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Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. Please take your hymnals and turn to page 312. Open my eyes. Page 312. Open my eyes that I may see. Glimpses of truth thou hast for me. Place in my hands the wonderful key that shall unclasp and set me free. Silently now I wait for thee. Ready, my God, thy will to see. Open my eyes, illumine me. Spirit divine, thou sendest clear. And while the wave notes fall on my ear, everything bald shall disappear. Silently now I wait for thee. Ready, my God, thy will to see. Open my ears, illumine me. Spirit divine, open my mouth and let me bear. Gladly the warm truth everywhere. Open my heart and let me prepare. Love with thy children thus to share. Silently now I wait for thee. Ready, my God, thy will to see. Open my heart, illumine me. Spirit divine. Amen. For our next song, please turn to page 198. Joy Unspeakable, page 198. I have bound His graces all complete. He supplyeth every need. While I sit and learn at Jesus' feet, I am free, yes, free indeed. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, full of glory, full of glory. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, all the half has never yet been told. I have bound the pleasure I once craved. It is joy and peace within. What a wondrous blessing I am safe from the awful gulf of sin. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, full of glory, full of glory. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, all the half has never yet been told. I have bound that hope so bright and clear, living in the realm of grace. Though the Savior's presence is so near, I can see His smiling face. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, full of glory, full of glory. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, all the half has never yet been told. I have bound the joy no tongue can tell, how its waves of glory roll. It is like a great or flowing well, springing up within my soul. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, full of glory, full of glory. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, all the half has never yet been told. Amen. All right, welcome, everyone, to Steadfast Baptist Church this Sunday morning. If you need a bulletin, if you'll raise your hand, Brother Cameron can get that to you. We've got our service times and our soul winning times there at the top. Of course, we'll have soul winning this afternoon at 2 p.m., so make sure that you are able to make it to that. Also, we've got our month to date and our year to date salvations listed there as well. And right below that, we've got our expecting mothers, so please remember to be in prayer for these ladies listed here. And then also, we've got a special guest with us today, the Oz family, and then Josh as well. So if you haven't done so already, make sure that you greet them. And I'm extremely excited that they're here and that we're gonna get to hear some good preaching from Brother Dylan all day today, so it'll be a lot of fun. Also, we are in Psalms chapter 2 in our Bible memory passage, Psalms chapter 2. We are on verse number 6 this week, and so be diligent to memorize the scriptures. I've already had a few little ones come up to me in verse 5. And so if you are under the age of 18 and you would like to receive an ice cream reward, you can quote that to a non-family member, and as long as your parents are okay with that, you can get your ice cream reward after the service. Also, just a few housekeeping items. Please, parents, make sure that our children are behaving and not running around the auditorium. We don't want anybody to get hurt. And also, no children at the back media table. We have gotten everything pretty much squared away, but that rule is still gonna be in place. We don't want any kids back there messing with any of the dials, so please, parents, make sure that they are not back there. Also, we've got a mother-baby room over here to my right. The mother-baby room is for mothers and nursing children only. And then we also have a little toddler area here as well for mothers and fathers to take their little ones if they need to do so during the service. And then also, let's continue to remember to pick up after ourselves. We want to make sure that we're picking up any trash and things like that after the service. Just a few events that are coming up. I had mentioned we've had some changes, so if you weren't here Thursday night, you do want to pay attention to this. Now, with our sew-inning event in September, the Tulsa, Oklahoma, sew-inning event, nothing has changed there. That's still gonna be Saturday, September 19th. The address meeting location is in the bulletin, and we're gonna be meeting there between 9.30 and 10 a.m. to get everybody enough time to get there, and then we'll get teams situated and then sent out, do about two hours of sew-inning, come back for lunch, and we're gonna have Jason's deli catered for lunch, so that'll be some good food in between. We'll be able to fellowship and then go back out about 1.30 and do more sew-inning in the afternoon as long as anybody would like to stick around. And then also, I'll try to make a... We've got quite a few people signed up at the back, so if you haven't already done so, please do that. I'm really excited about this. We've got a lot of people that are gonna show up, and some people from Fort Worth, some people from Tulsa, and so it's gonna be a lot of fun. If you've never been sew-inning before, I encourage you to come out. We have plenty of sew-inners that we could pair you up with if you're a silent partner, you know, somebody who's never been before, somebody who's not a talker, and so we would love to have you just join us, and I'll try to make a video afterwards of the results so everybody can kind of get an update as to how the day went. We're gonna be in Old Roberts country. I mean, we're really gonna be right in that school's back door, so it'd be a great opportunity to snipe some of their, you know, false converts right from underneath them, so it's gonna be a lot of fun. I encourage you to come. And then we have had a change to the Wichita Falls, Wichita Falls, Texas Sewing Marathon. That is gonna be pushed back to October 31st, October 31st, and that is Halloween Day, of course, and so there's no better way than to spend Halloween than to, you know, preaching the gospel, right, to combat the devil and his agenda, and so that would be a lot of fun to be able to do sewing there on that day, and then the plan is to then hurry back and try to make it back by 7 p.m. We're gonna do our chili cook-off. That's basically been our tradition for the last, well, I guess, one year. This is our second year running. We're making it a tradition this year to do the chili cook-off on Halloween, and so if you can make it back by 7 p.m., we'll do that, and, you know, ladies, you've got your work cut out for you to be able to knock off the reigning champion, Miss Southern, and so, you know, bring your A game, and then we'll also have a little Massa watch party as well. I'll hook up a TV with live streaming in that conference. There will be some, you know, soul winning and then ripping on the bags. I mean, how much better of a day could you have and then eating good food? Also, another quick note about the chili is, in Oklahoma City, we don't believe that beans are reprobate, so you can totally have beans and any other type of things added into your chili. It's not gonna disqualify you, and so because the Wichita Falls soul winning marathon was moved back, the reason for that was because Steadfast is moving buildings. They're moving locations into the Arlington area, and we'll get some more details as the actual address and things like that. I can get that added into the bulletin, and that's gonna be the grand opening weekend, October 16th through the 18th. Now, Pastor Anderson is gonna be there preaching Friday night, and I've also heard through the grapevine that we might also have another pastor that's gonna come in, and so it might be a dual service. Now, you know, at least just with Pastor Anderson being there, that should be enough to want to come and watch, but you might get just an extra dessert on top of that as well. So I know my family is gonna be there that Friday. Now, if you'd like to stay the whole weekend, that'd be great as well. They're gonna do Saturday soul winning in the morning, and then they'll have their normal services on Sunday. So a lot of things to look forward to and a lot of things to be in prayer about, so that's all the announcements that I have. We'll go to our next song, hymn number 169, Come Thou Fount, hymn number 169. Page 169. piano plays Come thou fount of every blessing Tood my heart to sing thy grace Streams of mercy never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise Teach me some melodious sonnet Sung by flaming tongues above Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it Mount of thy redeeming love Here I raise mine Ebenezer Hither by thy help I've come And I know by thy good pleasure Safely I'll arrive at home Jesus sought me when a stranger Wandering from the fold of God He to rescue me from danger Interposed his precious blood O to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be Let thy goodness like a fetter Bind my wandering heart to thee Grown to wander, Lord, I feel it Grown to leave the God I love Here's my heart, O take and seal it Seal it for thy courts above Amen. While the offering plays are being passed around, please turn your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 14. 