The Bible says, "I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him that called you into
the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, then that which
we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."
You know, it's some pretty hardcore words here from the Apostle Paul, and many people
would be offended at just such a direct statement coming from a preacher where he's talking
to this group of Christians in Galatia, and he's like, "Look, if anyone preaches any other
gospel than that which I have preached unto you, let that person be accursed."
He's saying, "Let that person be damned to hell."
I mean, that's a very hard message that he's giving.
He says in verse 9, "As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other
gospel unto you, then that you have received, let him be accursed."
So he's doubling it down, he's making it clear that this is a very serious issue.
The gospel is not one of those agree to disagree type things.
We got to fight for the right gospel.
We have to fight for salvation by faith alone.
We can't allow work salvation to creep in or the teaching that you could lose your salvation.
He's saying if anyone's teaching any other gospel, let that person go to hell.
Now this is very important context for the next verse that we're going to read.
Verse 10, he says this, "For do I now persuade men or God?
Or do I seek to please men?
For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."
You know, Paul here recognizes that the words that he's saying could be offensive to some
people, that it's a hardcore statement, that some people could get upset by it.
But he's basically saying, "Look, I don't care because my role as a preacher is not
to please men.
My role as a preacher is not to be liked by people, not to be some celebrity.
It's simply to please God."
And he makes this very important statement where he says this, "For if I yet pleased
men, I should not be the servant of Christ."
Those preachers that are out there today are Christians who are just interested in pleasing
other people, who are just interested at getting along with everyone at the sake of sound doctrine.
Like they'll stop preaching sound doctrine, they'll water down the message, they'll change
the gospel for getting along with people.
The Bible says that those are not the ministers of God.
Those are not the servants of Christ.
It's kind of a litmus test that we could look at someone and say, "Okay, is this person
a servant of Christ?"
Well, if they're all just about pleasing people, pleasing men, then that would prove that they
are not.
And so the title of my sermon this evening is this, the servant of Christ, the servant
of Christ.
You know, I want to talk about and highlight several ways that you can identify a true
man of God and a real servant of Jesus Christ.
And you know, this isn't going to just apply to pastors, this is going to apply to all
of us.
You know, how can we identify who is truly serving God and who is not?
Because, you know, kind of the theme of the sermons today is I am just really sick and
tired of atheists and heathen and backslidden Christians and people that don't believe the
Bible telling us, oh, you guys aren't the real Christians, you guys aren't the real
servants of Christ.
Well, just like this morning, I'm going to use the Bible to prove all my points because
we are Christians.
We basically believe off of the Bible.
Now, turn if you would to John 15, and as you're turning there, I'll read for you Malachi
318, the Bible says this, "Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the
wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not."
We are able to discern between those who are actually serving God, who are the actual ministers
of God, and those who are not.
So how do we do that?
Well, number one, this evening, the Bible tells us that godly Christians will be hated.
Here's one litmus test, if someone is actually serving God, actually a righteous minister
of Jesus Christ, the Bible says that godly Christians will be hated.
Now, this is shocking for people who don't read the Bible because there's such a warped
view of Christianity out there today.
And, you know, I think it comes from just decades and decades of false prophets being
in the spotlight, false prophets being, you know, the televangelists, guys like Billy
Graham, right where the whole world loves this guy, guys like Joel Osteen.
He's not really making any waves.
He's not really preaching any hard sermons, you know, he's the smiling preacher who's
just always nice, always has nice things to say.
And when people think of Christianity and Christian ministers, they often think about
this purple lights, smoke on the stage, nice, kind, soft, effeminate pastor.
And like this is their idea of a minister of Christ.
But we're actually look at the Bible, what the Bible says.
Look at John 15, this is the words of Jesus Christ in verse 18.
Jesus said this, "If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you."
So foundational idea here, Jesus is letting us know that the world hated him.
So if we're going to be Christians, if we're going to be godly, if we're going to be Christ
like, shouldn't we expect that the founder of our religion who was hated, shouldn't we
expect that we ourselves will be hated?
You know if we have Jesus Christ who was hated by the world and supposedly all of his followers,
all of his ministers were just loved and adored and praised by this world, that would be incongruent.
That wouldn't make any sense.
There would be some sort of disconnect there.
You're thinking, wait, this doesn't make any sense, but look at verse 19.
Jesus said, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own."
You see that?
So if the world loves you, if the world just really loves the pastor and the police love
him and the mayor love him and the government and the media, just everyone loves this pastor,
what does that prove?
Well, he's of the world.
It proves that he's not a righteous minister.
It proves that he's of the world.
It says, "But because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore
the world hateth you."
So those who were the true disciples of Christ, those who were standing with him, those who
were preaching his words, he's been chosen out of the world and therefore the world hates
those people.
So if we look today, hey, who are the servants of Christ?
Who are those that are actually pleasing God?
It's those that are hated by the world.
And people will be like, "Wow, you know, you guys are in the news.
You guys are making people upset.
That proves that you're not of God."
No, actually, it proves that it's matching up exactly with what Jesus said, that we would
be hated.
Stay there.
I'll read for you Ephesians 6-12.
The Bible says, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places."
The Bible teaches that we are in spiritual warfare.
And though we're not going out and fighting people with swords or guns, the battle that
we fight is very real, folks.
It is a real battle, but it's a spiritual one.
And so what are we at war against?
We're against the principalities, the powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world.
And if we're in a war, we should expect some resistance.
We should expect the enemy to come at us.
And if we're actually effective in the war, you're going to get more firepower coming
at you.
There's a phrase talking about how, hey, if you're getting flak from the enemy, it means
that you're over the target, right?
Because the enemy wants to defend their infrastructure and their city, so they'll try to shoot the
bombers that are flying over the important infrastructure, right?
So us as Christians, if we're in a battle and we're getting all this blowback, we're
getting people coming at us, we're getting news articles, we're getting hate, hey, that
just proves that we're actually making a difference in the war.
You know, it's like, oh, you know, hey, I was a part of this company, this regiment
in a battle.
It's like, did you get shot at at all?
No.
Did you shoot at anyone at all?
No.
Sounds like you weren't in a very effective, you know, company there or whatever, you know,
squadron there.
Sounds like you weren't being very effective in the war.
But hey, if you're taking out a lot of the enemy, you know what's going to happen?
You're going to get shot at back.
And that's the same thing spiritually.
Look at verse 20.
It says, "Remember the word that I said unto you.
The servant is not greater than his Lord.
If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also."
So, you know, it's both sides of the coin here.
He's saying, look, there's people that hated Christ.
There's people that rejected Him, lied about Him, and of course, Jesus had the most severe
persecution because His persecution culminated in His bloody, brutal death on the cross.
And people that hated Christ, guess what?
Those same people are going to hate us.
Those same people are going to come after us.
But, of course, not everyone literally hated Christ.
There was people that received Him.
And the people that received Him says, "If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours
also."
And, you know, of course, not everyone hates us.
You know, don't get that idea, "Oh, everyone hates you."
No, you know, we go out soul-winning into this community tons and tons of days per week.
