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🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Good morning everybody. Welcome to our services today here at Faith Ford Baptist Church. It's good to see you all here. If you would please take your seats and find the hymnal close by. Please turn them to hymn number 389. Hymn number 389, bring them in. Number 389. Sing it out on that first verse. Hymn number 389 sing it out on that first verse. Hymn number 389 sing it out on that first verse. Bring them in, bring them in. Bring them in from the fields of sin. Bring them in, bring them in. Bring the wandering ones to Jesus. Oh, Lord, help this shepherd find. Help him, the wandering ones, to find. Oh, bring the lost ones to the fold. Where the children love the cold. Bring them in, bring them in. Bring them in from the fields of sin. Bring them in, bring them in. Bring the wandering ones to Jesus. Out in the desert hear their cry. Out on the mountains wild and high. Hark! There's a master speaks to thee. Go find my sheep, wherever they be. Bring them in, bring them in. Bring them in from the fields of sin. Bring them in, bring them in. Bring the wandering ones to Jesus. Amen. Lord, thank you for this day. Lord, please be with Pastor Mejia, and be with Faithful Word as well, Lord, and please open our hearts to your preaching. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Over to hymn number 257. 257, Look and Live. I have a message from the Lord, number 257. Sing it out on this first verse together with me. I have a message from the Lord, hallelujah. The message unto you I give. It is reported in his word, hallelujah. It is only that you look and live. Look and live, my brother, live. Look to Jesus now and live. It is reported in his word, hallelujah. It is only that you look and live. I have a message full of love, hallelujah. A message from my friend for you. Just a message from above, hallelujah. Jesus said, and if you don't it's true. Look and live, my brother, live. Look to Jesus now and live. It is reported in his word, hallelujah. It is only that you look and live. Life is offered unto you, hallelujah. Eternal life the soul shall have. If you'll only look to him, hallelujah. Look to Jesus who the Lord can save. Look and live, my brother, live. Look to Jesus now and live. It is reported in his word, hallelujah. It is only that you look and live. I will tell you how I came, hallelujah. To Jesus when he made me whole. Was believing on his name, hallelujah. I trusted and he saved my soul. Look and live, my brother, live. Look to Jesus now and live. It is reported in his word, hallelujah. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. It is only that you look and live. Out on Zion, and thou shalt see The good of Jerusalem All the days of our lives In thou shalt see thy true strength And peace upon Israel Turn to hymn number 309. Number 309, Dare to be a Daniel. Number 309, let's sing it out on that verse. Standing by a purpose, truth, number 309. Standing by a purpose, truth, Maybe God's command On earth and the faithful To all hell to Daniel's hand Dare to be a Daniel Dare to stand alone Dare to have a purpose for earth Dare to make it known Many mighty men are lost Daring not to stand Who for God have been a host By joining Daniel's men Dare to be a Daniel Dare to stand alone Dare to have a purpose for earth Dare to make it known Many giants, straight and tall Stalking through the land Where the pure new earth would fall If met by Daniel's band Dare to be a Daniel Dare to stand alone Dare to have a purpose for earth Dare to make it known Hold the gospel banner high On to victory grand Daring not to stand Who for God have been a host By joining Daniel's band Dare to be a Daniel Dare to stand alone Dare to have a purpose for earth Dare to make it known Thank you for singing this morning. Alright, this time we'll pass off the plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to 2 Corinthians 12. 2 Corinthians 12. As we always do, we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1. Follow along silently with brother Daniel as he reads. 2 Corinthians chapter number 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and to revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago. Whether in the body, I cannot tell. Or whether out of the body, I cannot tell. God knoweth. Such a one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man. Whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. God knoweth. How that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words Which is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one will I glory. Yet of myself I will not glory, but in my infirmities. For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool. For I will say the truth, but now I forbear. Lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be. Or that he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations. There is given to me a thorn in the flesh. The messenger of Satan to buffet me. Lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord through I am. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice. That it might depart from me. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities. That the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities. In reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. When I am weak, then I am strong. I am become a fool in glorying. Ye have compelled me, for I ought to have been commended of you. For nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. True the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience. In signs and wonderings and mighty deeds. For what is it wherein you were inferior to other churches? Except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you. Forgive me this wrong. Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be burdensome to you. For I seek not yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you. Though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. But be it so, I did not burden you. Nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile. Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you? I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? Walk we not in the same spirit? Walk we not in the same steps? Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? We speak before God in Christ. But we do all things, dearly beloved, for you are edifying. For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not. Lest there be debates, envings, wraths, strives, backbiting, whisperings, swellings, tumult. And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed. Brother Madison, will you pray for us? Father in Heaven, we thank you for the opportunity to be gathered in your house today. We thank you for the Bible, the Word of God. We ask now that you would fill our pastor, Pastor Anderson, and give him boldness and wisdom as he preaches the Word of God. And Lord, help us to attend unto your Word and to seek to learn knowledge today from you. We ask your blessing now on this time. In Jesus' name, Amen. Man, the title of my sermon this morning is Persecution is a Blessing. Persecution is a blessing. The Bible reads there in verse number 10, Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong. The apostle Paul here says, I take pleasure in persecution. And lest you maybe think that this is just him exaggerating or using hyperbole, other places in the Bible teach this exact same concept. Christ talked about this many times. I believe that Paul is being quite literal here when he says, I take pleasure in persecutions. I'm glad to get persecuted. Now, the reason I'm preaching on this sermon is that, of course, on Friday night, late Friday night, our friend, Pastor Bruce Mejia at First Works Baptist Church over in Los