2 Chronicles 14. The Bible reads, So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his stead, and in his days the land was quiet ten years. And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. For he took away the authors of the strange gods and the high places and break down the images and cut down the groves, and commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers and to do the law and the commandment. Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images, and the kingdom was quiet before him. And he built fence cities in Judah, for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years, because the Lord had given him rest. Therefore he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls and towers and gates and bars, while the land is yet before us, because we have sought the Lord our God, we have sought him, and he hath given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered. Zara had an army of men that bare targets and spears. Out of Judah three hundred thousand, and out of Benjamin they bare shields and drew bows. Two hundred and four score thousand, all these were mighty men of valor. And there came out against them Zara the Ethiopian, with an host of a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots, and came unto Marisha. Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Marisha. And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many or with them that have no power. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God, let not man prevail against thee. So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerah, and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves, for they were destroyed before the Lord, and before his host, and they carried away very much spoiled. And they smote all the cities round about Gerah, for the fear of the Lord came unto them, and they spoiled all the cities, for there was exceeding much spoiled in them. They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep, and camels, and abundance, and returned to Jerusalem. Father, thank you for your word, thank you for allowing us to come and to gather, Lord, in your name, and go over and pray. Brother Dylan, that you have filled with your spirit, that you have preached our hearts, the word of the expound of us, your word and truth, would help us to change our lives in praise, in Jesus' name, amen. Man, all right, well it's great to be here, great to meet all you guys. Thank you, Pastor Shelley, for sending me up. It's always great to see a satellite church model. I'm from Sure Foundation Baptist Church. The same model started there, so I definitely have a heart for this type of a church. So we're there in 2 Chronicles, chapter 14. Look at verse number 1, 2 Chronicles 14, verse 1. So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa, his son, reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet. Ten years. The title of my sermon is When the Land is Quiet. Let's have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for this day, and I thank you for the opportunity to preach this sermon. I pray that you'd fill me up with boldness in the Holy Spirit, help me to edify your people. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. When the land is quiet. When we think about our country today, I wouldn't exactly classify it as a land that is quiet, especially where I'm from up in Portland, Oregon. They've been rioting for over 100 days straight. They're practically burning that city to the ground right now. People are getting shot. They're blinding police officers. People are getting caught on fire. A whole bunch of crazy stuff is happening. Obviously, if you know anything about 2020, this is not a quiet year, right? Now, compared to other places in the world, you can still make the argument that America is a pretty quiet and peaceful place. We still have relatively comfortable lives. We have, you know, luxuries in America that other places don't have. But, you know, we're starting to go in the opposite direction. We're starting to not really see quietness in our land. We're seeing a lot of just upheaval and revolt and stuff like that. But we see Asa here. The Bible says in his days, the land was quiet. So I want to focus on why Asa had peace. Why was the land quiet in his days and what he did that caused him to lose that quietness and lose that peace in his life? Look at verse number two. The Bible says, And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. For he took away the altars of the strange gods and the high places and break down the images and cut down the groves. And Judah and commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers and to do the law and the commandment. Also, he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images. And the kingdom was quiet before him. So number one, why did Asa have a time of peace and quiet? It's because he commanded Judah to serve the Lord. He commanded them to serve the Lord. Notice he did not say, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. He did not say, Hey, here in Judah, we're going to have the First Amendment. We're going to have the freedom to worship any God. No, he commanded Judah to serve the Lord. That was his only option. You see, I'm thankful that we have the First Amendment today because at least theoretically, it protects us from infringements of evil people in the government that would want to shut us down. But you know, God does not endorse the First Amendment. God does not endorse having a freedom of religion. He wants his men to command nations to serve him only. God is a jealous God. He does not believe that you should have the freedom. He does not believe that you should have the right to just go and worship any false god you want. He does not think that the governments of the nations of this world should prop up false religions and tell them that they have every right to do that. Asa commanded Judah to serve the Lord. Go to Exodus chapter 34. Notice how it said that he did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord. Do you think it's good and right in the eyes of the Lord that today the United States sanctions and backs up cults to operate in this country like Mormonism? Do you think it's good and right in the eyes of the Lord that Mormons have every right under this government to go ride their stupid bikes down every street of America and preach a false gospel? Do you think that God, that's good and right in his sight? No, you know, it may be good and right in Fox News Baptist sites that think that the First Amendment is just wonderful and great. And hey, like I said, at least theoretically it protects us. I kind of see it like a union contract. It's on paper, but how often does it actually be upheld, right? At the end of the day, it's just a piece of paper and wicked governments find their way around it all the time. If you think that the First Amendment actually protects us, you know, you're crazy. I got news for you. When the tribulation comes, you're not going to be able to stop them from cutting your head off by saying First Amendment. Freedom of speech. It's a piece of paper, right? Now, I'm glad we have it. I hope we have it for as long as possible. But what I'm saying is it's not God's perfect system. Look at Exodus 34, verse 12. God actually commanded the people of Israel to destroy the images, destroy the groves, destroy these high places. And that's exactly what King Asa did. That's why he was such a great king. He destroyed the houses of