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in my heart the Lord will not hear me but verily God hath heard me He hath attended to the voice of my prayer blessed be God which have not turned away my prayer nor his mercy from me. Brother Moses, you want to pray for us? All right, amen. Well, I know we started a series last week going through the Sermon on the Mount, but being it's 4th of July tomorrow, I wanted to do my annual 4th of July sermon. So, with that being said, we're going to take a break from that, but there's still some elements of that in here. And we're going to look in Psalm chapter number 66 at verse number 7. Look what it says, the Bible says, He ruleth by his power forever. Now, does everybody here understand what forever means? That means there's no end, eternal, everlasting, from the beginning to the very end. Forever he ruleth by his power. Does that mean he changes? No. Okay, look at the rest of the verse. His eyes behold the nations. Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Okay, we're going to come back to this at the end of the sermon. So, make sure you keep your place there, but go to Matthew chapter number 22. Matthew chapter number 22. So, the last part of that verse there, very specific, says let not the rebellious exalt themselves. That's the problem today in this country, not just this country, obviously the entire world, is that we have a culture that allows the rebellious, the ones who want to overthrow or to usurp the authority of God to exalt themselves, right? They're given platforms. They're in the music industry. They're in the media. They're in the movie industry. Positions of power everywhere, okay? That's what we are dealing with. We're going to talk about that today. Now, whose fault is it? And that's really what it boils down to. We're going to be talking about that this morning. The title of the sermon is Who is American Jesus? Who is American Jesus? And so, what we're going to do today is we're going to compare American Jesus with the Jesus of the Bible, who is also the word of God. And so, with that being said, you're in Matthew chapter number 22. We're going to read a few verses here. I'm going to give you an example of something and then we're going to come back to it in a little while and we'll break it down, okay? So, Matthew chapter 22, look at verse 34. So, the Bible reads, But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together, okay? We don't have time to go through the entire chapter. We've done that in the past. But you can see by that statement there what's actually going on, okay? People are doing what they've always done. They're doing what people in this country are doing today. They're trying to twist the words of Jesus. They're trying to trap him. They're trying to make him sound dumb and they're trying to catch him in his words. And these people are upset that they cannot be successful, okay? So, what's really being said here is the sermons and the teachings that Jesus is giving is problematic, okay? Look at verse 35. It says, It says, Okay, so hopefully everybody's got the context here on what's really going on. These people are not asking sincerely, right? These people are trying to tempt him. They're trying to test him. They're trying to catch him in error. That's what's going on here. Now look at verse 36. Okay, let's stop right there. That is the world that we live in today. That is the mindset of most people who call themselves Christians. Hey, what's the great commandment of the law? Because their thinking is, if you just tell me what one great thing is, I'll at least make myself appear that that's what I'm about and that's what I'm doing and then I'll be successful, okay? And so you have to understand that as you go through the rest of this passage. Let me just give you an example of this because an email just came in a little while ago and it fits perfectly with what we're talking about, okay? So the title is Shame, okay? And I did a quick scan. There's nothing filthy in here. Okay, but the title is Shame and it says this, To whom it may concern, Jesus Christ instructed us to be fishers of men, Matthew 4.19. Not punishers of anyone who doesn't agree with your perspective and certainly not the almighty judge, okay? Everybody follow that mindset already? You know, what is her thinking there? What is she trying to actually say? She goes on to say this, God himself would never be king or president of this country. Wow, you're really intelligent. You're a smart one, okay? Jesus walked with the sinners, okay? Right, because we're all sinners, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, okay? But did Jesus ever walk with dogs? No. No. Show me where that's in the Bible. Look, you can't even find that in the NIV. I mean, think about it. Let me just stop for a second here and say this. I hate the modern Bible verses. We all do. They're garbage and they're trash. But you know what? These clown churches, they can't even follow their own weak, watered-down Bible versions because they still have Leviticus chapter 20. They still have Matthew 23. They still have Matthew 24. They still have all these things. And they're very similar sayings in some of those passages. Now, yeah, they've twisted and changed. We talk about that all the time. But the fact is you can find what we teach