The Sherp Foundation Baptist Church, please grab a seat and get a hymnal and turn to number 449
Dwelling in Bula land and on the chorus
Real quick before we sing it on the chorus. We're gonna we're gonna shout praise god real loud because this is a Baptist church
All right, we're gonna practice for a second. I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky and then you say
Praise God that might wake up a Presbyterian. This is Baptist Church. We want it a little louder
I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky. Praise God. All right, we got it now. All right
Let's go
449 far away the noise of stripe upon my ear is falling
Then I know the sins of earth be said on every hand.
Doubt and fear and things of earth who vain to me are calling.
None of these shall move me from Bula land.
I'm living on the mountain.
Underneath the cloudless sky, praise God, I'm drinking at the fountain that never shall run dry, oh yes, I'm feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply full.
Safe am I within the castle of God's word retreating.
Nothing then can reach me, tis view the land.
I'm living on the mountain, underneath the cloudless sky.
Praise God, I'm drinking at the fountain.
shall run dry oh yes I'm feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply for I am
dwelling in Bula land let the stormy breezes blow their cry cannot alarm me
Protected by God's hand
Here the sun is always shining
Here there's not can harm me
I am saved forever
In Bula land
I'm living on the mountain
Underneath the cloudless sky
the fountain that never shall run dry oh yes I'm feasting on the manna from a
bountiful supply for I am dwelling in Bula land viewing here the works of God
I see the way he planned.
Dwelling in the spirit here, I learn a full salvation.
Gladly will I tarry in Mula land.
I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky.
Praise God, I'm drink.
at the fountain that never shall run dry oh yes i'm feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply
for i am dwelling in bulla land hey man good singing brother wade could you help us send a word
Man, let's sing number 406.
Who is on the Lord's side?
Number 406.
Stand for this one if you would please.
If you're able, 406.
Who is on the Lord's side?
Who will serve the King?
who for him will go. By thy call of mercy, by thy grace divine, we are on the
Lord's side saying
we the army raise a warrior song, but for love that claimeth lives for whom he
died, he whom Jesus' nameeth must be on his side, by thy love constrain.
save your we are done Jesus though has bought us not with gold or jam but with
I don't love blood for I die a damn if I blessing filling each who comes to
us willing thou hast made us free.
By thy grand redemption, by thy grace divine,
we are on the Lord's side, saying.
can overthrow round his standard ranging victory is secure for his truth on
changing makes a triumph sure joyfully enlisting by thy grace divine
Save your way or thine.
Amen, you may be seated.
This time, evangelist Justin Zhang will give the announcements.
All right, great singing.
Welcome to Shoe Foundation Baptist Church,
special Friday night service.
Raise your hand if you need a bulletin
and Alisha will bring one to you.
Keep your hand raised.
Looks like everyone got one.
So let's look at the verse of the week.
If in chapter four, verse 28,
the Bible says,
Let him that still still know more,
but rather let him labor,
working with his hands,
the things which is good
that he may have to give to him that needed.
Here's a great verse here.
Let's look at the backside. This is the church plant of Shoe Foundation Baptist Church in Vancouver, Washington.
Pastor Thompson is the pastor, I'm the evangelist and the location leader.
If you're a first-time guest, please fill out the card and drop it when the offering play goes by.
And we are on YouTube, Facebook, Rumble and X, so please give us a follow.
I'm just recently fresh out of the X Jail, so...
You know, please follow us on X or whatever.
And service time Sunday morning at 11,
Sunday afternoon service at four,
and we'll continue our regular Wednesday night bubble study
in the Book of Ecclesiastes next week
at 7 p.m. next Wednesday.
Sunday time tomorrow, Saturday morning at 10.30 a.m.,
and Sunday afternoon, Sunday morning at 1.30.
PM, and you can see the praise report below. We have reached actually I did the bulletin yesterday
We've actually reached a 952
Salvation because brother because because the brother because the Stockton's have a total of 437 salvations
in the Philippines this past week so praise the Lord for that so so as a
church locally we have over 500 salvatians plus the 400 in the Philippines
so praise the Lord for the souls saved the gospel still works Amen
So let's look at the upcoming events. Of course, we'll have Pastor Anderson tonight. He'll be preaching for us and
Like I said, we'll continue our regular Wednesday service next week
And then the following week we'll have our annual fall fellowship at a local park on Saturday, September
13th if you come here regularly or you can or if you want to check us out you can you know join us at the
at the picnic. Please see the sign up sheet at the front table over there for the food items
that you want to bring. And Dr. Phil Stringer from the King James Bible Research Council
will be preaching for us. He'll be preaching both services on Sunday, November 30. So please
invite family, friends, relatives, people just to hear Dr. Stringer preach. He's an expert on
the King James Bible. Sony Marathon coming up. Detroit Sony Marathon is on September 19 to the 20th.
Please use the QR code or see the video on the social media
for details about the address and the time.
Basically, we'll meet Friday afternoon.
We'll go soul winning in the local parks.
And then on Saturday, we'll have a regular soul winning
session in the neighborhoods, soul winning,
lunch, soul winning, the regular style.
So please RSVP at SFBCIndy at gmail.com
so I can have an idea of how many people are coming.
Also, December 27th is the winter wonderland
This is this is designed for finishing up the year strong doesn't matter how cold it is
You know, we will be going so when you okay. We did that last year. It was great. Okay, it doesn't matter if it's minus 20 degrees
I don't really care. We will finish the year strong. That's why it's called winter wonderland. Okay, so and then
Emmanuel Baptist Church up north. They will be hosting the Notre Dame tailgate. So when in brother a Jerry is here
So he's from that church. So if you want to join, please get with him
So if you want to go somewhere up north of the state,
September Sunday afternoon's preaching schedule
is for you to see.
And then if you want to take care of your kids,
we have another baby room over here.
We have a changing table in the room,
also changing the table on the far bathroom over there.
So if you want to know how to be saved
or needs to be baptized,
please see an usher or myself.
Let us know, we will have a hot tub ready for you.
I can even turn on the jet stream, okay?
But anyway, and then on the back side,
there's a place for you to take sermon notes.
I believe that's all the announcement.
Let's sing one more song and then we'll take up the offering.
All right, let's sing number 134, my anchor holds.
Go ahead and stand if you would.
I'll give you one last chance to stretch for the preaching.
The mind can only comprehend what the seat can endure.
So I'll give you one more chance to stretch.
134.
My anchor holds.
I am peaceful for I know.
Wildly though the winds may blow,
I have an anchor safe and sure
that can ever more endure.
And it holds, my anchor holds.
Blow your wild ascent, O Gale,
high as grace I shall not fail. For my anchor holds, my anchor holds, mighty tides about
me sweep, perils lurk within the deep, angry clouds or shade the sky, and the tempest
Till I stand the tempest shook, For my anchor grips a rock,
And it holds, my anchor holds, Blow your wildest sand, O gale,
On my bark so small and frail, By his grace I shall not fail.
anchor fast as I meet each sudden blast and the cable the one seen bears a heavy strain
between though the storm I safely ride till the turning of the tide and it holds
On my bark so small and frail, By his grace I shall not fail.
