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Page 412, Onward Christian Soldiers. Page 412, let's sing it out on the first verse. Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before, Christ the royal master leads against the foe. Forward into battle, see his banner go. Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before, On the second, at the sign of triumph, Satan's host the fleet. On then, Christian soldiers, on to victory. Hell's foundations quiver at the shout of praise. Brothers, lift your voices loud, your anthems raise. Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before. Like a mighty army moves the church of God. Brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod. We are not divided, all one body we. One in hope and doctrine, one in charity. Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before. On the last, sing it out. Onward then ye people, join our happy throng. Blend with ours your voices in the triumph song. Glory, laud, and honor, unto Christ the King. This through countless ages, men and angels sing. Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before. Great singing. Good to see you all this morning. Brother Remy, you want to open us with a word of prayer? Father God, this is the day that the first nation should be included by that nation. Just like God, we're going to do together. Page 24, and can it be that I should gain? Page 24, and can it be that I should gain? Sing it out with me on the first. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Die he for me who caused his pain, for me who him to death pursued. Amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? He left his Father's throne above, so free, so infinite in his grace, emptied himself of all but love. And bled for Adam's helpless race. Tis mercy all, immense and free, for oh, my God, it found out me. Amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? On the last. Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin in nature's night. Thine eye diffused the quickening ray. I woke the dungeon flame with light. My chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee. Amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? All right. Good morning. Welcome to Church Foundation Baptist Church. Let's take our bulletins and go through them. If you need a bulletin, raise up your hand. And one of the ushers will bring you a bulletin. All right, on our front cover, we have a verse of the week. It says, let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in word, and conversation, and charity, and spirit, and faith, and purity. It's 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 12 of great verse there. Our service times on Sunday morning is 10 30 AM. Our Sunday evening service, 3 30 PM. We'll be in Genesis chapter 29 tonight. And Thursday evening Bible study is going to be in 1 Corinthians chapter 14. So I'm not sure if I'm able to get 14 in one shot or not, but I'll give it the old try. So soul wanting times are located down below. If you're going soul wanting today, please let brother Brandon know. And if you're running late, please text in the WhatsApp group that you are running late so we can get you a partner and a map location. We should have everybody in certain groups within that soul wanting. When do you plan on changing the soul wanting group, the colors around again? You don't have to do it. Just whenever you're planning on it, next week. We're going to switch it up next week. So make sure if you go soul wanting on Sundays that you know what colored group you're in. And then we have our regional soul wanting times, our regional soul wanting leaders and locations. Down below that, we have a new location in Yakima. We have brother Cody Chandler leading that up. And so he's been faithfully going every week down there. And I'm going to talk about our Yakima trip here in just a minute, but our praise report, you can see the salvations, baptisms, attendances from last week. We actually had more people in our evening service than we did in our morning service, so that doesn't happen very often. But it's pretty cool when it does. Our upcoming events, so I deleted that. Well, I'm preaching through a series called The Right Kind of Preaching. And I messed up on the bulletin. I think Rylan had it on there. But I think I took it off on accident. But anyway, I'm going to be preaching part two this morning of that series, The Right Kind of Preaching. I preached the first one last weekend. And the other upcoming things we have going on is this. So starting tomorrow, we're going to be soul wanting in Yakima for a few days. So Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. And if you haven't signed up yet, it's still not too late. But you do have to call the hotel and let them know you're going and who's going with you. And if you're bringing a dog, let them know you're bringing a dog, that kind of stuff. So dogs are allowed at the hotel, but not in the church service. Anyway, sorry. Pardon the pun there. But anyway, so yeah, if you're on the fence and like, I kind of want to go, I don't know, just call the hotel and tell them what rooms you need and what nights. And I've already given them permission to allow you to do that now. So also we have, so I'm going to leave about 10, 10.30 tomorrow. And so we're going to have our soul wanting time tomorrow is going to be at 3 o'clock officially. But if you get there early, you're welcome to go do some soul wanting before that if you want to. I have maps right here. If you want to take a map from me before we leave tonight, or after the service, you're welcome to grab a map. And then we got, so we got several maps to do. We don't have a whole bunch of people signed up. But breakfast is provided at the hotel, of course. And then also we'll provide lunch and dinner. So it's going to be a great trip. And it's our last hurrah. It's going to be supposed to be nice weather there, like in the 60s, like it was yesterday at our pumpkin patch trip, which was really nice. I think I got a little bit of sun. But anyway, so that's going to be for this. And Wednesday night, I'm going to preach in Yakima. The hotel is iffy on whether I can do it at the hotel or not on Wednesday night. So I'm going to rent a room for about 50 people. So that's what I'm figuring is probably going to show up. But if it's more, then I guess we'll have to rent the bigger place. But it's just going to be a one-night preaching service there in Yakima. So then Thursday morning we'll come home. So if you have any questions about that, you're just glazed over right now and you missed everything I just said, then just come talk to me after the service, OK? October 23, which is next Saturday, we also have another soul-winning trip. And it's rain or shine, folks, OK? We have umbrellas. We have warm clothes. I mean, we're in the Northwest, so rain or shine. But it's going to be in Lakewood, Washington, a soul-winning marathon. And we'll be meeting at Springbrook Park. And the address is located right there on the page for you. And lunch will be provided. And there's a cover there. If it is raining, we can still have the food. We can still eat and everything like that. So anyway, it's been pretty receptive. I think Brother Neve got two salvations there yesterday. And whoever was with him, were you with him, brother? I know you were at the pumpkin patch. So somebody was with him. But anyway, he had two salvations. And so Lakewood's been pretty receptive for him and that group up there. So that's where we're going to go. We're going to hit it. We're going to hit it hard. And then so that'll probably be our last soul-winning trip of the year, I'm guessing. So I don't want to say that's 100% sure. But this week, it's the time to hit it hard. If you want to open up your Bible and give someone the gospel, these are some great opportunities, some fairly receptive areas. And then let's see. Our next event is October 31. We're going to have pizza after the morning service. And then so I'm asking for people to bring a salad or a side or dessert, kind of like a potluck. But the church will provide the pizza. And then we're going to have a men's preaching night at the PM space, space, space, space service. That's another mistake of mine right there. Good night. I can't even blame Rylan this time. So November 6, we have a men's safety team training. And again, there's going to be more details about that to come. Pastor Jimenez will be preaching for us on November 14 at the PM service. And then November 21, we'll have a Thanksgiving potluck, like we do every year. And there will be a men's preaching night after the evening service. December 19 is our Christmas service, children's choir, prime rib dinner after the morning service. So that's a good day to invite family or friends. And make sure that they get the gospel and they get to see their grandkids or family members, whatever. The kids get to sing. It's always cute. And so make sure you mark that on your calendar. And then the 23rd is a candlelight service. So we'll have that on our regular Thursday night service. But it'll be a candlelight service. And then December 31, we're going to have a New Year fellowship, like we always do. We'll have games. And I put ping pong. I want to have a ping pong tournament. Who wants to do that? Raise your hand. The guys have been sharpening themselves against each other. So we'll probably have like a 12 and under. I don't know what. Well, how about 12 to 16 category? But if you're really, really good, maybe I'll let you play if you're 10. I don't know. We'll see. We'll come up with somebody else. Somebody else wants to take that up. But I don't want to run the tournament. I just want to see it. So I don't want to participate because last time I got destroyed. Yeah. Yeah, we could do the Foosball. We could do the Foosball tournament too. Yeah. We could have multiple tournaments. So I was just figuring it's going to be Friday. Most people have that day off. If you don't, then I'm sure most places will let your off work early or whatever. But if you can't come, then that's fine too. But we're just going to have like a fellowship and games and stuff like that. Maybe a little bit of preaching. And we're a family integrated church. That means the children and infants are welcome during the church services. Please utilize those rooms, the mother baby room and the dad baby room for your convenience. But just as a reminder, please, that's not a time for major deep conversations and all that stuff. You're supposed to be training and still listening to the service because we're here at church. We're not here at conversation. We're not here at, you know. So the design is so the sermon is still pumped into those rooms so you can still kind of hear over your screaming child somewhat. So if you need us to turn the volume up, just let us know. OK. And so please reserve the back rows for families with young children. Rockers are for pregnant nursing mothers and elders only. Please no men in the mother baby room and vice versa. No unattended children in any area of the building. Please, please no food in the assembly area unless we're having some sort of an event. And please silence your cell phones at this time or put them on airplane mode. Escorts are still available by the ushers. We're working on getting the lights fixed for out here. I know it's getting dark on our evening services. And so we're trying to get that taken care of as soon as possible. There's just some weird things with the electrical here. So we're trying to get fixed here as soon as possible. And let's see. You can donate online or text giving. That information is on your bulletin. And then you can see the tithes and offerings that have come in so far for October. We have two birthdays. And the two people, I don't think Zacchaeus is here. So Zacchaeus' birthday is the 20th. And then Kayla Woods is the 21st. Where's she at? Oh, hi. How are you? How old are you now? 15. 