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

All right, the AC is on, but I had to take that coat off. It was just getting way too hot. So today's part four in our series, getting to know your enemies. And so you remember we started off the series talking about the devil and his armies. And then we talked about doubt, depression and dread and things like that to plague the Christian. Then last week we talked about the old man, what a nuisance he is. And then, you know, that's an enemy that we see every single day. Well, today's man can be found, or today's enemy rather, can be found in verse number 36, which is the focus of today's sermon. So look at verse number 36. It says, and a man's foes shall be they of his own house. Now, or of his own household, rather. Now you might be thinking like, well, what in the world does that mean? Well, if you are, it just means you haven't quite got to the point yet where your family or the people in your house have seen you follow Christ. Now, the unique thing about today's enemy is that you know them, or at least you think you do, right? You live with them, or maybe you have lived with them. You've grown up with them. And it's not just talking about your blood relatives here. It's talking about any relationship. It's talking about your friends. It's talking about your family. It's talking about the cost that we all pay when we decide we want to become disciples. Now, it's interesting here because it says a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He's not just talking about any man. He's talking about somebody who makes the decision in their heart to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And look, we've all been there. We've all lost friends. We've all got family mad at us. We've all got people that are angry with us because we take a stand on the Bible. And what I want you to understand is it's not you. It's not us that they have the issue with. It's the message, right? You ever heard the phrase, don't shoot the messenger? That's exactly what they're doing when they persecute you is they are shooting the messenger. And so we're gonna talk about that this morning. So basically, keep your place here, Matthew, the whole time. We're also gonna be in Luke and Mark a little bit this morning. But look down at verse number 16. So really, this passage of scripture goes from verse 16 all the way to verse 40. Well, we're gonna read all the way up to our verse here. So look at verse number 16. So in the beginning of the chapter you just read, he calls into him his 12 disciples, right? And he gives them instructions on how to go out, you know, they're beginning their ministry and so forth. But what this instruction here that we're about to read really is about is not just to them, it's to all of us, right? Because a lot of the things here they didn't go through, right? Did they get all delivered up to death during this time? No, they all died later on in life. Did they all, you know, have their brothers and sisters turn on them? No, you know, Jesus is talking prophetically here, you know, some of us are gonna basically have to go through some persecution with our family, with our friends. And if you think about people overseas, you know, there's people overseas that get saved, right? They get on fire for God and they get killed, you know, their family turns them in, especially in some of the Islam countries, you know, these Arabic cultures, they find out that you convert to Christ, you know, they could possibly kill you, you know, and make your life very difficult. And so, you know, thank God we're not at that point yet in this country, but nonetheless, you know, our families do a lot of these same things. They try to spiritually kill us, right? They try to spiritually murder us. They try to make life difficult. And so that's what we're gonna talk about this morning. So look down at verse number 16, he says, "'Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.'" And so right off the bat, that is the key formula on how to deal with persecution from your enemies, right? He says, "'Be wise as serpents,' so you don't wanna be ignorant." Why? Because when we're ignorant, when we don't have deception, when we don't have perception, if we don't know how to use judgment, the enemy wins every time. And that's any enemy. It's not just the enemies we're talking about today. It's the devil and his armies, right? It's the doubt, it's the depression, it's the dread, it's the old man, it's all that stuff that we've talked about. And then he says, "'Be harmless as doves.'" So the answer is not with physical violence. Remember, our weapons are not carnal like they were back in the Old Testament. Our weapons are spiritual. Now look at verse 17. He says, "'But beware of men.'" Right? So why would he say beware of men if it's wrong to judge, if it's wrong to assess, if it's wrong to have the awareness about people, right? He just got done in verse 16 saying, "'Hey, be wise as serpents.'" And he tells us, "'But beware of men.'" Why? Look at the rest of the verse. "'For they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak.'" So he's basically saying here, don't waste your time rehearsing what you're gonna say when your mom, your dad, your brother, your sister, your in-law, your friend, your Facebook buddies come at you, right? If you've hid the word of God in your heart, the Holy Spirit will bring that forth in the appropriate time. And if you've ever been out soul-winding before, when hopefully, you know, I mean, most of our church does go out, you know, there's probably been times where somebody has maybe had a question or they've come at you a little bit aggressively and a verse just pops into your heart, right? Just pops in your mind and it just comes right out. That's the Holy Ghost here. And that's basically what we have to trust. That's what we have to rely on as a weapon to deal with his enemies here. Now look at verse 19. I'm sorry, look at verse 20. It says, "'For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. And the brothers shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father of the child, and the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death.'" You know, when we were going through our prophecy series, you'll remember in 1 Timothy 3, how it describes how people will be in the end times. It says people will be fierce, right? They'll be traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of their own selves. You know, I mean, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of the things of God. You know, and that's exactly what he's talking about here. As time progresses towards the end, we're gonna find more and more selfishness in the world. I mean, think about how selfish that you would have to be to turn your own child in to be murdered by the government because they got saved or because they wanna follow Christ, right? I mean, that's a wicked thing, but you know what? That's the direction that this country is headed. That's the direction that the world is going today. Now look at verse 22. He says, "'And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.'" He's not talking about spiritual salvation. He's not talking