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for this world. Thank you for everyone who's here and please help us to understand today your message. Please help us also to grow in love, unity, and grace, and in truth. And please already help our brothers Taki to preach everything and I pray in your name, Jesus Christ, amen. All right, we're here in Joshua chapter 5 and we're continuing our series on false philosophies and we are going to look at patriotism. And so patriotism is a false philosophy. Now let me just say a couple things up front. I think it's great if you love your country. I think if you live here in the Philippines you should love your country. I think you should be happy to be here. But the problem is where people take this way too far and then they obviously love their country more than they love God and it's evident by their actions. That's where it becomes a major problem. There's nothing wrong with loving the country you live in but when you justify all the sins of the country because well you know it's my country there's a problem with that. Now you say brother Taki you know you're an American how could you preach this? Look if I lived in the U.S. I'd preach the same sermon just three weeks later on July 4th. I'd preach it on the Independence Day in the U.S. and the only difference would be I'd have slightly different examples to be calling out the specific sins of the U.S. This has nothing to do with being an American or Filipino and last I checked I live here in the Philippines so to me that makes me a Filipino because this is where I've decided to live. Okay but this is about when you live in an area and you're a preacher you need to call out the sins of the area that you live in. That's what the Bible teaches. Now just to show you up front that the Philippines is a very patriotic country I want to give you a couple polls on statistics from various countries. Okay and one of these polls said they asked people that lived in a country do you live in the best country in the world? So they'd ask a country you know people live in a certain country do you live in the best country in the world? Now number one was the United States of America. 41 percent of Americans say the United States is the best country in the world. 41 percent of people that live in the U.S. I'm surprised it's not higher to be honest right? Second place was India. 35 percent of people that live in India say that's the best country in the world. Now that actually makes sense because if you're a Hindu and you're very zealous about being a Hindu what country do you think is going to be the best? If you're not a Hindu you're like well that should be like at the opposite right? There's a pretty messed up country. Okay a couple others number five on the list is Saudi Arabia. Well Mecca is in Saudi Arabia so it's not shocking that Saudi Arabia is near the top of the list. Number six is Thailand and so obviously Buddhism started in India but India has become just all Hindu pretty much. So Thailand is kind of like the central religious area for Buddhism so if you're a zealous Buddhist makes sense you'd say Thailand's the best country. Number seven is the Philippines. So the Philippines is the number seventh most patriotic country based on that statistic. Now of course there's a lot of different ways to measure this. Another statistic is would you be willing to fight and die for your country? And the Philippines was either sixth or seventh. 73 percent of people said they would be willing to fight and die for this country. Now my answer would be well what's the fight about? What's the war about? Because I know living in the U.S. the U.S. starts a bunch of wars it's like I'm not going to be willing to die when you started the war America. It's like that has nothing to do with you so it depends. I mean if people are coming in and attacking us well yeah defend the country right? If they're doing an unjust attack but what's the reason for the fight? I'm not automatically just going to take up arms for a country when I don't know what's the fight about right? The Philippines is no question a very patriotic country and to be honest Baptists in the Philippines are incredibly patriotic and I don't know this could be the sermon that offends them the most I'm not really sure right? But let's see what the Bible says. Joshua chapter 5 verse 13. Joshua 5 verse 13 and it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand and Joshua went on to him and said unto him art thou for us or for our adversaries? So basically Joshua was just kind of there and then all of a sudden there's this guy with this sword that's right beside him and this is basically in a time of war. I mean imagine if you were living in Israel or Palestine over the last couple months and all of a sudden you just wake up and somebody's got a gun like right there it's like are you for us or are you for the enemy right? That's kind of the situation Joshua was in all of a sudden somebody has a sword and the first reaction is are you on our side or are you against us right? Now I want you to keep in mind during this time period I believe during the days of Joshua God's people were more obedient than any time throughout the entire Bible. I don't think it's even close because during the time of Moses he had a lot of battles but he really prepared things and when Joshua took over the people were very obedient for a long period of time. They weren't perfect but they did pretty good compared to other time periods. They were very holy during that time period compared to other times okay but this man's here with his sword and then notice what his response is and he said nay. He's basically saying neither. He's saying I'm not really for you. I'm not really against you. It's like you asked the wrong question right? It's not a yes no question and this I believe is in Old Testament appearance of the Son of God because the Bible says no man hath seen God at any time referring to God the Father. So this is the Son of God in the Old Testament and his answer to Joshua is well I'm neither for you or against you. You say why would he say that? Well notice what it says but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come and Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship and said unto him what saith my Lord unto his servant and the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua loose thy shoe from off thy foot for the place where on thou standest is holy and Joshua did so and the indication is this he's telling Joshua you know what if the land is righteous and holy and does what's right I'm going to be for you. If they're not I'm against you. I'm not automatically for Israel no matter what is what he's saying. It depends on what the reaction is. It depends on if they're doing what's right. I mean when they were being obedient God was definitely for them. In this battle God is for them but what God is saying is you know what in general I'm neither for or against you. It depends on how you're living your life and when the country fell into idolatry God was sending preachers to preach against it. He didn't say well this is my land so I forgive them automatically because you know what I'm for you. No he's saying I'm for you if you're righteous and you know the same thing is true in our personal lives. Is God for me or against me? Well I mean how are you living your life? You say well I'm not reading the Bible. I don't go to church. I don't go soul