He spans the eastern sky, his glorious name, In every land shall honor be, the morn will break,
The dawn of peace is nigh, the fight is a no-christian soldier.
With armor gleaming, and collar streaming, The right and wrong end dates to date,
Be strong and in His might hold fast.
If God before us, His banner over us,
We'll sing the victor's song at last.
Amen. Great singing.
Let's start off our service with a word of prayer.
Lord God Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us another day that we can come here to your house and hear the preaching of your word
We ask that you please bless our service this morning every aspect of it. Please bless the singing that would be pleasing to your ears
That would prepare us for the preaching
Most importantly Lord, please fill past me here with your spirit as he preaches unto us and gives your spirit in the congregation as well
That we may leave her edified in Jesus name. We pray amen. You may be seated
Please turn your song books to song number 105.
Song number 105, all that thrills my soul.
Song number 105, all together nice and strong on that first verse.
by his presence all divine true and tender pure and precious oh how blessed to
call him mine all that thrills my soul is Jesus
more than life to me. And the fairest of 10,000 In my blessing, Lord, I see. Love of Christ
And the heavens deeper than the deepest sea
All that thrills my soul is Jesus
He has more than life to be
And the fairest of ten thousand
Lord I see. What a wonderful redemption. Never can a mortal know how my single red-light
crimson can be whiter than the snow.
I see. On His strength divine relying, He is all in all to me. All that thrills my soul
Blessed Lord I see, by the crystal-flowing river, with the ransom I will see.
my soul is Jesus. He is more than life to me. And the fairest of 10,000, in my blessing,
Lord, I sing.
All right, great singing.
Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song,
which will be song number 244,
if you want to get that ready in your songbooks.
Amazing grace, 244.
If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand.
One of the ushers can get one for you.
Some important information on there.
Of course, we welcome you to come back
to our Sunday evening service at 5 p.m.
And then we have a Thursday night Bible study at 7 p.m.
And we are currently going through the book of John.
We will be in John chapter nine this coming Thursday.
So hope to see you for that.
We are a family integrated church
and so infants and children stay with their parents
in the service, but for your convenience,
we do have mother baby rooms located
throughout the building.
Should your child need some diversion?
And so if you need to know the location of those rooms,
you can ask one of the ushers
and they can point you to one of those rooms there.
Of course, changing tables, screens,
and speakers are available in there.
So you can utilize that.
and then come back in at your discretion.
We have the soul winning times in teams
listed there in the middle,
the list of expecting mothers.
Keep them in prayer.
And then the stats for salvations and baptisms
for the month of August.
great month there of course we're continuing to push our 2,000
salvations by the end of the year and so we are on track for that please be in
prayer that we meet that goal on the right hand side is the upcoming events
we have a tj mission strip coming up on saturday september 27th
and that's actually uh next saturday leaving the building at 9 15 a.m if you
like to participate in that just make sure you bring your passport coordinate
with our evangelist brother Ulysses Hernandez and the expenses are paid for
We'll save there and then we have something special.
We're gonna be doing something new next week.
This isn't on a weekly basis.
I'm just kinda prepping myself for this
and that is the Spanish service, okay?
Next Sunday.
We're gonna have a Spanish service after the AM service, and that'll be at 1 p.m. Okay, and
I'm gonna be preaching. I'm actually getting ready because I kind of have to warm up
I'm gonna be preaching a Spanish sermon in Dallas, Texas. That's all right. Isn't that it's Cedar Hills
It's somewhere in Texas somewhere in steadfast there. I'm gonna be preaching and they have a Spanish service there
So I'm gonna be preaching so I need to warm up
So I'm actually gonna preach a Spanish sermon next Sunday and you're welcome to be a part of that
have Pollo Loco. I'm not trying to be racist or anything like that. We're gonna have some
Mexican food there after amen. And so that'll be after the service, but we
welcome anybody to participate in that. And especially if you speak Spanish,
we're gonna sing Spanish hymns. And this is not taking the place of our regular
services. So we're still gonna have Sunday morning, Sunday night, but in
between we are gonna have the Spanish service. So you're welcome to be a part
of that. And then we have a homeschool field trip coming up.
to Legoland on Tuesday, October 14th. The expenses are paid for.
Details are at the guest center. You can talk to my wife Sarah for more details. If you have any questions about that
And lastly friend is coming up Sunday November 2nd
We had a great friend a last year and so we're looking forward to that
We want to break some some record attendances here and we'll give you more info as that approaches
We're gonna be having some invites soon and we like to hit the 265 75 goal this coming year
And so we're looking forward to it. Please be in prayer over that. Please silence your phones
during the preaching, so as to not be a distraction
during the service.
And that is it for our announcements.
244, Amazing Grace.
Song number 244, Amazing Grace.
All together, nice and strong in that first verse.
Amazing.
You can turn your Bibles to Acts chapter 14, Acts chapter number 14.
in Acts chapter 14, Acts chapter 14, the Bible reads,
and it came to pass on Iconium that they went both together
into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake,
that a great multitude, both of the Jews
and also of the Greeks, believed.
But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles
and made their minds evil affected against the brethren.
Long time therefore abode, they speaking boldly
in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace,
and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
But the multitude of the city was divided, and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles.
And when there was an assault made, both with the Gentiles and also of the Jews, with their rulers,
to use them despitefully and to stone them, they were aware of it, and fled into Leistre and Derby,
cities of Lycaonia, and into the region that lieth round about.
And there they preached the gospel.
And there sat a certain man at Leistre, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb,
who never had walked, the same heard Paul speak, who steadfastly beholding him,
and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice,
stand upright on thy feet, and he leaped and walked. When the people saw what Paul had done,
they lifted up their voices, saying in this speech of like Ionia,
the gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul
Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands into the gates
and would have then sacrificed with the people,
which when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of,
they rent their clothes and ran in among the people, crying out and saying,
Sir, is why do ye these things?
We are also men of like passions with you
and preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God,
which made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are therein,
who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.
Nevertheless, he left them not without witness, and that he did good and gave us rain from
heaven in fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness, and with these sayings
scarce restrained they the people that they had not done sacrifice unto them.
And there came to the other certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people,
and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city supposing he had been dead.
Albeit as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up and came into the city, and the
When they preached the gospel to that city and had taught many, they returned again to
Leistrand, to Iconium, and to Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them
to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom
of God.
And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting,
they commended them to the Lord on whom they had believed.
And after they had passed through Pisidia,
they came to Panphilia.
And when they had preached the word in Perga,
they went down to Italia and then sailed to Antioch
from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God
for the work which they fulfilled.
And when they were come and had gathered the church together,
they rehearsed all that God had done with them
and of how he had opened the door of faith under the Gentiles.
And there they abode long time with the disciples.
Let's pray.
Dear Lord God, we thank you again for this opportunity to meet in your house this morning.
And we just ask that you would fill our pastor with your Holy Spirit and that you would bless the preaching to our edification.
And in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Amen.
Okay, we're in Acts chapter 14 this morning, and the title of my sermon today is Through
Much Tribulation, Through Much Tribulation.
It says in Acts chapter 14 and verse 21, and when they had preached the gospel to that
city and had taught many, they returned again to Elisha, to Iconium, and Antioch, confirming
the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith.
and that we must through much tribulation it says,
enter into the kingdom of God.
Here in Acts chapter 14,
of course, this is the famous story
of Paul's first missionary journey.
