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Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Let's go ahead and find your seats and get situated. Go ahead and find a hymnal. We'll open to our first song for the morning. It'll be song number 327. Song number 327, Higher Ground. 327, Higher Ground. Start there on the first. I'm pressing on the upward way New heights I'm gaining every day Still praying as I'm onward bound Lord, plant my feet on higher ground Lord, lift me up and let me stand By faith on heaven's table and A higher plane that I have found Lord, plant my feet on higher ground My heart has no desire to stay Where doubts arise and fears display Though some may dwell where these abound My prayer, my aim is higher ground Lord, lift me up and let me stand By faith on heaven's table and A higher plane that I have found Lord, plant my feet on higher ground I want to live above the world Though Satan's darts at me are hurled For faith has caught the joyful sound The song of saints on higher ground Lord, lift me up and let me stand By faith on heaven's table and A higher plane that I have found Lord, plant my feet on higher ground I want to scale the utmost height And patch a gleam of glory bright But still I pray till heaven I've found Lord, lead me onto higher ground Lord, lift me up and let me stand By faith on heaven's table and A higher plane that I have found Lord, plant my feet on higher ground Amen. I go to flipping your hymnals to song number 129. 129, Rock of Ages. 129. On the first. Rock of ages, plant for me Let me hide myself in thee Let the water and the blood From thy wounded side which flowed Be of sin the double cure Save from wrath and make me pure Could my tears forever flow Could my zeal no languor know These for sin could not atone Thou must save and thou alone In my hand no price I bring Simply to the cross I cling While I draw this fleeting breath When my eyes shall close in death When I rise to worlds unknown And behold thee on thy throne Rock of ages, plant for me Let me hide myself in thee Amen. Good singing. So at this time, we'll go ahead and go over the announcements. If you didn't receive a bulletin when you came in, you can just go ahead and raise your hand. Brother James will bring them around to you. And if you open up the bulletin, we have our service time listed on the top left. We meet Sunday morning at 10 30 a.m. We meet for that evening service at 5 30 p.m. and that midweek Bible study is on Thursday at 7 p.m. We also have our soul winning times with respective leaders and we have our stats listed. So as of right now, we have 92 salvations for the year. So great job soul winning. We did have that soul winning marathon in College Station, Texas, yesterday and the total numbers for that as of right now are 28 salvations for the day. So praise the Lord. We might have a couple more trickling in, but that's what we do have tallied up. So it was a great day yesterday. We had a lot of people show up, went to some really receptive places, so it was a good turnout. So again, good job soul winning. We do have an expecting lady in the church, Sister Corinne Darnell, expecting in June. But definitely a congratulations to them. Just keep them in your prayers with everything that goes along with that and everyone stays healthy. And for our upcoming preaching schedule today, we have Brother Dylan Oz. He's down here preaching both sermons for us. Also definitely a blessing having him shake his hand. Thank you for coming down. April 17th, we have Brother Duncan Urbanic. May 15th, Brother Ben Naim. And then July 7th, we have Pastor Steven Anderson. So definitely a good lineup to look forward to there. So definitely be here on those days. Thank these guys for coming out and filling the pulpit for us. Some upcoming events. We have another soul winning marathon just right around the corner in May, May 21st. It's down in Austin, Texas. So definitely write that on your calendar. Excited to go to Austin, Texas. They need it. They need the gospel in Austin as much as possible. Kind of make that place normal again. So definitely write that on your calendars. Looking forward to that one. And then for prayer requests, we do have some things listed. Steadfast Baptist Church for sure. Just definitely keep them in your prayers. Find a new building. Pray for Pastor Shelley, everything that he has going on with that church. We have Stronghold Baptist Church listed. Like I said, we're going to start listing new IFB churches to keep everybody in prayer. And then Brother Edward, definitely keep him still in your prayers with his health and more specifically his leg. I think we had an update that one of his feet might get amputated. But you know what? Brother Edward is a huge encouragement. He's always out there, you know, soul winning. And I guarantee even if he has one of his feet cut off, he's going to be out there soul winning still, you know. He's going to put a metal foot on and he'll still be tearing it up. So keep Brother Edward in your prayers. He's a great motivation to everybody. And you know, definitely keep praying for him. But if you do have any prayer requests, email that into the church at prayerworsbaptist.com. And you know, we'll pray for whatever you need. That is the announcement for the morning. Let's go ahead and pull our hymnals back out. We'll turn to song number 413. Song number 413, Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus. Four hundred and thirteen. The first. Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross. Lift high his royal banner, it must not suffer loss. From victory unto victory, his army shall he lead. Till every foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed. Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the trumpet call obey. For to the mighty conflict in this his glorious day. Ye that are men now serve him against unnumbered foes. Let every courage, danger, and strength to strength oppose. Stand up, stand up for Jesus, stand in his strength alone. The arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own. Put on the gospel armor and watching unto prayer. Where duty calls for danger, be never wanting theirs. Alright so at this time you can go ahead and pull out your Bibles and turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel 24. 2 Samuel 24. We'll have brother James come up and read for us and we'll go ahead and pass the offering plate. 2 Samuel 24. And we'll read. And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. For the king said to Joab, the captain of the host which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people. And Joab said unto the king, Now the Lord thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, and hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it. But why doth my lord the king delight in this thing? Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the host, and Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in a roar, on the right side of the city, that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad, and towards Jezer. Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Taddam-Hoshki, and they came to Danja, and about to Zidon, and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivite, and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beersheba. So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem, and at the end of nine months and twenty days, and Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king. And they were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men, and drew the sword, that drew the sword. And the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. And David's heart smote him, after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly, in that I have done, in that I have done. And now I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done a very foolish thing. Sorry, for I have done very foolishly. For when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things, choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? Or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? Or that there be three days pestilent in thy land? Now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait, let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hand of man. So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed, and there died the people from Dan, even Beersheba, seventy thousand men. And the angel, and when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing place of Arunah the Jebusite. And David spake unto the Lord, when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house. And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Arunah the Jebusite. And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. And Arunah looked and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him, and Arunah went out and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground. And Arunah said, Wherefore is my Lord the king come to his servants? And David said, To buy the threshing floor for thee, to build an altar unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people. And Arunah said unto David, Let my Lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him. Behold here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments, and other instruments of the oxen for wood. All these things did Arunah as a king gave unto the king. And Arunah said unto the king, The Lord thy God accept thee. And the king said unto Arunah, Nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price. Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth not cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, so the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel. Let's pray. Amen. All right, well good morning everyone. First I want to thank Pastor Shelley for the opportunity to preach and come down here. It's always nice to see you guys. And thank you all for being in church this morning. Thank you brother Nick for all your help yesterday with the marathon. It went really well. So really appreciate it. And it's nice driving down here and not having any car chases or anything crazy like that. Just nice and easy drive. Praise God for that. That's what I'm happy about this morning. So we're here in 2 Samuel chapter 24. And I want to read a portion of this again. Let's start reading in verse number 19. The Bible says, And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. And Eriunah looked and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Eriunah went out and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground. And Eriunah said, Wherefore is my Lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshing floor of thee, to build an altar unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people. So David had sinned by numbering the people. Now he wants to come make an offering to the Lord. And he's coming to buy the threshing floor of Eriunah so that he can make this sacrifice to God. But look at verse 22. It says, And Eriunah said unto David, Let my Lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him. Behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and the threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood. All these things did Eriunah as a king give unto the king. And Eriunah said unto the king, The Lord thy God accept thee. So Eriunah, he makes an offer to David. He says, Okay, I see that you want to make this sacrifice to the Lord. Let me just provide you with the threshing floor. Let me just provide you with all of the oxen. Let me just provide you with all of the instruments of sacrifice at no charge for free. It'll be completely free to you, David, just here. You could have it yourself. But look at verse 24. And the king, that's David, said unto Eriunah, Nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price. Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God, of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel. So David, when he was met with this offer of just getting everything for free, getting the threshing floor for free, the oxen, all the instruments of sacrifice, when he was met with that offer, he says no, I don't want to sacrifice the Lord, that which doth cost me nothing. I want to pay for it myself. Out of my own treasures, I want to pay for this. And God obviously had respect under this because it says that the Lord was entreated for the land when David did this. So the title of my sermon this morning is The Cost of Serving God. The Cost of Serving God. Many Christians today and many churches are looking for a brand of Christianity that costs you absolutely nothing. That costs you nothing in your life, it doesn't cost you your money, it doesn't cost you your time, it doesn't cost you anything. People want a very convenient and easy Christianity today. That's why Joel Osteen's church is filled up with tons of people that just want their ear to be tickled because they want to just pretend that they're righteous, they heard a sermon today, and they can just pretend that they're good Christians. Now some of those people are paying though because I know that Joel Osteen literally does sell seats, so I guess those people are paying. But paying to hear a false prophet is not going to please God of course, right? So I want to talk about many different areas in our life that may cost us if we want to actually serve God, if we want to serve the Lord the way that King David did. And you know, since it fits the context of exactly what we're talking about, point number one is that if you want to serve God, it's going to cost you your money. It is going to cost you your money if you're doing it correctly. Now I'm not saying in an unbiblical way, like these false prophets say, you know, put your hand on the screen and donate a thousand dollars and you'll receive ten thousand dollars back. That's not the kind of garbage that I'm talking about. That's stuff that false prophets love to preach, covetousness, love of money, and things like that. But we see here that there is an aspect of serving God that may cost you some money. You know, a lot of you went to a soul-winning marathon yesterday and drove on your own dime, and that costed money. But guess what? You did that to serve God. And serving God correctly can cost you your money. Let's go to Numbers chapter number 18. Numbers chapter 18. And in Numbers 18, we learn about the Levites and about tithing. Look at verse number six. It says this, And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel. To you they are given as a gift for the Lord to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. Therefore, thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest's office for everything of the altar and within the veil, and ye shall serve. I have given your priest's office unto you as a service of gift, and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. So in the Old Testament, we see that God wanted to set apart a group of people for one purpose, and that's the service of the Lord. They're not doing anything else. They're not getting an inheritance. They're not working secular jobs or anything like that. God put these people aside, and he wanted them to be full-time servants. And they said that it was a gift. It's a blessing to have people that are full-time serving the people, serving the children of Israel, and serving the Lord. That is a gift. That is a service. And God set these people apart for that reason. Now in the New Testament, obviously, we don't have the Levites doing this. It's a little bit different, but it is very similar. I'll read for you Ephesians 4-11. It says this, He gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. So this is the group of people that God has sanctified, that God has set apart to do what? The work of the ministry, to serve. Verse 12, it says, For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. See, church is not just a free-for-all where we just meet in our living room and everyone's a pastor, you know, the woman's a pastor, everyone's just sipping coffee and everyone's a pastor. So God has actually set people apart for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, for the perfecting of the saints. And even though it's not the same title as Levite, it's the same exact role. Service. Service. That is the actual role of a real minister is someone that serves. Not someone that's being served, but someone that serves. Let's look, you're still there at Numbers 18, look at verse 21. Numbers 18, verse 21. It says, Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance. You ask, where does tithing come from? Where does a tenth of income come from? It comes from right here. A tenth in Israel for an inheritance. For their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation lest they bear sin and die. But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance. But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit. Therefore I have said unto them, among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. So the Levites, they're not inheriting lands. They're not inheriting all of these things. They've set aside carnal working, and they're getting the tenth or the tithe of the children of Israel. Now, I've seen a lot of stupid people online say that the tithe was never money. It was only livestock, and it was only crops and stuff like that. It's like, hey, I got news for you. That is money. That is money. You know, if you're a farmer and you're giving a tenth of your livestock to the Levites, that is your money. That's your wealth. People need to go listen to Pastor Shelley's financial series about all of these things to understand, but if you are a farmer and you have livestock, that is your money. So don't let people tell you, oh, tithing, never ever has people been giving money to the work of ministry. No, that's how it's always been, even before the law. That's how it was. And if nothing has changed that in the New Testament, then it remains in effect. And my question for these people, it's like, do you want to have people that are full-time servants of the church or not? How do you expect the work of God to be done if tithing's completely unbiblical? No one's supposed to give the church. How do you expect the lights to be turned on here? How do you expect there to be chairs here? How do you expect there to be food provided at the soul-winding marathons? How do you expect to have the Sodomite deception DVDs and Bibles and all of these things that are the result of work being done? Do you not want those things to be done? Well, guess what? It's through God's ordinance of tithing. And you know, some people are uncomfortable talking about it, but it's something in the Word of God, and I'm not ashamed of anything in the Word of God. Honestly, of all the things that serving God can cost you, your money is the easiest thing. It's the easiest thing. If it's hard for you, it's because you're carnal and because you're holding on really tight to the things of this world because you're carnal. Now, the New Testament backs this up. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. This is not only an Old Testament doctrine, but the New Testament backs this up in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Look at verse 7. Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Look, you know, my brother is in the Marine Corps, and if he goes to war tomorrow, he's not buying his gun, he's not buying his bullets, he's not buying his armor plates, and all these things. No, you don't go to warfare at your own charge. You don't have a vineyard and just not drink the wine of that vineyard. You don't sit there and milk cows every day, but not drink the milk of those cows. It makes no sense. Look at verse number 8. Say I these things as a man, or saith not the law the same also? Paul's saying, is this just my opinion? Am I just saying this as a man, or is this not what the Word of God says? Verse 9. For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that shredeth out the corn, doth God take care for oxen? These people that don't believe in tithing, what do you expect? You expect Pastor Shelley to work a full-time job and pay for all the lights of Pure Words Baptist Church, pay for all the expenses personally of Pure Words Baptist Church, all the expenses personally of Steadfast Baptist Church, you know, between both churches alone, it's probably over 200 people. You really expect one man to carry that burden? That's ridiculous. It makes no sense. It's not what the Bible teaches. Verse 10. Or saith he altogether it for our sakes, for our sakes no doubt this is written, that he that ploweth should plow in hope, and he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? And that's the thing. People that don't like the doctrine of tithing, like I said, it's because they're carnal. Because they don't see the benefit of reaping so many spiritual benefits and spiritual rewards by having people that are full-time, dedicated servants of the church and servants of God. That's what a pastor is, that's what an evangelist is, that's what a deacon is. And that is a blessing, and instead all they focus on is the money. But the Bible says that if you're sowing in hope, you should reap in hope. Verse 12. If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless, we have not used this power, but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. So Paul himself, he didn't take a paycheck, but even though he himself didn't take a paycheck, he was preaching this doctrine that is totally biblical if he wanted to take one. It is the law of God. Verse 13. Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple, and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. And so it's very clear right there that those that are full-time preachers of the gospel should live of the gospel. Now there's times where people have been in ministry and the church wasn't able to support them and they work a full-time job and pastor, and that's great. I know when I went to Sure Foundation Baptist Church, that's what Pastor Thompson did for a really, really long time. He might even still be doing that now. I'm not exactly sure, but if a full-time man of God wants to take a paycheck, there's nothing wrong with that. The Bible does teach the doctrine of tithing, and if you want your church to do great things for God, if you want to serve God, it might be a little bit of a cost. It might be the tithe, which is a tenth. And honestly, it's not that bad because the Bible even promises a blessing for those that tithe. Go to Malachi chapter number three. Malachi chapter number three is the last book of the Old Testament. You find Matthew, go back one book, you'll find Malachi. Malachi chapter number three, and look at the blessing that God promises in verse eight. It says this, will a man rob God, yet ye have robbed me, but ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings, people are not tithing, ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. So you have two options according to this chapter. If you don't tithe and you rob God, you're cursed with a curse. And if you do, God says he's going to pour out a blessing, but it's not just your average blessing. Look at verse 11. It says, and I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground. You know, when everyone's getting cut for COVID or whatever, you're still working. God's blessing you with a job still. Neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts, and all nations shall call you blessed, for you shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts. And so, honestly, people that are not tithing, it's because they lack trust in God to bless them. But I'll tell you what. It's way, way better to live off of 90% of your income with the blessing of God on your life than 100% of your income with God's curse on you, when the medical bills come out of nowhere. And I'm not saying that if you have medical bills, you're cursed or anything, but I'm saying the devourer, God's not rebuking the devourer for your sakes when you're not tithing. When rather, you could be blessed by God by living off of the 90%. When I first got married, I was making $15.50 an hour as a rebar fabrication technician, right as I'm married in Vancouver, Washington, in a very expensive place to live. And I stayed at that wage even up until having a child. And guess what? I never lacked anything. I never skipped a meal. I lived like a king compared to the rest of the world on $15.50 an hour. And guess what? Even though things were tight, God never forsook me and my family. And it's better to be making $15.50 an hour tithing than making $100 an hour and not tithing, because God will curse your life by doing it. So if you want to serve God, number one, hey, the cost of serving God could be your money. I'll read for you Matthew 6-24, it says, no man can serve two masters, for he either will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. You should not esteem your money as something being higher than God. If God gives you a commandment about what to do with your finances, you should esteem that commandment higher than your love for money. Otherwise, what you're really despising is God and your loving mammon, instead of the other way around. Number one, if you want to serve God, the cost could be your money. Like I said, that's the most simple one. That's the easiest one that we're going to talk about, is your money. Very easy. Go to Luke chapter number nine. Number two, if you want to serve God, it could also cost you your time. It could cost you your time. Being a disciple of Christ is an everyday thing. Being a real Christian, being a real disciple, that is an everyday thing. If you're only a Christian, if you're only a disciple of Christ on Sunday morning, you're failing. You're not a real servant of God. You're not really giving God your best, are you? Absolutely not. If you want to serve God, it could cost you your time. Look at Luke chapter number nine and look at verse 23. Jesus said, and he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross sometimes, on Sunday mornings, whenever you feel like it. No, he says, daily, and follow me, daily. And you think about the Christian life, if you've read the Bible and you know what God expects of you, there's a lot that God wants you to be doing every single day. He wants you to read his word every single day. He wants you to pray to him and have communication with God the Father every single day. We're called to be soul winners every day. There's people that have needs. There's people that you could be praying for every single day. You've been memorizing scripture. If you're a real servant of God, it's going to take up your time. And Jesus said that if you want to be his disciple, you have to deny yourself and take up your cross daily, daily serving him. Look at Acts chapter number 5, if you'll flip over to Acts chapter number 5. Acts chapter number 5, look at verse 42, it says this, and daily in the temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. No, we're called to be daily soul winners. I believe very strongly that it's super important to have structured soul winning times, that you pick a time saying that's my time every week or those are my times every week to help you be a consistent soul winner. But you know, God's also called us to be daily soul winners. When opportunities present themselves and you have one of those divine appointments or whatever, you have the repairman come over to your house and strike up a conversation and you present him the gospel. People get saved like that every day. Every day in this country people get saved like that. And every single day there's numbers being reported to me at Steadfast Baptist Church of people preaching the gospel every single day and I'm sure it's no different here. Why? Because that's what