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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . All right, good evening, everybody, and welcome to Sunday evening service, Shield of Faith Baptist Church. It's great to see everybody back this evening. So let's just grab our hymn books, please, and we'll turn to song number 404, When the Battle's Over. And let's lift up our voices together. Sing it out with all our hearts. Song number 404, When the Battle's Over. Am I a soldier on the cross? Am I a soldier on the cross above or off the land? And shall I fear to almost cause or pause to speak His name? And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown. And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem. Wear a crown, wear a crown, wear a bright and shining crown. And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem. Must I be carried to the skies of flowery beds of peace? While others fought to win the prize and sail through bloody seas? And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown. And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem. Wear a crown, wear a crown, wear a bright and shining crown. And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem. On the glass, sure I must fight, if I would reign in Christ my courage lord. I'll bear the toil and door, the pain supported by thy word. And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown. And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem. Wear a crown, wear a crown, wear a bright and shining crown. And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem. Hey, Brother Mike, will you open us with the word of prayer, please? Amen. All right, let's flip back to song number 343. I think I wrote that down correctly. 343, revive us again. That's right, 343, revive us again. We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of Thy love. For Jesus, who died and is now gone above. Hallelujah, thine the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again. We praise Thee, O God, for Thy spirit of light. Who has shown us our Savior and scattered our night. Hallelujah, thine the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again. All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain. Who has borne all our sins and has cleansed every scene. Hallelujah, thine the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again. Revive us again, fill each heart with Thy love. May soul be rekindled with fire from above. Hallelujah, thine the glory, hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again. Amen. All right, good evening. Welcome to Shield of Faith Baptist Church. If you don't have a bulletin, we do have a couple left, so just raise your hand and we'll get you one. Let's see here. All right, front page, weekly church service time. Sunday mornings are at 1030, Sunday evenings at 6, and Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Underneath there is a list of soul winning times. Soul winning is a time where we go out into the community and preach the gospel to the lost. Saturday mornings at 1030 meeting right here. That location and time are always consistent. The other times you have to call or let us know. Church phone number is 208-391-5323. Back page, so tonight we're gonna be going through 3 John. Let's see what else. Oh yeah, don't forget brown box over here on the table, the entryway table. That is the communication box, so if you need a prayer request or any kind of communication you would like to give to the church, just put your request in that box and we will receive that for you. Let's see, what's next? February 23rd, so don't forget Wednesday, February 23rd. Pastor Roger Jimenez from Verde Baptist Church, he'll be preaching for us, and that is a Wednesday, so we'll be having a soup potluck, so please bring your favorite soup or side dish to share. Birthdays and anniversaries for February. So next up is Brother Victor on the 15th. And next up, this week's memory verse, which is Luke 23-34, which says, Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, and they part it as raiment and cast lots. We are a family-integrated church. What that means is we don't separate children from their parents for any reason. If you need privacy, there's a mother baby room right across the hallway over there, all set and ready to go. Don't forget to turn your phone off or place it on silent so it's not a distraction. And one thing that I don't have written down here, if you've got, like, your senses going, you smell food cooking, that's because we're having food for everybody over here after the service. Everybody's welcome to stay. Plenty of food, plenty of treats. So I'm looking forward to that fellowship. And that's right, yeah. So still try to pay attention to someone, all right? Let's see here. The bottom line of your bulletin says, What does an apology require of me? And that was from last Sunday. So with that being said, we're going to have one more song before we receive the offer. All right, let's grab those handbooks one more time, please. And turn to the beginning of your book. Song number 41, Sweet, Bye and Bye. Great song. Song number 41, The Sweet, Bye and Bye. On the first There's a land that is fairer than day And by faith we can see it afar For the Father waits over the way To prepare us a dwelling place there In the sweet, bye and bye We shall meet on that beautiful shore In the sweet, bye and bye We shall meet on that beautiful shore There's hope on that beautiful shore The melodious songs of the blessed And our spirit shall sorrow no more Not a sigh for the blessing of rest In the sweet, bye and bye We shall meet on that beautiful shore In the sweet, bye and bye We shall meet on that beautiful shore To our bountiful Father above We shall offer our tribute of praise For the glorious gift of His love And the blessings that hallow our days In the sweet, bye and bye We shall meet on that beautiful shore In the sweet, bye and bye We shall meet on that beautiful shore Amen. Alright, let's go ahead and pray. Thank you so much, Lord, for allowing us to be able to come here and meet again this evening. Lord, I just pray that you would bless the service, bless the fellowship afterwards, Lord, and minimize distractions. We thank you for all that you do for us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. Alright, please tune your Bible to 3 John, the third epistle of John. Third John, towards the back of your Bibles. Third John. And when you get there, starting at verse number one, the Bible reads, The elder unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Beloved, the elder unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper, and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Beloved, thou doest faithfully, whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers, which have borne witness of thy charity before the church, whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sword, thou shalt do well, because that for his name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellow helpers to the truth. I wrote unto the church, but the atrophies, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds, which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words, and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbideth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself. Yea, and we also bear record, and ye know that our record is true. I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee. But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name. Brother Jeff, would you pray for us? All right. Amen. Well, we're ending our study tonight through the epistles of John. It's been a great blessing, and hopefully everybody has been blessed by it. Let me know if the study guides helped you out, and we'll try to continue that ball here if that is something that you guys definitely found useful. If you would, you can always just let me know, or put something in that brown box over there, and we'll go from there. So, last week we talked about a lot. It was 14 verses, but definitely a lot of information, if you remember. We talked about the tests for various things, false prophets, things like that. And so, really, when you go through the epistle of 1 John, you see several things, obviously, but one thing we do get for sure is, I guess you could say, attributes of Antichrist, right? John spends a lot of time detailing, hey, this is what these people look like. This is what they do. Here's how you can kind of know. And then in 2 John, in that epistle, he kind of reiterates that. Remember, he tells us to watch out for false prophets. Well, in 3 John, you're going to see that he's telling us how to, not only watch out for false prophets, but how to