(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

And in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Men, the title of my sermon this morning is Negotiating with the Wicked. Negotiating with the Wicked. At the beginning of the chapter here, we have Ben-Haddad. And he's approaching King Ahab with these really unreasonable demands. And Ahab wants to give in to him, and try to negotiate with him, and work with him, even though his demands are so unreasonable. But of course, in spite of that, Ben-Haddad is not going to be satisfied no matter what he offers him. And so he really can't win by negotiating with Ben-Haddad. And the lesson for us today is that we cannot win trying to negotiate with the wicked people of this world. The right response is that when the devil and his minions go after us, the Bible says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. We need to stand our ground and not compromise or negotiate with the wicked, because we somehow think that that will get them off our back. It won't. They must be defeated. Look what the Bible says in verse 1 of chapter 20. And Ben-Haddad, the king of Syria, gathered all his hosts together. And there were 30 and two kings with him, and horses and chariots. And he went up and besieged Samaria and warred against it. And he sent messengers to Ahab, king of Israel. Now, let me just stop right there and say this. Ahab is not a good example in the Bible. Ahab is a bad example. Now, even though he's the king of Israel, even though God is going to help him win this particular battle, that does not make Ahab a good guy. So Ahab is the example of a bad person handling this situation the wrong way. Throughout the chapter, he continues to handle it the wrong way until, ultimately, at the end of the chapter, he's sad and upset after being rebuked by the Lord. But it says that he sent messengers to Ahab, king of Israel, into the city and said unto him, dost saith Ben-Haddad, where in thy gold is mine? Thy wives also, and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine. And the king of Israel answered and said, my lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine in all that I have. That's pretty amazing how Ahab would agree to such a ridiculously high demand of saying, I want your wives, I want your children, and I want your silver and your gold. That's one thing to demand silver and gold, but demanding his wives and his children, this seems way too far. He's trying to completely humiliate Ahab and take away whatever is dear to him. But Ahab just readily accepts. He just says, OK, sounds good. It's all yours. But then what's interesting is that when Ben-Haddad ups the ante in verses number five and six, we can see what actually causes Ahab to draw the line at some point. It says in verse five, the messengers came again and said, thus speaketh Ben-Haddad, saying, although I've sent unto thee saying, thou shalt deliver me thy silver and thy gold and thy wives and thy children, he's saying, you agreed to that pretty fast. So let me just say, I know that's what I said, but here's what I meant. You need to give me even more than that. Yet I will send my servants unto thee, verse six, tomorrow about this time. And they shall search thine house and the houses of thy servants. And it shall be that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand and take it away. And then this is when the king of Israel says, all right, that's it. I'm not going to stand for this. So isn't it interesting that he's willing to just turn over his wives and children to the enemy, just hand them over? But then when it comes to what's precious in his eyes, in his house, that's where he's not willing to compromise. So I wonder what that is in his house that's so precious in his eyes that he's willing to give up his wives, his children, but he's not willing to give it. Is it some kind of a sports memorabilia collection? Is it his gun safe? What is it that is so important to him that he just can't give it up, whereas he's just fine with being, all right, sons and daughters, see you later. Sorry, that's the way it goes. And he's just going to hand them over. So like I said, Ahab is a bad example. Clearly family doesn't come first with this guy. Clearly family is not the most important thing to him. There's other things, precious things around the house, that are apparently more dear to him than his family, more dear to him even than just cash, than just the gold and silver. And so he draws the line at some point. But what we need to understand is that we as Christians, we as God's people today, are always going to be under attack by the devil and his minions. It's not a maybe, it's for sure, OK? There is going to be a conflict in this world between the forces of good and the forces of evil, between those that love the Lord and those that hate the Lord. That conflict is always going to be there. And the Bible says, ye, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. It's just simply going to happen. There are going to be people out there that hate the Lord, and therefore they hate Christians. They hate God's people. They want to fight against us. And they want to defeat us. And they would love for us to surrender to them and do things their way and become their servants. We need to stand our ground, resist the devil, and he will flee from us. But Ahab here represents the compromising Christian, right? Because he's of Israel. He's the King of Israel. So it's technically God's chosen people in the Old Testament. But yet, he's so willing to just give in to the enemy and give them what they want. But what Ahab didn't have was a copy of the Book of Romans, OK? If he would have had his pocket New Testament, which hadn't been written yet, in Romans chapter 1, the Bible tells us that those who hate the Lord, those who are reprobates, are, quote, implacable. And what implacable means is that no matter what you give them, they're not going to be placated. They're not going to be satisfied. They're not going to say it's enough. They're never satisfied. They will always just take whatever they can get from you. They won't just say, OK, this is reasonable. No, no, they'll just take whatever they can get. This month of June is so-called Pride Month. And let me tell you something. The wicked sodomite perverts of this nation, they're never going to be satisfied. You give them the right to get married to each other, that doesn't satisfy them. Let them adopt children and have all their foster kids, that doesn't satisfy them. Being accepted politically, being accepted in some of the highest political offices of the land, that's not going to satisfy them. Infiltrating the school system, teaching school to all ages, that's not going to satisfy them. No, they