15 is a good year. You're still young, got your whole life ahead of you. You want to come up here? OK. They never want to. All right, let's sing happy birthday to Miss Kayla. All right, ready? Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, God bless you. Happy birthday to you. It's good to be 15 and not a troublemaker. Amen. I was in a lot of trouble when I was 15. So when I look at kids here, you guys are doing way better than I was. Also, there's one more thing. I think Miss Kayla put in the group that we're having pictures. So the first night for pictures, for family pictures, your single picture where you're just like. But if you want to, I think she's going to have a sign up here at the end of the day. Is that what you said? Oh, she has it now. She has it now. OK, so the sign ups, is that in the group app? So if you're not in the app group, then just let her know physically, yes. Yeah, it's a gray background. So you can wear all red or whatever, I don't know. Whatever you want to do to match that gray background. So maybe she could take a picture and put it in the group so you can actually see what the color looks like. But anyway, we're going to be doing family pictures or single pictures or whatever you want to do. This Thursday is the first one. So anyway, I think that's all we have for announcements. But let's sing another song and we'll receive the offering. Oh, wait, one more thing, sorry. We got the new trifolds. So they're all updated. And Alex K. has been riding me about this, so it's done. Has all of our SURE Foundation, has our website information, has the scan codes on the back. So these are designed for people that maybe didn't have time to hear, but they seemed interested. Or maybe you got them saved and you wanted to give them a little more information, then these are good for that. You can use them whenever you want. We have 5,000 of them. And we also have New Testaments in Spanish. They're Reyna Valera Gomez. They're just the New Testaments, but I got those. Pastor Shelley and Steadfast Baptist Church redesigned the whole layout of it and they just printed their own, made their own Bibles for that. I mean, they didn't interpret it themselves. It was already interpreted. Just so you know. But anyway, if you are a Spanish speaker or you get someone saved and maybe their first language is Spanish or whatever, in Yakima, they're going to come in pretty handy. They're covering like 40, 50 Bibles in Spanish. So I'm not sure if we have any Spanish speakers who are going to be there. But anyway, we always have Pastor Menes to bail us out in worst case scenario. So his Spanish version or Pastor Mejia or whatever. Anyway, let's sing another song and we'll receive God. Let's open our Bibles to Psalm 11. Psalm 11. Let's sing it out on that first verse. And their bow. They make ready their arrow upon the stream that they may privately shoot at the upright in heart if the foundations be destroyed. What can the righteous do? The Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold. His eyelids try the children of man. The Lord tried the righteous. But the wicked in him that loveth violence, his soul hateth, his soul hateth upon the wicked. He shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and in horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness. His countenance doth behold, doth behold the upright. In the Lord put I my trust. Man, good singing this morning. Brother Sean Harrington, can you bless the offering for us? Lord, thank you so much for this day. Thank you so much, Lord. God, we thank you. God bless the Lord. Praise the Lord. I pray that you would just bless this church, Lord. Praise the Lord. I pray that you would just bless this church, Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Alright, go ahead and turn with me and your Bibles to Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11, if you don't have a Bible, raise your hand. One of the esthers will bring you one. Matthew 11. Matthew 11, the Bible reads, and it came to pass when Jesus had made an end of commanding his 12 disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. And when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again those things which you do here and see. The blind receive their sight and the lame walk. The lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them, and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist, notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John, and if ye were receive it, this is Elias which was before to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced. We have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say he hath a devil. The son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners, but wisdom is justified in your children. Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Terezin, woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, then would have repented long ago in sackcloth of ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at that day of judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which are exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Brother Bill, will you pray for us? Amen. Alright, well let's look at verse number six in the text there. It says in Matthew chapter 11 verse six, it says, and bless is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. I've got a little ring going on. Will you fix that, please? Let's have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for this great church and for this great chapter in the Bible, Lord, that teaches us so many different things about preaching, Lord, and how we can apply that. And I just pray, Lord, that you would fill me with your spirit as I begin to preach. And I pray that you would just fill me with boldness and the power of the Holy Ghost. And I pray that the people would have ears to hear, like this chapter says, what the Spirit says unto them. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Now, I'm going through the second song. This is the second sermon on the series called The Right Kind of Preaching. And last week I talked about how important it is that the right kind of preaching is actually preaching, right? So there's a lot of churches out there and a lot of people out there that are not even preaching, they're just teaching. And so teaching is important, but preaching is also important. And I showed the differences between what teaching is and what preaching is, and there is a difference. But sometimes they overlap with each other, but ultimately we're supposed to teach and preach. And so what this series is about is just what the right kind of preaching is, because a lot of people seem to have that confused. Now, in Matthew 11, verse 6, it says, and bless is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. Now, what is Jesus talking about here? Well, he's talking about, well, why would people be offended in him? I mean, let's just ask that question real quick. Why would people be offended in him? Were they offended because he was raising people from the dead? Were they offended because he was doing all manner of great miracles? Even the Pharisees acknowledged the fact that he was doing great miracles, but they were just saying that they were being done by the power of Satan, which is super wicked to say. But why were they offended? What was offensive about Christ? Why did people hate him so much? Well, I'll submit to you this. Sometimes if he didn't wash his hands before he ate food, the Pharisees were all over him for stuff like that. But that's because they were teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. So they were upset because he was breaking their Pharisaical rules that aren't even found in the Bible. He broke the Sabbath day and said he was the Lord of the Sabbath. So they were mad about things like that. But what were they mainly mad about? They were mad about the things that he was preaching and the things he was teaching. Now, people marveled at the miracles that he did. People said, you know, we can't deny these miracles. You know, even the blind man that he healed, the Pharisees question him and they're like, how was this done? You know, and then they're like victim blaming. You know, they're blaming, you know, the parents and all this other stuff. But really what happened is Christ did a great miracle for that man. So, but, you know, people get really upset about Jesus's teaching and preaching. Why do people get upset about things that I preach? Well, they're found in the Bible. You can't say that I don't use the Bible when I preach, because that would just be a total untruth. I'm not just up here preaching my own opinion. And hey, if I'm wrong about something that I preach, then I'll admit it. You know, I don't always have, I'm not Jesus. I don't preach every message perfectly. I don't always have, you know, sometimes you'll get facts wrong or things like that. But like, you know, I'm not intentionally trying to mislead people when I preach. So, but, you know, and here's how you can be safe when you're preaching. Preach the Bible. You know, we're supposed to actually preach the Bible, not our opinions, not all this other junk, but not commentaries, not what John Spur, or John Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon. I was going to say John MacArthur. I combined them with, it might as well be John Spurgeon. You know, John MacArthur, Charles Spurgeon, same guy, right? They're both Calvinists. So anyway, so what, but what type of people are hating on people for the way that they preach? Well, bad people, you know, if someone's preaching something right, bad people will hate that kind of preaching, won't they? But also good, safe people can get upset about things that are preached out of the Bible. And why is that? Well, because number one, the right kind of preaching should not offend you. But it does offend people. And that's why a lot of people leave churches like this type of church, or leave churches that are actually preaching the truth, because they are offended. But the Bible says we should not be offended by the preaching of the word of God. So who has the real problem? When someone's, you know, they're good, they're saved, but they're offended by something that's preached out of the Bible, then what does that tell you about that person? That they don't really love the Bible like they should. They don't actually love every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Now, so yeah, point number one is the right kind of preaching should not offend you. And so if you get offended by the preaching, you know, you're like, well, no, it's just you preaching it. Well, yeah, but Jesus preached a certain way, John the Baptist preached a certain way, Jeremiah preached a certain way, Elijah the prophet preached a certain way, Elisha preached a certain way, the prophets from old preached a certain way. But what do you see today? Not a lot of people preaching like the prophets of old did, right? So turn to John chapter six, verse 56, and I'll show you a place where Jesus offended people, you know, and he didn't apologize that he offended people, did he? He was just like, hey, I'm going to preach what the truth is. See, we should be lovers of the truth. If you're saved today, you should love the truth. And if you don't love the truth, then you have a problem. It's not God that has the problem. People want to put God in their own little box and say, well, my God wouldn't teach that, my God wouldn't preach that. Yeah, he would, and he does, and that's why people get offended when their version of God contradicts the true version of God in the Bible. Right? Look at John 6 56, it says, he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. Now, obviously, this is a spiritual application that Jesus is trying to teach, you know, that his flesh is the flesh that was a sinful flesh, and he's taking a spiritual stance with that, but they're thinking carnal. You know, Jesus is preaching something spiritual here. He's not saying you literally drink his blood and eat his flesh. He's talking about it in a symbolic way, because if you don't have the blood of Christ covering all of your sins, then you're going to go to hell. And if you haven't, you know, accepted the fact that Jesus' body was broken for you on the cross, and he died for your sins, you're going to go to hell. Look what it says in verse 57, as the father, as the living father has sent me, and I live by the father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eateth of this bread shall live forever. He's trying to teach them spiritual truths, but see, when unsaved people hear stuff like this, they think, well, he's just saying, you know, we have to literally eat his flesh and drink his blood. What a weird thing to think of. But that's what, you know, the unsaved don't understand the word of God. It's foolishness unto them, because it's spiritually discerned. If you're not saved, you're not going to understand the spiritual truths of the Bible. That's why the Roman Catholic Church, you know, teaches that when they say a magic prayer over the, you know, what was that called? The wafer? The wafer? The Eucharist, yeah. And they say this blessing, and then they take these Eucharists and they give them and put them in people's mouths and do this stuff or whatever, the hocus pocus stuff. They're saying that they transformed that wafer into the literal body, and then when they drink the wine, that that's the literal blood. They transformed that. It's called transubstantiation. Is that right? All right, thank you. I was like, that's a big word. But they're basically saying that Jesus is transformed into that little wafer that they eat, and that his blood is literally that wine. That's what happens when someone that's unsaved or a church that's teaching false doctrine and lies get up and say that that's not true. It's just still a piece of wafer. It's still just, it means nothing. And you're not saved by that anyway. You're saved by accepting the fact and believing in Jesus Christ that he died, he was buried, he rose again, he shed his precious blood for you. Now look what it says in verse 59, it says, These things said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of his disciples, when they heard this, said, This is a hard saying. Who can hear it? And so they were offended in him. Look what it says. When Jesus knew in him that his disciples murmured at it. So their murmuring is not a positive thing in the Bible. Murmuring is usually followed by complaining. They're like, what is he teaching here? You know, they're complaining about it. They're murmuring at him. And he said unto them, Doth this offend you? Is what my preaching, is what I'm preaching offending you? Well, obviously it is because some of the disciples, you know, they said it's a hard saying and they, you know, they end up leaving him because of this. You know, and this is what happens in churches like this. You know, people will take everything and they love the hard preaching when it's not about themselves. But when it's something that steps on their toes, something that hits home in their heart, then they're offended and they leave. They're offended. They don't want to deal with the fact that there's something wrong with them. Hey, look, all of us have something wrong with us in this room. And even if, you know, even if you got a lot of things right, you still got some things wrong. And so, hey, if preaching is never affecting you in any way, shape or form, it's not challenging you to be better as a Christian. It's not challenging you to get sin out of your life. It's not challenging you to be a better husband, to be a better wife, to be a better son or a daughter, that it's not good preaching. Something should hit home with you at some point and, hey, what it does, deal with it. Fix it. Correct it. Don't walk out of here being a little whiny baby about it. It's not, you know, the right kind of preaching should not offend you. It should help you. It's supposed to, it's designed to help you. It's designed to exhort you to do better in your life. And you're like, well, it's just too negative sometimes. Sometimes it is negative. How about two-thirds of the Bible be negative? Like, should I just preach like the rest of the pastors in this country preach, just only the positive things in the Bible? There's a lot of positive things in the Bible. But, you know, if two-thirds of the Bible is negative, don't you think that we should preach in the same ratio? Because obviously God gave us two-thirds of that Bible in negativity, so he's saying, hey, you need to be fixed. And you know what's going to fix people? The Word of God being preached to them. And that should not offend you in any way, shape, or form. Look what it says in verse 61 at the end there. It says, Doth this offend you? And what if he shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before? Is it the Spirit that quickeneth? Or, excuse me, it is the Spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. And why are they offended? Listen to what it says right here. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. Why are they offended at Jesus? Because he's preaching to them words that are spirit and words that are life. And the unsaved aren't going to understand it, but the saved are going to understand it, and if you understand it, it shouldn't offend you because Jesus' words are spirit and they are life. They are designed to help you. This book is a lie. People are like, you believe a book that's written by men? I believe a book that was written down by men, given to them out of the mouth of God himself. Holy men of God speak. They wrote it down. And we have the Word of God. It's like, you know, it's alive. It's not a regular book. People like all these other holy books, they're not holy. If it doesn't say Holy Bible, it's not legit. And if it doesn't say Holy Bible, King James Version, it's not legit either. Because you know what? You're not getting the right spirit. Somebody messed with that book and came up with the NIV. There was a literal, like, lesbian on the translators for the NIV. I think she's called an omnigender. I don't even know what that really means. But you can tell by looking at that freak that it is omnigender. Is that what you want? An omnigender translating your Bible version for you? What do you think that she left out? What do you think that she put in? Because she's a hater of God. She mocks the fact that she, you know, that she was allowed to even be on that book. You can find, it's Virginia Mallicott, I think, is what her name is. It, you know, whatever it is. But, you know, it's an imposter. You know, many are they that corrupt the word of God, the Bible says. So hey, you've got to make sure that you've got the right Bible too. So that was just a little infomercial for you real quick. But look what it says in verse 66. From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. The preaching that he preached offended some of them so badly that they just stopped walking with him. Maybe they were just embarrassed by the sermon. Maybe they just didn't like what it was saying. Whatever it is, they were offended to the point where they left Jesus and stopped following him after that point. And look what verse number it is, 666. They left him. They left him over that preaching. Over a hard saying, over a hard sermon. And how many people have we seen offended over hard sermons and just walk away? I don't like the spirit of the new IFB. I don't like the spirit of this church. Well then get out and get your weakness out of here with you. Because I don't want weak people in this church. If you want to be a bleeding heart, if you want to be a whiner, then get out. Because this is a church full of soldiers. This is a church full of soldiers. And we're in a war. And we're in a