treat and test traveling preachers, okay? That is something that comes up in this passage, because everybody in here should know this, but we don't just let anybody who comes through this door preach behind the pulpit. In fact, when we have men's preaching nights, we haven't had one in quite a while, we have a rule that says that you have to sit through one of those events before you could participate. And there's a reason for that, so that you can kind of see what's going on, how you should behave, because we don't want somebody coming in here to preach the NIV or some garbage Bible version like that, right? We're not going to stand for that. And so to minimize that, we have to have discernment. We want to get to know people. We want to know what they believe, what they're about, because there are a lot of people that are sent out to do damage, to come into churches and preach things which are not biblical, which are not in the Bible, okay? So we're going to definitely see that in tonight's chapter as well, but going back to the concept of fellowship, okay? That's probably the big one that we need to remember, right? First, Second, Third John are about fellowship. First John is about fellowship with God, and obviously fellowship with the believers as well, but primarily how to have fellowship with God, right? A lot of false prophets will take verses out of First John and say, well, see, if you're not following the commandments, then you're not saved, okay? Well, hopefully now that you've sat through this study, you can answer that question, and you know those verses are not talking about losing your salvation, maintaining your salvation, or earning your salvation. It's simply about your fellowship with him, right? Once you are in Christ, you are always in Christ. Nothing can change that, but what can change is your relationship with him, your fellowship with him. Once your fellowship with him takes a sidestep, then guess what? Your fellowship with believers starts to reflect that, okay? It's something that we need to be able to discern so that we can help people grow and help people out, and of course, Second John, the epistle of Second John, we're told not to fellowship even with antichrists, with people that have those attributes, and then what you're gonna see tonight in that respect is fellowship with believers, okay? There's really four personalities in this epistle, so obviously we have the apostle John, and then we have Gaius. I'll call him Gaius because my speech beraeth the word gay, so I tend to lean towards Gaius, so I'll probably be referring to him as Gaius, but I think he'll be cool. We don't really know how his name was pronounced. We weren't alive back then. There's no tape recorders to discern that, so you gotta give me some grace on that. I think he will understand someday when we meet him. He's gonna understand. And then we have Diatrophes, who's a typical church boss, which is the title of the sermon, okay? He's got this personality that says, I want to be the chief influencer. I want to be the top dog, and we'll get into that, and then you have this guy, Demetrius, okay, who's obviously a blessing. He has a heart for hospitality and so on and so forth, and so that's kind of what we have coming this evening, but let's start out here in verse number one. So verse number one starts off just like it did last week in 2 John, but verse one says, the elder unto the well-beloved Gaius. So what do we see there? Again, the elder, okay? The apostle John obviously being an apostle holds a high position within Christendom, but by this point in time in his life, he's probably also elder in age, okay? And so he's just announcing that he says, the elder unto the well-beloved Gaius. So what does that say about him? What does it say about Gaius? It says a lot about his reputation, doesn't it? He was well beloved. So you're gonna see, you know, we just read the chapter, very short chapter. You guys know how Diatrophes was, okay? So who do you think's more qualified? Just right off the bat. Yeah, of course, Gaius, Demetrius, anybody, but not Diatrophes, right? So we can see that Gaius has an outstanding reputation, and look what John says. He says, whom I love in the truth, and we've talked about this several weeks ago, okay? We ought to love one another in the truth. Does that mean we ought to get along with everyone in the truth? Well, we ought to, we should, but it's not always possible, is it? You know, there's gonna be differences and opinions on this and that and whatnot, but we should never let our love in the truth get trampled on based off of a difference on a secondary-type doctrine, if that makes sense, okay? So he says, whom I love in the truth. Now, we don't really know exactly which Gaius, which Gaius this is, because there's three in the Bible. There's the Gaius of Corinth, the Gaius of Macedonia, and of course, the Gaius of Derbe, okay? So it might be one of those three. It might be a different one. We aren't sure, but keep your place there, of course, and go to John, the Gospel of John, John chapter number 14, John chapter number 14, because I just want to kind of review some information here, and we've talked about this, but John makes this statement at the end of verse one, and he says, whom I love in the truth, okay? That phrase comes up quite often in the epistles of John, and I think I've mentioned this before that they usually can fall into one of three categories, okay? And let's look at the first one here. What does it mean in the truth? Those three words, that phrase, what does that specifically mean? Well, it can mean three things here, and let's look at the first one. John 14, look at verse number 17. It says this. It says even, and this is Jesus speaking here. He says, even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not. Neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. So what is Jesus saying there? Well, I mean, here's a whole sermon by itself, but what is the Holy Spirit? Well, the truth, okay? So sometimes when you read that phrase, in the truth, it could be talking about the Holy Spirit. What is his job? What is his function? Well, it's to indwell believers, keep us secure, and to guide us into all truth. What did Jesus say to the disciples about the Holy Spirit? You guys remember this. He said, hey, the Holy Spirit is going to bring to your remembrance basically the things that I taught you, okay? What do you see today in Pentecostal church circles? You see the exact opposite, don't you? You have some guy or, God forbid, some woman get up and start rambling off in some supposed unknown tongue, and there's, oh, the Holy Ghost said you need to write a check for this much. The Holy Ghost said there's a problem over here. The Holy Ghost said this. And, you know, the Holy Ghost says you guys aren't worshiping me enough. The Holy Ghost, I've heard all of it. I've heard all of it because I've been a part of some of those types of churches in my past, okay? And that is one way you know that that is not the Holy Ghost speaking, okay? It's the Spirit. It's a ghost, but it isn't holy, okay? So, in the truth could be referring a lot of times to the Holy Spirit. It says even the Spirit of truth. Now, notice what does it say about that? It says whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, okay? Keep that in the back of your mind because we're gonna come back and talk about that. How do you see the Holy Spirit, okay? Trick question. You probably already know the answer. Back up a few chapters, if you would, to John chapter number eight. Let's look at the second thing. So, number one, what is in the truth, what does that phrase mean? Well, it could mean the Holy Spirit, okay, and his ministry and what he does, his function, and it could be the second one here. Look at verse 31. John chapter eight, verse 31, it says, Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. So many people get this wrong. They will pull this out. If you don't continue in his word, you're not even a Christian. Well, hold on for a second. What's the requirement to be a Christian? You gotta be saved, okay? You gotta be saved. Are you born again? Are you in the family, okay? Are you in the family? Well, then you're a Christian, but because you're a Christian doesn't mean you're a disciple. Whether or not you're a disciple all goes back to the fellowship aspect in are you fellowshipping with the word of God? Are you fellowshipping with God's people? Are you in this to win this? Are you in this to further the cause of Christ, okay? So he says, if you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed. Not everyone who's saved is a disciple, okay? But everyone who's saved, I would say, in my opinion, is a Christian. Verse 