about going to heaven. He's saying if you can endure this type of persecution, meaning if you can have the wisdom of a serpent and if you can combine that with being harmless as a dove, if you can have awareness, if you can have perception, if you can watch your back, if you can do all these things, you just might endure that persecution. You just might endure to the end. Or better yet, you might just get those people that are against you to get saved. Now look at verse number 23. "'But when they persecute you in this city, flee into another, for verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come.'" Verse 24, "'The disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his Lord.'" Now look at verse 25, because this is really the key here for what most of us have to deal with. It says, "'It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord.'" Now look at this. "'If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?'" So what's the tactic of the enemies that we have today that are of our own household, our friends, our families? It's name calling, it's verbal assault, it's verbal abuse. That's what Jesus is dealing with here. You know, before it ever gets to the point to where they're gonna deliver you up for death, before they're gonna deliver you up to be scourged, before they deliver you up to be beaten, they are going to assault you verbally. He's like, look, they're saying that I'm a devil. That's what Jesus is telling these guys. He's like, look, these guys are saying, hey, I'm a devil. How much more are they gonna say that of you because of the message that you bring? I mean, think about it. You don't have to raise your hand, but I'm sure everybody in here has lost a family member or a friend, you know, off Facebook or off your whatever social media is out there these days, Twitter, I don't know, you know, because maybe you posted something, right? I mean, you post something, let's say you post Leviticus chapter 20, verse 13. What do you think is gonna happen to your unsaved family and friends once they read that? Bye-bye, you're gone, right? I was contacted, what was it, about three weeks ago by this kid. He lives like 15 minutes from Pastor Anderson's church. You know, he's like, hey, I'm just starving for some conversation. I just got some questions and stuff. And this kid's about 15 years old, but he listens to a ton of online preaching. And his family, I mean, they are upset there. I mean, he has to like listen in secret and stuff. It kind of reminds me of this chapter, you know, but his family is like, you know, they're faux Christians, right? But they're constantly verbally assaulting him, trying to put him down, saying, you don't know the Bible, you don't understand, you're too heady, you're too high-minded, you're too prideful, you're too boastful, you're too intolerant. You don't, you know, you don't have the real love of Christ, you know, because he wants to take a stand for the Bible. He wants to take a stand against the sodomites. He wants to take a stand and go out sowing. His church doesn't go sowing. You know, so that's a perfect example of somebody who's dealing with this type of a verbal assault and look, if you take a stand for Christ and you say, you know what, I'm gonna serve God, I'm gonna let my light so shine forth before men, guess what? They're gonna call you Beelzebub. They're gonna call you intolerant. They're gonna call you all sorts of names and we have to have thick enough skin to be able to deal with it because if we don't, guess what? They're gonna wind up quenching your light. They're gonna wind up burying that and then we're not gonna be profitable. So this is a key doctrine right here in verse 25. It says, if they have called the master of the house, how much more shall they call them of his household? We are the household of Jesus Christ and you can bet your last dollar that they're gonna call you the same names. You know, I mean, this happens to us all the time out soul-winning, you know, people wanna call us names. You know, there's this church off, what is off Eagle Road, that Life Church. I can't stand those people. Those people are the household of Beelzebub. I'll tell you that right now. Every time we knock on one of those idiots' doors, you know, they just wanna get rude, they wanna argue, they wanna say bad things. I mean, it's just, it's like I've never knocked on one of their church members' doors. It wasn't a fight. Some sort of a bad thing happens. And why is that? Because they are of their household the devil. They preach a false gospel. They teach their people that they have to work their way to heaven, that they have to repent of their sins, that they have to live a good life and that you can lose your salvation and all this stuff. That is contrary to the Bible. And you know what? When we knock on their door, just this right here, just that sound right there, when they open the door and they see us, that is enough to get them so angry that they wanna shoot the messenger. They wanna argue. They wanna, you know, push their false doctrines on us. You know, but we're not gonna let that happen. We're gonna be harmless as doves and use the wisdom of the serpent that Jesus Christ explains to us in this chapter. Look at verse 26. He says, fear them not therefore, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed and hid that shall not be known. So he's saying, hey, look, these people are going to verbally assault you. They're gonna make bad posts against you on Facebook, right? They're gonna send you nasty text messages. They're gonna call you on the phone and chew you out. They're going to assault you verbally. You can go and take that to the bank. But he says, fear them not therefore, for there's nothing covered that shall not be revealed and hid that shall not be known. So what he's telling you there is, hey, look, there is coming a time where they will pay the price. Look, I've been, you know, going to these churches now for quite a while. And every time that I've noticed something wrong with somebody, every time that I've heard a rumor, hey, so-and-so doesn't quite agree on this, so-and-so doesn't like this, it always comes to light. Jesus Christ will always bring that person. He will always bring that problem to light at some point. But what we have to remember is that it's not always gonna be on our timeline. You see, we're finite beings. Well, you know, time to us is very important. You gotta remember that God exists outside of the realm of time. So it's not, you know, we look at this stuff and like, man, you know, my parents are persecuting me, my brother and my sister, they hate me. My friends are all leaving me. You know, when's God gonna do something? People are slandering me. People are doing all this sorta wicked stuff to me. When is God gonna deal with it? You just have to realize, fear them not, because the Lord said in this verse right here, right? What did he say? Look at verse 26, fear them not therefore, for there is nothing covered, right? What they say is usually covered. They're talking badly. They talk trash behind our backs all the time. That is what he's talking about there. He's saying that is covered, but guess