war. And so if Bible preaching offends you, then get out and go to Cissy Bridges Baptist Church down the street. Where they use the NIV or they use some other Bible version. They don't have a soul winning program. Well I'm offended. I'm just going to go somewhere else. You mean the place that you left before you came to this church? That's just weird. You know what's weird about it? Is that they're all part, you know, we're on board, we're so new IFB. And then they hear something that they're offended about. Gone. It's weird. It's just really strange to me that someone could be with you from the beginning. And then just walk away. And it's not that they're walking away from this church or from me. They say I'm walking away from the whole new IFB. It's bad, it's wicked, it needs to be torn down. No, you're wicked. You need to be torn down. And you know what? God's going to do that. I don't have to do that. God's going to do that. Look at verse 67. It says, Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will you also go away? So the twelve are his main disciples, his preachers that he handpicked. And he asked them, Are you going to go away too? I don't think he was trying to stop them. Now look what it says. Then Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. You know what? Jesus has the words of eternal life. Who are you going to go to? Someone that doesn't have the words of life. That's who you're going to go to. Someone that's not preaching the Bible. That's who you want to go to. Well go ahead and go. And heed to yourself teachers having itching ears. Just bury the truth. There's a lot of saved people that just don't want to hear the truth. And the Bible talks about that happening, doesn't it? The Bible says they will not endure sound doctrine. That's why they've heaped to themselves teachers having itching ears. It doesn't say it's only unsaved people doing that. It's saved people. The right kind of preaching should not offend you. And so Peter said, hey, he said the truth here. He said, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. You know what church I want to go to? A church that believes that Jesus is the Christ and that he has the words of eternal life. And that his words are spirit and they are life. And as long as the Bible is being preached at the church I go to, you know obviously I'm the pastor but I'm going to preach the truth. But I want every preacher that ever gets behind this pulpit to feel that way too. But you know in the Old Testament there was people, God gave people ways out of being a soldier in the army. And that's a picture of us, hey if you're weak then just get out. If you have excuses your heart is faint and it's weary and you're afraid that the sodomite sermon you preach is going to get you in trouble or something, get out. I'll happily delete your sermon, bye. Because you know what, you've got to count the cost. If you're going to get up here and preach behind this pulpit and then you're afraid of something that you said is going to get you in trouble, get out. I'll delete every sermon you ever preached. So because the right kind of preaching is not going to offend people, it might offend the world but it shouldn't offend anybody in here. Look at Matthew chapter 13 verse 21. Matthew chapter 13 verse 21. It says, Ye hath, yet he, excuse me I'll let you turn there. Let me get my tongue tied, taken care of here. Matthew 13, 21. Yet hath he not root in himself, it's talking about the parable of the sower, right? Yet hath he not root in himself, but doereth for a while. These people that receive the word of God, they get saved but they only doereth for a while. Why is that? For when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of what? The word. By and by he is what? Offended. See, because of the word, we will be persecuted. You know, that's just par for the course in a Baptist church that's actually preaching the truth. If the Baptist church you go to never has any enemies, it never has any battles, never has any problems, then maybe that Baptist church isn't right with God. Maybe that pastor is not right with God. Because, you know, our church goes through a lot of battles. The churches that I'm, you know, of the pastors, friends that I go to, we go through battles. It's not about the masks. It's not about, you know, vaccinations. It's about the word of God. They don't like the word of God and when it hits the wrong person and it goes viral and, you know, we've got all these fags in front of our church or whatever, that offends, you know, that offends people. And then they don't like the persecution. Like, oh, I gotta go. Because, you know what, they're offended by the word of God. That's what the problem is. And that's what we should not be offended by. That's the last thing we should be offended by. Now, do people get offended about stuff? They do. They do. But, you know, what you should never be offended by is the word of God. Turn to Matthew chapter 24 verse 9. And if it offends you, then you got the problem and you need to fix it. Matthew chapter 24 verse 9. The Bible says, Then shall they deliver you up to be, what does it say? Afflicted. That means tribulation. That means persecution. And shall kill you. And ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. Who do you think that's talking about? I mean, just think about that for a second. Who do they hate? Who do they want to kill? They want to kill people that believe like us. That's what they want to do. They want to kill us. They want to hurt us. And Jesus said this is going to happen. And then shall, what's it say? Many be offended. See, the least amount of people that preach, like we preach here, the least amount of churches we got like this, people are going to be offended because not everybody is preaching the truth anymore. Because then it makes us look like, well, it's just this few people that are preaching. You know, Elijah, did you see Elijah preach? Did he have a big entourage with him when he was preaching? It was just one guy. He took on the prophets of Baal. So Jeremiah took on a whole nation by himself with God's help, of course. But the one guy that did preach, he ran away and got scared. And then he got killed because he was afraid. Matthew 24, verse 9. Actually, verse 10, it says, You know what happens when people get offended by the word of God? That just allows the false prophets to come in and just take over. And that's what you see in a lot of Baptist churches. People let some repent-of-your-sins bozo get in as the pastor and ruins the whole church. Next thing you know, repent-of-your-sins stuff is being put on the invitations. Repent-of-your-sins is being taught from the pulpit. And then people think that you have to repent of your sins to be saved. Because you know what, it doesn't matter if their terminology is bad or not, they're still seeing it. And I would give the benefit of the doubt on people. But if you can correct that person, if you say, hey, what you're saying is not really biblically correct, and they fix that, then good. But if they double down and hunker down on that kind of stuff, then you've got to know something about that person, they're not saved. Period. And I don't apologize for saying that ever, and I never will. It says, And what stem this? Many people being offended by the word of God and falling away from the truth. There's going to be a great falling away. And honestly, I mean, right now we're in a great falling away. We're in a great falling away where people are not preaching the truth of the Bible. And maybe there's some country out there that's just killing it with the King James Bible or whatever Bible version is good in their country. I mean, I don't speak Vietnamese, so I don't know if there's some revival going on there right now of the Vietnamese hardcore Baptist churches, but I doubt that. It's a communist country where you can't even preach the gospel. There's lots of countries around the world that don't even have a Baptist church. There's whole countries in Europe that don't have a single saved pastor in their country. I mean, that should tell you a lot that all the nations of the world are not preaching the right gospel. All the nations of the world don't even have necessarily a church where you can go to where the pastor is actually saved. We're blessed in America to have some actual pastors that are saved. But we shine brightly because of the doctrine that we preach. And it does draw a lot of enemies, though. People are offended by the preaching that comes out of this pulpit. Look at Psalm 119, 165. Psalm 119, 165. The Bible says, great peace have they which... Don't want to get vaccinated, is that what it says? Great peace have they which... Don't want to wear a mask? No, great peace have they which love thy law. What is the law? The Bible. It says, and nothing shall offend them. You know, we should not be offended by anything in the Bible. We should have great peace about these things. And say, you know what, God has kind of hit me. You know, Jesus Christ is the good shepherd. You know, and a good shepherd has a crook, doesn't it? You know, most shepherds have like a crook or a stick that they kind of use to kind of, you know... I'm not like an expert in shepherding, okay? Except for I'm a pastor, but like I'm just saying that I know the concept, I understand the concept. And sometimes people, you know, get out of line, you got to kind of hit that sheep or hit that cattle or prod them with something or goat them with something. That's the job of a shepherd. You know what a goat is? It's like a stick that has some barbs on it. Hi-yah! You know, and then the cow goes the way you want it to go. But that's the way preaching should be too. The preaching of God's Word should be something that spurs you on to do something right. Spurs you on to get something out of your life. Hey, you're going this way. Here, let me hit you with this stick and make you go a different way. That's what the Word of God is supposed to be doing. And that's why it's saying, great peace if they that love thy law. Nothing shall offend them. Hey, if you get hit by a stick every once in a while, you know, you'll be like, hey, I should have great peace. At least somebody cares about me. At least the pastor gets up and cares about me and wants to help you with something. And I don't know who needs help with what all the time. I know some things that people need help with, but I don't know everything that people need help with. But you know who does know what's going to help you? The guy that wrote this book. The God that put this book in our