Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
Please take your hymnals and turn to page 312.
Open my eyes.
Page 312.
♪ Chisholm ♪
♪ In my head ♪
♪ Shall unfly ♪
♪ Silent ♪
John, please turn to page 198.
Joy Unspeakable, page 198.
(piano music)
♪ The lion ♪
Baptist Church, this Sunday morning.
If you need a bulletin, if you'll raise your hand.
Brother Cameron can get that to you.
We've got our service times
and our soul winning times there at the top.
Of course, we'll have soul winning this afternoon at 2 p.m.
So make sure that you are able to make it to that.
Also, we've got our month to date
and our year to date salvations listed there as well.
And right below that, we've got our expecting mothers.
So please remember to be in prayer
for these ladies listed here.
And then also, we've got a special guest with us today,
the Oz family, and then Josh as well.
So if you haven't done so already,
make sure that you greet them.
And I'm extremely excited that they're here
and that we're gonna get to hear some good preaching
from Brother Dylan all day today.
So it'll be a lot of fun.
Also, we are in Psalms chapter two
in our Bible memory passage, Psalms chapter two.
We are on verse number six this week.
And so be diligent to memorize the scriptures.
I've already had a few little ones come up to me
and quote verse five.
And so if you are under the age of 18
and you would like to receive an ice cream reward,
you can quote that to a non-family member.
And as long as your parents are okay with that,
you can get your ice cream reward after the service.
Also, just a few housekeeping items.
Please, parents, make sure that our children are behaving
and not running around the auditorium.
We don't want anybody to get hurt.
And also, no children at the back media table.
We have gotten everything pretty much squared away,
but that rule is still gonna be in place.
We don't want any kids back there
messing with any of the dials.
So please, parents, make sure that they are not back there.
Also, we've got a mother/baby room over here to my right.
The mother/baby room is for mothers
and nursing children only.
And then we also have a little toddler area here as well
for mothers and fathers to take their little ones
if they need to do so during the service.
And then also let's continue to remember
to pick up after ourselves.
We want to make sure that we're picking up any trash
and things like that after the service.
Just a few events that are coming up.
I'd mentioned we've had some changes.
So if you weren't here Thursday night,
you do want to pay attention to this.
Now with our sowing event in September,
the Tulsa, Oklahoma sowing event,
nothing has changed there.
That's still going to be Saturday, September 19th.
The address meeting location is in the bulletin,
and we're going to be meeting there between 9.30 and 10 a.m.
to get everybody enough time to get there.
And then we'll get teams situated and then sent out,
do about two hours of sowing and then come back for lunch.
And we're going to have Jason's Deli catered for lunch,
so that'll be some good food in between.
We'll be able to fellowship and then go back out about 1.30
and do more sowing in the afternoon,
as long as anybody would like to stick around.
And then also, I'll try to make a,
we've got quite a few people signed up at the back,
so if you haven't already done so, please do that.
I'm really excited about this.
We've got a lot of people that are gonna show up,
and some people from Fort Worth, some people from Tulsa,
and so it's gonna be a lot of fun.
If you've never been sowing before,
I encourage you to come out.
We have plenty of sowingers that we could pair you up with
if you're a silent partner,
somebody who's never been before,
somebody who is not a talker.
And so, we'd love to have you just join us.
And I'll try to make a video afterwards of the results
so everybody can kind of get an update
as to how the day went.
We're gonna be in old Robert's country.
I mean, we're really gonna be right in,
and that school's back door.
So, it'd be a great opportunity to snipe some of their,
you know, false converts right from underneath them.
So, it's gonna be a lot of fun.
I encourage you to come.
And then, we have had a change to the Wichita Falls,
Wichita Falls, Texas Soul Winning Marathon.
That is gonna be pushed back to October 31st.
October 31st, and that is Halloween Day, of course.
And so, there's no better way than to spend Halloween
than to, you know, preaching the gospel, right?
To combat the devil and his agenda.
And so, that'd be a lot of fun to be able to
do so many there on that day.
And then, the plan is to then hurry back
and try to make it back by 7 p.m.
We're gonna do our chili cook-off.
That's basically been our tradition for the last,
well, I guess, one year.
This is our second year already.
We're making it a tradition this year
to do the chili cook-off on Halloween.
And so, if you can make it back by 7 p.m., we'll do that.
And ladies, you've got your work cut out for you
to be able to knock off the reigning champion, Ms. Suthered.
And so, bring your A game.
And then we'll also have a little Massa watch party as well.
I'll hook up TV with live streaming in that conference.
There'll be some soul winning and then ripping on the facts.
I mean, how much better of a day could you have?
And then eating good food.
Also, another quick note about the chili is in Oklahoma City,
we don't believe that beans are reprobate.
So you can totally have beans and any other type of things
added into your chili.
It's not going to disqualify you.
And so because the Wichita Falls Sowing Marathon was moved back,
the reason for that was because Steadfast is moving buildings.
They're moving locations into the Arlington area.
And we'll get some more details of the actual address
and things like that.
I can get that added into the bulletin.
And that's gonna be the grand opening weekend, October 16th
through the 18th.
Now, Pastor Anderson is gonna be there preaching Friday night.
And I've also heard through the grapevine
that we might also have another pastor that's gonna come in.
And so it might be a dual service.
Now, you know, at least just with Pastor Anderson be there,
that should be enough to wanna come and watch.
But you might get just an extra dessert
on top of that as well.
So I know my family is gonna be there.
That Friday.
Now, if you'd like to stay the whole weekend,
that'd be great as well.
They're gonna do Saturday soul winning in the morning.
And then they'll have their normal services on Sunday.
So a lot of things to look forward to
and a lot of things to be in prayer about.
So that's all the announcements that I have.
We'll go to our next song, hymn number 169,
"Come Thou Found" hymn number 169.
- 169.
♪ Blessing to my heart ♪
♪ Thy great dreams of mercy never ceasing ♪
♪ Call for songs of each me son ♪
- Please turn your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 14.
2 Chronicles 14.
- 2 Chronicles chapter 14, the Bible reads,
so Abijah slept with his fathers
and they buried him in the city of David
and Asa his son reigned in his stead
and in his days the land was quiet 10 years.
And Asa did that which was good and right
in the eyes of the Lord his God.
For he took away the authors of the strange gods
and the high places and break down the images
and cut down the groves and commanded Judah
to seek the Lord God of their fathers
and to do the law and the commandment.
Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah
the high places and the images
and the kingdom was quiet before him.
And he built fence cities in Judah for the land had rest
and he had no war in those years
because the Lord had given him rest.
Therefore he said unto Judah let us build these cities
and make about them walls and towers and gates and bars
while the land is yet before us
because we have sought the Lord our God.