winning. I get drunk every night. Well God's not for you but I'm saved. He's not automatically for you. It depends on how you're living your life and that's the truth in life. You know if you're doing what's right God is for you. If you're not doing what's right God is against you right. I mean it's not really all that complicated. Now of course I could preach on a rabbit trail and preach against Israel but that's not really the point of this sermon. Okay the sermon is talking about the Philippines itself and especially during this holiday. Now go to second Corinthians chapter four. Second Corinthians four. Second Corinthians four. Point number one is the sinfulness of the whole world. The sinfulness of the whole world. Now obviously I live in the Philippines so you make the sermon specific to where you're living but you know what you could preach the exact same sermon no matter where you live in the entire world and just change it up with different examples. You say why? Because the entire world is sinful. The sinfulness of the entire world whether you're from the Philippines whether you're from somewhere in Africa or Europe or wherever the whole world is sinful. It says in second Corinthians four verse three but if our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine onto them. And so in verse four you see the word God mentioned two times right. It says the God of this world and then it says who is the image of God. Now it's pretty obvious that this is referring to different people right or different entities or whatever right because the first one the God of this world it's very obvious that's the devil that it's referring to. And the translators knew that because you have a lowercase g okay. Throughout the Bible you see the gods of the lands and stuff like that and it's a lowercase g indicating it's a false god. It's a devil. It's not actual God because there is one God that we worship. And it's clear the God of this world is different than who is the image of God should shine onto them. Now it's obvious to me but I remember hearing James White talk about this passage and James White's a favorite famous Calvinist in the U.S. He's in that documentary New World Order Bible Versions if you saw that a while ago and he said well the God of this world is referring to God. And he says that God doesn't want people to get saved. Now look that makes sense if that's your doctrine. I mean if you believe that God does not want people to be saved and only has specific people to be saved that makes sense that you'd say the God of this world is referring to God. But if you're reading this it's obvious the God of this world is different than the image of God because the God of this world doesn't want people saved but the image of God is going to shine onto some people. And the Bible is saying that the devil is blinding people from believing. And the Bible says the devil is the God of this world. Now we understand that ultimately God is all powerful and we see in the book of Job that the devil is only given certain power of what he's able to do. He allows the devil to have some sort of influence but he says but I'm not going to let you do this okay. But if you look at the world that we live in because the world is referring to basically earth our time here on earth. Basically this world is not my home I'm just a passing through okay. So this world's referring to your time on earth and the people here on earth and what I want you to realize is the devil is obviously in control of many things that are going on. Look at the entertainment industry. Is the entertainment industry in the movies being run by fundamental Baptists that are soul winners? I mean is it fundamental Baptists that made Vice Pong each so popular? Is that what happened? It's the fundamentalist Baptists that put girl Abunda on TV to be so powerful. Is that what happened? Now I mean obviously that's run by the devil and the devil is promoting wicked people that don't like the things of God. Look the people that are influential and powerful in this country they're not godly people. They're not righteous people. They're against the things of God. You say how does that happen? Because the God of this world the devil is trying to blind people and he's doing it one aspect is through entertainment and entertainment is brainwashing people at a young age. People are being brainwashed by the things they see. The Bible talks about the things you see and hear will influence you. And people are growing up in this country and they think it's normal to see guys wearing dresses. You say how is that possible? Because it's all over the Philippines. Everywhere you go. It's all over the place. We're going soul winning in Nepo Park in Pampanga just you know last week and everything. And yeah we love going to the park because my wife and I can take turns. I'm watching the kids. She preaches the gospel. She's watching the kids because you're able to have a family time and soul winning. It's great right? But then all of a sudden you know there's a lot of half men half women running around the track. Men dressed as women and it's just like you know what I do? Well I get really close to my kids to make sure they're safe. I mean if somebody is just so crazy to just dress up in a dress as a man it's like I'm afraid of what else you're going to do. I'm going to keep my kids safe to me. And you say brother Stuckey man this seems too extreme. Well wait a minute what does the Bible say? Right. See that's my point. We are brainwashed by this world and people think this is extreme and strange. And here's the reality. For you that first started coming to this church that weren't used to this type of preaching when you first heard it, brother Stuckey I like the preaching. I'm learning but he's a little bit too extreme. And now you're like you know what it doesn't seem so strange to me anymore right? And the reason why I know that is it was the same way with me. I got saved in college in West Virginia University. The biggest drinking school in the nation. Cheers beers and mountaineers. And you know what it seems strange to me some of the preaching I first heard. But I also couldn't deny what was being shown to me in the Bible. And eventually I changed my mind and my beliefs and look the reality is the world is brainwashing people. Why? Well because this world is run by the devil. That's the reason why. It's not just the entertainment. It's the institutions that are out there. All of these things. The devil is in charge of them and he's corrupting them and people are being blinded from believing. I mean this world to the devil is all about preventing people from getting saved. And you know what the devil's doing a very good job doing this. Because God is offering a free gift to anybody that believes and it's like it's so simple. It's so easy and yet very few people end up going to heaven. Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life. Right? That's reality. Now turn in your Bible to James 4. James chapter 4. James 4. And look you know there's a lot of institutions that I wouldn't personally recommend but I want you to realize they're getting worse. Right? I mean I started in public school and elementary and then I switched to being homeschooled in middle school. But you know the public school, I used to be a high school teacher. I mean the public schools are getting worse my friend. It's like when I was a public school teacher it's like you know why do we have all of these LGBT agendas? Like all of these and you say brother Stuckey there you go again. Well look this is the fight. I mean in this month this is gay pride month. And not only that this is very relevant to our time period. Brother Stuckey in the Bible God doesn't preach against it that much. That's because it wasn't common. In America I wouldn't preach against idolatry much. You know why? Because you don't have all these giant idols that the Catholics have. Like they do in the Philippines. But when something is very prevalent you got to preach against it. And the world is becoming strange. Look when I was a high school teacher we did this program and you know there's this one day where we're doing this community outreach thing or whatever. And I remember seeing this one woman and this woman was obviously a tomboy. Right? Not only by her clothing but just by looking at her you could tell. But she had a shirt that had a rainbow. Of course six colors. Not seven colors because people don't seem to know what a rainbow is anymore. Right? And six colored rainbow instead of you know all seven colors of an actual rainbow with one word recruiter. And you wonder why I'm preaching against this? I mean she's saying my goal in life is to turn people reprobate against God. That's what she's saying. And you wonder why I'm preaching so hard. I was angry. I mean seeing somebody who's obviously doing something so vile and their goal is to corrupt young kids. That's the reason why preachers need to stand up and preach against us in today's world. And in our country we are one of the most pro-LGBT countries in this world. How dare you preach against the Philippines. It's a fact. Everybody who visits from the US the first thing they say is man I'm shocked to see so many guys wearing dresses. It's everywhere in this country. And it might seem normal to you because you've seen it your whole life. It's not normal. It will never be normal. And I'll tell you what you know people that are young in this room this is what you've always experienced. But if you're older it didn't used to be like that did it? The world has changed. And the problem is Baptists are not standing up and just preaching the truth. They're afraid to preach the truth because they want your money. That's reality. James 4 verse 4. James 4 verse 4. You say Brother Stuckey you seem angry this morning. I'm in a great mood. I don't know what you're talking about. I feel great. I'm happy. Right? James 4. You know what's funny is like when you preach like this people think like you always are like this. You're always just like screaming at people. It's like I'm a pretty quiet person. I'm not very confrontational. But it's different when you're preaching the Word of God. You don't hold back. James 4 verse 4. Ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. See notice it does not say well if you're not saved you're the enemy of God. The Bible says if you're a friend of the world you're an enemy of God. And the reality is there's a lot of saved people that are enemies with God. You say why? Because there's something abominable and wicked and they support it as saved people. And look the reality is most saved people would side against what I'm preaching and against me and say I'm hateful and they would side with vice pangit over me every day of the week. Right. Well whose side are you on? I mean even if you think I'm a little too extreme why would you side against this as a Bible believing Christian? As a saved person that has read the Bible? I mean have you not read Genesis 19? Sodom and Gomorrah? It's like are you kidding me? But they would side against me and I'm hateful. And you know most Baptist churches here in the Philippines would say I'm hateful. Look most Baptists don't like me in the Philippines. There's a lot of Baptist churches here that don't like me. They don't like me. They don't like my doctrines. They don't like what I say. They preached against me. I mean good night they preached against me at funerals. Brother Tim needs a witness. I've seen the video. I'm just like what in the world? It's just like I'm just preaching sermons and it's just like look I'm just preaching the Word of God here. This is reality. This is the truth. Now turn your Bible to 1 John 2. 1 John 2. 1 John chapter 2. 1 John 2. But I want you to realize something that I didn't get into this of being a preacher because I'm trying to build some massive congregation. That's not my goal. You know I would love to see our church grow so we can reach more people. Obviously we get a lot of people love it if our church grows. For the purposes of more soul winning I'd love to see more churches get started. Like my heart I feel for the people in Bekal that don't really have a church and they went soul winning for 10 hours and they're listening to sermons online. I'm like man I hope we can do something for them in the future. Now you got to plan, be organized. You can't just do this free-for-all technique because it's going to fail and then you're never going to have an opportunity. But I'm like my heart goes out to them. I'm like man these people they want to serve God and many of you were the same way just a few years ago. You're just like man I want to serve God and you know you just I mean you just can't find a church to serve God at. It's sad but that's the reality that we live in. Okay 1 John 2 verse 15. 1 John 2 verse 15. The Bible says love not the world neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and lust the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world. Now I want you to realize here it does not say that if you love the world you're not saved. It just says the love of the Father is not in you. Okay how do you prove whether you love something? Well you prove it by your actions. It's easy to say you love something like man I love to work out and eat healthy. Okay what's your diet? Potato chips, cobra, Oreos right? All kinds of junk food. It's like when I really want to go healthy I go to McDonald's. It's like no you don't really want to eat healthy and be in shape then right? Like you prove your love through your actions right? You prove your love for your wife or your husband through your actions. You prove your love for your kids through your actions. You prove your love for lost people by going soul winning. You prove your love for God by reading the Bible, by going to church, by praying, by obeying God's will and obeying his commandments. Here's the reality you know what if you spend more time on social media than you do reading the Bible and praying and in service to God you know what the love of God is not in you. Now I'm not saying you're not saved but I'm just saying no wait a minute what do you love more because the proof of what you love is actions. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son if he loved me keep my commandments. Not to be saved keep my commandments but if he loved me keep my commandments and God's saying the proof of whether or not you love me is your actions and here's the reality if you don't read the Bible you don't love God. I mean if you're not obeying God's commandments how can you say you love God. Now I'm not saying you're not saved but how can you really say you love God when your actions don't indicate that. The proof of your love not proof of your salvation don't misunderstand me but the proof of your love is your actions and you know what if you say you love something there better be actions to support that and see the Bible says there are some people that love the world and don't love God. Now of course the Bible's written to save people so he's telling save people that you can love the world and not love God and God's commanding us love not the world neither the things that are in the world. You say why because this world's gonna pass away one day. It doesn't matter you know wow the greatest basketball player or athlete or musician it's all gonna pass away one day and if that's what you're always thinking about and always paying attention to and spending all of your time how can you say the love of God is in you right. That's a harsh reality but it's a reality nonetheless that most save people there's no real indication that they love God. Most save people don't read the Bible right. Most save people never read the Bible in today's world. Now I think it used to be different. I think even in unsaved homes they used to read the Bible a hundred years ago. I think just in the average Christian no matter what Christian we're talking about whether they're saved or not they used to have family Bible time. They used to spend time as a family, eat dinner as a family, play board games as a family. Now that's all it is anymore. This is reality and when people spend no time for God and all my life's too busy to make it to church. My life's too busy to read the Bible. It's like I mean do you work a hundred hours a week? I mean there's always time okay. Now turn in your Bible to first John five. First John five. First John chapter five. See some people in today's world are a little bit too patriotic because they spend a little bit too much time just watching the TV. They spend a little bit too much time on ABS-CBN and then all of a sudden guess what your heart goes attached to everything that has nothing to do with eternal things. Because if you're just reading the Bible you're kind of de-plugged from what's going on. You don't even care about what's going on. Against the sins of the area he lives in. It's the opposite. And let me give you an example to help you understand something. Because people would say I'm hateful and I'm unpatriotic. I don't love the Philippines. I would say it's the opposite to you. Let's say you had a friend that came up to you and said you know what I'm addicted to drugs. Man I'm trying to get off this. I started doing drugs and you know and then you tell them you know what it's okay. You know your life is stressful. It's okay. You know it's okay to keep doing it. Don't feel bad. Don't beat up yourself. It's okay. Are you acting like a real friend to that person? No. You're destroying their life. If you were a real friend you know what? You would reprove them and rebuke them like the Bible says. Say hey you know you need to start reading the Bible. Start listening to sermons and get rid of that. And we I think are number one in all countries in Asia in children out of wedlock. It's hard to get accurate statistics but I didn't find a single country in Asia that was about. Now I hope there is. It's hard to get accurate statistics on every country. But the Philippines is way above South Korea. Way above Japan. Way above all of these wicked countries. And we're the one Christian country in Asia? Good night. There's a poll in 2013 the Pew research with the countries that are the most accepting of the LGBT. The Philippines was number one in all of Asia. Number one in all of Asia. Number nine I think in the world. We're the one Christian country so called in Asia and we're the most supporting of the LGBT. The most kids born out of wedlock. Does that sound like a godly country? And last I checked we probably have the most idolatry in this country. And last I checked I mean unless you're a Catholic that removes the second commandment that's a pretty big sin. Don't sit here and tell me this country is so perfect. How dare you preach against it Brother Stuckey. No there's a lot of sins in this country that need to be preached against. Go to Genesis chapter 6. Genesis 6. And here's the thing. Two thousand years ago God said the whole world life and wickedness. Two thousand years ago. Is it more godly today than it was two thousand years ago? It's obviously worse. And it will get worse and worse until it's like the days of Lot and the days of Noah where there's so much sin where God says you know what I'm done with it. It's going to get worse and worse and worse. And look I want to just quickly show you this has always been this way. It's always been wicked in the world from Genesis to Revelation. Genesis chapter 6 verse 1. And it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born onto them that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair and they took them wives of all which they chose. Now I don't have time to go into it for sake of time because my sermons as I said yesterday were too long so I got to cut out some of my you know side topics that I spend some time on. I'm not avoiding it but you know I just don't have time. But let me just say in verse 2 the sons of God are referring to saved people and then the daughters of men are referring to unsaved people. But basically you have the sons of God marry unsaved women. Why? Because they're fair. They found them attractive. And let me just say this men. That is a terrible reason to be your number one reason to get married. Well I'm marrying her because I find her attractive. Well what else? I hope you find your wife attractive. I hope you find your girlfriend attractive or whatever. But you better make sure that's not the only thing that you're banking on. Because last I checked there are plenty of people that are attractive in this world. I mean I don't believe God. I mean I believe God made people to look good. And obviously people have different tastes and different interests in people. But look there's plenty of people you can find attractive. It's like oh Brother Stuckey I met the perfect person. I'm thinking about getting married. Oh that's great. You know what is it you like about her? It's like oh man she's beautiful. Right? That smile. Those eyes. I mean it's just like is that the reason why you're banking? It's like well what's her religion? I don't know. I forgot to ask her about that. But I love her. Look that's a dumb reason to get married. But see there's nothing new under the sun. This is what they were doing 4,000 plus years ago. This is what people do today. They find somebody attractive. It's like all right I'll get married. Right? That should not be your primary reason. And you are going to deeply regret that one day if that's your main reason why you're getting married to someone. Now look don't misunderstand me. I think you should find your spouse attractive. I find my spouse attractive. I hope she finds me attractive. Right? But that should not be your only reason why you get married to someone. You know as a Bible weaving Christian does she like church? And look here's the thing. That actually takes time to figure out. Because some people might go through the motions. But I know so many examples. Someone's out of church for a couple months and they're faking it. And then all of a sudden it turns out they hate it. I know people that faked getting saved. I have friends of mine that their wives faked getting saved and then they end up getting divorced a couple years. Like well I never believed that anyway. It's like they just wanted them to marry them. I mean I would suggest and you know most