hands. He knows what we need out of here. He knows what preaching is going to be directly hitting you between the eyes. It's not like I just sit there and go, okay, on the calendar I need to hit Eli this week. Brother Joe, he's really having a problem in this area. I don't do that. I just preach the Bible. The Bible hurts you. Show me on this doll where my preaching hurt you. It's so stupid. Love it. And have peace in your heart knowing that God cares enough about you that something got preached that hit you where it needed to hit you and you fixed something in your life. Or you decided, hey, you know what, I'm not going soloing as much as I should be. I should go more. Or just exhorting you to stay with the faith. Because sometimes people get discouraged. Or how much I preach to don't get out of church, don't get yourself in trouble. And that way it still doesn't stop people from doing it. So that kind of stuff needs to be preached often. But this verse is literally talking about the Bible. So what does that tell you? That people that don't love the law, people that don't love the Bible, they're the ones that get offended. They don't love God's law. They don't love the Bible. They say they do. People with them everywhere they go, they bring it to church, but they don't love it. People love this book so much that they died and were burnt at the stake for it. William Tyndale, last words that he said was, Lord, open up the king of England's eyes. You know why? Because he cared so much that the Bible got to the masses. That was the last prayer that he prayed. And I just don't understand people getting offended by it. So what am I telling you today? Don't get offended by anything in the Bible. The Bible says, great peace have they which love thy law. Do you love the Bible this morning? Do you actually love the words in here? Are they spirit? Are they life to you? Then you should love every bit of it. Every single word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. That's what we need to read. That's what we need to love. That's what we need to work on. Anything that's a problem in your life, work on it. If something offends you, then you don't love the Bible. If something in this book offends you, you don't love the Bible. And you need to get your heart right with God and start to learn to love the Bible. Start loving this book. Number two, the right kind of preaching isn't from a soft preacher. The right kind of preaching, number two, isn't from a soft preacher. Now, let me just kind of caveat this for a second. Not everybody gets up and screams and yells and hits things and kicks things and jumps on pulpits. Not everybody preaches like that. You can still preach the way, whatever your style is, but it's what you're saying that makes it hard. If that is challenging someone, if it's still the right preaching, it doesn't matter what your style is, it matters what you're preaching. So it's not going to be a soft preacher. Now, maybe the way that someone preaches is different, but it doesn't make them a soft preacher if they're preaching the right stuff. Amen. Look at verse number seven back in our text. Matthew 11, 7 says, And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, John the Baptist, right, What went you out into the wilderness to see? See, John started preaching out in the wilderness and people came to him in droves. People were getting saved. He was preaching the word of God to them. And he wasn't just preaching, you know, some Joel Osteen type sermons. You know, vague on sin, vague on, you know, just the Bible period. The wrong Bible version. You know, John's preaching the word of God. He's the one that came before, the one in the wilderness preaching to make the highways straight for our God. He was the one that God sent. He was a face ripper. But he was a good man. He loved people. And he did preach loving sermons. I'll show you. But Jesus said, What went you out in the wilderness to see? What were you going to look for? Were you looking for, what, a reed shaken with the wind? What does that make you, what does that picture in your mind? You know, the wind's blowing, and you know what a reed is, right? It's just like a little, you know, yeah, a little skinny, yeah, a little skinny jean looking plant. And when the wind blows, it just kind of blows whichever way, you know, the wind blows, right? And so Jesus is flat out saying, Did you go looking for something soft? Did you go looking for something weak? Did you go looking for something that was just going to blow whichever way the congregation blew? Or whatever the popular thing of the day is? You know, he wasn't preaching from Shaken Wind Baptist Church. That wasn't the name of his church. You know, John preached out in the wilderness, and he had some different attributes than what you would see in modern day preachers today. It's not about only what he was wearing, but also what he was preaching. He was a soft preacher. He didn't look soft, and he didn't act soft, and he didn't preach soft. Have you ever seen that, those Shaken guy ad things, you know, like on car lots and stuff like that? And they're like the little tube guys that blow in the wind? Whatever. I don't know, that's probably not a very good impression of it, but you know what I'm talking about, right? That's basically what he's saying. Is that what you expected when he went out in the wilderness? Is that what you were looking for? Little Shaken in the Wind guy? John the Baptist was not a Shaken guy weenie. He was a man's man. He dressed like a man, he acted like a man, he preached like a man. There was nothing soft about him. Now look at what it says in verse 8. But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in king's houses. So Jesus is basically talking about the way he dressed. And the way he dressed was not what you would normally see. Now obviously I don't have Armani suits. I don't have silk ties. I mean, most of the stuff I have is hand-me-downs. I have bought my own shirts. This coat was given to me by somebody. I don't know who gave it to me. Does anybody know it was Brother Sean? I don't know. I don't just try to go and find the most... You know, look at T.D. Jakes. Look at how he dresses. Like a total clown. But he dresses... I'm sure his clothes are expensive though. And that's what Jesus is saying. He didn't go out there wearing soft clothing. He didn't care necessarily just how great he looked and how expensive his clothing was. And he says they that wear soft clothing are in king's houses. So John wasn't wearing a wizard outfit. He wasn't wearing what you see the Catholic churches wear with the big hats and the drapey clothes that look like he just got out of Harry Potter's book or something, right? But, you know, cosplay is a big thing in religion today. And most of the time people picture Jesus with a long robe, a white long robe where the arms are like this big. They picture him in a wizard outfit, don't they? For the most part. He's like Gandalf the White, right? That's what they picture him as. And he looks like he's super effeminate looking and skinny. You know, because they got that picture from Caesar Borga which was some wicked fag that had a relationship with Leonardo da Vinci or something. That's the picture that's been passed down. There's no description of Jesus in the Bible. What he looks like. The only thing it says is that he was not comely. That means he wasn't just like some beautiful looking Hollywood actor looking guy. He was just a regular looking guy. He just looked normal. I don't think he was super ugly, but he was probably just a normal looking person. But he didn't have a long, kingly robe like a lot of people think. They're like, Jesus wore a robe! Yeah, you mean when he was getting crucified? When the soldiers that hated him and were mocking him put that robe on him, that's the time he had the robe on. So if he had a long robe on, it was not by his choice. He was dragged there to the judgment hall. He was dragged there. They put a crown of thorns on his head. I mean, you're like, well, Jesus wore a crown. Yeah, of thorns. It hurt him. Hurt him badly. It made him bleed profusely, I'm sure, because if you get a wound in your head, you could get like a little nick on your head and blood is just coming out, right? You ever have one of your kids hit their head and you're like, oh! You're thinking you need to rush them to the hospital or something, and it's just like a little nick because your head bleeds a lot. But my point is is that John did not look like some wizard. He didn't have a long, kingly robe. He didn't look like some kind of fairy, all right? He didn't look like, you know, Peter Pan. He was dressed like a man. Look what it says in Matthew chapter 3, verse 1. Turn to Matthew chapter 3, verse 1. It explains a little bit about John. We're going to look at some stuff about John the Baptist here, about him. He wasn't a soft man. He wasn't a soft preacher. So look at verse 1. It says, In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair and a leathern girdle about his loins, and his meat was locusts and wild honey. So he was eating grasshoppers. Well, actually, locusts are, like, big, and they're nasty looking. They're just like giant grasshoppers, basically. They get pretty big. He's just like, So anyway, you know, I mean, it's biblically acceptable, but you see those countries where bugs are like a big, you know, no, it's not happening. If I accidentally swallow, like, a gnat or something goes in my throat, and I get, you know, when you're inhaled a bug, I'm not, you know, washing that down with honey or anything. I'm about to puke. But that's how John was. You know, his meat was locusts and wild honey. He had a leathern girdle about his loins. Why do you think he had a leathern girdle about his loins? Because he had a pair of pants on. You know why I wear a belt? Why do I wear a belt? To hold my pants up. When the Bible says, Gird up your loins like a man, you don't gird up a dress. He wasn't wearing a dress, folks. He wasn't wearing a wizard outfit. He wasn't, you know, it wasn't just like an ensemble so it looked, so the wizard outfit looked good, you know? It's like, you know what I mean? Like the Friar Tuck or whatever, one of those Catholics, they put like a rope around their waist and have like the gunny sack on or whatever. I don't think it was like a style thing, you know? He was doing it because he was a man and men wear pants. Amen? And his camel hair coat, I'm sure wasn't, you know, camel hair, actually when I looked it up, camel hair coats are very expensive. But I'm sure that maybe he