We go out a lot into this community and all the time.
People are getting saved.
People are appreciative that we're there.
We're making good connections.
We're having good conversations with people.
We're getting people baptized.
People are coming and visiting church.
Like, it's not that everyone hates us.
It's just that the wicked people who hate Jesus hate us.
And the people who like the Bible and like the words of Christ and love the Lord Jesus
Christ, those people love us.
You should expect both sides of this coin.
Verse 21 says this, "But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake,
because they know not him that sent me."
It's like, hey, why were they persecuting Christ because they knew not God the Father
that sent Jesus Christ?
Why do people hate Christians today?
Why do people persecute us?
It's because they don't know God.
It's an evident token that they do not know God.
Verse 22, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin, but now they
have no cloak for their sin.
He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin.
But now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law,
they hated me without a cause.
You know Jesus Christ was hated for no legitimate reason.
Jesus never sinned, he did nothing but good unto people, did nothing but heal people,
preach people the word of God.
And you know we're not greater than our Lord, we are sinners and of course if Jesus was
hated being sinless, we of course are going to be hated as well.
But often times we're even going to be hated for no cause, for no good reason.
You know recently our church being in the media, it was for no good reason.
It was for preaching the word of God and it's funny you know even in the article it's like
yeah he's a good worker, yeah he's kind to everyone, yeah he's prompt, yeah he's really
polite in his job, it was just his preaching of the word of God.
It's like okay sounds like this is for no good reason.
Sounds like this is purely for our religion or for nothing else, it's like did he show
up late?
No.
Did he you know rip people off?
No.
Did he do bad at his job?
No.
What did he do?
Hmm.
Okay.
It's very easy to see what this is.
Go to John 16.
John 16 verse 33.
Notice what Jesus said.
"These things I have spoken unto you that in me you might have peace.
In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer.
I have overcome the world."
Notice not you might have tribulation.
You kind of sort of will.
No.
He just said look you absolutely will have tribulation, but he wrote these things that
we might have peace, right?
So we're not supposed to let our heart be troubled.
We're not supposed to get all scared and all uncomfortable when these things happen.
You know we could have the peace of God in our hearts no matter what we're going through
knowing that God is on our side.
And you know obviously we all have human emotions and at times you know you're going to feel
the emotions.
You're going to feel the feelings.
But remember what we always talk about, your emotions are not always valid.
Sometimes it's okay to recognize like hey I'm having an emotion, but that emotion is
not correct.
You know there could be a day at this church where we do have something like protests.
And look I'm not necessarily asking for that to happen, but it could happen.
It's happened before folks, trust me.
It's happened before.
And you know if that day comes, you know especially people who have not been through something
like that, you might be walking into the church and you might feel a certain way in your stomach.
And that might be just a normal natural human reaction, but you know what you need to tell
yourself hey that's the wrong emotion.
God said that we shouldn't be upset by these things.
We shouldn't be scared of these things.
We could have peace knowing that we're on the Lord's side.
But you know what would actually put a pit in my stomach is allowing the enemies of God
to stop me from serving God.
Like that's the true scary thought for me, is allowing haters of God, sodomites, atheists
to cause me to be afraid so that I tone down the preaching.
And you know this is what the old IFB has done over the years.
Like back in the day I could show you a bunch of sermons from old IFB preachers ripping
face against the sodomites, preaching hard, but you know they start getting some heat,
they start getting some blowback and then the apologies come, right?
Then they backtrack everything.
You know we need to never be like that.
And sometimes I think that it's because of maybe all the money that churches have and
all the assets that they have.
You know they get the big building and all of a sudden the building is what's most important.
And look I pray that God someday blesses us with a big building, that would be great.
But you know what if that would cause me to ever be tempted to tone down the preaching
then I just pray that we never get a building.
Now if we can handle it then I pray that God gives that to us.
But you know I hate seeing churches where it's like they get the building, they get
the money, they get the assets and you can see like the culture starts to shift.
You get to see things start to get different than they used to be and you know what we
need to not be that way.
Go to Acts chapter number 19, Acts chapter number 19.
So what are we seeing so far?
Hey the Bible promises that those who are godly, those who are actually the servants
of Christ, they are going to be hated by the world, hated by the devil, not liked by everyone.
It's funny, you go to the Oklahoman, this you know news publication that made the article
about us, they have a whole section called religion and anytime they say something positive,
just go look at the types of churches they're saying something positive about.
It's a bunch of false prophets, it's a bunch of people that preach a false gospel.
But when there's a real church in the news, when there's a real pastor who actually believes
what the Bible says, it's going to be in a negative light.
Look at Acts chapter number 19, Acts 19 verse 13 says this, "Then certain of the vagabond
Jews exorcists took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits, the name of the
Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preacheth.
And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so."
Notice verse 15, "And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know and Paul I know, but
who are ye?"
So notice when it comes to spiritual warfare, the devil knows who the real servants of God
are.
That's why he's coming after them.
And that's why it's a token of a righteous church.
When you see them being persecuted, you know, you look at what Steadfast Baptist Church
has been through, what Pastor Shelley has been through, you know, it's a stamp of approval
from God on his ministry that he is a legit man of God.
That Steadfast Baptist Church is the real deal.
And you know, look at how much God has blessed that church in the last year alone.
You know, it seems like God was just allowing Steadfast to go through a period of trial
and tribulation and just trimming the fat.
And then now that church is just absolutely thriving and it is amazing to see.
But guess what?
You know, the devil knows Pastor Jonathan Shelley, the devil knows Anchor Baptist Church,
but it's like, oh, United, you know, Church of Christ, that false prophet, Lori Walker.
It's like, who are you?
You know, the devil doesn't know who that false prophet is because that person is already
doing the work of Satan.
So Satan doesn't have to attack people who are already doing the work of Satan.
You know who the devil is going to come after?
Those who are doing the work of Christ.
Those are preaching the words of Jesus Christ.
That's who the devil is going to come after.
Go to Luke chapter number six, Luke chapter number six.
Luke verse 22, Jesus said this, "Blessed are ye when men shall hate you and when they shall
separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil
for the son of man's sake, rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy.
For behold, your reward is great in heaven, for in the like manner did their fathers unto
the prophets."
Look, I am not ashamed of our church being in the news recently.
I hope you're not ashamed of it because Jesus said that it's actually a blessing.
You know, what an honor from the Lord Jesus Christ that God has counted Little Anchor
Baptist Church worthy of some persecution.
You know, that is a great honor and blessing and instead of causing that to make us fear
or be depressed or be sad, you know, that should cause us to rejoice.
We should be leaping for joy.
We should be excited.
You know, besides me being sick last week, my spirit was happy like my body wasn't very
happy being sick.
But you know what?
I woke up.
I was excited.
I was happy.
I'm waking up and going to work tomorrow and I'm gonna have a great attitude and I'm gonna
do my job well and I'm gonna be happy and I'm not gonna let any of these people control
my emotions.
Why?
Because I'm only under one Lord.