what? He says that shall not be revealed and hid that shall not be known. God will make it known when people are backbiting and running their mouths about you, about his people, about his mission, he will bring that forth. I promise you, it always happens. It never fails, it never fails. You see, cause a lot of times when you're starting out in this sort of thing, right? You get on fire for God, maybe your family will be like, oh, it's just a phase, right? It's just a little phase, it's not gonna last. You know, he's just kinda going through a little fad right now, I'm sure he or she is gonna wake up and smell the coffee and get out of it and so forth. But when the years go by, the months go by, the years go by, the decades go by and it doesn't happen and they realize, uh-oh, this person's hooked, guess what? Then it becomes a problem. Then all of a sudden you're looked at, you're being accused of being a hater, you're being accused of being the problem and now they of your own household have become your enemies. But Jesus is saying, hey, don't fear them, don't worry. There's nothing that they can really do to you that's gonna have everlasting consequences. There's nothing. In fact, that trash talk that they like to apply behind your back, it will come to light. It always does, it never fails. It's a 100% guarantee it will come out. So look at verse 27. He says, what I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light, and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. So you notice the two different philosophies there, right? One is of the devil and one is of God. He says, what I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light. You see, what the devil does is he likes to talk in darkness and keep things in darkness. Isn't that what the bad people do? Isn't that what your unsaved family and friends and your foes do? They talk about you behind your back and they wanna keep that in darkness, right? But what Jesus is saying, hey, when I tell you this stuff in darkness, go preach it upon the housetops. Make it public, make it known to everyone. Because there's nothing hidden with God. He wants his truth proclaimed throughout the whole earth. He wants everybody to know, right? That's why we put our preaching on the internet. You know, these people, when they got mad at us, what, four months ago or three months ago, you know, they wanted to send us all these nasty comments. Well, you guys are haymongers and whatever. You know, we're gonna come into your church and we're gonna record the services and we're gonna turn you into the news. It's like, look, just go to the YouTube channel. You know, we live stream. What's wrong with you people? We have nothing to hide. Why? Because I don't fear these people. I don't care what they think. I have no care at all. You know, somebody was like, asked me this question. Well, hey, you know, how's it been going? You know, how's it been keeping you awake at night? Look, nobody keeps me awake at night, especially these type of people. You know what? If you look at the timestamps on their comments, you'll see that we keep them awake at night. That's a fact. They're the ones that are losing sleep over our church. They're the ones that are losing sleep over our message. They're the ones that have something to hide, not us. We're gonna keep continuing to do what Jesus said and we're gonna preach the message on the housetops. We're gonna make this city, this country, this state, know God's doctrine and that's a fact. Now look at verse 28. He says, and fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Now you say, well, wow, that's pretty bold there. Fear not them which kill the body. What if my family kills me? What if we live to that point in this country where people are turning in their moms or dads or brothers or sisters, their friends and their families to be killed by the government because they believe a different message. Don't fear it. That's what he's saying. Don't worry about it because you're not even gonna really notice anything. The Bible says that when you die, if you're saved, you're just gonna go straight to heaven. You're gonna be gathered unto God. You know the angels are gonna carry away. You're not even gonna really know anything. You're just gonna have instant joy. And so it's like, don't worry about it. It's not a problem. Look at verse 29. He says, are not two sparrows sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Look, if God knows and he does, how many hairs that you have on your head? Some of us have more than others. Some of them, you know, I've had gray ones since I was like 19 and now they're all almost all gray. You know, if God knows that, you know, he's trying to put this in his power into perspective. He's trying to get us to understand how he cares for us. I mean, think about that. He knows how many hairs are on your head, right? So he understands the trials. He understands the troubles. He understands the heartache. He understands everything that you're going through. So don't worry about it. He will deliver you. It's a promise in the Bible. We just have to understand these things. It's very important that we understand how our enemy acts, how they operate and what their goals are. Look at verse 31. He says, fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Now the heathens can't always say that, can they? They're too busy worried about saving the rhinos. They're too busy worried about saving the cheetahs and all these animals that they worship. You know, they have no hope. They have no promise, right? It's gotta be a fearful thing to be of that mind frame. The world today, they wanna put animals up here and they wanna put humanity down here, right? I mean, there are laws on the books right now in this country that give animals more rights than us. And by the way, that's why the sodomites, the dogs wanna get more rights too, right? Because they're kind of the same thing, right? If you study this out, you'll notice that the people that fight for these animal rights are always on the side of the sodomites. Birds of a feather flock together. I'm telling you, it's a true statement. Look at verse 32. He says, whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. We're gonna go over this in a little bit more detail in a while, but understand it. This is the Jesus Christ of the Bible. This is the Jesus Christ that saves us, okay? The one that causes division. The one on TV, the one at LifeWay Church on Eagle, the one at the Harvest, the one at the Pursuit, the one at the Mormon Church, the one at the Catholic Church, they don't, that God doesn't save. That's a different God. That's the God of tolerance. That's the God of human achievement. It's a different God. Our God, our Jesus causes division. He came here not to establish peace on earth, right? He came here to sanctify and set apart a people unto himself. Look at verse 35. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And isn't that true even for the unsaved? I mean, you almost don't even have to be saved to have battles with your in-laws, do you? I have great in-laws. I think they're great. I don't have any problems with them. Mother-in-law is great and wonderful person, you know, and thank God for that. And if you have in-laws that are great, you know, try to keep that relationship, right? Now, I'm not preaching this sermon to try to start fights between you and your family. We should always try to reconcile, always try to live peaceably with all men, when it's possible. But you know what? When you start bringing this message or it's heard that you believe these messages, guess what? It's not always gonna be popular. It's not always gonna be accepted. They're not always gonna want to have that relationship with you. And that's what we have to realize. We have to understand that. It's okay. There's no need to feel guilty because Jesus said, hey, I came to set a man at variance, right? I came to start trouble is what he's saying. I came to set a mother against the daughter. I came to set father against son. He's like, I came to separate people. I came to divide the weak from the strong. Look at verse 36. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. In verse 37, he says, he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. And you read in that chapter, how Jesus talks about for my sake, for my name's sake, he's saying for my reason, for my cause, for my purpose, for my mission, for my doctrine, this is why they hate you. This is why they're going to come against you. Now turn to Luke chapter 14, Luke chapter 14. So understanding our enemies, you know, they have your own household, your family, your friends, you know them, right? You understand how they are. You know what's gonna make them mad. You know what's gonna cause them to get upset. But it's still important to realize and to understand how they have our own households become our foes. So if you're there in Luke chapter 14, look at verse number 25. This is talking about the cost of discipleship. What everybody in here needs to understand is when you make that individual choice, right? That you're gonna serve Christ, that you're gonna go all out for the truth. There is a cost to that. And it's, you know, I think it's a comforting thing that when we realize that, hey, you know, I could wind up losing some friends here. I could wind up losing some family here. You know, it makes serving Christ a lot easier. So look at verse 25, Luke 14, 25. It says, and there went great multitudes with him and he turned and said unto them, if any man come to me and hate not his father and his mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, in his own life, he cannot be my disciple. And you might look at that and try to explain that away in the Greek or the Hebrew or a language that you don't understand. It's not gonna help anything, right? It's our misguided teaching of the word hate that causes people to not understand this verse here. He says, if any man come to me and hate not his father, his mother, what is he talking about there? He's simply saying this, the word hate means to strongly dislike something, right? So when you strongly take a stand and dislike the world, their doctrines, their teachings, their philosophies, their ways, guess what? Your family, right? The world, they take that as hate to them because they want to be number one in your life. When you give Christ that preeminence, that's taken as a hateful act. And so Jesus is just saying here, he's just rolling with that. He's like, hey, well, okay, if you don't learn to hate your mother and your father, he's not saying that you have to disdain them, that you have to like always be cursing at them or whatever. Just the fact that you decide to follow Christ is enough to cause them to think that you hate them because now you're taking their influence out of your life and you're replacing with Christ. Your family's automatically gonna say, well, you hate me. We used to go to the park every Sunday. Now you wanna go to church. We used to do this every Saturday morning. Now you wanna go soloing. At night, we used to watch Commando and Predator and all these other crazy Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. Now you wanna read the Bible. You know, you hate me. And Jesus is like, yeah, guess what? If you don't hate your mother, if you don't hate your father, if you don't hate these people, then you can't be my disciple. He's not saying you can't be saved. He's saying you cannot be my disciple. We're talking about discipleship here. We're talking about after salvation, when you decide that you want to serve Christ with your life that you wanna work hard for him, that you wanna reach people and produce more disciples and bring that message out there. That's what he's talking about. That's all it means. That's all it means. It's not a mistake in the Bible. It's a fact. It's the truth, right? Whatever you do, whenever you replace mom, dad, brother, sister, aunt, uncle with Christ, there's a good chance they're gonna take that as a hateful act. And Jesus is saying, hey, rightfully so. All right, look at verse 27. And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. So you can't just get saved and be like, okay, well, you know, I'm saved now. I'm just gonna do whatever I want. Yeah, you can, you're gonna stay saved, right? Because you can do that, right? You know, once you're saved, you're always saved. But what he's saying is you can't follow me, okay? You can't, I mean, think about it. If you don't go to church, how are you gonna get fed? If you don't go soul-winning, how are you gonna get people saved? If you don't read the Bible, how are you gonna get knowledge and wisdom? It's not gonna happen. You're not gonna, in order to be a disciple, you have to do these things. You have to go to the places and do the things that God is about in order to be his disciple. And that's what he's talking about here. Look at verse 28. For which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Look at verse 29. Lest haply after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that behold it began to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with 10,000 to meet him that cometh against him with 20,000? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an embassage and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. And then look at verse 34. Salt is good, but if the salt hath lost its savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? So he's basically saying, hey, if you want to be a disciple, right, you wanna follow Christ, it's a good idea for you to just think about the ramifications, the cost that it comes with. Because you know what? You will lose people in your life. You're gonna lose that coworker that you just made friends with. You're gonna lose that mom or dad that doesn't wanna hear this message. You're gonna lose all your Facebook friends. You're gonna lose all your Twitter friends. You're gonna lose all your subscribers on YouTube. You're going to have trouble in your house when you decide to follow Christ. But you know what? You just need to understand that and learn that this just the way it is. Now look at verse number 35. How do people in your own house become your enemies? Because of the double-edged sword that comes out of Jesus' mouth. And we see that right here. Look at verse 35. It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dung