God has called us to do, is to be daily in the temple and in every house. They cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Go to Acts chapter number 16. Acts chapter number 16. And look at verse number 5, it says this, and so were the churches established in the faith and increased in number daily. And man, I feel like our churches are growing in number daily. Every week I'm making the bulletin, I'm like, okay, another pregnancy, alright, another birth, alright, congratulations to this person, okay, congratulations to this person. It's like our church is constantly growing, getting visitors. I mean we're meeting in a temporary meeting space, I believe it was last Sunday, and we were four people shy of breaking our attendance record that we had in the main building. And it's just like people just being sent the address on our email list and we're almost breaking the record. Why? Because we're increasing our churches and our churches are increasing in number daily. But guess what? When the church increases in number, you know what else increases? Work. Work to be done. Because there's more people to pray for, there's more people to minister to, there's more people that have issues, there's more people to make maps for, there's more people to make invitations for, right? More work. But guess what, that's a blessing. But it is also a cost. It is a cost of serving God by giving up of your time. And it's not only the full-time employees that should be putting their time into the ministry, it should be all of us. Because everybody should be a full-time minister of Jesus Christ. Everyone should be a full-time disciple, a full-time servant of God, and there's not a lack of work to be done in the ministry, there's plenty of work to do, but you need to be willing to pay that cost of your time. Go to one page over to the right, Acts 17, look at verse 11, it says this, Acts 17, 11, These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. You want to know what the problem is with so many Christians in America? It's because they do not read their Bible. The reason why people are filling up Joel Osteen's church, the reason why Billy Graham reached millions if not billions of people, the reason why all these horrible false prophets are thriving in our country is because people don't read the Bible. But God says that it's noble when those hear the word of God preached, but they search the scriptures daily whether those things are so. And guess what that's going to cost? That's going to cost your time to actually take the word of God serious enough so that when you hear something preached, you don't just accept it immediately as gospel truth without verifying it in the word of God. That's what I love so much about the new IFB style churches, is that the preaching is just full of Bible, and there's people in the room that love the word of God and read the Bible themselves. Your average layman seems like knows so much Bible in our types of churches, and that's a blessing. But guess what? It's also a cost. It's also a cost. If someone knows the Bible really well, it's because they paid the cost of lots and lots of time. Lots and lots of time. It takes a lot of time. I believe it takes 90 hours to read the Bible cover to cover. One time. 90 hours. And you think about some pastors that have read the Bible just scores and scores and scores and scores and scores of times, they spent thousands of hours reading the Bible. That's a big cost, but there's a big blessing to it, isn't there? And every single time you have to pay something to serve God, there is a reward. There is a blessing. It may not be the carnal blessing that the false prophets love to tell you about, but it will be a spiritual blessing. It will be a better blessing than money or anything else like that. Go to 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11. And Paul, he's talking about all the things that he's been through in 2 Corinthians 11. He's talking about how he was stoned, shipwrecked, beaten with rods. He went through all these horrible things, and he's going to conclude his list in verse number 28 of all the things that he's going through, it says this, besides those things that are without, he's saying, so besides just all those things I just listed for you, getting beaten up, getting persecuted, he says, that which cometh upon me, there's that word again, daily, the care of all the churches. So when Paul is listing for us just how crazy his life is and how insane his life is, one thing he's sure not to leave out is the administration and the care of all the churches that he planted. Because not only is he just dealing with all of this horrible persecution, he's also dealing with the daily administration of the churches, and why do I bring this up? Because this insinuates that Paul thought, hey, this is a lot of work too. Like I know I'm being persecuted, I know I'm getting beaten up, but here's something else that's a lot of work, is the care of all the churches, right? And Paul, I mean, he was just a superstar, starting churches left and right, he had tons of churches to care for, but that just teaches us that the ministry is a lot of work. Ministry is a lot of work. And every single person is welcome and invited to take part in that work, right? You could be a blessing to people, you could be reading your Bible, you could be praying. We always have the meal trains going on for people that are either going through a rough time or people that just had a baby, people that are sick or something like that. There's always a way to minister to people, there's always a way to be doing work in the ministry, and if you want to serve God, it's going to cost you, yes, your money, but also it'll cost you your time. It will cost you your time, but like I said, there's a great benefit, there's a great blessing if you pay that price. Go to Matthew, chapter number four, I said number one, serving God will cost you your money. Number two, serving God will cost you your time. Here's another thing that serving God just might cost you. It could cost you your worldly aspirations and your goals. It could cost you to set aside your worldly aspirations, your dreams, the things that you wanted to do carnally, fleshly in this world. God might just ask you to sacrifice that, to pay that price for service of Him. Not everyone necessarily, but that may be something that God asks from you. Matthew, chapter number four, look at verse 18, and Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Now think about this, Peter and his brother, Andrew, think about this, they had a business and that business was fishing, right? You have to think, they've probably spent a lot of time investigating what are the right fishing areas, right? They've invested a lot of money into their boats and into their tackle gear, they've put all this time and thought and energy, they've probably set up a place in the marketplace to sell their fish. I mean, that's how you make money fishing, right? You know, they've probably set up their clientele and they have their connections, they have this big business, and Jesus says, hey guys, I know you've spent your whole life building this business, I know you've spent all your capital investing into all these things, but I want you to just forsake it all right now and follow me. Wow, that's a lot to ask, isn't it? Everything that these men had been spending their lives doing, he says, I want you to leave it right now. Look at their response in verse 20, and they straight way left their nets and followed him. They didn't think twice. They're like, okay, that's the price, that's the cost that God wants me to pay to serve him is my worldly aspirations, my goals, my business that I've spent my life building. Okay, I'm straight way leaving it right now, Jesus, because when you're faced with the Lord Jesus Christ and an opportunity to serve him and you compare that to anything else in this world, everything else is done. Everything else is garbage. Nothing else matters. And so if you're ever faced with that opportunity to serve God, it doesn't matter how big of a business you've built, it doesn't matter what a great job you've had, it doesn't matter all the goals and aspirations that you set in your life, if God is asking you to pay that for him, just pay it, just straight way leave those nets. Straight way leave those nets. There's a lot of young men that grow up and they want to be professional athletes, right? That's their goal, that's their worldly aspirations, right? But here's my question. If you're a major league baseball player, how are you going to be in church three times a week when you have 152 games a season? You're playing baseball every day to get like one day off. How are you going to do that? How are you going to play in the NFL and be in church on Sunday? When guess when you play? Sundays. How are you going to do that? How are you going to do that? You're not. So look, if that's your worldly aspirations, that's your goals, God wants you to sacrifice that for him. God wants you to pay that price, to no longer chase after those things in service of him. Sometimes young ladies, they spend their whole life in the world, let's say that they didn't grow up in a Christian home or they just grew up unsaved and