even in those. It's watered down, but it's still there. So they won't even follow their own teachings. So she goes on to say this, Jesus listened and spoke to sinners. Jesus saved all those who were merciful to him. Really? So is that the requirement to be saved? You have to be merciful to him? Does he need your mercy? Yes. Fine. What's the greatest commandment, right? That's basically what she's saying here. And she goes on to say this, I pray that the Holy Spirit speaks to you and rid your heart of hate. Oh, man, okay. Did Jesus tell us to hate? Yes. Absolutely. Who did he tell you to hate? My mother, father, your wife, your kids, right? And we talked about that last week. Jesus commands us to hate. You cannot be a follower of Christ if you don't hate. But the problem is they don't understand the spectrum of hate. They don't understand what that word really means. And it gets worse. I pray that the Holy Spirit speaks to you and rid your heart of hate. Remember, it was the very Roman government that crucified Jesus. It will be the U.S. government that destroys us. Thank you. And, you know, I made this statement when I preached that faithful word on Wednesday that most people don't understand what that simple word means. Us. You read the book of Ephesians and tell me who is us. Most dispensationalists cannot tell you what the word us means in the Bible. Obviously, you have to have the context and you guys get that, right? But just for an example, when you're reading through Ephesians, who's the us? It's the saved. It's the Jew and the Gentile, one in Christ. Who's us to this individual here? All of mankind, no matter what. You're a pedo, no problem. God loves you. All you have to do, pedophiles, is just be merciful to God and he'll forgive you. And he loves you. And it's kind of funny because what about the millstone? What about the millstone tied about the neck? What about that? They don't ever want to talk about that. You bring that up and they ignore you. Why? Because they are no different than the people that we are reading about in this passage here in Matthew. So let's read the rest of these verses. Look at verse 37. Jesus said unto him, Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. Verse 38. This is the first and great commandment. Verse 39. And the second is like unto it thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. We'll come back to that. If you would go to the Old Testament really quickly and go to the book of Malachi. Malachi chapter number three. We're going to talk about money. No, I'm just kidding. Most of you probably thought that. If you've been around church for a long time and you hear Malachi 3, you're like, oh, here it goes, the cow again, the cash cow. He's going to start talking about money. Not so today. Okay. You know, it's kind of funny. Somebody was showing me a video of Mrs. Doc Pound, who obviously hates all of us in my guts. And you know, I always talk about the bottom line, right? You know, the main point of my sermon or whatever it is, you know, and she made a video saying that I was implying about money or talking about money. It's like, no, it's not what I was talking about. Not at all what I was talking about. But it just goes to show you that these people don't listen. They don't read. They do not want the truth. And that is who American Jesus is. We start right there. American Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible. But let's take a look at something else that American Jesus does not subscribe to. Malachi 3, look at verse number 6. This verse here is going to tell us a characteristic of God that we all need to make sure we understand. Look at verse number 6. It says, for I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob, are not consumed. Okay? Go, if you would, to John, the Gospel of John chapter number 4. So the Bible says, and there's many places it says that in the Bible, but one characteristic that we need to know and understand about Christ, about God, is that he does not change. Okay? Now, there are several verses in the Bible that say that God repents. He changes his mind. For example, he's going to destroy a nation. They decide they're going to believe on him. They are going to accept the warnings. And then God says, okay, I'm going to change my mind. I will not destroy you. That's okay. That's completely different. But he does not change his standards. He does not change his judgments. He does not change his law that he's preserved for us. Okay? Now, obviously, a lot of this is going to be reviewed for you guys, but it's very important to understand, especially the end of the sermon here. So John chapter 1. Okay? Everybody's got to make sure that they understand this in their hearts. Okay? This is the bridge here. This is the bridge from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Because, again, American Jesus threw out the entire Old Testament. He threw out the last half of the New Testament and only has a few select verses in between. Okay? And we talked about this last week. Red letter Christians. Okay? Again, hey, read the Sermon on the Mount and show me where he said this. Show me where he said that. Well, we will over the next coming weeks. But the problem is he is the Word. All of the Word. It doesn't say he's just some of the Word. Okay? And we've got to understand that