32, it says, and ye shall, don't miss this, know the truth. And the truth shall make you free, okay? So the second thing, when you see that phrase in the truth, it's talking about Christ. Now, go back, if you would, to 3 John. 3 John chapter 10, if you would. Just kidding. Back to 3 John. So number one was the Holy Spirit. Number two, in Christ. And obviously, number three, it's just a blanket general reference to the gospel message, okay? In the faith, or in the truth. Are you in the truth? Is somebody in the truth? If you're in the body of Christ, if you've been saved, if you've been born again, well, you're in him, so you're in the truth, okay? Hopefully that kind of makes a little bit of sense. So, let's move on here and look at verse number two. So it says, verse number two, it says, Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. Now, why would John also wish that Gaius would be in proper health? Well, because think about it. If you're in good physical health and your soul is prospering, you've got that combination down, you're suppressing the old man, you're walking in the new man, what's gonna be the end result? Evangelizing and edification. I mean, soul winning, discipleship, the cause of Christ goes forward, okay? It's really difficult. It's not impossible, but it is very difficult to serve Christ if you're unhealthy, okay? If you're just not in good health. Everybody knows that. And so he just basically puts this out there and says, hey, I really do wish that thou mayest prosper in health. Now, here's the idea. It goes back to balance. So many things in the Bible will teach us about balance, but what people do is they say, well, I need to neglect my health. I don't care. Jesus doesn't care what I eat, blah, blah, blah, and I'm just gonna do all the spiritual stuff. Well, there could come a period of time where you're off balance, right? Or, God forbid, you take the other route, which most people go to, and they say, well, I'm saved, I'm good to go, I'll just take the grace and run. Then they start just working on their health and working out and just taking care of that physical body, but they're neglecting the new man, right? You gotta have that balance. That's what John's talking about. That's what John's talking about here. So look at verse number three. He says, for I rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee. What does thee mean? The means you specifically. John is talking to Gaius here, okay? And he's saying, for I rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. So what is his reputation? What was Gaius' reputation? He was well beloved, okay? He was obviously full of the Holy Ghost, because being in the truth, walking in the truth, means you're walking in Christ, you're walking in the new man. You are building yourself up with the word of God, you are preaching, you are in the truth, you are going forward and doing things. And look, this makes us all pleased, doesn't it? When we see somebody who is just maybe coming in for the first time or just growing in the Lord, you get somebody saved, you disciple them up, they start coming to church. Look, this makes us happy, doesn't it? There's no greater joy, very few greater joys, right, than to see somebody that you got saved actually walking in the truth, right? That's an amazing thing. And that's what John's bringing up here. Look at verse four, he says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. And again, one thing that contributes to that is the fact that most people that get saved do not walk in the truth, or they won't walk for very long because the course of the world gets to them and they can't continue on, okay? Then all of a sudden the word of God kind of becomes a little bit offensive to them. They come into church and things don't go their way and they start looking for an out, looking for things that bother them. And look, if you're on the fritz, let me just tell you right now, there are plenty of things that you could point to in this church or any church that could bother you to the point to where you're out. Because we're not perfect. This is a room full of human beings that make mistakes, that sin, that do things wrong, okay? That's why you need to go and watch Sunday morning sermon and learn how to forgive, okay? Because these are things that facilitate growth and restoration. So let's move on here. Look at verse number five. It says, Beloved, thou dost faithfully whatsoever, thou doest to the brethren and to the strangers, or and to strangers, okay? Why is that important? Because we want to bless people who come in the door that aren't necessarily like us. How in the world are we going to grow a church? How in the world are we going to get the responsibility to be a blessing to more people from God if all we care about is just those of us who are alike in every aspect of life, all right? It's not gonna happen. We're not gonna grow that way, right? That's why we need to be mature. Obviously, we don't want to receive people unto doubtful disputations, but we do want to treat the brethren well, but we also want to treat the stranger well in hopes that they will grow, come in, be grafted in, and obviously flourish in the Lord, and that's the reputation that Gaius had, okay? Look at verse number six. He says this, which have borne witness of thy charity before the church, whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well. And so this is important, right? Our acts of charity and love are not just a blessing for you and the other person, but it's really a testimony amongst the brethren, a testimony for the entire church, something that people can look at and say, wow, they're not just about lip service, right? They're not just like the guys that go to the mega churches, you know what I mean? Or like Calvary Church down here where you knock on their door and they're like, I already go to church, boom, slam the door right in your face. Yeah, you really look like a Christian when you do that. It's like I just knocked on your door. This happens every single week. You know what that tells me? That we're having an impact out in this community, right? Someone is talking about what we are doing. I guarantee you that is happening because why the hostility? Like, you know, when we first started this church, okay, there was another soul winning church in the area, but I don't know how many they had going out every week. It doesn't seem like much, but the other Baptist churches in the Treasure Valley, they don't go out knocking on doors. They don't go out and preach the gospel. They don't go soul winning. They just don't, okay? And you say, well, what's the big deal with that? Well, the big deal is now we're having to pick up the slack. Now we're having to fill in that 10, 20 year gap or however long it was of nobody coming around or just the Mormons coming around, right? And so they're getting hostile. But the good thing is we're making people think. We're making people think. And what they're doing is they're going back to their churches. They're going back to their pastors. They're going to their small groups. And they're bringing these things up and it's getting people upset. I'm telling you, this is why our inbox, this is why our Facebook message is getting just bombarded with, hey, what time is soul winning? Who are you? Who are you? Like why is that the first question? Can I come? No, you can't. Or you can come to Saturday because that's the main time where everybody is and we can keep an eye on you. And yes, I said keep an eye on you. We are not going to let somebody just go out there and do the free for all. We've already seen that. It's not profitable, okay? But why are we getting those messages? And I'll tell you why. It's because people think we're dumb enough for some reason to just let anyone come in here and have a free for all and that is not going to happen. Okay, that's why I took the times off of all the other soul winning times and those other soul winning times where the majority of us may not be around, that's going to be through secret communication, okay? You need to be proven before you can go to any of those other times. It's just the way it is. That's smart, that's the way we have to do it because I personally believe there are bad people that have targeted this ministry to come in here and wreak havoc, okay? And look, 1 John, 2 John and now 3 John is giving us a plethora of information and discernment and tests that we can put on people to know where they're at, to know what they're about, okay? So again, I don't know why I'm talking about all that. Look at verse seven. It says, because that for his name's sake they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles. What does that mean? Taking