And him and Barnabas are accomplishing much.
They are preaching the gospel and various regions.
And they get to this region known as Lystra and Derby.
And as their manner is,
they go into the synagogue of the Jews.
not because they have a conviction about going into synagogues or they have to worship in synagogues,
they just obviously understand that in synagogues Moses is being preached, the Word of God is
being put forth, therefore it's likely that people are open to the gospel in that particular part.
So they go there and they preach the Word of God and of course the Word of God is powerful,
the gospel is the power of God into salvation and so people get saved, amen. They start getting
But then the Jews who are major adversaries of the gospel
begin to persecute Paul, they persecute Barnabas.
And we see that later on it gets to a point
where they actually end up stoning the apostle Paul.
They drag him out of the city, they suppose him to be dead,
but then we have the famous line that he rises up, right?
So they thought he was dead, but he gets up, and what does he do?
He tuck tails home, he quits the ministry,
he stops calling himself a Christian, he takes down his post,
he doesn't, no he doesn't do that, he actually goes back.
He confirms the souls of the disciples, and then he tells them,
as of course he's beaten up, he says, we must through much tribulation.
Enter into the kingdom of God now look folks when I get up and I say hey
We must do much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God you're gonna agree with me because I'm quoting what the Bible says
But when the Apostle Paul who's evidently busted up. He's probably missing some teeth
He's probably bloodied and bruised
because he just got finished getting stoned.
He's coming before the people and he's saying,
hey, we muster much tribulation
entering into the kingdom of God.
The people are like, yeah, yeah, we can see that.
You know, you're about to die or we thought you were dead.
It obviously adds more validity,
it lends veracity to the message
and it obviously shows that the apostle Paul
knows what he's talking about.
He's not just preaching it,
he's actually living it himself
because of the fact that
the ministry has caused him to become greatly afflicted,
greatly bruised, greatly persecuted
as noted by the story itself.
And he's confirming them by doing this.
Now this is important because of the fact
that people think, well, if you preach like that,
you're gonna scare people away from serving God.
But according to verse 22,
the apostle Paul was confirming the souls of the disciples.
What does it mean to confirm them?
It means to make them strong.
It means to get them rooted and grounded.
Why? Because people are looking for substance.
And when you find substance in the truth, when you see that people are actually living
out the gospel, living out the word of God, it encourages them.
It emboldens them to also take a stand for Christ as well.
And what I want to preach on this morning is the fact that you, me, and everyone who lives a godly life will suffer much tribulation before we enter into the Kingdom of God.
This is not to say that this is the path to the Kingdom of God per se, meaning that we have to suffer tribulation in order to go to heaven.
It's just that the road to heaven that's paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ
is through much tribulation, okay?
You can't expect to live the Christian life
and not have anything bad happen to you, in other words.
Christian life is not a bed of roses.
Obviously, we know that it's filled with blessings.
It's filled with joy.
It's filled with a lot of happiness.
but it's also filled with a lot of anguish
and sorrow and tribulation.
And I don't wanna stand up here and tell you
that once you become a Christian,
everything's gonna be hunky-dory.
You're never gonna suffer any anguish or trial or tribulation.
No, of course you are,
because that is God's will for your life.
What is tribulation?
Tribulation is affliction and great suffering.
And in the context of the Bible, it's when a Christian experiences this affliction and anguish at the hands of others because of their beliefs, more specifically, Christian beliefs.
Tribulation within Christianity has been associated with end times prophecy, for example.
We often think of the great tribulation, right?
That's highlighted in Revelation chapter 6 and chapter 13.
And unfortunately, because of the infiltration of dispensationalism and Zionism, Christians
have been duped.
They've been deceived into thinking.
that God is intending to spare them from that tribulation,
that they will not experience affliction,
they will not experience any tribulation,
and it's produced a generation of very weak Christians
who want to avoid affliction and hardships
as much as possible,
because God's gonna take us out of here anyways.
But that's 100% false.
That's not what the Bible teaches.
As we see with the apostle Paul,
we must, through much tribulation,
They often preachers will get up and say, well,
You know that's for the Jews or that's for the world, but God's not going to allow us to go through that
We're going to be raptured before that takes place because how can a loving God allow us to go through something like that?
well, you're asking the wrong question and
The reality is this is that we need to look at the plenary of scripture and see what the overall
Narrative is of tribulation and when you do you come to the conclusion. Oh dang. We are going to go through tribulation
Okay, that's a fact, you know, it's a false narrative to say that we're not and it contradicts what the Bible actually teaches about the about tribulation
Folks suffering is part of the Christian experience
Okay, I know a lot of prosperity preachers are out there telling you
once you become a Christian everything's gonna be gray a bed of roses
But suffering is part of the Christian experience
And I don't want to get up here and tell you that it's only joy
Happiness and blessing without the counterpart, which is suffering. That's what the Bible actually teaches
And so this morning I want to give you four points in this regard of tribulation and as a church
You need to prepare yourself for personal tribulation and public tribulation
You say, why?
Well, because of the fact that if you're not ready to suffer,
you're not ready to experience any form of anguish
when it does come upon you, you're gonna stumble,
you're gonna get out of church,
you're gonna stop reading your Bible,
you're gonna be a weak Christian
and that's not God's will for your life.
God wants you to be strong in the Lord
and in the power of his might.
He wants you to have strong confidence,
to have a strong faith.
He wants you to push through anguish and sorrow
and serve God in spite of it all.
Okay, so four points this morning,
turn with me if you would to Matthew chapter 10,
Matthew chapter 10 if you would,
Matthew chapter number 10.
Point number one regarding tribulation is that God promises us tribulation we're gonna look at the promise of tribulation
This is not up for debate. This is not like well, we might suffer tribulation
No, God says I promise you you will go through tribulation and in fact you're in Matthew chapter 10
I'm gonna read to you from another portion of Scripture in Philippians 1 29 the Bible reads this for unto you
Referring to Christians for unto you it is given on the behalf of Christ
not only to believe on him, but listen to this,
but also to suffer for his sake.
That's pretty powerful, right?
He's saying, my will for your life
is not only to believe on him for salvation,
but also for you to suffer.
How can a loving God, that's how a loving God can do it.
Okay?
we are meant to suffer.
Now, obviously, I'm not also saying that, you know,
the Christian life is only suffering
because that would be a false narrative as well, right?
Oh, man, we're just, it's just the Christian life
is just miserable.
It's full of anguish and trial and sorrow
and it's just not what I thought it was gonna be.
That's not true.
You know, the Christian life is obviously
an ebb and flow of both, right?
We have mountain tops, but we also have valleys.
And quite frankly, it is possible that we might have more valleys than we do
mountaintops. Why? Well, because if we don't have a whole lot of valleys,
then we don't appreciate the mountaintops. That's why.
So, valleys are important for us to experience because it will help us to have a greater
gratitude for the mountaintops that we experience as well.
Now let me start off by saying that the promise of tribulation is given to us by Jesus himself.
Okay?
Now, let me read to you from John 16, verse 32.
Jesus speaking here, you're in Matthew 10.
Jesus says this, Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered.
Every man to his own and shall leave me alone and yet I am not alone because the father is with me
I want you to notice this these things have I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace in
The world you shall have tribulation
Did you hear that?
In the world ye shall have, he might have,
no, ye shall have tribulation.