the Sodomites. He didn't give them the First Amendment. He destroyed the false religion. He didn't give them the First Amendment. That's what would bring peace and quietness in America today is if our leaders commanded America to serve the Lord and to follow the Lord. And you know, if the founding fathers really did believe the Bible, then when they wrote the First Amendment, they must have been talking about Christianity. They must have been talking about, hey, freedom for Christianity to be free. That's what most that's what a lot of them actually believe. The people who actually came here fleeing persecution. They didn't believe in freedom to to worship paganism like the Indians that were living here. They didn't believe in freedom of the Catholic Church to teach their damnable lies and heresy. They believed in their own freedom to serve the Lord. That's the only religious freedom I believe in. I don't believe that Muslims have the right to blaspheme Jesus Christ. I don't believe that Judaism has the right to blaspheme Jesus Christ. They have no right to do that whatsoever. You know, and God is going to judge them for that, even if our nation will not. Go to Exodus 22. Exodus 22. Exodus 22. Look at verse 20. He that sacrifices unto any God save unto the Lord only he shall be utterly destroyed. Now, see, if we had the First Amendment, we just added this little appendom to the end of it. I'd support the First Amendment. Hey, you got the right to worship any way you want. The government has no right to infringe on you. Here's the thing. If you worship anyone other than the Lord, you'll be destroyed. Because that's what God actually wants. That's what the Bible actually says in God's perfect law. If you worship any other God, the Bible says you'll be destroyed. Flip over to Exodus 23. Exodus 23. Verse 13. And in all things that I have said unto you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth. So not only does God not give you the right to worship other gods, he doesn't even want you to say the name of other gods. He doesn't even want the filthy, wicked name of false gods coming out of your lips. It's an abomination to God. He would not support the First Amendment today. Go to Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2. Revelation 2, 26. And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father. I can tell you this. When the millennial reign is here on this earth and Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning, the Bible says he's going to be doing it with a rod of iron. That means he's going to be executing and upholding the laws of God in the Bible. He's not going to be executing and upholding the Constitution of the United States, right? So here's the thing. Why don't we just right now, as we're already living on this earth, living in this country, why don't we already just give our heart fully to love God's law? Why don't we just fully just worship God's word instead of worshipping some piece of paper that half the signatures on were written by reprobates anyways? People like Thomas Jefferson that wrote his own Bible, that took out all the miracles in the New Testament, that changed, that took away and added to God's word a filthy reprobate that's burning in hell. Why don't you worship God instead of him? That guy is evil. What is wrong with Christians today to worship the Constitution over the word of God? It makes no sense whatsoever. You know, we're pilgrims in this world. We're just passing through. Yes, we live in America. Yes, I'm glad we live here. I don't want to live any other place because this is the country where the most is being done for God. As wicked as it is, it's the place where the most missionaries are being sent out. It's the place where the most good churches are in one country. There's no doubt about that. But here's the thing. We're not of this world. This isn't our nation. We are God's people. Our hearts should be towards what the Bible says. Never ever let the U.S. Constitution come above God's word for you. It's idolatry when you do that. Never let that happen. Let's go back to our text here, and I'll read for you Isaiah 48 verse 22. And keep your finger there in 2 Chronicles 14 throughout the sermon. I forgot to tell you that. I'll read for you Isaiah 48 verse 22. The Bible says, There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked. Why do you think that we're losing peace today in America? It's because our country is wicked. If you can't see that our country is being judged by God, you're blind. And God has judged this nation before, and things have been worse in this nation before. How about the Civil War? Wasn't it like 800,000 Americans or something like that died in the Civil War? It was just some crazy number of people, brother killing brother. Look, the Civil War was a bad time in this country. And it was God's judgment, not just on the South. It was on the North as well. God's judgment was on this whole nation, and He took peace from this nation, and He can do it again. Because there's no peace unto the wicked. No peace. I'll read for you Psalm 119 verse 165. It says, Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. See, you could love America's laws all day long, but that's not going to bring you peace. Because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty, the Bible says. So if we want peace as a nation, we have to love God's law. Quit loving all of America's laws today. Now here's the thing. If America's laws match up with what the Bible says, love those laws. Amen. But stop putting man's laws in your heart above God's laws. There are people that do this, and it is idolatry. We're there back in 2 Chronicles, I'm sorry, go to 2 Chronicles 15, one chapter over. 2 Chronicles 15. Look at verse 1, the Bible says, And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded, and he went out to meet Asa and said unto him, Hear ye me Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin, the Lord is with you, while ye be with him. And if ye seek him, he will be found of you. But if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. So Azariah here, the prophet, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, backs up everything we just said. He's saying, look Asa, when you seek God, he'll be found of you. If you're on God's team, he'll be on your team. If you forsake God, he's not going to be on your team anymore. And guess what, that goes for any nation in the world. If America today seeks the Lord, he will be found of America. If Mexico today, if China today sought the Lord and sought God's laws and God's commandments, he will be found of them. God's not a respecter of persons. God doesn't care about America more than other countries. He doesn't care about Judah more than other countries. He cares about people whose hearts are perfect towards him and whose hearts actually love his law. And God sees our hearts. He sees what we as Americans truly value. And does our country value the Lord Jesus Christ today? No. Does our country today value what the Bible says? Absolutely not. Today we want to exalt ourselves and exalt reprobates like Thomas Jefferson and we want to forsake God's laws. And we shouldn't be surprised today when we see that we're living in a land that is no longer quiet. You know, in the 1860s when the Civil War happened, peace was taken for this land. You don't think that could happen again? You don't think there could be another civil war in this country? And here's the thing, as Christians we're always thinking about the end times and we should. We should have a mentality expecting the Antichrist, expecting the Lord Jesus Christ. But here's the thing, there's been world wars, famines, pestilences, crazy things happen in the world all throughout the world's history. And I'm sure they all probably thought it was the end too. What if we're not right on the end? What if we're not right at the cusp of the tribulation? You know what I'm saying? There can still be really bad things that happen in the world without it being the end times. You guys understand what I'm saying? Okay. So in the 1860s, guess what? Jesus didn't come in the 1860s after the Civil War. Yet there was blood pouring in the streets of America like anything we've ever seen in our lives. Unless you've been in a combat veteran or something and have just seen war and seen horrible things, we can't even fathom what happened in this land just a hundred years ago. Yeah, a hundred years ago. You know, think about that. Family farms in America, war being fought on them. People's families