Angeles, California, had a bomb set off in his church. He actually bombed his church in the middle of the night. The explosion blew all the windows out and they just completely graffitied and destroyed the building and then blew it up from the inside. And, of course, this didn't just come out of nowhere. It's not that this was unexpected because over the last two weeks straight, the filthy sodomites have been outside of his church at service times. They've been protesting, harassing his church members with a megaphone. They're blasting heavy metal music outside trying to disrupt the service. They had planned this morning to actually do a drag queen beauty contest outside of the front of his church this morning, but since the building was blown up, you know, that's been canceled. Now, here's the thing. I'm looking at this and the first I heard about this was early Saturday morning. I got a text message from Pastor Mejia, you know, before this had hit the news or anything just when it had just happened and he said, hey, you know, they bombed our church building. I'm here with the FBI, the bomb squad and the police and whatever. But he actually, in fact, let me just read you the message exactly because I want to get this right. This is really multimedia preaching here. Here's what he said. Hi, pastor, they blew up our church. Oh, there it is. And, you know, the reason we can laugh about this is because persecution is a blessing, amen? But anyway, let me try to get my composer here so I can actually read this. It says, hi, pastor, they blew up our church. I'm here with the FBI and bomb squad. And, you know, the first thought that I had when I saw that, you know, you get up in the morning and you read that. My first thought was, well, they didn't really blow up his church, they just blew up the building. That was my first thought was just, well, you didn't blow up your church, they just blew up the building. And here's the thing about that. At least now that the building was blown up, the children won't have to be subjected to the filth and garbage that they were supposed to be subjected to today, what they were planning on having this filthy show outside of the church so that all the people going into the church. And make no mistake about it, these people are a bunch of freak pedophiles and they want kids to see this stuff. Because if you remember back in 2016 when Verity Baptist was going through this, on the news, the guy literally says on the news, we're hoping that children will see this on their way into church and that seeds would be planted in their mind. You guys remember that? It's what they said, verbatim. Why? Because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. And that's what these people want to do. And I'm thinking to myself, you know, at least now that the building's blown up, now they can have church in peace. Because now they're just meeting at a different location and there's going to be no drag queens and sodomite freaks and trannies out there. Hey, it's a win-win. It's just a building. And you know what? Every single building on this world is going to be gone someday. All of them. This building we're sitting in is going to be gone. But I'm re-preaching my sermon from last Sunday. So I don't want to go off on that cake about how everything's temporary because you could just listen to last week's sermon for that. But Paul said, I take pleasure in persecutions. Let's look at a lot more scripture on this. Luke chapter 6. And while you're turning to Luke chapter 6, I'm going to read for you from Acts chapter 5 verse 40. And to him they agreed, and when they had called the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing. They just got beaten, folks. They just got flogged. They got literally caned and whipped. And it says they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. That was the reaction to being beaten. And daily in the temple and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Look at Luke chapter 6 verse 22. This is a famous passage. Luke 6 22, blessed are ye when men shall hate you and when they shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy. And lest you think he's just saying figuratively, he says, no, no, leap for joy. Leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner did their father under the prophets. And you know, whenever I see this phrase leap for joy, I always think of back in the 80s, that ad campaign for Toyota. You know, I love what you do for me, Toyota. And then they like, you know what I'm talking about? They freeze the guy. Who knows what I'm talking about? But you want to know what's funny? I actually kind of did love what Toyota did for me, but Toyota actually hates me personally, it turns out. There was an article in the London Times a few years ago about how Toyota pulled all their advertising off of YouTube because they said in the article that their ads ran on a Stephen Anderson video. And so Toyota said, we don't want our ads running on Stephen Anderson's videos, and so they literally pulled all advertising from YouTube. It was an article, I have the article clipping in my office somewhere, so that's why I'm driving a Ford now, amen? But I used to have a Toyota. But you know what? Here's the thing, but when Toyota persecutes me, if Toyota says, hey, we're going to pull all our advertising, and guess what that resulted in? Toyota and other companies pulled their advertising from YouTube because of moi and others, and then guess what? Now YouTube did. YouTube deleted my channel. And you know what? I still say, I love what you do for me, Toyota, because when I get persecuted, I'm going to leap for joy. I still love what Toyota does for me, because Toyota earns me rewards in heaven. This message has been brought to you in part by Toyota. And just to be clear, I never run any ads on any of my videos. None of my videos have ever been monetized, but what it is is other people upload my preaching and they monetize it. And I'm all for other people monetizing my preaching on their channel. It's just something that I don't do. You know, I don't run any ads and never have, but other people do, and I think it's great for people to upload my videos and run ads, especially because the way the algorithm works now, if you run ads on the videos, you get more views because YouTube makes more money. That's another story. So look what the Bible says in verse 26. It says, woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets. He's saying, look, woe unto you when everybody likes you, but he says, blessed are you, in verse 22, when men shall hate you. Blessed are you when they shall separate you from their company. Blessed are you when they reproach you. Blessed are you when they cast out your name as evil for the Son of Man's sake, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy. And look, he's not even saying rejoice about it later. Hey, someday you'll look back and rejoice. He said, no, rejoice the same day it happens. Rejoice the same day it happens. Look, Job lost everything, and you know what he did? He said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. But it also says that the Lord, it also says that Job worshiped the Lord in that day. He worshiped the Lord, and he praised God. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And the Bible says here, rejoice in that day, because it's like, oh, is it too soon to rejoice? Nope. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for great is your reward in heaven. Flip over if you went to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5's parallel passage is a similar sermon. Luke 6 is known as the Sermon on the Plain. Matthew 5 is part of the Sermon on the Mount. And these are parallel passages where Jesus covers a lot of the same subject matter. Look at Matthew chapter 5 verse 11. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Now, why would they bomb his church building? You know, why did they bomb the building? Of course, he's preaching the Word of God, which includes preaching against feminism, which includes preaching against the Sodomites, which includes preaching against abortion, which includes preaching against false religions and whatever else. And specifically, it was a bunch of fags and weirdos that were offended, and they've been petitioning the mayor to try to get him thrown out of town, as if the mayor has the power to do that, as if the mayor has the power to shut churches down. They somehow think, why won't the mayor do something? Because mayors can't just shut down businesses they don't like. But, you know, they're petitioning, and they had a change.org petition with 14,000 signatures, you know, get Pastor Mejia out of El Monte, California. And, you know, they had all this stuff. And I'll tell you what they're trying to accomplish. It's terrorism by every definition of the world. It's a terrorist, because what is terrorism? You know, terrorism is setting off a bomb or doing some other act of violence in order to scare people into giving you what you want. And I'll tell you what these people want. They want preachers to shut up. They want preachers to stop preaching hard against homos. They want preachers to tone down their message today against the so-called LGBTQ, which I say stands for Let God Burn Them. But here's the thing. They say that we're preaching hate and we need to be stopped. So they blow up the building because here's what they want to happen. They want other preachers to see that and be scared. That's what they want. That's the goal. Now the thing that's so stupid about this is that he didn't even own that building. It reminds me of the guy who lost the axe head in 2 Kings and he says, Alas, for it was borrowed. It's not even his building. He's renting the building. But you know what? Other churches do own a building. And they've got their fancy building with the high steeple and the few people and they're afraid of what's going to happen to their property. And so it has a chilling effect. Basically, here's the way I see it. All the wimpy preachers who were afraid to preach what the Bible actually said, now they're going to preach it even less. But you know what? The guys who were actually preaching right, they're going to preach even harder. But I'll tell you the goal of bombing the church building is to scare people into silence because they want preachers to look at that and say, Well, I better not preach that message or I'm going to be next. I'm going to lose my building and so I better just keep my head down and just not say anything. But it's the job to say something. And you know, one thing I said to Pastor Mejia when I talked to him that morning, I guess it was yesterday morning, when I talked to him, I said to him, I said, Hey, this is what you signed up for when you became a pastor. And here's what he said to me. He said, No, this is what I signed up for when I became a Christian. That's the right answer. Amen. This is what you signed up for when you became a Christian. Because the Bible says, Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. It didn't even just say all pastors. It said all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. He said, Oh, it's bad news. No, it's good news because persecution is a blessing. Rejoice when you're persecuted. The Bible says in verse 12, Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. See, if pastors were smart and they actually believed the word of God, you know what, they'd all be thundering forth against the Sodomites this morning saying, Let me get a piece of the action. I don't want Brother Mejia to get all the rewards. I want to get in on some of this action. But see, that actually only makes sense when you actually believe the Bible, you know, and aren't a coward. To a coward that makes no sense because their goal is just to basically just coast and not make any waves and keep their head down and just kind of shut up and do what they're told. But what does the Bible say in verse 13? Yea, the salt of the earth, but if the salt had lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? And here's the thing about salt. When you put salt into an open wound, it doesn't feel good, does it? And guess what? Our country today is like an open, infected wound. We are a one big, infected wound on this planet. And then basically preachers are putting salt on the wound, but that's the job. It says, You're the salt of the earth, but if the salt had lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It sends forth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and to give it light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. So the answer is not to take the light of the word and put it under a bushel so we don't get bombed. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says, Hey, rejoice in persecution. Isn't it interesting that the next thing he says, he says, Rejoice in persecution, stay salty, and don't put the light under a bushel. Now that actually makes logical sense why we would flow from A to B to C there. Because when you get persecuted, it makes you what? Want to lose your savor, put the light under a bushel, etc. But we see that we need to let the light shine. Jesus said, What I tell you in the ear, preach it from the housetops. And I'm not going to hide or conceal anything that the word of God teaches. Now according to the news media, the word of God that's being preached is not the light. They say it's darkness. They look at Pastor Mehe as preaching and they would label it as evil or dark or wicked. But that's because the Bible talks about people who put good, evil, they call good evil, and they call evil good, and it says they put light for darkness and darkness for light. That's a phenomenon that we see today. And so a guy getting up and preaching the actual word of God, not his opinion, but just reading scripture, I mean the stuff that they got mad at him for saying, and obviously they take stuff out of context and twist what he's saying, you know. But one of the things that they twisted, they got this clip out of context where he's saying that women are weak and they're trying to make it sound like he just hates women, he's just anti-women, misogynistic. But correct me if I'm wrong, the Bible says giving honor unto the wife is unto the weaker vessel. Isn't that what the Bible says? To give honor unto the wife is unto the weaker vessel. So if you actually get the context of what he was preaching, he's preaching a biblical message. Of course they don't like that because they, you know, of course they think women are strong because they dress a dude up like a woman and then it goes to a sporting event and breaks all the records. Female deadlift champion of the world is probably some dude that basically just identifies as a woman. You know what I'm saying? And so that's what's going on. They take stuff that he's saying, it's all, you know, and then, well he believes that homos should be executed. Well isn't that what Leviticus 2013 says? I mean is my Bible the only one that says that? Leviticus 2013? And I'm thinking to myself, are you guys anti-Semitic or something? Because that's the Jewish Scriptures, that's the Torah. What do you got against the Jewish Torah, you anti-Semite? But it says here that in verse 17, here's the next thought. Think not that I'm come to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn't come to destroy Leviticus 2013. Isn't that what Jesus is saying here? I didn't come to destroy the law or the prophets. But I came not to destroy but to fulfill, for verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled, whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Listen to me, when Jesus Christ came and died on the cross for our sins and was buried and rose again, that was not a fulfillment of Leviticus 2013. A lot of Scriptures were fulfilled that day, a lot of fulfilled prophecy, but nobody's like, Leviticus 2013 just got fulfilled. You know, when Jesus was born of a virgin, they're like, fulfillment of Isaiah 7.14, right? When Jesus was born, it's like, oh, Isaiah 9.6 fulfilled. Jesus crucified between two thieves. Fulfillment of, he was numbered with the transgressors, right? Everybody's looking at these things. Oh, by his stripes were healed, fulfilled. Yeah, he's looking at all the, out of Egypt have I called my son? Oh, yeah, that's fulfilled, right? And when Jesus died on the cross, you know what else he fulfilled? All these animal sacrifices. Because he said, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, fulfilled. He fulfilled all these just hundreds and hundreds of burnt offerings and sacrifices. But can somebody explain to me how he fulfilled, uh, thou shalt not steal? Or how he fulfilled, uh, if a man lie with mankind as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed abomination, they shall surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon them. Folks, that has nothing to do with the difference between Old and New Covenant. You got the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Old Testament, New Testament, are there changes in the New Testament? Well, the Bible says the priesthood being changed, there's of necessity a change also of the law. You know, because obviously Jesus is not of the tribe of Levi, yet he's the high priest. He's of the tribe of Judah. It's evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. And so we see that there are things that are different in the New Testament, but guess what? Dressing and drag is not one of them. Jesus didn't die on the cross so that the veil could be rent between the men's department and the ladies department at J.C. Penney. Jesus died on the cross to rent the veil between the holy place and the most holy place. But the veil was not rent in the fitting room down at Kohl's or something saying, hey, now you can go wear, uh, women's clothing, dudes. And now women, you can wear men's clothing. That's, that's ridiculous. That's preposterous. And you know what? No theologian has ever believed that until now. No theologian in history has ever said, hey, now we can roll back everything about homos and cross dressing. It's madness. It's absurd. And it's never been taught until recently because it's a doctrine of convenience because our culture is pushing that and people don't want to be persecuted. They don't want to be the salt of the earth. They don't want to let the light shine. And so they come out with this convenient doctrine of just destroying the law and the prophets. Just destroy everything that they taught us. No. You know, the Bible says sin is the transgression of the law. The way that we even know what sin is has to do with God's commandments. Okay. So you can't sit there and say, oh, that stuff is obsolete or it was wrong. And here's the thing. The Bible says the law of the Lord is perfect. So if God had the death penalty for homos, that was perfect. Perfect way to deal with that. Excellent. And guess what? It's coming back in the millennium. It is all going to be fulfilled one day. Make no mistake about it because one day Jesus Christ is going to come on this earth and he's not going to rule with a wet noodle. He's going to rule with a rod of iron. And he is going to, you think he's going to have rules about that? You better know he will. And so Jesus Christ is going to rule and reign someday and then it will be fulfilled. Go to John chapter 15, Gospel of John chapter 15. You know, the Bible says that whoever will be ashamed of Christ and his words in this evil and adulterous generation, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed. You know, why would we be ashamed of the word of God in an evil and adulterous generation? You'd expect the evil and adulterous people to be ashamed. Why be ashamed about being a godly Christian? There's no shame in that. Verse 18 of chapter 15, if the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love his own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin. But now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth me, hateth my Father also. Now, what we see here is that first of all, the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians, I take pleasure in persecutions. Acts chapter 5, they took a beating for preaching in the name of Christ, and they went away rejoicing. Luke 6, rejoice and leap for joy when you get persecuted. Matthew 5, rejoice and be exceeding glad, great is your reward in heaven. But what I take from John chapter 15 is that if you're following Christ, you're going to be persecuted. And so the reason persecution is a blessing, in addition to the rewards, in addition to the glory that shall be revealed in us, is that we get to be a partaker of Christ's sufferings. We get to follow in Christ's footsteps. He's saying, look, if you are persecuted, well you know I was persecuted too. If they hate you, they hated me too. And so it's a fellowship with Christ. You ever get together with people who have kind of gone through the same experience, and there's kind of a bond there because you've kind of gone through the same thing? You know, like for example, I had dry socket in my mouth, which was like the most painful experience ever, and I went, you know, when I talk to somebody else who had dry socket, it's like, yeah, you know, and we can talk about how bad it was. Just people who've gone through similar experiences, you know, I'm sure that's what they're doing down at the VFW hall, right, getting together and talking about back in NAMM and back in all these different battles and deployments and whatever. You know what? Hey, I want to have a partaker with Christ and his suffering. I want to have fellowship with him. I want to follow Christ, and so that involves being persecuted. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, while you're turning there, I'll read for you from 2 Timothy 3, Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. It's going to get worse. The wicked are going to get worse and worse, but continue thou in the things which thou has learned, and has been assured of knowing of whom thou has learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, not just the parts you like, all of it. And all Scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. You've got to preach the whole Bible, my friend. That's what the Bible teaches us, the entire Bible, and that includes Leviticus. That includes parts that are maybe unpalatable to our sin-sick society. It still needs to be taught. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 8, we're troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We're perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you. Go to Acts chapter 8. My friend, it's just a building. It's a building. And I'm not trying to downplay the evil. I'm not trying to downplay the wickedness. I'm not trying to downplay how dangerous that is, to start blowing things up and setting things on fire, and how harmful it is, and how godless and wicked these people are. But I will say this, I would rather have my building blown to smithereens than for my children to have to look at a bunch of drag queens. Because it's just a building. My children's souls are eternal. I'm eternal. I'm going to live forever. I'm saved. This building's not going to last forever. You know, I'd rather see a building destroyed than to see minds destroyed, hearts destroyed, people defiled. And so these filthy, disgusting perverts, you know, the real damage is just when they walk down the street in drag. I mean, what can they do? I mean, they can blow up the building. They can even kill the body. But the Bible says, fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. That's what the Bible says. Where did I have you turn? Acts chapter 8, look at verse 1, and I want to show you how all things work together for good to them that love God. All things work together for good to them that love God. Look at Acts chapter 8 verse 1, and Saul was consenting unto his death, and at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house and hailing men and women committed them to prison. And this is the key right here, verse 4, therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. All things work together for good to them that love God. This great persecution upon the church at Jerusalem, you know what it ended up doing? It ended up actually causing the Gospel to go further because instead of it all being concentrated at Jerusalem, which was never God's plan, Jesus told them only to wait at Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. Once they were endued with power from on high, once the day of Pentecost came and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, they were supposed to go teach all nations. They were supposed to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. They didn't do that. Most of them ended up staying behind, but this persecution that arose about Stephen ended up causing them to be scattered abroad and it just caused the Gospel to go further because they went everywhere preaching the word. They meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. And just like Joseph's brethren meant it for evil, God meant it for good. Here the Jews meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. The Sodomites meant it for evil, God meant it for good. Because you know what? Now people all over the world are going to tune in and listen to Pastor Mejia preach. Even if it's just out of a morbid curiosity. Let's hear what this guy has to say. Let's get some of this in context. Even if they might want to just listen to it at first to laugh at it or to hate on it, you know what? The word of God's powerful. It's sharper than any two-edged sword and I can't even count how many people, they started listening to my preaching just because they were mad at it or they hated it or they wanted to laugh at it, but then after they started listening to it, the word of God, and then they start saying, hey, actually what he's preaching is biblical and then it starts to get through to them. And look, what if just one person gets saved? What if two people get saved? What if five people get saved? What if 100 people get saved? And here's the way I look at it. Let's say a million people read these articles and let's say 99% of them are just so brainwashed to just take what the media is telling them at face value and only 1% says, you know what? Actually, let me see what this guy's saying. Actually it's biblical. Actually this guy's right. Even if, let's say it's just 1%, well what's 1% of a million? Ten thousand. Hey, sounds great to me if 10,000 people are getting the word of God even if 99, hey, nuts to the 99%. They were already bozos yesterday and they can be bozos tomorrow. That's not the point. I only care about the individual. It's about reaching that one person or that 10,000 people that actually hear the preaching and can hear God's word and be edified. Maybe they're already saved and then they could hear Brother Mejia's preaching. Look if a saved person listens to Brother Mejia's preaching, they're going to get edified. They're going to become closer to God. They're going to learn more about the Bible. They're going to walk with Christ more closely and do more works for him if they listen to that preaching. But if they're unsaved and they listen to it, they're likely to get saved because he preaches a lot of clear salvation messages. And so God is going to use all this for good. It's going to be good for the church members. This is an experience that they can go through and grow through and become stronger. It's going to be a good experience for Pastor Mejia himself to go through this and gain this experience. And people can see this and find out about his church and hear the preaching. And you know, in our lives, we are not the main character. We're not the main event. You know, I am not the main character of the story of Faithful Word Baptist Church or any other story. Jesus is the main character, okay? He's the emphasis. So here's the thing. You look at a guy like Stephen and you say, well that, you know, that was short-lived. You know, Stephen got stoned. We just read, you know, reflecting back on it there in Acts chapter 8. And they made a great lamentation because Stephen was such a great guy. And then he got killed so early in the book of Acts. You know, you kind of wish you could see this guy go for the next 20 years, 30 years. But here's the thing. He's not, he's not the main character. Stephen isn't the other. This isn't the book of Stephen. You know, it's about Christ. And when Stephen dies, Christ's work goes forward. And in many ways, Christ's work went forward better with Stephen being martyred. So Stephen being martyred propelled the work of Christ forward. Now it didn't do much for Stephen's career. But Stephen's career isn't the issue. I'm not the issue. Pastor me, he is not the issue. First Works Baptist Church isn't the issue. And certainly their building isn't the issue. And so when you make an omelet, you end up breaking some eggs. And so, you know, buildings perish, people perish. But you know what, I love what the Apostle Paul said. He said, yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. I mean the Apostle Paul said, you know what, I'm willing to be a sacrificial ram. I'm willing to be sacrificed if it will cause the work of Christ to go forward, if it'll cause people to be edified. The Bible commands us to be faithful unto death. And so we need to be willing to be sacrificed so that God's working over. I mean it's a lot to ask, but you know it's also a lot to ask to carry the cross up to Calvary. It's a lot to ask to die on the cross and descend into hell and raise again 3 days later. That's a lot to ask too. But if that's what Christ did for us, then it's our reasonable service to present our bodies a living sacrifice to God. And so we need to understand that we are not the issue. We're not the main character in this drama. Okay, Christ is the main character. It's his story. We are playing a side role. It's like John the Baptist said, he said, look, he's the bridegroom. I'm just a friend of the bridegroom. You know, and on the wedding day, it's not all about the best man, is it? It's all about the groom. It's all about the bride. And John the Baptist said, you know, the friend of the bridegroom standeth and rejoiceth because of the bridegroom's voice. This therefore my joy is fulfilled. He must increase, I must decrease. And so that's the attitude that we need to have. Go to Acts chapter 13. You're in chapter 8, just flip over to chapter 13 in Acts. The Bible says in verse 49, and the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. But the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them out of their coasts. But they shook off the dust of their feet against them and came unto Iconium and the disciples were depressed because they'd been thrown out of another country and they keep, they keep getting banned and they keep getting deported. Is that what it says? It says disciples are filled with joy. So here's the thing, they get expelled, they get expelled from the coasts. There's a great persecution against