We have sought him and he hath given us rest on every side
so they built and prospered.
And Asa had an army of men that bare targets and spears.
Out of Judah, three hundred thousand, and out of Benjamin,
they bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and four score thousand.
All these were mighty men of valor.
And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian,
with a host of a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots,
and came unto Marisha.
Then Asa went out against him,
and they set the battle in a ray in the valley of Zephatha at Marisha.
And Asa cried unto the Lord his God,
and said, "Lord, it is nothing with thee to help,
whether with so with many, or with them that have no power.
Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on thee,
and in thy name we go against this multitude.
O Lord, thou art our God, let not man prevail against thee."
So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.
And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gera,
and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves,
for they were destroyed before the Lord, and before his host,
and they carried away very much spoiled.
And they smote all the cities round about Gera,
for the fear of the Lord came unto them, and they spoiled all the cities,
for there was exceeding much spoiled in them.
They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance,
and returned to Jerusalem.
Father, thank you for your word.
Thank you for allowing us to come and to gather, Lord, in your name,
and go up and pray.
Brother Dylan, that you fill it with your spirit,
that you praise our hearts, and that you expound to us your word,
and prove your lives in praise.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Man, all right, well it's great to be here, great to meet all you guys.
Thank you Pastor Shelley for sending me up.
It's always great to see a satellite church model from Sure Foundation Baptist Church.
Same model started there, so I definitely have a heart for this type of a church.
So we're there in 2 Chronicles chapter 14.
Look at verse number 1, 2 Chronicles 14 verse 1.
"So Abai just slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David,
and Asa his son reigned in his stead.
In his days the land was quiet."
10 years.
The title of my sermon is "When the Land is Quiet."
Let's have a word of prayer.
Lord, thank you so much for this day.
And I thank you for the opportunity to preach this sermon.
I pray that you'd fill me up with boldness in the Holy Spirit.
Help me to edify your people.
In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
"When the land is quiet."
So when we think about our country today,
I wouldn't exactly classify it as a land that is quiet.
Especially where I'm from up in Portland, Oregon.
They've been rioting for over 100 days straight.
They're practically burning that city to the ground right now.
People are getting shot.
They're blinding police officers.
People are getting caught on fire.
A whole bunch of crazy stuff's happening.
Obviously, if you know anything about 2020,
this is not a quiet year, right?
Now compared to other places in the world,
you can still make the argument that America is a pretty quiet and peaceful place.
We still have relatively comfortable lives.
We have luxuries in America that other places don't have.
But we're starting to go in the opposite direction.
We're starting to not really see quietness in our land.
We're seeing a lot of just upheaval and revolt and stuff like that.
But we see Asa here.
The Bible says in his days the land was quiet.
So I want to focus on why Asa had peace.
Why was the land quiet in his days and what he did that caused him to lose that quietness and lose that peace in his life.
Look at verse number two.
The Bible says, "And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord, his God.
For he took away the altars of the strange gods and the high places and break down the images
and cut down the groves, and commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers,
and to do the law and the commandment.
Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images,
and the kingdom was quiet before him."
So number one, why did Asa have a time of peace and quiet?
It's because he commanded Judah to serve the Lord.
He commanded them to serve the Lord.
Notice he did not say, "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
He did not say, "Hey, here in Judah, we're going to have the First Amendment.
We're going to have the freedom to worship any God."
No, he commanded Judah to serve the Lord.
That was his only option.
You see, I'm thankful that we have the First Amendment today
because at least theoretically it protects us
from infringements of evil people in the government
that would want to shut us down.
But you know, God does not endorse the First Amendment.
God does not endorse having a freedom of religion.
He wants his men to command nations to serve him only.
God is a jealous God.
He does not believe that you should have the freedom.
He does not believe that you should have the right
to just go and worship any false God you want.
He does not think that the governments of the nations of this world
should prop up false religions
and tell them that they have every right to do that.
Asa commanded Judah to serve the Lord.
Go to Exodus chapter 34.
Notice how it said that he did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord.
Do you think it's good and right in the eyes of the Lord
that today the United States sanctions and backs up
cults to operate in this country like Mormonism?
Do you think it's good and right in the eyes of the Lord
that Mormons have every right under this government
to go ride their stupid bikes down every street of America
and preach a false gospel?
Do you think that's good and right in his sight?
No. You know, it may be good and right in Fox News Baptist sites
that think that the First Amendment is just wonderful and great.
And hey, like I said, at least theoretically it protects us.
I kind of see it like a union contract.
It's on paper, but how often does it actually be upheld, right?
At the end of the day, it's just a piece of paper,
and wicked governments find their way around it all the time.
If you think that the First Amendment actually protects us,
you know, you're crazy.
I got news for you.
When the tribulation comes, you're not going to be able to stop them
from cutting your head off by saying First Amendment, freedom of speech.
It's a piece of paper, right?
Now, I'm glad we have it.
I hope we have it for as long as possible.
But what I'm saying is it's not God's perfect system.
Look at Exodus 34 verse 12.
"Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land,
whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee.
But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves.
For thou shalt worship no other God, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a Jealous God.
God actually commanded the people of Israel to destroy the images, destroy the groves, destroy these high places.
And that's exactly what King Asa did. That's why he was such a great king.
He destroyed the houses of the sodomites. He didn't give them the First Amendment.
He destroyed the false religion. He didn't give them the First Amendment.
That's what would bring peace and quietness in America today,
is if our leaders commanded America to serve the Lord and to follow the Lord.
And you know, if the founding fathers really did believe the Bible,
then when they wrote the First Amendment, they must have been talking about Christianity.
They must have been talking about, hey, freedom for Christianity to be free.
That's what most, that's what a lot of them actually believe.
The people who actually came here fleeing persecution,
they didn't believe in freedom to worship paganism like the Indians that were living here.
They didn't believe in freedom of the Catholic Church to teach their damnable lies and heresy.
They believed in their own freedom to serve the Lord.
That's the only religious freedom I believe in.
I don't believe that Muslims have the right to blaspheme Jesus Christ.
I don't believe that Judaism has the right to blaspheme Jesus Christ.
They have no right to do that whatsoever.
You know, and God is going to judge them for that even if our nation will not.
Go to Exodus 22, Exodus 22, Exodus 22, look at verse 20.
"He that sacrificeth unto any God save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed."
Now see, if we had the First Amendment, we just added this little appendem to the end of it.
I'd support the First Amendment.
Hey, you got the right to worship any way you want.
The government has no right to infringe on you.
Here's the thing, if you worship anyone other than the Lord, you'll be destroyed.
Because that's what God actually wants.