here. John chapter 1 verse 1 says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So now, if you go back, and you don't have to go back there, but if you go back to Malachi chapter 3 and you read verse number 6, does that apply to Jesus Christ? Is he unchanging? Absolutely. So that means that his standards that we're going to look at here in a moment in the Old Testament are still how he feels about things even in the New Testament. Okay? Look at verse 2. It says, The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. Go to Hebrews chapter number 13. Chapter number 13. So again, John 1. That is the bridge. That is how we connect the Old Testament to the New Testament. So when someone challenges you with your beliefs, and with your standards, and with your judgments, right? What do you do? You bring them right there, and then you park it there, and you quiz them. You make them explain their position. You make them tell you why he's not the Word of God. You make them explain that, okay? You don't have to explain anything. You know where you stand. You know what you believe. You believe the entire Word of God. But again, we need to be able to clearly defend our position on doctrine, okay? And you guys know this, and we do this all the time. Hebrews chapter number 13, verse number 8. So again, somebody says, Well, you know, that's just the Old Testament. I don't believe that. You know, he changed everything. He made everything okay. No judgment, okay? That's American Jesus. Well, what about this verse? Hebrews 13, verse 8. Jesus Christ. Now, is that the American Jesus? Or is that the Messiah? The one sent from God from Heaven? Jesus Christ, okay? And again, I believe everybody in here knows this. Christ is not Jesus' last name, okay? Everybody got that, okay? These people out here don't know that. They do not understand that, okay? They think that Jesus, like his first name on his birth certificate was just like, Jesus and the last name of Christ. He had a different last name than, you know, his parents. It's just like, oh, man, wow. Jesus Christ, the what? Same. Yesterday? And today? And forever? Right? What is that yesterday implying to you? You know, because I could just hear somebody right now being, like, well, when the writer actually wrote this passage here, he was just talking about the day prior, okay? Which was in the New Testament. So he's not talking about the Old Testament. No. He's talking about eternity past, eternity present, eternity future outside of the confines of time as we know it, okay? New Testament verse there. Very clear. Jesus Christ does not change. The way that he rebuked these people in Matthew 22, Matthew 23 throughout the Bible is exactly how he feels today, okay? I love this stuff. Go to James chapter 1. James chapter number 1. And so if you haven't figured out, obviously, we are in a little bit of a spiritual warfare right now, and that is another reason for these sermons, okay? And it'll make more sense to you at the end why I'm doing this. James chapter 1. Let's take another look at this unchanging Christ that we have in the Bible. Look at verse 17. It says, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, okay? Again, what does modern Christianity today say? Well, again, they get up in front of their people and they say, well, this doesn't really quite mean that because when you go check this language and you subtract Chinese and Italian and then you add Greek and then you add a little bit of the slang that they use and a little bit of hope from what's going to be dug up in the future, you get a completely different doctrine, which means that God just loves everything, right? Why are we clobbering people with the word of God when we don't even know what it is, okay? That's what the world does. They try to bring you down to their level, which is zero, zero understanding of the word of God, okay? We are not like that. We will stand against that. Look at verse number 18. It says, Of his own will begot he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Keep that in the back of your mind. But what does it say? Of his own will. Whose will? Of God's will. Who never changes, who has no variableness. It says, begot he us with the word of truth, not with the actions of our truth, which is what a lot of these people out there try to say and try to imply. Oh, I gave my life to him, right? That's what American Jesus wants. American Jesus wants you to give your life to him. Why? Because he is selfish, right? Because he is a lover of his own self, and he changes with the seasons. Go to Revelation chapter number one. Revelation chapter number one. And we'll go back to Hebrews in just a second here. Revelation chapter one, verse eight, it says this, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, which was, and which is to come the Almighty. Okay? Who's that talking about there? Talking about Jesus Christ, the one from everlasting who came here to live a perfect life, to die for the sins of the world. Go to Hebrews chapter number six. Okay? Hebrews chapter number six. So again, the Jesus of the Bible has truth, has standards, never changes. Again, here's another verse for you. Hebrews chapter six, look at verse 18, it says this, by, it says that by verse 18, that by two immutable things, okay? What does that word mean, immutable? Unchanging, okay? That's