nothing of the Gentiles, okay? Oh see, this hermeneutically just speaks to the Jews. Okay, no. Okay, he's talking about Gentiles in the context of people that are not saved. Because once you're saved, you're a real Jew. You're a Jew according to the Lord. Okay, go read Romans chapter two. We don't have time to talk about that tonight. But what is the application here? Well, the primary source of any kind of giving or resources should come from believers, okay? It shouldn't just be coming from the Gentiles. We ought to be very careful when people outside of the faith want to offer us things because a lot of times there are strings attached, okay? And the idea is that with us believers we should know, hey, when we give it's a gift, right? Because we understand what we've been given from Christ. A free gift, no strings attached, okay? It's a free gift. You don't have to work for it. You don't have to maintain anything. You don't have to do anything. Now there's a lot of stuff we should do on top of that, right? If we want to continue on in his Word and be disciples. But that's a subject for another day. Look at verse number eight. He says this, we therefore ought, we therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth. Go to First Timothy chapter three. First Timothy chapter number three. And that's the goal. That is the idea. We want to be fellow helpers to the truth. We don't want to be fellow hinderers to the truth, okay? That is not productive. All that does is slow things down. But the idea here is hospitality, okay? The hospitality. We want to be more hospitable as God's people. Look at First Timothy three in verse number two. So Paul tells Timothy this. He says, a bishop then, so what is a bishop? A bishop is a pastor, a bishop is an elder, somebody who holds an office in the local New Testament church. He says a bishop then must be blameless, okay? Does this mean without sin? No, because what's over is not a faith of sin. A foolish thought is sin. There's all kinds of sins in the Bible. It's impossible for us not to sin. Let's put it this way, okay? You shouldn't be like King Saul, okay? How about that? That makes a little more sense, right? A bishop then must be blameless, and the one that gets them all, okay? There are probably, I don't know, maybe 10 churches in Treasure Valley that probably even believe this verse here, okay? A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife. Do the Mormons believe that? No, they don't believe that, okay? Do the Nazarenes believe that? No. Do the Presbyterians believe that? No. Does this Episcopalian garbage over here believe that? No. Does the Catholic church believe that? No, they don't believe the Bible, okay? The husband of one wife. So if you call yourself a bishop and you are the wife of one husband, you have violated scripture. You have actively violated the word of God. You have assaulted the Bible. You are assaulting the kingdom of heaven, is what you're doing. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife. So when Joyce Meyer gets up and props up her bishopric, her office, whatever she is, she is violating scripture. Paula White, when she gets up and starts rambling on and giving forth all of the garbage that comes out of her mouth, guess what? That is a violation of scripture. Don't get mad at me. You can get mad at me if you want to. That's what the Bible says, okay? Vigilant. Vigilant. What does that mean? Why be vigilant? Why be vigilant? Who's walking about seeking whom he may devour? Satan, that's right. So if you want to be a bishop, you must be vigilant. Look at this, sober, okay? More than alcohol, though, and we've talked about this. Being sober, obviously we don't want to be stoned, we don't want to be high, we don't want to be drunk. That should go, that's like level one type stuff. We don't want to be drunk on pride. We don't want to be drunk on all of these other sins that we talk about on a regular basis, okay? Again, we don't have time to get into that, but look what he says next. Of good behavior, okay? Of good behavior. Look, go on YouTube and look up some of these false prophets like Steven Furtick, okay? And listen to the things that come out of their mouth. Andy Stanley, who, somebody told me recently that he just opened up a service with Led Zeppelin. Okay, there's nothing new under the sun. churches, mega churches have been doing that, you know, for at least the last, I don't know, 10, 20 years, okay? But I mean, what do you think about that? Doing queer baptisms, okay? I mean, what the hell's wrong with you people? You're violating the word of God. Of good behavior. Look at this, given to hospitality, apt to teach, okay? Now, go to 1 Peter chapter number four, 1 Peter chapter number four. So you say, why bring that up? I'm bringing that up because there are two guys in this epistle that we're studying that really, I think, would probably fall into this category, okay? But there's one guy that doesn't fit this verse here. He does not meet the requirements, but really what this letter is putting out to us is the act of hospitality, okay? We ought to be hospitable, especially when someone does come in here and they're saved. Of course, when Pastor Menace comes and visits us, I mean, he started this church. He used to be your pastor, right? You know, before we were independent. He was the pastor of this church. We ought to be hospitable to him. We ought to be like, oh, no, not another soup potluck, and I don't think anybody said that, okay? But I'm just, you know how I am, okay? You know me and my communication, okay? Look at verse number eight, First Peter chapter four, verse eight. So talking about hospitality, he says this. He says, and above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves, for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Look, when you do something nice for the brethren, when you bless them, when you help them, when you give them something in need, even if in your heart you know you don't get along too well, you don't like them, you know what? That covers a multitude of sins, okay? That helps you out spiritually, it helps you out physically, and it helps that person and it helps the entire church. It's a win-win situation. Look at verse number nine, it says, use hospitality one to another without grudging, without grudging, without grudging. We are supposed to be hospitable without grudging. So is, let me ask you this, is hospitality just for pastors or just for evangelists or just for deacons? No, it's for all of us, and really these qualifications that we're about to read, I already kind of alluded to it in First Timothy three, they're for every believer, okay? And this is why I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm gonna be bringing this up a lot this year, okay? Look, there's this culture in Christianity that when we see somebody who reads the Bible, who studies the Bible, where we're just like, oh, you should be a preacher, you should be a pastor. And sometimes that's true, sometimes that's the case because there's a lot of work out there that needs to be done. There are a lot of churches out there that need pastors, I get that, I totally understand that, but really we ought to stop doing that because every believer needs to strive for these goals, okay? Every believer needs to be blameless, the husband or the wife, you get what I'm saying, vigilant, sober. All of these things are great qualities for believers. In fact, Paul even tells Timothy that, right? He talks about choosing someone out among the brethren that fit these qualifications here. So if you would go back to Third John, chapter number one, not chapter number two, I'm just kidding. I just wanna see if somebody falls for that, all right? Come on, help me out here, no, I'm just kidding. So now John is going to change gears here and leave talking about Gaius as much and talk about this guy named Diotrephes, okay? And all of you know different Diotrephes. We've actually had some mild ones come inside of here, okay? Look at verse number nine, it says this. He says, I wrote unto the church, but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Whoa, let's stop right there for a second. First of all, what is preeminence? Superiority, right? This guy, he wants to be the chief influencer. Not even the chief influencer, really he wants to be the only influencer, okay? I got an email recently, I don't know how recent, but it was basically like, how come you don't have a board of directors and you don't alternate preachers and blah, blah, blah? And how come it's always you on the YouTube channel? Because we're a small church, that's why, okay? This is what I signed up to do, this is what I was trained to do, and that's what I