That's what the Bible actually says in God's perfect law.
If you worship any other God, the Bible says you'll be destroyed.
Flip over to Exodus 23, Exodus 23, verse 13.
"And in all things that I have said unto you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods,
neither let it be heard out of thy mouth."
So not only does God not give you the right to worship other gods,
He doesn't even want you to say the name of other gods.
He doesn't even want the filthy, wicked name of false gods coming out of your lips.
It's an abomination to God.
He would not support the First Amendment today.
They go to Revelation chapter 2, Revelation chapter 2, Revelation 2 26.
I could tell you this.
When the millennial reign is here on this earth and Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning,
the Bible says He's going to be doing it with a rod of iron.
That means He's going to be executing and upholding the laws of God in the Bible.
He's not going to be executing and upholding the Constitution of the United States, right?
So here's the thing.
Why don't we just right now, as we're already living on this earth, living in this country,
why don't we already just give our heart fully to love God's law?
Why don't we just fully just worship God's Word instead of worshiping some piece of paper
that half the signatures on were written by reprobates anyways?
People like Thomas Jefferson that wrote his own Bible,
that took out all the miracles in the New Testament, that changed,
that took away and added to God's Word a filthy reprobate that's burning in hell.
Why don't you worship God instead of him?
That guy is evil.
What is wrong with Christians today to worship the Constitution over the Word of God?
It makes no sense whatsoever.
You know, we're pilgrims in this world. We're just passing through.
Yes, we live in America.
Yes, I'm glad we live here. I don't want to live any other place
because this is the country where the most is being done for God.
As wicked as it is, it's the place where the most missionaries are being sent out.
It's the place where the most good churches are in one country.
There's no doubt about that. But here's the thing, we're not of this world.
This isn't our nation. We are God's people.
Our hearts should be towards what the Bible says.
Never, ever let the U.S. Constitution come above God's word for you.
It's idolatry when you do that. Never let that happen.
Let's go back to our text here, and I'll read for you Isaiah 48, verse 22.
And keep your finger there in 2 Chronicles 14 throughout the sermon.
I forgot to tell you that. I'll read for you Isaiah 48, verse 22.
The Bible says, "There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked."
Why do you think that we're losing peace today in America?
It's because our country is wicked.
If you can't see that our country is being judged by God, you're blind.
And God has judged this nation before, and things have been worse in this nation before.
How about the Civil War? Wasn't it like 800,000 Americans or something like that died in the Civil War?
It was just some crazy number of people.
Brother killing brother. Look, the Civil War was a bad time in this country.
And it was God's judgment, not just on the South, it was on the North as well.
God's judgment was on this whole nation, and he took peace from this nation, and he can do it again.
Because there's no peace unto the wicked. No peace.
I'll read for you Psalm 119 verse 165.
It says, "Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them."
See, you could love America's laws all day long, but that's not going to bring you peace.
Because where the spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty, the Bible says.
So if we want peace as a nation, we have to love God's law.
Quit loving all of America's laws today.
Now here's the thing. If America's laws match up with what the Bible says, love those laws. Amen.
But stop putting man's laws in your heart above God's laws.
There are people that do this, and it is idolatry.
We're there back in 2 Chronicles, I'm sorry, go to 2 Chronicles 15, one chapter over, 2 Chronicles 15.
Look at verse 1, the Bible says, "And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Odin,
and he went out to meet Asa and said unto him, 'Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin,
the Lord is with you while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you;
but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.'"
So Azariah here, the prophet, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, backs up everything we just said.
He's saying, "Look, Asa, when you seek God, he'll be found of you.
If you're on God's team, he'll be on your team. If you forsake God, he's not going to be on your team anymore."
And guess what? That goes for any nation in the world.
If America today seeks the Lord, he will be found of America.
If Mexico today, if China today sought the Lord and sought God's laws and God's commandments, he will be found of them.
God's not a respecter of persons. God doesn't care about America more than other countries.
He doesn't care about Judah more than other countries.
He cares about people whose hearts are perfect towards him and whose hearts actually love his law.
And God sees our hearts. He sees what we as Americans truly value.
And does our country value the Lord Jesus Christ today?
No. Does our country today value what the Bible says?
Absolutely not. Today we want to exalt ourselves and exalt, you know, reprobates like Thomas Jefferson.
And we want to forsake God's laws and we shouldn't be surprised today when we see that we're living in a land that is no longer quiet.
You know, in the 1860s when the Civil War happened, peace was taken for this land.
You don't think that could happen again? You don't think there could be another Civil War in this country?
And here's the thing, as Christians we're always thinking about the end times and we should.
We should have a mentality expecting the Antichrist, expecting the Lord Jesus Christ.
But here's the thing, there's been world wars, famines, pestilences, crazy things happened in the world all throughout the world's history.
And I'm sure they all probably thought it was the end too.
What if we're not right on the end? What if we're not right at the cusp of the tribulation?
You know what I'm saying? There can still be really bad things that happen in the world without it being the end times.
You guys understand what I'm saying? Okay.
So in the 1860s, guess what? Jesus didn't come in the 1860s after the Civil War.
Yet there was blood pouring in the streets of America like anything we've ever seen in our lives.
Unless you've been in a combat veteran or something and have just seen war and seen horrible things,
we can't even fathom what happened in this land just 100 years ago.
Think about that. Family farms in America, war being fought on them.
People's families running from soldiers in their own homeland here in America.
It's happened before, but yet we forget about history, don't we?
We forget about history, and we worry about our own thoughts, our own opinions,
and we exalt that over the Word of God, and then God has to judge our nation.
And right now, God is judging America. He's taking away peace from our land.
I'll read for you Isaiah 26. Go to Joshua 24.
And remember to keep your place there in 2 Chronicles 14, Joshua 24.
Isaiah 26.3 says, "That will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind has stayed on thee,
because he trusteth in thee."
There again the Bible is backing it up. When our mind is on Christ, when we're stayed on God,
that's when we'll have peace.
Look at Joshua 24 verse 15.
It says, "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve,
whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood,
or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell.
But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
And I love this here because this is exactly the attitude that we need to have for our own personal homes,
for our cities, for our states, and for our nation,
is we need to command our families to serve the Lord.
We need to command it. We need to not make it optional.
Today there's this weird mentality in America with parents where they just said,
"I'll just let my kids choose their own religion.
I'll just let my kid... I don't want to tell them what to believe.
I'll just let them choose whatever they want. Oh, you want to be a Mormon? No problem.
I'm not going to force them. They need to find who they are."
That's garbage. That's not what the Bible teaches at all.
You need to command your family to serve the Lord, because if you don't do that,
if you let your child pick whatever religion they want, you're letting them just go to hell.