But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world,
the Bible says.
So he tells us here that he's telling us these things
because he wants us to have peace about it.
What does it mean to have peace?
It means that you are settled in it.
You have tranquility about this.
You're not wondering if you're gonna go through tribulation.
Oh, it's okay, it's already answered for you.
You are gonna go through tribulation.
Man, I wonder if I'm gonna suffer as a Christian.
Hey, I got the answer for you.
You are settled.
Jesus promises it.
So just as he has promises to provide for you,
to protect you, to fill you with comfort, guess what?
Here's another promise you're gonna suffer too.
But here's the thing be of good cheer the Bible says because Jesus has overcome the world
Therefore we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. That's what the Bible teaches now
Let's get into the specifics here look at Matthew chapter 10 verse 16
Jesus also another portion of scripture where Jesus promised his tribulation. He says here behold
I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves
Be therefore wisest serpents and harmless as doves.
Now the first thing I wanna point out here
is that he's specifically telling us
that he's kinda placing us in a world filled
with wolves as sheep.
Meaning that we're in danger.
Meaning that there's gonna be danger, persecution,
suffering, and he says we need to be wisest serpents,
but as harmless as doves.
Meaning that because we're sheep in the midst of wolves,
we need to understand that this isn't a physical battle.
It's a spiritual battle for we rest not against flesh and blood, but against principalities against powers
Against the rulers of the darkness of this world for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal
But mighty through God through the pulling down of strongholds, right? So this is why he says we need to be harmless as doves
Now this is important because Christians often think that we need to take matters into our own hands and
Start getting physically violent with those who oppose Christianity, but that's not what the Bible teaches
The Bible teaches this is a spiritual battle. We need to be harmless as doves
He says in verse 17
But beware of men for they will deliver you up to councils and they will scourge you in the synagogues now
Who's he talking about?
You know, he says, you need to watch out for men
because they're gonna take you before councils.
He's like, okay, I could see that.
But then he says, they will scourge you in their synagogue.
Excuse me?
A synagogue, isn't that where Jews meet, you know?
Yeah.
So obviously he's saying that there's two opponents
of Christianity.
It's the world who hates biblical values,
but it's also a certain segment of the population
known as the Jews who are also enemies of the gospel.
And he promises that you're going to be scourged in their synagogues, beaten.
Verse 18,
And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake,
for a testimony against them and the Gentiles, meaning that
when you get persecuted, God will allow certain instances
where he permits for you to have an audience before the Gentiles
in order to witness for Christ.
Now, I remember when this happened back in 2021 when our church was bombed, the sodomites,
you know, targeted our church and blew up our church and protested us and all that.
And I remember during this particular time, after the bombing.
The chief of police and the city manager wanted to call a meeting with me
And the reason I want to call a meeting with me is because they wanted me to apologize
You know for because my church was bombed, you know, can you can you apologize because your church was bombed?
You know, it's just like who's the victim here
And it allowed me the opportunity to just make,
take a stand for Christ and basically tell them
and what I specifically told the chief of police
and the city manager was this.
I said, I'm not gonna apologize
and let me just give you some advice.
I said, if you don't want God to judge your city,
if you don't want God to judge you, leave me alone.
I said leave me and my church alone because if you don't God will judge your city and I promise you that I
Said our church has never been known to be a terrorist threat. We've never I said we've been here for three and a half years
How did you see us bomb anybody?
No, all we've done is preach the gospel.
We've been functioning members of this city.
We've been a blessing to the city and we were bombed.
And so if you don't want God's hand to come down hard on you,
leave me alone.
That's what I told them.
And this is what they responded.
We get that, but can you just apologize?
And I said, no, I'm not gonna apologize.
Why would I apologize?
And by the way, never negotiate with terrorists, amen?
Just, you know, you say, well, what if they do something
to you, you know, they'll do it to you
whether you apologize or not.
And so, you will be brought before governors,
you will be brought before kings,
for a testimony against them and the Gentiles,
because God not only wants you to witness of the gospel,
but he also wants you to preach against their evil deeds.
It says in verse 19,
but when they deliver you up,
take no thought how or what you shall speak,
for it shall be given you in that same hour
what you shall speak.
In other words, don't have a script ready
when you're being persecuted, just be filled with the spirit.
It says, for it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your father which speaketh in you, and the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father of the child, and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
And ye shall be hated of all men, for my name's sake, but he that endureeth to the end, the same shall be saved."
Now, this is essentially telling us here that we are going to escape tribulation.
The tribulation is not going to come upon us.
That we're never going to experience tribulation.
No, actually it says the exact opposite.
It says we will experience tribulation at the hands of others and I do want to clarify that verse 22 when it says
He that endure it to the end the same shall be saved. It's not referring to a spiritual salvation
Okay, a lot of people will try to use this to try to teach that we have to
Endure the Christian life in order to be saved that endurance is essentially the evidence of salvation
But that's a false gospel. What this is teaching is that if we can endure the persecution
If we can endure the affliction, then we will be saved from the result of that persecution
which is death, okay?
It's a physical deliverance from the tribulation and persecution that we will receive.
Let me read to you, you're in Matthew chapter 10, go to Matthew chapter 24, hold your place
here in Matthew 10 if you would, put a piece of paper there or a pen, go to Matthew chapter
So, Jesus is here is promising us that we will suffer at the hands of others and sometimes
that suffering is a verbal persecution, a criticism of what we believe, but sometimes
it is a physical persecution.
You might get beat up for your faith.
You might be hospitalized for your faith.
Folks, you might be killed for your faith and you need to be ready for that.
Why?
Because we must through much tribulation
enter into the kingdom of God.
Matthew 24 verse eight says,
all these are the beginning of sorrows.
They shall deliver you up to be afflicted
and shall kill you
and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Now, this is important, verse number nine,
because you know, a lot of churches and Christians
will promote that we need to be loved by the world.
That we need to have a good, you know, a good testimony before the world and you know
Obviously we do need to be a good testimony to the world in the sense that we're not lawbreakers
Right there were law-abiding citizens that were moral people. We're not a scourge to society
We're not a reproach amongst the Gentiles so to speak
But here's the thing if you live out the Christian life, the world's gonna hate you
So don't be surprised about that.
You know, don't try to seek to be a Christian politician
that wants to please both sides, to please everyone
because of the fact that at the end of the day
Jesus said that all men shall hate you,
the world shall hate you.
And here's the funny thing is that sometimes people
will point to someone like me or my pastor friends
and be like, oh man, you know, why don't you act like Jesus?
Well, Jesus was crucified, so what do you mean?
You know you act like the world you act like the Roman Empire love Jesus you act like the Jews love Jesus
You act like anyway, you know the vast majority of the people during Jesus time didn't like him
Which is why they yelled crucified him crucify him right and so he's saying you know the the
That the disciples not above his master
If they call the master of the house be else above how much more shall they call him of his household?
So most of the time when people say things like that, they've never even read the Bible
They have this other image of Jesus in their mind
that doesn't exist.
The Jesus of the Bible was hated
and therefore we will be hated as well.
He says in verse 10,
and then shall many be offended
and shall betray one another
and shall hate one another.
Go to Mark chapter 10 if you would.
We're looking at the promises of tribulation
given to us by Jesus Christ.
After Mark 10,
we're gonna go to second Timothy chapter three.
Mark chapter 10 if you would.