running from soldiers in their own homeland here in America. It's happened before, but yet we forget about history, don't we? We forget about history and we worry about our own thoughts, our own opinions, and we exalt that over the word of God. And then God has to judge our nation. And right now God is judging America. He's taking away peace from our land. I'll read for you Isaiah 26. Go to Joshua 24 and remember to keep your place there in 2 Chronicles 14. Joshua 24. Isaiah 26 3 says, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. There again, the Bible just backing it up. When our mind is on Christ, when we're stayed on God, that's when we'll have peace. Look at Joshua 24 verse 15. It says, And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And I love this here because this is exactly the attitude that we need to have for our own personal homes, for our cities, for our states, and for our nation, is we need to command our families to serve the Lord. We need to command it. We need to not make it optional. Today there's this weird mentality in America with parents where they just said, I'll just let my kids choose their own religion. I'll just let my kid, I don't want to tell them what to believe. I'll just let them choose whatever they want. Oh, you want to be a Mormon? No problem. I'm not going to force them. They need to find who they are. That's garbage. That's not what the Bible teaches at all. You need to command your family to serve the Lord. Because if you don't do that, if you let your child pick whatever religion they want, you're letting them just go to hell. You're just saying, okay, I don't care if you have an eternity in hell, believing a false god, no problem. That's not what we should do. Joshua commanded his family to serve the Lord. It's not an option. I mean, do you do that with other things with your kids? Do you let them decide whether they want to brush their teeth or take a shower? Do you let your boys decide if they're going to wear a dress or if they're going to wear pants? No, you tell them what to do. God gave us our children for us to raise them, not for us to just let them raise themselves. Your children are your responsibility, right? And we have to have this attitude in every aspect of life. You know, nations, governments, we must command people to serve the Lord. It should not be optional. Go to James chapter 1. And I just want to point out how, notice how Asa, he backed up his commandment with actions. What was he doing? He was burning the idols. He was taking the Sodomites out of the land. He was backing up everything he said with actions. He wasn't a hypocrite, right? That's what we need to do as well. You know, it reminds me of Pastor Shelley, right? He commands his church to serve the Lord, and then what does he do? He goes and burns the false Bibles yearly, right? Taking the idols out of the land, burning the high places, taking the Sodomites out of the land, or the Bibles written by Sodomites, like the NIV, right? That's how we should be. James chapter 1, we've got to back up what we do with actions, verse 22. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. So here's the thing. Asa, in the nation of Judah, was blessed because of their deed. Yes, he commanded them to serve the Lord. Yes, that's the first step, but then he followed through with action. He followed through with actually doing what he said he was going to do, which none of our leaders can do, by the way. All of them are liars, every single one of them. But that's what a good leader does. That's what we should do in our homes, too. Command our wives, command our children to serve the Lord, and then you know what? You need to back that up with action. Don't be a hypocrite. That's what we're going to be talking about tonight. But I just wanted to leave that verse with you. Go to 2 Chronicles 14 again. So we saw why Asa had peace. He commanded Israel to serve the Lord, or Judah to serve the Lord. So what do we see him doing during this time of feast? Go to verse 6. For the land had rest, and he had no war in those years, because the Lord had given him rest. Therefore he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls and towers, gates and bars, while the land is yet before us, because we have sought the Lord our God. We have sought him, and he hath given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered. So what do we see Asa doing during this time of peace? Is he just sitting on his backside, doing nothing, being lazy? No, you see him preparing for war. During times of peace, during times of prosperity, you see him preparing for a time when it might not be like that, right? He's building fences, gates, bars. Why would you do that in a time of peace? There's nothing to worry about, right? No, there is something to worry about, because in the Christian life, you're always going into a battle. You're always coming out of a storm. You're always in a storm, right? So he knows that, and he's getting people ready for that. And here's the thing. That's just common sense, even in a carnal perspective. Just in a carnal perspective. Look, men, you live in America. You have the freedom to keep and bear arms. You need to do that. You do. You need to actually have a firearm, and you need to know how to use it, and you need to know how to protect your family. I don't think that should be optional in your home. God commanded you to protect your family. If you're living in a time of peace right now, if your home, if your neighborhood, if your family's living in a time of quiet, why aren't you preparing the fence cities, the walls, the gates, the bars? You know what I'm saying? But people, they have this weird attitude, it could never happen to me. Oh, that only ever happens to people on the news until it does happen to them, and then they need it, right? So just even in a carnal sense, it just makes sense to be preparing for battle all the time, right? But obviously the most important thing is the spiritual application. So go to 1 Timothy 6, or I'm sorry, go to 2 Corinthians 10. I'll read for you 1 Timothy 6. 1 Timothy 6, 12, the Bible says, Notice the Bible accounts serving the Lord as a fight, commanding us to fight the fight. That's what the picture is of our Christian lives, of the spiritual battle. It's always a fight in the Christian life. Even if carnally you're living in a time of peace, even if you're living in the most prosperous nation in the world that is following God, hey, there's always, always, always a spiritual battle going on, no matter how peaceful your land is. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3, So here's what we've got to understand. Obviously the weapons of the spiritual warfare are not carnal. I'm for us having AR-15s, I'm for us having weapons, I'm for us training with those weapons and being very good with those weapons, but that has nothing to do with the spiritual battle whatsoever, right? Our spiritual battle is not us joining the Patriot prayer boys in Portland, and standing against Antifa, and standing against Black Lives Matter, and getting in a gunfight with them, right? That's not our battle, right? And hey, I'm for a defensive battle. If these stupid communists that want to take over America try to do this armed overthrow of America, hey, smoke them. Defensive battle, no problem with that. Smoke them dead. But our battle every single day is a spiritual battle, fought with spiritual weapons, has nothing to do with the carnal. And that is what we have to be focusing our mind on every single day. We live in the flesh, right? But we do not war after the flesh. It's hard because since we live in the flesh, all we see is the flesh, and sometimes we forget about the spiritual battle, right? Sometimes you get sucked in when you're constantly reading the news into wanting to fight these people, and wanting to go vote, and all these things. But look, that's not the spiritual battle. You have to remember that, you have to not let yourself get sucked into that. Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7. As you're turning there, you know, like I mentioned, everything in the Christian life is a battle. You're either in a storm, you're coming out of a storm, or you're going into a storm all the time. You know, if you've been a Christian for any length of time, you know that. Like right now, me and Pastor Shelley, we're talking like, we're getting ready to be done with this building construction, and we're like, oh man, it'll slow down a little bit after that building construction. No, it won't. It's just the next battle, all the time. That's the Christian life, the next battle. Matthew chapter 7, verse 24. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be liken unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. So here's the thing. If your life right now is a time where the wind is not blowing, the storm's not howling, the flood's not coming, you're living in a time of peace, right now is the time you have to be preparing for battle. You cannot start preparing for battle in the middle of a flood, in the middle of a hurricane, in the middle of an invasion. Right now is the time where you need to be doing serious, diligent search of your spiritual life. Right? Right now is when you need to be reading the Bible every day, praying to God every day, going soul winning every time you can, and taking your spiritual life seriously. You know? Because the Christian life is not measured with how you do when everything is sunshine, and roses, and candy canes. Right? What really tests if a person is steadfast is the roots and the foundation that they have built during those times of peace, so that when the storm comes, their foundation's revealed for everyone to see, for God to see. Did you build that foundation? Or are you wasting your time right now focusing on the carnal? Are you wasting your time on Facebook? Are you wasting your time worried about the news? Or are you spending your time doing something that's actually going to prepare you for that spiritual fight that's coming? Because when that fight comes, you're going to regret, you're going to really regret not spending more time focusing on building that spiritual foundation on the rock, which is Jesus Christ. And notice how Jesus said that that person's a fool, right? The person that did not build his house on the rock is a fool. And if you're just, like, living in this time, especially as we're seeing peace being taken from our land, you're seeing things going downhill, if you don't start building that rock, that house on the rock right now, you're a fool. Because times where the peace is being taken away from our country are coming. Go back to 2 Chronicles 14. What else did Asa do during a time of peace? Remember, he was building the walls, gates, bars, towers. He's building an infrastructure, right? Look at verse number 8, 2 Chronicles 14. And Asa had an army of men that bare targets and spears out of Judah, 300,000. And out of Benjamin that bare shields and drew bows, 204,000. All these were mighty men of valor. So what else did he do? Not only did he just prepare the infrastructure, but he built an army of trained people ready to fight. And that's what church is. That's why it's so important that you're here for every church service, because that's what church is. It's building the army to fight the battles of God. Who else is going to do it? Who else is going to go out and preach the gospel to OKC? It's a huge map over there. It's a huge city over there. Who else is going to do it if the people in this room are not willing to be trained up to be the spiritual soldiers that God's calling us to be? Right? We are a remnant. We are salt in this country. There are so few people in this country that are even saved. And there are so few people in this country that are saved that go to church. And there are so few people in this country that are saved and go to church and go soul winning. You know what I'm saying? We have to take what we do extremely seriously. And when you get out of the fight when you don't take church seriously, when you're not here when the doors are open, that hurts the kingdom of God. If you decide to just get backslidden and get out of church and decide you just want to live for the flesh, for your stupid career, for your hobbies or something like that, that harms the kingdom of God. The people out there that need us to be soldiers, to go preach the gospel to them, to get them saved, you know, if you're not going to do it, who is? There's such a few number of people that are doing this work and we need every single person. Go to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter number 10. Luke 10 verse 2, Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. See, the thing is, the problem is not with the harvest. The spiritual battle is raging every single day in America. There's more people going to hell every single day in America than there are soul winners that could possibly reach them. Think about that. That is just crazy to fathom that their soul is going to hell every second in this world and people are, and Christians are not giving the gospel today. Christians are deciding not to be laborers for Jesus Christ today, even though Jesus said the fields are white unto harvest for you. What are we lacking? Laborers. We're lacking the soldiers today. God says to pray that he'll send more laborers into his harvest. We need to be praying that prayer. That's a serious thing. You know, people's souls are literally at stake. Forget the stupid carnal battle. Forget Antifa and BLM and all those people. Think about the souls that are going to hell forever and ever and ever. Right? That is what we should be keeping in the forefront of our mind. I'll read for you Hebrews 10 verse 25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. And so much the more as you see the day approaching. I like how it says exhorting one another. It's like pressuring one another. The thing is, when you're here, your presence can exhort someone else to do good. You never know who you're going to influence in church, who is looking up to you. And just by you being here, you could be exhorting that person to do good works. You know, in Titus chapter 2, the Bible talks about how the elder women teach younger women and teach them to do good works, right? You know, a lot of times women think that they don't really have an important role in the church. But they do. The young ladies that are coming up, they look up to you elder ladies. And I don't mean old, okay? Don't stone me up here. I just mean you're married, you have kids, right? And they don't. They look up to you. They look up. Is this a woman that just doesn't care about the spiritual things? Does she just come to church but she never goes soul winning? Does she come to church but she never teaches her kids the Bible? She comes to church but she's not zealous for God whatsoever? Well, that's going to rub off on the younger ladies too, right? That's why coming to church should be exhorting people to do good works. You never know who you're going to influence. Same thing with the men. You know, we've got to make sure that we're leaving good examples for the young men coming up. Why is it that so many churches, especially old IFB, you go there and it's just all old people. The young people that go there, they're still living in their parents' home. And the day that they leave their parents' home, they never show up to that church again. Why does that happen? Because their parents' Christianity is totally fake. That's why. Because they have no real zeal for God whatsoever. Because they hear the pastor preach on soul winning. They hear the pastor preach about all these things. And their parents go home and don't follow any of it. They don't care. They don't have the real zeal that the pastor may have. And that rubs off on the people and the next generation is lost, right? If we're going to be fighting this battle, we've got to be like King Asa and train up that army. And the children that come after us are that army that's going to be fighting the spiritual battle when we're gone. So stop caring so much about your precious little life and start caring about your children's lives. And you don't have any children? Well, start caring about the next generation of soldiers. Start caring about other people's children that are going to bring the light of the gospel to this community, right? Because when you die, do you want the work of God to still go on? When you die, do you want OKC to still have a church that's preaching the gospel to the people here? Or do you just want to let it crash and burn with you? Do you just want to live, you know, as long as there's peace and truth in your days, right? Like Hezekiah, we need to care about the next generation. Hey, and at least King Asa, he did have problems at the end of his life, but at least he cared about the next generation. At least when he was in a time of peace, he took it seriously. He built the towers, built the walls, and built an army to fight. He didn't just let them be sitting ducks for when the evil day comes. Go back to 2 Chronicles 14. Verse 9. 