You're just saying, "Okay, I don't care if you have an eternity in hell, believing in a false god. No problem."
That's not what we should do. Joshua commanded his family to serve the Lord. It's not an option.
I mean, do you do that with other things with your kids?
Do you let them decide whether they want to brush their teeth or take a shower?
Do you let your boys decide if they're going to wear a dress or if they're going to wear pants?
No, you tell them what to do.
God gave us our children for us to raise them, not for us to just let them raise themselves.
Your children are your responsibility, right?
And we have to have this attitude in every aspect of life.
You know, nations, governments, we must command people to serve the Lord.
It should not be optional.
Go to James chapter one, James chapter one.
And I just want to point out how, notice how Asa, he backed up his commandment with actions.
What was he doing?
He was burning the idols.
He was taking these sodomites out of the land.
He was backing up everything he said with actions.
He wasn't a hypocrite, right?
That's what we need to do as well.
You know, it reminds me of Pastor Shelley, right?
He commands his church to serve the Lord.
And then what does he do?
He goes and burns the false Bibles yearly, right?
Taking the idols out of the land, burning the high places, taking the sodomites out of the land,
or the Bibles written by sodomites like the NIV, right?
That's how we should be.
James chapter one.
We got to back up what we do with actions.
Verse 22, but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves.
For if any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like unto a man beholding
his natural face in a glass.
For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway forgetteth what manner of
man he was.
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not
a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
So here's the thing, Asa and the nation of Judah was blessed because of their deed.
Yes he commanded them to serve the Lord, yes that's the first step, but then he followed
through with action.
He followed through with actually doing what he said he was going to do, which none of
our leaders can do by the way.
All of them are liars, every single one of them.
But that's what a good leader does, that's what we should do in our homes too.
Command our wives, command our children to serve the Lord, and then you know what, you
need to back that up with action.
Don't be a hypocrite, that's what we're going to be talking about tonight, but I just wanted
to leave that verse with you.
Go to 2 Chronicles 14 again, so we saw why Asa had peace.
He commanded Israel to serve the Lord, or Judah to serve the Lord.
So what do we see him doing during this time of peace?
Go to verse 6, "And he built fences in Judah, for the land had rest, and he had no war in
those years, because the Lord had given him rest.
Therefore he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls and
towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us, because we have sought the
Lord our God.
We have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side, so they built and prospered.
So what do we see Asa doing during this time of peace?
Is he just sitting on his backside doing nothing, being lazy?
No, you see him preparing for war.
During times of peace, during times of prosperity, you see him preparing for a time when it might
not be like that, right?
He's building fences, gates, bars.
Why would you do that in a time of peace?
There's nothing to worry about, right?
No, there is something to worry about, because in the Christian life you're always going
into a battle.
You're always coming out of a storm.
You're always in a storm, right?
So he knows that and he's getting people ready for that.
And here's the thing, that's just common sense, even in a carnal perspective, just in a carnal
perspective.
Look, men, you live in America, you have the freedom to keep and bear arms.
You need to do that.
You do.
You need to actually have a firearm and you need to know how to use it and you need to
know how to protect your family.
I don't think that should be, I don't think that should be optional in your home.
God commanded you to protect your family.
If you're living in a time of peace right now, if your home, if your neighborhood,
if your family's living in a time of quiet, why aren't you preparing to fence cities?
The walls, the gates, the bars, you know what I'm saying?
But people, they have this weird attitude, it could never happen to me.
Oh, that only ever happens to people on the news until it does happen to them.
And then they need it, right?
So just even in a carnal sense, it just makes sense to be preparing for battle all the time,
right?
But obviously the most important thing is the spiritual application.
So go to 1st Timothy 6, or I'm sorry, go to 2nd Corinthians 10.
I'll read for you 1st Timothy 6, 1st Timothy 6, 12, the Bible says, "Fight the good fight
of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed
a good profession before many witnesses."
Notice the Bible accounts serving the Lord as a fight, commanding us to fight the fight.
That's what the picture is of our Christian lives, of the spiritual battle.
It's always a fight in the Christian life.
Even if carnally you're living in a time of peace, even if you're living in the most
prosperous nation in the world that is following God, hey, there's always, always, always a
spiritual battle going on, no matter how peaceful your land is.
Second Corinthians 10 verse 3, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after
the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down
of strongholds, casting down imaginations in every high thing that exalted itself against
the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."
So here's what we've got to understand, obviously the weapons of the spiritual warfare are not
carnal.
I'm for us having AR-15s, I'm for us having weapons, I'm for us training with those weapons
and being very good with those weapons, but that has nothing to do with the spiritual
battle whatsoever, right?
Our spiritual battle is not us joining the Patriot Prayer Boys in Portland and standing
against Antifa and standing against Black Lives Matter and getting in a gunfight with
them, right?
That's not our battle, right?
Hey, I'm for a defensive battle if you know, these people, these stupid communists that
want to take over America, try to do this armed overthrow of America, hey, smoke 'em.
Defensive battle, no problem with that.
Smoke 'em dead.
But our battle every single day is a spiritual battle, fought with spiritual weapons, has
nothing to do with the Cardinal.
And that is what we have to be focusing our mind on every single day.
We live in the flesh, right, but we do not war after the flesh.
And it's hard because since we live in the flesh, all we see is the flesh.
And sometimes we forget about the spiritual battle, right?
Sometimes you can get sucked in when you're constantly reading the news
into wanting to fight these people and wanting to go vote and all these things.
But look, that's not the spiritual battle.
You have to remember that.
You have to not let yourself get sucked into that.
Matthew chapter seven, Matthew chapter seven, as you're turning there, you know,
like I mentioned, everything in the Christian life is a battle.
You're either in a storm, you're coming out of a storm, or
you're going into a storm all the time.
You know, if you've been a Christian for any length of time, you know that.
Like right now, me and Pastor Shelley, we're talking like,
we're getting ready to be done with this building construction.
And we're like, man, it'll slow down a little bit after that building construction.
No, well, it's just the next battle all the time.
That's the Christian life, the next battle.
Matthew chapter seven, verse 24.
Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and do with them,
I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and
beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.
And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and do with them not,
shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and
beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.
So here's the thing, if your life right now is a time where the wind is not
blowing, the storm's not howling, the flood's not coming, you're living in
a time of peace, right now is the time you have to be preparing for battle.
You cannot start preparing for battle in the middle of a flood, in the middle
of a hurricane, in the middle of an invasion.
Right now is the time where you need to be doing serious, diligent search
of your spiritual life, right?
Right now is when you need to be reading the Bible every day, praying to
God every day, going soul winning every time you can, and taking your
spiritual life seriously.