The promise of tribulation is given to us by Jesus.
that we will suffer persecution, affliction,
we will suffer physical harm, we will suffer criticisms,
and this is important so that you don't stumble
when it happens to you.
You don't get out of church, you don't become fearful,
you don't tuck tail and run when it happens,
you need to expect tribulation
and not be caught off guard when it comes upon you.
Look at Mark chapter 10 verse 29.
Jesus answered and said,
There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife,
or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospels, but he shall receive a hundredfold
now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands."
Now, a lot of prosperity gospel preachers love this verse.
This is what they use to try to excuse their mansions
and their 10 cars and being a millionaire
and all these things and essentially making the house
of God a house of merchandise and making merchandise
off of the flock of God.
And they'll say, God wants to give me 100 fold houses
and brethren and sisters and mothers
and children and lands.
But let's read the next point with persecutions.
And in the world to come eternal life, so the Bible saying here that if you follow the Lord Jesus Christ and you're forsaken of your spouse
You're forsaken of your children. You're forsaken of those whom you love
You know God's gonna bless you with a spiritual family. He's gonna bless you with resources
He's gonna provide for you and protect you, but let me also say this it also comes with persecution as well though
Okay, so yeah, go ahead and claim the promises of God. We're all for it
but just know that it also includes
persecutions as well.
Okay, go to 2 Timothy chapter 3.
2 Timothy chapter 3.
What is Jesus saying in Matthew 10, Mark 10, Matthew 24?
The clear narrative of these portions of scripture
is that we are gonna suffer,
we're gonna have anguish and affliction,
this side of eternity.
You cannot escape it unless you're just
a milk toast, weak Christian.
If you don't read the Bible, you don't.
Go to church, you don't win souls to Christ.
You're not open about your beliefs.
You're kind of a closet Christian.
Yeah, you're not gonna suffer any persecution
because no one knows what you believe.
Can't suffer persecution when no one knows who you are.
But if you are a godly Christian,
not an obnoxious Christian, just a godly Christian
who's living out the Bible,
Folks you're gonna grab some attention people are gonna hate you they're gonna persecute you
Let's look at 2nd Timothy chapter 3 and verse number 10. This is the Apostle Paul speaking writing to Timothy
He says but thou
Has fully known my doctrine now. What did I just say right?
Someone who's open about their faith is like you know what I believe
And this is the kind of Christian I like to be around right the kind of Christian is just like you don't have to wonder what they believe
They don't talk out of both sides of their mouth
Thou has fully known my doctrine right where they're not you know being a politician about it
They're trying to please both sides, you know
You come to talk to me after the service and ask me what I believe about a specific subject
I'm not gonna tiptoe around the tulips, especially if the Bible is crystal clear about a particular subject
And in fact, I might divulge a little too much information sometimes, you know?
I'm gonna get a little, you know, my opinion might be a little strong.
But hey, at least Thou has fully known my doctrine, though.
You know, that's how God wants churches and pastors and Christians to be, not just the
pastor, you as well.
Thou has fully known my doctrine.
He says here, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions,
He's referring to the events that we read in Acts chapter 14.
What persecutions I endured, but out of them all, the Lord delivered me.
Now, before I get into my text verse here,
He says here, you know, you've known about my life.
You know about what I believe.
You know how I behave.
You know my conduct.
You even know the persecutions that came upon me.
And you know that God delivered me out of those persecutions.
Now, that's also important.
Because along with the promise of persecution is the promise of deliverance from that persecution as well
Because persecution can get a little scary, you know
No one in this room is just like that, you know
I'm not scared. No, we all get a little scared when persecution comes upon us. That's why it requires faith, right?
To act in spite of fear
And the faith is what?
The Lord will deliver us out of all of the evil
and out of the persecutions.
Now I want you to notice verse 12.
He says, yay, and all that will live in Godly,
will live Godly in Christ Jesus might suffer persecution.
No, shall suffer persecution.
So let me just give you a reality check here.
Okay.
He says those who live Godly in Christ Jesus
will suffer persecution.
So, we can surmise from that that if you've never suffered persecution, you're probably
not a godly person according to biblical standards.
Amen?
I mean, isn't that what the Bible is saying here?
The result of living a godly life is that you will suffer persecution.
Now, obviously, this verse isn't explained to us the degrees of persecution that we will
We're going to look at different persecutions obviously it could range from anywhere from death all the way up into just being criticized for what you believe
Okay, and I think all of us to a certain degree have suffered some form of persecution
Where people have criticized us they've hated us they threatened us to a certain degree
You know that is persecution and it's because you're living a godly life now
If you're a Christian and you've just never suffered any persecution whatsoever, you know, you need to check yourself
and start, you know, living a godly life,
get out of the lukewarm, limpristed church
that you might be in that's not telling you
to live a godly life, that's trying to get you
to compromise and start living a righteous life
worthy of persecution, okay?
Because it says, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution.
It's God's will for your life.
Go with me if you went to 1 Thessalonians chapter three,
1 Thessalonians chapter three,
we talk about the promise of tribulation, it's here.
You know and and pastors are doing a disservice to their congregations throughout the nation when they're telling people
Oh, we're gonna be taken out before great tribulation. That's not gonna that's not gonna happen
we will be raptured and what that produces is
Christians who don't know how to withstand persecution and inflection
They don't know how to handle persecution and you know, we want to be strong in the Lord power of his might
We want to be able to withstand in the evil day having done all to stand
And you know the evil day is not just great tribulation.
The evil day can be for you tomorrow.
You can suffer the evil day tomorrow.
You can experience great tribulation in your personal life tomorrow.
And just take it from someone who has experience.
I've seen Christians come and go and most of those who go,
it's because they suffer great tribulation and they weren't ready for it.
They bought into the lie that oh man, I thought the Christian life was going to be great
I thought nothing bad was going to happen. I thought this Daniel. Why am I suffering this if I'm serving God?
Why am I suffering this if I'm witnessing for Christ if I'm soul winning if I love the Lord?
Why am I suffering? Well, you're suffering there because of those things
Soul winning brings blessing, but it also brings persecution
So don't run from tribulation
Don't run from persecution. You know run toward it
and run to the foot of the cross for safety.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 3-1.
It says, wherefore, when we could no longer forbear,
we thought it good to be left at Athens also
and sent to Motheus, our brother and minister of God,
and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ
to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith,
that no man should be moved by these afflictions.
For yourselves know that we are appointed there unto.
Folks, you have an appointment with affliction.
God says you're appointed for these things and he's telling the church at Thessalonica because they're suffering great tribulation
They're suffering persecutions and afflictions
He's sending Timothy there to remind him of that and he's telling them like you should not be moved because of this
The the hardship that you're experiencing should not get you out of church. It shouldn't
Stop you from reading the Bible
Shouldn't stop you from proclaiming the gospel you should not be moved from these things because you knew that you were appointed there unto in other words
This didn't catch you off-guard
Tribulation did not blindside you you knew it was coming upon you therefore you could be ready for it
And what is this sermon this sermon is to get you ready for the tribulation that's gonna come upon you
So that it doesn't blindside you. It doesn't catch you off-guard. It doesn't surprise you think it not strange
The fiery trial that shall try you as though some strange thing happened unto you
You know that you're appointed there unto and let me just remind you today
You have an appointment with tribulation and it's gonna be hard
It's going to be filled with affliction and yes you're going to have tears, yes you're
going to have emotional pain, yes it may cost you some family and friends, it may cost you
a lot.