won't be satisfied. Well, they just won't be satisfied. We can sit there and say, well, here's what they're after. But even if you give them that, they will never be satisfied. They will just keep pushing and keep taking. And the foolish Christians of America today are like King Ahab. They think they can get along with these people. They think they can make peace with these people. They think that they can just kind of throw them a bone. But the bone that they end up throwing to these people ends up being their family. When you compromise with these people, you know what you're sacrificing? Your family is what you're doing. Think about the pastors of this world, because Ahab's a leader. Ahab's the king of Israel. People are looking to him and following his lead. But pastors today that would back down on this subject and try to placate these heathen hordes of perverts, they today are more looking out for themselves than they are looking out for their own families than they are looking out for their wives and kids. They're looking out for themselves, whatever's precious to them. They're little precious things. And so they would rather just give in and just compromise and just negotiate with the wicked. But it's not going to work today. It hasn't been working. You know, over the decades, over the last few decades, we've seen Christian pastors just completely change their doctrine on the sodomites, just completely close their mouths and back down on this subject. And it's not working. It's just emboldening them more to come back and say, well, I know we said we just wanted to get married, but now we want to adopt children. Oh, I know that, but now we want to teach your children. Now we want your children in the public school system to be indoctrinated with our filthy death style, right? And well, that's not enough. And it's just going to go on and on and on. There's going to be no end to it. I learned a long time ago, there is no pleasing the devil and his crowd. That's why for the last 16 years, I just get up behind this pulpit and just preach whatever I want as the Lord leads me. As God leads me, I just say what I want to say. I just say what the Bible says. I don't hold back anything because there's no point. Because let's say I would have decided, you know what? I'm just going to hold back a little bit. It wouldn't be enough. If I held back a little bit, they'd still hate me. They'd still come after me, right? You have to just give up everything to them. And then they still won't be satisfied. And so it's a fool's errand to try to please these people. You've got to stand up to them. And that's what the Bible is showing us in this passage. Let's continue on with the story. So then the King of Israel, after he starts to realize there's no pleasing these people, then the King of Israel, in verse 7, called all the elders of the land and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeketh mischief. For he sent unto me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold, and I denied him not. And all the elders and all the people said unto him, hearken not unto him, nor consent. You know, what's funny is that today, a lot of the pastors are afraid to preach what's right because they think that the deacons or the people aren't going to be able to handle it. But you know, people can actually handle a lot more than these pastors think. If these pastors would actually just get up and preach the word of God in their pulpit, most people in the church would rally to their support. Oh, there'd be a few idiots that they'd have to deal with along the way. But the majority of God's people, with the Holy Spirit indwelling them, would respond to the preaching of God's word. If preachers would just get up and preach the truth, the church can handle it. People can handle it. Christians can handle it. It's not the people's fault. It's the leadership's fault. Everything rises and falls on leadership. If the leaders were there preaching God's word, God's people would respond to the preaching of God's word. But when you have a bunch of pastors that are afraid to preach, then yeah, OK, the people are going to follow that lead. And they're going to be cowardly as well. But you can't blame the people. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? OK, the chicken behind the pulpit is what came first. And then the people have followed his cowardly lead. That's what's going on. And all the elders and all the people said unto him, hearken not unto him, nor consent. You know, when he finally starts to halfway grow a backbone here, the people rally to him and say, don't give in to this. Stand up to this guy. Wherefore he sent into the messa- he sent, excuse me, verse 9, wherefore he said unto the messengers of Ben-Haded, tell my lord the king all that thou did send for to thy servant at the first I will do, but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed and brought him word again. See, here's what Ahab thinks. Ahab thinks that when you've begun to compromise with these people, you can somehow go backward now. You could be like, well, I know that we said we were going to allow the Sodomites to attend church. But, you know, we're going to draw the line at the transvestites using the wrong bathroom. We're going to do what you wanted at the first- you can't go back with these people. Once you give them a finger, they're ready to take the whole hand. OK, you cannot back off on this agenda. You have to just stop it in the first place dead in its tracks. OK? And so he says, well, you know, I'm willing to do what you wanted back in the 1990s. You know, I'm willing to do what you guys wanted back around the year 2000. I mean, you know, this isn't what you were saying in 2010. I'll do that. It's like, no, let's go all the way back to Sodom and Gomorrah. That's where we stand. Let's go back to the New Testament. Let's go back to, like, the 1600s America. How about that stance? Let's do that. But, you know, it's like, well, can we just roll it back to, like, the late 70s? No. You know, you better just get all the way on God's side because you're not going to be able to compromise with these people. It's all or nothing. And so in verse number 10, Ben Hadad sent unto him and said, the gods do so unto me and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me. Here's what he's saying. He's saying, I've got so many people on my side that basically if each of them, like, reached down and took a handful of dirt, you're going to run out of dirt. You're going to run out of dust. Like, there's more people with me than there are dual fistfuls of dust or topsoil or dirt in the whole country of Samaria. So he's just saying, like, I have so many people following me. You can't even believe how many people