them. They shake off the dust of their feet and then they party and then they rejoice. And it says that they were filled with joy and they were filled with the Holy Ghost. Hey, those are two great things to be filled with, joy and the Holy Ghost. You know, I just, I talked to a missionary not too long ago who he actually got thrown out of the country where he was ministering. And you know, I could relate to that, you know, talk about people with kind of shared experiences that they bond over. But you know, what's interesting is he was expelled from their coasts and now he's in a new mission field. And frankly, I think that the new mission field that he's going to is a better mission field. I believe it's going to be more receptive. I believe it's going to be someplace that he can do more, be more effective. And really he had done a lot of work in mission field number one to the point where it's kind of like he, he'd kind of saturated the place with preaching and the word of God. So it's kind of like, okay, God is moving him to the next field. Why not look at it like that instead of just being, oh man, you got thrown out of the country. And I know a lot of people were down on this guy for getting expelled from a country. And you know, I can't imagine what that's like to, you know, to have people say, oh, you did this to yourself. And this is the, this is the mantra of fake phony watered down Christians everywhere. You brought this on yourself. But preaching against the homos, you inflamed them. They were already flamers. Yeah, but you inflamed those faggots even more. Well, faggots are for burning. Look it up in the dictionary. A faggot's a bundle of sticks. You use it to start a fire. And so, you know, basically they say, oh, well you made them mad. You did this to yourself. You know, you caused this. You got yourself, you know, they would say to that missionary, you got yourself thrown out of that country. And I, he wasn't even preaching anything that radical. He was just preaching standard Baptist doctrine. He wasn't even like a new IFB, uh, guy or something. I mean, he was just preaching some solid stuff. And guess what? The world doesn't want to hear solid stuff being preached. And so they, oh, you did this to yourself. And I'll tell you exactly what it is. I'll tell you exactly what it is. It's, it's identical to Moses when he goes and confronts Pharaoh and preaches and, and you know what? The, the elders of Israel said when the persecution came, because Moses showed up and confronted Pharaoh and then all of a sudden persecution came and here's what they said. You made our Savior distinct before the Egyptians. It's your fault, Moses. The Egyptians are persecuting us because of you. And I've heard people say, well, Baptists are going to be persecuted because of people like Steve Anderson. Baptists are going to be persecuted now because of people like Brother Mihai. Well, you know, why don't you just say thank you? Because you losers will never bring any persecution on yourself because you're not living godly in Christ Jesus. You losers will never experience any persecution. We're helping you out because you're able to piggyback a little bit off some of our persecution. I saw a guy online on Facebook who said, this guy's name was Steven Anderson, and he said, my life, he said, my life as a pastor used to be easy. He said, I lived an easy life as a pastor until this guy in Arizona with my exact name started saying something. He said, I get so much. I get hate mail. I get angry phone calls. I get people mad at me. And I'm thinking to myself, like, you don't even deserve it. You're not worthy. You're not worthy because you didn't do anything. You didn't say anything. You've been hiding. You're hiding. And folks today, independent Baptists are hiding. I mean, I remember I read in a sermon, the article in the Sword of the Lord where the guy's saying like, well, you know, if Hillary gets elected, we're going to have to go underground. And I'm thinking to myself, you're already underground, I thought. So what's going to change? Are you just going to go into a deeper bunker than you're already in? And I'm thinking to myself, I'm not going to go underground. And let me tell you something right now. I will never go underground. Never. Never. I don't care if it's the Great Tribulation, I will never go underground. Never. Now I'll tell you what I would do. What does the Bible say to do when you get persecuted? Does the Bible say, and when they persecute you in this city, go underground? Is that what it says? It says when they persecute you in this city, flee into another. See the biblical thing to do is if the persecution gets to the point where you can't fulfill your mission anymore, where you can't preach anymore, you know, you go somewhere else where you can fulfill the mission and you just keep moving and keep fulfilling the mission. But hiding it under a bushel is never an option. Going underground is never an option. You get out of that place. That's your mission. Your mission is get out so that you can go somewhere where you can preach. And you keep going and you keep going and you say well eventually you're going to run out of places to go. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says that we will never run out of places to go because the Bible specifically said, you know, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man become. And that's symbolically saying you're not going to run out of places to go. That's what I, that's how I interpret that verse. When they persecute you in this city, flee into another and you're not going to run out of places to go. It might not be the place that you want to go, but there's always somewhere to go where you can preach and win souls and do what you need to do. And so I don't, I don't believe in this thing of going underground. You know, it's just, it's always this thing of if Obama gets elected, we're all going to die. If Hillary gets elected, we're all going to die. If Biden gets elected, we're all going to die. Folks, here we are. Biden is president and the birds are still chirping, although maybe all, no, all these dark clouds came in now. Ever since Biden got inaugurated, we got all these dark clouds in Arizona coming in. It's like lightning and just like this, it's like this vortex of evil. It's like swirling around the Capitol. This is like a lightning bolt, like striking. Folks, life goes on. Yeah, but Biden might persecute Christians. Oh, you poor baby. You might get persecuted. You little shnookum. Don't cry. Did you get created? Let me give you a pacifier. You big baby. I thought getting persecuted is cool. I thought we take pleasure in persecutions. I thought we glory in persecution. I thought that we rejoice and be exceeding glad. I thought that we leap for joy. But you listen to these guys and you know what it is? Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. They can't help but say like, we're going to have to go underground. What are we going to do if Hillary gets elected? What are we going to do under Obama? What are we going to do if Biden gets it? It's over. What are we going to do? I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to keep doing the same thing I was doing last year. And you know what I'm going to do next year? Same thing. You know what I'm going to preach? The same stuff. Oh, but they might make laws against it. So what? Just keep doing it. Keep preaching. Hey, when it comes to the fruit of the Spirit, against such there is no law. Nobody can make a law against me following the word of God because we ought to obey God rather than men. And even the Supreme Court has said that any law that goes against the Constitution or is repugnant to the Constitution is null and void. Any law that violates the Constitution. Okay, well I've got a higher document for you than the Constitution right here. Forget it. The Constitution is way below this book. So any law that's repugnant to this book is null and void to this preacher. And so I will try as hard as I can to live peaceably with all men. I will try to get along with the people around me. I will try to follow the local and federal laws to the best of my ability, but not to include me backing down on anything in this book. And if I have to go live in some messed up place that Trump would call a bleep hole or whatever, you know, then so be it. Because I'd rather live in some messed up country and just keep doing the work of the Lord if that's what I could. Now I hope it never comes to that. I hope to live and die in the beautiful state of Arizona. And I believe that I will. I believe that I will continue here until the bitter end. But I'll tell you something, I'd rather go somewhere else than to go underground because going underground is not an option. Go if you would to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. You know the missionary that I mentioned? I believe that getting kicked out of that country was a blessing to him. You know I think about countries that I was banned from, I just see it as a blessing. You know God had something else for me. I went somewhere else that week. I did missions somewhere else. I preached somewhere else. And plus by me getting banned from the country, the whole country heard about me and then they googled me, listened to my preaching, and many people got saved. So it's a win-win. Look, everything's a win-win when you're following Christ. Life is just winning all the time. What does the Bible say? Romans 8.28. And I know I quote this verse a lot, but it's because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. This verse is on my heart all the time because it's so true. We know that all things work together for good to everybody. Is that what it says? No. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God and to them who are the called according to his purpose. So as long as you're doing that, as long as you're being that, then guess what? Everything that happens is going to in the end work out for good. Look at verse 31. What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. And God's elect, that's not the Jews folks, that's Christians. Elect equals saved. That's why it says it's God that justifieth because the elect are the ones who are justified. And so it says, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulations or distress or persecution. Is brother me he has separated from the love of God right now because his building got blown up? No way. Or famine or nakedness or peril or sword, as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter, nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Not only are we winning, we're more than winning. Whatever the next thing is beyond winning, that's what we're doing. You know there's winning and then there's winning. And we're like all caps winning all the time through him that loved us. In all these things. And he didn't say, hey we're winning in spite of these things and you know we're winning by avoiding these things. We're winning because we don't go through tribulation. We're winning because we're not in distress, because we're never hungry, because we never get persecuted. No, in all these things we're more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature. And let me tell you something. It's hard to even think of these filthy sodomites as human. The Bible calls them beasts. But that's why they're covered under every creature. You know what I mean? Like it says look, no other creature, no other creeping thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So what can they do to us? Nothing that matters. What can they do to us? You know blow up our rented building? I mean I guess they're hurting the insurance company. At the end of the day that's who's going to get hurt. The insurance company. And you know I just I spend a lot of time worrying about insurance companies. Don't you? I mean whenever I hear about any tragedy or human tragedy or any kind of natural disaster I'm just like oh no the insurance companies, oh the insurance companies are going to lose so much money. Oh no we need to, oh I have a prayer request. Can we pray for the insurance companies? Can we just pray for the insurance companies right now because of that hurricane or earthquake or bombing or whatever? I think it's been a rough year for the insurance companies with BLM burning it all down all year and then just starting out the year blowing up a church you know and I don't know. I'm not saying it was technically BLM who blew up their church but it's the same spirit of BLM because BLM is a fag organization. Newsflash has nothing to do with being black okay. Go to their website and they go by the pronoun they. The preferred, they have the staff of BLM and they say here's my preferred pronoun they. Why would a person use they as their pronoun? I'll tell you why because they're demon possessed. It's like legion, we are many. You have to refer to them as they because you have to talk about all the demons that are inside them. Okay because their name is legion because they're demoniac but BLM is a fag organization. Okay look who here thinks, like forget the organization for a second, who here thinks that black people's lives matter? All of us, every single one of us believes that black people's lives matter right but the organization Black Lives Matter that's about as accurate of a name as calling an organization that murders babies Planned Parenthood right or it's like it's like FedEx like you think it's part of the federal government because it's got federal in the name? No so you can't let that name fool you. Of course it's a nice sounding name Black Lives Matter, sounds great except that they promote sodomy. That's one of their major articles of belief. If you look at their website there's more stuff about being a homo than there is about being black. So the bottom line is that these BLM types or antifa types or queers and sodomites and freaks of the world or whatever you want to call these people okay, that's the same type of people and probably even some of the literal same people that were burning down Los Angeles six months ago are probably the same people or friends with those people or it's the same spirit of those people that bombed his church building. I mean we all saw the footage in 2020 didn't we of Washington DC going up in flames, even in Spokane Washington all the windows getting smashed in and I remember watching I remember going home after church one night and turn on YouTube and watching live some clothing store in Los Angeles just burning and there's just a huge fire just burning and burning and I'm just thinking to myself you know the insurance, no here's let me let you in on a little insight into my psyche I don't really care about the insurance company and that nobody cares okay. So here's the thing so they bombed the church building right and you know what maybe some weak Christians are going to say that's it I'm done I'm done an empty building got bombed at 1 a.m. I'm done I'm out well you know I would I would encourage you to read the chapter in Fox's Book of Martyrs about all the about all the buildings that were destroyed when people were not in them oh yeah there's not a chapter like that I forgot there is no chapter like that because the stuff at Fox's Book of Martyrs is a lot worse than that okay so if thou faint in the day of adversity thy strength is small that's what the Bible says the Bible calls what we go through as Christians light affliction and by the way when when Peter said light affliction he's one of those guys that