Because the Christian life is not measured with how you do when
everything is sunshine and roses and candy canes, right?
What really tests if a person is steadfast is the roots and the foundation
that they have built during those times of peace so that when the storm comes,
their foundation is revealed for everyone to see, for God to see.
Did you build that foundation or are you wasting your time right now
focusing on the carnal?
Are you wasting your time on Facebook?
Are you wasting your time worried about the news or are you spending your
time doing something that's actually going to prepare you for that
spiritual fight that's coming?
Because when that fight comes, you're going to regret, you're going to really regret
not spending more time focusing on building that spiritual foundation on the rock, which
is Jesus Christ.
And notice how Jesus said that that person's a fool, right?
The person that did not build his house on the rock is a fool.
And if you're just like living in this time, especially as we're seeing peace being taken
from our land, you're seeing things going downhill.
If you don't start building that rock, that house on the rock right now, you're a fool.
Because times where the peace is being taken away from our country are coming.
Go back to 2 Chronicles 14, what else did Asa do during a time of peace?
Remember, he was building the walls, gates, bars, towers.
He's building infrastructure, right?
Look at verse number eight, 2 Chronicles 14, "And Asa had an army of men that bear targets
and spears out of Judah, 300,000, and out of Benjamin that bear shields and drew bows,
204,000."
All these were mighty men of valor.
So what else did he do?
Not only did he just prepare the infrastructure, but he built an army of trained people ready
to fight.
And that's what church is.
That's why it's so important that you're here for every church service, because that's
what church is.
It's building the army to fight the battles of God.
Who else is going to do it?
Who else is going to go out and preach the gospel to OKC?
It's a huge map over there.
It's a huge city over there.
Who else is going to do it?
If the people in this room are not willing to be trained up to be the spiritual soldiers
that God's calling us to be, right?
We are a remnant.
We are salt in this country.
There are so few people in this country that are even saved.
And there are so few people in this country that are saved that go to church.
And there are so few people in this country that are saved and go to church and go soul
winning.
You know what I'm saying?
We have to take what we do extremely seriously.
And when you get out of the fight when you don't take church seriously, when you're
not here when the doors are open, that hurts the kingdom of God.
If you decide to just get backslidden and get out of church and decide you just want
to live for the flesh, for your stupid career, for your hobbies or something like that, that
harms the kingdom of God.
The people out there that need us to be soldiers, to go preach the gospel to them, to get them
saved, you know, if you're not going to do it, who is?
There's such a few number of people that are doing this work and we need every single person.
Go to Luke chapter 10, Luke chapter number 10, Luke 10 verse two, "Therefore said he
unto them, 'The harvest truly is great, but the labors are few.'
Maybe therefore the Lord of the harvest that He would send forth laborers into His harvest."
See, the thing is the problem is not with the harvest.
The spiritual battle is raging every single day in America.
There's more people going to hell every single day in America than there are soul winners
that could possibly reach them.
Think about that.
That is just crazy to fathom, that there's souls going to hell every second in this world
and people are, and Christians are not giving the gospel today.
Christians are deciding not to be laborers for Jesus Christ today, even though Jesus
said the fields are white unto harvest for you.
What are we lacking?
Laborers.
We're lacking the soldiers today.
God says to pray that he'll send more laborers into his harvest.
We need to be praying that prayer.
That's a serious thing.
You know, people's souls are literally at stake.
Forget the stupid carnal battle, forget Antifa and BLM and all those people.
Think about the souls that are going to hell forever and ever and ever, right?
That is what we should be keeping in the forefront of our mind.
I'll read for you Hebrews 10 verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together
as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the
day approaching.
I like how it says exhorting one another.
It's like pressuring one another.
The thing is when you're here, your presence can exhort someone else to do good.
You never know who you're going to influence in church, who is looking up to you.
And just by you being here, you could be exhorting that person to do good works.
You know in Titus chapter 2, the Bible talks about how the elder women teach the younger
women and teach them to do good works, right?
You know a lot of times women think that they don't really have an important role in the
church.
But they do.
The young ladies that are coming up, they look up to you, elder ladies, and I don't
mean old, okay?
Don't stone me up here.
I just mean you're married, you have kids, right?
And they don't.
They look up to you.
They look up.
Is this a woman that just doesn't care about the spiritual things?
Does she just come to church but she never goes soul winning?
Does she come to church but she never teaches her kids the Bible?
She comes to church but she's not zealous for God whatsoever?
Well that's going to rub off on the younger ladies too, right?
That's why coming to church should be exhorting people to do good works.
You never know who you're going to influence.
Same thing with the men.
You know, we got to make sure that we're leaving good examples for the young men coming up.
Why is it that so many churches, especially old IFB, you go there and it's just all old
people.
The young people that go there, they're still living in their parents' home and the day
that they leave their parents' home, they never show up to that church again.
Why does that happen?
Because their parents' Christianity is totally fake.
That's why.
Because they have no real zeal for God whatsoever.
Because they hear the pastor preach on soul winning, they hear the pastor preach about
all these things, and their parents go home and don't follow any of it.
They don't care.
They don't have the real zeal that the pastor may have.
And that rubs off on the people and the next generation is lost, right?
If we're going to be fighting this battle, we've got to be like King Asa and train up
that army.
And the children that come after us are that army.
That's going to be fighting the spiritual battle when we're gone.
So stop caring so much about your precious little life and start caring about your children's
lives.
And you don't have any children?
Well, start caring about the next generation of soldiers.
Start caring about other people's children that are going to bring the light of the gospel
to this community, right?
Because when you die, do you want the work of God to still go on?
When you die, do you want OKC to still have a church that's preaching the gospel to the
people here?
Or do you just want to let it crash and burn with you?
Do you just want to live, you know, as long as there's peace and truth in your days,
right?
Like Hezekiah, we need to care about the next generation.
Hey, and at least King Asa, he did have problems at the end of his life, but at least he cared
about the next generation.
At least when he was in a time of peace, he took it seriously.
He built the towers, built the walls, and built an army to fight.
He didn't just let them be sitting ducks for when the evil day comes.
Go back to 2 Chronicles 14, verse 9, 2 Chronicles 14, 9, "And it came out against them, Zerah,
the Ethiopian, with a host of a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots, and came unto
Maresha." So remember I said, your Christian life, you're always either going into a battle,
in a battle, or coming out of a battle. Well guess what? The battle has now come to King
Asa. And there's a thousand thousand Ethiopians, one million Ethiopians coming to fight him.
That's a big army. You know, if you knew in your life that you're going to face a spiritual
battle of a thousand thousand, aren't you going to wish that you had prepared a little
more, right? But that's why it's great to have a great leader like King Asa over your
nation, over your army, because he knew what was coming and he prepared for that. That's
why it's important to be in a good church with a good pastor. Don't settle for less.