do, that's why. It is what it is. You know, when we grow, you know, we get a little bit bigger, we get busier, you know, we're gonna have more men's preaching nights, we're gonna have more of all of that stuff, okay? But right now, it's just, it is what it is. It's not because I want the preeminence, okay? That's ridiculous. But that's really what they're alluding to, you know? She demanded that I answer her too. It's just like, you will answer me right now. I do what I want, I don't do what other people want. I don't do what other people want. But anyways, diatrophies is what I like to call a church boss, okay? Now, we're not sure exactly what his position is here. Probably the pastor, probably, obviously, somebody who has pull because he's able to kick people out, he's able to stop information from coming in, and he's gonna be doomed, you'll see that here at the end. But he's a church boss. Now, a lot of people kind of have this church boss type attitude, okay? For example, another great wonderful email that I typically will get is a list of demands that I must meet in order for these people to come visit our church, okay? Nope, delete. I've been getting that one a lot lately. Like, in order, if you would like our family to visit your church, we need to see what time your youth group is. We need to see what time this activity is. We'd like to know your bus routes. We would like, man, shut up, get out of here. You know what we're about. You can simply click on the YouTube link, listen for about five minutes and figure it out, where you can go to our website, read our statement of faith, and if you have any other questions, you can always come in here and ask some real questions. You know, that's what real people do. They come in here and, hey, what's up with this? I respect that, okay? But what I don't respect is a list of demands from people and saying, I just don't want to bring my family to a place of false doctrine. Really, when was the last time you went soloing, pal? Tell me that. Seriously, I got an email from this person, and it was just this long list of things that we have to do, and you will answer all of these questions for me because I don't want to bring my church into a, or my family into a church that's teaching falsely. Well, if you're so smart, why do you even have to ask the question? Everything that we believe in teaches on the internet. We don't hide anything from anyone. If we did, this room would be packed. We'd have to knock this wall down because that's what people fall for by and large. So anyways, I call that attitude church boss. Look, those are the type of people that will go into these other churches where their pastor's not vigilant, where they don't have vigilant people in the pews, and they will wreak absolute havoc on those congregations. And their pastor's just like, I don't know what to do. I'm so perplexed. Oh, I don't know. I'm going to just pray that they'll get restored. Look, those people just need a swift kick in the pants spiritually is what they need. They need to be rebuked. They need to be called out. They need to be hammered on so that they'll get right. That's what they need. Look, churches need a pastor that is willing to be instant in season and out of season. And you know what's out of season right now and today on Super Bowl Sunday is the word of God. That's what's out of season. And thank God we've got a room full of people here that are good with that, that are okay with that, that didn't skip church to watch some stupid football game put on by a bunch of rich elites with the agenda of making people woke, okay? Because that's really what they're using that stuff for, to get your guard down so that you will accept the coming agenda of the antichrist. That's what that stuff is for. So, go to Titus chapter number one. Titus chapter number one. So we can see here, diatrophes is a church boss. Bad leadership dominated by the desire for preeminence. Watch out for people like this. They are dangerous, okay? And yes, there are saved people out there that fall prey to this. I've told you guys this before. There is a temptation when you get into the ministry, especially in independent fundamental Baptist circles, to really wanna just get this great influence and to just copy Pastor Anderson, and when they don't get that, what usually happens to those people? They fall out. Oh, well it's not working. Look, how about this? You just do you. You just be you. You just work with what you have. You work with what God gave you and just keep your mouth quiet, keep your head down and work. That is how it is supposed to be done. We're not interested in copying anybody, right? We are independent. We do have friends. There's nothing in the world wrong with having friends in other churches, having other ministries that are like-minded and getting together and accomplishing a soul-winning marathon or something like that. Nothing in the world wrong with that, okay? But there is something wrong when people attach themselves to these churches and think, well, I'm gonna do exactly what you're doing and I'm gonna get the same results. Well, if that's your mindset, that's your attitude, you're gonna go down possibly like this guy here because there's only one road that preeminence takes you and that is the road to destruction. So, I'm sorry, not first, Titus chapter one, look at verse number five. Titus chapter one, look at verse number five. So, let's take a look at these qualifications here. Let's see if Diotrephes is going to meet these or if he does meet these or not. Verse number five, it says, for this cause left I thee in Crete. So Paul's telling Titus, hey, you know this, Titus, I left you in Crete for a purpose, for a mission. He says, for this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, okay? What does that mean? Well, there are things that we're lacking there. There was a vacuum, if you will, there was an opportunity for ordained elders or pastors, right? They started these satellite ministries in hopes that someday somebody would get trained up and sent there to take over and to be the bishop in these churches. So he says, for this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, now look what he says after the comma, and ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee. And it just cracks me up. Every week we're out soul winning talking to people and oh, I don't go to church, church is just, you know, with me and my dog and my cat, wherever two or three are gathered together, there he is, we don't need church. Well, it's kind of funny because Paul tells Titus, hey, guess what, in these cities here, there's something wanting. There is a vacuum of leadership that we need to fill. We need to train people up to fill this and it's the same thing today. It has not changed. So Paul says, for this cause left I thee in Crete it has not changed. So why say this, why put this in the Bible if church is such a bad idea, if church is wrong? Oh, we shouldn't even have church, right? There's this guy named Francis Chan, I call him Francine Chan, right? And I watched this little clip of him and he's just bad mouthing church. This guy's rich. He makes just a lot of money fleecing the flock, okay? And he's just like, you know, back in the old days in the early church, they wouldn't have one of these, they wouldn't have this. You know, they just kind of sat around a table and discussed theological issues. Yeah, there were people that did that and they're called idiots. They're called clowns, is what they're called. They're called people that disrespect the word of God. Okay, that's what they were called. Well, that's what I call them, okay? Look at verse number six. It says, if any, okay, what are we talking about here? Ordaining elders, ordaining leadership. If any be blameless, the husband of one wife. So Paul's like, hey, look dude, just in case you guys don't get it, I'm serious about this one wife thing, okay? I'm dead serious about it. One wife having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. So that's another thing that has to be looked at before someone can go into the ministry. This is something that I had to prove to Pastor Mendez before he would ordain me and send me up here. Verse seven, for a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God. So stop right there. You need to be a steward of God before you ever even think or come to me asking to be an evangelist or a deacon or whatever it is. A steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre. Okay, so what does it mean no striker? Well, you can't be a brawler, okay? Does that mean you can't defend yourself? No, of course not, okay? There's chokes, there's holds, there's, yeah, that's a joke, I'm just