2 Chronicles 14, 9. And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian, with an host of a thousand thousand and three hundred chariots, and came unto Maresha. So remember I said, your Christian life, you're always either going into a battle, in a battle, or coming out of a battle. Well guess what? The battle has now come to King Asa. And there's a thousand thousand Ethiopians, one million Ethiopians coming to fight him. That's a big army. You know, if you knew in your life that you're going to face a spiritual battle of a thousand thousand, aren't you going to wish that you had prepared a little more, right? But that's why it's great to have a great leader like King Asa over your nation, over your army, because he knew what was coming and he prepared for that. That's why it's important to be in a good church with a good pastor. Don't settle for less. You know, our lives are too short to be going to a lame church where King Asa is not the pastor. I want to go to the church where King Asa is the pastor. That's what I want. I don't want to waste my time at the old IFB church where the pastor doesn't even give a rip about souls, where the pastor doesn't even give a rip about building the walls and building the army. He doesn't even go soul winning himself. He doesn't even read the Bible himself. He believes a false gospel half the time. Why would you waste your life going to that church? Hey, when that army comes, you're going to get smoked. You're going to get destroyed. Go to the church where King Asa is your pastor. The army has come for him, and let's see what happens. Verse 10. Verse 10. Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Marisha. And Asa cried unto the Lord his God and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many or with them that have no power. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God. Let not man prevail against thee. So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. Notice, because King Asa was relying on the Lord, because his trust was completely in God alone, he wasn't saying, hey, let's win this victory for our name, for my name, so that I could be the man, King Asa, and I could be remembered and honored. No, he's saying, Lord, this is for your name. Please defend us. We're leaning 100% on you. He had no pride here. And here's the thing, when we fight our spiritual battles, the only way that we can win is when we trust fully on God. If you're doing it in the flesh, you have no chance. If you're trying to raise godly children in the flesh, you have no chance. If you're trying to stay married your whole life in the flesh, you have no chance whatsoever. If you try to do something great for God in your life, and you do it in the flesh, and you're leaning on yourself, you're trusting in man, you have no chance whatsoever. Notice what happened in verse 12. It says, So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah. Remember what the prophet said to Asa. He says, hey, if you're going to seek the Lord, he's going to be found of you. He's going to fight for you. And what happens in this battle? Does Asa and the armies, do they just come in and smoke them, and because of their might, because of their preparation, because of their weapons of war, they just smoke the Ethiopians? Nope. The Lord smote them. The Lord smote them. That's the only way you can win your battle. It's not about your flesh. It doesn't matter how big your army is. You know, America, great Babylon, you know, the Marine Corps, no one can beat the Marines, the few, the proud. We're going to build a wall. We're going to have a space for us. No one can beat us. No one can beat us. No. No, that's not how it works. It doesn't matter if you're the most powerful army that's ever existed in all of humanity, God could snap his fingers and every single soldier could just not breathe. God could just snap his fingers and every single soldier could just die of a heart attack in a second. The walls, the border walls can all fall down. The nuclear bombs can all blow up. There's nothing, nothing that you can do if God's against you. Hey, and there's nothing the enemy can do if God is for you. And when God was for King Asa and for Judah, it doesn't matter if there's a million Ethiopians coming up against you, the Lord smote them. The Lord took care of it for them. That's what happens when you're leaning on the Spirit, when you're leaning on God and not in the flesh. You will lose. I love King Asa's prayer here. It's just so genuine. He's just saying, Lord, for you, help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, Thou art our God. Let not man prevail against us. Could you imagine Donald Trump going to war and praying something like that? Let not man prevail against us. He'd say, there's no way anyone can prevail against us. We are America, right? That's like something Donald Trump would say. He would never pray this prayer to God. So, you know, it's pretty sick how Christians today lift him up as a godly man. He doesn't trust in the Lord. He doesn't give a rip about the Bible. And, yeah, I get it. You know, he's not as bad as the child sniffing, you know, Biden. You know, it's pretty sad when Donald Trump has the moral high ground in America. And he does. He does. Because at least he's not a pervert for kids that we know of. That we know of. At least he doesn't go sniff kids. He's just into adult women, which is, you know, bad enough being a whoremonger like that, an adulterer like that. That's sad when he is the moral high ground in our country. And you know what's way more sad than that? The fact that Christians support that. It's bad enough that the President of the United States, that's his morality. It's way worse when the church house supports it. It's way worse when the church house gives their stamp of approval on that man. Makes Christianity a joke. You know, people think we're such hypocrites. And you know what? Many churches are. They look at Christians and they preach the Bible. They preach all the commandments of God. But as soon as someone says they're a Republican, everything goes out the window. Because a lot of these Christians just have no morality. Just like how a lot of people really hate Pastor Anderson. And as soon as they find out that someone else hates Pastor Anderson, it doesn't matter if you're a modalist. It doesn't matter if you're a ruckmanite. It doesn't matter if you preach a false gospel. Hey, as long as you hate Pastor Anderson, we can be friends. You can come to my church. We can be best buddies. No problem. That's exactly how it is with these Fox News Baptists. Hey, it doesn't matter if you blaspheme God. It doesn't matter if you don't even believe in God. If you're an adulterer, a whoremonger, a casino owner. Hey, as long as you're a Republican, as long as you just say some right things sometimes, we got your back, buddy. It's wicked. It's pathetic, the state of Christianity in America today. He resembles nothing like King Asa. Nothing. I will do more for the LGBT community than any president that's ever existed. That's what Donald Trump said. King Asa kicked the Sodomites out of the land. He didn't even allow their houses to be close to the house of God. He burned all the idols. He commanded Judah to serve the Lord. He prepared an army. He prepared the battlements. And when the battle came, he trusted on God. That's how he won. That's how a godly nation is built and how a godly nation wins its battles. Not by the U.S. Constitution and not by the laws of this land. Not by the armies of this land and not by President Donald Trump. That's not how it happens. Go back to 2 Chronicles 16. And I want to read for you real quick. John chapter 5 verse 30. Jesus said, I can of mine own self do nothing, as I hear I judge. And my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which sent me. See, the Lord Jesus Christ left us the perfect example that King Asa followed. He was the leader, but guess what? He didn't do things of his own will. He fought that battle completely trusting on the Lord. And that's exactly what Jesus is saying. He's saying, hey, I don't do my own will. I just do whatever God the Father's will is. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, humbled himself and submitted to God the Father's leadership. That's how we should be in our Christian lives. That's how we should be in the spiritual battles that we fight. 