You know, our lives are too short to be going to a lame church where King Asa is not the
pastor. I want to go to the church where King Asa is the pastor. That's what I want. I
don't want to waste my time at the old IFB church where the pastor doesn't even give
a rip about souls, where the pastor doesn't even give a rip about building the walls and
building the army. He doesn't even go soul winning himself. He doesn't even read the
Bible himself. He believes a false gospel half the time. Why would you waste your life
going to that church? Hey, when that army comes, you're gonna get smoked. You're gonna
get destroyed. Go to the church where King Asa is your pastor. The army has come for
him and let's see what happens. Verse 10, verse 10. Then Asa went out against him and
they set the battle in a ray in the valley of Zephatha at Marisha. And Asa cried unto
the Lord his God and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many or with
them that have no power. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on thee, and in thy name
we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God, let not man prevail against thee.
So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.
Notice, because King Asa was relying on the Lord, because his trust was completely in
God alone, he wasn't saying, hey, let's win this victory for our name, for my name, so
that I could be the man, King Asa, and I could be remembered and honored.
No, he's saying, Lord, this is for your name.
Please defend us.
We're leaning 100% on you.
He had no pride here.
And here's the thing, when we fight our spiritual battles, the only way that we can win is when
we trust fully on God.
If you're doing it in the flesh, you have no chance.
If you're trying to raise godly children in the flesh, you have no chance.
If you're trying to stay married your whole life in the flesh, you have no chance whatsoever.
If you try to do something great for God in your life, and you do it in the flesh, and
you're leaning on yourself, you're trusting in man, you have no chance whatsoever.
Notice what happened in verse 12.
It says, "So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah."
Remember what the prophet said to Asa?
He says, "Hey, if you're going to seek the Lord, he's going to be found of you.
He's going to fight for you."
And what happens in this battle?
Does Asa and the armies, do they just come in and smoke them and because of their might,
because of their preparation, because of their weapons of war, they just smoke the Ethiopians?
Nope.
The Lord smoked them.
That's the only way you could win your battle.
It's not about your flesh.
It doesn't matter how big your army is.
You know, America, great Babylon, you know, the Marine Corps, no one can beat the Marines,
the few, the proud.
We're going to build a wall.
We're going to have a space force.
No one can beat us.
No.
No, that's not how it works.
It doesn't matter if you're the most powerful army that's ever existed in all of humanity,
God could snap his fingers and every single soldier could just not breathe.
God could just snap his fingers and every single soldier could just die of a heart attack
in a second.
The walls, the border walls can all fall down.
The nuclear bombs can all blow up.
There's nothing, nothing that you can do if God's against you.
Hey, and there's nothing the enemy can do if God is for you.
And when God was for King Asa and for Judah, it doesn't matter if there's a million Ethiopians
coming up against you, the Lord smote them.
The Lord took care of it for them.
That's what happens when you're leaning on the spirit, when you're leaning on God and
not in the flesh.
You will lose.
I love King Asa's prayer here.
It's just so genuine.
He's just saying, "Lord, for you help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on thee.
And in thy name, we go against this multitude.
O Lord, thou art our God.
Let not man prevail against us."
Could you imagine Donald Trump going to war and praying something like that?
Let not man prevail against us.
He'd say, "There's no way anyone could prevail against us.
We are America."
Right?
That's like something Donald Trump would say.
He would never pray this prayer to God, so it's pretty sick how Christians today lift
him up as a godly man.
He doesn't trust in the Lord.
He doesn't give a rip about the Bible, and yeah, I get it.
He's not as bad as the child sniffing Biden.
It's pretty sad when Donald Trump has the moral high ground in America, and he does.
He does, because at least he's not a pervert for kids that we know of.
That we know of.
At least he doesn't go sniff kids.
He's just into adult women, which is bad enough being a whoremonger like that, an adulterer
like that.
That's sad when he is the moral high ground in our country, and you know what's way more
sad than that?
The fact that Christians support that.
It's bad enough that the President of the United States, that's his morality.
It's way worse when the church house supports it.
It's way worse when the church house gives their stamp of approval on that man.
Makes Christianity a joke.
You know, people think we're such hypocrites.
And you know what?
Many churches are.
They look at Christians, and they preach the Bible, and they preach all the commandments
of God.
But as soon as someone says they're a Republican, everything goes out the window.
Because a lot of these Christians just have no morality.
Just like how a lot of people really hate Pastor Anderson, and as soon as they find
out that someone else hates Pastor Anderson, it doesn't matter if you're a modalist, it
doesn't matter if you're a ruckmanite, it doesn't matter if you preach a false gospel.
Hey, as long as you hate Pastor Anderson, we can be friends.
You can come to my church, we can be best buddies, no problem.
That's exactly how it is with these Fox News Baptists.
Hey, it doesn't matter if you blaspheme God, it doesn't matter if you don't even believe
in God.
If you're an adulterer, a whoremonger, a casino owner, hey, as long as you're a Republican,
as long as you just say some right thing sometimes, we got your back, buddy.
It's wicked, it's pathetic, the state of Christianity in America today.
He resembles nothing like King Asa, nothing.
I will do more for the LGBT community than any president that's ever existed.
That's what Donald Trump said.
King Asa kicked the sodomites out of the land.
He didn't even allow their houses to be close to the house of God.
He burned all the idols.
He commanded Judah to serve the Lord.
He prepared an army.
He prepared the battlements.
And when the battle came, he trusted on God.
That's how he won.
That's how a godly nation is built and how a godly nation wins its battles.
Not by the U.S. Constitution and not by the laws of this land.
Not by the armies of this land and not by President Donald Trump.
That's not how it happens.
Go back to 2 Chronicles 16 and I want to read for you real quick.
John chapter 5 verse 30, Jesus said, "I can have my own self do nothing as I hear I judge
and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which
sent me."
See, the Lord Jesus Christ left us the perfect example that King Asa followed.
He was the leader, but guess what?
He didn't do things of his own will.
He fought that battle completely trusting on the Lord and that's exactly what Jesus
is saying.
He's saying, "Hey, I don't do my own will.
I just do whatever God the Father's will is."
Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, humbled himself and submitted to God the Father's leadership.
That's how we should be in our Christian lives.
That's how we should be in the spiritual battles that we fight.
Second Chronicles 16, look at verse number one, "In the sixth and thirtieth year of
the reign of Asa, Baisha king of Israel came up against Judah and built Rhema to the intent
that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah."
So he's fighting another battle.