of those examples are when they were they had a very very short time period then they got married. Make sure the person you're getting married to loves God. Number one do they love God? Do they like this type of preaching? Do they like reading the Word of God? And you know what that takes time to figure out. It shouldn't just be well they're attractive so I'm going to get married to them. Verse 3, and the Lord said, my spirit shall not always strive with man for that he also has flesh. Yet his days shall be in 120 years. There are giants in the earth in those days and also after that. So you notice the Giants are in those days and also after that when the sons of God came in under the daughters of men. Indicating before the sons of God married the daughters of men there were Giants then and then there are Giants afterwards. So it's not that the Giants are an offspring from the sons of God and the daughters of men. A giant is someone who's tall. A giant is Kaisoto, the basketball player here in the Philippines. He's a giant. Right? I'm like he's a Filipino? Like what? Because he's like you know this tall or something. It's like my goodness. He's like over seven feet tall. That's a giant. I mean when you're walking around you don't see too many people. I mean me and in our house I have to duck to not hit my head because and I'm not even it's not like I'm really that tall. Right? But it's like there are Giants. There were Giants thousands of years ago. There's Giants now. There's always been Giants. There's always been tall people. But these are not like 500 feet tall people. Okay? They're just tall people. There are Giants in the earth in those days and also after that when the sons of God came in under the daughters of men. Okay? And then what it says though is this. And the point I'm trying to make is it says here, and they bear children to them. The same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. When it says mighty men and men of renown, when you cross-reference throughout the Bible that means there are people that are in powerful influential positions in life. Like you would say a politician is a man of renown. People look up to them. People respect them. Now I don't know why they do, but they do. Right? And the reality is people that are in powerful influential positions today are by and large not godly people. Right? You're not going to find a whole lot of politicians that are going to be very godly people. Now I'm sure there's some that are saved that are mayors or whatever, but in general if you're a politician anywhere in the world you're probably not going to be godly because throughout the Bible you see that ungodly people take positions of power. Why? Satan is the god of this world. And here's the reality. When you speak like this you don't get votes. You know what I mean? The topic of abortion comes up and I say, you know, hey it's wicked. It's murder. You know what? But the person who's going to get the vote is like, yeah, you know, it's wrong, but we need to understand their situation. I wouldn't support it, but you know, we shouldn't call it wicked. Well done. Right? When you just speak like this you're not going to get votes. That's reality. That's why people that are politicians that are really powerful, you know what? Obviously they had a way to get up there in power. Right? Now turn your Bible to Revelation 6 real quickly. Revelation 6. And of course we know after that in Genesis the world became very wicked. Right? So it was wicked over 4,000 years ago. And it's all the way to Revelation as well where people that are in powerful positions are not put there by God. Right? Revelation 6 verse 15. And the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bond man and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand. So people that are the kings and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains, obviously we know as we talked about last week that the Antichrist is going to be the one that's in power, but he's going to have people underneath him like kings and mighty men that are basically just sip sip with the Antichrist. Right? Just a little bit of sip sip with the Antichrist. And you want the Antichrist going to make sure they're in powerful positions. And the kings and powerful people, they'll give their power onto the beast and everything. But what you're seeing is people in influential positions are not godly people. These are the ungodly people that God's going to pour out his wrath on them. Okay? So it's always been this way. Now turn in your Bible to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. But see, people have an idea that their country's somehow different. People have this idea that everything that happens in their culture is okay and it's acceptable. And well, you know, if another part of the world doesn't do this, you know, you know, you know, what we do is right because this is just what we do. But this is not an American thing. It's not a Filipino thing. It's a Bible thing. What does the Bible say? This determines right and wrong. And there are many problems in the U.S., but I'm not preaching to Americans. Except, you know, our brother Sue Hill from Texas here today. He's in town visiting us from steadfast. But outside of that, you know, I'm preaching to Filipinos that live here. Right? So here's the reality. You know, what does the Bible say? That determines things right and wrong. And every country has problems. Every country. I'm not standing up here saying all these other countries are so great. The whole world's wicked. That's what the Bible teaches. The sinfulness of the whole world. That's point number one. But point number two is that we are sojourners. Sojourners. Say what does it mean to sojourn? Well, to sojourn does not mean to live somewhere temporarily. Kind of an example to understand is like in OFW. Most OFWs live somewhere for five or ten years with the idea of eventually moving back to the Philippines. That's what a sojourner is. Where basically they live somewhere temporarily with the idea of moving back. So kind of like with Abram in Genesis 12 where there's a famine in the land, and he went down into Egypt to sojourn. What the Bible's telling you is he's not planning to permanently live in Egypt. He's just going to be there for a time period with the idea of coming back. So the word sojourn means to live somewhere temporarily. It's like Alimelek went to Moab to sojourn, but he ended up dying there. Because usually that's what ends up happening when you're not making the right choices. But notice what it says in Hebrews 11 verse 13. And what I want you to realize is we are sojourners here on earth. We're just passing through. Hebrews 11 verse 13. These all died in faith, not having received the promises but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Strangers and pilgrims on the earth. You know what they're saying is this. They realize, you know what, we're just here for a time period, and we're going to be gone. We have our house. We have our job. We have our food. But it's only for a time period, and then eventually we're going to be in heaven. Because verse 14, for they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country, and truly if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country that is in heavenly. And see the Bible says they desire a better country. Look this should be obvious, but you know that heaven is better than the Philippines. I mean that should be very