For my anchor holds, my anchor holds, Troubles almost well in the soul,
obscure the light of day, but in Christ I can be bold. I have an anchor that shall
hold, and it holds my anchor holds. Blow your wild ascent, O Gale, on my book so small
and frail. By his grace I shall not fail.
you may be seated, and this time the ushers will come forward for the offering.
Brother Ashid, it's nice to have you back. Would you pray for the offering?
We'll be in first Corinthians chapter 10 this evening. If you need a Bible, please raise your hand and us are will provide one for you
first Corinthians chapter 10
First Corinthians chapter 10 the Bible reads more over brethren. I wonder how you should be ignorant of how
that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,
and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud, and in the sea,
and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink,
for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.
But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Now these things were our examples to the intent we should not lost after evil things, as they also lost it.
Neither be idolaters, as were some of them.
As it is written, the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play.
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell at one day three and twenty thousand.
Now there let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
Now there murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Now all these things happened unto them for in samples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able."
But will with the temptation also make a way to escape they may be able to bear it
Wherefore my dearly beloved flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men
Judgeee what I say the cup of blessing which we bless is not the communion of the blood of Christ
The bread which we break is enough a communion of the body of Christ
For we, being many, are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one
bread.
Behold, Israel, after the flesh, are not they which eat of the sacrifice partakers of the
altar.
What say I then that the idol is anything of that which it is offered in sacrifice to idols and anything?
But I say to the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devils and not to God
And I would not that you should have fellowship with devils
He cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils
He cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of devils. Do we prefer provoke the Lord to jealousy?
Are we stronger than he?
All things are waffle for me, but all things are not expedient.
All things are waffle for me, but all things edify not.
Let no man seek his own, but every man's another's wealth.
Whatsoever is sold in the shambles that eat asking no question for conscience's sake for the earth is the lords and the fallen stare of
If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast and ye be disposed to go
Whatsoever is set before you eat asking no question for conscience's sake, but if any man
Say unto you, this is offered in sacrifice on the idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience's sake, for the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other, for why is my liberty judge of another man's conscience?
Why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks or for therefore you eat or
Drink what so ever you do do all to the glory of God give none offense
Now that to the Jews nor to the Gentiles nor to the church of God
Even as I please all men in all things not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many that they may be saved brother
Landon, could you pray for the message?
Amen. It's great to be here for the very first time at Sher Foundation in Indianapolis.
I've been hearing about this church. You know, I read about it in the news, and it's, you know,
finally get to be here in person. It's really exciting, you know.
There's been so much hype about it and everything, but I love you guys, and I'm glad to see you guys,
a lot of old friends here.
and making some new friends.
And so it's great to be out here for the very first time.
Tonight, I'm preaching out of 1 Corinthians,
chapter number 10.
And the title of my sermon is,
Some Things Never Change.
Some things never change.
And here's the thing about life is that,
our lives are filled with change, right?
Things are constantly changing in our lives
and our personal situation changes all the time.
and our culture changes, different geographies change,
and our country kind of goes back and forth politically,
or, you know, what is acceptable, what is not.
But there are some things that just do not ever change.
And in a world of just the shifting sands of change,
there are a couple of things that we can really anchor ourselves to that do not change.
And the first thing, of course, that does not change is God does not change.
And the Bible says, I am the Lord, I change not, therefore the sons of Jacob are not consumed.
The Bible says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.
He is the rock of our salvation, and everybody else might change, and people's opinions might change.
God will never change. He's always been the same.
Now, how that ties in with this passage, and this is a great passage kind of reminding us of some things that happen with the children of Israel back in the wilderness, okay?
And if you would look at verse number six, it says, now, these things were our examples.
to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lust it.
And then look at verse 11, it says,
Now all these things happen unto them for in samples,
and they are written for our admonition,
upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Now the actual reference is talking about stuff that happened
back in the books of Exodus and Numbers.
And if you think about those events back in Exodus and Numbers
with the children of Israel in the wilderness,
Those are some of the roughest parts of the Bible.
I mean, for me, when I'm reading the Book of Numbers, I almost feel like, you know, that is almost God at his meanest, if you will.
You know what I mean? God is really coming down on people.
He's really punishing people, and he is really pouring out his wrath a few times in that Book of Numbers.
But what you have to understand is that those things were not written.
for people before the time of Christ, you know,
and when you show those verses to people,
what will they often say?
Oh, that's Old Testament.
Oh, that's obsolete.
That's not relevant.
That's Old Testament.
But here's the thing.
The Bible says that those things specifically written
in those books like Exodus and Numbers,
it says those things are written for examples.
They're written for our admonition
upon whom the ends of the world
are come. And if you just think about it from a numeric perspective,
I guarantee you that way more people have read those books
after the time of Christ than before the time of Christ.
I mean, think about it. Yeah, they had the Bible, they had the Mosaic Law for many centuries
before the time of Christ, but now those books have gone all over the world, been translated
into every language in the world, and now in 2025, you know, there are just millions
and millions and, you know, hundreds of millions of people all over the place that are just
constantly reading these books, listening to these truths being preached over and over
So don't let somebody tell you, oh, x's, numbers, no, God's not like that anymore.
If God were not like that anymore, then the Bible wouldn't say,
hey, that was written for us so that we can understand how God does business.
So we understand how God deals with things.
Those are examples for us.
Why? Because it says in verse 6,
to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lust it.
So the idea here is those people in the wilderness,
they sinned and God punished.
God came down on them and we're supposed to look at that and say,
If that's how God felt about sin back then, that's the same way he feels about it now.
That's an example of how people who live in sin end up.
If he did it then, he could do it now.
There's this huge myth that somehow God has changed.
And that, you know, God in the Old Testament was just so mean and rough and everything,
but that in the New Testament, he's totally mellowed out.
And in his old age he's gone soft or something like that.
But of course God is ageless and he is timeless, he's from eternity
and he does not change. He's the same God that he was in the Old Testament.
And here's the thing, you're going to find the love of God in the Old Testament,
you're going to find the grace of God, you're going to find the mercy of God.
Just as much he was loving and gracious back then, he is now.
And just like he had wrath back then, he's got some serious wrath.
right now as well. So look at the beginning here in chapter 10 verse 1 it says moreover brethren
I would not that you should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud
and all passed through the sea and we're all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea but
by the way I just want to point out you know it's it's funny how he's he's writing unto the church
at Corinth he's writing unto Greeks or Gentiles but then he's saying you know
Our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the seat because here's the thing, those are our spiritual ancestors.
It's not really about nationality. Oh, you guys are Greeks, so you don't really have a part in this.
Well, you know, Father Abraham had many sons. I'm one of them, and so are you.
You know, and I'm not going to do the dance, but you know the song.