what does the world tell every woman that they need to do? You need to go to college, you need to get a good career, you need to become a CEO. Sometimes ladies, they'll go to college, they'll spend $100,000, over $100,000 in college debt and they'll get out of college and they'll get saved. And Jesus says, hey sweetheart, I have something I need you to sacrifice. Because the Bible says, I'll read for you in 1 Timothy 5.14, it says, I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully, for some are already turned aside after Satan. God's will, the Lord Jesus Christ's will for young ladies is not that they go to college, it's not that they work in the workforce and work their way up the corporate ladder. God's will is that they stay home, that they guide the house, that they bear children, that they love their husbands, love their children. That's what God's goal, that's what God's will is for them. Now here's the thing, young ladies, they might have had this aspiration their whole life and they might have literally spent thousands of dollars chasing that. But what if ladies, Jesus came up to you and just said, hey, forsake your nets right now. Would you have enough character? Would you have enough love for God, like Peter and Andrew? And would you just straightway forsake those nets? What if Peter and Andrew just said no? You think there would have been enough, you think there would have been as much work done for God in the book of Acts without the apostle Peter? I mean, he was building these churches. He was a pastor and he was building these churches, he was preaching great and powerful sermons in the book of Acts. What if he was fishing instead? Garbage. And there was a time in his life where he did go back to fishing. He did quit the ministry, right? But he was backslidden, but Jesus said, hey, do you love me, Peter, why don't you go feed my sheep again? You forsook your nets the first time, don't go back to it. You straightway forsook the nets, Peter. You had a good heart, why don't you go back to just feeding my sheep? Because like I said, that's the only thing that matters. Serving God is the only thing that matters and your worldly goals and your aspirations in light of anything that God asks you to do is absolutely nothing. I'll read for you Psalm 37, it says this, delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. And I'm saying this point not because I think that God wants every person to give up every worldly aspiration and goal. I don't believe that's the case, you know, because God says that he can give you the desires of your heart. If you serve him and if you delight yourself in the Lord, God can choose to give you the desires of your heart. And some people, God has blessed with finances and successful businesses and they work in the career that they love and they live in the place that they love. But God might not necessarily want you to live in the perfect place that you love. He might want you to live in the place where the work of Jesus Christ is being done. He might want you to be working in the job that he wants you to do so that you can do the most work for him. Go to Matthew chapter number 4 again. Look at verse 21, it says this, And going on from thence he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. So same thing, these people are fishermen, they're with their father, Jesus calls them, and what does it say? And they immediately left the ship and their father and following and followed him. So James and John, they not only forsook the business, they forsook family, they forsook living with family. And you know, this is something that a lot of people have done in the new IFB is they've moved from far distances to go to a church where they can serve God better. You know, if you're living in the middle of Montana and there's no great church to go to, you might need to move to Boise, Idaho and go to Shield of Faith Baptist Church, right? You're living in the middle of Podunk, Oregon, you need to go up to Vancouver, Washington, Portland area, and you need to go to Sure Foundation Baptist Church, right? That might be what God's will is for you. You know, there's churches all over this country now, thank God, it's becoming more and more, people aren't having to move as far. But these men, they left their father, and that would be hard. Because doesn't everyone, maybe not everyone, okay, most people, don't they want to live in the same area as mom and dad, have their grandparents around? Doesn't that sound good? For a lot of people it does. I understand a lot of people are like, no, get me far away, okay? But for a lot of people, that sounds great. And hey, God may want you to have that. God may allow you to have that. God may give you that desire of your heart, but he may also ask you to sacrifice that in service of him. And think about foreign missionaries. Think about evangelist Matthew Stuckey from Verdi Baptist Church. You know, I guarantee you his mom and his dad and his uncles and his cousins, they don't live in Manila, in the Philippines, right? He had to sacrifice that, he had to leave father and mother, he had to leave his family to go do that. But if no one was willing to do that, would we even have any foreign missionaries? No. We need some people that are willing to leave their worldly goals and their aspirations to pay that price to serve God. But guess what? God's going to bless that greatly. I thank God that Verdi Baptist Church in Manila exists because they have gotten thousands, probably tens of thousands of people saved since that church was started. What if Brother Matthew Stuckey said he didn't want to do it? Would that work have been done? Possibly not. Someone was willing to pay that price. Someone was willing to sacrifice their worldly aspirations and their goals for Jesus Christ. And here's the thing, people use this phrase, you know, they usually use it in the context of salvation. When you ask them, hey, what do you need to do to be saved, and they'll say, give your life to Christ. Now, in light of salvation, that's not a good thing to say. Because you don't have to give your life to Christ to be saved. You have to trust in Jesus Christ to be saved. You have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. But let me tell you, outside of the context of salvation, that's a great saying. Give your life to Christ. Decide that your will is going to match up with God's will for your life. That you're going to submit yourself, that Lord, you know, not my will, but thine be done. Yeah, Lord, I may have had this worldly goal and aspiration, but if you're asking me to sacrifice it in service of you, I'll do it. Give your life to Christ. I'm okay with that saying in that context. It's a great saying in that context. Matthew 16 verse 24, Jesus said, then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? And every single person in this world is so focused on just saving their precious life and just building their life and just finding their life, but Jesus says, why don't you just lose that vain stuff? Why don't you just lose your vain life? Why don't you not care about trying to find and keep and save your life? Why don't you just lose it for my sakes? Because what is it profited if you gain the whole world? What does it profit if you have all your worldly dreams and you accomplish nothing for God? What does it accomplish? What does it accomplish? Oh, I have my dream of living on a farm out in the middle of nowhere, and my kids don't go to church, and my kids don't get saved, and my kids don't marry anyone saved. What does that profit? Rather, you could live in the dirty ghetto of Houston, Texas, and come to a church where the Word of God is being preached, where your family can grow, where your kids can grow up and love God, you could pay that price for Jesus Christ. Is that not worth it? I love the song, anywhere Jesus goes, I'll follow him. Follow follow, I will follow Jesus. Everywhere, anywhere, I will follow on. That's the attitude you should have. People have their preferences of where they like to live, and you should live in a place that you like to live. Maybe God wants you to have that, but maybe he doesn't. Maybe he wants you to live in the Philippines. Maybe he wants you to go to Mexico. Maybe he wants you to go to another country. He may ask that of you. Would you be willing to pay that price if God asked you? Here's another cost to serving God. Another cost may be being shamed, being shamed for Jesus Christ. Go to Matthew chapter number 10, Matthew chapter number 10. Matthew 10, this is the Beatitudes, it says in Matthew 5-10, blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Because it does not say, blessed are you when everything is easy, when everything is going smoothly, when everything is going good. He says, blessed are you when you're being persecuted for Jesus' sake. Verse 11, blessed are ye when men shall revile you. Now that word revile is not something that we use commonly in our English vernacular, but I looked up the definition of this word, this is what it says, to assail with contemptuous or outrageously disgraceful or shameful language, to address or to speak of abusively. So Jesus is saying, blessed are you when people just use outrageously disgraceful or shameful language speaking