didn't go to like some European tailor to have this, you know, this camel hair coat made for him. He probably just killed it or, you know, got it off a dead camel somewhere and skinned it up, put some salt on it, you know, made it into his own little, you know. It probably didn't look like this coat here, all nice and fine twine, right? So the point is that John looked, you know, he looked rough. He didn't care about what he looked like necessarily. But he did care about wearing the right things. At least he's wearing a coat. John the Baptist wore a coat, I'm wearing a coat, right? John the Baptist wore a belt, I'm going to wear a belt. You know what? And I'm not wearing a dress. I'm not wearing a belt so I can keep my dress looking nice. I'm wearing a belt so I can keep my pants up. And people always say there was no people, people didn't have pants back then. Pants were not even invented then. Are you stupid? Do some history searching. There's a pair, in China they found a pair of pants that were 3500 years old. So in China, 3500 years ago, they had pants. I can show you a picture. Just look up, Chinese pants found 3500 years old. In your Google search you're going to find it right away. When I went to England recently, and I went to this Roman villa that was like 2000 years old, on the wall it said what people wore during that day. And it said that they wore pants or trousers 2000 years ago. So don't give me this garbage that people, that all the men in the Bible didn't wear underwear, they just wore this like dress type, robe and then they had the belt to make it look great or whatever. It's not what they were, they had pants. 3500 years ago, in Leviticus, I mean actually in Exodus it tells us that the priests were supposed to wear linen breeches. Which is what? A pair of shorts. So that's why you have that saying since Moses was in short pants or whatever. I'm sure you know, they're in the desert. They probably didn't need a full length of pants, but they were long enough to cover from their loins to their thighs. They had pants back then folks. So John the Baptist wore pants. And I'm not ashamed to say that. You know when Saul was in the cave, it said that his, this euphemism is in the Bible, and it says he was covering his feet. Now, I'm not going to get too graphic here, but I just want to say that, you know, if you're wearing a dress, you're not covering your feet, you hike that dress up when you're going to the bathroom, okay? When you're wearing pants, you pull your pants down, and what's it do? It covers your feet, doesn't it? That's what it's talking about. So even in Saul's day, Saul wasn't just wearing some robe with no undies, okay? Have you ever seen that meme where it shows how people gird up their loins and it's some weird thing where they make a diaper out of it? It's like they look like baby Hughie with a diaper on or something. No, when it says to gird up your loins like a man to work, it's talking about putting a belt on. Because when you bend over, hopefully it's not showing your crack. You know, the plumber's crack is supposed to be covered. The belt helps that. But there's people that just go to work and they don't wear a belt, and their pants are always falling down. It's like, bro, come on. Crack kills. Want to see that? Crack kills. I forgot who I was with just recently. I think it was maybe in Texas, but some guy just like, I think it was in Houston. I was riding with Samson. That's who it was. We just got done soloing and we're going to lunch. And this guy, this homeless guy, I can tell he was homeless just by how he looked, but he rides across on his bike, and like as he's riding, his whole pants fall down to like halfway past his rear end. And we're all just like, oh! So disgusting. Bro, pull your pants up, man. It's not a cool style either to have. Anyway, I'm going on too long about this. Let's look at some verses here. Look at Matthew 3.7. It says, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees, you see, he didn't dress soft. He didn't preach soft. When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? So people show up at his church service like, you vipers, who's warned you to flee from the wrath to come? You know, that's hard preaching, isn't it? He's calling the religious leaders at that time. They're coming to his church service to check it out, and he calls them vipers right out of the outset of what he's saying. Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? You're going to hell. That's basically what he's telling them. Bring forth, therefore, fruits, meet for repentance, and think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father. For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. And these guys, they're the religious leaders at that time, but they're also the ones that taught and preached. So why is he saying this to them? Because they're false prophets. A lot of them are false prophets. Not all of them. Some of the Pharisees actually did get saved, but some of them were false prophets, and that's who he's talking about. He says, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. And it says, whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner. So that's a comforting thought. The people that are saved, the wheat goes into the garner. The wheat is the good people, but here's the bad people. It says, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. What is unquenchable fire? Hellfire. John the Baptist was hellfire and damnation preacher. Someone asked me when I was in Texas, this guy was cutting my hair, and he said, so what kind of preaching do you do? He's like, is it hellfire or damnation? I was like, yep, it is. He's like, oh, okay. But the guy wasn't saved. And so why isn't he saved? Well, maybe he needed to go to a church where there's a hellfire damnation preacher so he could get saved. Because John, he was a great man of God. Did anybody deny that? He's the Baptist. He's John the Baptist. He's Jesus' cousin. He was filled with the Spirit from the womb. He wasn't even saved. He was filled with the Spirit. Because obviously he wasn't saved the moment he came out of the womb. But God just endowed him with this great gift of being filled with the Spirit. Look at Luke chapter three, verse 10. Luke chapter three, verse 10. It says, and the people asked him, saying, what shall we do then? He answered and said unto them, he that hath two coats. This is John preaching, by the way. He that hath two coats, let him impart him that hath none. That's pretty nice preaching, isn't it? And he that hath meat, let him do likewise. Give people your food. If you have extra food, be willing to share it. Then came also the publicans to be baptized. And he said unto them, master, what shall we do? And he said unto them, expect no more than that which has appointed you. Don't try to take more than what you got coming. Don't be a thief. And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, and what shall we do? So these soldiers, you know, obviously they're probably Roman soldiers or temple soldiers or whatever. And he said unto them, do violence to no man. Neither accuse any falsely. Don't lie about people. And be content with your wages. Oh, if Christians would get ahold of this, this is good preaching. He's telling them, hey, this is what you need to do. Don't be a violent person. Don't accuse any people falsely. Don't lie about people. You know, don't take more than what's appointed to you. Be content with your wages. And so John the Baptist not only looked like, you know, he looked rough, but his preaching was rough. But, you know, he had grace. He loved people. He told people to help other people. There has to be a balance in the preaching, folks. There's got to be a balance. So not every sermon can be about the reprobates. Not every sermon can be about false prophets. Now obviously that stuff that needs to be preached we're in the end times. It's out of season. But there's also things that need to be helped to fix your life. And that's what John was doing here. But he didn't dress like a fairy. He didn't look like a fairy. He was a man of God and he looked like one. Turn to 2 Kings chapter 1 verse 6. Now, the Bible says if you'll accept it, if you'll believe this, then John is Elijah come back. Now, people get confused by this and say he's a reincarnation. Look, Christianity does not teach a reincarnation, folks. But just like Elijah had this spirit of God upon him, and he looked similar to John the Baptist, he preached similar to John the Baptist, the only thing that was different is that he didn't do the acts of miracles that Elijah did. But there was a lot of similarities to it. Now look at 2 Kings chapter 1 verse 6. It says, and this is talking about Elijah. It said, and they said unto him, There is a man come up to meet us, and said unto us, Go turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that thou sendest to inquire Beelzebub the god of Ekron? Therefore, and he's talking to a king. This is what the message is from Elijah to this king, Therefore, thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shall surely die. Now, just like John the Baptist, John the Baptist said some stuff that Herod didn't like, and he got thrown in prison and actually murdered for it later on. But Elijah was the same kind of prophet. They had the same kind of spirit, the Holy Spirit. And so these people are sitting there saying, You guys don't have a right spirit. You have a mean spirit. Well, did Elijah, was that a nice thing for him to say? You're going to die because you believed and you want to inquire of Beelzebub, who's the devil. Well, guess what? You're going to die. That's not a very sweet spirit. That's kind of mean. Hey, but God loved Elijah, did he not? Elijah was one of the greatest prophets in the whole Bible. And they answered and said, So here's what happened. So they tell this message, they relay this message from Elijah, and it says in verse seven, and he said to them, What manner of man was he which came up to meet you and told you these words? And they answered him, He was a hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. What does that tell you? He's wearing pants, too. But anyway, and he said, and he knew it by the description. He was a hairy man. He had a leather girdle about his loins. And the king said, he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite. He knew exactly who it was that sent that message to him because he knows what Elijah looks like, and he probably knows what Elijah preaches like. He preached hard. And he wasn't exactly the most soft, nicest guy in the world, but