are following me. And here's the thing, this is always the devil's tactic to make you feel like you're alone and that everybody's on his side. So the devil wants to make you feel like you're this tiny fringe minority, when in reality, you're not. And so he just wants you to think everybody agrees with him, everybody's on his side. That's why there's so much censorship on our church and churches like us. This is why our YouTube channel gets deleted literally every week and we have to create a new one, OK? Because of the fact that the devil wants people to think that they're the only ones who think this way. And when someone like me or other pastors gets up and says what everybody's already been thinking, what everybody's already been feeling, that's a powerful message when it's from the word of God. And so it has such an impact. That's why the devil wants it silenced. But not only does he want to silence the truth so people don't even hear the truth, he also wants the people who believe the truth to feel like they're the only ones and feel like they're all alone. And he wants other pastors to think they're the only ones seeing this in scripture so that they'll be afraid to take a stand. So he wants to act like, oh, I just have so many people following me. I just have such a majority on my side. And so that's what he says. And the King of Israel answered, Ahab is such a lame, weak character in the Bible, but he has this one really cool quote. Every dog has his day, and Ahab has this one cool moment in the Bible where he gets to make this really cool statement where he says, tell him, let not him that girdeth on his harness boast as he that putteth it off. I say that all the time. I think that's such a great statement. And so good job, Ahab, for doing one thing right in your entire life. But he says, hey, this battle's not over yet. Don't be bragging like the battle's over when it hasn't even started yet. Don't be talking like the guy who takes off the harness after he has won a battle. Don't be talking like that when you're just putting on the harness, buddy. This hasn't even started yet. He's basically saying, I've not yet begun to fight, OK? And so when Ben-Haddad hears this, he's in the middle of drinking. And when people are drinking, obviously, they can be a little more hot-headed, hot-tempered. And it came to pass, verse 12, when Ben-Haddad heard this message as he was drinking, he and the kings and the pavilions that he said unto his servants, set yourselves in a ray, and they set themselves in a ray against the city. Part of the moral of the story is, don't make your battle plans when you're drunk, all right? But verse 13 says, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab, king of Israel, saying, thus saith the Lord, hast thou seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. And Ahab said, by whom? Who is going to fight this great army? And he said, thus saith the Lord, even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, who shall order the battle? And he answered, thou. Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and there were 232. So here's this innumerable multitude coming against them, led by 32 kings. And he's got these young men, these princes of the provinces, that are going to go out and fight against this incredible army, 232 guys, that are going to go against this army. And Ahab is the one that's supposed to lead this, and send them, and order the battle. And then it says, after them he numbered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being 7,000. Now, the Bible's not here saying that there are only 7,000 people in the whole country. It's saying that they're of all the children of Israel that are there to actually participate in this fight, not the princes of the provinces, these young nobility who are these presumably well-trained young princes that are their royalty, their nobility. So they spend their time working out. They spend their time learning how to fight. They know how to ride horses. They know swordsmanship. They probably know how to play chess and whatever. These guys are 232, but all of the guys that are available to fight, period, are 7,000 men. Now, that number should sound familiar to you. Because right before this, Elijah is told in Mount Horeb that God had reserved 7,000 men for him that had not bowed the knee to Baal. And so that's the 7,000 men that haven't bowed the knee to Baal. That's not just something that's just stated to make Elijah feel better. It's a particular group of 7,000 men that hadn't bowed the knee to Baal. There are probably more people than that that hadn't bowed the knee to Baal. But there were reserved for the Lord 7,000 men who had not bowed the knee to Baal that were the righteous remnant. And God's going to use those 7,000 men to defeat this innumerable multitude. And there are going to be these 232 princes of provinces. And ultimately, 7,000 men are going to fight. And so this should remind us from the previous chapter about the 7,000 that haven't bowed the knee to Baal. That's who God's going to use. So then it says in verse 17, the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first. So at first, it's just 232 guys. It's not the full 7,000. It's 232 men that approach these 32 kings and their armies that are in array and ready for battle. And Ben-Haddad sent out, and they told him, saying, there are men come out of Samaria. And don't miss verse 18. Verse 18 said, and he said, this is Ben-Haddad, whether they be come out for peace, take them alive, or whether they be come out for war, take them alive. Now, think about the pride in that statement. Think about the hubris of basically saying, well, even if these guys are coming to fight us, there's just not going to be a fight. Don't even kill them, because it's not even a battle. There's not even going to be a fight. It's just take them alive. These people are going to serve us no matter what. These people are going to be our prisoners. If they came out to fight against us, you're going to take them alive. If they came out for peace, you're going to take them alive. There will be no fight. This shows the overconfidence of the enemy. Now, why is the enemy so overconfident? Why do they just assume there's going to be no fight? Why do they just assume God's people are going to back down? They just assume that everybody is going to be taken prisoner, that everybody's going to surrender. Where is this assumption coming from? Well, in the story, if we just think about the literal situation, that assumption is coming from the fact that he's already done this 32 times. And he's had 32 kings that have surrendered to him, because he has 32 kings following him. Now, kings don't typically just like to just follow other guys. They're