It says...
that they were all baptized in the Moses and the cloud and in the sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat and
All drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ
But with many of them God was not well pleased
For they were overthrown in the wilderness right and we want God to be pleased with us
want to live a life that's well pleasing to God. And these things were written in verse 6
for our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lust it.
Neither be idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to
eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed.
and fell in one day 3,000 and 20,000.
Look, if we think today about fortification,
if we think about that sin of having sex outside of marriage,
you know, we should be thinking,
okay, here's what God thinks about that,
23,000 people died in one day.
It's a big sin. It's a serious sin. God does not put up with that.
He's not pleased with it. He doesn't like it.
Oh, that's Old Testament. You're stuck in the Old Testament.
No, I'm in the New Testament. I'm in 1 Corinthians chapter 10,
and God's reiterating those same truths and those same sentiments that He has there.
You know, I find that often people are blasphemous about the way that they talk about God in
the Old Testament because they almost act like there was something wrong with him in
the Old Testament that he had to correct in the New Testament.
You know and it kind of blows my mind and let me just give you a good example of this is
For example with circumcision, you know circumcision was something that was commanded for
Abraham and
Isaac and Jay, you know and obviously the children of Israel in the mosaic law
You've got circumcision so that was a thing in the Old Testament yet in the New Testament the Bible is really clear
that we don't practice New Testament circumcision. You know, the Bible says
neither circumcision available with anything, neither uncircumcision,
and in the book of Galatians, he's actually preaching pretty hard against the Judaizers
who are trying to require that the Gentiles be circumcised. So we definitely don't believe in
circumcision in the New Testament. That was temporary, that was for back then,
that was in the Old Testament. But then you'll have these people come along
necessarily Christians saying this, but you'll have people come along saying,
oh, circumcision is barbaric.
It's it's it's this horrible mutilation. It's child abuse. It's horrific
And you know and who's ever heard people talk that way about circumcision acting like circumcision is is some terrible horrible thing
You know the problem with that and again, it's usually coming from non Christians
But the problem with that is if it was horrible and barbaric and you know, then God's the one who instituted it
God had him doing that. No, he doesn't want us to do it today. It's changed from old to New Testament
But does that mean we're gonna go back and criticize the Old Testament and say that it was somehow bad or wicked or wrong?
Or or that it was abusive or something like that, you know
That would be blasphemous against God because God instituted circumcision
Okay, and Jesus even talked about how God instituted circumcision and he approved of that
But in the New Testament, we don't practice it
It doesn't mean there was anything wrong with it back then.
But then you'll have people come along today and they'll criticize things in the Old Testament law.
They'll make fun of it.
And you know, at the end of the day, they're making fun of God because God instituted all those things back then.
And you know what? They're right.
Everything that God did back then was right.
Everything God's doing now is right.
And so it's a blasphemous mentality to say that oh, you know, that's barbaric if God told them to do it
Okay, and the idea here is that sure there's been a change in the law
We've changed covenants. We've changed from Old Testament to New Testament, but God
Didn't change. It's the same God. He had a program in the Old Testament
He has a program in the New Testament, but it's the same God. He did not change. Okay, so
God was wrong back then he'd be wrong now, but guess what God's always right about everything all the time
And so that's what we need to remember. So we should not fornicate. We should not
worship idols, we should not displease God in the ways that they did because God's going to react in a similar way now.
And that's what the Bible says. It says in verse number eight,
neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day three and twenty thousand,
neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents.
Neither murmur ye, right? Don't complain, don't whine.
as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Now, all these things happen unto them for in samples, and they are written
for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are common.
This leads me to my second point.
We said, number one, some things never change.
God never changes.
God is the same as He's always been.
Whatever love and grace and mercy he's always had that from day one and whatever wrath and justice
He's always had that too
But number two another thing that never changes the word of God the word of God also never changes
These things were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come
Hey, this scripture is going to be preserved all the way until the end of the world
Okay, because it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than for one jot or one tittle to pass from the law
Until all be fulfilled
And specifically here, we're talking about Old Testament scriptures.
They are written for people living in the end of the world,
living all the way up until the bitter end.
We are going to have these verses and they're not going anywhere.
God's Word has been preserved and it has been kept pure in all ages.
by God. The word of God doesn't change. And by the way, if you actually believe that God's word doesn't
change, you're going to have a King James Bible. You're not going to be a member of the Bible of
the month club. Okay. Because it's impossible to have these modern versions and say, oh, God preserved
His word. God kept it pure in every generation. You can't believe that. Because the stated purpose
the text of scripture that has been corrupted. That's what they think. They think that the Bible
was written down and then it got corrupted over time and then now we have to somehow go back and
like do forensics and try to figure out how can we restore what it originally said. Okay. And even
they will admit
that there's not enough information to do that. There's not enough data to do that.
And so, of course, one of the big, like, critical text proponents, Dan Wallace,
he famously said that, you know, we don't know if we have the right text of Scripture.
We'll never know that. And even if we could know that, he said, even if we did, like,
accidentally get the right text of Scripture, we wouldn't know it.
So this is a wow. That's that's really encouraging, right? We don't we don't have the text of scripture
We don't know if we'll ever get it and if we ever do get it. We won't know it
Why because they're relying on human reasoning and they're relying on science and
They're relying on science. Here's a problem with science is that science works great when you have the data
When you can make the observations, you know, then you can actually use science to figure things out.
The problem is that the vast majority of manuscripts, 99.999%, they're all gone.
And so what we have is a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy.
But you know how I know that the Bible says the same thing now as when it was originally written?
Because that's what God promised he would do.
And I believe that God kept his promise and that he preserved his word and I believe Jesus Christ when he said heaven and earth
Shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away
My words will not not one jot not one till we have it all
It's all still here
And you know that's something that we can rely on because man things have changed people change
people change
You know society changes and you know there are people that I've known in my life and they used to be strong Christians
They used to be King James. They used to be soul-winning
You know fill in the blank what they used to be and now they have just completely
Lamed out watered down lippled out or switched this switch that they're not doing the same thing that they used to do
And it could be disappointing
when people that we were kind of relying on or looking up to,
when they change, you know, it's like, what in the world?
You know, it can kind of like shake your world, you know?
Maybe even your parents taught you something
and then they don't even believe it anymore or something like that.
And so this can be really disillusioning and confusing and hard
when you have a pastor that you look up to
and then all of a sudden he's preaching something totally different now.
or he's no longer continuing in the same path.
But here's the nice thing to know is that, hey, at least Jesus is always going to be the same.
At least the Bible is going to be the same.
And I know that God willing, if I live 50 years from now and I'm in my 90s,
the Bible is still going to say the exact same thing.
I can still tell a young person, you know, 50 years from now,
hey, here's what the Bible says.
I can say, like, go back and listen to that sermon, you know.
Well, I appreciate Sure Foundation, Indianapolis, you know.
And I can point them to this sermon,
and I believe this sermon is still going to make sense
if you're listening to it in the year 2075.