he was still a prophet of God that God loved. God loved John the Baptist. God loved Elijah the prophet. And look, hairy in looks can equate to hairy in preaching. And hair can irritate, can't it? If you get dog hair on you or it kind of tickles your nose or whatever, you know what I'm talking about, or cat hair? Some people are allergic to it. It can irritate you, right? A hairy sermon, what I would call a hairy sermon, is a sermon that irritates you. It can irritate you. It can itch you. It can get you to move and do something. It can also gross you out. Some of the things in the Bible can gross people out. You know, like in the cave with his daughters. I mean, that's pretty gross, isn't it? But you know, he was a hairy man. And you know, he was a hairy preacher, too. And there's nothing wrong with being both. There's nothing, you know, even if you're a smooth man, you can't grow a beard, you have zero hair on your arms or legs or whatever, you're just like not a hairy person. You can still preach hairy sermons, though. And so Elijah was a hairy man. And you know, one of the things about hair is that, who gets really grossed out when a hair gets in your food? This is gross, right? Who's gonna lose their appetite just because I said that? There's nothing grosser when you take a really nice, big bite of food that's super good and then all of a sudden it's like, oh. And then you like pull this like long horse hair out of your mouth, you're like, ugh. It's gross. But hairy sermons can be gross, too. Hairy sermons can irritate you. Hairy sermons can make you itch. Hairy sermons can make you sick. You know, they make you sick, your spirit is sick because that hairy sermon, you know, affected you in some way. You know, people get all these different kinds of feelings from hair, but spiritually speaking, you should have some effects from a hairy sermon hitting you hard, too. So, you know, but there's a lot of smooth preaching going on out there, isn't there? There's a lot of hair, you know, when we say a man of God needs to have hair on his legs and get up and preach the truth, we're talking about not the fact that you have literal hair on your legs, but we're saying that your sermon should be hairy every once in a while. They should be irritating, they should itch, they should make you allergic, they should gross you out sometimes. You're like, gross you out? Well, yeah, like I said, a lot in his daughters, that's pretty gross. You know, men with men working that which is unseemly. That's gross. But those things need to be preached. Hairy sermons need to be preached. Things that affect us and bother us need to be preached. You know, or you could just go listen to Joel Osteen. Or old Billy Graham's sermons, he'll tickle your ears. How about Andy Stanley or T.D. Jakes or D. James Kennedy or Cleffalo Dollar? They're not gonna preach anything that's hard. They're gonna preach so that you can keep dumping the money into the plates and feel good about yourself when you leave the church. But you know what, we need some men to get hairy in this country. We need some men to preach some hairy stuff and we need to get rid of the smooth preaching that's just gonna tell you what you wanna hear and make you feel good about yourself all the time. You know, hair irritates. You know, I don't know if that's why John had a camel hair coat on or what, but you know, it fits. You know, you can look at it in a carnal way, but also look at it in a spiritual way. You know, John had the, you know, why does it mention that he has the camel's hair coat? Because Elijah was a hairy man. Maybe John wasn't a hairy man, but he put on the hairy coat, you know, to fit the picture. Because he wasn't literally Elijah, but he was Elijah, come back if you'll accept it. So, you know, we need to get some hair on our legs and preach what's true. And sometimes you're gonna have to hear some hairy sermons. Look at 1 Kings chapter 18 verse 21. 1 Kings chapter 18 verse 21. See, Elijah wasn't just hairy in looks, and he wasn't just dressing with the girdle, you know, the leather girdle about his loins. You know, he looked the part of a hairy man, he looked the part of a hairy preacher, but he also preached similar to the things that John preached. And, you know, we get criticized for saying something that would offend somebody, something that would make people mad. You know, you called out that person's name. You know, next week I'm gonna preach about specific preaching, but I just want to say that specific preaching is important. Sometimes you have to call the names of people so they can be marked, so you can avoid them. Look at Elijah, what he does with the prophets of Baal. Look at verse 21. It says, Elijah came unto the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him, and if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. See, sometimes people get challenged, like that person, that guy's not preaching the truth. And so ultimately, if someone's not preaching the truth or they're not saved, who are they really a prophet of? They're a prophet of Baal. They're a prophet of the devil. And so think of it that way. It's like, you know, well, they're not literally saying they worship the devil, but it doesn't matter whether they're really saying it. They want to, when they work for the devil, they're transformed and look like angels of light, don't they? They look like the sheep. But it says, then Elijah, then said Elijah unto the people, verse 22, I even I only remain a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are 450 men. So what's the ratio? One saved man versus 450 unsaved false prophets. And you might see that same statistic today. One saved pastor, 450 wicked false prophets. I mean, would you say that ratio's probably reasonable? I think it is. It's the same thing back then as it is today. Nothing new under the sun, folks. Look at verse 23. It says, let them therefore give us two bullocks and let them choose one bullock for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood and put no fire under, and I will dress the other bullock and lay it on the wood and put no fire under. And call ye on the name of your gods. And I will call on the name of the Lord. And the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, it is well spoken. And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it for your many and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. So what's he saying? He's saying the God that's gonna answer by fire, that's the true God. You know what? And sometimes we need to answer by fire with the preaching that we preach. I just went to the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship. You know, God preaches fire sometimes. He wants us as pastors to preach fire. Why? So that people can know who God is and who he isn't. And what are they doing? They're crying. They're cutting themselves. Oh, Baal, where are you? Look at what it says in verse 26. And they took the bullock which was given, and they dressed it and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, oh Baal, hear us. It's like a worship conference or something. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. So now they're jumping up and down and they're doing all this stuff and it says, look how Elijah talks to them in front of all the people. And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them. He made fun of them. That's what mocking is. He's teasing them. He's clowning them. He's memeing them. He's giving them some ruthless memes. It says Elijah mocked them and said, cry aloud for he is a god. Either he's talking or he's pursuing or he's on a journey. He's basically saying, well, this is why he's not answering. He's doing other stuff. He doesn't got time for you. Or paired venture, he sleepeth. It must be awake. You know, we need to wake your god up. So he's mocking them. He's teasing them. But do you see God rebuke him for any of that stuff? No. Because there's nothing wrong with mocking some false prophet. And if he was a great prophet of God, then obviously God doesn't have a problem with this. Jesus used the same similar language and mocked the Pharisees also. Look at Matthew chapter 14 verse 1. Matthew chapter 14 verse 1, it says, this is Jesus Christ, obviously, who is the greatest preacher of all time. And he said some hairy eyeball stuff, didn't he? He said some hairy stuff that people got really offended about. Look at it says, at the time Herod the Tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus and said unto his servants, this is John the Baptist. He has risen from the dead. Therefore, mighty works do show forth themselves in him. So Herod had already killed John at this point. And he sees and hears the fame of Jesus. And what does he think? He's John the Baptist. Why does he think that? Because John the Baptist was a great man of God. John the Baptist was a great preacher and he brought the fire, he brought the heat. This is John the Baptist. He's risen from the dead. And therefore, mighty works do show forth themselves in him. So he's mistaking Jesus and thinking that John the Baptist came back from the dead. So what does that tell you about Jesus that he preaches like John the Baptist? He probably similarly looks like John the Baptist. He wasn't some, I'm not saying he was like ripped and like, you know, whatever. I'm just saying that if you mistake somebody for somebody else, they usually have similar attributes, right? Now look at Luke chapter nine, verse 18. Luke chapter nine, verse 18. It says, and it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him and asked him, saying, whom say the people that I am? They answering said, John the Baptist, but some say Elias. So they mistook him for what? John the Baptist, but some say Elias, which is Elijah the prophet, who just got done mocking, you know, these clowns from Baal. And it says, and the others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again. So notice that they're confusing him. They're thinking that Jesus is like one of the old prophets. Well, one of the old prophets doesn't preach and rip face on sin. What's one of the prophets was just like, you know, don't let God steal your joy, or don't let the devil steal your joy, and God loves you, he's never mad at you, and all that stuff. That's not how the preachers in the Old Testament preached. The prophets from old preached hard and ripped face on sin, and they just said it how it was. How did Ezekiel preach? Well, read some of Ezekiel's preaching, where he mentions horror or harlot multiple, like 60-something times in one chapter. You know, when someone says