following him because they've surrendered to him, because they looked at his army and his setup, and they decided, we can't oppose Ben-Haddad. We don't want to oppose Ben-Haddad. We'd rather just give in. So he's had 32 kings give in to him. He comes to Samaria, he comes to Israel, he comes to King Ahab, and he thinks, what is this guy different than the other 32 guys? In fact, the other 32 guys probably had more troops, put up more opposition. He doesn't think Samaria is going to be a fight whatsoever. And today, the devil's minions have the same overconfidence because of the fact that so many people are constantly backing down to the evil of this world, and backing down when any persecution comes, or when the devil and his minions go after churches. So many churches back down and give in that that's what, at this point, the devil's crowd just assumes is going to happen. They just assume that's going to happen. I've been thinking about this a lot, not just because of the stupid month that we're in, but rather because our friend, Pastor Jonathan Shelley, I don't know if you guys know what's been going on with him, but he's been under attack. He's been under attack for a long time. This guy's never not under attack. But recently, he's been under some serious attack. I mean, even just in the mainstream national media now, he's being brought out. And my wife just pulled up just the basic Yahoo news feed, and there he was, right there. Dylan Oz, and Jonathan Shelley, and Steadfast Baptist Church, and oh, and by the way, Stephen Anderson. I was a little footnote at the bottom of that thing. But here's the thing, folks. Let me tell you something. When they are going after a man of God who stood up and preached the truth, and confronted them, and preached the word of God, it doesn't accomplish anything as long as he never backs down. As long as he stands up and doesn't back down, this actually backfires on them, because it just gets his message out to so many more people. And so many people are hearing this preaching. So many people are seeing these clips where the Bible is being preached. And sure, a bunch of brainwashed bozos are going to just, oh, man, can you believe this guy? But there are going to be a lot of people out there, 7,000 men, who have about the need of bail, that are going to say, hey, it's about time somebody started telling it like it is. Hey, I like this guy's style. And I can't even count how many times I've heard people say this over the years. And somebody recently, from what I heard, said it about Pastor Shelley of, there was a guy who had some podcast or something, wasn't even a Christian. And he said, I'm not even a Christian, but I like the way this guy preaches. I'll listen to this guy. Folks, that's how we bring people in, folks. Not everybody is going to be saved with compassion, although many people will be saved by compassion, of course. But some people, you save them with fear, pulling them out of the fire. The hard preaching reaches a certain demographic. Yeah, there are people out there that are reached by a more gentle approach. And I'm for the gentle approach. We go out every week and knock doors, and we use a gentle approach. But some people are reached by the swift kick in the pants of hard preaching on YouTube and all over the media, being redounded by these media outlets. And so these people, by going after him and attacking him, as long as he doesn't back down, as long as he stands his ground, it accomplishes nothing for them. It's just another brick in a huge wall of media propaganda. It's meaningless in the scheme of things. But it's actually getting the truth out to a lot of people. And the truth is very powerful. And it only takes a little bit of the truth getting out to undo a lot of the brainwashing that they've been doing. So then the question becomes, why would they go after him? Why attack him? If it only helps him get his message out, why attack him? I believe it's because they've become so overconfident, because usually 99 times out of 100, when they go after somebody, that person backs down. I mean, let's say it's a Hollywood person, an athlete, a politician, a singer. When they get attacked by these people, they're just falling all over themselves to apologize. And even pastors and religious leaders, if they accidentally step in it and say something that's not politically correct, man, they're just falling all over themselves to apologize. And so they're like Ben Heydad, where they're just assuming, we don't care whether this guy wants to fight us or not. There's not going to be a fight. We automatically win, so take them alive. That's their attitude. They just think that they've already won. They think there's not going to be a fight. You see, when somebody actually stands up to these people, they're shocked by it. Because it's so rare. Because 32 times in a row, people back down. They're shocked when the 33rd time somebody actually draws a line in the sand and says no. This is not what they expected. And we've been through this as a church. Here at Faithful Word Baptist Church, we were attacked pretty hard back in 2009 and 10. And then we had a few quiet years. And then they really started hitting us hard. I believe it was like 2014 is when they really went after us. And the early part of 2015 was when it reached a crescendo that time around. But then by the spring of 2015, they literally held a press conference and said, we're all going to stop. We're making a pact to stop talking about Faithful Word Baptist Church. We're going to stop talking about Pastor Anderson. We're canceling the protests. We're not going to protest him. We're not going to put him in the news. Because they said, you're just getting his message out. But see, it took them a while to figure that out because of the fact that they're just so used to people caving in. And see, if I would have caved into them, that helps their agenda. Because when you see mighty men around you falling, then basically you give up hope yourself, don't you? Oh, well, if that guy's surrendering, and that guy's surrendering, and that path's surrendering, when you see everybody else giving in, then you're likely to give in too. So that's what they want. They want everybody to see the athletes, the actors, the singers, realizing, hey, don't cross us or we'll bring you to your knees and destroy you. And so when somebody stands up to them, though, that backfires on them. And so eventually they started just realizing, you know, this guy, we're not getting anywhere with this guy. We're not going to get anywhere with this guy. We've been doing this for years. It's not working. The smartest thing would be to just ignore him. And so what's the situation with our church now is that now it's