Verse two, "Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of
the Lord and of the king's house, and sent to Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, that dwelt at
Damascus, saying, 'There is a league between me and thee, and there was between my father
and thy father.
Behold, I have sent thee silver and gold.
Go break thy league with Baisha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.'
And Ben-Hadad hearkened unto king Asa and sent the captains of his armies against the
cities of Israel, and they smote Ijan and Dan, Abel, Maim, and all the store cities
of Naphtali.
And it came to pass, when Baisha heard it, that he left off building of Ramah, and let
his work cease.
Then Asa the king took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timber
thereof, wherewith Baisha was building, and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.
And at that time, and Anani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because
thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore
as the host, the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.
For not the Ethiopians, and the Lubims, a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen,
yet because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thine hand.
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro, throughout the whole earth, to show himself
strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.
Herein thou hast done foolishly, therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.
So what happens?
Another battle comes to king Asa's life, and does he seek the Lord like he did the
first time?
Does he pray and ask God to deliver them?
No, he goes to Ben-Hadad the king of Syria.
He goes to the heathen and trusts in man to deliver him this time.
And the prophet said that he has done foolishly.
What changed?
Did God change?
Is God just a Calvinist?
And he said, "Oh, I'm just gonna let them lose the battle this time, just 'cause.
Just 'cause."
No.
It's because king Asa decided this time not to trust on the Lord, but to trust in man.
And it's just like what the prophet said, "Hey, if you trust in the Lord, if you seek
him, he'll be found of you.
But if you forsake him, you're on your own," basically is what he's saying.
That's exactly what happens.
And when we as Christians, hey, it doesn't matter what you did yesterday.
It doesn't matter how great your spiritual walk was last year.
It doesn't matter how many souls this church got saved last year or how many great sermons
were preached.
If you decide next year to trust in yourself, if you decide next year to not trust on the
Lord, to trust in man, you're going to be wiped out.
This church will fail.
And us as Christians in our lives, our Christian lives will fail no matter how great we were
in the past.
No matter how much we trusted on God in the past, if you change, God will change.
If you change, God's actions towards you will change.
God is not a Calvinist.
He doesn't just miraculously make churches succeed or make churches fail.
He gave us instructions in his word of what to do.
It's you follow him, you succeed.
You don't, you fail.
It's really that simple.
Hey, and it's simple, but that doesn't mean it's easy.
You know what's easy?
Pride.
Getting puffed up with pride is really easy.
Hey, it's really easy if this church were to grow and the preacher or the pastor or
the people here started getting lifting up with pride.
That's really easy to do, get lift up with pride.
What's hard is to humble yourself and to constantly remember that everything you have is only
because the Lord Jesus Christ gave it to you.
That's what's hard.
But hey, you need to always be humbling yourself.
You need to always put on the mind of Christ, the spiritual glasses and realize where you
are and why you got there.
And it's not because of you.
It's not anything because of you because guess what?
You deserve to split hell wide open.
That's what you deserve.
That's what I deserve.
We don't deserve anything.
King Asa didn't deserve to win any battle.
King Asa wasn't special.
King Asa was saved by grace just like we are.
Right?
What makes us succeed is trusting in the Lord only.
That's what makes us succeed.
Psalm 146, turn over there.
Psalm 146, Psalm 146 verse three, put not your trust in princes nor in the son of man
in whom there is no help.
Hey, there's no help today in man.
There's no help today in princes in the government of this world.
Verse four, his breath goeth forth.
He returneth to the earth.
In that day his thoughts perish.
Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God,
which made heaven and earth the sea and all that therein is, which keepeth truth forever,
which executes judgment for the oppressed, which giveth food to the hungry.
The Lord loose at the prisoners.
The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind.
The Lord raise at them that are bowed down.
The Lord love at the righteous.
The Lord preserve at the strangers.
He relieveth the fatherless and widow, but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.
The Lord shall reign forever and ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations, praise
ye the Lord."
Hey, the king of Syria is never going to help us, folks.
Hey, trust not in princes or in the son of man in whom there is no help.
But why is it today that so many Christians want to trust in man for their answers?
They always want to go to the ballot box.
They always want to go to the politicians, the city council, the sheriff, the president.
Hey, there's no help in princes.
Don't trust in princes.
Oh, I don't trust in princes.
I prince on the god.
I trust in God.
And then why are you always voting for princes?
You think that your problems are going to be solved by you voting for these princes.
It's because you trust in princes.
That's why.
Because you're always upset with what the government's doing.
Hey, news flash for you.
The government's wicked.
Republicans are wicked.
Democrats are wicked.
Every single one of them are liars.
None of them, I'm not going to say none of them, I don't want to rail on any of them
If there actually are a saved person in government, but hey, they're the 1% if they're saved people high up in government
They're the 1% your answer is not coming from them
Even if we lived in the Old Testament when a lot of times our battle our battle was physical
Even then because Asa trust in the king of Syria. He was destroyed right trust not in princes
I'm so sick and tired of people complaining about if they could only get a new mayor
They can only get a new governor
They can only get a new president that they actually think that that's gonna solve their problems
Well, if we just didn't have this governor in this state, we wouldn't be having to worry with all these coronavirus restrictions
Hey, it's the judgment of God on your states. It's the judgment of God on your nation
You know
Why don't you just keep focus on being salt and light in your community and just keep preaching the truth and keep praying for God's
Mercy and then maybe he wouldn't have to judge your state
Maybe if you spent more time soul winning and caring about the people in your community
Then you do about calling all the politicians and posting on Facebook about every little
City councilman you don't like and mayors you don't like maybe you spent more time building your spiritual foundation
That God would actually recognize that and bless that no instead God looks down and he sees so many churches today
trusting in princes
For their answer they have God in Patriot Day, right?
I used to go to a church where Sam Gipp was the Bible College president. It was a horrific church. It was terrible
Why I was there? Here's why I was there. I got saved by pastor Jimenez
And I was listening pastor Anderson pastor man's online and I was brand new saved and they're preaching
You know, hey, you got to be in the best church in your area and the only church in my area
That was King James only was a ruckmanite church. I didn't know what a ruckmanite was
I didn't know what any of that stuff was. I just went there and I hated it
I always felt you know
Really vexed after every service and then I would listen to preaching online and feel better until I could finally move
But they used to have this thing called prayer and Patriot Day where they literally brought in the governor of Idaho
They brought in all the police chiefs. They brought in these dykes
these lesbians running for office in the house of God and they had them all stand up one by one and have the congregation clap and
Praise them trusting in princes. It's pathetic today what the house of God has become but you know what?
