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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Thessalonians 3, beginning in verse 1, the Bible reads, Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified, even as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. For all men have not faith, but the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you and keep you from evil. Now, as we get into this third chapter of 2 Thessalonians, let me just mention this. This is pretty much the only chapter in 1 or 2 Thessalonians that doesn't go much into end-time Bible prophecy whatsoever. All the other seven chapters covered it, at least in part of the chapter. But in this chapter, not so much, but it's kind of interesting that in verse 5, it does just make one quick reference to it. Just to complete the eight chapters in a row of dealing with it, it says, And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. So there is just that little reference to the second coming. But most of this chapter has to do with people working hard and having a good work ethic and talking about the traditions that they've been given by the apostles and so forth. Now, in the first few verses here, Paul is asking for them to pray for him. He says, Pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you. So he's saying, look, you've been a success story. The church at Thessalonica was a church that was a patterned church. If you remember in some of the previous chapters, it talked about how their faith was spoken of throughout the whole world. And so the apostle Paul is basically praying and saying, look, pray for us that we will have the same success in other places where we go and preach that we had with you, that God's word would have free course and that God's word would be glorified. You know, the Bible says that God has magnified his word above all his name. So God's word ought to be glorified. It needs to be exalted. It needs to be lifted up. And a lot of people will accuse us as fundamental Baptists of worshiping the Bible or making an idol out of the Bible. Well, you know what? Guilty as charged. Because you know what? We ought to glorify the word of God. We ought to exalt the word of God. If God has magnified it above his name and of course we're supposed to worship the name of the Lord, then of course we should worship the word of God. But we're not talking about worshiping a physical book. Obviously a book is a book. We're talking about the word though. The words that are in the book, they were in the beginning with God and they are God and they ought to be glorified and exalted and magnified, even above the name of God. You know, there are whole denominations out there that are just based on understanding the name of God. You know, you've got the Jehovah's Witnesses saying, hey, we're the ones who have the real name of God. Then you have the Hebrew roots people over here that are telling you, hey, it's actually Yahweh or Yahshua and all these different things. But you know what? God is exalted above even any of his names. He's exalted his word. He's magnified his word above all his name according to Psalm 138 verse 2. And so we should always make sure that what we believe and preach is in accordance with God's word. That's the most important thing. And the Jehovah's Witnesses, hey, they're preaching the right name but they got all the doctrine wrong. And they didn't get the word right. So what's more important, you know, the word and the name? And of course that's a whole other sermon in and of itself why it's biblical to use the term the Lord and why that's the term that Jesus used, et cetera, et cetera. But that's another sermon that shall be preached at another time. But here the Bible says that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for all men have not faith. And there are people out there that are unbelievers and they're unreasonable people and they're wicked people. They don't have faith. And let me tell you something. Many people who don't have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are unreasonable people. And yet often those who are atheistic will lift themselves up as being those who follow reason. And that's actually a word that they use a lot, right? Reason. You know, forget religion. We need reason. But then when you try to reason with one of these atheists, you'll realize they don't believe in reason. And the Bible's right when it said that those who have no faith are unreasonable and wicked men. It's true. Because I've rarely met an honest atheist that you could actually have a reasonable conversation with. You know, they're out there. I've talked to some atheists that you could actually reason with. But 99% of atheists will just give you the most ridiculous, unreasonable answers. And when you try to talk to them, you just can't get through to them because they just have a preconceived idea. There is no God, and they don't want to hear about any other philosophy or any other evidence. That's their starting point. They hate God. They don't want him to exist. And so obviously they're going to then take all the evidence that they see and look at it through that lens of atheism. And everything that they teach in their schools and in their colleges is through that atheistic lens and that atheistic world. That's how they interpret everything that they find in the natural world. You know, we that believe in the God of the Bible, we look at all the same evidence. We look around us, and we see the handiwork of God. You know, especially you'd think that today, when we have all the microscopes and the technology to look at organisms on the micro level and be able to see the intricacy that previous generations didn't even know about, where we know the intricacy of a single-celled organism, and we should be marveling at God's handiwork when we look at DNA and how complex it is and realize this is not anything that could just randomly come to pass. This could not be by chance. It's clearly created by the Lord God. But they don't see it that way. You know why? Because they're not reasonable. Only an unreasonable person would look around at the world and the magnificent creation and then behold the heavens and say, this is all the product of a random explosion of who knows what. What kind of an unreasonable person thinks that something comes from nothing? It's not reasonable to say, hey, there was nothing, and then all this just came about. That defies every law of science that says that something can't come from nothing, that teaches laws like cause and effect or the laws of conservation of matter, laws of conservation of energy. All of that is just turned on its head in the name of atheism. Unreasonable and wicked men teach that there is no God. The fool hath said in his heart that there is no God. The Bible says in verse 3, but the Lord is faithful. Faithful meaning trustworthy. We can rely on him who shall establish you and keep you from evil. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you and we will do and will do the things which we command you. And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. Verse 6, now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition which he received of us. Now this is a pretty important verse because we all know that there are verses in the Bible that talk about separation, that there are people that we should separate from. If you would turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter number 6. The Bible says in verse number 14, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? Now that's a whole bunch of ways to say the same thing here. And it's all summed up in the beginning there. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. And then he uses different words. He's talking about you Christ versus Belial, him that believeth, an infidel. Infidel is just a fancy way of saying someone who doesn't believe. Fidelis means faithful or believing. Infidel means non-believer. But then he says in verse number 16, What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God. God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. And that's a pretty famous passage that most Christians are familiar with. And they understand that we as Christians are not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. That would go especially for marriage. That's pretty much the tightest bond that we have on this earth. So we should not marry an unbeliever. We don't want to join forces with unbelievers when you see these type of ecumenical prayer breakfasts, for example, that will join the Christians and the Muslims and the Hindus and the Buddhists and they all pray together or they all join together for some ecumenical presidential prayer breakfast. We know that's wrong. And we know that, you know, I as a pastor of a Bible-believing Baptist church should not join the local ministerial association, where I can have breakfast with the Catholic priest or a Jewish rabbi or all these different denominations of people who do not believe the Bible because I'm not supposed to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. What fellowship hath light with darkness? It's pretty clear, right? But this teaching in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, if you go back there, is not so well known and is not so popular because the Bible does not only tell us to separate from unbelievers. It also tells us to withdraw ourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly. Do you see that? This is talking about somebody who's saved. So not only are we not supposed to be yoked up with the unsaved, we are also not supposed to be yoked up with brothers and sisters in Christ here who walk disorderly and not after the tradition received of the apostles. And if you go down a little bit in the chapter, it says in verse 14, And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him. But then look at the next verse. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a what? A brother. So what's the Bible saying here? Twice in the same chapter letting us know that there are certain brothers and sisters in Christ that we should separate from, that we should not have anything to do with. Now we also know this from 1 Corinthians chapter 5, if you would flip over there quickly. But we need to understand that just because someone is saved does not mean that we should be united with that person or that we should have fellowship with that person. The Bible says in Amos 3, 3, Can two walk together except they be agreed? And honestly today there's this message that's constantly being pounded into us that says we as Christians need to stay united. We need to be unified. You know, united we stand, divided we fall. But that is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that there are people that we'd be better off to withdraw from, better off to separate from, not let's all join together. Hey, as long as we're saved, let's put aside the doctrinal differences, let's put aside the lifestyle differences, and if we're saved we should all be able to just rally around the gospel of Jesus Christ. I had a guy tell me one time, you're going to be in heaven with these people for all eternity. You should get used to fellowshipping with them now and you need to be united with them. And today there's a huge movement that says unite all Christians. Put aside the doctrine. This is where the non-denominational crowd comes from. Because they say we want all types of people at the church even if they have wildly different doctrine. Hey, that doesn't matter, we all believe in Jesus, right? Wrong. Because when people are believing in major false doctrine like believing that you can lose your salvation, like believing that salvation's by works, like believing that Jesus Christ is not God in the flesh, but that he's just a created being, you know, these doctrines matter. When people all have a different Bible and different doctrine and a totally different belief system, you know the Bible talks about people having another Jesus, okay? But even if there's, you say, yeah, but these people are saved, you know, they believe it's by faith. They don't believe it's by works. They don't believe you can lose your salvation. They believe Jesus Christ is God. Okay, but what about when they are just disregarding the clear teachings of scripture and teaching other false doctrine? That would be a brother who's not walking in the traditions and the teachings of the word of God. Look at another group in 1 Corinthians 5 that we should separate from. It says in verse 9, I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or with idolaters, for then must he needs go out of the world. So he's saying that he had previously written to them telling them that they should not hang around with fornicators. But he's clarifying now, he's saying, I'm not saying not to hang around with the fornicators of this world because he said in order to do that, you'd have to leave the world because he's saying unsaved people, they're fornicators, they're covetous, they're idolaters. That's just unsaved people acting like unsaved people. So he's saying you don't have to separate from those people in the sense of having no fellowship with them, no company with them. But watch what he says in verse 11. But now I've written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such and one know not to eat. So the Bible is teaching a higher standard of separation for those who are called a brother. He's saying if you're around worldly people, unsaved people that you work with or that you have maybe in your extended family, he's saying if they're fornicators, if they're covetous, if they're idolaters and they're not a Christian, he's saying you don't have to completely withdraw from that person. You could still eat a meal with that person. He's not asking us to leave the world. Jesus prayed and said, I pray that you would not take them out of the world but that you would keep them from the evil. That's what he prayed to the Father. So we should not withdraw ourselves from society and go live on some compound somewhere, live out in the wilderness somewhere, secluded and isolated like a hermit. No, we should stay amongst the people of this world because it's our job to preach the gospel to every creature. So we're going to interact with people. But the Bible says that if someone's called a brother and they're a fornicator, someone's called a brother and they're an idolater, covetous, railer, drunkard, extortioner with such and one know not so much as to eat. I mean that's pretty strong words. They're saying don't have anything to do with people like that. Now when it comes to the unsaved fornicator, are we supposed to be yoked together with him? No, we're not supposed to be yoked up with the unsaved, but we could still talk to them, be friendly, have a meal with them, etc. Don't get yoked up with them, but we're still going to be nice to them. We're still going to spend time with them in our jobs and in our neighborhoods and so forth. But with a brother who is involved in these major sins, he says with such and one know not to eat. Now there's a false teaching out there today that all sin is equal. All sins, you know, we see it different, but in God's sight it's all equal. You know, that would be a ridiculous, unjust God who saw all sin as equal because all sin is not equal. And the proof of that is that all throughout the Bible, God distinguishes the severity of one sin over another. You know, for example, Jesus told Pontius Pilate, he that delivered you unto me, talking about the Jews that delivered him unto Pilate, he that delivered you unto me hath the greater sin. So how can someone have a greater sin if all sin is equal? And then also, Jesus talked about the Pharisees and the scribes receiving a greater damnation. Well, if all sin is equal, how could you have a greater damnation? If all sin is equal, then why did God, in the criminal code of the Old Testament, punish some things minorly and some things severely? Some things are punished with death. Some things are punished with a beating. Some things are punished with paying a fine. Okay, but that shows right there that there's a difference in severity and there's not a single scripture in the Bible that says all sin is equal. And the reason that this is such a dangerous doctrine to say that all sin is equal is because it causes people to commit bigger sins. Okay, because they think, well, it's all equal anyway, right? So, I mean, we're all going to, and then they just say, well, we're all going to sin. We're all sinners. And so if I commit fornication, I mean, that doesn't make me any different than anybody else because, hey, we're all sinners, right? But that is a very dangerous doctrine. Think about how dangerous it is to say, well, you know, stealing a pencil and murdering someone, it's the same. I mean, you'd have to be a crazy person to believe that, but think about what that would do to people's morals. And I've confronted people who were in major sin and had them say, well, we're all sinners. And it's like, well, wait a minute, though, we're not all fornicators, you know. And they'll try to, and what they'll do, they'll take certain scriptures and they'll twist the meaning. Like, for example, in James 2, verse 10, it says, Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he's guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So he's saying, either way, you're a transgressor of the law. If you commit one sin, or if you commit both sins, you are still guilty before God. And there are chapters like Romans 3 that go into the fact that there's none righteous, no, not one. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but none of that is saying that all sin's equal. It's just saying that we're all guilty before God. It's saying no matter how good we are, and even if we don't commit a major sin, we're still guilty and condemned to hell unless we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. That's why it says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. So the point is that we're all guilty, we all need to be saved by Jesus. But that's not saying that everyone is of the same guilt, or that all sin is equal. See, that's a big stretch there, to make that leap from the one to the other. And it's dangerous. Or they'll take, for example, Matthew chapter 5, where it says, you know, that if you look on a woman to lust after her, you've committed adultery already in your heart. What's the context of the passage? The passage is teaching people that we're all sinners. We're all guilty. He says, Look, if you say to someone, Thou fool, and if you're angry with your brother without a cause, he says, You're in danger of hell fire. What's he saying? The same thing Revelation 21 8 saying when it says, All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. He's trying to show us that you don't have to be a murderer to go to hell. You don't have to actually go out and commit the physical act of adultery to go to hell. You could just hate your brother in your heart. You could just think a lustful thought toward a woman and look upon a woman to lust after her and you're guilty. But that does not mean that looking at a woman to lust after her is just as bad as actually going and committing adultery and doing the physical act. See, the one is punished by death even on this earth. OK. And the thing about that is that if you taught people that, here's what you'd be teaching them. Oh, they look at someone with lust. I might as well go through with it now. I mean, I'm already guilty of it anyway. It's nonsense. It's ridiculous. Plus, the Bible also differentiates between sins of ignorance and sins that are committed presumptuously. Sins that are just deliberately committed. Those are differentiated in scripture. You know, David said, Cleanse thou me from secret faults. You know, things that he didn't even know they'd done wrong. But he also didn't want to sin presumptuously. And he said if he sinned presumptuously against the Lord, he said that would be the great transgression. That's why the men of Sodom in Genesis Chapter 18 and 19, there is that story of Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah. The Bible says that the men of Sodom were sinners before the Lord exceedingly. See, there's sinners and then there are sinners exceedingly. There's damnation, then there's the greater damnation. There's sin and then there's greater sin. But today we have this doctrine of just, hey, all sins equal. So then when you try to show them scripture that says, hey, the Bible commands us to separate from a brother who's a fornicator. They say, well, your church will just be empty then if you don't allow sinners. Look, I've heard it a million times. They say that if you were to throw out the fornicator, then your church is going to be empty, buddy. That's a lie because not everybody's a fornicator. And there are plenty of churchgoers who don't commit fornication. Well, if you get rid of the drugs, you have to get rid of everybody. No wrong. Look around. You're not. This is not a room full of drunks tonight. This is not an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting that you stumbled into. This is not. Now, are there people in here that are susceptible to those sins or maybe even guilty of those sins and haven't been found out? You know, of course, that's always possible. But, you know, we're not going to openly, knowingly have a church filled with people who call themselves a Christian and are out fornicating, getting drunk, extorting money. Look, the Bible says, no, this isn't me coming up with this tonight. Look at the Bible. It says in verse 11, but now I've written unto you not to keep company. If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such in one know not to eat. He said, what have I to do to judge them also that are without do not you judge them that are within. But then that are without God judge it. Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Look, is there a person we need to get rid of according the Bible? Yeah. It says put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Yes, we are all sinners. And I'm going to admit right now that I am a sinner, that I am not perfect. I'm not going to get up and say, hey, I've repented of all my sins. You know, I'm walking in sinless perfection. No, I am a human being. I sin. I do wrong things. I make mistakes. I am constantly coming short of the glory of God. I am battling just like you between the flesh and the spirit. And there are times when I'm walking in the flesh and would fulfill the lust of flesh. But listen to me now. I'm not a fornicator. I'm not a drunk. I'm not a railer or an extortioner or an idolater or a covetous boaster. I am none of these things. OK. And if I were, then I should be thrown out. And if you are, you should be thrown out. I mean, that's what the Bible said. So the Bible is differentiating between these major sins and just and people say, oh, you're Catholic. If you believe in, you know, big sins and little sin, you know, that's just you could throw names at people. But this is what the Bible teaches. OK. And look what Chapter five, verse one says, because a lot of people say, well, how can you guarantee that you don't have such a person in your midst? Well, of course, we don't know what everybody's sins are. There could be people amongst us that are guilty of these things and we don't even know it. But look what it says in verse one, it's it's reported commonly that there's fornication among you. I mean, it's just a common report. Like everybody knows it. So obviously, we can't control things that are hidden and that we don't know, but we can control things that we do know about. And when it comes to light, that a church member is involved in these particular sins that are known as a leaven that would leaven the whole lump, then it has to be dealt with and the person can be given a chance to repent. And if they're not willing to repent, then they need to be cast out. And, you know, I've confronted many people. In fact, there are many times when I will do this on an almost monthly basis where just because we have so many people coming through the doors of our church, we have I mean, think about every single week we have visitors at our church, lots of visitors, because why? Because we're outreaching people. We're preaching the gospel. We're making things happen. And so, you know, there are a lot of visitors passing through the doors. Virtually every service there are first time visitors. On a Sunday morning, sometimes we'll have as many as 10, 12 first time visitors. There are a lot of people who come and maybe they come for a few weeks and then quit coming. But in the cycle of all that and just because of the culture, there are people who will come to the church and they're living together and they're not married, but they're living together in fornication. Now, when that person shows up, obviously, if they just got saved yesterday, you know, they need time to learn and be taught. Or maybe they've never heard this kind of preaching. So usually what I would do, first of all, is I preach it from the pulpit, first of all. And a lot of times when I preach it from the pulpit, like I'm doing right now, someone will come up to me after the service and say to me, Pastor Anderson, that's my situation and I want to make it right. Or if I preach from the pulpit, that person may just never come back because they're offended by that sermon. Or if I preach it from the pulpit and they come back, but they don't fix the problem, then the next step is I go to that person and talk to them. And I tell that person that they have three options. I say, here are your options. I say, number one, you can stop coming to church here. Number two, you can stop living in fornication. You can split up or at least stop living together. I mean, you can still be, you know, boyfriend and girlfriend, but you need to, you know, live separately. I say or number three, you can get married to each other and rectify the situation that you're living in. And I always tell them this. I say you have seven days to get married. And if you get married in the next seven days, I'll perform the ceremony and I'll help you take care of it and get this fixed. Why? I want to help people live for God. I'm not out to burn people or mess up their lives or be mean to them. No, I want to help them do what's right. And I tell them, look, you can you can leave the church. That's an option. Or you can stop living together if you're not sure you want to marry this person. Because guess what? If you're not sure that you want to spend the rest of your life with that person, you have no business hopping in the sack with that person. And so I say to them, or you can get married if you do it in the next seven days. I'll perform the ceremony because that shows a heart that wants to get it fixed right away. Seven days gives you time to go to the courthouse, get the marriage license, et cetera. But I say to them, you know what, if it's going to be beyond seven days, then just don't come back until you're married. And there are a lot of people who take they never they never split up. Nobody ever takes that option. OK, even though it's on the table, I'd say it's about 50-50 where they say, OK, we're going to get married then. We perform the ceremony within seven days. And that's a hard rule. No exceptions. Seven days. I told somebody that on Wednesday night and we had the wedding on Tuesday night next week, you know, because it's just seven days. Or the other half will just quit coming to church because otherwise people will just say, oh, yeah, we're going to get married. But we want everybody to be there. It's going to be six months from now. Wrong answer. You know, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. You know, it needs to be rectified immediately. And so we follow this passage. But the church of today, the mega church fun center community church. Now, their answer is, hey, let's just welcome in all the fornicating couples and just have them go to church amongst us because church is not a museum. It's a hospital. You know, it's not a museum of perfect Christians for us to stand up. It's a hospital to help people and yada, yada, yada. And so let's bring in all the fornicators. Wrong. Put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Thus saith the Lord. And you're not helping that person by condoning. Well, we don't condone it. Well, you know what? De facto, you are condoning it when you allow them to come. I mean, I've been in churches where people were holding Bible studies in their home and they were a fornicating couple. And the Bible study meets at their house. Church activities are meeting at their house. Oh, this is our home. They're living in sin. It's not acceptable. And what is it teaching the children when they look around and see all these people that aren't married and they're living together? It normalizes sin and desensitizes them to sin. And therefore it cannot be tolerated. This is what the Bible teaches. And so the Bible does not only teach that we should separate from those who are unsaved. OK. It also teaches a greater degree of separation from believers who are involved in these major, major sins. We need to separate from them. Go back, if you would, to Second Thessalonians, chapter number three. Says in verse number six, Now we command you, brethren, and notice he doesn't say we suggest this. We're making a recommendation. He says, We command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition which he received of us. Now, don't forget, he just finished saying back in verse four, this is significant. We have confidence in the Lord touching you, that you both do and will do the things which we command you. And then a couple of verses later, he says, Now we command you. That's not a coincidence. So he's preparing them in verse four for what he's going to say in verse six. He said, Look, I have confidence that you're going to obey the word of God here, what I'm about to command you. Here's the command. Withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition which he received of us. See, Paul knew he's going to get resistance when he starts preaching on separation, when he starts preaching on separating people, separating from people that teach false doctrine, separating from people that are not following the word of God and separating from people that are involved in major sin. OK, the Bible says in verse number seven, for yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we behave not ourselves disorderly among you. Neither did we eat any man's bread for not, not means nothing, but wrought with labor and travail night and day that we might not be chargeable to any of you, not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an sample unto you to follow us. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. So this church had a problem with people, men who wouldn't work, men who would not work at all. And Paul's saying, if any will not work, neither should he eat. But these are just lazy people who don't do any work. They have no job. And he's rebuking it here. He's saying, withdraw yourselves from it. Don't hang around with people like that. These people need to get to work. And he says they need to be commanded and exhorted that with quietness they would work. Shut up and work is what that means. With quietness work. Shut up and go to work. Why? Because people who don't work, they often run their mouths. The Bible says in all labor there is profit, but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury, poverty. So he's saying these people with quietness, they need to work and eat their own bread. And I believe that this applies today just as much as it applied back then. You know, the word of God is timeless. And so we need to beware of this thing of lazy people who don't want to work. And again, we're told today that, oh, let's just fill our church with fornicators and sodomites and, you know, people who refuse to work and everything. Yeah, that's great because it's all about reaching people. You know, what Bible are you reading? I mean, it's as plain as the nose on your face in this passage here. That, you know, yes, we want sinners to come to our church, but we don't have just this anything goes policy of just come on in, everybody, and come as you are. Stay as you came. And, you know, we'll all just sing Kumbaya and have a gay old time. Wrong. It's false. It's not what the Bible teaches. He says in verse seven, for yourselves know how you ought to follow us. For we behaved not ourselves disorderly. Neither did we eat any man's bread for not. What's he saying? We weren't a loafer. We didn't just take people's food and eat it and not do any work. He says we wrought with labor and travail night and day that we might not be chargeable to any of you. And then in the next verse, he says, not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensemble unto you to follow us. Now, what's he saying here? He wanted to set the example of working hard so that other people would see his work ethic and be inspired by it to be a hard worker themselves. So there were a lot of lazy people, apparently amongst the Thessalonians. He said, look, we hear that there are some that walk among you disorderly working. Not at all. This church had a reputation for having people in it who didn't work at all. And he says, look, I've heard about this and I'm telling you, you need to get rid of these people. You need to tell these people that if they don't work, they can't eat. These are people that are coming to church for a handout and they won't get their rear ends to work. That's what's going on. And look, people come to our church and will ask for handouts and freebies. And I always ask them questions because instead of just, oh, sure, here, here's everything you need. You know, I usually ask them this question. Where did you go to church last Sunday? That's the first thing I ask when somebody stumbles in here asking me for money and they have a big story and want to tell me some big life story about what got them to this point. And I just stop and say, wait a minute, where did you go to church last Sunday? Oh, well. And I say, once you figure it out, go ask that church for money. You know, and if they say, oh, well, I went to so and so the church, OK, go ask them for money because they actually know you. And they're actually going to give you money if you need it. But they might know that you're just somebody who doesn't want to work. So they won't give you any money. So that's why you have to come and ask strangers for money. You see, if people ask their own church for money, their own church knows whether that person is is trying and working hard because there are some people who need help, who need charity, who are down on their luck. They, of course, want to help people that need it. Right. We want to deal our bread to the hungry. And if somebody doesn't have a coat and we have two coats, we want to give them our coat. But does the Bible just say, hey, indiscriminately give money to everyone who refuses to work? Is that what the Bible says? No. You know, the Bible is teaching us here that there are some people who are just refusing to work and they should not eat. You know, I've known some pastors where when people come and ask them for money or food or anything, they tell them, well, I have work for you to do around the church right now. And they'll take them out, you know, because they have a church with property and stuff, and they'll show them, hey, I need you to pull all these weeds or I need you to go dig this hole or I need you to help build this fence or whatever. And then all of a sudden it's like, oh, well, you know, my pastor told a story one time of this guy who came through asking for money and the pastor had a bunch of work to do. And he said, well, you know, here's some work that you can do. And if you do that, then I'll pay you for that work. And he said, sir, my wife is pregnant and I am in no condition to work. You know, I guess he's taken that we're pregnant thing a little too far, you know, you know, my wife's pregnant and I'm in no condition to work. But look what Paul say here. He's saying, look, we wrought, we labored night and day to be an example unto you, to show you how to work hard. But look what he says here. He says, not because we have not power. Now, what does he mean by that? Not because we have not power. Well, flip over to First Corinthians nine. Keep your finger in Second Thessalonians three. Go over to First Corinthians nine because he uses that term about having power in regard to not working in the sense of working a secular job. Look what the Bible says in verse number three of First Corinthians, chapter number nine. Same author, the apostle Paul. He's not speaking to the church of Thessalonica. He's not speaking to the church of Corinth. He says, mine answer to them that do examine me is this. Now, when he talks about being examined, people are criticizing him. They're attacking him. They're insulting him. And and he's defending himself here in this passage. So he says in verse three, mine answer to them that do examine me is this. Have we not what? Power. Same term here. Have we not power to eat and to drink? Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles and as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas? Who's Cephas? Peter. Peter. His other name is Cephas. So it says, or I only and Barnabas have not we power to forbear working? For bear working means that they're going to forego working, that they're not going to work. He's saying, look, don't we have the right to eat and drink as human beings? I mean, don't we need food and water? He says, don't we have the right to be married? All the other apostles are married. The brethren of the Lord are married. Talk about Jesus half brothers, Simon, Joseph, Judas and James. He's saying they eat and drink. Peter's doing it. He said, are Barnabas and I the only ones who don't have the right to forbear working, to get married, to lead that kind of life? But he says in verse seven, who go with the warfare any time at his own charges? Who plant at the vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth the flock and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Say I these things as a man or sayeth not the law the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. Does God take care for oxen or sayeth he it all together for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt this is written that he that ploweth should plow in hope. And he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? If others be partaker of this what? Power over you. Are not we rather? Watch this. Nevertheless, we have not used this power but suffer all things lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. So he's basically saying the same thing to the Corinthians that he said to the Thessalonians. He said to them, we wrought with travail night and day. We didn't take anyone's bread. We worked our tails off, not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an example unto you to follow us. And then over here he's saying, look, we have the power to forego working because God has ordained that those that preach the gospel should live of the gospel. God's plan is that the ox that treadeth out the corn not be muzzled, right? But he says I've not used that power because I don't want to hinder the gospel of Christ. He felt that he could do more for Christ by working a secular job, setting the example, working hard, et cetera, in order to be an example of hard work. But here's the thing. Paul was not married. It's clear. He's saying here, look, that he's not married. You know, he's saying Barnabas and I, we don't have a sister, a wife, and a sister in Christ. Okay. West Virginia people, you know, don't marry your sister, but he's saying here, sorry, West Virginia. Okay. Kentucky people. All right. Now I've just burned two whole groups. But anyway, the point is, though, that it's very righteous for a pastor, for a preacher to be paid for being a pastor. Now there's a false doctrine out there today that says it's wrong for pastors to be paid and they're a hireling. You know, that's what the Mormons have always taught. Of course, the prophet of Mormonism lives in a $5 million house. You know, don't let that bother you. But they teach, hey, we ought to have an unpaid clergy. And when you're out knocking doors and trying to reach Mormons with the gospel, they'll often say, you're preaching lies because you're getting paid. We're all unpaid clergy. Yeah, you're unpaid clergy because the top organization in Salt Lake City is writing the sermons for you. And you just get up like a robot and preach them. You're not a real man of God anyway. You're a false teacher that's being controlled by Salt Lake City and that big skyscraper there that's the brains of that satanic organization, the Mormon Church. And but and of course, the people at the top of Mormonism, they're getting paid. They're multimillionaires. Okay, but it's just down at the bottom where they don't pay the clergy. But here's the thing. That's not biblical, my friend. And the Mormons on their website will quote all these scriptures where Paul's talking about the fact that he worked a secular job. Does anybody know what Paul's secular job was? He made tents. He was a tent maker. So he was a blue collar guy on the side. Hey, that's great. He chose not to use his power to be paid and to work hard. He said, well, that's great. That's what everybody should do. But here's the thing. The Bible doesn't teach a celibate clergy. You know, just because the apostle Paul was unmarried and Barnabas were unmarried, that is not God's plan for 99 percent of men. You know, it's not good for the man to be alone, the Bible says. God made Eve to be there with Adam because man needs that companion, that help. And it's better to marry than to burn, the Bible says in First Corinthians, chapter seven. And so the Bible clearly teaches that we should be married. And as a pastor of a church, we must be married. The bishop, the Bible says, must be blameless. The husband of one wife having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly. So according to the Bible, a pastor, a bishop or an elder, those three terms are used interchangeably in the Bible, must be married with children. That's what the Bible teaches. That's part of the qualification. Why? Because if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God? And if you're not married and you don't have children, then you don't understand how to run a household like someone who's married and has children. So the Bible says that's a prerequisite. OK, well, here's the thing about that. The apostle Paul was not a pastor. And this is what people are losing sight of. Never one time does the Bible talk about the apostle Paul being the pastor of a church or call him a bishop or an elder. No, he went around and started churches by evangelizing, but then elders were ordained in those churches. He was an apostle, but he was not a pastor. Now, John, on the other hand, is called an elder. Peter is called an elder, a bishop. OK, the Bible talks about them, the other apostles being pastors, being elders. And guess what? They're all married. Because what does it say in First Corinthians nine? You know, it says Cephas is married. And even before Jesus chose him as one of the disciples, he was married. Because right after Peter becomes one of the twelve disciples, Peter's wife's mother lay sick of a fever. And Jesus goes and heals Peter's wife's mother. Tell that to the Catholics who think that Peter was the first pope. Well, then the first pope was married then. Because you don't have a mother in law unless you're married. Nobody just signs up for a mother in law without the wife to go with it. All right. That doesn't make any sense. All right. So, you know, you get the mother in law. It's kind of a package deal with the wife. You know, I'm not really interested in getting married, but I'm going to get a wife's mother though. I'm going to get a mother in law. You know, nobody's that masochistic. But anyway, so the bottom line is, I'm just kidding. But the bottom line is that these men, Peter, James, John, these type of people, they were married. They had kids. And let me tell you something. They did not have secular jobs. And the Bible teaches that a pastor does not have a secular job, that he is in the ministry full time and gets paid. That's what the Bible did. And people are like, oh, a greedy pastor. Look, is there a greedy pastor out there that abuses us? Of course, there are all kinds of pastors with their super fancy air conditioned dog houses and three swimming pools and tennis courts and their own jet and everything. You know, the Joel Osteens of this world, the Kenneth Copelands of this world that are multimillionaires and whatever, fleecing the flock. OK, it's out there. I get that. But the Bible says that they that preach the gospel should live of the gospel, who go with the warfare of his own charge. OK, he's saying here that the the mouth of the ox that treads out the corn should not be muzzled. That exact same quote that's here in First Corinthians nine is found also in First Timothy five when it says, Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine, for the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn. And the laborer is worthy of his reward. The laborer is worthy of his hire, Jesus said in the book of Mark. And so we need to understand that a pastor getting paid is biblical. Now, can a pastor choose not to get paid if he wanted to? Sure. If he wanted to work a secular job. And for the first four and a half years that I pastored this church, I didn't get paid. I worked a secular job. I made tents, as it were, except I was a fire alarm technician. But I was working a secular job and not getting paid from the church. OK. And I remember during that time, people would come to me and say to me, Oh, that's what I love about you, Pastor. You have a secular job, unlike my lazy pastor. And I'm like, Whoa, wait a minute, stop. Don't criticize your pastor. That's perfectly biblical for him to get paid for the work of pastoring. Look, is pastoring work or not? Well, then it deserves to be a livelihood for someone to get paid to do it. Here's the proof. Peter is the example that's brought up in this passage. OK. What did Peter do for a living before Jesus called him? Fishing. And you know what Jesus specifically told him? To stop fishing. So if God just intends for every pastor to be bivocational and to pass to the church and work a secular job, then why did he specifically tell Peter from henceforth thou shalt catch men? And Peter forsakes the net, forsakes the ship, forsakes fishing and goes fishing for men. And then later, when he gets backslidden and goes back to fishing, Jesus comes and rebukes him in John Chapter 21. So this foolishness that says, hey, every pastor has to work a secular job and not get paid. It's part of a bigger agenda to attack the local church in general. That's what it is. Why? Because the local church cannot be as effective without a pastor that is a qualified pastor who is full time working at the success of that church and trying to do the work that God has called him to do. Of course, you know, the world wants him out gathering straw by night so that he can make bricks by day because then he's going to be less effective. Plus, how's he going to have the kids and pay for everything if he's out trying to do both? And here's the thing, when the church is small, it's not that hard to do both. It's doable. So for starting a church, it's a great way to go because in the beginning, you know, you don't have as many people to deal with. You don't have as much work on your plate. But as the church grows, I think it's great for the pastor to be full time. And that's why now I like the fact that I pastor full time and I make no apologies about that. I'm not going to get up here and be like, oh, well, you know, I guess I'll get paid a little bit. No! Pay me! Why? Because it's right! What does the Bible say? I mean, look, do you want to go be a plumber and an electrician and work your tail off and not be able to feed your family? And you know what? I don't want to be rich. I don't want to drive a fancy car or live in a fancy house. But you know what? I want to be able to take care of my family. That's all I want is to be able to just put healthy food on the on the table for my family of 10 people, my eight children that I support. I want to be able to support my family just at a reasonable level. I don't want to have riches or poverty. OK, I just want to have a basic living for my family. And you know what? It's an example in the beginning when you're working hard, working the full time job and starting the church. But you know what? It's also an example to be paid because today there's a wicked movement out there that wants to get rid of all pastors, real pastors anyway. And what they want to do is they want us all meeting together in living rooms and calling it church with no pastor, no leader, no structure. But basically they want us to just sit around the living room and have a little Bible study and call it church. No, you're playing church. OK, when you're sitting around the living room having a Bible study with a couple of your buddies, that's not church. That's not the Church of the New Testament, my friend, because in the New Testament church, they start with 120 people and then they grew to thousands. And they had full time guys that were living off the gospel. Their food was put on the table by the work that they did for the ministry of the Lord. That's what Peter was doing. That's what James was doing. That's what John. Oh, money hungry. It's not money hungry to go to work and get paid. I mean, are you money hungry when you go to your plumbing job and get paid when you work as an electrician and you get paid? I mean, as your boss, are you money hungry? You're doing this for all the wrong reasons. Look, even when you're working your secular job, I hope you believe in what you're doing. I hope you take pride in your work and do the best you can. But you know what? You still get paid. It doesn't mean that your heart's not in it. I hope your heart is in it. I hope you do your work as unto the Lord. But this house church movement, as they call it, is a wicked movement. And I make no bones about calling it wicked because that's what it is. And this is something that gets me very upset. Why? Because I spend my life trying to reach people with the gospel and trying to baptize them and to teach them to observe all things that Christ commanded. And I know that that work gets done through the local church. The local church is the tool that God uses to reach the world with the gospel. Jesus said, upon this rock, I'll build my church and the gates of hell should not prevail against it. And that's the church that God's going to use to stave off the gates of hell and to reach and pull people out of the fire and win people to Christ. Let's put it this way. Our church, on a weekly basis and really on an almost daily basis, someone is saved through the efforts of our church. We get people saved at this church virtually every day of the week. We win over a thousand people to the Lord every year through the door-to-door soul winning efforts of our church and also just one-on-one soul winning with people that we come into contact with. Let me tell you something. If we were all individuals off in our own houses doing our own thing and just getting together for a coffee klatch with other brothers and sisters in Christ, you know, ten people in a living room sitting around with a Bible study without a leader. You know what? It wouldn't be happening, my friend. Period. Those thousands of people would not be getting saved. It's a fact. You show me somebody who doesn't go to church. I said go to church. I said go to church. You don't go to church. We are the church. Wrong! Because the Bible says that the church is the congregation. You go to the congregation. Because you got to get there where the people are assembled. And see, people get mixed up because the church is not a building. But they say, well, the church is the people, therefore I all by myself am the church. Or two or three gathered together is a church. Wrong! Look, I got ten people gathered together every day. It's called my family. But that's not called a church. That's called a family. But the ten of us often gather together in Christ's name. And Jesus Christ is there in the midst of us. But that doesn't make a church. That's called a family. That's called friends when you have a couple people come over for a meal at your house and you talk about the Bible. The church is the congregation, the general assembly. We are all come together with one accord and one place. So, yeah, the church isn't the building. We could have church outside. We could have church in a tent. And listen, church could meet in a house. Our church, Faithful Word Baptist Church, met for the first year and a half in a house. But we were not a house church. Because when these people talk about a house church, they're talking about a bunch of unqualified people. Nobody's meeting the biblical qualifications of the leadership. Just getting together and just having a free for all in somebody's living room with ten people, they're never going to run two hundred in that living room. They're never going to run a thousand in that living room. No, because they're playing games, that's why. It's a joke. It's not biblical. They say, oh, we're getting back to the way it was in the book of Acts with our eight people in the living room. Really? Because I remember them having a hundred and twenty people in the living room. And then I remember them adding three thousand more. And then I remember them adding five thousand more. That doesn't sound like your living room unless you live in the Taj Mahal. So, you know, this thing of, oh, the house church. No, it's great to start a church in a house, outgrow the house. Unless you've got a real big house. You know, I mean, some people might have a huge house. Great. Because it doesn't matter. Look, we can meet in a circus tent. We can meet outside. We can meet under an underpass. But let me tell you something. We have to congregate in order to be a church because church means assembly, congregation. And so it's an attack on the church today because attacking the institution of the pastor, of the bishop, of an elder, you know, once you get rid of that institution and say, hey, we don't need a pastor. It's called the gainsaying of Korah, by the way. We don't need a pastor. We don't need a leader. Every man's going to do what's right in his own eyes. You know what ends up happening? OK, you end up having people who don't have a church. And then they say, well, the Bible teaches multiple elders. So because they reject the teaching that the elder should be paid. Well, look, when you're not paying the elder, you can have as many as you want. I mean, think about why does our church only have one pastor? Because our church doesn't run thousands of people to be able to support multiple pastors and deacons. Right. I mean, think about how many can you afford to pay for if our church got bigger, which it will get bigger, then we would hire more staff eventually. More leaders. You'll hire the deacons. You could hire the assistant pastor or whatever, but they want to just have a bunch of people where too many chiefs and too few Indians basically is what they want. No offense to the Native Americans amongst us. You know, they want to have too many chiefs and too little Indians. You know, they have a church with 15 people in it, a church, quote unquote, house church, 15 people, you know, six of them are pastors. It's like, what a joke. It's ridiculous. You know, they picked seven deacons in the early church because they had thousands and thousands of people in the early church. That's why they needed seven deacons, okay, to be on staff. But they're like, oh, you know, God forbid we should have one leader. Yeah. Isn't it horrible in the Bible when there's one man of God leading a group like Moses, Joshua, Othniel, Ehud? You know, I don't want to say Barack because he was a lame judge. Okay. No one names their kid Barack. Okay. They, you know, Gideon, you know, except, well, you know, nevermind, but Gideon, you know, Samson, you know, I mean, think about all the leaders throughout the Bible. Think about how many times God called a leader. David, Hezekiah, Josiah. Okay. All throughout the Bible, there's leaders. I mean, look at the first church. Who's the pastor? Jesus. Okay. You know, and then he wanted, he wanted to send his 11 out into all different directions to go be leaders here, there and everywhere. So this idea of not having a leader is foolishness today. And it's an attack on the institution of the local church because the devil hates the local church because the local church is what's going to prevail against him. The local church is what's going to evangelize. Look at the map back there on the wall that represents the doors of about a million people that this church has knocked the doors of approximately 1 million people in the last 10 years. Look, none of us would have done that on our own. If I would have been in my living room with a few of you, we would not have done that. If you would have been in the living room with a few other people, you wouldn't have done that. But look, collectively, we assemble together. We're a team. We have a leader that's biblically qualified according to 1 Timothy 3 and Titus chapter 1. Hey, we're not playing games. We're not playing church. We're doing a huge great work for God. And we have a big vision that says, hey, there's 4 million people in Maricopa County. There's 4 million people in this greater Phoenix area. Let's give the gospel to every single one of them. Let's do it again. I want to do something big. But these small thinking people that want to throw out God's institution, throw out the requirements for the bishop, throw out God's plan of coming to church, tithing, you know, paying the pastor, and just want to have this little free for all with too many chiefs and too few Indians. You know what? It fails to get the job done for God. That's why the devil loves it, and that's why I have no patience for that movement. I spend my life trying to get people in church, and then this movement comes along and tells people, you don't need to go to church. Sit at home and eat chips off your chest while watching the internet. And you can evangelize by typing online. You know, they want to like, oh, man, I've been soul winning all day. Oh, really? Yeah, it was through Facebook. I've had people say that. Like, oh, man, I was given the gospel to these people. They're all like cyber people. You know what I mean? And they think that like, you know, you just stay home, you eat chips off your chest. Every once in a while, you get together with a few buddies just to fulfill that not forsaking the assembling requirement, you know, just to kind of check that off. And then we go back to our computer world. Look, it's just people don't want to assemble together anymore, and God predicted it would be that way in the last times. He predicted social media would kill people's social skills because he said, as you see the day approaching, don't forsake the assembly. He said, more than ever, so much the more as you see the day approaching, you need to assemble. And what do we see as we reach the end time? You say, well, you know, you've been preaching so much about Bible prophecy in 1 and 2 Thessalonians. I mean, you know, is there no prophecy tie in tonight? Oh, here's the prophecy tie in. The prophecy that people wouldn't go to church in the last days. He said, 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, because people are to the point where they don't want to interact in the real world with people. And they think watching it on TV or listening on the radio or on the Internet substitutes for church, and it doesn't. We need to join together where we're all with one accord in one place, where there's a leader that is qualified and preaching the word of God to people, and they are equipped, and they're a team, and we go out, and we get things done for the Lord. Let's finish up quickly in this passage, 1 Corinthians 9. I'm sorry, we are done in chapter number 9. Flip back over to 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. We'll finish up there. Back to 2 Thessalonians chapter number 3, and the Bible reads, not because we have not power, verse 9, but to make ourselves an example unto you to follow us. When we compare that with 1 Corinthians 9, you can see what he meant. You know, the power to not have a secular job and to just spend all his time preaching and ministering the word of God. That is his right as a minister of the gospel. That's what all the other apostles are doing, you know, the ones that are married with children. They're supporting their families based on their work in the gospel. But notice what else he says in this passage that kind of ties in with this. Look at verse number 6. Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly. Now how did he define disorderly? The people who are working not at all. Busy bodies, okay? And he says, and not after the tradition which he received of us. Okay, so these same type of people, these lazy non-workers, are the same type of people who are busy bodies, the Bible says. Meaning that they get involved in everybody else's business instead of worrying about their own business. And then he also talks about the fact they want to throw out tradition. Are there bad traditions? Of course. Jesus talked about how the Pharisees had made the word of God of none effect by their tradition. But a lot of people have mistakenly just demonized all tradition. Just because there's bad tradition that makes void the word of God doesn't mean that all tradition is bad. All tradition is not bad. Look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 15. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle. He's saying the stuff we preached to you in person or the stuff that was in the written document. And then in chapter 3 he says they walk disorderly, the end of verse 6, and not after the tradition which he received of us. See, tradition is just something that's passed down. That's what tradition means. Something that is passed down unto you. Now, there are traditions in every family. Certain ways that our parents did things, we do things the same way. It's been passed down. It's a custom. All tradition is not bad. Tradition is bad when it goes contrary to the word of God. But there are some people who just want to throw out all tradition. Just anything that our parents did or our grandparents did or anything that our previous church did, just throw it all out. It's all these traditions. Get rid of traditions. That's a foolish attitude that throws out the baby with the bathwater. Because there are good traditions that are passed down also. So, traditions that are in accordance with God's word or traditions that are neutral to God's word don't need to be thrown out. But the traditions that make God's word of none effect should be thrown out. For example, there's a guy in the Old Testament named Jonadab, the son of Rechab. He had a tradition for his family that they dwelled in tents. That wasn't a biblical command. That wasn't a right and wrong thing. But it was something that they did as a family. That's how they lived. That was their way of life. And you know, God commended that tradition. So, there's nothing wrong with people having family traditions. You know, a lot of people just want to get rid of every holiday, every tradition, and it's all wicked traditions. But honestly, a lot of it's fine. Like for example, you know, American missionaries will go to other countries and in those other countries they'll have a different culture and they'll have different traditions. And they'll just want to change them over. Like instead of just making them Christians, they want to make them American too. I've literally been at a church in Germany where the pastor was an American missionary and he celebrated the 4th of July as a church with the people. And people are kind of scratching their heads like, why are we celebrating the 4th of July? We're in Germany. This isn't the United States of America. You know, it's stupid, right? It doesn't make any sense, like, you know, to try to foist American culture onto foreigners. Paul said the opposite. He said, I've become all things to all men. He said, you know, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. He said, if I was among the barbarians, I became as a barbarian. You know, if I was among the Jews, I became as a Jew. If I was among the Greeks, I became as a Greek. He said, as those that were not under the law, I became as one not under the law. But he said, but I was not without law before Christ. So he didn't violate scripture, but he fit in with the people that he was preaching to as much as he could without violating scripture. Meaning that, you know, I'm not going to go to the bar and drink with you to fit in with you to try to reach you with the gospel. But here's the thing. If I went to India, I would dress like a person from India. If I went to China, I would dress like a person from China. You know, if I went to the Philippines, I would dress like people dressed in the Philippines. I wouldn't try to impose, you know, an American style of dress on foreigners. It just doesn't make any sense. Now here's the thing. If I went to India, you know, I'd have to rebuke the idolatry. Hey, that tradition's got to go. The statues, the false gods, all the, you know, the Hinduism. But here's the thing. But just the food, you know, the basic clothing and everything. You'd keep all that stuff because of the fact that there's nothing wrong with it. So we need to get off this thing of just demonizing all traditions. Some people just have traditions that are neutral. They don't have anything to do with scripture. And those traditions are fine. Other people have good traditions. And a lot of people today are throwing out good traditions. You know what's a good tradition? How about the King James Bible, the traditional text? Oh, you just love the King James because of tradition. Yeah, it's a good tradition. When somebody hands you down the word of God, that's been the power of God unto salvation. The gospel preached from this book for the last 400 years, unlike these new versions that are producing all this corrupt fruit. This is a pretty good tradition right here. Oh, you Baptists are so into your tradition. Singing the old hymns. Look, a lot of the old hymns are a great tradition. You know, not just because something's traditional doesn't mean it's bad. Okay, a lot of traditional things are good. But we need to check every tradition and make sure it doesn't contradict the word of God. Now there's a tradition in a lot of Baptist churches where they have steps at the front and the pastor preaches on a platform. Nothing wrong with that because of the fact that sometimes the church is big and people just want to be able to see the pastor. Okay, so he's up on a platform. But here's what's a bad tradition. When they point at those steps and say, this is the altar. And the reason that's a bad tradition is because that is contrary to the teachings of God's word. Because God's word has no such New Testament altar of steps and the Bible specifically says that if you build an altar, it should never have steps. I mean, if you go back to Exodus, it says, do not have steps leading up to the altar. And yet people will point to steps and say, this is the altar. Well, you know, that's a bad tradition. That's not scriptural. You know, I don't think it's a good tradition for a pastor to be up on a platform and people come up and bow down in front of him. Bow at his feet or close our eyes and have a Baptist confessional booth. Who's struggling with the sin of pornography tonight? Every head bowed, every eyes closed. Raise your hand if you're struggling with pornography. God bless you, I see that hand. I see that hand. God bless. You know, hey, I've been in church. How many have been in a church where they asked about a specific sin? Who's struggling with this sin? Heads bowed, eyes closed. No one looking around except the pastor. So it's almost like a confessional booth where the pastor, you know, gets in on your secret sins. Okay? No, those are some weird traditions. Those are bad traditions. They're not scriptural. Okay, but other traditions are good. So we just need to test tradition with scripture. The Bible says, prove all things, hold fast that which is good. You know, get rid of the junk that's a bad tradition. Let me just hurry up and finish here. It says in verse number 14 of chapter 3, If any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all. The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle so I write. See, Paul would dictate his epistles to someone else who would write it down for him. Tertius was the one who actually physically wrote down the book of Romans, even though Paul was dictating it. But the Bible says that in every epistle he would sign it with his own name, something along the lines of what we see in verse 18. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. All of Paul's epistles end with something like that. Grace be with you all. You know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Something like that. And he would always do that with his own handwriting. So that people would know that the letter was authentic. Because if you remember in chapter 2 of this same book, he talked about that there were people who would write a letter as from us, seeming to be from them. So he's reminding them, don't believe any letter came from me unless it has in my own hand this writing at the end, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. You need to recognize that in my handwriting to know that this letter came from me. You know, that's a warning to us too that there are people out there who want to counterfeit the word of God. And just as then, also now today. You know, we need to look for that signature of God. You know, and what's that salutation of God? You know what, you can tell God's word from the phony. Why? Because man can never duplicate what God has done. You know, man writes a word and claims that it's from God and it just falls apart as a cheap imitation. The Book of Mormon, the Quran, the quality just isn't there of the word of God. So he's just warning them about counterfeit scriptures and that brings us to the end of 2 Thessalonians. A great pair of books written unto the church, by the way, and to warn them about persecution. A lot of talk about tribulations, trials and troubles that we go through. A lot of talk about end times Bible prophecy and the second coming of Jesus Christ. But isn't it interesting that this chapter had a lot to do with working hard. And other places in Thessalonians emphasize that. Labor, labor, travel, work hard. Why is that? Because I believe that God wants us in these last days as we wait for the coming of Christ to work hard. He said, Occupy till I come. And when he said Occupy, he didn't mean like Occupy space and do nothing. Occupy is like occupation. He's saying you need to work until I come. And we need to be hard at work in these last days, patiently waiting for the second coming of Christ, understanding that we're going to go through trials and tribulation. If it happens in our lifetime, we're going to go through the great tribulation. And we need to work harder than ever. We need to get in a local church and we need to get under a leader, a man of God, who's going to rally the troops and we need to work harder than we've ever worked as we wait for the second coming of Christ. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for the gift that you've given us of the local church, Lord, where we can assemble together and where we can receive our marching orders. Lord, help us to work hard and to patiently wait for your glorious appearing, Lord, and our gathering together unto you. 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. Thank you for watching 1 and 2 Thessalonians and making it all the way to the end of the series. You should by now have a very firm grasp on end times Bible prophecy and understand these two wonderful books in the Bible. To learn more about the end times Bible prophecy, the tribulation, the rapture, et cetera, check out our website, kjbprophecy.com. You can also visit our church website, faithfulwordbaptist.org, for thousands of hours of preaching on MP3. It can all be downloaded for free. Share the audio. Share the video with your family and friends. God bless you and have a great day. .