And so to all you that are listening to this in the year 2075, you know, if I'm wrong, then shut this off and throw it in the trash immediately and listen to some spirit-filled 2075 preaching.
But I think it's still going to be relevant because, you know, the Bible just doesn't change.
God doesn't change. The Word of God doesn't change. And you know what, then you're built on a rock and not just on the shifting sands of the way people think.
You know, this lady came out and interviewed me from some German, I don't know, documentary TV journalist, whatever she was.
But she came out and set up a camera and was interviewing Brother Anzome and myself at Faithful Word.
And you know I just kept telling her she just kept acting like I'm crazy and whatever and I just said well
You know 75 years from now or excuse me. I didn't get all futuristic with her
I said, you know 75 years ago. I said, but you know virtually everybody would have agreed with me
And I said, you know, it's just that our society's gone crazy and I've just stayed normal
And I said, if you were living 75 years ago,
and this is what she said, she said, no,
she said, you know, I never would have been against homos
because, you know, I just have a conscience.
You know, so even if I were to live back then
and the whole society thought it was wicked and sinful,
I wouldn't have, because my conscience
wouldn't have allowed me to be so evil.
And I'm thinking, wow, we're living in that day where they call good evil and evil good,
and they put sweet for bitter, bitter for sweet, light for darkness.
I mean, help backwards that I'm sitting there getting lectured by some of you then telling me,
oh, well, Lee, I have a conscience. That's why I'm for perverts and creeps.
It's like, what? What are you talking about?
But you know what? That's the kind of world that we're living in.
How would you like to be at those people's mercy to tell you what's right and wrong?
People who in 50 years can just completely flip the script
and everything that was good is bad now and everything that was bad is good.
I mean, what a confusing way to live your life.
But it's like, here's the sanity check right here, right?
You're like, hey, am I going crazy here?
And I open the Bible? Nope!
It still says the same thing and I can rely on it. This is the anchor of the soul right here
This is the rock upon which we build our lives
And you know what if you hear these sayings of Jesus and you do them
You're like a wise man who built his house upon a rock the Bible says the rain descended the floods came and the winds blew and
Beat upon that house and it fell not because it was founded upon a rock
But who's ever heard these sayings of mine and do it them not you know when you disregard the word of God
that 75% of it just doesn't matter because it's the Old Testament so let's
just ignore it you know you're like the foolish man who built this house on sand
and you know what whether you're saved or unsaved whether you're actually
caring what the Bible says or ignoring what the Bible says whether you're a
good Christian or a backslidden Christian you want to know the one thing I
The floods will come and the wind will blow in your life
The only difference is whether you found it on the rock or you found on the sand because we are all gonna get beaten up by this world
And you know, I hate to break it to you kids because you live in such a happy life, all
the smiling little happy children, and you live in such a happy life, and your problems
are small, and mom and dad are taking good care of you.
You are blessed to be born into the greatest country in the world, and to have all these
privileges, and you got all kinds of prosperity, and you're safe, and it feels good, right?
Let me tell you something.
When you get older, though, the rain's going to come.
The wind is going to blow and it is going to beat upon that house that is you, that is your life, right?
And let me tell you something, this world, it really does a number on you.
You know, it's just a sad truth and those that are my age
we've already been through stuff and you know people that are older than me have probably been through even more stuff than
I've been through but you know the older you get you go through stuff and and life doesn't always turn out the way that you want it to
Turn out
and you're going to go through hard things that are going to push you to your absolute limit,
right? And just kind of just push you to the edge where that house is really rocking,
as the rain just beats on it and the wind blows, and you're going to be pushed to your
absolute limit. You say, well, no, because I'm not as serious about that. I don't care who you are.
You could be saved, unsaved, good Christian, lukewarm water. Let me tell you something,
you're going to get hit with some stuff in your life.
Nobody gets through life without taking a beating.
Hate to break it to you people, but it's just true.
And part of the way that I know that is because of what does verse 13 say.
There is no temptation taking you but such as is common to man.
Whatever testing, whatever trials, whatever temptations
are thrown at you, guess what? Other people are going through the same stuff.
The same temptations the same afflictions are accomplished in your brother and that are in the world the Bible says
But you know what the difference is that when you are pushed to your limit when you are pushed to the brink
When this world beats upon you the difference is whether you found it on the rock or whether you found it on the sand
Whether you're going to make it or not, whether you're going to stay with it, stay in church, keep serving God, keep doing what's right,
and say like Job, though he slayed me, yet will I trust him? Even if God kills me, I'm still going to trust him.
Nothing is going to peel me away from my faith in the Word of God. That's where we need to be.
Well, you know if we're gonna be that way we have to think about the fact that God doesn't change and that we can really anchor
Ourselves that the word of God doesn't change. We really anchor ourselves
So you're like, you know holding up the ESV
Bro that thing changes every couple years and it's gonna change again
I think in 2020 they announced that they were done changing it and then like six months went by they're like
We're working on the next edition
Gotta keep it going. It's like, no, I don't think the language is changing that fast. No, they're changing what it says
They're changing the doctrine and here's the thing if the underlying Greek text keeps changing
They got to keep changing the English to keep up with it
And what are we on the 29th edition of the Nestle along Greek texts?
I can't even keep track and they've already got plans for 32
You know, so it's like we're not even to 30 yet, but they've already planned 31 32
And then we got to change the ESV the enemy, but you know what's not going to be affected the King James
It's going to be totally unaffected
King James is just going to be the King James and it's going to be this way a hundred years from now
After we're all dead and gone it'll still be here
But not only
Does God never change? Not always the word of God never change. Here's something else that doesn't change right and wrong
You know, there's a certain just morality of right and wrong that does not change
And a lot of people get confused about the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament, right?
And they think that because some things have changed in the New Testament,
they want to just throw out the whole Old Testament, basically.
So, in the New Testament, it's very specific in the Bible about which things have changed, right?
And let's just quickly look at it for sake of time, but just put your finger there and just flip over to Hebrews chapter 9.
I think this is a great passage. There are a couple of great passages on this in the New Testament,
but this is one that I particularly like in Hebrew chapter 9, and the book of Hebrews in general
talks quite a bit about this.
But the Bible says, you know, we'll just read an excerpt of this, but starting in verse 8 of Hebrews chapter 9, it says,
the Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest,
while as the first tabernacle was yet standing, you know, talking about the physical building in which the children of Israel would worship God in the Old Testament, right?
That's been replaced in the New Testament by the local assembly, the local congregation, the church.
But, while that first tabernacle was yet standing, you know, the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest, it wasn't made clear.
Verse 9, which was a figure, so that old tabernacle...
with all the things that went along with it, all the curtains, and the incense, and the altar, and the sacrifices.
It says that, you know, it was a figure for the time then present, right?
So it was symbolic, it was figurative, and it was for a specific time.
Like, it's not for now, it was for back then, okay?
and it talks about how in it were offered verse 9 both gifts and sacrifices that could not make
him that did the service perfect as pertain to the conscience which stood only in meats and drinks
and divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them watch this until the time of the Reformation.