That's Jesus Christ and he said to be rejoicing.
He said to be happy.
So I don't care how many people hate me.
I don't care how many people hate our church.
I'm going to be happy because it's actually a token that our church is the real deal.
And you know what?
You need to have some faith today that God is with us and that God will bless doing things
the right way.
God will bless the right preaching.
God will bless the right soul winning.
And you know, you look around today and you say, oh, we don't have hundreds of people.
Okay.
But you know what?
If we stay faithful to the word of God, let's see where we're at in 10 years.
You know, let's see where we're at.
Let's see what a great work that we could do for God rather than these people who back
off, stop preaching hard, tone things down, not making as much waves as they used to.
No, we just need to go full bore ahead and let the Lord bless our works.
Go to 2nd Timothy chapter number 3, 2nd Timothy chapter 3.
You know, I think it's good that we just remind ourselves of these things from time to time
because it's kind of a counterintuitive idea.
You think, "Oh, everyone's mad at you.
Everyone hates you.
You're in the news.
It must mean you did something bad."
Not necessarily, folks.
You know, if we're doing it for the word of God, it's a good thing.
It's a blessing.
2 Timothy 3 verse 10, Paul said this, "But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner
of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience," notice verse 11, "persecutions,
afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra."
Notice this, "What persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me."
You know, the Apostle Paul went through severe persecution.
More than anyone I know or have ever seen, guys getting shipwrecked, bros getting stoned,
bros getting like basically killed, like he's going through all sorts of terrible stuff,
but yet the Bible says that the Lord was with him and that out of all of them, the Lord
delivered him.
And you know, me in my own life, the very small amount of persecution that I've received,
I've seen the Lord deliver me out of it.
And you know, Steadfast Baptist Church, when I was there, going through trial after trial
after trial, like I said, just look at them now, the Lord has delivered them of it.
And I tell you what, this small persecution that our church is going through, the Lord
will deliver it of us as well.
But we need to stay faithful to His word.
Look at verse 12, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
You know, I'm just, I'm so sick and tired from hearing from the Christians, "Oh, you
guys are in the news.
That means you guys are bad."
No, no, no.
The Bible says that if you're living godly, you will suffer persecution.
If your church is never in the news, if your pastor is never in the news, if you're never
making any waves, that might be a sign that your church is not that godly.
Might be a sign that you're really not making the devil that mad.
And you say, "Well, I am living a godly life and I have suffered no persecution."
Well, then it's coming very soon.
And you ought to just read these verses and internalize them.
And like I preached about a few weeks ago, realize that the Christian life is just a
constant battle, and you ought not to get weary of the battle and say, "Man, I'm just
so tired of the drama.
I'm so tired of the fighting.
I'm so tired of having to deal with issues."
It's never going to stop.
It's never, ever, ever going to stop.
So just buckle up, get ready for the fight, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus
Christ.
And quite frankly, I don't know about you, but I would rather be in a fight with the
sodomites and the world than the infighting that's been happening the last year in Christianity.
You know, and I'll fight any fight God wants me to.
I'm here for it.
But you know, I'd rather fight those wicked people than Christians that are perverting
the word of God and Christians that are backslidden.
You know, that doesn't bring me joy, but you know, it does bring me joy fighting sodomites.
I'll just be honest with you.
It does.
You know, I was happy.
Look, we got it on the wall, folks.
Like we are happy about it.
We're excited about it.
Go to first Peter or I'm sorry, verse 13 says this, but evil men and seducers shall wax
worse and worse deceiving and being deceived.
Notice verse 14, but continue thou in the things which thou has learned and has been
assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them.
You know, we got one option in my mind when we're enduring persecution, and that is to
continue.
You know, it's not up for debate in my mind, like, oh, should we change the message?
Should we stop preaching this?
That question is never entering my mind because the Bible says continue thou and like it
doesn't matter if you got to meet in a hotel church for a year.
It doesn't matter if you got sodomites coming at your house.
It doesn't matter what the situation is.
We need to continue period.
We need to be faithful to God.
Go to first Peter chapter four, first Peter chapter number four, first Peter four verse
12.
The Bible says beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try
you as though some strange thing happened unto you.
He's saying, look, when you go through persecution, when you're going through a trial, don't think
that this is a bizarre, you know, out of the ordinary experience.
The Bible saying, look, you should expect this and you know, I don't know what all different
levels of persecution people have been through in this room, you know, maybe this is the
first time something like this has happened.
You know, what I say to you is think it not strange.
Don't think that this is out of the ordinary.
Don't think like, oh man, you know, am I, am I in a weird church here?
We're in the news.
No, no, no.
This is a good thing.
This is what the Bible tells us to expect.
Verse 13, why it says, but rejoice in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings
that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
The Bible says that when we are suffering for righteousness sakes, that we are actually
a partaker of Christ's sufferings.
You know, that is a great honor.
That is a high honor to be our partaker of the sufferings of Jesus Christ.
You know, it's real easy just to think like, "Yeah, Jesus Christ suffered and died for
me and salvation is a free gift by grace and amen, it absolutely is."
But what about going beyond that and saying, "Okay, Christ suffered and he suffered immensely,
you know, immeasurably compared to anything we could ever go through.
And if we suffer just a little bit for his name sake, for his word, shouldn't we count
that as an honor?
I mean, shouldn't we rejoice when that happened?
Why would you be sad about that?
There's not very many people in this world that get to experience that high honor.
Why?
Because not very many people are actually serving God.
Not very many people are actually preaching the full counsel of God.
When we go through that, that's a blessing.
Look at verse 14.
"If ye be reproached," notice, "for the name of Christ, happy are ye for the spirit of
glory and of God resteth upon you.
On their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified."
When we are reproached, when people look at us and they call us wicked names, evil names,
they think poorly of us, they talk crap about us in the news, the Bible says for the name
of Christ, happy are ye.
And you know, if we do ever have the protest or something like that, you know what you
should do is you should walk into this church with your head held high, with a smile on
your face, because you're suffering reproach for the name of Jesus Christ.
And when I go to work tomorrow, I'm going to have a great attitude and I'm going to
be smiling and I'm going to be happy because if anyone hates me, I'm just thinking, Hey,
it's just suffering for the name of Jesus Christ.
Praise the Lord.
Praise God that he counts as worthy of that.
But notice verse 15, but let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evil
doer or as a busy body and other men's matters.
Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God
on this behalf.
So, you know, when you're going through something bad, when you're going through people calling
you names or some sort of persecution, you know, it's good to sit and ask yourself for
a minute, "All right, am I suffering for the name of Christ, for righteousness sake, or
am I suffering because I did something wrong?"
And, you know, with our situation, it's very easy to see.
It's not like, "Hey, Anchor Baptist Church was lying to people, Anchor Baptist Church
was stealing, Anchor Baptist Church was harming people, you know, Pastor Oz was a terrible
worker and he was mean to people, and he lied to them."
No, no, no.
It's just like, "Hey, he was great at work, he's so nice, I just couldn't believe when
I saw the sermons, because he was just so nice at work."