about you, when they talk about you in just a completely abusive manner. He's saying, that's a blessing. Not blessing when everyone loves you, blessing when people revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my name's sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. He said, your response when you're reviled should be that you rejoice, that you're happy, that you're excited. But not only that, he takes it to another level, he's saying, and be exceeding glad. You just need to be bubbling out with joy. When people revile you, what? Yeah, that's what Jesus said. Why? Remember, this is the price that you pay, this is the cost of serving God, is shame. But what happens when you pay that price? For great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. You're standing in the same company as Moses and Abraham and Jeremiah and Isaiah and Daniel and all these prophets and of course the Lord Jesus Christ ultimately, who is hated by this world, who was reviled by this world, who was despised by this world, who was shamed by this world. And paying that price of shame will get you great rewards in heaven. This definitely reminds me a lot of what Steadfast Baptist Church is going through right now because everywhere you look, you look at what the community is saying about Pastor Shelley and Steadfast Baptist Church and I'm thinking, yeah, it's outrageously disgraceful or shameful language. They just think that we are the scum of the earth and they think Pastor Shelley is a cult leader and they hold signs saying Steadfast Baptist Church wants to stone their children and it's like, what? What are you talking about? It's like, kill all gamers. It's like, said no one ever. What are you talking about? Right? Just reviling us, making all sorts of false accusations about us, right? But look, that might be the price that God has asked us to pay as a church, is being Now, here's the thing. Every single person will be shamed. Every single person will be shamed. But you get the choice of who you want to decide to be ashamed in front of. You want to be ashamed in front of sodomites, in front of your neighbors, in front of maybe your family, in front of this world? Or do you want to be ashamed in front of God? Because what does the Bible say? I'll read for you in Mark 838. It says this, whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his father with the holy angels. That's the choice you get to choose. Do you want to be reviled and ashamed in front of the world? Or do you want to be reviled and ashamed in front of God? That's the choice that you get to make. And it's sad that I see so many Christians today where it feels like most Christians are deciding that they'd rather be ashamed in front of God. They don't want to stand with the Bible. They don't want to stand with Leviticus. They don't want to stand with Romans chapter 1. They don't want to stand with the man of God that has just been preaching the Bible. They'd rather stand with sodomites. They'd rather stand with Satanists. They'd rather stand with people that don't believe the word of God as Christians against those that are preaching the truth. And those people are going to be ashamed in front of Jesus Christ. And you know what? Pastor Shelly is going to be blessed greatly even though he's hated and despised in this world. You know what? He's not going to be ashamed in front of Jesus. Praise God for that. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 4, 1 Corinthians chapter number 4, verse 9. Paul said this, for I think that God has set forth us, the apostles, last as it were appointed to death, for we are made a, and notice this word, spectacle unto the world and to angels and to men. Paul said, you want to look at us apostles, you want to take a look into our life, let me tell you what our life is like. Our life is like a spectacle. Our life is like an entertainment show to this world. People look at us and it's just a big show, everyone's laughing at us, people are throwing the rotten tomatoes at us, they're reviling us, they're speaking evil of us. It's like we're a spectacle to the world. That's what his life was like. Verse 10, for we are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ. We are weak, but ye are strong. Ye are honorable, but we are despised. So the leader is going through a lot at the expense of his followers. He's being made a fool so that his followers can be wise. He's getting yelled at by the world, he's getting yelled at by the protesters so that his congregation can know the word of God and have the blessing of the word of God. Verse 11, even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place. Of course, right now we're nowhere near the level of persecution that Paul went for. I could kind of identify with some of it, having no certain dwelling place. That's steadfast Baptist Church right now. No certain dwelling place. Hey, but it's nice to be in some good company if people have been through that before, right? And like I said, we're nowhere near the level of persecution that he's gone through, but it's nice to at least identify with one of those things. Praise God for that. Rejoice, be exceeding glad. Verse 12, in labor, working with our own hands, being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted, we suffer it. Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world and are the off scouring of all things unto this day. People look at the Apostle Paul, he said, you want to know what people think of me? They think I'm the filth of the world. I'm the off scouring of all things. People call me the scum of the earth, right? Isn't that the same type of things people say about Pastor Shelley, about steadfast Baptist Church, about your pastor here, right? But guess what? That's a cost to serving God. That's a price that God may ask you to pay in serving him is being shamed. Verse 14, I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons, I warn you, right? And I'm not preaching about all the things that have happened to steadfast Baptist Church to shame you because you guys haven't gone through it yet. I'm warning you because it will happen to you guys as well. It will happen to you guys and you have to decide right now, is that the price that I'm willing to pay? Am I willing to walk into church every Sunday, every Wednesday in front of a crowd of sodomites yelling at me, am I willing to suffer that shame for Jesus? Sell it right now because it's going to happen to you guys. Guarantee you, it will happen to you guys. You will suffer persecution, why? Because this church is godly like the Bible promises. Verse 14, for though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet have you not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through the gospels, the gospel, wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. Paul saying, hey, here's all the things I'm going through, here's all the things I'm doing and so now I'm beseeching you to follow me. And we should be following men that have suffered shame for Jesus Christ. Following in the footsteps of the apostle Paul, following in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ, following in the footsteps of our pastor, our earthly leader here in this church, following in his footsteps as he follows Christ. That's what the Bible says. Here's another thing that serving God may cost you. Go to Acts chapter number 4. Acts chapter number 4, we talked about your money, talked about your time, talked about your worldly aspirations and your goals, talked about being shamed, some things that serving God will or may cost you. Here's another thing that serving God may cost you, your freedom. Serving God may literally cost you your freedom. Now not every single person, but this is something that you can go through. Look at Acts chapter number 4, Acts 4, look at verse 14. So they had just healed this man, it says, and beholding the man which was healed, standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, what shall we do to these men? For that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. So the Jews here, they see that Peter and John, they healed this man, they did this great miracle, and they're conferring, they're conspiring, what are we going to do about this? We can't deny that this happened. We know that it's happening, but what are we going to do about it? Look at verse number 17. But that it spread no further among the people, let us straightly threaten them that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. So what are they doing right now? Censorship, right? This is censorship. This is cancel culture. This is, okay, you know, they have this message, their message is true, we can't do anything to stop it, we can't just deny that this happened, but what should we do? Let's just threaten them and just tell them to shut up. Maybe if we just take them out of their building, they'll shut up. Maybe if we just bring lawsuits after them, maybe they'll just shut their mouths. Verse 18, and they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. They're like, okay, it's time to deplatform you from YouTube, it's time to take away your online giving, it's time to kick you out of your building. We are going to shut your mouths. We are going to threaten you. Shut up, Peter. Shut