hill, but men cast it out. Talking about the salt, right? And then look at this. He says, he that hath ears, let him hear. You see, Jesus isn't interested in changing his message. He's not interested in playing games. He's not interested in compromise. And if you wanna be a disciple, you have got to learn to be the same way. You cannot play both sides of the fence. You're not gonna be able to placate your unsaved family and friends that don't want anything to do with Christ and still become a disciple. It doesn't work that way. Jesus' attitude is, hey, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. He's basically saying it is what it is. This is how I am. I came to bring a sword. I did not come to bring peace. Deal with it. People know that in their hearts about Jesus Christ. They've heard it, right? The world knows that deep down inside. They just don't ever want to admit it. And that is what they hate. They hate the fact that he said, I'm all powerful, I'm all knowing, and I will do whatever I want. And that's what he's saying here. And so it's important for us to realize that. You wanna serve Christ? You better be careful. Now turn to Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12. While you're turning there, I'm just gonna read for you Colossians chapter one verse 18, which says this. And he is the head of the body, the church, who was the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. The Lord Jesus Christ wants to be first in everything that you do. First thing in your thoughts, the first thing in your actions, the first thing in your family, right? And by the way, we should strive as hard as humanly possible and spiritually possible to make sure that our immediate families aren't our own enemies, right? So that means there's a lot of families out there where husband and wife, you know, one gets saved, the other doesn't, and all of a sudden all hell breaks loose. First Corinthians chapter seven is all about that subject. You know, when I first married Jessica, we kind of had that going on. You know, I got saved when I was younger, but when I met her, I'd hid that from her. And she's probably laughing about this. Our anniversary is next week. So I figured I'd tell the story. You know, I got saved in a Baptist church. You know, I was on the bus route for a while. Then it came time to get baptized. You know, I brought the little waiver home. You know, I got off the bus and my mom's like, what's that? And I'm like, oh, I'm gonna get baptized. And she tears the thing up. She's like, no, you're not, you're Catholic. You know, my mom was Mexican. My dad was white, but she would always say, you know, you, Mexican people are Catholic. You have to be Catholic, you know? And I was like, well, I got saved. She's like, you didn't get saved. I'm taking you to the Catholic church. So they yanked me out of the Baptist church. They drive me down to the Catholic church every Wednesday. And I wound up getting in big trouble there. And so, you know, it just didn't work out. And so that caused some bitterness for me because I always wanted to go back to being a Baptist. I always wanted to go back to that lifestyle. And for whatever reason, you know, I just went off into the world. You know, by the time it's my senior year, I meet Jessica. You know, we get married. I didn't even tell her anything. You know, I'm obviously getting to know her. I know she goes to church and this and that, you know. And because of the way I was living, I could tell that they were judging me. And rightfully so, you know, and they would be like, you know, I just felt like they're always like, oh, this guy's such a heathen. He's such a bad kid. And I was, you know, I was a bad kid. I wasn't heathen. I was saved, you know, but I would hear conversations. I would hear them say these different things. You know, I was just thinking to myself like, man, you know, I'm saved. I just don't have the guts to admit it because of the way I'm living my life. So one thing leads to another, you know, and she finds out that I, that I did get saved. And she's like, why have you tricked me? You know, you know, and then she, she finally, you know, we, we, our marriage got a whole lot better is what I'm trying to say, because during those first couple of years, she didn't know that I was saved and it caused some serious fights, some serious problems, because I would mock her. I'd be like, I don't want to go to church. I was still upset about being yanked out of the Baptist church. And why did I act like that? I don't know, because I was under oppression of the world. You know, I was just serving, you know, the old man basically. And then finally one day I just, you know, God got ahold of me and I said, all right, I'm done with this. I gotta be honest, you know, and then, you know, look at where we're at today. You know, one thing led to another. We're able to serve God together. It's not always like that. Not everybody's in that situation. There are lots of people out there, you know, where we go knock on their doors, someone gets saved. Husband gets saved, wife gets saved. And all of a sudden, guess what? That household is at variance, you know? And I wish that they would come to church so that we could teach them, hey, you know, your husband, your wife, your immediate family members, they can be saved by your, you know, by observing you. You know, when you decide to get on fire and you stay faithful, they see, okay, you're not compromising. They might actually in their hearts be like, okay, I'm more willing now to listen. You know, I know this guy at Verity Baptist Church. I mean, he'd been, he's been going there for what? Six, six years, right? Probably about six years. I'm not gonna say his name because I don't think, I don't know if he would approve, but you know, he'd been praying for his wife for years, for like at least six or seven years. I mean, driving two hours to church every Sunday, every Wednesday. I mean, think about that. This guy's driving two hours to church. You're just faithfully going, faithfully going. Six years later, guess what? Right now, today, his wife is sitting in church with him. His wife is now going soloing with him. There is hope. You can win that. But I like to say this, you know, we need to strive hard to do the right thing so that we can make sure that our own immediate families are not our own foes. It's a lot easier when your whole family is together and you have the in-laws to deal with, you know, because then you guys can hunker down and just battle together. But when it's husband and wife, it's difficult. It's a lot of heartache. It's a lot of pain. It's a lot of striving together. But nonetheless, there's a way out. There's an escape plan. You know, we can make these things right. So we're gonna have you turn to Luke 12. All right, Luke chapter 12. Look at verse number 49. Because what are we talking about here? We're talking about the reason why the people decide to hate us. Why do they of our own household, why do they of our own, I don't know, our own relationships, our own friendships, why do they hate us? And it's because of the sword. Think about it. It's the word of God. The word