But the end of that is great joy, the end of that is reward, the end of that is blessing.
He says in verse 4, for verily when we were with you we told you before that we should
suffer tribulation even as it came to pass and you know, oh no we're not going to go
It will be raptured before that well no we're appointed for tribulation
So you're not getting that from the Bible
Because the Bible says something completely different turn with me if you would go to 1st Peter chapter 5 1st Peter chapter 5
We're gonna come back to Matthew 10 in just a bit. That's the promise of tribulation
Make no mistake about it. It will come upon you. It's gonna come upon your family
It'll come upon your spouse. It'll come upon your children
It'll come upon us as a church and let me just say this. I don't schedule
Persecutions in our church. Sometimes people are like, hey, when do you think the next
Protesters gonna be? I don't know. You know, I don't really schedule these things, you know
I don't raise a goat fund me to see who wants to persecute me. I just let it come upon me whenever it does
Okay, and you know persecution is not cloud chasing
If you are, it's not aura farming or whatever you call it.
If it comes upon you, it comes upon you.
And you need to leave it in the hands of God
when it comes upon you.
And you know what, if you're like,
I just don't know why we're not being persecuted.
Well, I mean, you're part of this church.
So maybe it's because of you.
I don't know.
The promise of tribulation, it will come upon you.
Let's talk about the source of tribulation.
Where does it come from?
Well, if you're talking to dispensationalists and Zionists, it comes from God.
But no, that's not true.
God has specifically defined what wrath and tribulation is, and he does pour tribulation
upon the unsaved at times, but consistently throughout the Bible, tribulation in its
context is the equivalent to persecution and affliction on Christians from others.
because we don't want to wrongly blame someone
for the tribulation that we're suffering.
Especially if you're suffering for your own actions.
You know, sometimes people are like,
oh man, I'm going through such a hard time,
I'm suffering persecution,
but it's like, yeah, but it's cause you made a bad decision.
It's because you're suffering the consequences of your actions.
Okay?
You know, don't blame God, don't blame the devil, you know, don't accuse the devil of
things that you're suffering for because of your bad decisions and mistakes that you
made.
And in fact, let me read to you from 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 15 says, but let none of
you suffer as a murderer or as a thief.
or as an evil doer, or as a busybody in 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, essentially telling us that God says, hey,
you're going to suffer, but just make sure your suffering isn't
a result of being a lawbreaker, right?
You know, oh man, I'm suffering tribulation.
I got this DUI, and I'm suffering tribulation.
Yeah, that's because of you, though.
He's not even bothering with you.
You're already a drunk.
You're driving drunk.
You know, oh man, I'm suffering.
You know, my job, they just fired me.
You know, yeah, but that's because you're witnessing
on the job though.
And that's not a godly thing to do either.
God wants you to be subject to your boss
and you're on his time.
You need to be working instead of, you know,
proclaiming the gospel during that time.
We need to make sure that we suffer as a Christian
and we need to identify where our suffering is coming from.
And obviously the first person it comes from
Okay, the Bible tells us in 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 8 be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion
Walketh about seeking whom he may devour so Satan is always looking for a meal, right?
He's always seeking you out. He's always looking for you to be tripped up
He's always looking to persecute you. He is the accuser of the brethren and
You know Satan is on a short leash with God, so he can't do anything without God's permission
And there are instances where you suffer persecution
or you're suffering tribulation, should I say,
the consequences of your actions.
You get thrown out of church
and God actually sakes Satan on you
for the destruction of the flesh.
That's what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter five,
right?
He gives you over for the destruction of the flesh.
But sometimes God just gives the green light on you
because you're a good Christian.
So Satan comes like he came to Job.
And God's like, has thou considered my servant Adrian?
Has thou considered, you know, my servant Glenn?
He starts, you know, pointing people out.
You know, Satan is going to and fro
throughout the earth, seeking whom he may devour.
And then God's like, well, I know someone
who you can try to devour.
And he allows that not because you're a bad Christian
But because you're a good Christian because again all the will of Godly and Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution
So often this persecution does come from Satan and it doesn't come because he wants to refine you
It's because he wants to sift you as wheat. He wants to destroy you, right?
Let me read you from 1 Thessalonians 3 5 go back to Matthew chapter 10 if you would first Thessalonians 3 5 says for this cause
When I could no longer forbear. I sent to know your faith. Let's by some means the tempter
Have tempted you and our labor be in vain. Who's the tempter? It's Satan
Someone who is tempting you trying you in tribulation
And he's saying, you know, I'm coming to check up on you,
church at Thessalonica,
because I don't want my labor in you to be in vain.
I don't want you to quit on the Lord.
I want you to keep living the Christian life.
I want you to keep serving God.
And I know that the tempter's coming to tempt you,
to try you, and so don't quit.
So we know that the source of tribulation
comes from Satan,
but let me just give you another reality check.
Sometimes tribulation comes from friends and family.
And this is possibly one of the biggest sources
for a lot of Christians.
You know, we can take tribulation from Satan.
We can take it from the world
and we're gonna cover the world.
But some of the hardest tribulation
that we could ever face is when it comes
from family and friends.
Why, because those people are close to us.
They're our blood, right?
They're people we grew up with.
People that we share life with, right?
We have memories with.
People that we share our house with.
But, folks, they are not excluded from being the source of tribulation.
And that's some of the hardest tribulation that you will ever face is when people who
love you, people who are your family and friends, oppose you because of Jesus Christ.
But it will happen.
And you know something, in my experience, one of the hardest tribulations when it comes
to that is when it's a spouse.
It's hard when it's your kids, but it's even harder when it's your spouse who's fighting against you for your beliefs
But this is the harsh reality. This is the truth. Look at Matthew 10 verse 21
It says and the brother shall deliver up the brother to death now. That's hard
When your own brother is willing to deliver you up to be put to death because of what you believe
That's hard, but that is a reality and you need to be ready for something like that
And not allow that to cause you to stumble when it comes upon you, you know, we pray that it doesn't happen
but
There's instances when it will
he says
The brother shall deliver a brother to death the father the child
good night and
The children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death the Bible says
And, of course, we know other instances where it's just like, you know, the mother shall
rise up against the daughter, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, though that one's
not that hard.
You know, you don't really need Jesus for that one, right?
Look at verse 32.
Skip down to verse 32.
He says, Who serveeth therefore, shall confess me before men?
Him will I also confess before my Father which is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is
in heaven.
I came not to send peace but a sword.
So here's another misconception that people have.
It's like, oh man, once I become a Christian,
once I get saved, everything is just gonna be peace, peace,
no trouble, no trial.
Well, according to the Bible, Jesus Christ operates
as a sword that brings division within our relationships.
You know, oh man, and look, when we get saved,
we have the peace of God.
When we get saved, we have peace with God.
But sometimes when we get saved there is no peace between us and our family and loved ones.
Because there's major variants. He comes to bring a sword between us and I can testify in my personal life
That when I got saved and I became a Christian
You know there was major division between me and my siblings and in fact, there still is put it that way
I mean, I'm standing here 18 years later after I got saved and there's still variants between me and my family members
Because of my beliefs and I remember specifically one of my siblings saying Christianity took you away from me
And he blames Christianity for that.
You say, well, man, you should be a good testimony.
Well, look, I tried witnessing to my siblings,
but you know, at the end of the day,
my loyalty is to Jesus Christ
and to Jesus Christ alone, right?
And to his people, of course.
And I have this promise.
But see, if I didn't know about verse 34,
I might be like, oh, man.
This is so bad. Maybe I am a bad Christian.
Maybe I need to compromise a little bit on my belief
for the sake of my siblings or something.
Don't do it. Don't do it.
Jesus said he's not bringing peace on earth.
He already brought that through his death.
You know, if we want peace with God,
it has to be on his terms.
Through Jesus Christ, your faith in Jesus Christ alone,
through his word.
But you know, I am for peace,
but when I speak, they are for war.
That's what the Bible says.
So, you know obviously we want to live a life of tranquility and peace but sometimes that just doesn't happen because people don't like
Christian beliefs, they don't like Christian values and unfortunately, let me just tell you sometimes it's your spouse who doesn't like that either
They don't like the fact that you go to church. They don't like the fact that you believe the Bible
They don't like the fact that you have certain beliefs. They don't like the fact that you evangelize. They're not gonna like it
They don't like the fact that you believe like the Bible says then therefore there is division
Now hopefully, you know, and a lot of people can testify to this, is that when you get saved, your spouse gets saved too.
And sometimes your spouse gets saved because of you.
That's ideal, amen.
Sometimes you both come to church together, you're both on good terms, and you both agree together.
That's ideal, you know, that would be ideal for everyone, but unfortunately we live in a world where not everything that is ideal comes to pass.
And I'm standing here telling you that if you're in a situation where you're suffering tribulation in your marriage and in your spouse because your spouse is against Christianity, you stick it out for the Lord.
Try loving your spouse as much as you possibly can without compromising, but do not compromise your faith in Christ for your marriage.
Do not compromise your faith in Christ for your children because your loyalty is to Jesus Christ first.
He says in verse 35 for I come to set a man of variance against this father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law
Against her mother-in-law, and I want you to notice this verse 36 and a man's foes. What is a foe? It's an enemy
Shelby they have his own household
Man, that's true
He says he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me now. Those are strong words
When the Bible says in the Old Testament
My name is Jealous, right there.
By the way, he didn't say I'm Jealous.
He just, he said my name is Jealous.
So when you address God in prayer,
you could actually call him Jealous.
Cause he said, my name is Jealous.
He said, how jealous is he?
Well, he says, if you love father or mother more than me,
you're not worthy of me.
Now that's powerful.
He says, and he that love his son or daughter more than me
is not worthy of me.
And you know that every parent struggles with that.
Cause we love our children.
And we need to redirect our loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now obviously the Bible is not telling us to forsake our children, forsake our spouse.
But if it ever comes down to it, where the line is drawn, the sword is drawn, and you
have to choose between the two, you always have to choose Jesus Christ.
And you know what?
The repercussions, this side of eternity might be rough.
It's going to be hard.
You know what?
Let me just give you another reality check.
You may not have a happy ending if that happens.
This side of eternity.
Choosing Jesus Christ over your spouse, choosing Jesus Christ over your children, choosing
Jesus Christ over your family and friends will not give you a happy ending this side
of eternity.
That's just a reality.
But it's right to do, not because of the outcome, but because it's just right to do.
Okay, he says in verse 38,
and he that taketh not his cross
and followeth after me is not worthy of me.
He that findeth his life shall lose it,
and he that loseeth his life for my sake shall find it.
Now, some of you may not even be in that situation.
Okay, so it's kind of going in one year out the other.
You're like, well, my family's in church.
We all agree, and praise God for that.
You may not suffer persecution at the hands
of your family and friends, but let me just say this,
a large percentage of Christianity is like this.
And I'm sure there's people in our church right now
who are suffering persecutions at the hand of their spouse,
their children, their family members, and friends.
They are ousted.
They're black-balled from their family and friends
because of what they believe.
And there's a temptation to say,
well, maybe I should compromise a little bit.
Maybe I should say that I don't really believe this
because I miss them.
Folks, stick it out, endure afflictions,
endure persecutions.
It's the right thing to do.
You're in Matthew.
Go to John chapter 15 if you would John chapter 15 and then we're going to go to 2 Timothy chapter 1
We saw the promise of tribulation were in the source of tribulation. What's the source?
It's Satan unfortunately sometimes it's family and friends and look this doesn't mean that you should make your family and friends
Enemies we should pray for them
Pray to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ
Pray that God will work in their hearts and sometimes they may take decades to do so
And if it never happens in your lifetime,
you should still pray for it.
You should still pray for it, because it's worth it.
And I've also heard of stories of people
who suffer persecution at the hands of their family
and friends, and then years later,
their family and friends jumped on board.
They got saved, they got into the church,
started serving in Christ, and you know what?
I guarantee you, that person was thankful
that they endured that persecution and affliction.
So we get persecution from Satan, we get persecution from family and friends, and we get persecution from the world, okay?
Meaning that
The world will never agree with you
So stop trying to be a friend of the world
Stop trying to appease the world, and appease liberals,
and appease conservatives, and appease politicians,
and appease whoever, you know, just please God.
And let me just say this, the Bible tells us
when a man's ways please the Lord,
he make it even his enemies to be at peace with them.
So if you truly want peace with people, please God first.
People have it mixed up.
Like, if I want peace with the world,
I gotta compromise with the world.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
If you want peace with the world,
have peace with God, please God,
and allow God to cause you to have peace with everyone else.
Now, obviously, sometimes that's short-lived, right?
But it doesn't matter.
At the end of the day, if we please God,
we've succeeded in our Christian life.
But just expect to be hated by the world.
Expect to be hated by sodomites.
And look, if a sodomite, you know, doesn't criticize you,
I don't know what to tell you.
I just don't know what to tell you, right?
Why? Because at the end of the day,
the Bible has a vitriol against sodomy, right?
And so it's just like, oh, what do you believe about this?
It's like Leviticus 2013, that's what I believe.
Instead of like, well, you know,
according to the cultural context of the,
the cultural context still exists today.
I don't look at cultural context,
I look at just biblical context.
Because the Bible is timeless.
Don't apologize for what the Bible says.
Well, I'm just afraid that if I do,
that people are gonna hate me.
Yeah, yeah, you are gonna be hated, you know?
Go out in a blaze of glory, accept the hatred,
and recognize that the hatred is a meter of your godliness
and the fact that you actually believe the Bible.
He says in John 15 verse 18,
if the world hate you, you know that it hated me
before it hated you.
In other words, you're not alone.
You're not on some island alone if you're suffering persecution of hatred for the world just understand the world hated Jesus before he hated you
If you're of the world the world would love his own ouch
So if you're in good with the world the world likes having you around the world enjoys your company
The world likes the way you talk the world likes the way you dress the world likes the way you act
The world loves his own
He says because you're not of the world, but I've chosen out of the world. Therefore the world hated you
We are otherworldly according to the Bible
And we need to act as such
Go to 2nd Timothy chapter 1 2nd Timothy chapter 1 if you would
The Bible says love not the world
and neither the things that are in the world.
If any man loved the world,
the love of the Father is not in him.
Folks, let me just remind you
that we are to be at variance with the world.
And in fact, our job as Christians, full time,
is to transform the minds of the people
from a worldly way of thinking
to a biblical manner of thinking.
We're constantly trying to brainwash you.