So is this something that was permanently imposed on them you know the meats the drinks the carnal
It was imposed on them until, so it was a temporary system that was figurative,
revolving around the temple, the tabernacle, the priesthood, etc.
It says it was imposed on them until the time of Reformation.
Now what is the time of Reformation? We're not talking about
Martin Luther and John Calvin and those kind of guys.
When we say the time of Reformation, it's defined right here in the text,
Okay, that is equivalent to what the Bible means time of Reformation. It's talking about the New Testament
Christ being come so it's imposed on them until the time of Reformation
But Christ now that he's come Christ being come
An high piece of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands
That is to say not of this building now by the blood of goats and calves
But by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption
for us and you know goes on and again you know we could read chapter 8 especially verse 13 you
know we could read chapter 9 chapter 10 and there's an explanation in this text you know about the
difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. What has changed in the New Testament
is that we no longer have that physical tabernacle.
And we don't have that system of sacrifices.
Why? Because Jesus Christ is the ultimate sacrifice.
And so those other sacrifices were figurative leading up to that and foreshadowing that.
Now that Christ has come, He is the ultimate high priest, the ultimate sacrifice.
So that system is done away with.
That's why the Bible says in Hebrews the priesthood being changed.
There is a necessity made a change also of the law.
So we no longer have the carnal ordinances.
What does carnal mean, fleshly, physical ordinances,
meats, drinks, divers, washings?
So here's the thing, dietary restrictions, right?
Different washings and, you know,
bathe your flesh in water and be unclean until the even
and pour out the drink offering unto the Lord
and make the meat offering unto the Lord
You know, the tenth of a deal of fine flour mingled with oil and all that.
But you know what's not done away in the New Testament is the basic right and wrong
that we learned in the Old Testament, right?
The moral law is still there.
God didn't say, hey, in the New Testament, murder is okay now.
Hey, it's okay to commit an adultery now!
Hey, covetousness is no problem!
Hey, fornication is no problem!
That's madness! Why?
Because those are things that are just intrinsically wrong.
There's a certain just right and wrong. There's nothing inherently wrong about eating shrimp or pork or
You know doing those things those are ceremonial things just you know physical things
Ritual things things that had to do with the tabernacle of the temple
Specific to the Old Covenant specific to the children of Israel specific to back then but you have these bozos come along and just want to say
Anything in the Old Testament just disregard
Just nuts to it. Well, then why are we carrying this big book around with us then if we're going to ignore 75% of it?
What does the Bible say the Bible says that those things in the Old Testament they're written for us?
You know and here's how I think that some people even get this wrong even if they have the right doctrine
They still kind of think what was mainly for them back then
But we can still kind of get something out of it now, but it was like mainly for them
I don't believe that for one second.
The Bible just says, hey, it was written for us, man.
The way I look at it is like it was kind of for them back then, but it was mainly for us.
I'm not even kidding.
I'm not kidding at all.
Why? Because like I said, 99% of the readers of the Book of Numbers are in the New Testament.
Right? Because we just have 8 billion people on the planet
and billions of those people have this book on their shelf.
and there's way more people reading it, AD than BC.
And so God's not up in heaven just producing a book
that's just gonna go out of style after a few hundred years
with just, you know, few readers.
No, I believe that the Old Testament has even more
relevance today for us than it has ever had
for anyone in the history of mankind, okay?
And obviously we have to be smart enough
to be able to rightly divide the word of truth and understand the fact that, hey, some of these things were a figure for the time then present,
but we can still learn from them, we can still understand them, but when we read about God and how God acts,
and what God's reaction is toward human behavior, we need to remember that God doesn't change and that that's the same God that you're praying to right now.
And for God, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day.
So do you really think that like four days ago? God was like that different?
I mean think about it like like you might be able to make a case
Hey, you know I feel like Pastor Anderson has changed over the years or so-and-so has changed over the years
But what if you said well, you know the pastor Anderson that I hung out with three and a half days ago
Was totally different than the pastor Anderson of today
I mean, wouldn't that be a weird thing to say?
Like, you know, Pastor Anderson back in August was preaching a certain way, but now that
it's September, he's preaching totally different.
You know, even for me, and I am a human being that is subject to change, we all as humans,
we can change.
Jesus won't change, but, you know, we change.
But wouldn't that be a little weird to claim that I had changed like in the last three
and a half days?
Well, here's the thing, from God's perspective, the stuff he was doing in the Book of Numbers,
when he was sending fiery serpents and killing 23,000 people in one day for fornication,
that was like three and a half days ago from his perspective, right?
Because it was like 3,500 years ago.
Because that stuff happened around like 1,500 BC, but to God, that was like last week.
That was like, God basically did that stuff on Monday and it's Friday now.
And you're like, oh, that was bad, you know, you had God back then, he was really punishing people on Monday, but now it's Friday.
See how crazy that is? But that's what the Bible says, that I don't change. For me, a day is like a thousand years, a thousand years like a day.
And in fact, we were just studying this on Wednesday night at our church in Psalm 90, he said in fact a thousand years for God is like a watch in the night, which is like three hours.
So basically by that logic, there would be like, okay, well, it's you know, it's about eight o'clock now
That'd be like, you know at 10 a.m. This morning. God was filled with wrath
But now that it's 8 p.m. He's totally chill
Which is just like he hasn't had his coffee yet or something. What in the world is this didn't they didn't have lunch yet?
That's madness
But you know, it's just as crazy to say like, well, you know, I love Pastor Anderson's preaching on Wednesday night, but he's totally changed
He's not he's not the same anymore. Now. It's Friday as
Absurd as that would be to act like someone changed how much more absurd is it to think that God changed?
When God doesn't change and for God it wasn't like oh thousands of years have gone by and he's just he's had time to chill out a little
No
God was chill in the Old Testament. He was slow to wrath in the Old Testament.
He was long suffering in the Old Testament. You know what the Bible says?
When once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah.
So in the days of Noah, what was God? He was long suffering.
He was merciful. He had grace. He loved
people just like he does now.
God doesn't change his word doesn't change and you know what right and wrong doesn't change
Okay, so even if there are different rituals different worship different covenant different testament, okay
Right and wrong is still right and wrong if it was wrong to cross dress back then it's still wrong to cross dress now
If it was wrong to murder, commit adultery, commit fornication, be drunk, you name it,
it's wrong now.
And so we re-read the Old Testament, we can learn about how God thinks about these things,
we can learn about what is right and wrong, we can read the book of Proverbs and learn
about how to live our lives, right and wrong, and not just say, oh no, all obsolete, Psalms
is obsolete, Mosaic law is obsolete, no, no, no, my friend, that stuff's relevant.
is you got a bunch of people just totally discarding
seventy-five percent of the word of God
saying it's outdated or
sometimes they'll even get rid of more than that, these hyper dispensational types
sometimes they'll say well the only part that's for us is just Romans to Philemon
mean just this tiny little sliver and I've even seen these these really like
rabid Ruckmanites even like hold up their Bible and literally show people and
be like you sure this book right here and they'll hold it out I'm gonna do it
for illustrative purposes illustrative purposes they'll basically go like you
see this Bible right here you know this is how much of it is written for you just
this little sliver right here is for you
Just this little sliver. I mean, that has got to be the dumbest, craziest doctrine ever, and it just isn't biblical.