just our preaching and everything we do is just suppressed so that it doesn't show up on YouTube, so that it's not showing up on social media. Because the best thing that we can do, you know, to Pastor Anderson is just ignore him and just not give him any attention and just hide him and just change the algorithm, delete the channel, just figure out a way to do that, you know? But why are they going after Pastor Shelley? It's because they are overconfident, OK? And it's because Texas is just the worst place and Arizona is just better, OK? Texas is just more of a Sodom and Gomorrah than Arizona is. And you know, it's funny. I'm joking when I say that, except it's true, though. It literally is, which is funny because it's supposedly like the Bible Belt. Christian, Republican, conservative America. But ironically, those fake Christian places are worse and persecute real Christians more, unfortunately. Because if the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness? And so, you know, what I told Pastor Shelley was just, hey, hang in there, resist the devil, and he'll flee from you. I told him, this isn't going to go on forever. This isn't going to last forever. I've been there. I've done it. Eventually, they back off. Eventually, once they realize that you're not going to give an inch. Now, if you start to give in a little bit, well then, now, that emboldens them, doesn't it? OK, you can have my wife. You can have my kids. You can have the silver or gold. You're emboldening them. But if you stand your ground and don't give them an inch, if you're not careful to answer them concerning these matters, if you just let her rip from the pulpit, eventually they will realize they're wasting their time on you, and they're just getting your message out more. So it's this mentality that says, oh, they come out to fight. We'll just take them alive. We can just do whatever we want with these people. We don't even have to try. We don't even have to work. We don't even have to fight. We can just take them prisoner. And it's this overconfidence that ends up destroying them. Because it says the young men, verse 19, of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army which followed them, that's the 7,000 guys that are a little bit behind, and they slew everyone as man. Because at the end of the day, even though it's this giant army over here, and you've got 232 guys over here, at the end of the day, in the melee, the combat becomes one-on-one at some point. And so it gets to a one-on-one combat. And the 232 guys, they're all in the very initial, just very beginning of the battle, just boom, they all win. Now, this is obviously not something that would normally happen statistically, but this is the Lord giving them the victory. And so they supernaturally are given the victory by God to where all 232 of these guys kill one of the enemy. So 232 casualties are immediately inflicted on the enemy. Now, this is a drop of water on a hot stove on such a huge enemy, but they're not used to losing. They're not used to seeing this kind of boldness, and they're not used to being defeated in this way. And so it says, they slew every man as man, and Israel pursued them. So now they're on the run. Now they're retreating. And Ben-Hadad, the king of Assyria, escaped on a horse with the horsemen. And the king of Israel went out and smote the horses and chariots and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter. And so they win by standing their ground. The 7,000 men that haven't bowed the knee to Baal win. Now, go if you were to Luke chapter 21. Luke chapter 21, this is another scripture that I was thinking about in conjunction with these things. Luke chapter 21, and Luke chapter 21 is about the end times. It's that famous Olivet Discourse. And of course, it has relevance to events that took place in the first century AD, but it also has a lot of prophetic significance for the future, for the end times. And so we pair this up with Matthew 24 and Mark 13. And these three chapters are parallel with one another. And so in Luke 21, that's the context that we're talking about, end times persecution. And it talks about in verse 11, great earthquakes shall be in diverse places and famines and pestilences and fearful sites and great signs shall there be from heaven. So there's going to be a lot of supernatural cataclysms in the end times. But he says, but before this, it says in verse number 12, but before all these, they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into the prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate before what you shall answer, for I'll give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to gain say nor resist. What's he saying? He's saying, you know what? Don't sit there and worry about it and script what you're going to say and sit there like a politician crafting some perfect answer for the media that's going to make them happy or shut them up. He's saying, just don't even worry about it. You're going to be persecuted. They're going to go after you. They're going to confront you. They're going to question you. And you know what? Just say what's on your mind, just because God's going to lead you. If you're saved, you've got the Holy Spirit, you're standing up for truth, just get up there and just tell it like it is. Speak from the heart. Don't be careful to answer them concerning these things. He says, settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate before what you shall answer, for I'll give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to gain say nor resist. Verse 16, and ye shall be betrayed both by parents and brethren and kinsfolk and friends. And some of you shall they cause to be put to death. There are going to be martyrs for the cause of Christ. But let me tell you something. Most Christians, most of us, are never going to be a martyr for Christ. It's not like being a Christian is just a guaranteed martyrdom. That's not what the Bible teaches. In fact, the vast majority of the time, God's people are delivered from the hands of the enemy, delivered from the hands of the persecutors. Now, the exception is the martyrdom. Guys like Stephen, OK? Stephen got martyred. That's the exception, not the rule. Most of the Christians, most of the apostles, most of the leaders are going on for decades and decades and teaching and preaching God's word. You got James in the book of Acts. You got Stephen in the book of Acts. But that's only the sum. Not many, not most. The Bible says in Revelation chapter 2, verse 10, behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison. It's not that when you get up and preach the Bible as a Baptist pastor, you're going to prison. That's not true. Only some will go to prison. The majority are not going