of God is often depicted in the Bible as a sword. Jesus said over and over again, I came to cause division. How does he do that? With his word, with his truth, right? Swords are sharp. They cut things. They divide. It's not pretty. It's not always nice. Look at verse 29. I'm sorry, 49, Luke 12, 49. He says this, I am come to send fire on the earth. And what will I if it already, or if it be already kindled? So Jesus is again, instructing us, hey, I'm not a just coming to earth to make peace between all nations. I'm not here to set up an earthly kingdom. I'm here to cause trouble. I'm here to send fire. In Revelation chapter one, verse 16, Jesus says this. It says, and he had in his right hand, seven stars and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. So again, the Bible says that the words that Jesus Christ spoke, the words that have been preserved for us today, they are sharp or sharper than any two-edged sword. And right here, Jesus is saying, hey, I came basically to send fire on earth. I came to cause trouble. Look at verse 50. He says, but I have a baptism to be baptized with and how am I straightened till it be accomplished? Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth. Look at this again. I tell you nay, but rather division. For from henceforth, there shall be five in one house divided. Three against two and two against three. So it is that word. It's the truth. It's the word of God. That is what they hate. That is what causes they of our own household to become our foes, to become our enemies. Look at verse 53. He says the father shall be divided against the son and the son against the father, the mother against the daughter and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Now go to John chapter seven, John chapter seven. This is really it. You know, anti-coexist. If Jesus were to physically come down here right now and see that bumper sticker, that coexist bumper sticker, he'd probably rip it in half. I mean, that is completely the opposite of the Jesus Christ that we read about in the gospels. It's not him at all. That is a different Jesus. He came to bring division. And here's an example of it. John chapter seven, look at verse 40. John chapter seven, verse 40 says many of the people therefore when they heard this saying said of a truth, this is the prophet. Others said, this is the Christ. But some said, shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said that Christ cometh out of the seat of David and out of the town of Bethlehem where David was? Now look at verse 43. So there was a division among the people because of him. He starts his ministry off with division. I mean, think about that. He starts the whole creation off with division, right? In the beginning, what did God do? He said, let there be light. I mean, that is division, right? He starts separating light from darkness, right? Dry from what? All these different things. Jesus Christ, God, he is about division. That is what the world hates. That is why they have our own household become our foes. So go back to Matthew, no, I'm sorry. Go to Mark chapter 10. Go to Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10. And you say, okay, well, great. How do we deal with this? Well, I got one point, just one point. How do we deal with this? You follow Christ anyways. So while you're turning to Mark 10, I'll read for you Matthew 10 39 again. He says, he that findeth his life shall lose it. And he that loses his life for my sake shall find it. This is a guarantee. This is a promise. When you decide to lose your present worldly life for his sake, for his reason, for his doctrine, for his cause, for his ways, he says, then you will find it. Then you will define your life. You there in Mark chapter 10, look at verse 27. So this here is after the disciples are like, hey, okay, well, who can be saved? And he says, and Jesus looking upon them saith, with men it is impossible, but not with God. For with God, all things are possible. Verse 28, then Peter began to say unto him, lo, we have left all and followed thee. And Jesus answered and said, verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the gospels. Look at verse 30, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the world to come eternal life. So what he's saying, hey, when you decide to follow me, yeah, you're gonna lose your mom, your dad, your brother, your friend, your uncle, all that stuff. But he's like, I'm gonna give you in this lifetime now, why? Because think about it, when you become a disciple, where are you gonna be? You're gonna be in church. What are you gonna be doing? God's work, right? So with that comes persecutions, but God replaces what you've lost with his church family. He gives you brothers, he gives you sisters. Now go to Genesis chapter 37, we'll take a look at this. There's several examples, even in the Old Testament of people that lost family, that lost friends, that lost their lives because they wanted to serve God. So we'll just take a look at the story of Joseph, probably one of the most famous, most basic examples in the Bible, right? What's the deal with Joseph? Remember, he has a dream from God. He communicates that to his family. Guess what? They have his own household become his foes. Look at verse number four. Genesis 37, verse four. It says, and when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him. And obviously that's a whole nother sermon. You know, Israel, Jacob, you know, he was definitely wrong for favoring Joseph. But look at verse five, and Joseph dreamed a dream and he told it his brethren, and they hated him yet the more, right? It's not really him they hate, they hated the message. They hated the dream, they hated what came from God. That's what they didn't like. They didn't understand it either. Look at verse six. And he said unto them, here I pray you this dream which I have dreamed, for behold, we are binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose and also stood upright. And behold, your sheaf stood round about and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren said to him, shalt thou indeed reign over us, or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words. So the Bible records the summary of his dreams, but obviously he was probably talking about God's word, talking about other things as well. Look at verse nine. And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, behold, I have dreamed a dream more, and behold, the sun and the moon and the 11 stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father and to his brethren, and his father rebuked him and said unto him, what is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee, to the earth? Now look at verse 11. It says, and his brethren envied him, but his father observed the scene. So you know what? When we go out and preach the message of the gospel, right? That it's a free gift, that it's eternal, that it lasts forever. When we take a stand on the truth in the Bible that Jesus Christ has given us, you know what? That work, that causes envy. You know why the people at that life way church hate us? Because they envy us. They realize in their hearts that they should be out doing work. And thank God