And it's like, "Yeah, because my job at work is to do my job, and at work I will always
be friendly to the people I serve because I'm doing a job.
I'm not there on my own agenda, I'm there on my boss's agenda, and I'm going to go
do a good job, and I'm going to work with whoever I have to work with, and I'm not going
to bring the Bible into those situations.
I'm not preaching the Word of God at work, but when it comes to the house of God, my
job is to preach the full counsel of God."
In a news flash, people come here willingly, and people listen to the preaching of God's
Word online willingly.
No one forced anyone to listen to any sermons.
No one tied you down on a bed and shoved some headphones in your ears and just like, "Line
them up against the wall and shoot them."
No one made you do that.
There's this thing called the X button.
I'm an IT guy.
I can help you with that if you need to find it.
It's very simple.
Press the X button if you don't like it.
But you know what?
We're not going to stop.
And preaching the word of God is not illegal.
And preaching the word of God should not forbid you from providing for your family.
I mean what is the goal of this article?
It's so that I can't work?
So you want to live in a country where pastors can't preach the full counsel of God or they
could just lose their job?
Is that the kind of communist hell hole you want to live in?
It's a disgusting disgrace, these people.
They are wicked individuals.
It's like the news headlines, the pastor who preaches the Bible also has a job.
How is that news, folks?
I mean, that's literally what it is.
This pastor preached Leviticus 20 13 and he has a job.
Fire him.
It's like, you're insane.
Did he preach it at work?
No.
Has he been mean to anyone?
No.
Has he called anyone's names?
No.
What's the problem?
Are you just going to do this at any job I ever have in my life?
Look, this is why they're terrorists, and this is why Christians need to get their voice
back and start preaching what the Bible says so that we stop having few people that have
to be the only ones with the guts to go through the hard things, to go through the persecution,
because if every Baptist pastor in this city was preaching what the Bible says, they'd
go back into the closet.
They wouldn't think about trying to get a Christian fired from their job for preaching
the Bible.
There's way more of us than of them.
This is the Bible belt.
This is the buckle, baby.
This is Oklahoma City.
This is as Baptist as it gets in America.
And there are millions of people who agree with us.
Millions and millions and millions of people who agree with us.
And you know what?
I'm just like, woe unto the community and the group that allows this loud mouth minority
of wicked sodomites to cause a man of God to be fired.
And look, it hasn't happened yet.
Lord willing, it doesn't happen.
But if it does happen, it's like you're inviting God's judgment on our area.
I don't want that.
And it's like, I'm not messing with anyone.
I'm going about my business.
I'm doing my job.
I'm coming here.
I'm preaching the word of God.
There's no news to be had.
There's no story, folks.
It's ridiculous.
Go to 1 Kings chapter number 18.
So number one, the Bible says that real Christians are going to be hated.
Number two, men of God in the Bible were hated by the world.
You know, we have the doctrine where the Bible says if you're a real Christian, you're going
to be hated.
So we should expect that if we look at the men of God in the Bible, that it follows that
pattern.
Well, guess what?
It does all of them to a T. We're going to look at a few of them.
First, let's talk about Elijah.
First Kings 18, 17, the Bible says, "And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, and Ahab
said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?"
So notice Ahab is the wicked person.
Ahab is the one that's committing idolatry.
Ahab is the one that's propping up false religion.
And what does he accuse Elijah of doing?
Art thou he that troubleth Israel?
No, no, no.
It's not Elijah that's causing trouble.
It's the wicked government that's causing trouble.
Ahab.
You know, it's not Anker Baptist Church that's causing trouble.
You know, it's the wicked infiltrators in our government that has allowed this communism
and LGBT ideology to permeate, permeate throughout our society.
Those are the ones that trouble our nation.
Not us.
Verse 18.
And he answered, "I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that
ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Balaam."
Let me tell you who's actually causing trouble in America today.
Those who have forsaken the commandments of God.
It's not pastors preaching the word of God.
It's not Christians standing to be counted on the King James Bible and the words of God.
It's those that are causing people to forsake the commandments.
It's governments passing laws like in the 60s making no fault divorce, no big deal.
You know, it's places like Oklahoma where it's like, "No big deal, let's just smoke
marijuana.
It's totally legal, bro."
Isn't it just so great to have marijuana in our state?
Isn't that just such a blessing from God to where you drive home from church and you
have to smell that abominable smell in this state?
No, it's a curse.
It's not making Oklahoma better, having marijuana.
And you know what's not making Oklahoma better?
Faggots.
It's not making Oklahoma better.
You know what's making Oklahoma better?
Anchor Baptist Church.
Why?
Because we're getting hundreds of people saved.
Because we have our SWAT team, our soul-winning action team, and we go out into the community
where tragedy has happened, where people have been murdered, where people's homes have been
burned down or destroyed by tornadoes or whatever, you know, tragedies happen.
And we go to people who have actually been affected by tragedy and we knock on their
door and we preach them the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And we show them the love of God.
And we tell them that there's a savior that died for their sins and that if they trust
in that savior, they could be saved from the everlasting flame, that they can go to heaven
when they die.
Let me tell you what, that's making Oklahoma better.
You know, it's making Oklahoma better is bringing people to church, baptizing them and teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever Christ commanded.
That's making Oklahoma better.
You know, it's not making Oklahoma better.
Having a pride parade this weekend, having a pride parade where you get a bunch of faggots
who are demented, who have an unnatural death style, who are half-naked in front of children,
defiling people's eyes, celebrating pride, celebrating debauchery.
That's not making our city better, folks.
That's not making our state better.
And if you disagree with me, you are an idiot or you are wicked or both.
But you don't even have to be saved to realize that sodomy is not a blessing.
That faggotry is not making our country better because if our country was full of faggots,
we'd die off in one generation.
Tell me that your ideology sucks without telling me.
When you can't even reproduce, folks, it's disgusting.
Go to 1 Kings chapter number 19, talking about how Elijah was hated.
He was accused of troubling the nation, being a troublemaker.
No, Ahab was the troublemaker.
1 Kings 19 verse 1, the Bible says, "And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done,
and with all how he had slain all the prophets with a sword," so you know Elijah's slaying
the false prophets.
He's going hard.
He's the son of God.
"Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, 'So let the gods do to me, and more
also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.'"
You know what Jezebel's saying?
I'm going to kill you, right?
And this is always what happens.
They want to shut you up first, they want to make it illegal first, and then they just
want to kill you.
And that's what Jezebel wants to do to Elijah.
Elijah says, and he said, "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts.
For the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain
thy prophets with the sword, and I, even I only am left, and they seek my life to take
it away."
You know, he's having kind of a moment here where, again, the human emotions are natural,
but you know, he needs to remind himself that he's on the right side, that he's doing the
right thing.
But you know, he's having these natural human emotions here.
He's like, "I've been jealous for God.
I've been doing the right thing.
I've been working hard.
I've been preaching the truth.
He slain the prophets with the sword.
That was a good thing."
And he says, "Man, I'm alone.
I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life to take it away."