2 Chronicles 16. Look at verse number 1. In the sixth and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa, Basha king of Israel came up against Judah and built Ramah to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. So he's fighting another battle. Verse 2. Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the king's house and sent to Ben-Hadad king of Syria that dwelled at Damascus, saying, There is a league between me and thee, and there was between my father and thy father. Behold, I have sent thee silver and gold. Go, break thy league with Basha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. And Ben-Hadad hearkened unto king Asa and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they smote I John and Dan and Abel, Maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali. And it came to pass, when Basha heard it, that he left off building of Ramah and let his work cease. Then Asa the king took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timber thereof, wherewith Basha was building, and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah. And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore as the host the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thine hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly, therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. So what happens? Another battle comes to king Asa's life, and does he seek the Lord like he did the first time? Does he pray and ask God to deliver them? No, he goes to Ben-Hadad the king of Syria. He goes to the heathen and trusts in man to deliver him this time. And the prophet said that he has done foolishly. What changed? Did God change? Is God just a Calvinist? And he said, oh, I'm just going to let them lose the battle this time just because, just because. No, it's because king Asa decided this time not to trust on the Lord, but to trust in man. And it's just like what the prophet said, hey, if you trust in the Lord, if you seek him, he'll be found of you. But if you forsake him, you're on your own, basically is what he's saying. That's exactly what happens. And when we as Christians, hey, it doesn't matter what you did yesterday. It doesn't matter how great your spiritual walk was last year. It doesn't matter how many souls this church got saved last year or how many great sermons were preached. If you decide next year to trust in yourself, if you decide next year to not trust on the Lord, to trust in man, you're going to be wiped out. This church will fail. And us as Christians in our lives, our Christian lives will fail no matter how great we were in the past, no matter how much we trusted on God in the past. If you change, God will change. If you change, God's actions towards you will change. He's not a Calvinist. He doesn't just miraculously make churches succeed or make churches fail. He gave us instructions in his word of what to do. It's you follow him, you succeed. You don't, you fail. It's really that simple. Hey, and it's simple, but that doesn't mean it's easy. You know what's easy? Pride. Getting puffed up with pride is really easy. Hey, it's really easy if this church were to grow and the preacher or the pastor or the people here started getting lifted up with pride. That's really easy to do. Get lifted up with pride. What's hard is to humble yourself and to constantly remember that everything you have is only because the Lord Jesus Christ gave it to you. That's what's hard. But hey, you need to always be humbling yourself. You need to always put on the mind of Christ, the spiritual glasses, and realize where you are and why you got there. And it's not because of you. It's not anything because of you. Because guess what? You deserve to split hell wide open. That's what you deserve. That's what I deserve. We don't deserve anything. King Asa didn't deserve to win any battle. King Asa wasn't special. King Asa was saved by grace just like we are. Right? What makes us succeed is trusting in the Lord only. That's what makes us succeed. Psalm 146. Turn over there. Psalm 146. Psalm 146, verse 3. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the Son of Man, in whom there is no help. Hey, there's no help today in man. There's no help today in princes, in the government of this world. Verse 4. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to the earth. In that day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, which made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that therein is, which keepeth truth forever, which executeth judgment for the oppressed, which giveth food to the hungry, the Lord luceth the prisoners, the Lord openeth the eyes of the blind, the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down, the Lord loveth the righteous, the Lord preserveth the strangers, he relieveth the fatherless and widow, but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down. The Lord shall reign forever and ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord. Hey, the King of Syria is never going to help us, folks. Hey, trust not in princes, or in the Son of Man, in whom there is no help. But why is it today that so many Christians want to trust in man for their answers? They always want to go to the ballot box. They always want to go to the politicians, the city council, the sheriff, the president. Hey, there's no help in princes. Don't trust in princes. Oh, I don't trust in princes, I trust in the God. I trust in God. Then why are you always voting for princes? You think that your problems are going to be solved by you voting for these princes. It's because you trust in princes, that's why. Because you're always upset with what the government's doing. Hey, newsflash for you. The government's wicked. Republicans are wicked. Democrats are wicked. Every single one of them are liars. None of them, I'm not going to say none of them. I don't want to rail on any of them if they actually are a saved person in government. But hey, they're the 1%. If they're saved people high up in government, they're the 1%. Your answer's not coming from them. Even if we lived in the Old Testament, when a lot of times our battle was physical, even then, because Asa trusted in the King of Syria, he was destroyed, right? Trust not in princes. I'm so sick and tired of people complaining about if they could only get a new mayor, if they could only get a new governor, if they could only get a new president, that they actually think that that's going to solve their problems. Well, if we just didn't have this governor in this state, we wouldn't be having to worry with all these coronavirus restrictions. Hey, it's the judgment of God on your state. It's the judgment of God on your nation. Why don't you just keep focused on being salt and light in your community and just keep preaching the truth and keep praying for God's mercy, and then maybe he wouldn't have to judge your state. Maybe if you spent more time soul-winning and caring about the people in your community than you do about calling all the politicians and posting on Facebook about every little city councilman you don't like and mayors you don't like, maybe you spent more time building your spiritual foundation that God would actually recognize that and bless that. No, instead, God looks down, and he sees so many churches today trusting in princes for their answer. They have God in Patriot Day, right? I used to go to a church where Sam Gipp was the Bible college president. It was a horrific church. It was terrible. Why I was there? Here's why I was there. I got saved by Pastor Jimenez, and I was listening to Pastor Anderson and Pastor Jimenez online, and I was brand new saved, and they're preaching, you know, hey, you've got to be in the best church in your area, and the only church in my area that was King James only was a Ruckmanite church. I didn't know what a Ruckmanite was. I didn't know what any of that stuff was. I just went there, and I hated it. I always felt, you know, really vexed after every service, and then I would listen to preaching online and feel better until I could finally move. But they used to have this thing called Prayer in Patriot Day where they literally brought in the governor of Idaho. They brought in all the police chiefs. They brought in these dykes, these lesbians running for office in the house of God, and they had them all stand up one by one and have the congregation clap and praise them. Trusting in princes. It's pathetic today what the house of God has become. But you know what? There's churches that don't necessarily do that, but they sure do preach about nothing but politics, you know? They may not bring the mayor in, but they are through their sermons because all they care about is preaching about politics. All they care about is preaching about how things need to change in our government today, and the answer is just if we change government, it's not the answer. Just wasting your breath dealing with the government. These people are evil. Read the Bible. Read Psalm chapter 2. The heathen and the kings of this earth, they rage. They plot against God, against Christ, and against his anointed. You're not going to change the government, especially if we are approaching the end times. Then you're really not going to change it. Go back to 2 Chronicles 16. So Asa got this rebuke, and look at his response to the rebuke. 