so much sometimes for me as a pastor sometimes it's unsettling sometimes it's anxiety and like no matter how much you try to fight against that sometimes it just is and it's like it's just a feeling that you can't escape but when you realize that God is putting you through that to make you stronger to make you better than that that actually that verse helped me a lot last night when I read it and then I'm just gonna read Revelation 225 will be done here says but that what you have already hold fast till I come hold fast till I come you know even if everything fails us everything goes bad everything goes wrong hold fast till Jesus comes because guess what we win at that point it's over they lose we win from there on out we don't really even have to fight right let's pray Heavenly Father Lord I pray that you'd help us to be steadfast to hold fast to stand fast Lord in the faith Lord help us when trials come and Lord this is kind of a preparation sermon and I just want to exhort our people Lord I pray that you give them comfort in their hearts and help us not get sucked into all these trolls and all this weird stuff that people try to do to us and the head games of narcissists and reprobates and I just pray that you'd help us Lord pray you'd help us to stand fast to abide in the ship Lord to get rid of the things that are not good in our lives and Lord to hold fast to things that are good or help us to maintain our ways before you just help this church Lord that but even Lord if you allow this building to be taken from us or you allow just things to happen that we just don't expect I pray Lord that we would even though we are going through that that we'd see that we still won in the end and and ultimately we're going to look back and have having been better for the hard times that we go through we thank you Lord for your grace in Jesus name we pray amen Amen. Last song is the song number 16 in the blue. We're not going to do the coda at the end of the last verse because I don't think I'll make it through it. Song number 16 heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Let's sing it on the first. Shadows dispelling with joy I am telling he made all the darkness depart. Then came down and glory filled my soul. And at the cross the Savior gave me hope. My sins were washed away. And my night was turned to day. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Born of the Spirit with life from above into God's family divine. Justified fully through Calvary's love. Oh what a standing is mine. And the transaction so quickly was made. When as a sinner I came. Took the offer of grace he did proffer he saved me oh praise his dear name. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. And at the cross the Savior made me hope. My sins were washed away. And my night was turned to day. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Now I've a hope that will surely endure after the passing of time. I have a future in heaven for sure. There in those mansions sublime. And it's because of that wonderful day. When at the cross I believe. Which is eternal and blessing supernal from his precious hand I receive. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. At the cross the Savior made me hope. My sins were washed away. And my night was turned to day. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Amen. Good to see you brother Sean Conley. Could you close us out with a word of prayer? Thank you.