And he kind of gets depressed here.
He kind of gets this idea that he's alone in this fight.
Go to 1 Kings 22 while you're turning there.
I want to read for you Romans 11.3.
It quotes Elijah where it says, "Lord, they have killed thy prophets and dig down thine
altars, and I am left alone and they seek my life.
But what sayeth the answer of God unto him?
I have reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal."
So you know, Elijah felt alone, but the truth is he was not alone.
And you know, you may at times feel alone, you may at times feel like we're the only
ones going through this battle, but like I said, there are millions and millions and
millions of people that agree with us.
And you know, it'd be nice if some of these Baptists actually had some stones and actually
stood up and actually helped us out by preaching the word of God so it doesn't have to be Elijah
just where he's feeling alone.
It'd be nice if there were more voices to be heard to where it's very obvious and evident
that we're not.
But I'm telling you what, even if Baptists are scared, even if pastors this morning and
throughout June don't even talk about this issue, I promise you in their heart they agree
with us.
And you know we need to exhort people to actually get bold and start speaking the truth, not
just believing it.
Here's another example of a righteous man that was hated and that was Micaiah, Micaiah's
great prophet, 1 Kings 22 verse 1, the Bible says, "And they continued three years without
war between Syria and Israel, and it came to pass in the third year that Jehoshaphat,
the king of Judah, came down to the king of Israel."
That's Ahab again, "And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth
and Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria.
And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go down with me to battle to Ramoth Gilead?"
So Ahab's saying, "Hey, will you be my confederate in this war?
Will you be my teammate, my ally, when we go fight against Ramoth Gilead?"
And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "I am as thou art, my people as thy people,
my horses as thy horses."
And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, "Inquire, I pray thee, at the word of the
Lord today."
He's got the order all messed up.
You know, Ahab asks him, "Hey, do you want an alliance with me to go fight against them?"
And he's like, "Yeah, no problem.
My people are yours.
My horses are yours.
Everything's great.
I'm totally on your side."
By the way, you might want to inquire of the Lord.
It's like, you got your situation backwards here.
You should have inquired of the Lord first, then made your commitment.
But it says right here, verse 6, "Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together,
about 400 men," that's a lot of men, right, "and said unto them, 'Shall I go against
Ramoph Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?'
And they said, 'Go up, for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.'"
Now, later in this chapter, we're going to learn that what these people said was not
the will of God, was not actually what God wanted.
And what we can learn from that is that the majority of religious leaders are false prophets.
The majority of preachers are false prophets.
And yeah, you can get 400 false prophets who don't care about the word of God to tell you,
"Oh yeah, pride is totally fine.
No big deal with Pride Month.
Oh yeah, Jesus Christ, he doesn't care about the moral laws of the Old Testament anymore.
The Bible doesn't even say anything about homosexuality."
You could find 400 people like that, but it doesn't make it true.
It does not make it correct.
Right here it says in verse number seven, "And Jehoshaphat said, 'Is there not here
a prophet of the Lord besides that we might inquire of him?'"
So Jehoshaphat, he knows what's going on.
He's like, "All these preachers suck.
They all say the same thing.
They're not sticking their neck out there to actually say the truth."
He's like, "Isn't there a prophet of the Lord besides that we could actually inquire
of?"
And notice verse eight, "And the king of Israel," that's Ahab, "said unto Jehoshaphat, 'There
is yet one man, Micaiah, the son of Imla, by whom we may inquire of the Lord; but I
hate him, for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.'
And Jehoshaphat said, 'Let not the king say so.'"
So notice, the fake men of God, the false prophets, they're numerous.
They're a dime a dozen.
It's like the strange woman you could find on every street corner.
You could find a false prophet in Oklahoma on every street corner.
Oh, you'll find someone that calls themselves a pastor that's ready to lie to you, that's
ready to tell you false doctrine and feed you lies, but you know there's usually one
that actually has the guts like Micaiah to actually say what needs to be said, and notice
the king loves him, loves the real man of God, oh the real men of God are always liked
by people.
No, the one real man of God is hated by King Ahab.
There's one, there's one I can inquire of, but I hate him.
And why does he hate him?
It's such a funny line.
I just love reading this story.
There's one, but I hate him.
Why?
I do not prophesy good concerning me.
You know that most people today are not interested in the truth.
Most people today do not care what the Bible actually says.
People want to go to a church today to have their ears tickled, to be affirmed.
For the pastor to tell them everything's fine with you, there's nothing wrong with you,
come as you are, leave as you came, no big deal.
But you know what people hate is when people prophesy not good concerning themselves.
When people hear the message that the Bible says that homosexuals should be lawfully executed
by the government.
And of course, you know, who's going to like not like that homosexuals.
But the question is, does that make it not true from the word of God?
No, the truth is independent of your feelings.
And the same thing goes for Christians that hate the message.
It doesn't matter if the message steps on your toes.
If the preacher never preaches good concerning you.
What matters is what the Bible says.
What matters is what is the truth.
And let me just warn you, if you preach the truth, if you go to a church where the truth
is being preached, you will be hated.
People will hate you.
Oh man, you know, there's 400 churches in Oklahoma that are all LGBT affirming.
It's like, well, isn't there anyone else that we can inquire of?
Oh, there's Anchor Baptist Church, but we hate them because they don't prophesy good
concerning us.
Yeah, we don't because we're concerned about the truth.
We're not concerned about what people feel.
That's why Micaiah is such an awesome man of God.
Standing up to the king, standing in the face of 400 false prophets, I mean, everyone could
have laughed at him and made him feel like he was crazy, but yet he was right and everyone
else was wrong.
Look at 1 Kings 22 verse 13 in the messenger, "That was gone to call Micaiah spake unto
him saying, 'Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one
mouth.'"
Notice all the false prophets are saying the same thing.
They're all saying love wins, love is love, God loves everyone no matter what.
Anyone could be saved at any time to their last dying breath no matter what.
They all say the same thing, "Let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them
and speak that which is good."
This is what people want to do to us today.
They want to change our speech.
They want our words to be just like the words of all the false prophets, but notice verse
14, and Micaiah said, "As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak."
That should be our motto as preachers of the word of God.
If you get an opportunity to preach God's word or if you want to be a pastor someday
or an evangelist or a deacon, this should be your mindset that what the Lord saith unto
me, that will I speak.
Not what's going to get me likes, not what's going to get me popular or famous or loved
by people.
But what does the Bible actually say?
And you know what we did this morning?
We went through the sermon, we looked at what the Bible teaches.
Not my opinion, not my ideology, what the Bible says.
Go to verse 26.
And the king of Israel said, "Take Micaiah and carry him back unto Ammon the governor
of the city and to Joash the king's son and say, thus saith the king, put this fellow
in the prison and feed him with the bread of affliction and with the water of affliction
until I come in peace."
To be the real man of God, the one who was really on God's side, was what?
Hated and persecuted, persecuted, put in prison, fed with the bread of affliction, with the
water of affliction.
And you better believe this is exactly what the haters of God want to do to us today.