teasing, okay? But you get the point, you get the point, okay? Not soon angry, people hit me up on this one, you're so angry. You're such a cult, you're leading such a cult because you're angry. Yeah, you know, I've been angry for years. I've been angry for many, many, many years, okay? This is me, this is who I am. I'm not trying to copy anyone. I've been angry for a long time. And you know what, Uncle Sam had a big part in that role, and I've told you guys that, Kevin knows, 100%, okay? You're not gonna come out of Uncle Sam's military and not be angry and not be passionate. Look, if we're doing something, it's 100%, man, with what we have to work with, okay? When people violate that or they step across that, it's on, it's just the way it is. It's just how I operate. Look at verse number eight. He says, but a lover of hospitality. I think we, I really think that this, we need to make sure we never lose sight of this, but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men. Can that be said about people like Andy Stanley or Joel Osteen? No, because these guys, and I just mentioned two guys, but these people are wicked, right? What was it? Who was it? Oh, this Justin Bieber guy, right, and Kanye West. People think they're all, they're great Christians, you know, they gave their lives to the Lord and they're saved, right? And they released some video not too long ago with him praying with Marilyn Manson in a white robe, okay? Marilyn Manson's a reprobate, like with a huge bait part, right? Let's capitalize that bait. This guy is repped up. I mean, look, extremely wicked individual, but we ought to be lovers of good men, right? Can that be said about Stanley? No, because he loves the queers. They are not good. They are filled with all unrighteousness, the Bible says. Lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate. What does it mean holy? Without sin? No, sanctified, set apart, right? Going back to that fellowship aspect that we've been talking about for the last two months. Verse nine, it says this, holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught. Let's stop right there. You guys know that one of the things that just bothers me so much are these original manuscript onlys. People are, I can't believe you're King James only. Well, guess what? You're original manuscript only. There's only two positions you can hold in this life and you are either one or the other. You're either in the position that God has preserved his word throughout all the earth or you're in the position that he hasn't. That's it. You're only something, okay? And we have a commandment to hold fast and we have a commandment to hold fast the faithful word. The word of God is faithful. It never fails, right? So if you get a pastor and he gets up and says, oh, in the Greek, try that on me and see what happens, boy. And I'm going to shame you is what I'm going to do. I will destroy you. I hate it with a passion. We should all hate that. That is my job as a pastor to hold the faithful word as I have been taught, as I have been taught. That is a requirement. As soon as you see an individual get up in front of a crowd of people and say, well, you know, in the original languages, this is what it really meant. He has violated the word of God and should step down. That's what this is telling us. It says holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. Look, let me tell you something. You cannot preach sound doctrine if you do not hold fast the faithful word. If you don't believe that this book is faithful, that it is loyal, that it is powerful, you cannot teach sound doctrine. It is impossible. Verse 10, for there are many. And then he tells us why. He says, for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision. Go down to Treasure Valley and tell Sam, get that verse. You know what he's going to say? They're the apple of God's eye. Shut your mouth. Step down from your position, you lying devil. He says, for there are many unruly and vain talkers, deceivers, especially they of the circumcision. Guess who's behind YouTube? Okay? They are coming after us like crazy right now. Not necessarily our channel. I think we're still kind of like under the radar a little bit. We've had one video that I know of canceled, but that's it. But they're going after our friends. You get to a certain subscription level and they're just like, boom, gone. No warning, no nothing. Okay? But yet they'll leave all the filth and disgusting perversion on there. What does that tell you about these people? It tells you this in verse number 11. Whose mouths must be stopped. People don't like that. That's mean. That hurts. Yeah, you better believe it hurts. It should hurt. Okay? These people are doing damage. They're stopping people from being saved. We don't like that. Whose mouths must be stopped. Who subvert whole houses. How many homes have been subverted because of some quack stuff on YouTube? Or Facebook? Or Instagram? Or whatever. Or some traveling bozos that do come to your house that say, hi, we're from the local cult of Mormon church. You know? Teaching things which they ought not. And look what it all goes back to. For filthy lucre's sake. For monetary gain. If you would, back to 3 John. Back to 3 John. So all that to reassure us what is written here in verse 9 about diotrophy. Look at verse 9 again. It says, I wrote unto the church, but diotrophy's who loveth to have the preeminence among them receiveth us not. How crazy do you have to be to not want to receive the apostle John? The guy who was in the inner circle of Christ. I mean, you have really got to be sold out to evil works to have that mentality. But let's move on here. Look at verse number 10. He says this. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth. Now don't miss this. Praying against us with malicious words and not content therewith. Neither doth he himself receive the brethren and forbideth them that would and cast them out of the church. So the situation here is some guys from John's crew would probably come by and say, hey, you know, we're here to fellowship, here to bless you with a word, you know, here to preach, whatever. And diotrophy's like, nah, get out. Right? So he's got the power to tell these people to get out. He cast them out of the church. But there are some attributes that we're going to look at that are mentioned here that I think are very, very important. What does it say about the church boss here? Right? Well, he's not content therewith. This is why people develop this preeminence poser type attitude. Because they are not content with what God has given them. And look, I can relate. I understand. You know, going into the ministry can be very, very fearful. I mean, you really have to live by faith. You know, there's times I have thoughts. I'm like, man, what in the world is going on? How are we going to get through this? Okay? But you just have to go back to these verses here and realize, you know, it's not about me. Who are we here to glorify? Yeah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is in charge of the church? It's him. It's what this book says. It's the word of God who was manifest or made flesh and dwelt among us. Okay. So look at verse 11. He says this. He says, Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. Now, he's going to make this statement here. We're going to spend some time really looking at this, but he says this. He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. Okay? Every so many time without fail, 10 out of 10 times, 100% of the time. Okay? We have people. We ask them, are you sure if you were to die today that you would go to heaven? And they say, yes, because I'm a good person. I do good things. And they, a lot of times, sometimes, you know, or they'll say, well, hey, I teach Sunday school. And they will say, well, you have to accept that as my testimony as valid. No, we don't. No, we don't. Okay. Just because, look, Buddhists do good works. Okay. There are all kinds of false religions out there that do quote unquote good things. They give food to people that feed the poor, feed the homeless. Does that really mean they're good? We're talking about good in the new man. Okay. And I don't have time to develop that. You just have to understand that's what he's talking about here. But he makes this statement. But he that doeth evil. And then he says this, hath not seen God. Let's take a look at that. Go to John chapter number one, the Gospel of John, John chapter number one. What does it mean? It says, hath not seen God. What is he talking about there? He's saying he's not saved. Okay. That's what he's saying. He's saying, hey, look, this guy is not saved. And when I come, I'm going to remember his deeds. And I'm going to take care