what that means, unchanging. And it says by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, okay? Again, how many verses do we need to prove that God does not change, okay? He did not change how he felt about sin from Leviticus all of a sudden to 2022. But American Jesus has, okay? I mean, this is very easy to prove. If you take a look at American Jesus back in the 50s, okay? He was preached in the Catholic church and the Mormon, you know, tabernacles or whatever. I mean, all these churches preached American Jesus. And back then, that Jesus did not like the dogs. That Jesus was against abortion. Look, you can go on YouTube right now and you can find videos of Catholic priests, and we don't subscribe to that, but you can find videos of Catholic priests just ripping and tearing apart sodomites with the Bible. I mean, that's crazy. Catholics? You're not gonna find that today. I mean, I doubt. I could be wrong. But that was because our country back then still had the right view, okay? I get there's some weird stuff on how this country was founded, and there's, you know, some forces of darkness and all that, but by and large, most people still had some morality left, okay? So you go to the 1960s, okay? Heck, you go back 20 years ago, okay? I can remember 25 years ago, 30 years ago being in church, watered down, weak churches, and them getting up there and just talking about the sodomites like it was nothing. You know, just ripping on them. Weak churches back then. You don't find that today, right? Why? Because American Jesus changes with the trends. Think about that. American Jesus today is different than the American Jesus 25 years ago, right? I mean, 25 years ago, you could go into a Pentecostal church, a Nazarene church, a Southern Baptist church. You know, not all of them, but you could go into some of those, and they would agree with what we're saying today. Like, if we could just take a time machine, right, and just go back and just talk to them about Romans 1, about Leviticus 20, they'd be like, oh, yeah, of course, everybody knows that. They're disgusting. They're like, of course, abortion. What are you, crazy? Why are we even talking about this, right? Think about that. But today, you've got churches emailing us now complaining about Roe versus Wade? Right, saying, you're gonna be judged, sir, because it's your fault that the Supreme Court, oh, it's my fault? Amen, if that's true. That's the word of God's fault. You know? And again, that's a whole can of worms we're gonna have time to get into. But go to 1 Peter 1, okay? But think about this. American Jesus has changed from not accepting the dogs just 25 years ago to now, all of a sudden, American Jesus will just throw you into hell for one reason, and that's hating wickedness. That's it, right? That's it. That's the only standard. If you have any kind of hate whatsoever, whatsoever, you hate pedos, you hate dogs, whatever, you're going to hell. You hate mayonnaise, you're going to hell. You hate some of these restaurants around here, you're going to hell. You know what I'm talking about. You have any kind of judgment, okay? Their lunk alarm goes off, right? Everybody know what that is? The planet fitness alarm goes off, and all of a sudden, you're going to hell. I like talking about this stuff because, you know, it's interesting how stupid, how dumb people are today. It's crazy. It's mind-blowing, right? It's absolutely mind-blowing. But the Bible says that our God, he never changes. What is out of season today, right, is obviously righteousness and all manner of righteousness. God's standards are definitely out of season today, right? Our Jesus is upset because the Bible says his eyes behold the nations, okay? But American Jesus is like, it's all good, right? You know, we'll make it good no matter what. We'll dig up another version of the Bible. I mean, don't worry about it, guys. You know, just say whatever you feel, right? Because that's the Holy Spirit speaking to you, however you feel. That's God talking to your heart. No, this book is God talking to you. You want to hear from the Holy Spirit, you better be saved and read the Bible, okay? That's how you communicate with God today. But anyways, I'm getting off base here. First Peter chapter one, look at verse 25. It says this. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. Why? Because he's immutable. Why? Because he's unchanging, okay? Look at the rest of the verse. It says, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you, okay? So again, we have proof that American Jesus is a false Jesus. He is not the Jesus of the Bible because American Jesus changes. Now go back to Matthew chapter number 22. Now, if you're online, some of you may know Miss Maria, Maria Nico. She had posted this picture of, you know how most people have, they display the picture of what they think Jesus looks like with the long hair and a white guy. And she posted this picture. I wish I could have printed it out, but it was perfect, you know? I have to show it to you guys after the service, but it's got like, you know, he's got like the sides of his head shaved, got these big thick glasses on, ear gauges, right? And then some like love winds, you know, pants and stuff like that. And I'm like, man, that is perfect. That's who American Jesus is today. You know, think about that. I'm going to show you guys that picture. This will all just click for you, like absolutely perfectly, you know? We got to make that part of the thumbnail, Kayden, if we can, because it sums them up perfectly. You know, that's the one that these guys are preaching today, okay? But let's go back and break down these verses again with the understanding, obviously, Jesus never changes, okay? His word is the word of truth. That's how we're separated. That's how we're saved. That's how we're sanctified. That's how we are supposed to live our lives. And it doesn't matter if it's in season or if it's out of season. It's his word that matters. So again, going back to Matthew 22, and I kind of gave you a brief overview, but let's go through this here. Look at verse 34. So again, Jesus had put the Pharisees and the Sadducees, these people to silence. It says in verse 34, but when the Pharisees had heard that he put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together, verse 35. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, saying. So again, these people are not interested in finding out the truth. They just want to somehow compact the word of God and twist it to fit their worldview, their agenda, okay? To make themselves righteous. Look at verse 36. Master, which is the great commandment in the law, okay? The reason why people ask this is so that they can turn around in their minds and reason with themselves and say, oh yeah, I'm doing that. I'm doing that. I love everyone. No judgment. You know? How many people were told this yesterday during our soul-ending marathon that you get to heaven by doing it by being good? Right? Almost every door is like, oh yeah, just be a good person. Right? Just doing acts of kindness. Right? Brother Vic was doing a good job. I heard him ask this to people. You know what? It takes a lot of work, right? And one lady said to him, no, it's not work. It's rewarding. It's like, do you not understand what you're saying? You get rewards how? By work. Okay? You get rewards from working, from doing something. Your salvation's not a reward. It's a gift. It's a free gift, okay? And people look at, oh no, that's a reward. No, we get rewards for our works that we do after we are saved, okay? But they've got it backwards because that's what the devil does. He takes the word of God and twists it and turns it around, okay? So again, let's break down what Jesus says here. Verse 37, Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. Go to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter number 20. So Jesus said unto them, thou shalt love the Lord thy God. Now, if you're trying to tempt Jesus, if you're trying to twist his words, my guess is thy God is someone else other than the God of the Bible at this point in time, okay? Which is what you've got to understand when you read this, okay? Because people love to quote these. They say, oh, you're supposed to just love, all you're supposed to do as a church is just love God and love thy neighbor. And what they mean by that is love America, Jesus, and love every single person on the planet and don't call out their wickedness. That's what they mean, okay? And we understand that. But let's take a look at what this really means because it says love the Lord thy God, capital G with all thy heart. This is a commandment. This is the greatest commandment. Exodus chapter number 20. Look at verse number three. It says this, and don't forget, we serve an immutable God, an unchanging God. Verse three. It says this, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Very simple to understand, okay? What do you think about these Sadducees that he put to science? I mean, they didn't believe in the resurrection, did they? They didn't believe in angels. They didn't believe in a lot of the stuff that the Bible had said, okay? They're no different than Christians today, right? They're these Dead Sea scroll digging up type people. You know their types. Look at verse four. Thou shall not make into thee any graven image or likeness of anything that is heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Verse five. Thou shalt now bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them. Who are these people serving here in Matthew 22? They're serving themselves. They're serving a made-up God, just like Christianity today in America, okay? They're serving the Jesus that they have created because that's how they level the playing field in their minds. We don't allow them to do that, right? We use the word of God, the unchanging word, the word of truth. So he says, nor serve them, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. Interesting. How does God feel about people who hate him? He hates them, does not like them, okay? Verse six. And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments, okay? Keep your place in Exodus because we're going to go to 19 here in a moment, but go to John chapter 14. John chapter number 14, okay? So right off the bat, the first thing that Jesus tells these Pharisees, tells these people is that, you know what? You want to know what the greatest commandment is? Love the Lord thy God, right? He's quoting from Exodus. And then when you go back and you read Exodus and you kind of think about these things, you know they're not doing any of it. And it's like the people