we've just read about getting beaten in Acts chapter 5 remember the guy who got beaten and he's the one who later sits down and writes his epistle and says oh our light afflictions just for a moment it worked at the far more exceeding weight of glory you know it's just a light affliction that we go through or I've actually I think I'm mixing up something from Peter and Paul but we all know Paul got beaten too folks okay so don't mess with me on that detail is now that I'm quoting it I'm like oh that's Corinthians what am I doing so but the point is the Apostle Paul got 39 stripes again and then again and then again he's beaten with rods rice he's shipwrecked he's in prison he I mean how would you like to be in prison you want to talk about maximum security he was sleeping between two guards he was literally sleeping with a guard on each side that's maximum security wow and he said it's a light affliction it's a light affliction okay so I don't I'm not downplaying the wickedness I'm not downplaying the evil I'm not downplaying what other people's suffering is but I just want to put it in perspective that persecution is a blessing it's my job as a preacher to remind you that persecution is a blessing and I didn't make that up and I'm not taking one scripture and taking it out of context no because I was in Matthew 5 I was in Luke 6 I'm in Acts 5 I'm in John 15 2 Corinthians 4 and these are all clear scriptures showing that persecution is a blessing it brings reward we're to rejoice we're to take pleasure in it we're to enjoy it and also that it provides rewards and not only does it bring eternal rewards it all works together for good even in this lifetime because I'm looking at it and thinking to myself I bet you they're having a way better church service today at first works than they would have if the building had not been bombed think about it I mean right now as we speak over in Los Angeles Pastor Mejia is preaching to his congregation there's no trannies no bullhorn no blasting of heavy metal so he can't concentrate while he preaches no drag queens no harassment they're just having a peaceful service with God's people right now but what would what if the building had not been bombed where would they be right now they'd be on that corner you know and I should have known that there'd be something some demonic forces at that corner because of you know it's called the corner of Tyler and Elliot but anyway you know so you know basically they'd be at that corner right now having church and what would happen they'd have a bunch of freaks and they you know nobody wants to do like look I don't want to show up to church and have a bunch of freaks out there do you because I whenever I see that stuff makes me want to puke and so it's it's a pain in the neck thankfully we never get picketed anymore for the last four and a half years because they they decided not to do it anymore because we enjoyed it too much you know as far as the persecution but we don't want to vex our souls with the weirdness of it okay and so the bottom line is I think that God allowed the building to be bombed to do Pastor Mejia a favor so that he would not have to endure that and from what I understand the police know who did it and the people are going to be brought to justice that's the word on the street that's what I'm hearing is that there's surveillance footage and that and that the people who did it are going to be busted and brought to justice you know I hope that's true but that's the rumor that's what I've heard and so that could be even more good that could come out of this because it's just one more of these thugs that burned down cities off the street getting what they deserve you know there's an there's an there's a burning that you can do to a building and then there's an everlasting burning you know and and honestly any building being destroyed you know all it is is you just you go back to my sermon from last Sunday all you're doing is just moving up the timeline of its destruction because that building was going to get destroyed anyway someday every building will eventually be gone every single building our bodies will all be gone and I'm thankful that no one was harmed but even if someone actually harms the body the body is eventually going to be gone the things that are not seen are eternal my friend and we need to understand that persecution is a blessing and anybody who takes this event and use it as an excuse to not preach about the sodomites or to back down or well I'll preach about sodomites but I won't upload it to the internet because I want to just put under a bushel folks these days the house tops it's talking about the dish on somebody's house top that's the house top the house top is where the cable internet comes into their roof I'm telling you friend we need to preach this stuff louder let's put on more platforms let's put on more websites let's not go run and hide it under a bushel and anybody who uses this to put it under a bushel missed all the scriptures I just read about persecution is a blessing bring it on we're not going to stop and you know eventually if we have to move somewhere else we'll do it but we don't want to do that you know we're because I believe when he says when they persecute you in the city flee you into another he's not just talking about saying mean things or something he's talking about serious persecution because I mean you look at the possible you read the book of acts the apostle Paul will go through some serious stuff and he just walks right back into town and breech but eventually it gets to a point where his his associates are like dragging him to the next town Paul's like trying to go into that theater and pre and they're just like no no no no no you know you're gonna have to drag me out of Arizona but going underground is not an option and persecution is a blessing let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for the the events that have taken place in our lives Lord even the bad events that have taken place in my life Lord I know that they work together for good thank you for that assurance thank you for that promise and Lord I I don't want to downplay what the church in LA is going through Lord I know it's hard when you're in the midst of it it's very easy for me from where I'm standing 350 miles away to talk about how how it's all great and it's all fine and dandy but Lord I know it's hard for the people that are actually going through it but Lord I pray that you would give them a biblical perspective and encourage their hearts strengthen their hearts Lord I pray that they would have a blessed service this morning I pray that you would bless their soul winning efforts this afternoon as they go soul winning Lord I just pray that you would strengthen all the church members out there that they would rally behind the man of God and that the church would continue to thrive and do great works for you and in Jesus' name we pray amen let's take our hymnals please and turn to him number 25 him number 25 Wounded For Me, there on the cross he was wounded for me, God my transgressions and now I am free, all because Jesus was wounded for me, dying for me, dying for me, there on the cross he was dying for me, now it is death my redemption I see, all because Jesus was dying for me, risen for me, risen for me, up from the grave he has risen for me, however born from death's sting I am free, all because Jesus has risen for me, living for me, living for me, up in the skies he is living for me, daily he is cleaning and praying for me, all because Jesus is living for me, coming for me, coming for me, one day to earth is coming for me, and with what joy his dear face I shall see, oh how I praise him he's coming for me. Great singing this morning, you are dismissed. Thank you.