up, Paul. Stop preaching in the name of Jesus. That's what these guys are doing, threatening them. You know what that's like? Verse 19, but Peter and John answered and said unto them, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. This is funny to me. He's like, you need to figure this one out on your own, whether you think that I should obey you or God. I'll just let you figure that out, okay? Verse 20, for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing, for all men glorified God for that which was done. For the man was above 40 years old on whom this miracle of healing was showed, and being let go, they went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. Now at this point in the story, this is where real Christians are right now in America. The threatening, the canceling, the censorship, all of those things, this is where Christianity is right now, okay? But I have to warn you, the next level of persecution, if persecution is going to increase at all, it has to get physical. It has to get physical. Because all of these things that happened to them, we've already seen all these things in our nation, right? And people are trying to pass laws about hate speech right now. You've got countries like Germany where hate speech actually is a law. You could have someone, literally, right? So this world is changing rapidly. Everyone's getting on board with this idea of hate speech. I would be shocked if in my lifetime I did not see the United States of America have hate speech laws. I would be shocked, right? It's probably going to happen. But the next level of persecution is physical. Now all this threatening and all this canceling and all this censorship, did this stop the apostles? Absolutely not. And it's not going to stop the gospel of Jesus Christ. We know the Bible says that before the end comes, the gospel is going to go all around the world, right? Getting us out of a building is not going to stop the gospel. Acts, I'm sorry, Acts chapter 5, I believe Acts 5, Acts 4-17, then the high priest rose up and all they that were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees, and were filled with indignation and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. So what happened? After the threatening, after the canceling, after the censorship, what was the next level of persecution? Laying their hands on them and putting them in prison. This may or may not happen in our lifetime, but it may be that God's price of serving him by actually losing our freedom, that could be a reality in our lifetime. I'm not preaching this to scare anyone. I'm preaching this so that you can ready your heart to realize, just decide beforehand if that is a price you're willing to pay or not for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'll read for you Isaiah 29, 19, it says this, The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the terrible one is brought to naught, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off. What do these scorners do? It says, that make a man an offender for a word. That's what these scorners do. They make someone a criminal for a word that they speak, for the things that they say. And they lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate. They want to set up laws so that the person that reproves in the gate from the word of God is now an offender, is now a criminal, is now a law breaker, and turn aside the just for a thing of naught. This is something the Bible talks about, and when we see it all over the news, when we see it being talked about in all of America's big corporations and in other governments worldwide, the idea of hate speech, look, we're approaching a day where in America you'll be an offender for a word, where you'll be an offender for reproving in the gate out of the King James Bible. That is what we are approaching in our country, and you have to ready your heart right now to see if that is something that you would be willing to pay. And I don't stand up here preaching saying, oh, I definitely would pay that price. I would have no problem. No, I'm a sinner just like everyone else, and I need to pray that I would have the boldness also to be willing to pay that price. I'm not standing before you saying, oh, I for sure would pay that price. No, we all need to have a humble view of ourselves and realize, you know what, I'm a sinner, and I need to pray that I would have boldness, right? And not just say, oh, yeah, I for sure, I for sure would pay that price. No. But we still need to preach it, and we still need to talk about it because it is a possible reality that we may face. Go to Acts 16, Acts 16. Acts 16, verse number 16, it says, and it came to pass as we went to prayer a certain damsel, possessed with a spirit of divination, met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. The same followed Paul and us and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days, but Paul being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her, and he came out the same hour. And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers. And brought them to the magistrates, saying, these men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city. So, you know, Paul rebukes this demon-possessed soothsayer, and they're saying, oh, man, these, this Paul, they're exceedingly trouble our city, right? They're just troublemakers and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive. That's a lie. Neither to observe being Romans, liar, false accuser, verse 22, and the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded to beat them. See, the threatening has already been done, the threatening, the canceling has already been done. So you know what the next level was? Imprisonment. You know what the next level was? Beating them physically. Verse 23, when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who having received such a charge thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks. You know what? Just like canceling Christians didn't work, just like threatening them, just like beating them, guess what? Putting them in prison isn't going to work either because the Lord's about to perform a miracle and get Paul out of prison, and guess what? The gospel's still going to go out throughout the whole world, and you could try to imprison every member of Steadfast Baptist Church. You could try to imprison every member of Pure Words Baptist Church, and there's still Christians all over this world that'll be preaching the gospel. It will not stop the gospel, but it may be the price that God has asked you to pay. It may be the price that God asked me to pay something. Will you be ready to pay that price? Will you be willing to pay that price? Go to Matthew chapter number 24. Things that God might ask you to pay, things that might cost you to serve God. We talked about money, we talked about time, we talked about your worldly aspirations and your goals, we talked about being shamed, we talked about your freedom. Anything else that God may ask you to lay down on the altar for the service of Him could be your very life. The Bible does talk about this, and we live in America, and we live in prosperity, and a lot of people in this country, they've never seen what chaos looks like. They've never seen Babylon go through anything hard. We live such ridiculously easy, lavish lives in America. Everyone just has their iPhone and their Starbucks coffee every day, and America just sits a queen and thinks that they'll see no sorrow. It's pretty much only people that are foreign missionaries or veterans of foreign wars that have ever seen what this world is really like. You know what? God someday may change that in America, and God someday may ask you literally to lay down your life for Him. Matthew chapter number 24, look at verse 4. Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. By the way, don't be all troubled about hearing about Ukraine and Russia right now. It's happening, but don't freak out. Don't be troubled, because these things have to happen before the end. The rapture's not happening tomorrow, okay? The rapture's not happening in a week from now, okay? For sure. Verse 7, For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. The beginning of sorrows, that first part of the tribulation, the whole world's going through that together. All of humanity is going through that together. Then it says this, Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And so realize that if threatening us, if censoring us, if canceling us doesn't stop us, and it won't, and if beating us and imprisoning us won't stop us, and it won't, the next level of persecution after that, that Christians will face someday, is death. That is a reality. That is a reality that is coming to this world, and I don't know if it's going to be in my lifetime. I don't know if it's going to be in your lifetime, but this is a reality that is coming someday. And whatever generation of Christians that are around need to prepare their hearts, need to take serving God seriously, and need to realize that your very life may be something that God asks you to pay. The very cost of serving God could be your life. I'll read for you Revelation 13, 7, it says this, And it was given unto him, the antichrist, make war with the saints, and