today. They're serving their own bellies, right? Like this clown out here, this imperial whatever his name is, imperial wizard, you know? It's so funny because he told the reporters, he told the newspapers, oh, you know, I'm a born-again Christian, right? Isn't that what he says? Isn't that what he ran up to the door here and just couldn't wait to tell me? I'm a born-again Christian. But yet he's out there while people are threatening to rape and kill and beat us up. And you've got this cracker lawyer over here who thinks it's a great idea to run his mouth and sympathize with them. Think about this for a second here. Why is he out there on the sidewalk waving a pride flag and God obviously hates pride and he's not even in church? I mean, I mean, why is he praising? I mean, they have people out there from the Satanic Temple last week and he's siding with them. But yet you want to focus all of your attention on me and what we're doing. You see how stupid these people are? We own them. They are our property. Look at John 14, verse 15. This is what Jesus says, right? You want to claim that you have no other gods but him. You better pay attention to this. John 14, look at verse 15. If ye love me. This is what Jesus is speaking here, right? He's teaching the disciples doctrine here and he's like, hey, you guys better understand this concept. But he says, if ye love me, keep my commandments. Now, do you have to keep his commandments to be saved? No, not at all, right? But look, a lot of people come to us and say, hey, I'm a believer. I'm born again, okay? How do we discern whether or not they're telling the truth? Yeah, from what they say. So he says, if ye love me, keep my commandments. Jump down to verse 23. Just for the sake of time, Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me, he will keep my words. Okay, he will keep my words. Now, when someone comes at us consistently in their email and just pointing to a specific passage in the Bible, well, okay, you've got these verses they're a pastor to choose from. You show me in these group of verses here where your doctrine's coming from. No, how about you shut your mouth because his words that we need to keep are much more vast than that. We keep from Genesis all the way to Revelation. We keep the whole counsel of God, okay? They only want to pick a slick, a slick little jar of verses here. And will you show me in these ones right here what you said and where it's. Could you imagine being a plumber like Jeff and just going to a job site and just picking maybe two tools and like, well, if I can't use this crescent wrench and this 14-inch pipe wrench, then you know what? I'm not gonna show up to work today. I'm not gonna put these pipes in. Would that work? How would your boss think? Be pretty upset. You're not gonna get the job done because, you know, in order to install pipes, you need saws, you need glue, you need threading machine. I mean, you need a whole host of tools, don't you? Well, what about an electrician? You're gonna show up to a job site and wire a building, okay? You're like, I only use 16 and 18-gauge wire. Or how about this? I only work on DC. That's it. If we can't wire this whole building with batteries, I'm done. I'm out of here. You think that's gonna work? They'd be like, get out of here, right? We've got all kinds of power that we need to run the lights and to run the air conditioning. Are you gonna run the air conditioning off a 12-volt battery? Are you crazy? Are you gonna run your dryer off of a 12-volt or a 9-volt battery or whatever it is? No, that's ridiculous, right? But they have no problem having that same type of attitude when it comes to the Bible, when it comes to the Word of God. They just come to you with a select little package. Okay, show me in these right here where your doctrine comes from. I could play that game too. It's ridiculous. John 14, 23, Jesus answered and said to him, if a man love me, he will keep my words. He didn't just say some of my words. Just, I mean, all this are his words, right? You know, whatever Luke wrote down, whatever Paul wrote down, whatever Peter wrote down, whatever Moses wrote down, whatever any of them wrote down was the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of it. And my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. Okay, that's how you're saved. You have to keep his word. You hear the word of God, you believe it, you're saved, right? You call upon the name of the Lord. I mean, that's how you are saved. Okay, go back to Matthew 22. Now, obviously, if you want to be a disciple, you know, you need to love God and try to keep his commandments and show wisdom and all that sort of thing, but that's different from salvation, okay? But it's so funny. It's like, wait a minute, where in the Bible do you see the sons of Belia and the sons of God going around together as a team, you know, protesting people, and God's like, that's righteous. That's great. My children all working together. You know what I mean? That's what you see out here. It's crazy. It's absolutely insane, okay? So about this, okay? Look at verse 37, Matthew 22. Look at verse 37. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. And you've got to keep your word. You've got to keep in mind, why is he responding like this? It's because they're trying to tempt him. They're trying to twist his words, and he knows they're not even doing the first thing. They're not even doing the first thing. These people are supposed to be rulers in Israel, and they don't even love God. They don't even love the word of God. Verse 38, this is the first and great commandment. He didn't say this is the first and only commandment, okay? No, this is the first and great commandment, verse 39. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Go to Exodus chapter 19. Exodus chapter number 19. Now again, he says, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. So keep in mind the context here. Keep in mind the setting. You know, it's kind of funny. A lot of these new evangelicals are real quick to try and call you out. Oh, but you've got to understand the culture and the surrounding and the time. And I get that. I understand that. But then when it comes to this doctrine, all of a sudden they forget the surroundings and the culture and the timing and all that. Who's Jesus talking to here? He's talking to these Pharisees. What nation do they belong to? The nation of Judah, Judea, whatever it was called in the New Testament, right? These are still physically God's people in this nation. Now, I'm not saying they're saved, but obviously they don't believe. But the point is, at this moment in time, he's talking to the physical nation that was left over after the captivity and so on and so forth, okay? So again, when he says thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, he's not saying thou shalt love every single human on the planet, even those that hate me and abuse children, okay? No, that's not what he says at all here. So let's take a journey back in time because remember we can go back to Exodus 19. You say why? Because our God is unchanging. He never changes. What he said in Exodus is how he feels today, okay? We have that bridge in John chapter one. He was there in the beginning and we serve the word of God. Exodus 19, look at verse one, it says this. In the third month, okay, so this is the formation of this nation here, the formation of the nation of Israel. In the third month when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. Let's stop right there. What's going on here? You're seeing the birth of a new nation, right? Something that has never been done in this world before, okay, at this time. It says in the third month when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt. So what are you seeing right here? You're seeing a physical nation whom God took out of the world and is trying to set apart for himself, okay? This has never been done before. And so with that understanding we need to realize, hey, they need to learn how to live with each other. They need to learn how to function. They need to learn how to run their nation in order to become a peculiar people. Look at verse two. It says, for they were departed from Rephidim and were come to the desert of Sinai and had pitched in the wilderness and there Israel camped before the mount. Verse three, and Moses went up unto God and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, sing. Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel, okay? Look, we have the same thing going on today, right? The physical nation of Israel today, as you all know, are not the people of God, okay? The people in the Middle East today who say, we're Hebrews, we're Jews, whatever. Call yourselves whatever you want to. You hate Jesus Christ. You are not God's chosen people, right? So God has called us out of the world after we're saved and placed us into his nation, the kingdom of God, the church. It has many different names, right? And we're supposed to go to his rules, his statutes to learn how to live. And you'll see why here in just a moment, okay? So really it's the same thing going on. The only difference is obviously this was the legal law of the land. Look at verse four, it says, you have seen what I did unto the Egyptians and how I bear you on eagle's wings and brought you unto myself, okay? So God wants Moses and the nation to understand the distinction, understand the separation from the world to his newly formed nation. He does not want them to act the same, okay? There was a God of the world, the God of the Egyptians, and he's saying, hey, I'm different than that. I'm better than that. I am far above that, okay? Same battle we're fighting today. We have the Egyptian Jesus or the American Jesus. They're the same thing, okay? The American Jesus today doesn't subscribe to any of this, doesn't want any of these rules. Neither did the Egyptians, right? What did Pharaoh say? I know not the Lord, right? I'm not going to let you go and sacrifice to him. It's the same thing these clowns are saying today. They don't know the Lord and they don't want us to offer up spiritual sacrifices and to have our minds renewed towards him. Look at verse five. So it's going on, it says, now therefore, so for that reason that God brought this nation out of the world, out of Egypt, he says, now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, so there's a condition here. If you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the earth is mine. So again, please understand, this has never been done before at the time of the writing of this or these words were spoken, okay? God is setting up a physical