Oh, you're brainwashing your congregation.
I am, yeah.
I'm scrubbing that brain,
trying to wash out all the filth, perversion,
sodomy, liberalism, all that nonsense
that the world has infiltrated
within the mind of human beings.
We want to brainwash that.
Persecution is promised.
Persecution and the source of it comes from Satan.
It comes from family and friends.
It comes from the world.
And let me just say this.
Sometimes it just comes from Christians
Now sometimes, you know when it comes from family and friends, it's like a shocker. I was like, oh man, this is so sad
What should I say? It's not a shocker. It's just really sad
Right when it comes to the world is like we expect that because the world is just screwed up
They're so far removed
They're unsaved the natural man receive it's not the things of the spirit of God
Now they can you know them for the spiritually discerned, right?
But here's the one that really kind of trips even me up sometimes is when it comes from other Christians and make no mistake about it
Christians persecute Christians all the time
You like what?
How and I'm talking about like and obviously like you know, Christian is a very broad term nowadays
I could be referring to saved and unsaved
Just anybody who calls himself a Christian, but I do believe they even save Christians can persecute Christians
You're like, oh man, why is that? Is it because they just disagree or is it because they're right and we're wrong?
It's because they are weak in their faith. They do not know what the Bible says
They don't read the Word of God and you know
I'm striving as a pastor to make sure that we are a biblically sound church and
We at this church promote Bible reading
Not just in church, by the way.
Like you should have your Bible open right now,
going through the scriptures,
learning how to navigate through the scriptures,
learning how to find these verses.
But you better do this tomorrow, though.
You better be reading the Word of God,
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
Saturday, Sunday, every single day.
To be biblically sound, read the Word of God.
You read enough posts on Instagram.
You read enough Facebook.
You read enough X posts.
You read enough articles.
You have enough time to actually crack open
the Word of God and reading it
for more than 15 minutes at a time.
This is what we promote in our church.
We are a Bible-believing church, okay?
I'm not gonna chain the Bible to the pulpit here
and say no one's allowed to read it or something.
You need to be able to read the Word of God on your own.
The point that I'm making here is that Christians who persecute other Christians often are void
of reading the Word of God.
Because they're mad about stuff that we say and it's just like, bro, we believe the same
book.
You're supposed to be back in me.
What are you doing?
Oh, you're giving us a bad name.
No, you're giving us a bad name.
You make us look bad when you stand with sodomites and Jews.
You make us look bad when you're giving thousands of dollars to Israel.
You make us look bad by promoting dispensationalism. I'm embarrassed of you stop
But sometimes the persecution does come from other Christians and you need to be ready for that
Look at 2nd Timothy 1 verse 15 this thou knowest that all they which are in Asia
Be turned away from me of whom is phygellus in Hermogenes now. That's that's pretty big
The apostle Paul obviously reached a lot of people hundreds of people. He had a lot of converts in Asia
But there's a time when his own converts turn from him and he names five jealous and hermogenes
We don't know exactly who these men are, but obviously there are individuals who are very close to him
Which is why he's naming them
He says the Lord give mercy into the house of Onosiferous for he oft refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain
But when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently and found me go to 2nd Timothy chapter 4
Go to chapter 4 if you would
Now when he says all day which are in Asia. I don't think he's referring to just like unsafe people
I think he's referring to Christians, which is why he's even addressed it in the first place
And he contrasted with the Christians who didn't stand against him
Look at chapter 4 verse 10 for Demis hath forsaken me having loved this present world and is departed unto Thessalonica
Cretians to Galatia Titus the Dalmatian now we don't know what the deal is with
Cretians and Titus we don't know if they backslit as well
It seems to indicate that based upon the context since Demis first took the apostle Paul and the forsaking is the subject of the sentence here
Or the verb of the sentence it's possible that these two men also did the same
He says in verse 11, only Luke is with me,
take Mark and bring him with thee,
for he is profitable to me for the ministry.
Look at verse 14.
Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil,
the Lord reward him according to his works,
of whom be thou where also,
for he hath greatly withstood our words.
Now, out of all these people,
I think the apostle Paul probably doesn't like
Alexander the most.
Why, because he even calls out his occupation.
Because you know Alexander is a very common name in the Greek world
So he's just Alexander the coppersmith by the way, no one buy from him or whatever, you know
Don't give him any business or something. He's like he did me much evil and you know
The Apostle Paul here is just he's saying I hope God I hope he get what's coming to you
That's why I thought you're supposed to bless your enemies. Yeah, you are but it's also righteous
to pray an imprecatory prayer
against those who are persecuting the righteous.
And he's saying here,
I hope the Lord rewards you according to your works.
I hope what goes around comes around upon you.
And you know, I'm just gonna throw it out there.
It probably did.
And this man was obviously wicked and evil
because he would stood the words of the apostle Paul,
meaning that he was trying to stop the apostle Paul
from spreading his message.
What's the point that I'm making here the point that I'm saying here is that the apostle Paul was not immune from persecution from other Christians
And neither are you and look let me just give you a reality check. I know I'm giving a lot this morning
But let me just give you this reality check
There might be someone here in the coming years who might stand against us in our church one day
It's possible. That's the reality of it and you have to be ready for that
God forbid, but you know, there might be a team leader
or something who turns against us.
I'm not saying that they are,
but you know, I'm just kind of throwing that out there.
You know, Judas turned against Jesus
and he was one of the 12.
Peter denied the Lord.
It's not uncommon for that to happen.
And you know, those of you on teams,
you need to be even ready for that.
Not entertain the possibility that it's gonna happen,
but just know, because we are in a sinful world
where things like this happen, that could happen.
And not to have this mentality, oh man it you know if brother Hernandez turned against pastor, which he's not going to just
You know throwing that out there, but in case he does this is you know record this for later
You know, let's see. Let's use this clip for later
You know, oh man, that means I'm just you know, then I'm just gonna I'm I'm tucking tail too
I'm out of here or something like that. No, you need to follow the Lord Jesus Christ
Now you're here to listen to me preach, but at the end of the day you should be here to hear the word of God
Right?
You know you're here because maybe you like the way I preach maybe you like the leadership here
You like the atmosphere of our church great
But at the end of the day, you know
I'm not always gonna be here and if I'm gone someone else takes over you need to be content and happy with that person preaching the
Word of God as well
Churches need to be people need to leave churches when the word of God is not being thundered forth, right?
Point that I'm making here is that you need to make sure that you realize and I'm not saying anybody here is gonna do it
but it might happen and
We don't want to be blindsided caught off guard if it does and cause us to stumble as Christians when it does happen
Because I'm sure the Apostle Paul never would have thought that by jealous and Hermogenes would have turned against him
I'm sure he never would have thought that those in Asia would have turned against him
I'm sure he never would have thought that demons would have forsaken him
I'm sure he never would have thought that Alexander the coppersmith would have you know the guy made him something you know
Here's super close friends and all of a sudden he turns on them folks
It's bound to happen. You need to be ready from for persecution from other Christians go to Roman chapter 5 Roman chapter 5
Let me brief you cover this part here
The promise of tribulation, the source of tribulation,
what's the purpose of tribulation?
Well, the purpose of it is to produce God the virtue.
Romans 5 verse 3 says this,
and not only so, but we glory in tribulation also,
knowing that tribulation work with patience
and patience, experience, and experience hope,
and hope make it not a shame
because the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given to us.