obvious, but the way people live their lives, it doesn't seem like they believe that sometimes. They seem to think that everything in their country is perfect, and it's like well wait a minute. Is that what the Bible says? I mean heaven is going to be better than here on earth, and if you make your whole life about your time on earth, what a wasted life. I have all these possessions laid up one day. I'm going to buy it, make a bigger barn, buy a bigger house to put all these possessions, and then one day it's like thou fool, right, and you're going to die, and what was the purpose of it? Now look I'm not saying that you can't have nice things. I'm not saying you can't go on vacation. That's fine. The Bible doesn't say that's wrong, but if your whole life is about just things here on earth, you're going to be a very depressed person one day when you get older, and realize I wasted my whole life. How many people on their deathbed say man I wished I had seen that the 57th Star Wars movie. That's the thing that I really miss in my life. I saw the first 56th Star Wars movie, but number 57. I never learned the conclusion of the conclusion of the conclusion or whatever, right. You know what people say in their deathbed? Man, you know what? I wish I'd spent more time with my family. Man, you know what? I wish I'd done more things for God if you're a Bible-believing Christian. Man, I wish I'd helped bring people to the Savior. That's what you're going to think, and if you spend your life about things here on earth, you're going to wake up one day and realize what in the world. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, and the people that should try to be serving God. Hey, if you're young, serve God now. You say I'm only five years old. Memorize the Bible now. Learn the Bible now. Learn it when you're young. Read the Bible now. Don't wait until you're old, because you know what happens when you get older? You don't have as much free time. You wake up at seven in the morning, and what do you hear? You know kids crying and everything. You know what? It's harder when you get older, but I know what it's like to be young. You sit around. You have all the time in the world to play video games for eight hours. Look, because if I were a Bible-believing Christian, instead of setting your heart to things of this world, why don't you do something that matters? And if you actually do that, you're not going to regret it. That's the truth. Now go to 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. Now I don't want you to misunderstand me because I'm not standing up here saying that every country is equal, because I would much rather live here than in North Korea or China. But you know what? My determination of whether or not a country is a good country is this. Are you able to freely serve God in that country? I mean, isn't that why God let the Hebrews out of Egypt, because they weren't able to serve God? Right? They weren't able to serve God in Egypt when a new Pharaoh rose up who knew not Joseph, the Bible says. So the determination, do you live in a good country? So look, I'd say the Philippines is a good country because you are able to freely meet for church. I mean, if this was in a Muslim country, I mean, this summer would have been a lot shorter because I'd be a lot shorter, right? My head would be chopped off or whatever. Look, you're able to freely serve God in the Philippines. And you know what? We've been able to freely serve God and go soloing in the last year and a half. I haven't had problems. You know, in a lot of parts of the world, you're not able to do that. So you know what? I would say this is a good country to live in, but I wouldn't say it's a perfect country. Any country where you're able to serve God, praise the Lord for that. That's what I would say. I'm not saying every country is equal. I'm not saying you can't love your country. I'm saying don't put your country above God. 1 Peter 2 verse 9, but ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, basically as sojourners, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. And see, the Bible says there's the things of this life, the things of the flesh, and they war against you, right? Your flesh is going to battle your spirit until the day you die there's going to be that battle, okay? And what God's trying to tell us is this. Realize, you know what? Your home is in heaven. Don't get involved in the things of this life that are going to pass away one day, okay? Look, I'm not saying it's wrong to have fun or do something nice or whatever, but what I'm saying is if that is what your life is about, you're wasting it. Now turn in your Bible to 2 Kings 14. 2 Kings 14. 2 Kings 14. You say, what are you talking about, Brother Stuckey? Here's what I'm talking about when it comes to being too patriotic. I have heard Baptist pastors here in the Philippines praising that church right over there because it's a Filipino-based church that really cares about the Filipino people. That's leading people to hell? I've heard Baptist pastors get up and praise that church right over there about how great it is when it's damning people to hell. What is there good to say about that church? But it's a Filipino-based church. Do you hear me praising the Mormons? Because the Mormons is an American religion. It's like, are you kidding me? I mean, I was shocked when I'm like, is that a joke? Who would listen to this person? I mean, like, what in the world? How could you praise? I mean, I would never say anything good about the Mormons. You know what I say about the Mormons? They're a racist American religion that hates non-white people. That's what I would say. What would you say good about a religion that's preaching a false gospel that does not believe that Jesus is God? Like, what in the world? That's called being way too patriotic, my friend. It doesn't make any sense to me, right? The last point is this. Point number one, the sinfulness of the whole world. Point two, sojourners. Point three, supporting God over country. We as God's people should support God over our country. And this seems like a very basic point, but look, what that means is this. When you've got specific sins to a country, you preach against the sins of that country. I mean, didn't it say in the book of Isaiah, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, but notice this, and show my people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. Look, America's got lots of problems, but one thing that it does not have is a lot of idolatry. You've got to preach against idolatry here in the Philippines. You say, Brother Psyche, why do you have to preach against idolatry? Well, obviously, you've been brainwashed by seeing it all the time if you're asking that question. Because if you're reading the Bible, you ought to know what God thinks about it. And look, this is the way brainwashing works. It doesn't matter who you are, you can be brainwashed. I mean, in Pampanga, they have the Magdarame during Easter time, and people are beating themselves, and they crucify themselves. And I saw that two years ago in person in Pampanga. We visited down there, visited my wife's family and everything, and I woke up in the morning. I was asleep, and all of a sudden, I heard it sound like a chain. It was like ch, ch. And I woke up, and I'm like, what is that noise? And I realized that was the sound of people beating themselves. And then all of a sudden, I'm walking around town, and