2 Chronicles 16, verse 10. Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house, for he was in a rage with him because of this thing, and Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time. You know what's really sad is today, this is the exact same reaction you get from the Fox News Baptists when you teach and you tell them, hey, you're focusing way too much on politics. Stop trusting in princes. You need to be trusting in the Lord and not in the king of Syria. You know what happens with these Fox News Baptists that only preach about politics? They become wroth with the seer. That's a horrible reaction to hard preaching. When you get your sin preached on, you should have love for the person that rebuked you. You should have love for the person that's willing to show you the truth. But instead, there's so many snowflakes today in Fox News Baptists that when you preach against their blessed Donald Trump, or preach against their worship of being obsessed with politics, they're wroth with the seer. It's a horrible example that you leave as a leader when you're mad when someone calls you out. Verse 11, Behold the acts of Asa, first and last, though they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great. Yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign. What a sad ending to King Asa's life. You know, he started off so strong. He left us such a good example of how he started. But you know what, he got rebuked for his sin, and instead of getting it right, he just held on to that bitterness. Held on to that bitterness. He wants to just keep trusting in the king of Syria, so much so that God has to smite him, chastise him with a disease in his feet, and he still doesn't seek the Lord. Because he's just so mad that he was wrong. Because he's just so upset that people called him out for being wrong. And this is what you see today. When leaders that do the right thing, leaders that even preach the right gospel, that run good churches, when they get rebuked and they just get mad and bitter, and they want to hold on to it, they don't change. Horrible reaction to hard preaching. It's a horrible example that you leave to the people that you're leading. And you know what, I wonder how many more fights and battles that God had for King Asa to lead Judah through. But he had to leave this earth early, because he got disease in his feet and God had to kill him. I wonder how much more he could have done for God's people if he would have just changed his attitude, if he would have just received the rebuke that the man of God under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit gave him and didn't get all bitter about it. I wonder how much more he could have done for God. And you know what, I don't want to beat up Asa too bad because he was one of the greatest kings in the Bible. I'm excited to meet him someday in heaven. He's a great man, but here's the thing. He's an example of how you do not want to end your life. You don't want to live your whole life trusting in God, building the armies, building the church, building the walls. Getting rid of the false religions, commanding your community to serve the Lord, you don't want to spend your whole life doing that and then you just get puffed up, you get rebuked. You can't change and God has to just take you out. That's not how we want to end our lives. I'll read for you Proverbs 28 verse 9. He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination. Proverbs 132, for the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy him. Even though Asa prospered in that first battle, it destroyed him because he just got lifted up and because he forsook, he turned away of the right ways of the Lord. I want to end on a positive note though. Go back to 2 Chronicles 14. Let's finish off the story where King Asa was actually doing right. 2 Chronicles 14 verse 13. And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar, talking about the Ethiopians, that first battle. And the Ethiopians were overthrown, and they could not recover themselves, for they were destroyed before the Lord and before his host, and they carried away very much spoil. And they smote all the cities round about Gerar, for the fear of the Lord came upon them, and they spoiled all the cities, for there was exceeding much spoil in them. They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem. And here's the thing that we have to close off on. In the spiritual fight that we fight every single day, there is exceeding much spoil to be had. Hey, when you command your family to serve the Lord, when you're trusting in Him, when you're building that army, when you're fighting, trusting in God and not in the flesh, there is exceeding great reward that you can carry back with you to the heavenly Jerusalem. It's called soul winning. That's the battle. And just like King Asa, when he fought this battle, and he destroyed his enemy, he carried much spoil back with him, didn't he? And that's the thing. God doesn't just have us fight for free. You know, God's going to reward us in heaven someday for the work that we do for Him and for the souls that we win. And hey, if we go out and fight these great battles, we can carry back much spoil with us to heaven as well. I'll read for you, or I'm sorry, I'll have you go two more places, last two places. Keep your finger in John chapter 4 and 1 Corinthians 3. John chapter 4 and 1 Corinthians 3. John chapter 4, verse 34, Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. Say not ye there are yet four months and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. Just like King Asa, when he beat the Ethiopians, hey, and the people took great spoil back with them and they rejoiced in the victory. It's the same thing for us spiritually when we get to heaven, when we see all the souls brought with us to heaven that we preach the gospel to. That's going to be a satisfying reward right there. That's something to live your life for. Hey, that's something to dedicate your whole entire life for. That's something to die to self for is soul winning, getting other people saved. Nothing else beats that. Nothing else is more important in our lives than winning people to Christ. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 11. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved. Yet so is by fire. And here's the thing. We don't want to get to heaven just saved with no rewards, right? We want to get to heaven and our works be revealed that they were gold, silver, and precious stones. We don't want our works when we get to heaven to be revealed as Fox News sermons, God in Patriot Day, and complaining about the government, right? We don't want to get to heaven and be like, well, you trusted in the king of Syria your whole life, you know, so I had to disease you and your feet. You didn't get right when you got rebuked. So, you know, hey, you're saved. No, we want to get to heaven with great rewards. We want to focus on the spiritual battle at all times. Forget about the carnal stuff going on. Focus on the spiritual things going on in your life. Trust God. Command your families to serve God. Build that strong foundation. And when that battle comes, make sure you're trusting in the Lord your whole life. Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for this day, and thank you for this great story in your word. King Asa was such a great king, left a good example for us, Lord. I just pray that we wouldn't end our life like he did. God, I pray that you'd help us to be humble at all times and to always focus on the spiritual battles. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In Jesus' name we pray. In Jesus' name we pray. In Jesus' name we pray. In Jesus' name we pray. In Jesus' name we pray. In Jesus' name we pray. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. And we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.