People would love to put us in jail literally for preaching Leviticus chapter 20 verse
13.
And in some hellscape countries today, it literally is illegal to preach that kind
of stuff.
Right?
They have a law called Volksverherzung means like heating people up and like they literally
have hate speech laws in Germany where if you preach these type of things, you will
literally be arrested.
And I know dozens of Christians in Germany personally who have preached these types of
things and had the government raid their homes, take their electronics away, charge them
with crimes, deport them out of their country.
Like this is happening today in real places in the world.
And let me tell you, the wicked communists in our nation would love for the same exact
thing to happen here.
And don't think that they want to stop with putting us in jail.
You know what they would love to do?
They'd love to kill every last Christian.
That is what the ideology of the LGBT leads to.
But look at verse 28.
And Micaiah said, "If thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me."
I mean, what a great guy.
What a Chad, right?
And he said, "Harken, O people, every one of you."
He's like, "Hey, if God's speaking by me, you're not gonna return in peace."
And it's like, "Hey, I could say the same thing to all these faggots that are telling
us to go to hell.
"Oh, burn in hell, Pastor Oz.
All you guys are going to hell.
Well, you know, if you escape hell, then the Lord has not spoken by me."
But I guarantee you, you will.
That's what the Bible says.
How about Daniel?
Go to Daniel chapter number six.
Daniel's a great man of God.
Oh, so we should just expect him to be loved and liked by everyone and have no problems
and have all the positive articles and the Oklahoman and, you know, the government's gonna
come to his church and exalt him and praise him.
That actually did happen in his life for a different reason.
But Daniel chapter six, verse one, look what it says, it pleased Darius to set over the
kingdom and hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom and over
these three presidents of whom Daniel was first, that the princes might give accounts
unto them and the king should have no damage.
Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes because an excellent spirit was
in him and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.
So notice Daniel was just thriving in his secular job, in his government job.
Isn't that quite interesting?
Some people would say that Christians should not be allowed to work in government.
It's like, tell me you know nothing about the founding of our country without telling
me.
So Daniel, you know, he's got his secular job here and he's preferred.
He's being exalted.
Notice not because of his beliefs, not because of his preaching, anything like that, but
just because an excellent spirit was found in him.
He just does his job well.
Verse 4 says, "Then the presidents and the princes sought to find occasion against Daniel
concerning the kingdom, but they could not find none occasion, I'm sorry, but they could
find none occasion nor fault.
For as much as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him."
So notice these wicked people want to come after Daniel and they want to find fault with
him concerning the kingdom, concerning his job.
And so they're auditing the books, they're saying, "What was his tasks?
Was he late?
Was he doing his job correctly?"
And they can't find anything to speak against him.
They can't give occasion to anything wicked that Daniel has done at work.
That's why it says in verse 5, "Then said these men, 'We shall not find any occasion
against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.'"
You know this is exactly the situation that Anchor Baptist Church is in today.
I mean it's just uncanny.
I never thought this type of a situation would happen before my eyes.
But it's like, raise your hand if you've read the article because it's behind a paywall
for some people.
Like it is the funniest thing.
It is literally comical about how all these people who supposedly are so terrified by
me and you know want me fired from my job, when they actually comment on my character
they're like, "He's nice.
He's kind.
He's prompt."
And it's like, what did he do wrong?
Well they have to find occasion concerning the law of his God.
You know, this is as clear as day, an attempt to persecute a Christian for their religious
beliefs.
This is what this is.
This isn't suffering for wickedness or sin, it is attempting to persecute a Christian
in the United States of America for their religious beliefs.
It's not going to happen.
I don't believe it's going to happen.
Look at verse 10, "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed," so just to let you
know what happened, they wanted to get something against Daniel for the law of his God.
So what they do, they literally made prayer to God illegal.
You know, they had this decree signed that no one could pray or ask anything of any God
except for the king for a certain amount of time.
Then it says in verse 10, "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went
into his house and his windows being opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled
upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, notice as
he did afore time."
So you know, thankfully, preaching the word of God is not illegal in the United States.
You know, preaching against sodomites, like the Bible says, you know, hate speech laws,
not a thing in the United States.
We have the first amendment, we have the ability to freely practice our religion, prayer is
not illegal in the United States, soul winning is not illegal in the United States and praise
God for that.
And you know, if we want to keep it that way, we actually have to use these things and put
them into practice so that God can continue to bless us.
But you know, there could come a day where part or all of this becomes illegal.
You know, this happened to Daniel, where praying literally became illegal.
And the question is, what do you do at a time like that?
Well, of course, the Bible does command us to submit to the government.
The Bible does say that we should obey the higher powers.
And I am 100% for Christians obeying government, except, except when it causes us to violate
God's law, when it causes us to be in disobedience to God.
Hey, we want to live peaceably with all men.
We want to submit ourselves to the authorities that God has placed in our country.
You know, we're not rebels here.
We're not, you know, doing some sort of insurrection.
We want to submit ourselves.
But, hey, if the United States of America says you're going to go to jail for preaching
against the LGBT, you know what we should do?
We should continue to do that because it's the right thing to do.
You know what we should do?
If they say you're not allowed to go preach the gospel anymore, we should continue to
do that.
Oh, you're not allowed to pray anymore.
Oh, that would never happen.
It happened.
You know what we should do?
We should continue to pray and not be afraid.
And you know, I think that's why God delivered him because it says in verse 16, then the
king commanded and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions.
Now, the king spake and said unto Daniel, thy God, whom now service continually, he
will deliver thee.
So, you know, Daniel, he didn't allow the terrorists to stop him.
He kept serving God.
He was faithful, and even though he was thrown into the den of lions, you know what ended
up happening?
God did deliver him.
You know, I think that's an example for us to realize like, hey, no matter what we're
going through, no matter the threats, no matter the intimidation, we should continue to do
what is right regardless.
And sometimes we fear like, well, what if, right, the what ifs of life.
But oftentimes, when we're faithful to God's word, God will deliver us from those what
ifs anyways.
Go to Acts chapter number 17, Acts chapter 17.
Let's talk about another guy.
How about Paul?
Oh, Paul was just loved by everyone, right?
Paul was just in the news for only positive things.
No, Paul was another great Christian who was hated.
Look at Acts chapter 17, verse one, "Now when they had passed through Amphipolis, I'm
sorry about that, Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was the synagogue
of the Jews, and Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days
reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs
have suffered and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you
is Christ."
So he's preaching the simple gospel.
That's what Paul is preaching right here, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
Verse four, "And some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas, and of the
devout Greeks, a great multitude, and of the chief women, not a few."
So not everyone hates Paul of course, there's many people getting saved, many people that
are on his team, but, verse five, "But the Jews that believed not, moved with envy, took
unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all
the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to
the people."
So notice, what is he doing?
He's just preaching the simple gospel of Jesus Christ, the death, burial, and resurrection,
and tons of people are getting saved, tons of people are happy, getting on his team,
but there's a specific group of people that he just really pissed off.
You know who it is?
The Jews.
It says, "But the Jews, which believe not, moved with envy."
And notice the MO of these people.
Notice the game plan of the Jews that hate Christ.
The Jews, they don't believe.
They're envious.
They're envious of the attention that Paul's getting.
They're envious of his influence, of his preaching power.
And so what do they do?
They move with envy and they take unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, you
know who that is, the LGBT in our modern day, and gathered a company and set all the city
on an uproar and assaulted the house of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people.
Notice there was peace.
There was no violence going on.
There was no issues that were being had.
There was a man preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
There was people getting saved.
There was people whose lives were being changed, but the Jews were mad about that.
The Jews were envious.
And so what did they do?
They took lewd fellows of the baser sort and set them out like dogs to surround the city
and to cause an uproar.
This is exactly what happens to our types of churches today.
You got the Jewish media today that goes around and tries to instigate and get all these sodomites
angry to cause a problem where none existed.
Let me explain to you.
No one cares about my sermon that was preached in 2022 in 2025.
The fact that a sermon from 2022 is being brought up by a news agency is because it's
not news, it's just because they want to stir up lewd fellows of the baser sort against
Christians.
And let me tell you, the Oklahoma news outlet is an anti-Christian publication.
It is not your, oh, I mean, it's called the Oklahoman, must be some local good old boy.
Nice people just reporting the news.
No, no, no.
The Oklahoman is anti-Christian.
Let me explain this to you.
So the Oklahoman is owned by a company to the best of my knowledge called Gannett Company
Incorporated.
So the Oklahoman is owned by another company, very common, right?
Now this company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
It's a public company, right, in the New York Stock Exchange.
One of the largest shareholders of Gannett Company is, does anyone want to guess, I told
you at lunch you can't answer, does anyone want to raise their hand and guess what the
largest shareholder of this company is?
Anyone?
Okay, I'll tell you.
BlackRock, what a shock.
BlackRock is one of the largest shareholders of the company that's owned by the Oklahoman.
Oh, you know, it's just a local news outlet.
No, no, no, it's a Jewish billionaire-owned company.
And last time I checked, the Bible says that Jews hate the Lord Jesus Christ and that Jews
are anti-Christ for denying that Jesus is the Son.
Here's the founder and CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink, who is a Jew.
No, no, no, it's not your nice little Oklahoman local country newspaper.
It is a Jewish Wall Street billionaire-owned propaganda machine.
It is the Jews moving with envy, taking to themselves lewd fellows of the baser sort
to rile up the people of Oklahoma City.
That's what it is.
And look, you need to have some smarts and stop being so easily manipulated and just
believing everything that the media says, because while there's some true things in
that news story, there's also a bunch of lies too.
Like one of the things in that story said that I call for the execution of pastors who
agree with LGBT.
It's like, "Uh, that never happened.
That was never said."
Now, I will say they're fake Christians.
I will say they're frauds, but I never said that LGBT-affirming pastors themselves should
be executed.
Let's talk about another guy.
How about the Lord Jesus Christ?
Oh, Jesus, was he a man of God?
Oh, so everyone should just love Jesus.
Everyone's automatically going to be on his side.
No, no, need I remind you that the founder of our religion was lied about, was spit upon,
was mocked, was falsely accused, had a fake trial where he was wrongly convicted, and
then was brutally murdered to death on the cross.
That's the founder of Christianity.
Oh, you know, you guys just need to be more like Christ.
Oh, you mean preach the truth, piss a bunch of people off to the point where they want
to kill you?
Yeah, that's actually what Jesus did.
It's like, well, my pastor's so Christ-like, he never makes anyone mad.
He never has any hard sayings.
He never uses any harsh words.
He's like, he's not Christ-like.
You know who the Christ-like church is?
The one that the Jewish media hates.
The billionaire-owned, you know, big Wall Street paper hates Little Anchor Baptist Church.
Why?
Because this is the Christ-like church right here.
Right.
How about John the Baptist?
John the Baptist was a real man of God.
Jesus said, "Of those born among women, there's not risen a greater than John the Baptist."
Great man of God.
Excellent preacher.
Oh yeah, beheaded by Herod for preaching against adultery.
We're saying, "Hey, you're not allowed Herod to have your brother's wife."
I mean, this pattern is just so consistent in the Bible.
You got Jeremiah who was thrown into the dungeon, who was given to the stocks.
Why?
Because he told Jerusalem and Judah to submit and surrender to the Babylonians because that's
what God wanted them to do.
Because God was sending the Babylonians to take them into captivity as punishment and
they were instructed that they should submit to the Babylonians.
And you know what? Jeremiah's message wasn't patriotic enough. And so they hated him. They
threw him in the dungeon. They put him to the stocks. But guess what? He was the real
man of God. He was the one who was correct. Okay. How about Stephen? Stephen in the New
Testament, the Deacon, right? Stoned to death and killed for what? For preaching against
the Jews, for recounting the whole history of the Old Testament to the Jews and saying,
man, you guys are stiff necked. You guys are hard hearted. You guys, you know, you're just
ridiculous for rejecting God. You're rejecting the Holy Spirit of God and the Jews, you know,
they put their hands on their ears, ran at him and stoned him and killed him to death.
Right? They killed him, put him to death. How about Peter and the apostles in Acts chapter
number four, being imprisoned, being beaten, being commanded not to preach anymore in the
name of Jesus Christ. They were persecuted. They were hated. Why? Because they preached
against the sodomites? No, no, no. For preaching the gospel. You know what's funny? I got a
phone call today while we were out, soul winning, of this angry man and this angry couple. And
you say, "What were they mad about, Pastor Oz? Was it your sermon against the sodomites?"
Nope. It was the fact that someone knocked on their door and said, "If you were to die
today, are you 100% sure you're going to heaven?" I posted it on Facebook. Go check it out.
People are literally angry that we're preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. "Oh, this is
fake persecution. You guys are only getting persecuted because you're so inflammatory
about the sodomites." No, no, no. We're being persecuted for preaching the gospel of Jesus
Christ because those who actually read the Bible realize that real Christians are hated
by the world. And it doesn't matter what message it is from the word of God. When you're preaching
the word of God, people will hate you. Doesn't matter if you're preaching against Judah and
Jerusalem of the incoming Babylonian army. Doesn't matter if you're preaching against
the Jews. Doesn't matter if you're preaching the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
Doesn't matter if you're preaching that sodomites are reprobates that are on their way to hell.
If you're preaching the truth, people will hate you. And real men of God, all throughout
the Bible, were not loved, were not liked, were not exalted by this world. They were
hated. Have you ever read Hebrews chapter 11? They were tortured. They were sawn asunder.
They were destroyed. They were killed for the testimony of Christ. And look, I'm not
wishing for us to go through even worse things, but here's what I'm saying. Don't be surprised
if it happens. If we're actually going to preach the word of God, we should expect to
be hated. We should expect persecution. And you know, would to God, our country would
just repent. Would to God, people would just humble themselves. Would to God, Baptist churches
would stand up and thunder forth the word of God. And you know what? There'd be a lot
less persecution against Christians. But you know, if that's not going to happen, you should
expect more battles, more fighting, more persecution, not less. Go to Luke chapter number six, number
three this evening. I want you to understand this. False prophets are loved by the world.