to go to prison. The majority are not going to be killed for the cause of Christ. And I'm talking about guys that are really preaching God's word and holding nothing back. It's not like, well, if you really let it rip, you're going to prison. If you really preach it like it is, you're going to be killed for the cause of Christ. People have often said to me, pastor, I believe in the tribulation. You're going to be one of the first ones to get smoked if it happens in our lifetime. And I totally disagree with that. Now, if I get to be like the biblical Stephen, where I'm the first one to get smoked when things go down, then, you know, amen. It is what it is, right? It's an honor. But I don't believe that for one second. I think the chances of that are very slim. In fact, I believe that if Christ returns in my lifetime, I will survive all the way until the rapture. That's what I think. Now, I don't really have any authority to base that on. I didn't get some kind of a vision or premonition. Because first of all, we don't even know if this is even going to happen in our lifetime. But my friend, I believe that chances are I will be alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord. And I will not even see physical death if it happens in our lifetime. That's my opinion. Why? Because the majority of people that serve God and do what's right don't end up getting martyred. So that's where the odds lie for me, as one who's standing up and faithfully preaching God's word and boldly praying. And you say, well, are you going to go hide during it? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Now, I would, if they persecute you in this city, the Bible says, flee into another. You know, it's possible that I would relocate in a situation like that. But I'm not going to hide. Not going to stop soul winning. I'm not going to stop preaching the word of God. Not going to. That's not an option. But we don't want to get this attitude that everybody dies. Everybody goes to prison. That is not true. OK? Some of you will be cast in prison. Some of you shall they cause to be put to death. OK? So think about that statement. Some of you. But right before that, he said, ye shall be betrayed both by parents and brethren and kinsfolk and friends. You know, that seems to be something that's going to happen. And you know, the Bible does say, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So is every single person going to suffer persecution if they live as a godly Christian? Yes. But it's only a little minority that are going to go to prison or be killed. But everybody who serves God, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. You know, and Jesus said, if the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. Marvel not, my brother. And he said, if the world hates you. Marvel not if the world hates you. Don't be surprised. Don't be shocked by the fact that the world will hate you. OK? He says that they hate you because you're not of the world just like I'm not of the world. You know, they hated Christ. And by the way, he said, they called the master of the house Beelzebub. How much more should they call them of his household? He's saying the disciples not above his master. The servants not above his Lord. If they hated me, they'll hate you. If they kept my saying, they'll keep your saying. And so I believe scripture is clear in the New Testament that one thing you're not going to escape as a Christian is hatred and persecution from the reprobates and wicked people of this world. It's going to happen. Is prison going to happen? Probably not. Possibly, but probably not. The chances are slim. Being killed for the cause of Christ, it's a great honor, but chances are slim. What about persecution and hatred? Yeah, it's going to happen. Betrayal, people stabbing you in the back, it will happen. Now, there's a verse that comes up a couple of verses later that's kind of a strange verse here that at first blush can be a little confusing because he says at the end of verse 16, some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And then the next statement is, and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. Notice he doesn't say some of you are going to be hated. He just says you're going to be hated of all men for my name's sake. But look at verse 18. This is the strange verse. But there shall not a hair of your head perish. Now, that's a little odd in light of verse 16. You know, when verse 16 says to us, some of you are going to die. And then he turns around verse 18 and says, not a hair of your head is going to perish. Now, that seems a little odd at first, doesn't it? Especially in light of the fact that he's talking to his disciples. And one of those disciples is James. And James is going to be killed by the sword about halfway through the book of Acts. And so one of these guys, for sure, the hair of his head is getting touched. But see, I believe that the right way to interpret this is to interpret verses 17, 18, and 19 as one unit, OK? So in verse 16, he lets us know, look, there are going to be some people martyred. There are going to be the Stevens. There are going to be the Jameses that get martyred. Some of you will be put to death. But then, speaking generally, you're going to be hated of all men for my name's sake. But there shall not a hair of your head perish in your patient's possession of your souls. I think what he's saying here is that someone hating you doesn't actually physically hurt you. Somebody hating me doesn't even harm a hair on my head. I think what he's teaching here is that sticks and stones may break your bones, but people hating you will never hurt you. Social media comments will never hurt you. Having banks not want to do business with you or PayPal, shut down your account, being sent to Facebook jail, not a hair of your head will perish from being sent to Facebook jail or having someone talk bad about you or betray you or hate you. I think there are two kinds of people. There are the people that are in the minority who do actually get beaten, sent to prison, killed for the cause of Christ. And then there are those who are just hated and betrayed and spoken against. And people say all manner of evil against them falsely for Christ's sake. But you know, not a hair of their head is going to perish. They're fine. And what is he saying? Not a hair of your head shall perish. Isn't that a reassurance? If I said to someone, not a hair of your head shall perish, I'm reassuring you. I'm setting your mind at ease. He's saying, OK, yeah, some people are going to be killed. Yeah. But you know, you guys are all going to be hated. But not a hair of your head is going to perish. In that context, I believe is what he's saying. In that context of being hated of