they're not because they preach a false gospel. But nonetheless, they understand that they're not doing anything but showing up to church and playing patty cake with each other every single Sunday. That's what they're doing. And you know what? When they see Christian people out there preaching the right truth in their hearts, they know, right? Remember the Holy Spirit is in this world convicting men of their sins and convicting the world of truth. They know what we're doing is right. And it pisses them off to know. And they envy us just like Joseph's brethren envied him. Look at verse, jump down to verse 26, Genesis 37, 26. We'll skip ahead here. It says, and Judah said unto his brethren, what profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? Right, because they come up with this plan. They're like, look, we've got to get rid of this guy. We've got to get him out of here. You know, some of them want to kill Joseph. Others are like, hey, let's just sell them into slavery. Now look at verse 27, come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content. Then there were passed by Midianites merchant men and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph into Egypt. Now turn over to Genesis 50, 22. So you know the story in between here. Joseph gets sold into slavery. God favors him. God protects him the whole time that he's in prison, the whole time that he's in Egypt. And God lifts him up to the point where now he's the second in charge of Egypt. Now look at verse 22, right? So God did replace his family, right? He lost his brother and he lost his mom. He lost his dad, right? But God still, even in the midst of that, God replaced that family with tons of blessings. God gave him a wife. He had two children. Now, Genesis 50, look at verse 22. And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father's house. And Joseph lived in 110 years. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children to the third generation. The children also of Makir, the son of Manasseh, were brought up upon Joseph's knees. So even though he counted the cost of discipleship, so to speak, right? He had these dreams. He had the message. He had the word of God. He wasn't willing to hide it. He still proclaimed it. And it cost him the rest of his teenage years. It cost him his adult life with his family. But nonetheless, God extended his physical life. God replaced all those things in this present life, right? I mean, think of it. Sometimes it doesn't always happen that way. Sometimes people are gonna get martyred, right? Stephen was martyred. There were other martyrs in the New Testament. There were martyrs in the Old Testament. Sometimes people die. Sometimes we have to give up our lives for Christ. But you know what? They're still gonna get that eternal reward. I mean, the Bible speaks in great details about the rewards. I mean, it describes them as such as we don't even have words to describe how great they are, you know? But nonetheless, Joseph here counted the cost of discipleship and said, you know what? I'm still willing to give up everything because I cannot hide what God has put in my heart. I'm gonna proclaim these dreams. And it all worked out for good for the nation of Israel as a result. Now, turn to James chapter five, James chapter five. So you say, well, how do we deal with this? You just serve Christ anyways. You just make up your mind. You know what? I understand that it's gonna cost me, my friends, it's gonna cost me my standing in the community. It's gonna cost me my image. It's gonna cost me a lot, but nonetheless, it's a small price to pay for the reward, right? So God replaces our family and friends with church members. He replaces our friends with his people, right? And that's a great, wonderful thing. So James chapter five, look at verse 14. It says, is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil. So a lot of people say, well, yeah, but what about when I'm physically hurting? What about this? Well, the Bible even says here in James chapter five that when you're sick, when you have physical ailments, church is the place to be. God has still replaced that physical need with the church. So yeah, I mean, it's good for everything. It's not good just for spiritual healing, but you know what? We can pray for each other. We can counsel one another. We can edify one another mentally, physically, and spiritually. And so Jesus saying, hey, just because your mom's not gonna be giving you Advil or medicines or carrot juice or whatever, don't think that I'm not gonna heal you. I will replace those things with my proper plan. And that's what's going on here. Go to Colossians chapter four. Colossians chapter four. So you say, well, I don't wanna give up my life because I'm afraid I won't have the basic necessities. Well, that's not for us to worry about. Jesus said, you know, through the scriptures, he preserved these things for us so that we would understand that, hey, you know, we have a place to go to get fed. We have a place to go when we need help, you know, and that is amongst his people, that's his church. And it becomes a family. Look at how, look at verse 15. Colossians chapter four, look at verse 15. It says, salute the brethren, which are in Laodicea and Nymphos and the church, which is in his house. I just wanted to highlight that there for you because all throughout the New Testament, you're gonna see that, brethren, right? Sisters, right? God's people becoming your family. And you say, well, blood's thicker than water. Well, I wouldn't say that because the blood of Christ is pure and obviously a lot thicker than the blood that's between you and your mom and your dad and your, you know, your brother and your sister who hate you now because you have the truth. So he replaces that with the real blood, right? Which bonds all of us together in a family. And so you'll see this language all throughout the New Testament. Salute the brethren, say hi to the brethren. You know, the brethren at Rome, salute you. The brethren at Thessalonica, they salute you. Go to Ephesians chapter five. We're almost done, Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians chapter five, look at verse 29. It says, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the church. So you say, okay, my family's got rid of me. They don't want to talk to me. My friends hate me. I've got nowhere to go. Well, when you go to church, you get plugged in, you decide, you know what? I've counted the cost. I want to be a disciple. They have my own household. I've become my foes. I don't care. I fear them not. Guess what? What does the Bible say here? Even as the Lord the church, the Lord God takes care of his church. So when you become part of that, you become taken care of in that process. Look at verse 30 says, for we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall be joined unto his wife. And they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. So he's saying, hey, just as we leave father and mother to be, to cleave to our spouse, he's like, that's what you need to do. You need to leave the world and cleave to Christ and cleave to his church, his institution that he had set up on earth and ordained to