harlot behind one of our pulpits, they're like, he's cussing behind the pulpits. Like, you're weak. Just stop. You just want to look hyper-spiritual when you say stuff like that. But, so, now look at Matthew chapter 16, verse 13. Matthew chapter 16, verse 13. So this is another parallel passage where people are asking who people think that Jesus is. You know, because it's true, when people are in front of your face, they're not going to say what they really think about you necessarily. But Jesus is asking, who do people say I am? Like, what do people say about me? And it says, when Jesus came to the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, whom do men say that I the son of man am? Who do people think I really am? And they said, some say thou art John the Baptist, so that every time they're saying John the Baptist. Some say Elias, which is Elijah, and the others, Jeremiah. Now, Jeremiah the prophet, if you look at his preaching, if you've read the book of Jeremiah, you know how he preaches. He rips face. He tells everybody they're going to die. You know, God's going to come and destroy this place with the people of Babylon, and he just tells it like it is. And so to be confused with these great men, obviously Jesus is a great man. Obviously Jesus is a great preacher. Obviously Jesus has all the attributes as these guys have, but in reality, he's a way better preacher than them. He's way more holy than them. He's in fact sinless. And Jesus preaches like them. So when people say that we have a bad spirit, or that we're preaching with the wrong spirit, what are you saying? Because as far as I know, anybody that's saved has the Holy Spirit. So what are you saying? That the spirit of God is bad? Is that what you're saying? You better be careful with those words. You better be careful calling people that are saved and saying that they have a bad spirit. They said that about Jesus too, didn't they? They said he had the spirit of Beelzebub. You better be careful when you're telling people that they don't have a good spirit that are saved. Because I have the Holy Spirit. You have the Holy Spirit. And so when they say you don't have a right spirit, what are they saying about God? Because the last time I checked, the Holy Spirit is God. So put that in your pipe and smoke it. Anyway, so they confuse him with the great prophets of the past. And actually John the Baptist, who was one of the greatest men of all time. As a matter of fact, he was the greatest born among women. Or born of women. He was the greatest man. Jesus said that. And so he's being confused with the greatest man. And actually Jesus Christ was not talking about himself. He was saying people besides Jesus obviously. He was the greatest born of women. So why do you think that Jesus was confused as one of these old prophets? You know why? Because Jesus ripped face. That's why. And even if he wasn't yelling and screaming, he was still preaching hard. Things that people couldn't handle. Things that made people walk away. Things that people said, you know what, I'm not going to follow you anymore because what you're saying is too hard of a saying. So when you start getting pulled away by these little weenies out there just saying that we have a bad spirit, you know, just because I'm yelling, just because I'm screaming doesn't mean I have a bad spirit. It means that I care about what I'm preaching. I have some passion in what I'm preaching. When I ask to be filled with the Spirit of God, you know what, he does it. Amen. And spirit-filled preaching, you can tell the difference between that and weenie hut Baptist, right? Weenie hut general Baptist church. And again, it's not how you preach it. It's what you're preaching. What's the content? Is the contents in this book? Is it only just the hearts and flowers parts of this book? It better be the whole thing. Paul said that he preached the whole counsel of God. He held nothing back. And guess what, he had not a lot of friends when it all was said and done. He had a lot of people leave him too. But you know, God stood beside him. God cared about him. So I don't have time to go into Jesus' sermon where he just tears the Pharisees to shreds. But I will tell you this, that he sat there to their faces and said woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites, for you devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayer. Therefore you shall receive the greater damnation. He's ripping their faces to their face. If I had a whole bunch of people who came in here that hated my guts every week, and they just sat there and they're just like. You know, that's hard to preach about. You know, to someone's face like that. But Jesus wasn't afraid to do that. He was bold as a lion. He was the lion of the tribe of Judah, in fact. He said, how can you escape the damnation of hell? It's a valid question. And guess what, they can't. And that's why he was preaching it. And he ripped face. And yeah, he said a lot of wonderful things and things that make us be saved. All the words of Jesus, obviously, are what the right words of God are. But we've got to take everything. You can't just take some things of the Bible. You can't just take some things the pastor preaches. You've got to take it all. And you've got to love the word of God. And I know that I'm out of time here, but I just want to say this. Jesus was perfect. He was compassionate. He was loving. But he also preached hard truths. He also ripped face. And that should tell you, this style of preaching that he did is not wrong. You know who has the wrong spirit? Those that are condemning those that are preaching what's right. That's who has the wrong spirit. And I'm not saying that people that criticize us are not filled with the spirit or they don't have the spirit of God, but they have no discernment, that's for sure. But there's a lot of people out there that hate us and call us cults and all this other stuff and they want the new NFB to go down in a blaze of glory. But you know what? If it's of God, it's going to stand. It's going to stand. And the right kind of preaching and preacher is commended by God. So I'm not going to preach this point just because I'm out of time, but I do want to just close with this. Let's go back to our text in Matthew chapter 11. I'll close with these scriptures here. In verse number 9 it says, But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist. Notwithstanding he is the least of the kingdom of heaven, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. I'm not going to delve into that, but what I will delve into is that Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh, said, Among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist. He's a great preacher. He's a great man of God. And you know what? He had some hairy sermons that he said. He's calling people vipers right when they show up. He's telling them, You're going to have unquenchable fire. Jesus Christ, when he comes, he's going to burn you up with fire. And he's telling Herod that he's wicked and that he stole his brother's wife. And you know, his preaching, a lot of people would say that John the Baptist had a bad spirit too. You shouldn't be criticizing the leadership. You should pray for the president. Pray for Biden. Pray for Biden. I don't even think that Biden's like all there. But John challenged the leadership. Look, he challenged tyranny, you know, and wickedness. You know, and when your president has multiple clips of him sniffing little girl's hair live on television, that should tell you a little bit, you know, it's not right for you, President Biden, to sniff little girl's hair. That's weird. If your girls came in here and I just started sniffing their hair, wouldn't you think that was weird? Would you want me to be your pastor? Well, how about the president of the United States sniffing little girl's hair and touching them and being all weird and kissing them on the face and stuff? Get away from me, you sick old pervert. Get away from my kid. So that's hard preaching, okay, against the president. But what am I preaching about? The fact that he's weird. And he's a hair-sniffing weirdo. And it needs to be called out. So number one, the right kind of preaching is the preaching that should not offend you. Number two, the right kind of preaching isn't from a soft preacher. Number three, the right kind of preaching and preacher is commended by God. John the Baptist was commended by God. All these other preachers commended by God as great prophets. Hey, that's what we should look at. What does the Bible say? That's the ultimate truth. That's what we need to take from this message. Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for this great church, for this great chapter. Lord, there's so much great doctrine in it. Lord, I pray you'd help us today. You'd be with us and you'd fill us with the Spirit as the soul-wanting's done in your name, Lord. I pray, Lord, you'd be with us in the second service, Lord. I pray that people would find it important to be in your house tonight. Amen. 27. The Old Rugged Cross, page 27. 27. Page 27, The Old Rugged Cross. Sing it out with me on the first verse. On a hill far away Stood an old rugged cross The emblem of suffering and shame And I love that old cross Where the dearest and best For a world of lost sinners was slain So I'll cherish the old rugged cross Till my trophies at last I lay down I will cling to the old rugged cross And exchange it someday for a crown On the second. Oh, that old rugged cross So despised by the world Has a wondrous attraction for me For the dear Lamb of God Left His glory above To bear it to dark Calvary So I'll cherish the old rugged cross Till my trophies at last I lay down I will cling to the old rugged cross And exchange it someday for a crown In the old rugged cross Stained with blood so divine A wondrous beauty I see For it was on that old cross Jesus suffered and died To pardon and sanctify me So I'll cherish the old rugged cross Till my trophies at last I lay down I will cling to the old rugged cross And exchange it someday for a crown Sing it out on the last. To the old rugged cross I will ever be true It's shame and reproach gladly bear Then He'll call me someday To my home far away Where His glory forever I'll share So I'll cherish the old rugged cross Till my trophies at last I lay down I will cling to the old rugged cross And exchange it someday for a crown Man, great singing this morning. I'd like to see y'all soul winning this afternoon. Back here at 3.30 for an evening service. Brother Sean Harrington, can you end us with a word of prayer?