Everything else is for Jews, who don't read it, don't care, don't believe it.
Why would God just give so much? You know, you know what the Bible says, under him that hath more shall be given,
he's going to be given more abundantly. You know, wouldn't the people that are
spirit-filled Christians who love God and love Christ, you know, wouldn't God be giving us the most?
Not just like, hey, let me just give tons of Bible to a bunch of unsaved Jews who don't care.
And then we're just going to give you a little sliver.
No, hey, the whole thing is for us. Ezekiel is written for us.
Who preached more sermons on Ezekiel, people BC or AD?
I mean, it's not even close.
Ezekiel is being, I guarantee you that there's some guy right now preaching on Ezekiel right now somewhere.
Right there. I mean, how many people this second are probably preaching on Ezekiel somewhere some Bible study somewhere preaching somewhere
Right, I bet you on Sunday morning. There's going to be like, you know thousands of Ezekiel sermons all over the world
It name any part of the Bible. It's being pretty every like every chapter in the Bible is going to be preached this Sunday somewhere in the world
This book has power. This book is relevant right now, today in 2025.
God hasn't changed. The Bible hasn't changed. And this book is more relevant than today's newspaper.
And we need to remember that and anchor our lives on the fact that, number one, God doesn't change.
Number two, the Word of God doesn't change. And number three, right and wrong doesn't change.
Now those are all good things that don't change.
But there's another thing that doesn't change, and this is kind of a bad thing.
But human nature doesn't change, okay?
So because human nature doesn't change, the same garbage that was going on back then
is the same kind of garbage that's going on now.
You know, and I'm always a little bit wary of doctrines
that try to claim that the Bible is talking about something that doesn't exist in the world today.
Because I thought there's no new thing under the sun and kind of like, you know, the same basic human experience is what we've all been going through.
And the thing that has been, it is that which shall be, and that which has come, is that which shall be done, and there's no new thing under the sun.
Aren't you guys in it? Please ask these series, what chapter are you guys in?
Chapter 7, yeah, so you're deep into this thing of the thing that has been it is that which shall be that which is done
Is that what shall be done? There's no new thing under the sun
Is there anything rather maybe said see this is new behold it have been already of old time which was before us
There's no you know, it's just there's no remembrance of former things people forgot that it was the same way then as it is now
Okay, human nature doesn't change
People who've been going through the same things over and over again. That's just the way the world is and and so
I think one of the best ways to read the Bible is to apply it to today and think about like, okay
What's what's the analogy today like like okay?
This situation was happening in the Bible. What is that like today in our world or in our lives?
And I understand that there are cultural differences
Because of technology and just just even in in America. It's going to be different than Europe. It's going to be different than Asia
You know, we just have cultural differences
But there are a lot of things that are just universal
to human nature. And I'm really skeptical of doctrines that teach something that doesn't exist
anywhere in the world. Let me give you an example. So if I'm reading the Bible and I'm reading the
King James Bible, I come across this word, Sodomite. And when I come across the word Sodomite,
that actually has relevance to me in the United States of America because there's Sodomites
in America. So it's like, okay, that's relevant.
I can understand that, I can look at all these scriptures and apply them and they make sense
to me, right?
Now, let's take, if you're a member of the Bible of the Month Club and you got the ESV,
NIV, SUV, whatever, and the thing about that is that they will replace the word sonomite
with the more, you know, educated scholarly opinion of that Hebrew word, which is a male
Okay, so what you'll find is you'll find these modern Bibles and they will say something like male cult prostitute
Colt prostrate shrine prostitute somewhere. I got and and here's what I'm wondering
Is there even a place on this entire planet?
where there's a shrine of a religious male prostitutes where people go to like a male prostitute church
That doesn't exist. That's not even a thing
Okay, so are there male cult shrine prostitutes in China?
No, he's like, no, they don't.
Are they in Africa?
Are they in Australia?
Are they on an Indian reservation?
Are they in America?
Are they in Canada?
Are they in Mexico?
They don't exist!
So I'm supposed to believe that the Bible just keeps bringing up this thing.
That doesn't even exist. It's not even real. Like who even made this up?
Who made up this? Oh, there's this temple and part of worshipping their false God is to go to a fact prostitute.
Really? Because I've never heard of that anywhere on this planet.
And in fact when God's talking about all the sins of Canaan and he's talking about the Jebusites and the Highbites and the
Prezites and all the different aides.
And he says, this is all the crap that they did.
He never brings that up.
So why would I believe that stupid joke?
But then some scholars are, well, if you go back
to the Hebrew, it's actually the middle shrine,
it's like, boy, you just made that up by now.
What kind of weird comic book did you read that in,
you pervert?
Because that ain't normal and that doesn't exist.
How is that helpful?
Oh, I'm so glad I have the NIV so that I can figure out what the Bible thinks about all these male cult shrine prostitutes that are everywhere.
Oh, wait, I've never seen one in my life and never will because they're not real because they don't exist.
You know, and then they're worried about the King James bringing up a unicorn.
But you know what? First of all, a unicorn in the King James probably just a rhinoceros because there's a style of rhinoceros that has one horn.
It's historically been called a unicorn, but you know what?
I much more believe that there was a white horse riding around
with a little twisty cone coming out of his nose than to believe
in this weird fiction of all these male, strong prostitutes.
That's not a thing! That's never been a thing!
Who made that up?
Hey, well, if you just studied more, you know, I'm I'm not claiming to be the expert on everything
But I will say this, you know, I've said a lot of ancient history and I've read a lot of ancient literature
You know, I've gone through phases where I went way deep into
ancient literature
classics ancient Greek literature
You know even other Mesopotamian stuff, you know, I've gone way down that rabbit hole
You know, I've never read about this stupid male shrine cult prostitute crap
And you know what even if I did read about it
I just think well there were the same weirdo perverts dreaming this stuff up back then, but it's not real
It's not it doesn't exist
Why would I want to read a Bible with a bunch of fake I mean they're worried about they're worried about the unicorn
You know, I'll tell you the real unicorn. It's this weird
Shrine cult that they're talking about that's not even a thing. Is it a thing in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand?
No, no, it just isn't real
Okay
And you know that that's kind of an extreme example
that even other some other examples like like I was criticized for teaching that the concubine
You know, when the Bible talks about a concubine, that basically that's analogous in our modern day to basically like having what we would call a common law or a living girlfriend where, you know, you're not legally married but you're basically living as husband and wife, right?
And there are people who they live like husband and wife and they live together, they sleep together, but they're not legally married. They're not married, right? And I said that's equivalent to the biblical concept of a concubine.