all men, not a hair of your head is going to perish. Therefore, in patience possess ye your souls. You see, your physical body isn't harmed by the hate of the reprobates out there. And so because your physical body is not harmed by that hatred, the thing that is vulnerable is the soul. And he's saying, in your patience possess ye your souls. He's saying, you know, you need to patiently endure the persecution on the inside. You're not going to be defeated on the outside. You're not going to be killed. You're not going to be physically stopped from preaching the word of God in the vast majority of cases, unless you're the some people in verse 16. But the vast majority of the time you're not, you're going to be defeated from the inside. It's your soul that's going to be defeated, not a hair of your head. It's not going to be a physical assault that stops you. It's going to be you fainting in your mind. You know, Jesus said that we are to run with patience the race that is set before us, and not to be wearied and faint in our minds. You know, and I use this running illustration before. You know, very few people really run until they drop. I mean, we've all, you know, if I asked the question, who's ever run until you just couldn't run anymore? You know, virtually everybody would put up their hand, unless they know where I'm going with this. You know, virtually everyone would raise their hand and say, yeah, I've ran until I just couldn't run any further. But you know, you really could have run a little bit further, couldn't you? Because of the fact that it's your mind that told you we're done here. You fainted in your mind, OK? And so the point is that we, as Christians, need to possess our souls in patience, knowing that we're going to be OK. God's in control. God's watching over us. God has the very hairs of our head numbered. You know, you say, why bring up the hairs of our head? Because Jesus taught earlier that the hairs of our head are numbered. So what's the Bible saying? Well, not a hair of your head is going to perish. Some of you bald guys are like, you know, man, where are you at, God? You know, what's going on? What did I do to deserve this? But the point is, you know, God is saying a hair of your head is not going to perish. He's basically saying, like, I've got your back. I know the hairs of your head are numbered. I can protect you. And these people can't do anything to you unless I allow it, OK? I've got your back. And so we just need to take care of the inside. God can protect us physically on the outside, but we have to protect our minds and our souls and our hearts from being worn down by these people. And the key is patience. Like I brought out earlier, you know, they came after us hard. And, you know, I don't remember if they did in 2013 or not. But, you know, 2014 and 15, they were really coming after us hard. And it was just something where you just had to be patient. And you just had to get through it and hang in there. And a lot of people will bail out on a good church during that time. But if they just would have been patient, it'll all be over. Here's what I'll close on this thought, OK? Here's what I've noticed in my life about myself. And maybe you're the same way. Whenever I'm going through something hard, it feels never-ending. And, I mean, you know, you could call me a big baby about this. But it seems like every time I get a cold or the flu or corona or whatever, it seems like whenever I get sick, I just feel like I'm never going to be well again. Who feels that way sometimes? You just feel like. And then it's like even when you get over the sickness, you don't quite feel yourself. You still have the lingering fatigue. And I just kind of feel like I'm never going to have energy again. I'm never going to be well again. You know, or let's say you get injured somehow. You know, you pull a muscle or something or, you know, I don't know, whatever, the injury, tendinitis. And you just feel like this is just who I am now. You know, I just have a permanent tendinitis. And it's just never going to go away. It's just never going to be healed. I'm never going to be able to do the stuff I want to do. You know, that's the way you feel. And that's the way it is when you have relationship problems, financial problems. You're going through persecution. You're going through a hard time at your job. You kind of just feel like it's just endless. And you just feel like it'll never be over. And this is why people despair in their lives because they feel like whatever problem they're going through right now is just never going to end. And maybe you're going through a physical ailment right now. Maybe you're going through financial problems, relationship problems, problems with your kids, problem with your parents, problems with whatever. And you just feel like it's just never going to end. But here's what I've learned is that it always does. Always does end, every sickness ends, every injury. And you know what's funny is that whenever you look back, it was like a short period of time. And it just felt like forever. I remember when I moved to Indiana to go to Bible college and I had a hard time finding a job. And I couldn't find a job. And it was just like endless, not having a job. And I'm just out there all day, every day looking for a job. And so then months later, I was telling people and in my wife's presence, I would tell people like, man, when I got here, I had no job for three weeks. Three weeks of no job, it was torture. I was looking for a job for three weeks. And finally my wife said to me, she's like, why do you keep saying that? Like, why do you keep saying three weeks? I'm like, because it was three weeks? She's like, it wasn't three weeks. There's no way it was three weeks. I'm like, it was three weeks, at least. But then it was like, I, but then I, you know, I started getting out the hard evidence of looking at like, when I moved into my house there and looking at the calendar and looking at work orders and when I got hired and just looking at the hard evidence. And I was literally without a job for one week. But I was not exaggerating or lying. I literally believed that it was three weeks. It was like, I just built it up in my mind and gotten confused. And somehow I'd mixed up some numbers and gotten confused. I thought it was three weeks. And it wasn't until I actually looked at the evidence and was confronted with facts, like this did not last three weeks. And same way with these endless sicknesses that were like a week, these endless tendonitis. It was like five weeks or something, you know, just endless things. You know what? Things end. You say, well, you don't understand. This has been going on for years. You know, one time I had a physical injury that