of the situation. So, hath not seen God. Let's take a look at some verses here to kind of just back that up. But look at verse number 18, Gospel of John, John chapter number one, look at verse 18. It says this. Jesus says this. He says, no man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten son, which is in the bosom of the father, he hath declared him. Okay. So Jesus said, no one has seen God at any time. But then he says this, the only begotten son, which is in the bosom of the father, he hath declared him. Okay. That message right there is what infuriated the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Jews and the scribes of his day. Because they're basically saying, you're saying you're in God. You're saying you're equal with God. Okay. Now go to John chapter number six. John chapter number six. Because you're going to see, and really what John's saying here is, hey, if you haven't seen God and you've got these attributes, you're evil. Okay. Well, wait a minute. Jesus said we haven't seen God. How do we see him? What is the answer? Well, you're going to get that right here. John 6.40. And this is the will of him that sent me. We talk about this all the time when people say, what is the will of God? Okay. Well, here it is. And this is the will of him that sent me that everyone which seeth the son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day. Go to first Peter chapter one. First Peter chapter number one. John 1.1 says, in the beginning was the word and word was with God and the word was God. So who is the word? Who is the son? What's the word of God? So how do we see Jesus today in 2022? Do we have to have a vision? Do we have to look at a painting by some crazy clown from the 14th century or whatever it is? No, it's the word of God. He is the word of God. Why do you think there is such an attack on the Bible today? Because you can't separate Jesus Christ from the word of God. You just can't do it. Why is he called the word? Because he is the word. These words mean power. These words are spiritual truth and you have to be saved by the word of God. This is a fact. Look at what first Peter chapter one verse 23 says, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Go back to the epistles of John, but go to first John chapter number three. The Epistle of first John chapter number three, the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. His truth goes throughout all generations. Heaven and earth will fail before any of these words, even a comma or a period, whatever fail. His word does not fail because he is faithful. The word of God is faithful. First John chapter three, look at verse number six, it says, whosoever abideth in him. Who's the him there? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth not. Why? Sin dead's gone. You got the new man. You got everlasting life. You're placed into the body of Christ. Right? The new man can't sin. It's impossible for him to. He says this, whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither know him. Well, we all sin. So how does that work out? Well, the new man doesn't sin. The new man doesn't sin. And if you've seen God, if you've seen the word of God, the seed, and believed it and received it and called upon the name of the Lord, you are saved. You have seen him. You have known him. You are in the family. So that's how we see God. And John's just simply saying you can't tell whether or not a person is saved or not. If they are displaying a lot of these things, they're not understanding the word of God. They're saying just these super crazy things. You show them John 3 16. You show them Acts 16. I mean, you show them all these different verses, which are very simple to understand, and they want to argue with you. They want to tell you, no, you still have to work for your salvation. I don't care what that says. You still got to do good. You still got to do this stuff. Look, you're dealing with somebody who's not saved. Okay? And in Diotrophy's case, he's taken a step further to want to be the church boss and to actually exercise evil. But with that being said, go to Jude, if you would. Go to Jude. Right before Revelation, go to Jude. I want to bring this up. In Diotrophy's, John is saying is evil, and he's saying this, he hath not seen God. And what he means by that is he hasn't been saved. He has not been born again. Okay? Think about this. He despised apostolic authority. He despised John's authority. Not only John, but John's ministers who were trained by him. And one thing we need to understand about this, and this is a quality that we need to be on the lookout for, is this attitude is an attribute of a reprobate. You say, what is a reprobate? A reprobate is somebody who has been rejected by God. Go read John chapter 12, Romans chapter 1. There are several passages in the Bible that talk about this concept here. It is possible for a person to push God so far to where he says, I'm done with you. It's too late. Okay? But I want you to understand here, not everybody who has an argument with a pastor or has some kind of a beef with their boss is a reprobate. Okay? In the diatrophies case, okay, people like that, they are displaying attributes of reprobates. You need to understand this. Jude, look at verse number seven. So Jude says this, he says, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them and like men are giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. What did God do to Sodom and Gomorrah? He rained fire and brimstone down on them. He basically brought hell on earth, right? They went from fire and brimstone on earth to fire and brimstone in the center of the earth, basically, okay? That rings true even today. Why did he do that? Think about this here. What did Abraham say to God? He's like, Lord, surely there's at least 50 righteous, 40, 30, 20, and he's going down the numbers, right? He's going, surely there's gotta be somebody righteous and if you blow them up, what's gonna happen? He says, let's go over there and look for the righteous. What did he find? Nothing. Just Lot, his family, okay? That's what he found. So Jude is reminding us, hey, these people are suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. So he says this in verse number eight, because likewise, also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion. You see that word? They despise dominion. They despise power. We have had people come in here with that church boss attitude and try to talk trash about my flyers over there, try to run their mouths subtly, take subtle jabs constantly over and over again, act all cocky up here, act like they know everything because they heard 500 sermons online. You understand what I'm telling you? These people in their own ways can be church bosses and all I'm saying is they're displaying qualities of a reprobate. That's what I'm saying, okay? So knowing that that's an attribute of reprobates, we don't wanna act like that, okay? That's the point that I'm trying to make, but look at verse number 10. Actually, let me read that. Where am I at? Verse eight. Yeah, and speak evil of dignities, okay? Now look, I speak the truth about a lot of these politicians and preachers today and people will call and they'll run their mouths, oh, you're speaking evil of dignities. It's like, no. Look, Joe Biden's a pedophile. Let's just be honest, okay? Bill Gates is a monster. Let's just be honest. Oh, you were speaking. Oh, speaking the truth. These things come from their own mouths. Look, Bill Gates is the one who got on stage and said, hey, if we do a good job through vaccines, we can control the population of the world. What do we have today? Someone trying to mandate a magic cocktail that you have to take or you lose your job or you lose this or you lose that. I mean, come on, put two and two together here. These people are wicked as hell, okay? Look at verse number nine. It says, yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses. Now look what he says next. It does not bring against him a railing accusation but said, the Lord rebuke thee. And that's really what we do in this church a lot of times. When we have to rebuke these people, we're letting these wicked people know, hey, the Lord rebuke you. Here's the scripture. Here's the standard. Here's why we do that. It's the Lord that rebukes you. You understand? That's the difference. That's why we have the authority to call people out. But in today's so-called Christendom, you can't call anyone out. You gotta coexist. No judgment. Only love, okay? That's false doctrine. You know that. Go to first Samuel chapter number two. What are we talking about? We're talking about attributes of reprobates, okay? They hate authority. They hate and despise dominion. If you've