And it's like, oh, that's not true.
And somebody said, no, it's actually
like this prisoner of war slave wife or something
is the concubine.
That's what it really means.
And I'm thinking to myself, well, OK, let's just say you're
right.
How relevant is that even to my life in 2025
if I just have so many Bible verses about these POW slave
wives?
So many Bible verses, oh thank you God for giving me so many Bible verses about the POW slave war, but then here's what you'd have to believe.
You'd have to believe that God nowhere in the entire Bible mentions a live-in girlfriend, anywhere in the Bible.
Now I find that kind of hard to believe because here's the thing, is that we've all known people who have live-in girlfriends.
Have we all known them?
Anybody who is an adult, your kids are like,
I don't know anybody like that.
Well, amen, praise God, you don't know anybody like that.
But those of us who go out in the world and go to work,
we've all known people with cocky binds.
We've all known people that have done that
and have lived that life, and it's extremely common.
And so now, I have all these Bible verses
and they actually are relevant to the world
that we actually live in.
Right, but I'm supposed to believe that I mean I wonder you know maybe we can ask AI how many concubines exist in America right now
Let's ask AI right now in fact
Let's we're gonna ask Grock, okay, but we're not gonna we're not gonna say concubines because you know Grock might have gotten
Confused by someone about what that is. So let's ask Grock right now
How many women in America today are living with a man that they're not married to and
Committing fornication with that dude. All right. Let's see what we get. Did I explain that right?
Okay, it's interpreting the request right now, so we'll let that cook for a second
But here's the thing is that you know if you actually understand first of all the etymology of the word concubine
The con part means with and the cubine part means sleep
Because we have this thing called an incubator, right?
An incubator is where the baby sleeps in.
That's incubation sleeping inside.
And again, this award that's been, man, wow, this,
I think I just broke Grock asking if this usually goes faster than that.
I don't know why it's assuming the query focuses on adult women
and heterosexual, yeah, please do.
Please do assume that.
Thank you.
It's analyzing the cohabitation data, but you know you have the word cohabit cohabitate. Well concubine is
Lie with sleep with since it's a woman that yeah, she sleeps with you, but you're not legally married
She's not your lawfully wedded wife. She's not having that actual legal marital official status
You know
I've heard preachers define concubine that way my whole life.
I've read the Bible.
I've found that definition to make sense.
And here's the thing about that is a lot of people will even say,
oh, this is my wife.
And then you dig in a little deeper like,
oh, how long have you been married?
And they're like, oh, well, well, well, we're actually not married,
you know.
But, you know, if you just say, well, no, no, no, it's only talking about this POW, slave,
whatever, all the, like, other definitions of concubine that I've heard, you know, the
problem with those definitions is that we've never known anyone like that in our lives.
We've never met anyone like that in our lives.
And even worldwide, that's probably extremely uncommon.
So then I would have to believe that there's just so much scripture about this really uncommon
I would have to just believe it's never mentioned.
It's sort of like these people who think that wine in the Bible is just always an alcoholic beverage.
Obviously, it's a lot of time an alcoholic beverage,
but the people who think it's always an alcoholic beverage would just have to basically believe that the juice is just never mentioned.
31,000 Bible verses, no fruit juice mentioned in sight.
Well, they didn't have it back then.
Well, I'm pretty sure that they squeezed fruit at some point.
You know, like, I'm pretty sure that that's what the chief butler did into Pharaoh's cup.
Squeezed grapes into his cup and then gave him a drink.
So yeah, it existed, but never mentioned.
Living girlfriends are never mentioned.
And I've never had Grock take this long to answer a question.
And I got all the bars of 5G.
I don't know why Grock is conspiring to mess with my sermon.
I don't even care, but I know it's a big number.
How many concubines in the United States, I'm guessing it's millions.
Who thinks I'm probably right that it's in the six figures?
It's probably in the millions. Well, you know what? That's pretty relevant.
How many male shrine prostitutes we got out there? Precisely zero.
See, Grock would only take five seconds to tell me that, probably.
It's zero. You already got an answer?
3.2 million.
All right, so we've got 3.2 million concubines according to Pastor Anderson
Pastor Anderson says there are 3.2 concubines 3.2 million
concubines whereas this other doctrine that it's a
POW slave wife, whatever it is, you know a wife that's a slave or whatever, you know, there's there's 3.2
There's just 3.2 of them. Whereas there's 3.2 million
concubines according to Pastor Anderson instead of just three
Does everybody understand the difference? Okay, so I'm just telling you that I'm a little skeptical of
doctrines and definitions and wording that tries to tell me that
Oh, the Bible is talking about this thing that isn't real that doesn't exist that we never seen in our whole lives
Probably more likely it's talking about the same kind of junk that people are doing and you know if you got
3.2 million I keep saying that hope I'm right if you got 3.2 million concubines
In America, guess what? There are concubines back then, too.
And I bet 50 years from now, there's still going to be concubines in 2075, when people are pulling out the sermon for the 50th anniversary release of the sermon,
with special bonus features of the Spanish Bible interview, bonus feature, a tag on.
So anyway, I got to hurry up and wrap up here.
But I hope that this is helpful to you tonight, just to kind of drive in this idea of just look,
God doesn't change, the Bible doesn't change, right and wrong doesn't change,
and you know, we need some absolutes in our lives. And when we go to read the Bible,
we should also remember that human nature doesn't change. And so if there were concubines,
now there's probably concubines, then there's going to be, you know, it's just like, it's the same
Covetiousness, lust is a temptation, fornication is a temptation, idolatry is it those things are all going up like idolatry
Can we point to that in the world today? Of course we could right all over the world especially places like India
You got a billion idolaters
You know between India and the some of the neighboring countries in Southeast Asia and Buddhism
You probably have a billion people bound down to statues between Hinduism and Buddhism
You know, it's rampant and do we read about idolatry a lot in the Bible?
Yeah, are there a lot of idolaters in the world we live in? Yeah, we read about concubines in the Bible
Yeah, that's 3.2 million of them. You know read about sodomites. Are there sodomites?
Unfortunately, yes
Why because there's no new thing under the Sun wait wait the numbers going up
Well is that is that must be worldwide
No, man, that doesn't know you need to recalculate
Something went wrong in that calculation that's to that's just how many women are in the u.s. Bro
That's still all right, we're getting we're getting to carry away
Either way is a big number it's in the millions
That's all that's all I wanted to establish and and maybe some day I'll get this in two in the morning. I'm gonna be like
And get my answer, you know roll out of bed get a drink of water
Check on this super slow AI
All right, so here's the thing
Let's just finish up with this part of the passage and then we'll call it a night, but it says here now all these things
Verse 11 happened unto them for in samples and they're written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come
Wherefore let him that think at the stand to take heed lest he fall
There is no temptation taking you but such as this common demand, but God is faithful.
And let me just stop there and say what the word faithful means.
It means he's reliable, he's trustworthy, he's not going to let you down.
and he will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able,
but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it.