So let me just say this, you know,
don't run away from hardships.
Don't run away from hard times
Don't be the person that when afflictions come upon you. You just you just buckle
You just can't handle any pressure you can't handle any pain you can't handle any affliction
Take it like a man
And you don't want physical pain is hard, but sometimes emotional and mental pain is hard as well
Sometimes even more than physical pain
I sometimes prefer emotional and mental pain over,
or excuse me, I prefer physical pain
over emotional and mental pain.
Don't run from trials and tribulations and hardships.
And let me explain to you why you shouldn't
run away from them, because when you run away from them
and you decide to come back, you're gonna face
that same thing again, you gotta go through it again.
Face it pass with flying colors become strong in the Lord and in the power of his might
Don't weaken yourself by running from trials. And look don't weaken yourself just by running from just like any hardship
Don't run from criticisms. Don't run from pressure at your job
Don't run from you know the little booboo you got
You know, you bust your knee or something like that.
Oh man, I can't come to church because my knee hurts so bad.
Slap some dirt on it.
You know, throw a bandage so it doesn't get
on your suit coat or whatever.
Move on with your life.
Don't run away from hardships.
We need to develop more men who are able
to withstand pain and agony.
It's part of the Christian experience.
This is why you should lift weights.
Right feel the pain of that deadlift. This is why you should
You know do some Muay Thai or some Jiu Jitsu and whatnot why so you can feel some pain
You need to feel pressure. You need to feel pain. You need to feel some form of agony because we live in a society where everything's just really easy
You know you can make money without working
But you if that's you you need to experience some physical arduous
feelings
on your body, okay
It's important for us to do so.
Why? Because you know, you're gonna face some trial
and if you're not a physically, mentally,
emotionally strong person, you're just gonna buckle.
You're just gonna fold like an omelet.
What the?
You will fold.
And you know what?
We don't wanna produce folding chairs at our church.
We wanna produce the kind of chairs we got now
that just don't fold.
They just move a little bit slightly.
But then we'll put them back into place.
You know go and I say this almost I say this like every other service, but I mean it you want to start lifting
We got a gym right here
You're like, oh, I would if I had a membership. Hey, if you're part of our church, you got the membership
Got the squad rack at the deadlifting platform. You could bench you could do free weights lap pull downs
Whatever you want. You got we got it right here. No excuses. It's available to you after the service
You just can't work out during the preaching
Because you're exercising yourself up to Godliness first right now and then the bodily exercise comes afterwards now
We might end up putting a mat in there, so you guys can rest or whatever, but at that point it's gonna stink and then there's you know
Sanitary issues there, you know
But why do we suffer persecution I'll tell you why to test our faith
We need our faith to be tested all that Bible reading you're doing needs to be put to the test
All that talk we need to see what you're made of
Right all the content you supposedly possess. Let's just see what you're made of right
Hot water only reveals what's in the tea bag
So you know we need our faith to be tested and look just because someone's going through a hard time during the trial doesn't mean they're weak
What makes them weak is if they quit?
During the trial just man follow seven times. Don't rise it up again
So we experience tribulation because it strengthens our faith that produces godly virtue
It helps us to experience the power of God as well. We need experience the deliverance of God
We need to learn how to pray through things
We need to learn that when we're going through a trial that you know as much as we don't want to we need to get up and read
The Bible we need to pray and ask God to deliver us
that I may know him in the power of his resurrection,
the fellowship of his suffering being made conformable
unto his death, the Bible tells us.
Psalm 34, verse 19 says,
many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord deliver them out of them all.
And then of course we go through tribulation
to be an example to others.
We need to exemplify what it is to suffer.
And you know, that's extremely important.
And you may not know this, but people look to you
as an example.
They're not going to tell you that, but it's true.
They do look to you as an example.
Go to James chapter one, and we're done.
James chapter one.
There's a lot more I can say, but we're
going to finish up here.
What is the reward of tribulation?
Well, the reward, obviously, is more faith, mean stronger.
And I can't emphasize that part enough about being stronger.
It's so important to just push through tribulation
because it just makes you stronger.
You know, pulling up a heavy deadlift, veins popping out,
blood vessels are bursting, you know what I mean?
You're like shaking because you're trying to get it up.
No one truly knows that feeling.
A lot of people don't know that feeling of just pulling through something and the pain
that you feel when you're actually experiencing that.
But then when you lift it all the way up, it's like, man, now your body's stronger.
You know, when you're repping out 315 or 320 or you're repping out 405 on the deadlift,
you know, that makes you strong.
It hurts.
It's very painful, but it makes you stronger.
a ton of times.
You've done that already.
This is done, you know?
It's not hard to do something that's not hard.
That's not difficult.
You need to push your body to the limit.
And may I say this, beyond the limit sometimes too.
That's the way you get strong.
Yeah, but that's hard.
I know, yeah?
But that's the only way we get to like the other plateau of growth in the Christian life.
And look, I'm not even ready sometimes for the tribulation that should come upon my own personal life.
I think about that often. I know how hard it's going to be.
But I feel like I'm not ready, but you know, that's okay because none of us are.
We just have to, like, Daniel, purpose in our heart that we will not defile ourselves what the kings meet.
and say, come hell or high water,
I'm gonna continue to serve God.
I'll continue to love my spouse and raise my children
and nurture in the admonition of the Lord.
I'm gonna keep preaching the word of God
and we'll see what happens.
But at the end of the day, I'm just,
if I have to die in this state,
that's what's gonna happen.
The reward, what's the reward?
Look at James 1-12.
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
You get recognized and rewarded of God when you endure tribulation.
What's the message this morning?
The message is this, avoid weakness.
Avoid running from tribulation.
Avoid running from affliction.
Let it come organically through your walk with God, but when it does come
Don't run face it head on and this is a great thing about being a part of a church is that
If you go through a trial or tribulation, yeah, you have to face it alone per se, but not really, right?
You have others here that are kind of going through it with you
Praying for you exhorting you and this is why it's important to come to church because when you come to church and you want to
Quit you're gonna run into another Christian that says don't quit
We got your back. I'm praying for you
Keep going forward press forward get it up get it up get it up get it up, right?
You got it. They're just constantly encouraging and exhorting to continue in the faith. Whereas if you don't have that
Yeah, I can see why you would quit
Because we need a church
And so we must, through much tribulation,
enter into the kingdom of God.
Don't forget that.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Thank you for the admonitions thereof, Lord.
The promise is that tribulation shall come upon us.
And none of us like it.
I don't like it.
I know nobody here enjoys tribulation.
It's hard.
It's painful, it's arduous, but we know that it yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness.
And I pray that you'd help us, Lord, give us the grace necessary, the strength to push
through it when it comes upon us, when the evil day is upon us.
Help us to be clothed with the armor of God that we may be able to withstand in the evil
day having done all to stand.
And may you be honored and glorified in all that's accomplished.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Please turn your song books to song number 41
Song number 41 sweet buy and buy
Song number 41 sweet buy and buy all together nice and strong on that first verse
There's a land that is fairer than tape,
And by faith we can see it afar,
For the Father waits over the way
To prepare us a dwelling place there
in the sweet pie and pie. We shall meet on that beautiful shore. We shall sing on that beautiful shore.
Council.
to our bountiful Father above.
We will offer our tribute of praise
for the glorious gift.
wonderful singing you are dismissed.