The Bible says we're going to be hated. The record that the Bible shows is that men of
God were hated. But you know what? False prophets are not hated by the world. They're loved by
the world. Look at the words of Christ in Luke chapter six, verse 22. Jesus said, "Blessed
are ye when men shall hate you and when they shall separate you from their company and
shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the son of man's sake. Rejoice
ye in that day and leap for joy. For behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in like
manner did their fathers unto the prophets, but woe unto you that are rich, for ye have
received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full, for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you
that laugh now, for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you when all men shall speak well
of you, for so did their fathers to the what? False prophets. You show me a pastor that's
loved by the government, that's loved by everyone, that's at the presidential prayer breakfast,
with these mega pastors all over the TV, I'll show you a false prophet. You know, Newsflash,
Pastor Oz is not going to be invited to the presidential prayer breakfast at any time.
I mean, if I got invited, I would go. It'd be wonderful. It'd be an interesting prayer.
You know, people would learn what imprecatory prayers are. And you know, maybe our nation
would be changed greatly for that. But you know, that's not happening anytime soon. Why?
Because it's the false prophets that are loved by the world. You know, it's the Paula Whites
of this world that are going to be the spiritual advisor to the president of the United States.
You know, what to God, it'd be Pastor Stephen Anderson. That's the presidential advisor. I mean,
our country would turn around fast. Or Pastor Jonathan Shelley. I mean, this would be wonderful,
right? But guess what? Real men of God, they're going to be hated. They're going to be viewed
as the scum of the earth. You know, Paul said we are the off scouring of all things, right?
The real men of God are going to be hated. The frauds are going to be loved. And you look at all
these pastors and false prophets that team up with the pride rallies and the government. They're all
false prophets. Every single one of them period. Go to Matthew chapter number five. We're almost
done this evening. Matthew chapter number five. And you know, I know that there's a lot of saved
churches in this area. I know there's a lot of saved pastors in this area, but you know,
I wish that they would stand up and actually preach some hard sermons. I wish that they
would stop just regurgitating the same salvation message every Sunday. Look, your church members
are saved, but you know what else we need? We need some hard preaching in America and so many
pastors today, they have a platform. They have a pulpit where they're able to, you know, disseminate
the word of God into this community and they're blowing it. They're just regurgitating the same
sermons. I mean, those of us who have spent some time in the old IFB, it's frustrating
because just sermon after sermon, it's the same stuff over and over and over. It's like salvation,
God loves Israel, and the rapture could happen at any second. And it's salvation,
and it's God loves Israel, and the rapture could happen. All right, now come up to the altar,
everyone. Like, this is the old IFB. Wouldn't it be nice if the old IFB actually just like said,
"Hey, why don't we actually preach hard? Why don't we actually preach what the Bible says?
Why don't we actually stir some things up in this community? Why don't we actually stop being such
cowards and such fearful preachers and actually use the platform that God has given us to preach
his word? Hey, whatever comes at us, let it be so. Who cares? Why don't we actually just be faithful
to God's word? And you know what? It is a shame. And here's the thing. I'm nothing. I have so much
to learn. I have so much to grow. And I pray all the time that God gives me wisdom and teaches me
how to be a pastor and teaches me to do things right. And I want to grow. I want to learn. But
let me tell you something. I think it's kind of ironic and kind of emblematic of the spiritual
condition that we're in in America is like, why does a 28-year-old pastor have to be the only one
that will stand up in the city and preach what needs to be preached about the sodomites? Why
can't it be the greyheads? Why can't they show us? Why can't they lead the way? Oh, you're such a
seasoned veteran pastor. Oh, you have such a big church. Why don't you be a big boy and preach the
Bible? Why does the young buck have to do it for you? And you know what? God can use the foolish
things of this world. God can use the smaller congregations. God can use me. God can use you.
But you know what? I wish that these people would allow themselves to be used by God with their big
money and their big churches and their big voice and their big platform. Wouldn't it be nice if
they would stand up with us? But you know what? If they don't, I'll still be the guy. If I have to be
the only Micaiah, if I have to do it, I will do it. But you know, I would love it if some pastors in
this community would actually have the guts to join me and say what needs to be said and not allow
terrorists to destroy our country. Matthew chapter five verse 10, the Bible says, "Blessed are they
which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you
and men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely.
For my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted
they the false prophets," I'm sorry, "the prophets which were before you." You know, I'm rejoicing
today that all the bigwigs of Oklahoma City don't love me. I'm rejoicing today that I'm not
numbered with all those false prophets and terrible churches in the religion section of
the Oklahoman. It's very clear that one church stands out from the rest in that news article,
and it's Anchor Baptist Church, and you know what? I rejoice in that. Why? Because the Bible said
that Christians who are actually serving Christ will be hated. Because the Bible shows us that
the real men of God in the Old Testament and in the New Testament were hated. And because the
Bible says that people, prophets, who are loved by everyone are ministers of the devil, are false
prophets. Let's close in Galatians chapter number one. But you know, this sermon isn't just about
pastors standing up. This isn't about me just continuing to preach the word of God. You know,
you ought to ask this for yourself. Are you going to be someone that is only interested in pleasing
man or are you going to be interested in being the servant of God? Do you care about the praise of
men? Do you care about praising man today and being accepted of him or do you care about what
the Bible says and being accepted in the eyes of God? Because let me tell you, you too will also
receive persecution. It is not just pastors that go through it. Yes, they usually receive the brunt
of it. But look, I received persecution before I was a pastor. That could happen to you. Your family
could say all manner of evil against you falsely. Your neighbors could hate you wrongly and say bad
things about you. You know, God forbid, I don't want this for anyone. Your job can come after you.
These things could happen to you. And so Christianity is not a spectator sport, folks.
You need to realize and internalize these things. Do you actually want to be a servant of Christ
or please man? We'll close in Galatians chapter one, verse number 10. The Bible says,
"For do I now persuade men, or God, or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men,
I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which
was preached of me is not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it,
but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." You know, we got to realize that, hey,
we want to be the servants of Christ. We don't want to be man pleasers. And hey, the good news
is that we have the words of Christ. We're not preaching man's opinion here. We're not preaching
man's words. We're preaching the words that we received of Jesus Christ. We need to hold fast
to those words. We need to be anchored to those words and let whatever comes, you know what,
praise the name of the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for the
opportunity to endure any small persecution that we're going through. I pray that we would realize
the honor that it is, and I pray that every single person in here would be willing to be hated of men,
not for our sins or problems that we have personally, but for your word and for the name of
Jesus Christ. I pray that you bless our church. I pray that people in Oklahoma City who love you
and who love your word would hear about our church and would join us in our mission to preach the
gospel to the whole world. I pray that you would just expand our tent, Lord, that you would enlarge
our coasts that you'd bless us mightily as a result of this. In Jesus' name we pray.