So whatever difficult thing, whatever challenge, trial, tribulation, whatever he brings into your life,
you know, you can get through it.
Even if he pushes you right up to the edge, he's not going to push you over the edge.
If you go over the edge, it's your fault.
But he will bring you right up to the edge.
tempt you, but you know what? He'll provide a way of escape so that you may be
able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry." He says,
look, there's no excuse for going into sin. There's always a way to get through
it, to stay right, to stay on the right path. Do not make excuses for yourself.
God is faithful. God's not going to let you down. You got the Bible, still there.
God's still on the throne, and you know what?
When you go through things in your life, you know, and at hard times.
And like I said, I've been pushed to my absolute limit at times.
I mean, there have been times when I was at the limit, just I cannot take any more.
But you know what? I'm still here, still believe the Bible, still preaching, still love God,
still serving Christ.
You know what? You can do it too. We can all do it.
And people were doing it before we were born, and they're going to be doing it after we're gone.
God's faithful. He will not leave you high and dry.
But He will test you, and you will be pushed.
And they were pushed back then, and many of them, God wasn't pleased with them.
We need to pass the test, amen, and we need to be the people with whom God is well pleased,
because we stay with it, we push ourselves.
And sometimes you have to slow down a little.
Sometimes it's all you can do to just hang on.
And you know, sometimes we're running in our Christian life
and sometimes we're walking
and sometimes we're just like on our knees crawling.
But you know what, we gotta just keep moving forward though.
No other direction makes any sense.
How can we go backwards, right?
What are you gonna do when God pushed you to your absolute?
Oh, I'm gonna turn to a life of sin.
That's stupid. Don't be a fool, man. You just keep pushing. You just keep moving forward. You grind it out
And I remember one time we tried to do this thing. This was like many many years ago
We did this like 30 mile walk
With me and a bunch of guys from church. This is like a long time ago
And I'd never walked that far at the time
I'd never walked 30 miles and so this is like a new thing and I I kid you not you know the first like 10 miles
We're just walking chatting smiling, you know
By the time we got to mile 20 like we were in a lot of pain at mile 10
We're like oh, I could do this forever you get to mile 20. We were in pain
And I kid you not at one point. I was literally crawling on the ground
And I'm not kidding. I mean, I'm I'm dead serious. I just I was like, you know what?
I just need to take a break from walking and just crawl for a little while
And I was in the grass on my hands and knees crawling forward
Just because I'm just like I got to keep moving
Because I knew that once I stopped, I can't move anymore.
But I'm like, I have to give my feet or break my feet hurt so bad that I mean it seems weird even to say that now it seems weird.
At the time it made sense, but it doesn't make a lot of sense now.
But I just remember literally being on my hands and knees crawling for a few minutes.
But hey, I made a little progress, kept going.
And you know what, that's what we do in the Christian life.
It's not as weird as on our hands and knees just crawling.
But you know then we get that second wind and we get up and there have been times in in other, you know
Long hikes or marathons or something where you just feel like that's it. I'm done
But you get that second wind and you keep going, but you know at the end of that 30 mile walk
you know, we went to Chipotle, you know, once we were done. It was a natural stopping point, you know.
So we went to Chipotle and this message was brought to you in part by Chipotle.
But we went to Chipotle and I sat down and I ate Chipotle and oh, it felt so good to sit down
and oh, the Chipotle was so good. But then
my wife pulled up
the van to pick me up and I mean we're talking it was literally like the
distance from me to that water cooler to get to that van and I remember just like
I just think I can't even do it I just how am I gonna get I was like how am I
gonna get there because I couldn't get out of the chair because here's thing
once you stop it's really hard to get started again you know what I mean like
like when you're crawling
It's easier to go from the crawl to walking again, but man, when you're just at a dead stop, it is hard to get you stiffened up and it is hard to get going again.
Don't stop in the Christian life. Keep going. God's faithful. He's not going to tempt you above that.
You're able to just, you know, if you have to slow down, slow down, but man, don't get out of the race.
Don't stop. You know, another thing that they say in these running races is don't leave the course.
One time my son was doing this ultramarathon and he got to a point where he was like halfway
through the thing so he still had a long way to go and he was just like done.
He was getting severe Charlie horses and cramps and could not continue.
But instead of leaving the course, because once you leave the course you're not allowed
to continue anymore, you're disqualified, right?
Instead of leaving the course, he just sat down at the aid station, and listen, it's called
aid station.
Sometimes people hear me say like, AIDS station, okay?
That's that weird shrine that doesn't exist.
That's that shrine that's not real that was made up by theologians.
The editors, the NIV dream that one up.
But actually, it's this aid station where you get aid, okay?
And he sat down there, and he just kind of sat down and was just eating and drinking a little bit.
And after like a half hour, you know, after like a half hour, he just all of a sudden was able to continue.
And he ended up finishing the race and before the cutoff time.
You know amazingly he thought he was done, but he's like you know what just in case I'm just not gonna leave the course
So here's the thing if you can't run walk if you can't walk crawl
You know and even if you don't want to crawl if you have to sit down, you know, don't leave the course
Don't leave church
Just sit your butt in church. How hard is it to just warm up you?
Just sit I'm doing the heart part. I'm up your preacher. You're just sitting there man
Every once in a while you just have to look something up on the internet or something, you know.
Hey, there's no new thing on the sun. God's faithful. He's not going to change.
He's going to get us through it. Let's bide and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you so much that you don't change, Lord,
and help us to really anchor ourselves to certain changeless, timeless truths from your word, Lord.
And Lord, I pray that everyone here would decide they're going to stay on the course,
And just like you don't change, Lord, help us to anchor ourselves to those things so that we don't change and get out of the fight, Lord.
Help us to continue serving you for the long haul. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. Thank you, Pastor Anderson.
Let's sing number 130 yesterday today forever
number 130
It's alluded to in the sermon
Bill Fitts 130
Oh, how sweet the glorious message sample faith may claim
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
Still he loves who saved the sin, for he'll the sick and lame.
Cheer the mourner, still the tempest, glory to his name.
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
All may change but Jesus never, glory to his name, glory to his name, glory to his name.
All may change but Jesus never, glory to his name.
He who pardoned and daring, Peter never needs our fear.
He that came to faithless Thomas, all thy doubt will clear.
He who let the love disciple on his bosom rest.
Bids He still with love as tenderling upon His breast.
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name.
may change but Jesus never glory to his name. He who made the raging billows
walked upon the sea, healed on Kosh our wildest tempest as on Galilee. He who
wept and prayed in night.
in Gethsemane. Drinks with us each cup of trembling in our agony.
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
All may change but Jesus never glory to His name. Glory to...
may change but Jesus never glory to his name as a vote he walked to may us with
them to abide so through all I swear he walketh ever near our sign soon again
shall we
and Lord the day. But will still be this same Jesus as he went away. Yesterday, today, forever
Jesus is the same. All may change but Jesus never glory too.
may change, but Jesus never glory to his name. Amen. This time.