like, literally, people are just walking on the streets, just beating themselves, and just blood's dripping down. And I was, I mean, it's gross to me. But everybody else is just walking like it's normal. Oh, wow, this is cool, people. I mean, and I might embarrass my wife. My wife said, growing up, she's like, oh, cool, it's the people that beat themselves, because she grew up Catholic. What's that called? It's called being brainwashed, because you see it all the time. That's not normal. People crucifying themselves is not normal. That's strange. You say, brother sucky, I think it's godly and holy. Then why do they get drunk before they do it? It's like, I want to be like Christ. Well, I miss the part in the Bible where you get trashed before you, oh, you don't even feel it. Like, what in the world? You know, what's that called? It's called you get brainwashed. And you know what? You should think inside your heart that that is wicked, and it's wrong, and it's evil. And if you don't think that, it's because you've been brainwashed, and because you're supporting your country over God. And I want you to realize something. People in the Philippines are very religious. This is one of the most religious countries in the world. And you know what? In most countries they don't beat themselves. Praise the Lord they don't beat themselves in other countries. Praise the Lord people don't crucify themselves in other countries. Hey Catholics, Jesus already rose again. Why is He still on the cross in your idol? And it's like they're beating themselves. They do not, and look, I'm not saying those people that are doing that are wicked. They just obviously don't understand the gospel. And our job as Bible believing Christians is to show them, hey, you don't have to hurt yourself. Jesus already paid for your sins, and He's offering you a free gift of salvation. Just believe on Jesus Christ. I'm not trying to say that to insult people that grow up Catholic, because whatever you grow up will seem normal to you. If you grew up in India, then you know what? Worshipping cows would seem normal to you. And you know what? All of us would have done the same thing if we grew up in Hindu in India. That's reality. Because you get brainwashed. It's around you. It seems normal. And our job as Christians is to preach the truth, and to go out and win people to the Lord. And of course we win them in love. We don't yell at people at the door. I mean, I never mocked Catholics at the door, right? But I'm preaching in this room to save people. I'm not preaching to unsaved people. Of course, I don't know everybody's heart, but I'm just saying, by and large, people in this room are saved, right? I'm preaching to save people and just showing you, what does the Bible say? And then we go out sowing, and you know what? All they need to hear is the gospel, because they're not saved, right? An example of supporting your country over God is Jonah in the Bible. Notice what it says in 2 Kings 14, verse 23. In the 15th year of Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah. Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria and reign 40 in one year. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. He departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin. 2 Kings 14, verse 25. He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath onto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah the son of Amittai the prophet. Now, I wanted to show you this verse to show you. We see Jonah in 2 Kings 14. Now in the Bible, of course, they don't really have last names. They'll just be like Jonah son of Amittai. This is the same Jonah from the book of Jonah, okay? Now go to 2 Kings 15. 2 Kings 15. 2 Kings 15. And it says in 2 Kings 15, verse 19, and Pull the king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave Pull a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand. And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back and stayed not there in the land. During this time period, Assyria was very wicked. And the capital city of Assyria was Nineveh, okay? Nineveh was oppressing God's people. And Jonah was told to go preach to Nineveh. A similar example would be like, let's say you lived in 1950 and God, and of course we don't believe God appears to us today, okay? If that's, if that happened to you, then I don't know what to tell you, right? But let's say in 1950 you lived, and then God told you, you know what? I want you to go to Japan to preach to the Japanese people, right after World War II. I mean, Japan was pretty brutal with the people in the Philippines, especially the women, right? What would your reaction be? Well, it would be very easy to see you'd say no, right? It's like, I mean, I didn't grow up here, but I could certainly see where someone would feel that way. Like what? They just raped all these women, and you expect us to go preach to them? You can see why Jonah would have that attitude, right? Because we need to understand the full picture. What Jonah does is wrong by refusing to preach, but the reason why he doesn't want to preach is because Assyria was wicked. Assyria was evil. They were oppressing Israel, okay? Now turn to Jonah chapter 1. Jonah 1. Jonah chapter 1. But see, what it comes down to is we need to support God over our country, and Jonah has the wrong attitude because he cares too much about his country and not about what God wants. Jonah 1 verse 1. Now the word of the Lord came on a Jonah the son of Amittai saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord and went down to Joppa. And so, you know, what's interesting here is Jonah doesn't even have to think about this. I mean, God tells him to preach. It's not like he thinks about it and prays. It's like, all right, I'm just going away, right? I'm just going the opposite direction of what God told me to go. He doesn't even have to think about it. He's already made up in his mind, I hate Assyria. I hate the people of Nineveh because they have oppressed our people, and he immediately says no. And what I want you to realize is there are a lot of very wicked countries in this world. The whole world is sinful, but there's a lot of very, very wicked countries. But here's the thing. That doesn't mean that everybody in that country is a bad person. Right? Go to Jonah chapter 4. Jonah 4. We'll see this. Jonah 4. I mean, honestly, you know what? Instead of having this attitude, why hate Chinese people? You know, a better attitude is feeling bad for people that have to live in that communist country. It's not like they're just inherently bad people because of their ethnicity. That's the wrong attitude. They're not. Unfortunately, they live in a country that's very wicked. Can you imagine living in a country where they tell you you can only have one child? That's why the two countries, China and India, are the two countries that have a lot of female infanticide, which means the murder of female babies after they're born. And the reason why is, well, with China specifically, because you're only allowed to have one child, and many people want to have a male child that can help them financially when they get older, and you only got one shot at it. So many babies are killed in China that are female when they're born because people want a male child, and they only are allowed to have one. And so that is a very common problem in China. It's also a problem in India for a different reason. But it's just like, that's why female