I was sure it will never be fixed. And this was a serious thing, you know? And I've talked about this before. You might've already heard this one before. Just, we're almost done. Hang in there. But you know, my middle finger of my right hand used to just like pop out of joint multiple times a day. And it was very painful. And it bugged me every single day. It made it really hard for me to play the piano. It made it so that I had no grip. So I couldn't really do pull-ups. I couldn't really do certain workouts at the gym because I just had a horrible grip. I could never do any monkey bars or anything. And it was just constantly an irritation, pain every day for 10 years. This went on for 10 years. And so for 10 years, for 365 times 10, right, 3,650 days of my stupid finger popping. And it got to where it wasn't as painful because it had just done it so many times. But it still, it hurt. It was annoying. It was definitely something that bugged me. And I even told people sometimes, man, if there's just one thing I could fix about my life, it would be my finger. Seriously, like of all the problems in my life, this is the one I would fix. And for 10 years, I had this thorn in my side and it bothered me so much for 10 years. I'd be playing the piano, which I rarely play the piano, but don't tell people that like my piano books. But anyway, I rarely play the piano. But when I'm at a church, when I'm visiting a church, sometimes they don't have a piano player, then I always jump in and do it. And I'd be playing the piano. I'd literally be like this, pop, pop. Usually like twice a stanza, I would have to pop it back into place. And it irritated me. So after 10 years, I had totally given up all hope on this. I'd talked to a few doctors. I just totally gave up on it. It just will never be normal. One day I just had the craziest idea of how to fix it. I was just like, I was so angry. It just, it was just like the straw that broke, it just, ah! Finally, they popped out of joint. I was just so mad that I just looked at it. I was like, okay, you know, you want to be like that? Is that where you want to be? Then just stay there. Fine. You want to be in this stupid out of joint position? Fine, stay there. So I just left it there and it hurt. And it just kind of ached. And I just wanted so bad to put it back to normal. And it just like ached and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, I just left it there. And then like, then I was out soul winning like a day or two later of it just being left in the wrong position. I'm out soul winning like a couple of days later and it popped into the right position and then into the wrong position again. And because it had been sitting in the wrong, it was just like, I almost like screamed in the middle of this neighborhood where I was soul winning. It was so painful. Cause I had gotten to where it was manageable. Just kind of like, ooh, ah, you know, every day. But this was like, because it had been sitting in that other, it was like, ah, you know, I had to like go like not to just yell out in the middle of this neighborhood soul winning. But I just, I persisted though. I'm like, no, I'm going to continue this experiment. I persisted with it. And after a few weeks, it started to feel normal in that position. And after a few weeks, it just, it just healed in the new wrong position. It just healed that way. And then eventually it just started feeling totally normal. And right now, look at this. I can just, I have full use of my right hand. I can make a fist. I can just do this. I would have never been able to do this for 10 years from around 2009 to 2019. I couldn't do this. I could not make a fist and open it again. Just that simple act I could not do because it would pop it. It would be very painful. If you, even on old videos of preaching, you'll sometimes see me like fixing it. And so, you know, I don't know what the moral of that particular story is as far as like how to fix things. I'm not giving you medical advice because I don't know what that, I don't know how that worked. I don't know what, and then I felt like an idiot. Like, man, I should have done this like five years ago. All the wasted years. But I was just so thankful to ever get it fixed. But here's all that to say this, that this is the moral, is that even something in your life that you feel like will never be fixed, you never know what God's gonna do because that, I mean, that seemed pretty unlikely. If 10 years later it's not fixed at all, wouldn't you just kind of give up at that point? I had totally given up. But yet God in his mercy answered my prayers. The one thing that I wanted to fix about my life more than anything else, God answered my prayer and fixed it. Now, I'm not saying God's gonna fix it tomorrow. Maybe God will fix it 10 years from now. But be patient, my friend. Hang in there whatever you're going through. Don't back down. Don't quit on God. Don't give up on prayer. Don't give up on the Lord. And look, when I say don't give up on prayer, I'm not saying you just keep praying every day the same thing, you know, because you don't want it to be a vain repetition. God already knows. I'm just saying have faith that God heard your prayer and have faith that God's gonna do it for you. And that God, and if he doesn't, there's a reason, you know. And I often wondered what are the reasons why I've been tortured with this for all these years. And I wondered, you know, I don't know, maybe it was, you know, there were just certain activities that I couldn't do. And maybe I just wasn't, maybe God just didn't want me to play piano that much. You know, or just God didn't want me to do that many monkey bars or whatever. I don't know. It was for this sermon today. I've trained my whole life. Yeah, I suffered for 10 years to bring you this message. So if you don't like it, I'm sorry, but this is the best I could do. All right, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Lord, we thank you so much for your word, Lord God. Help us to stand our ground, Lord. Help us not to negotiate with wickedness, to negotiate with the devil and his minions, Lord. Help us to stand firm, to resist the devil that he might flee from us, Lord. And help us to possess our souls and patience, even if we're hated, even if we're persecuted, even if we're going through hard things. For your name's sake, Lord, help us to hang in there and realize that weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Lord, help us to possess our souls and patience, knowing that those who hate on us and nash on us with their teeth, they can't even touch a hair of our head without you allowing it, Lord, and their hatred does absolutely nothing to hurt us, Lord. Help us to deal with the inside, and in Jesus' name we.