ever worked around these people, you will know that they always go for the boss. They will always try to usurp the authority of the organization that you work for or they will come into a church here and try to attack me, attack my wife, attack my kids, attack anybody who does anything for this church, okay? And just to show you an Old Testament example of that, let's talk about Eli's kids. Who was Eli? Well, Eli was a judge. He was the main guy during this time before Samuel was born and while, I mean, he's really the guy that trained Samuel and brought him up, okay? But the Bible says that his sons were sons of Belial. They were reprobates. They were sons of the devil, okay? Now let me ask you this. What happens when you become a son of God? Can anything ever change that? No. You are in the family forever. You can bring chastening on yourself. We've all done that, okay? But you're not gonna lose that position. Look, it's the same thing when someone converts to Satan. Look, Marilyn Manson isn't gonna drop the knee and get saved. It's not going to happen. He is a son of Belial. But look at verse number 12. First Samuel chapter two, look at verse number 12. It says, now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial. They knew not the Lord. What does that mean? Look, these guys work in the temple. Look, these guys are taking offerings. Their dad is a judge in Israel. Their dad is a prophet. They knew about God. They knew about Jehovah God, but they didn't know him. He was not their God. The devil was their God. Look at verse 13. It says, and the priest's custom with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servants came while the flesh was seething with a flesh hook of three teeth in his hand. Now look at verse 14. I'll explain this in a second. And he struck it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot, all that the flesh hook brought up, the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither. So basically people would come up and bring their offerings to the house of the Lord at that time. And these guys would be like, we're taking the best cuts for ourselves. What do you got in that pot there? And they'd take out the best flesh. And what was the result of that? People hated the offering. They'd abort the offering because this was allowed to happen. But what else are they doing? They're despising dominion. They're speaking evil of dignity. They have no respect for their own father. They have no respect for the authority structure set up in Israel in that time. And they have no respect for the God of heaven. Verse 15 says, also therefore they burnt the fat. The priest's servant came and said to the man that sacrificed, give flesh to rose for the priest, for he will not have sodden, meaning boiled, flesh of thee, but raw. Right? Because he wanted to cook it up in his pit boss or his Traeger grill. He wanted to spice this thing up his own way. Look at verse 16, it says, and if any man said unto him, let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desired, then he would answer him, nay, but thou shall give it me now. And if not, I will take it by force. This is what Jesse Duplantis does, big old mega church Pentecostal down in Louisiana. If you don't give to him what he wants, he's going to verbally try to take it from you by force. So what all these charlatans do, that's what Robert Tilden does, that's what all these TV personalities have been doing for ever. Okay? They are reprobate. Look at verse 17, it says, wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord for men aboard the offering of the Lord. So these people caused people to hate serving God. Okay? That's not good. That is not good. Go to Romans chapter one, Romans chapter one. We're getting very close to being done here, we're almost done. So again, all that to say this, an attribute that you will see displayed in reprobate people is the fact that they have issue with authority. They're always trying to undermine the office of the Bishop, the office of the pastor. They're trying to undermine the boss, they're trying to undermine everything. They have a real problem with authority. Okay? We've dealt with this very, very, very recently. Okay? And this is why some people don't understand, like, why were you so harsh on him? Why were you so hard on him? It's because I understand the severity of disrespecting the authority that God has set up in the church. It is a big deal. It is a attribute of reprobates. That's what I'm saying. Not accusing anybody necessarily of being a reprobate, but you got to understand that that is what they all have in common. Okay? Look at chapter one, verse 28. He's talking about queers here and look at verse 28 says this, it says, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. So it, look, we're not Calvinists here. Okay? These people decide that they don't even want to retain God in their knowledge. Keep that in mind. They did not like to retain God in their knowledge. God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. So people always ask, how does, you know, how do these people get this way? How like, are they born that way? No, they reject God so much that God rejects their mind. He takes that restraint that God put in their mind away from them. I mean, think about this, right? If I were to ask some of you, Hey, can you fall flat on your face without flinching? You would say you wouldn't be able to do it. Okay. What's the same thing? Like, can you look at a little child? Can you look at a little girl and desire her? Can you look at a little boy and desire that little boy? No, that is not natural. We have something in us that stops us from doing that. Okay. Normal people, normal dudes, don't go around looking at other dudes and saying, Oh, that dude looks good. No, that doesn't happen. And if it does, they're queers. They are reprobates, right? That's how we can spot them. Okay. Because that mind has been rejected and yeah, I'm getting way off here, but you get the point verse 29 being filled. Now this is the key here to discern a real reprobate. Okay. Verse 29 being filled with all unrighteousness. People will constantly call, text, bother you guys and say, how do you know that all queers are pedophiles? Well, we know that all queers are capable of pedophilia because all queers are filled with all unrighteousness, not some unrighteousness, not a lot of unrighteousness. Look, a lot of us have lived, you know, and had a lot of unrighteous things, right? People done some crazy, I've done some crazy stuff, you know, but this is on a whole nother level. These people are filled with all unrighteousness. Fornication, wickedness, covetousness, malicious, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, right? That is laziness, whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, right? Where do you think these pride parades come from? They come from people that are filled with all unrighteousness, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedience parents. Look, these mandates, right? I mean, think about it. These are evil things. It is an evil thing to make another person take something that you don't even know what's inside of it. That is an evil invention, that is an evil thing, right? Go look up Neuralink, Elon Musk, a little brain chip factory, okay? Look, I guarantee you that's an evil thing, right? These people are horrible, but look what it says, inventors of evil things, verse 30, disobedient to parents. Now, we've all been disobedient to our parents, right? All these kids, everybody has. These people, whole nother level, but what you need to understand is these people have all of this stuff compact. They're filled with this stuff. Again, if I fill this cup up, is there any room for anything else? No, right? That's the difference between somebody in this passage that we're talking about versus other people, because can a murderer get saved? Of course. David committed murder. He's saved, okay? But these people, again, are on a whole nother level. Look, he continues on. Verse 31, without understanding covenant breakers, without natural affection, again, why do you say they're all perquals? Because they're without natural affection. They don't have... Look, it's natural to look at these little kids and to love them and to want to play with them and to help them out. You know, it's to just appreciate the children, right? For the sake of Christ, that's a natural thing. But these brute beasts out here, they don't look at them the same way we do, because they are without natural affection, implacable. What does that mean? It means impossible to placate. You can never satisfy these people. This is why when they chase us down in the apartment, right, they're never satisfied.