infanticide, look, I would hate to grow up in China and raise a family there. You know why? Because I love my daughter, Christabel. You say, why? She looks exactly like me. Why wouldn't I love her? I mean, it's not hard to see that she's my daughter. It's just like, I look at her, I'm like, wow, it's like I'm looking at myself, right? She's very makuli. She acts just like me, right? And so Jonah 4, let me show you Jonah's reaction. You know, I don't have time to go into the whole story of Jonah. But basically, Jonah's told not to preach. He gets swallowed by a whale, and then he ends up obeying God. Then he preaches. But then, you know what? God spares the people. They turn back to God. The leader of Nineveh is like, man, we need to get right with God. He has the Word of God preached all over the country. I mean, this is like the greatest event almost in history, right? It's one of the top couple events. It's amazing. Can you imagine if just like the president or leader of a country just said, man, we need to get the Word of God everywhere. Let's send out all these Baptists to just preach the Word of God to everybody. It's a pretty unique event, right? But Jonah's not happy about this. Jonah 4, verse 1, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the Lord and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before Natarshes, for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and of great custody of the evil. And he says, you know what? I knew you're a gracious God. I knew you're merciful. I knew you were going to forgive them. And he's like, I wasn't happy about it. I knew when I was told to preach to them. I'd preach. They'd turn to God. And he's like, Jonah, you should be thankful he's a merciful God, right? I mean, I know three days in a well's belly is pretty bad, but you could have spent more time there, right? And it's just like, you should be happy he's a gracious God. And this is a funny chapter. I don't have time to go into it, but Jonah basically just sits there and is like, I hope God will change his mind, right? I hope God will end up destroying them. He's like, I'm just going to sit here and just pray that God will just destroy them and change his mind, right? We'll go to the end of this chapter, though, in verse 10. Jonah 4, verse 10, because we're pretty much out of time. Jonah 4, verse 10. Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd for the which thou hast not laboured, neither mayest it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should not I spare Nineveh that great city, wherein are more than six-score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand and also much cattle. Now, six-score thousand persons is 120 people. They can't discern their right hand from their left. Now, if you're an adult, you know the difference between your right and your left. Now, if you're an adult, you know the difference between your right and your left. But a baby doesn't know the difference between their right and their left. And the indication is a very, very, very young child. They cannot understand the difference between their right hand and their left hand. It's actually interesting because this is an expression that is very common in the world. I remember I was watching people that know Saddam Hussein who was the leader of Iraq a long time ago, and he was put to death. He had this big trial. And I listened to him for 15 minutes speak. They had English subtitles. And he used this expression about all these people that couldn't know the difference between their right and their left hand. I was like, wow, that's from the Bible because we don't use that expression in America. But it's just indicating very young people. And what the Bible is saying is it's not like a baby that is born in Nineveh is wicked. Look, babies that are born in Muslim countries, they're not wicked. Now, of course, they could become wicked. Now, of course, they're being raised in a false religion, so they're going to need to hear the real gospel and get saved. But it's not like those babies are wicked. Anyway, Jonah has this attitude, well, you know what? I support my country over God. Now, he wouldn't say that audibly, but that's obviously the reason why he doesn't want to preach to Nineveh, because he loves his country too much. But you know what? It doesn't matter how much you love your country. You ought to love God more than your country. And look, there's a tendency where people can get offended by this type of preaching when you preach against sins. I mean, there's a reason why we're never going to be a megachurch, because people don't like to hear this type of preaching. Now, that's strange to you because you like this type of preaching. It's strange to me because I like this type of preaching. Most people want to be lied to. That's reality. Most people don't like this type of preaching. They don't want to know the truth. They want to be lied to. That's reality. But you know what? As God's people, we ought to support God over our country. Kind of whorish, right? But she's waving an LGBT flag, just with a big smile on her face, so excited. And her quote was, religion is never an excuse to hate. Put down or act indifferent to the suffering of others. I believe God is love, and I'll treat everyone, no matter who they are, with love. In reference to the LGBT. That's what it says in Revelation. Yes, God is love, but He also sends people to hell. Let's not act like God's just like, love, love, love, no matter what. No, there's another. You're a little bit too patriotic. I mean, I'm not saying you should have wished they lost, but I'm saying you shouldn't care. It's a beauty pageant. Who cares? It doesn't matter. And I hate to break it to you. It's not like the competition was the hardest, because Spain had a guy dressed as a woman that was their representative. I mean, literally. It's like, man, that's embarrassing. The most beautiful woman we found in our country was a guy dressed in drag. It's like, this is a fact. Look it up. It's like, the first guy. They were number one on most LGBT Pro, right? We're like number nine or whatever. Look, all I'm saying is this. Nothing wrong with loving your country. I think you should love your country. I love living here. Obviously, we've chosen to live here, but I'm saying if you want to make a difference in this country because you love it, you know how you do that? You support a great church. You read the Word of God. You raise your kids to be godly. You go soul-winning. You serve God. You do what's right. You obey God's commandments. And as one church, as many people as we get saved, we're only going to make a small dent here in the Philippines. We need churches all over the Philippines that will get back to preaching the real Word of God, preaching tough truths, raising children for God, serving God, and going soul-winning. And that makes you more patriotic than standing up here and just saying, God bless the Philippines no matter what they do, no matter what choices they make. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today. And we do thank you to live in a country where we're able to freely serve you and go soul-winning and meet for church. And we enjoy things that many safe people in this world do not have. But help us never to become too patriotic and then just put our views of the Philippines above God. But help us to always just be loyal to you, number one above everything. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.