There's churches that don't necessarily do that, but they sure do preach about nothing but politics
You know they may not bring the mayor in but they are through their sermons because all they care about is preaching about politics
All they care about is preaching about how the things need to change in our government today
And the answer is just if we change government. It's not the answer just wasting your breath dealing with the government
These people are evil read the Bible read Psalm chapter 2 the heathen and the kings of this earth
They rage they plot against God against Christ and against his anointed. You're not gonna change the government
Especially if we are approaching the end times, then you're really not gonna change it go back to 2nd Chronicles 16
So Asa got this rebuke and look at his response to the rebuke 2nd Chronicles 16 verse 10
Then Asa was wrought with the seer and put him in a prison house
For he was in a rage with him because of this thing and Asa oppressed some of the people the same time
You know what's really sad is today?
This is the exact same reaction you get from the Fox News Baptist when you teach and you tell them
Hey, you're focusing way too much on politics. Stop trusting in princes
You know, you need to be trusting in the Lord and not in the king of Syria
You know what happens with these Fox News Baptist that only preach about politics. They become rough with the seer
That's a horrible reaction to hard preaching when you get your sin preached on
You know, you should have love for the person that rebuked you
You should have love for the person that's willing to show you the truth
But instead there's so many snowflakes today and Fox News Baptist that when you preach against their blessed Donald Trump or preach against their
Worship of being obsessed with politics. They're raw with the seer
It's a horrible example that you leave as a leader when you're mad when someone calls you out
Verse 11 and behold the acts of Asa first and last
Lo they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel and Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign
Was diseased in his feet until his disease was exceeding great yet in his disease
He sought not to the Lord
But to the physicians and Asa slept with his fathers and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign
What a sad ending to King Asa's life, you know, he started off so strong
He left us such a good example of how he's how he started
But you know what?
He got rebuked for his sin and instead of getting it right he just held on to that bitterness held on to that bitterness
He wants to just keep trusting in the king of Syria so much so that God has to smite him
Chastise him with a disease in his feet and he still doesn't seek the Lord because he's just so mad that he was wrong
Because he's just so upset that people called him out for being wrong
And this is what you see today when leaders that do the right thing
Leaders that even preach the right gospel that run good churches when they get rebuked and they just get mad and bitter and they
Want to hold on to it. They don't change horrible reaction to hard preaching. It's a horrible
Example that you leave to the people that you're leading and you know what?
I wonder how many more fights and battles that God had for King Asa to lead Judah through but he had to he had to
Leave this earth early because he got disease in his feet and God had to kill him
I wonder how much more he could have done for God's people if he would have just changed his attitude
if he would have just received the rebuke that the man of God under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit gave him and
Didn't get all bitter about it. I wonder how much more he could have done for God and you know what?
I don't want to beat up Asa too bad because he was one of the greatest kings in the Bible
I'm excited to meet him someday in heaven. He's a great man. But here's the thing
He's an example of how you do not want to end your life. You don't want it
You don't want to live your whole life trusting in God building the armies building the church building the walls
You know getting rid of the false religions commanding your community to serve the Lord
You don't want to spend your whole life doing that and then you just get puffed up you get rebuked
You can't change and God has to just take you out, you know, that's not how we want to end our lives
I'll read for you Proverbs 28 verse 9
He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law even his prayer shall be abomination
Proverbs 132 for the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy him
even though Asa prospered in that in that first battle it destroyed him because he just got lifted up and because
He forsook he turned away of the right ways of the Lord
I want to end on a positive note though go back 2nd Chronicles 14
Let's finish off the story where King Asa was actually doing right 2nd Chronicles 14 verse 13 and Asa and the people that were with him
Pursued them unto Giroar talking about the Ethiopians that first battle and the Ethiopians were overthrown
And they could not recover themselves for they were destroyed before the Lord and before his hosts and they carried away very much
Spoiled and they smote all the cities round about Giroar for the fear of the Lord came upon them and they spoiled all the cities
For there was exceeding much spoil in them. They smoked also the tents of cattle and carried away sheep and camels in abundance and returned to Jerusalem
And here's the thing that we have to to close off on in the spiritual fight that we fight every single day
There is exceeding much spoil to be had
Hey
When you command your family to serve the Lord when you're trusting in him when you're building that army when you're fighting
Trusting in God and not in the flesh. There is exceeding great reward that you could carry back with you to the heavenly Jerusalem
It's called soul winning. That's the battle and just like king asa when he fought this battle and he destroyed his enemy
He carried much spoil back with him, didn't he and that's the thing. God doesn't just have us fight for free
You know
God's going to reward us in heaven someday
For the work that we do for him and for the souls that we win and hey if we go out and fight these great battles
We can carry back much spoil with us to heaven as well
I'll read for you or I'm sorry. I'll have you go two more places last two places
Keep your finger in john chapter 4 and first corinthians 3 john chapter 4 and first corinthians 3 john chapter 4
First 34 jesus saith unto them my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work
Say not ye there are yet four months and then cometh harvest behold
I say unto you lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already
To harvest and he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal that both he that soweth and he that reapeth
May rejoice together just like king aza when he beat the ethiopians
Hey, and the people took great spoil back with them and they rejoiced in the victory
It's the same thing for us spiritually when we get to heaven when we see all the souls brought with us to heaven
That we preach the gospel to that's going to be a satisfying reward right there. That's something to live your life for hey
That's something to dedicate your whole entire life for that's something to die to sell for is soul winning getting other people safe
Nothing else beats that nothing else is more important than in our lives than winning people to Christ first Corinthians verse
chapter 3 verse 11 for other foundation can no man lay then that is laid which is Jesus Christ now if any man built upon
This foundation gold silver precious stones wood. Hey stubble
Every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declared because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall
Try every man's work of what sort it is
If any man's work abide which he hath built thereon he shall receive a reward if any man's work shall be burned
He shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved yet
So as by fire and here's the thing we don't want to get to heaven just saved with no rewards, right?
We want to get to heaven and our works be revealed that they were gold silver and precious stones
We don't want our works when we get to heaven to be revealed as Fox News sermons
God and Patriot Day and complaining about the government, right?
We don't want to get to heaven and be like well you trusted in the king of Syria your whole life
You know, so I had to disease you and your feet you didn't get right when you got rebuked
So, you know, hey, you're saved. No, we want to get to heaven with great rewards
We want to focus on the spiritual battle at all times forget about the carnal stuff going on
focus on the spiritual things going on in your life trust God command your families to serve God build that strong foundation and
When that battle comes make sure you're trusting in the Lord your whole life. Let's pray Lord
Thanks so much for this day and thank you for this great story in your word King Asa was such a great king left a good
Example for us Lord. I just pray that we wouldn't end our life like he did God
I pray that you'd help us to be humble at all times and to always focus on the spiritual battles Jesus. Let me pray. Amen