to overcome them he's going to win in this short battle. And power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations, and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. When you think about it during the great tribulation, when the antichrist is in power, and the government is literally hunting down and seeking to kill Christians, and on top of you being hunted down, you also can't buy or sell anything unless you have a mark in your right hand or in your forehead, which the Bible teaches that Christians will not be able to take that mark, you'll not be able to worship the antichrist, you will not be able to worship the devil to receive that mark. So think about how hard it would be to survive, you're on the run, people are trying to kill you, and you can't buy food, you can't buy clothes, you can't buy guns, you can't buy ammo, right? It would be a really hard time to survive. That's why the Bible talks about how those days have to be shortened for the elect's sake, otherwise no flesh would be saved. You wouldn't be able to last that long. And I believe very strongly that there is going to be some people, some Christians that survived the entire great tribulation, but guess what? A lot, a lot, a lot of Christians are going to die in the great tribulation. And guess what? Not even in just the great tribulation, because did you realize that there's been other times Christians were persecuted in the past where they were killed and it wasn't the great tribulation? You realize that there's Christians in parts of the world today that are being killed and we're not in the great tribulation. So guess what? Those people, the cost of serving God to them was literally their life and that could be for us too. Yes, even in America. Yes, even in Babylon. You also could maybe have to pay that price. Would you be willing? Go to Revelation chapter number two. Revelation chapter number two. Look at verse 10. Just like every other thing we've talked about this morning, when there's a cost to serving God, there's a reward. And God said, hey, don't be afraid of these things, be faithful unto death, be willing to pay that price for Jesus Christ. Why? Because there's a reward coming, the crown of life. And you know what? It would really suck to get beheaded for Jesus. It would really suck to have to be put to death. Well, you know what would be pretty cool? A crown of life. That'd be pretty cool. Hey, a better resurrection. That'd be pretty cool. It doesn't necessarily sound fun to have to pay that price, but guess what? The reward sounds fun. And for some people, maybe it doesn't sound fun for them to tithe to local church, but the reward of God blessing you sounds fun. Maybe some people giving of your time to the ministry doesn't sound that fun, but God blessing you sounds fun. Maybe people don't want to give up their worldly aspirations. They don't want to be shamed. They don't want to be beaten. They don't want to be imprisoned. They don't want to be put to death. Hey, no one wants to go through anything bad, right? We're human beings. We love our own flesh. We love ourselves, right? No one wants to go through those things, but God may ask you to go through them, and He's not going to just not reward you for it. There'll be a great reward for it. And I guarantee you that none of the prophets, none of the men of God that we read about in the Bible that went through horrible, sad things, none of them are regretting that they went through that right now in heaven, being rewarded, being comforted by the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, you're not going to regret dying for Jesus if that's something that God asks you to do. And it's not something that's necessarily fun to talk about, but it is a reality that someday Christians will face. Let's go to Hebrews 11. This should be the last place that we look at. Hebrews 11, Paul of faith, it should be a very fitting chapter to end the sermon on this topic. Hebrews 11, verse 32 says this, And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, of David also, and of Samuel, and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness remained strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead, raised to life again. That's a lot of successes, that's a lot of great things that those people did, right? But you know, it's not all success, here's the next one. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Hey, being tortured doesn't sound fun. Being tortured does not sound fun, but obtaining a better resurrection sounds great, doesn't it? Right? And so, strengthen your hearts today. Read the Bible today and realize that God has promised us a great reward for paying the price to serve Him. Let's keep reading, verse 36. And others had a trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, there's that shame we talked about, right? A takeover of bonds and imprisonment, there's that prison. I'm not just making these things up, these are things that Christians have gone through in the past. Verse 37, they were stoned, they were sawn asunder. That's rough. Of all the ways to go, really, being cut in half, this is the Bible. You know, it's, oh, don't talk about that, there's kids in here. This is the word of God, this is the pure word of God, okay? Telling us what happened. They were tempted, they were slain with the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, God having provided something better, some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. And so, you know, I've repeated myself several times, but I want you to get this in your head, that none of these things sound fun. And they will never sound fun. It's not like when you're actually going through the tribulation, it's gonna be like, oh, okay, I really just want to die today. I really just want to get sawed asunder, I really just want to get my head chopped off. No one thinks that's fun, right? But the rewards are great. The rewards of serving God are great, whether it's something as just small and meaningless as your money. You know why I said now at the beginning of the sermon that your money is the easiest thing? I mean, which one would you rather sacrifice? Your money or your life? It's a lot easier. And let me just tell you this right now, if you don't tithe, don't even pretend like you're gonna stand strong in the tribulation, can't even just be trusted with the least things, the filthy, unrighteous mammon, you can't even be faithful to God in that, and you think you're gonna be faithful unto death? That's a joke. That's a joke. You can't even sacrifice your time to serve God? You can't even be in church three times a week? You can't even go sowing once a week? Can you think you're gonna stand faithful unto death during the tribulation? Absolutely not. You know what? Right now is the time to be building your character, to be building your fortitude, to be building your strength by sacrificing those littler things, those smaller things that God's already asked you to sacrifice, so that hopefully someday you can have the character and the strength to sacrifice bigger things, being imprisoned, being beaten, or being killed, right? And here's the thing, I just want to repeat this again. I'm not preaching this saying, oh, I'm so strong, and I'm gonna go through all these things. I don't know if I'll have that strength, and you don't know. And so one of the takeaways you can get from this sermon is that you need to be praying for each other, you need to be praying for your pastor, you need to be praying for yourself that you will have the strength to actually be faithful unto death, right? And as we go on and our world gets worse and worse, and we hear about stories of our brothers in Christ going through hard things, hey, pray for them. Don't forget to pray for them, because you might be put in that situation someday too and you're gonna want someone praying for you for strength. These things are real. We read in Hebrews chapter 11, there are things that have actually happened before, and there's things that are gonna happen again, and in fact, the one that we're gonna go through if we live through the tribulation, it's gonna be unlike any persecution the world's ever seen. So we need to be strong, and we need to be praying for each other, and we need to be doing those smaller things to gain strength, to gain character, to gain fortitude. Let's close in a word of prayer, Lord, thank you so much for this day, and thank you so much for your word. Lord, thank you that you've given us the opportunity to serve you and to sacrifice things in our life to serve you. I pray that every single person in here would be willing to sacrifice anything that you would ask of them in order to serve you. I pray that we would all be reading your word so that we even know what it is that you want from us, God. I pray that we would always submit our will to yours, and I pray that you please just strengthen us, strengthen our pastor, strengthen fellow pastors that are around the world. I pray that you would just strengthen them, that they would be willing to face persecution and not change, not stop preaching the word of God, and even if it's necessary, Lord, to be faithful unto death for your service, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen.