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with your Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Mark chapter number 11, beginning in verse number 1, the Bible reads, And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphagee and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he senteth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you, and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat. Loose him, and bring him. And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? Say ye that the Lord hath need of him, and straightway he will send him thither. And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without, in a place where two ways met, and they loosed him. And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye loosing the colt? And they said unto them, Even as Jesus had commanded, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him, and he sat upon him, and many spread their garments, and so on. Now this is an interesting miracle, in a sense, because Jesus just predicts that this colt is just going to be there waiting. Without even going into the town, he just tells them, you're going to go into this town, and you're going to find this colt. And no man has ever sat on this colt. This colt has just been born, and raised, and is waiting for me to use it. And when you go there to untie it, if anybody asks you, what are you doing? You know, why are you untying the colt? Just say, the Lord hath need of him, and they'll just let you go. And that's exactly what happened. So it's interesting how Jesus just sends these guys, they just show up. And just imagine if you were told to just take someone else's horse, you know, to take their colt, the fall of an ass. And people confront you like, what are you doing? You know, like you're just stealing. It'd be like if you just, you know, got into a car and just drove off with it. You know, because this is people's transportation. And they're saying like, you know, what are you doing? This doesn't belong to you. It's not yours. And they just say, well, you know what? The Lord has need of it. And then they just say, OK. And then you just take it and go. And so I've always liked this story where Jesus just kind of commandeers this colt, the fall of an ass. But obviously, what Jesus is doing is way more important than any other use that that colt had. And the Bible says, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. I mean, everything belongs to God anyway. Everything belongs to the Lord. So if he wants to use something, he can use it. I mean, we own things. But any time that Jesus wants what we have, we should just give it to him. If the Lord has need of it, you just give it to him. You know, no questions asked. And that's what we get from this story. It says in verse number seven, they brought the colt to Jesus and cast their garments on him. And he sat upon him. And many spread their garments in the way. And others cut down branches off the trees and strawed them in the way. And they that went before and they that followed cried, saying, Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Blessed be the kingdom of our father David that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. These people are recognizing that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Messiah. When they say these words, blessed be the kingdom of our father David. These are the things that were prophesied of the Messiah in the Old Testament, that he would be of the house and lineage of David, that he would be a great king. In fact, the word Christ means Messiah. And the word Messiah means anointed. And you can do this just by cross-referencing Old Testament and New Testament quotes where it uses the term Christ in the New Testament and Messiah in the Old Testament or Christ in the New Testament and anointed. One of the best places to see this is in Psalm 2, where it says that the kings of the earth rise up and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, is what it says in Psalm 2. But when that scripture is quoted in Acts chapter 4, it says that they've risen up against the Lord and against his Christ. So notice how God's anointed has been substituted for his Christ. So the word Christ means anointed. The word Messiah means anointed. It's all the same term. It's all the same word. And the reason why Jesus Christ is called the anointed is because a king would be anointed. If you remember, Saul was anointed king, and then David was anointed king. So when the Bible calls him Jesus Christ, it's saying Jesus the anointed one. Jesus the Messiah means he's the anointed one, or he is the one who would be the king. Now, he is called the king of the Jews. But not only that, he's the king of kings and Lord of lords. And he's not the God of the Jews only. He's also the God of the Gentiles. He's the God of all the earth. And he is the king of all kings and all nations and all tongues and tribes and so forth. But Jesus Christ is a king. And that's why he comes in in this triumphal entry. And this is proclaimed of him. And he is basically put on display as the Messiah. He's announced as being the king, the son of David, the one who's prophesied in the Old Testament. And that's why they say, Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. It's not recorded right here in Mark 11, but in the other gospel where this is presented in Matthew, it talks about where they want people to stop saying that. The Pharisees and them, they tell Jesus, you need to rebuke your disciples so that they will not say that you are the son of David. And he says that if they would hold their peace, the rocks would cry out. Because this was just part of the program. This had to happen. Jesus Christ has not been going around saying that he's the Messiah throughout his ministry. In fact, when the demons earlier in the book of Mark knew him, he told them to hold their peace. Because at that time, he did not want it to be revealed that he was the Christ, that he was the son of God. And he even told his disciples the same thing, not to reveal that yet. But at this time, now it's time for that to be basically revealed and for them to announce that on this triumphal entry. Now keep in mind, this is the same week that Jesus is going to be killed. This is the same week that he's going to die on the cross. This is what we would think of as Palm Sunday, where they laid the palm branches in the way and Jesus makes the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Right after this, of course, is going to be Jesus' crucifixion just a few days away. And then, of course, his resurrection a week later. But it's interesting that a lot of these same people that are yelling, Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, are going to be yelling, crucify him, just a few days later. Because it's just a crowd of people that are just kind of going with the flow, I guess, of just being excited. So here we see that Jesus Christ makes his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He's announced as the Messiah so that everybody can have a chance to know that and to realize that here he is. He's coming in the name of the Lord. He's been with us for years. He's been preaching to us for years. This is who he is. He's the Messiah. He's the son of David. He's come to be our King. And, of course, this week they're going to reject him as King. The chief priests and the rulers, the scribes and the Pharisees are going to turn these people against Jesus to the point where they will go along with crucifying him. And, of course, the Bible holds the Jews in general responsible for killing Jesus, not just the rulers. Because later on, Peter repeatedly in the Book of Acts is going to preach and say, you killed Jesus. You crucified the Prince of Life. And this is what they say, as did also your rulers. So it wasn't just the rulers that did it. It was the whole nation as a whole that rejected Christ. Many people believed on him. But as a whole, the Jews rejected Christ. That's why the Bible said that Jesus came unto his own and his own received him not. That's talking about the nation of Israel. That's talking about the Jews. By and large, he came unto his own. His own received him not. Then in the Book of Acts, the apostles continue to try to evangelize the Jews over and over again. And, yes, there were thousands of them that get saved. But the vast majority of them continue to reject the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Book of Acts ends with the Apostle Paul pretty much just shaking the dust off his feet and saying, I'm going to the Gentiles. He says that one time earlier in the Book of Acts. And then he also talks about, even in chapter 28, that the Jews had counted themselves unworthy of the Kingdom of God. Just as Jesus predicted that it would be the Gentiles that would accept the gospel more so than the Jews. And that's the way it is to this day. I mean, there are a lot more Gentiles who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ than Jews. A lot of people will try to tell you this. They'll say, oh, most of the early Christians were all Jews. That's what they'll tell you. Oh, all the early Christians were all Jews. That's not really true. Now, obviously, during Jesus' earthly ministry, they're in Judea. Obviously, the followers are mostly Jews, even though his fame did go all the way to Syria and Decapolis and the surrounding areas. Obviously, while Jesus was on this earth in his ministry, he's reaching out to Israel. But no, the early Christians, they were first called Christians at Antioch amongst the Gentiles. So to sit there and say, oh, all the early Christians were Jews is a false statement. Because it's not true. Because by and large, once the gospel started to go outside the borders of Israel, after Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, it actually went to all nations. And the Jews were the least receptive as it went out. And the Gentiles were more receptive. That's why the whole New Testament is addressed mainly to Gentile believers. You know, when you look at books like Corinthians, Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, I mean, these are books that are being addressed unto Gentile audiences. The book of Revelation itself is being addressed unto the seven churches in Asia. Because in reality, the Gentiles were more receptive to the gospel than the Jews were, and still are to this day, unfortunately. But that's the way that it is. But the Bible says in verse number 11, and Jesus entered into Jerusalem. And you say, well, why did you just go off on that and explain that? Well, I just want to explain to you that just because when Jesus enters Jerusalem, there's big crowds of people saying, Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. It doesn't mean that these people are saved. That's what I'm trying to say. Because honestly, these are a lot of the same people that are going to say, crucify him later on. A lot of these people are just part of the crowd, part of the hype, and they're just fulfilling Bible prophecy by saying these things, and these events had to take place. But a lot of these same people are going to turn on him. They didn't really have it in their heart. They didn't really have the faith. They're just part of the excitement of, oh, this great prophet doing miracles and caught up in it. Now, there's a parable that follows this that actually deals directly with the nation of Israel. It says in verse 11, and Jesus entered into Jerusalem and into the temple. And when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the 12. And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply, he might find anything thereon. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, no man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever, and his disciples heard it. So Jesus, right after the triumphal entry, comes to a fig tree seeking fruit thereon, and he doesn't find any fruit. So he curses the fig tree, fruit will grow on it forever. Now go to Matthew chapter number 21, just a few pages to the left in your Bible. Matthew chapter number 21 says in verse 18, I'll read it while you get caught up there into Matthew 21. It says, now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it and found nothing thereon but leaves only, and said unto it, let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever. And presently the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, how soon is the fig tree withered away? Now a lot of people have been perplexed by this miracle of Jesus. You know, why did Jesus curse this fig tree? And the reason why it is perplexing unto some is because what we just read in Mark 11, there's always a little detail different between Mark and Matthew. That's why you've got to read the whole New Testament and read all the gospels. But in Mark, it gives this little detail at the end of verse 13. For the time of figs was not yet. So when you're reading this in Matthew, it's worded differently. But in Mark, it said the time of figs was not yet. So you ask yourself, why is it that Jesus would walk up to a fig tree when it's not time for figs to be growing on it yet? And then Jesus gets angry that there's no fruit on the fig tree. And then he curses the fig tree, and the fig tree withers away. You say, come on, that's not a reasonable thing to do. The time of figs is not yet. But what you have to understand is that Jesus did everything he did for a reason. It's not that he was just ignorant about plant life or that he is just losing his temper and being unreasonable and just cursing things because he can. Obviously, there's some kind of a symbolic meaning here. There's something he's trying to teach. There's something that he wanted us to understand with this story. Now, if you look at the surrounding scriptures in Mark 12, later in Matthew 21, different places, the answer is there. But let's stay in Matthew 21 and look at verse 33. And this will help you to understand why Jesus cursed that fig tree and what the meaning behind it was. It says in Matthew 21, 33, hear another parable. There was a certain householder which planted a vineyard and hedged it round about and digged a winepress in it and built a tower and let it out to husbandmen and went into a far country. And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits of it. Now, does this remind you of what you saw just a few verses earlier when he cursed the fig tree? Here's the similarity. Jesus went to the fig tree seeking fruit thereon, and he found none, right? Well, here's a guy who owns a vineyard. And he's let it out to other people to handle it for him. And he does what? He goes there seeking the fruit from it. So did you see the similarity there? He goes to seek fruit from it. And it says in verse 35, the husbandmen took his servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did unto them likewise. The last of all, he sent unto them his son, saying, they will reverence my son. So look, servants have gone to get the fruit from the vineyard. They didn't treat them right, and they didn't give him the fruit. He sends more servants. Finally, he sends his son, saying, they'll reverence my son. So who do we have here? The son of the lord of the vineyard showing up, seeking fruit from the vineyard, right? And what happens when the son shows up to get the fruit from the vineyard? It says in verse 38, but when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him and cast him out of the vineyard and slew him. When the lord, therefore, the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? Now, doesn't this sound familiar to you? The son shows up to receive the fruit from the vineyard, and what do they do? They kill him. What are they going to do to Jesus, the son of God? They're going to kill him, right? What was he seeking? Fruit. Who was he seeking it from? The nation of Israel. OK, because if you go back, and I don't have time to show you, but in the book of Isaiah, Israel was known as the lord's vineyard. I believe it's chapter five, where he gives the parable of the vineyard, and Israel is the lord's vineyard. So he comes to them and says, what is the lord going to do to those husbandmen? Verse 41, they say unto him, he will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto him, did you never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner, this is the lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. He's talking to the nation of Israel, and saying the kingdom of God is going to be taken from you, and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. Why? Because he showed up seeking for the fruit, and he found none. Same as the parable of the fig tree. Look what it says in verse 45. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. So the Pharisees and the scribes, they understand that he's talking about them. It's us. We are the miserable, wicked husbandmen that were supposed to bring forth fruit unto God, and instead we killed the prophets, we rejected the Lord. And when the son comes, they're going to kill. Here's what's interesting. They haven't even done it yet. Jesus is still alive. I mean, Jesus is talking to them. Jesus here is prophesying his own death, and saying, here he is, the son has come, the son of the Lord, and he's going to be taken and killed. Now notice, it says this, when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, that's plural, right? His parables, they perceived that he spake of them. Let's look at the other parable that speaks of them. Go to verse 28. Right before this, it says, what think ye? A certain man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, son, go work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not. But afterward he repented and went. And he came to the second and said, likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir, and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father. They say unto him, the first, Jesus saith unto them, verily I say unto you that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and you believed him not. But the publicans and the harlots believed him. And ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward that you might believe him. So these parables are being directed at people who rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, the Jews, and especially their leaders who taught them all these lies and false doctrine that caused them to reject the Messiah. Go to Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter number 13, and we'll find a similar parable. All these parables go together. Now remember, he said these parables plural. They were about them. The first parable was about a master who had two sons. And he tells them both to go work in the vineyard. One says, I'm not going to do it. But then he went out and did it. He changed his mind. The other one says, I go, sir, and didn't do it. So what it is is that the Jews are represented by the servant who said, I go, sir, but they went not. And then the Gentiles are represented by the son who says, I'm not going to go, but afterward repented and went. Why? And also because of the fact that the Gentiles at first were not worshipping the true God, but they're going to change their mind and follow the Lord. Also it represents, of course, the fact that the publicans and harlots and sinners, they were the people who were looked at as being disobedient to God. Because they are disobedient to God. But they then believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. They changed their mind and did the will of the Father. Whereas the Jews paid a lot of lip service onto serving God, but they didn't really go out into the vineyard and produce anything. So what do all these stories and parables have in common? Producing fruit. He says, go out and work in the vineyard. Bring forth a harvest. Produce fruit. The Jews aren't doing it. He sends servants and others. And so it's always to seek the fruit of the vineyard. Look at Luke 13 and start in verse number six. He spake also this parable. A certain man had a fig tree. Does that sound familiar? A fig tree? A certain man had a fig tree planted in his what? What was the other parable about? A vineyard. Seeking fruit in a vineyard, OK? Well now it says, a certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and sought fruit thereon and found none. Sound like Jesus? When he goes to the fig tree, looks for fruit, doesn't find any. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, behold these three years I come, seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down. Why come birth at the ground? He answering said to him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it, and if it bear fruit, well. And if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down. Now let me ask you this, how long was the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ? Three and a half years? Yeah, about three, three and a half years. And so what do we see here? Jesus is coming and seeking fruit from his vineyard for how long? Three years. He says, look, this fig tree is cumbering the ground. It's a waste of time. It's a waste of energy, space. It's going to be cut down. Now the servant here intercedes for it and says, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it. What's he saying? Give it one last final chance, one last chance to bring forth fruit. Let's dig about it. Let's dung it. And if it brings forth fruit, great. But if it doesn't bring forth fruit, cut it down. Everybody understand these parables, how they all go together? OK, so with that in mind, go back to Matthew 21 there with this parable. Matthew chapter number 21, and it says in verse number 40 of Matthew 21, when the Lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, he will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruit in their seasons. So what is the fate of these husbandmen that aren't bringing forth fruit? He said they're going to be miserably destroyed, and the vineyard is going to be let out to other husbandmen that are going to bring forth the fruit. And then that's interpreted in verse number 43 when he says, therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Now, all of this shows that the kingdom of God has been taken from the physical nation of Israel because they didn't bring forth the fruit, and it's given unto a nation bringing forth the fruit thereof. What is their fate to be miserably destroyed? And he says this, it's going to be let out to other husbandmen that are going to bring forth the fruit. Who are the other husbandmen? Christians, believers, the saved, mostly of the Gentiles, but some of the Jews also that got saved because of the fact that all nationalities, there are people that believe on Christ from all nationalities. And in Christ, it really doesn't matter what our nationality is because the nation, when he says it's going to be given to a nation bringing forth the fruit thereof, it's not a physical nation like the United States. Now the United States is the nation of the people of God. No, actually, it's a nation that's made up of all believers, all believers. He said, you're a holy nation. You're a royal priesthood in 1 Peter chapter 2. So we as believers make up a holy nation that brings forth. And by the way, we're succeeding at bringing forth fruit to God. We as Christians, we as believers, he said, look, it's going to be given unto other husbandmen. They will bring forth the fruit. So that's a prophecy that Christians, that believers of all nations, would bring fruit unto God and would succeed at the mission. And that's what we're doing today all throughout the world, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are bringing forth good fruit that God is pleased with by winning people unto the Lord Jesus Christ. But what you see in these stories is that once the fig tree is done, it's done. Because what did he say to the fig tree? Let no fruit grow on thee from henceforward forever. And then what do we see in this passage? Miserably destroy those murders. Does it say, and then later, later they come back and they take over the vineyard again? I mean, is that what you see in the story? No. And what about in Luke 13? No, if it doesn't bring forth fruit, cut it down. But then later we're going to fix it. No, it's done. It's over. He said, it's taken from you. It's given to a nation bringing forth the fruit thereof. And let me tell you something, we as believers, the holy nation made up of all believers in Christ has replaced the physical nation of Israel as being the chosen people of God. And so to sit there and say, ah, you believe in replacement? Look, of course it's been replaced when he says, the kingdom of God's taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruit. People say, well, it wasn't replaced, it's just added on. We've been added on. No, no, no, that's not what it teaches here. He says, it's taken from one and given to another. Because there are some that will try to get us all to basically become like Jews. Well, we need to be grafted into the nation of Israel. So that means that we basically need to start wearing prayer shawls and saying shalom and hakflem and bar mitzvah and whatever else. That's not what the Bible's teaching because what it said in Romans 11 when it talks about us being grafted in, that tree represents spiritual Israel, not physical Israel. We don't need to go to physical Israel or join with physical Israelites. We're already the holy nation. It's a spiritual nation in the New Testament. So that's who we are in Christ. We are spiritual Israel. We are the spiritual nation. It's been taken from the physical nation. And you say, well, but God's not through with them yet. Oh really, he cut it down? Oh really, it withered away immediately? Look, these are prophecies that he said would happen in the future. Think about it. Because had he been killed yet? No, he's saying, look, I'm gonna be killed because he said the son comes and he's killed by them. And what does the Lord do when he finds out that they killed his son? He miserably destroys those murderers. Okay, in another place, and I don't have time to turn to all the places, he talks about how he's gonna break down their tower and destroy their city. And he's gonna let it out to other people. So if Jesus is predicting that that tree is gonna be cut down, it's gonna wither away. They're gonna be miserably destroyed. The question is, did that happen? After the Jews rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, were they cut down? Were they miserably destroyed? Was the kingdom of God taken from them? Were they wiped out? And the answer is yes. Because we know that history tells us, we didn't really need a history book as Jesus said it would happen. But history tells us that in 70 AD, their city and temple were destroyed. And most of them were scattered into all nations. And in 135 AD, they believed in some other false Messiah that they thought was gonna save them. And of course, he was a lying false prophet. And they were all scattered once again in 135 AD, this time for good. So in 70 AD, 135 AD, they were scattered into all nations, okay? That was a result, my friend, of them rejecting Jesus. I mean, is there any doubt in your mind, oh Christian friend, tonight? Do you have any doubt that the reason why the temple was destroyed and why the Jews were scattered into all nations was a result of them rejecting Jesus? Do you have any doubt about that? Is there anybody who doubts that and just thinks, oh, that's just a coincidence? Of course, that's why. You know, they're scattered everywhere. Now, if you ask some Jewish rabbi today, hey, why were you guys scattered everywhere? They'll say, oh, well, you know, we just weren't observing the Torah right. That's what they'll tell you. And then, you know, they all came back in 1947, 48, and became a nation. Obviously, they came leading up to that. But I asked these rabbis, I said, well, you know, did you guys like straighten up in 1947? Did you guys straighten up in 1948? I mean, why? And they're like, well, no, not really. Because they're, but they're like, but it had nothing to do with us rejecting Jesus. That's not why they're scattered. That's not why the temple was destroyed. That's not why it happened. Nothing to do with Jesus. We were just being disobedient in other ways. Well, did you guys fix it in 1948? Well, no, most Jews are still not following it. That's what even a rabbi will tell you. But listen, I've got something really interesting to tell you that you might not have heard. I've never mentioned this in a sermon before, but it's really interesting when you look at the servants. Look at verse 38 of Matthew 21 there. It says, but when the husbandmen saw the son, and what does this parable represent? It's basically the Jews, the chief priests, and the Pharisees, they see Jesus coming. What do the servants say? This is the son. This is the heir, they say. The heir is the one who inherits. They say, come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. Now I want you to stop and think about that. So they see the son coming, and they say, this is the heir, let's kill him, and let's seize on his inheritance. What do they mean seize on his inheritance? They mean that they want to inherit what he was supposed to inherit, okay? Now here's what's interesting about this. If you talk to the Orthodox Jews, which by the way, the Orthodox Jews are a minority of Jews, a very small minority of Jews that are Orthodox. They'll tell you, oh, we're looking for a messiah to still come, one guy. One guy will come. But if you talk to the Reform Jews, which make up most of Judaism, it's a different denomination, it's the big denomination of what most religious Jews are Reform Jews, they'll tell you that they're not looking for, they're not necessarily looking for one guy to be a messiah. Here's what they're looking for, a messianic era, where they will all collectively be their own messiah. Did you know that? Talk to the Reform Jews. They'll say, no, no, no, the Jewish people will collectively inherit the kingdom, and collectively be their own messiah. They're not even looking for one. Of course, when the one man shows up, they're gonna love him when he shows up. But isn't it funny how they say, we're gonna collectively be our own messiah. We're gonna just collectively inherit the kingdom of Zion. Now, isn't that exactly what Jesus said in this parable? They say, oh, we don't want Jesus to be the messiah, we're gonna be the heir, we're gonna inherit it. It's not gonna be Jesus, it's gonna be us. We're gonna inherit all things. And the Jews literally believe that they will rule the world when the messiah comes, that they will be basically the kings of this earth, and that basically everyone else will serve them or die. That's what they teach and believe. So anyway, let's go to Mark chapter 11 once again. I just wanted to explain that to you about this parable of the fig tree. There's a reason why he cursed it. And of course, the symbolism goes deep because springtime in the Bible represents the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and harvest or fall represents the second coming of Christ. You say, prove it. Well, in Matthew 13, Jesus said the harvest is the end of the world. Also, if you look at the springtime feasts of the Hebrew calendar, what were they? Passover, right? The Feast of Unleavened Bread, the first fruits and Pentecost. Well, those are things that were fulfilled with the first coming of Christ. He fulfilled Passover, he fulfilled unleavened bread, he fulfilled the first fruits because he was the first fruits of the resurrection, and the Day of Pentecost fulfilled the Feast of Pentecost in Acts chapter two. But the three fall feasts, which are the feast of the blowing of trumpets, also the Day of Atonement, and also the Feast of Tabernacles, the fall feasts have to do with the second coming of Christ because the harvest represents the end of the world. So notice, when does Jesus approach this fig tree? In the springtime. There's no fruit there, the first coming of Christ. But to sit there and say, oh, come back in the fall, Jesus, and the fruit'll be there, Jesus. No, he said no fruit from this time forth and forever. The fig tree's done. And here's what's funny. People who are today, people who actually believe that Israel, the physical nation, is still God's chosen people, this is what they'll even say. Oh, the fig tree is Israel. Oh, the fig tree's Israel. Israel's the fig tree. And they'll even say, oh, Matthew 24 talks about the blossoming of the fig tree, and that's Israel, that's Israel. Yeah, Israel's the fig tree, all right. The one that got cut down. The one, you say, well, how do you explain them coming back in 1948? It's a fraud. That's how I explain it. They didn't come back. It's a bunch of white people that came back from Europe. Bunch of Ashkenazi fake imposters that came back. And even if some of them are, I mean, all of them are microscopically part Jewish, but some of them that are more Jewish than others, that's not the point. They don't believe in Jesus. Let them be anathema, maranatha. Because if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. I mean, isn't that what the Bible said? But no, no, they're the chosen people. No, they're not. We're the chosen generation. We're the royal priests. We're the elect of God. But let me tell you something. The Jews, not only were they scattered as a punishment in A.D. 70 and A.D. 135, they've been hated in every country that they've ever lived in for the last 2,000 years. In fact, did you know that I believe 51 different countries throughout history have expelled all the Jews? Because the one that you think of is 1492 when they were kicked out of Spain, but they've been kicked out of England, kicked out of the Netherlands, kicked out of Germany, kicked out of France, over and over again. All throughout history, even the rabbis will tell you that they've been hated and persecuted every single country they've ever lived in for the last 2,000 years. And people will say, oh, that's because they're God's people. That's why they're hated. No, Jesus Christ said in Matthew 24. And isn't Matthew 24 the chapter where they try to say, oh, this is just to the Jews? In Matthew 24, Jesus Christ said this. You shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. Now, have the Jews been hated for the name of Jesus? No, they've been hated because of being bankers. And they've been hated for blaspheming Jesus. But they dead sure have not been hated because of Jesus's name. They don't claim the name of Jesus. So why have they been persecuted and hated and kicked out of every country over the course of the last few thousand years? Simply this, they're under the curse of God for rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the Bible says, he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. So you've got a bunch of people who should know better because they're looking at the Old Testament. And yet they're rejecting the Lord, and God's wrath is on them. And the Bible even said specifically in 1 Thessalonians 2 that the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. That is why they've been suffering and persecuted. And I'm not saying it's right that people have persecuted them like that for the last 2,000 years. But you know what, it has been the judgment of God upon a Christ-rejecting nation. I mean, look, he's the one who scattered them. He's the one who sent the Romans in, wiped them out. He's the one who destroyed their temple. And here's what's funny, Christians will donate money to rebuild that temple. God destroyed it. Why are you trying to rebuild what God destroyed? Oh, let's bring the Jews back to the Holy Land. God's the one who took them out. Why are you trying to open that which God has shut and shut that which Jesus Christ has opened? If he made the decision to kick them out, they need to be out. And if he made the decision to destroy that building, it ought to be destroyed and remain destroyed. And if anybody brings them back, it should be God, because they repented and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. But you know what, they haven't done that. They still are abiding in unbelief at this time. And they are still under that curse of God. Well, but later, they're all going to get saved. I don't have time to go through it all, but I can't spend any more time on this in this sermon. So we just need to move on. But anyway, look at verse 15, because we got some other good stuff to talk about here. Look at verse 15 of Mark 11. We finished the fig tree. Look what it says in Mark 11, 15. And they come to Jerusalem. And Jesus went into the temple and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple and overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he sang unto them, is it not written, my house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy him, for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine. And when even was come, he went out of the city. So what is Jesus so upset about? Because it says in verse 15, he cast out them that sold and bought in the temple and overthrew the table. I mean, just think about this. This is what Jesus literally did. This is kind of cool that this was here. I didn't even think of that. But look, this is literally what Jesus did. And you've got to picture merchandise and money and everyday cash register. That's what Jesus, I mean, just think about how everything would just go flying, throwing it and just crash. I mean, that's pretty serious. First of all, that took a lot of boldness. Can you imagine just walking into like some kind of a, some kind of a fair or some kind of a place where things are being sold, some kind of a flea market or a market or whatever. And you just started just flipping tables, just flipping stuff over. I mean, it's a crazy thought, isn't it? And it also says he poured out their money. So just imagine they've got some kind of a jar or something where money's going in, and he just dumps it out on the ground. I mean, just think about the chaos, the pandemonium when you're dumping money on the ground. So this was a bold move. And you have to ask yourself, why was Jesus so upset? Why did he take such a bold move to chase people out of the temple, flip tables, dump money? And I like how it states it there. Inverse number, let me find it here. Oh, you know what I'm thinking of, go to John 2. Keep your finger here. Let's compare this with John 2. There are two times that Jesus, did you know Jesus did this twice in his ministry? Jesus did this at the beginning of his ministry very early on, and he did it at the end. Because in Mark 11, aren't we in the week that he's going to be crucified? So this is one of the last things he does. He comes in, he gets all the hosannas, you're the son of David, you're blessed in the name of the Lord. Then he goes to the temple and flips over the tables and dumps out the money. But he'd already done this at the very beginning of his ministry, because in John chapter 2, think about it. Chapter what? 2. Does that sound early or late in his ministry? Yeah, it's early. In John 2 13, it says, and the Jews Passover was at hand. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money sitting. And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple. What does it mean to drive them out? Yucks! I mean, he makes a scourge, and he's cracking the whip and chasing them out. And he poured out the changers' money and overthrew the tables and said unto them that sold doves, take these things hence. Make not my father's house and house of merchandise. And listen to this verse in verse 17. Then the disciples remembered that it was written, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. I mean, it says that this ate Jesus up. I mean, think about it, if you said, man, that really eats me up. You know, flipping the tables, dumbing out the money. You say, oh, no, Jesus was really peaceful all the time. But he wasn't very peaceful here. Now look, are there a lot of incidents like this in Jesus' ministry? Are there a lot of instances like this? Do you see a lot of times where he's flipping stuff over? This is unique. In the life of Christ, in the three plus years of his ministry, wouldn't you say this is unique? You don't ever see Jesus blow his top quite like this. So don't you think it would be smart of us to stop and say, whatever they were doing, let's not do it. If he's that mad, I mean, if he's that angry that twice, so only two instances that he did something like this in the Bible, and they were both over the same issue, wouldn't you make a big note, don't do that. Whatever it is, and just if it seems like we might kind of be doing that, let's just immediately stop. Because the last thing we want is Jesus up in heaven just being eaten up by what we're doing down here. That's the last thing that we want. Think about that. Let that sink in. OK, what were they doing? Well, what did Jesus say in John 2? He said, take these things hence. Make not my Father's house a house of merchandise. And what is merchandise? Anything that is bought or sold is merchandise. Anything that's bought or sold, that's what merchandise is. I mean, look it up in the dictionary for crying out loud. Look it up in the Bible where it's mentioned. That's what merchandise is. Now, what were they buying and selling? Really bad stuff. Oh, they were selling really bad things. No, because if you look at what they were selling, they sold sheep and oxen, and they changed money. They exchanged currency. Why are they exchanging currency? Because people are coming from other parts of the world. They need to buy sacrifices to offer. Now, is offering a sacrifice in the Old Testament a good thing? Yeah. So what are you so mad about, Jesus? Whoa, calm down. Is this a misunderstanding here? No, because he made the whip himself, by the way. He sat outside the temple and made his own whip. So Jesus is not soon angry. He was slow to wrath, because it takes time to make a whip. So he sat there and made the whip. He's not impulsively getting the wrong. Oh, he knew what he was doing, especially the second time he did it. He knew what he was doing. What's he mad about? Sheep are good. Oxen are good. Those are the animals God commanded to be sacrificed. Obviously, we need a currency exchange if we're coming from other nations and the money isn't adding up and we don't have the right monetary unit of the shekel or whatever they needed. The thing that he's mad about is that you don't use God's house as a house of merchandise. Nothing wrong with selling sheep. That's why Jesus gives the answer in John 2, take these things hence. What does hence mean? Away from here. Take these things. So he didn't say, stop selling sheep. Stop selling oxen. Stop changing money. What did he say? Take it away from here. This is not the place to be buying and selling. And by the way, he said to them that sold and bought. Look if you would back where we were in Mark 11. Because in John 2, he said it to them that sold doves. Take these things hence. Make not my father's house as a member. He said, why didn't he tell it to the people who sold oxen? They're gone. The only person left was the dove salesman to say anything to because everybody else had been chased out with a whip. But you know, in Mark 11, he says unto them in verse 17. And look how strict he is. He's really strict. Because in verse 16, he wouldn't even allow anybody to even carry a vessel through the temple. I mean, is he being a stickler or what? Don't buy. Don't sell. Don't even carry the merchandise through the temple. He said, it's a house of prayer. You've made it a den of thieves. Now I've had people try to say, well, the only thing he was mad about is that they were ripping people off. You know, they weren't changing the money right. Has anybody on the planet ever changed the money right? Every money exchange is a rip off, he'd always said. But that's not the point. You say, oh, it's just because they were ripping people off. He said to them that sold and bought. So if it was that they were ripping people off, why did he rebuke the buyers? He rebuked those that sold and bought. And he says to them, don't make it a house of merchandise. And he also calls it a den of thieves. You say, why would there be a den of thieves if they weren't ripping people off? Because it's a den of thieves when you take a building that's supposed to be used for God and you use it for your own ends. You're stealing that property. You're using that. And I've illustrated it this way. What if you had merchandise to sell, right? You have a cart full of merchandise you're selling. And you set up shop in front of Walmart, right outside the front door. And you say, hey, I'll beat Walmart's price on anything. Come on over here and I'll buy what I have. Do you think that would fly with Walmart? No, why? Because those customers were brought there by Walmart. The advertising was done by Walmart. The sidewalk that you're standing on belongs to Walmart. And so they don't want competition using their sidewalk, their advertising, their customers. It would be stealing from Walmart because you're taking their business away. And you need to take it hence. And if you want to set up a business across the street from Walmart, that would be fine. There's nothing Walmart can do. So what I'm saying is that God's house belongs to God. You cannot come in and use it as a house of merchandise for yourself. Now, what a lot of people will try to do now is that the church itself will sell merchandise. Well, it's OK because it's the church that's selling it. Really? I mean, do you really want to do that after Jesus was so mad and said, just get it out of here? Get it out. Get out. No vet. Look, if you're not even supposed to carry a vessel through it, then how can you say, well, it's OK if somebody else sells it? As long as it's the church that's selling it. And listen to me. Virtually every church in America today sells things. And you know what? Just because everybody's doing it, that doesn't make it right. And you can sit there and say, oh, come on. That's not what he meant. How did he not mean that when he said no vessel, no buying, no selling, no merchandise? What did he mean? Well, he just meant not to sell other stuff besides what we sell, which is coffee and donuts and CDs and books and Bibles. Well, but we're selling Bibles. That's a spiritual. OK, well, a sheep and oxen are spiritual because they're being used for sacrifice. That was part of serving God. It shouldn't be a place to buy and sell. You know where you buy and sell things? The store. The store. Nothing wrong with operating a store and selling Bibles, CDs, videos, books, whatever you want, coffee, drinks, sodas. But you know what, you should never make God's house a house of merchandise, period. It's wrong. It's sin. Now, virtually every church in America does it. They need to get right with God. People need to basically realize that this is sin, and they need to stop doing it. And God will bless people for obedience, and he'll curse disobedience. And what else do people ignore? What else do we want to ignore? Well, if we're going to ignore the part about not making God's house a house of merchandise and not buying and selling things in God's house, what other part should we ignore? What else are you ignoring? What do you want to throw out? What else do you want to throw out? It's what the Bible says. I thought part of the Great Commission is to teach people all things that Christ commanded. And look, he says, my house shall be called, of all nations, the house of prayer. You've made it a den of thieves, hold on a second. The Bible says that the house of God is the church of the living God. It's not some building somewhere, some physical temple. It's the church. So if you turn the church into a house of merchandise, you're violating the scripture. Now, you say, well, but the church has to sell stuff because stuff costs money. Well, I thought offerings come in. So if people give of tithes and offerings, why would the church need to sell things? Why don't they just use the offerings? If they want to provide something, if they want to provide coffee, if they want to provide a donut, if they want to provide Bibles, if they want to provide preaching CDs or DVDs, then you know what they need to do? Just give those things away. Because look, when you give something away, it's not merchandise. See, whenever I go to the post office and send something to another country, there are a couple of different boxes you can check. One of them says gift, and the other one says merchandise. You know why? Because there's a difference between a gift and merchandise. Merchandise you pay for, gifts are free. Did Jesus say no gifts allowed? No, he said no merchandise. That's why if the church wants to provide Bibles, great. Give them away. If the church wants to provide coffee and donuts and burgers and fries, hey, give it away. Give it away. Oh, but where's the money going to come from? People put money in the offering plate. People donate money. And you know what, by the way, God bless his obedience. That's why our church, Faithful Word Baptist Church, after almost nine years, has never run out of money ever. Did you hear that? And who thinks we have a nice building? I think our building is great. It's really nice, and we've got these mother baby rooms. We've got bathrooms. We've got all kinds of beautiful artwork. I mean, what do we have, seven wall murals? We've got all kinds of nice things. Hey, who thinks that our church gives away a lot of free stuff? I mean, Bibles, CDs, DVDs. Everybody's always shocked, like this stuff's all free. Yeah, take as much as you want. Preaching CDs, movies, Bibles. And then we go to church activities, and we feed everybody the lowest quality food, right? No, it's all organic. It's top of the line. Do you ever wonder where all the money comes from for all that stuff? I mean, we have a nice church van that we use for soul winning. We've got all kinds of nice electronics equipment as far as to stream the service live and to record the sermons. And we've got a beautiful building. We've got plenty of chairs. We always have tons of food and activities, and it's all free. It's all paid for. The Bibles are free. The movies are free. The CDs are free. Where does it all come from? What in the world's going on here? And by the way, our church has never had any debt in almost nine years, never borrowed money, never. Not a dime, no debt. Isn't it funny? Think about this now. Isn't it funny how the church that wants you to fork over $5 for that preaching CD, isn't it funny how they're in debt? Hold on, stop and think about that. Isn't it funny that the church that wants to charge you $10 for that conventional GMO spaghetti is also in debt up to their eyeballs? And the church that hands you a piping hot organic burger grass fed has never had any debt and never run out of money? Why is that? And I get paid a full time salary ever since the first of this year. I just became full time pastor starting the first this year. And you know what, I've never missed a paycheck. And you know what? We always have enough money to do everything we need. You say, how in the world, Pastor Anderson, where does it come from? You know why? Because if you do what's right with the money, then God's going to bless you. And by the way, here's a principle in the Bible. Give and it shall be given unto you. So our church just gives. I've even gone online. I went on Facebook and said, who wants free preaching CDs? Send me your address and I'll send it to you, free shipping, free preaching CDs. And hundreds of people replied. And I had another guy help me just for days, just packaging, packaging, packaging, packaging, coming to the post office and plopping it down and saying, I'm your worst nightmare to the lady behind the counter. And you know what I mean? Just boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes of packages, shipping them out all over the world. Where does it come from? It comes from, if you're generous, it comes around to you. It always comes back around. You give stuff away for free, it's going to come back to you. That's the way it is. Now obviously, we shouldn't give away things that we don't have. But here's the thing. If you have abundance and you give unto others, God said, give and it shall be given unto you. And I'm not preaching a prosperity gospel here, but I am preaching that if you're generous and if you cast your bread upon the waters, you'll find it again after many days. So it doesn't even make sense. And I've tried to explain this to pastors. Every time I talk to a pastor, I say, why don't you give away your preaching CDs for free? Don't you want people to listen to your preaching? Do you want your church members to listen to your sermon? Why don't you give it away for free? Oh, it costs money to a, how much are you selling the CD for? $2. $2 is a drop of water on a hot stove. $2. That'll be $2, please. So just give it to them. Who cares? Yeah, but it costs money to make that CD. Yeah, but it wasn't like you made it out of your own money. You made it out of the church's money. So the church member can benefit from it and get a CD. It doesn't make any sense. And there are people, listen to me, there are people online who sell their preaching CDs for $8 for one CD. $8. And then you know what they'll do? If somebody who loves their preaching and loves them and is a fan of them uploads their sermon to YouTube to try to get the word of God out to more people, they'll file a copyright violation and put a strike against that person's YouTube account and take down the sermon, because they want their $8.50. I want my $8.50 for that CD, and I'm not going to have people put it on YouTube for free. It's stupid. And it's unbiblical anyway. It doesn't even buy the truth and sell it not. But here's the thing. If people want to sell preaching CDs online for money, fine. But it shouldn't be the church that's selling it. Like if somebody wants to start a business where they start manufacturing Steve Anderson preaching CDs and selling them online, that's fine with me. Go for it. I don't care. But you know what? It shouldn't be the church that's selling stuff. And it definitely shouldn't be that when you walk into church there's anything for sale. And preachers and evangelists and missionaries, you say, why are you spending so much time on this point? Because it's an important point, that's why. Because Jesus took time to build that whip. I'm building a whip right now, verbally. I'm building a verbal whip to just drive out all this merchandise. And then preachers and evangelists will come through and they'll say, be sure to visit our book table in the back selling stuff. Well, they got to make a living. Yeah, make it somewhere else. We all have to make a living. There's plenty of ways to make money. Don't do it at church. And don't do it through the church. Make money somewhere else. You say, oh, you know, you should buy your Bible from local church Bible publishers. No, I'd rather buy it from a business. Because businesses should sell merchandise. I'd be all for local church Bible giveaway. Sounds great. And we've given away tens of thousands of Bibles, literally tens of thousands. You know, why? And you say, oh, you're just bragging. No, I'm actually demanding that every church in America do the same thing. I'm not bragging. Why would I brag about the fact that we actually obey the Bible? Like, oh, that's really something to brag about. No, when you do the minimum that Christ asked you to do, that's nothing to brag about. OK, so because I'm getting up here and saying, we don't sell stuff, we give it away for free, that's not really anything to really, wow, we're so awesome that we give things away. No, Christ commanded it. We're just doing our minimum service here. This isn't some radical concept. We're just actually a normal church. That's not a business that's selling merchandise. It's unbelievable that we've just accepted this. We just swallow the camel and just say, you know what? Just it's OK to sell stuff because we said so. And if it's Christian music, it's fine. And if it's Bibles, it's fine. And if it's spaghetti, it's fine. And if it's donuts and coffee, it's all fine. And they're a church that literally have a Starbucks in the lobby. Literally. You know, and people say, well, it's not really. You know, I confronted a church by name from the pulpit one time about a Starbucks in the lobby. We don't have a Starbucks in the lobby. You lied. We just proudly serve Starbucks coffee at our coffee kiosk where we sell Starbucks coffee and use the Starbucks logo. But it's not actually owned by Starbucks. Oh, well, thank you for clarifying that. That really changes everything now. Just right over their head