become your family. Look, this isn't a cult. I'm just saying, when you take a stand for God, you're gonna be rejected. You're gonna have foes in your own household and you need, in order to keep moving forward, you need to become part of God's program, which is the local church. Look at verse, back up to verse 25, Ephesians 5, 25. He says, husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for. You know, it really bothers me. There's so many people out there. You're not gonna donate in vinyl church. Well, I don't need church. Me and my friends, we just get together and have coffee and have a Bible study and that's church because wherever two or three are gathered together, there he is in the midst. Yeah, that's true, but that's not church. There is a big difference. Church means congregation, where we meet together. And guess what? There's all sorts of stuff that go along with that. There's a pastor, right? If it's large enough, there's deacons, right? There's evangelists, there's a mission, there's a vision. There's organization, there's order. God wants things to be done decently and in order. How are you going to do that if you're just free for all and down at Starbucks with your buddies, right? That's different. The Bible says that Christ does care about church and that he gave himself for it. I always love these people to say, you knock on the door and they're like, oh, I know I'm going to heaven because I turned from all my sins. I'm a good person, I'm a pretty good person. You know, where do you go to church? I don't go to church, I don't believe in it. And it's like, well, Christ gave him, died for the church, the Bible says, and gave himself for it. So by your own logic, that's a pretty bad sin, don't you think? And then there's, well, well, you know, I just haven't found one I like yet. I haven't found one that suits me. Well, what did Jesus say? Let him who hath ears, you know, let him hear. He said, I came to bring division. I don't care what you think. This isn't just for how you feel. His truths are what they are and we have to accept that, right? That is what is important here. So how do we deal with our foes and our family? Like I said, there's one point. You follow Christ and despite how they feel. Jesus said, fear them not. Your friends are gonna kick you off Facebook. In fact, I'll tell this story here. Ever since I met Jessica, she's had this best friend, right? Her name's Tiffany and she's had other friends that she grew up with in high school. And I, you know, knowing her for 20, what, 21 years, I never in a million years would have thought that they would have ever departed, parted ways the way they did, you know? But as we decided to continue and go forward with this movement, go out soul winning, learn the doctrines, you know, what was it? Two years ago, about two years ago now? A year, one year ago? Now Jessica makes this post about Hallmark. It was a Hallmark card, right? There was a Hallmark card that was put out about two dudes loving each other, you know? And Jessica used to work at Hallmark and she posted some post on Facebook and basically said, you know, this is an abomination. I can't remember the whole story, but this is wickedness and here's some Bible versus why. Well, at that time on her Facebook page, she's got all of her cousins, right? All of her family and obviously her best friend and those friends and they came out against her. They were like, you're not loving, you're not tolerant. That's not who Jesus Christ is, that's wrong. And they began to just rail on her and pick on her and I'm kind of in the back of my mind thinking, well, how's this gonna go down? How is this gonna play down? And she just completely cut them off. Completely blocked them, got rid of them just like that. Why? Because she's learned to hide the word of God in her heart. Because she's a disciple, she's following Christ and she realizes that he came here to set fire on earth. He came here not to bring peace, but a sword, right? And that sword cut those idiots and those fools off from her life and I remember thinking to myself, that's it, she's hooked now, she's done, you know? And to you, you might be sitting here, well, that's really nothing, but I'm just not doing a very good job at explaining it. It's really, I mean, you know, all of us have that childhood friend or that family member that we just bonded with, right? You've gotta realize there could come a point where you have to cut that off. I've had to do that in my life, but I'm kinda, you know, I'm military trained, I have no problem with just hacking things, you know, I have an aggressive kinda attitude. I've cut my best friends off, I won't even talk to them. I don't care, when I make up my mind that I'm gonna do something, I do it and I don't care what happens, you know? Not everybody's like that, right? That's hard, I mean, she grew up, I mean, they had battles together, right? I mean, they had the same enemies, they had their boy troubles when they were younger. They had all these different things, right? They have a lot of memories together, they had a lot of relationship foundation, but when she decided to really put Christ at the forefront of her life, when she decided, you know what, I'm gonna make him the preeminence, it was nothing to just cut those people out. And to this day, they're still trying to contact her. Hey, don't you still wanna be my friend? Don't you still wanna love the queers? Don't you still wanna do this? Don't you still wanna do that? She's like, no, I don't want anything to do with you, drop dead and go to hell if you wanna support the reprobates. That's her attitude, you know what? And that should be our attitude. Not to curse people that aren't reprobates, but nonetheless, you know what, these freaks and these sickos out here, you know what, that's the dividing line today. That's what we have to battle today. When the world says, okay, I see that you are against these people, guess what, they're gonna come at you, they're gonna come after you. And you know what, we have to realize that we're gonna receive a hundred fold more in this life. Right, she has all of you, she has all her friends. You know, we have each other to replace that family that we cut off. Matthew 10, 30, one more time, you don't have to turn it here, it says, but he shall receive in a hundred fold now in this time, houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions and in the world to come, eternal life. So keep that promise that, hey, you know what, yeah, we're gonna have persecutions now, but I've got my brothers, I've got my sisters, I've got my friends, you know, I've got my fellow believers. And guess what, the big thing at the end of that is, you know what, we have eternal life. So let that excite you, let that be able to bring you joy so that you can continue to serve Christ because they have your own household can take you out of the fight if you let them. And so that's why it's important that we understand our enemies. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for the truths of your word. I thank you for this church, Lord. Please bless the soul winning today and the service to come in Jesus' name I pray, amen.