what the problem is. OK, sorry, you're an unauthorized coffee vendor selling Starbucks brand coffee with a big Starbucks logo in your church. And people are handing you cash, and you're handing them Starbucks coffee and a Starbucks cup. Oh, no, somebody thought you guys had a Starbucks in your lobby. I wonder how they got that idea. Boy, people really jump to conclusions, don't they? I could have sworn you had a Starbucks in your lobby. But my friend, we need to take the words of Christ seriously. And the command, and you know what, churches, churches that are doing this, God doesn't like it. Period. And you know what, you wonder why a lot of churches are financially messed up. Maybe that's part of the problem. You say, well, you better be careful, Pastor Anderson, because one day your church is going to be financially messed up. And then you're going to rue the day that you said that. No, our church will never be financially messed up. You hear me? Our church will never be financially messed up. You want to know why? Because we're not going to borrow any money. And that's how you get financially messed up is by borrowing money. Because if our church runs out of money, you know what we're going to do? Stop spending money. I'll go get a job, doing something else, day job. And I'll just be able to do a lot less for the church. And then we'll meet outside. It's Arizona. We can pull it off. Summers are going to be rough, but we can do it. We'll at least get some shade. We'll build a structure. We'll build a temporary, we'll erect a tabernacle and follow the cloudy pillar if we have to. But honestly, our church won't be financially messed up. But you know what? I don't even think about like, oh, man, are we going to be able to make things ends meet? Are we going to be able to pay the rent? Are we going to be able to do these things? Because honestly, our church has plenty of money and always had. And I don't see why it's ever going to change. And it's simply, I believe that the number one reason why our church always has plenty of money is because we obey this commandment and because we give things away for free. And if you give, it's given unto you. That's what I believe. And by the way, when has our church ever, in the history of our church, said, we're going to raise money? Has it ever come out of my mouth in almost 90 years? Have I ever said building fund? Have we ever said, on the budget, let's raise a little extra money? Have I ever said, hey, dig deep for the offering time. We're running low on money. Have I ever said that ever in the history of this church almost nine years in? Have I ever put a video on YouTube where I said, hey, send in your donation. Send in your money. Now, hey, when the checks come in, I cash them. And I don't even ask any questions of where they came from. The only tainted money is the money that taint there. That's what somebody told me one time. Just kidding. Don't quote me on that. But anyway, I mean, look, people send us money every day. But when have I ever said, send money? And you know what? Whenever anybody has ever said to me, Pastor Anderson, I want to send you my tithe. You know what I always tell people? Take it to your local church. Every time. That's what I've taught. That's what I've said. Take it to your local church. Bring it to the church. Bring it to your local church. I like you better. Put it in your local church anyway. That's what I have always said to any person who's ever asked me. Now, look, when the checks come, I put them in the bank. And I praise God for all the donations we get and for all the money people send in. Because you know what it does? It allows us to do more that we would not have been able to do without that money coming in. I mean, just to set up the live streaming service costs over $4,000 to get it set up. And just paying for the high speed internet and everything on a monthly basis. So it's cool when people send in money. Because then we can do things like that. But you know what, it's not stuff that we have to have. We don't have to have live streaming services. But it's nice. When people are sick, they can watch it. And people in other parts of the world can watch it. We don't even have to have a church van. It's nice having it. But we could just go soul winning on foot or caravan in other vehicles. When people send us money, it goes toward being able to give away more tens of thousands of CDs and DVDs. It goes toward being able to send that stuff out. It goes toward the live streaming. It goes toward having a nice building, and having a church van, and having all these things. But you know what, though? At the end of the day, we never have gone out asking for it. But you know what? I think people give us more money because we don't ask for it. Because they know that we're not out saying, my name's Jimmy. I'll take all you give me. Put your hand on the screen. Operators are standing by. We take Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, for crying out loud. But you know what? At the end of the day, it's enough of a reason not to do it just because Christ said don't do it. Don't sell stuff. That's enough. End of period. Done. End of story. The other benefits are there also of just if you give, it's given unto you. So that's why every church activity we have, the food's free, everything's free. Always will be. It'll be over my dead body that anything is bought or sold in this church. And by the way, don't come here and sell Amway either. And don't come here and start recruiting people to your Tupperware party and your vitamins and your Avon lady or any of that. Because you know what? If you're going to sell stuff, sell it somewhere else. And don't say, well, I'm going to make all the contacts at church and get the phone numbers and emails. And then I'll contact them outside of church. If I find out about it, I'll rebuke it and I'll confront it. This is not your customer base. This is not a house of merchandise. This house is for God's house. And you find your business contacts somewhere else. And by the way, there are some people who go to church and that's the only reason that they come to church. Not our church, but other churches. I remember this lady who went to our church one time. And she would not come to church for like a month and a half. And then when she finally showed up, she'd just be like, hey, everybody. I'm having a Pampered Chef party. And then it was like that was the only time she came to church. And then it's like, hey, everybody. I'm having a Tupperware party. And that was the only time that she came to church was when she had a party coming up. What's she doing? Making it a house of merchandise. So therefore, we need to stay away from. And even no matter what you're, now I'm not saying it's wrong to do business with people at church. If you know somebody in church who's an electrician or a plumber or a carpenter or a landscaper and you want to contact them for business, but that person should never be soliciting or selling and trying to get customers. And all that business should be transacted outside of the church. No buying or selling here. If you want to hire somebody for a job, don't you pay them here. You don't pull out your money and pay them here and get the receipt and transact business. You meet elsewhere and transact business elsewhere. No vessel is going to be carried through this house. As long as I'm the pastor, that's where I stand. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and for the great teachings of this chapter, Lord. First of all, we see your triumphal entry. You truly are the King, the King of Kings, Lord. You are the greatest king ever. And when the Jews rejected you, they really blew it because they lost out on having the greatest king ever. And they also ended up being destroyed and persecuted and scattered into all nations and wiped out, Lord, and punished for centuries for rejecting you, Lord. And thank you so much that we are saved. And Lord, help us to honor your house as Christians. And help us to never dishonor it by buying and selling. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right. Amen.