nation and he wants it to be special. He wants it to be set apart. He wants it to be peculiar. He wants it to be wise, okay? He wants it to be a testimony to the world that, hey, this is what I stand for. This is truth, okay? Look at verse six. And you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation. There are words, I'm sorry, these are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, okay? Now go to Leviticus chapter 19. Leviticus chapter number 19. So again, just a quick recap. We read those six verses for the sole purpose to show you that when God is taking a people for himself, right? Well, first of all, he gives them a condition and says, hey, I'm about to give you my law. I am about to give you my standards. If you subscribe to this, if you show the world my wisdom, then this will remain. This will be how it's going to function, okay? And he says, you'll be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. And it says that these are the words that thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. And this is all gonna tie back into the neighbor thing here in just a moment, okay? So when God's starting this nation up, these people don't know how to live. They don't have telepathy, right? They don't just have it together. No, they need to learn the law. They need to learn how to function inside of their nation, okay? So what does that mean? That means that each Hebrew in that nation is each other's neighbor, night of kin, next to each other, okay? So again, God is doing that. He is telling people, hey, this is how this nation's gonna work, okay? Leviticus 19, look at verse 18. Thou shalt not avenge. So this is all part of the law that God's giving. Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people. Does that include Egypt? Does that include Amalek? Does that include, you know, Og and all these other guys around? The Amalekites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites. No, right? They were called to destroy those people, okay? And in order to actually destroy somebody physically, like back in this time, you would have to develop a hatred for them, right? Meaning you would have to have an extreme love for God, which is what he wants. But let's look at the verse again. He's saying, hey, thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, thy people, meaning your fellow Israelite, your fellow Hebrew. He says, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord, okay? You say, why did you quote that? Are you just trying to start another fight? No, I'm preaching the word of God, okay? Because when Jesus is responding to the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 22, right? He says, hey, and the second is what? I shall love thy neighbor as thyself. The question is, and we've talked about this several times, who is my neighbor? Well, let's go back to the Old Testament. Who was your neighbor in Leviticus chapter 19? Yeah, thy people, the people of God, that people who God brought out of the nation of Israel. You see that? It's the same thing today, because we who are saved are that peculiar people. We who are saved are that called people out of the world. So my neighbor is my fellow brother and sister in Christ. Very simple to understand. This is Bible doctrine. You say, yeah, but where are you going with this? Okay, well, hold on. Leviticus 19, 18, thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord, okay? Take the chapters and verses out of your mind for a second. If you were to keep reading, you would read the same thought. You would eventually get to the place where we call Leviticus chapter 20, verse 13. But you all know what that says. Therefore, what am I trying to say? My neighbor could never be a dog. It wasn't so in the Old Testament, and it certainly is not so in the New Testament. See that? See that? These people do not understand a very basic concept, who is my neighbor. So, yeah, but you go preach the gospel to your neighbor. Of course we do, right? Because we do have physical neighbors, you know? Whoever has that office right over there, well, you could say, oh, they're our neighbors, but they're not neighbors in a biblical sense, right? They're not my brother and sister in Christ because they reject the word of God. They are not that people called out of the world, okay? Go back to Matthew 22, and we will move on. We're getting close to being done. So then Jesus says, after talking about the neighbor, look at verse 40, he says, on these two commandments, Matthew 22, verse 40, on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. So, again, if you don't understand who God really is, what it really means to serve him, if you don't understand who your neighbor really is and what that means, guess what? You're not going to be able to hang with the law and the prophets. You're not going to be able to understand the Bible, and that's what you're seeing today. That's American Jesus. American Jesus comes along and says, no, no, no, we did away with all that, right? Jesus is a hippie, and he came back to basically change everything. No standards were all equal, right? I mean, you could almost call him Commie Jesus, because guess what? We're pretty much living in a communist nation right now. We've got a freak show in charge of the nation, and communism is being pushed on every level. There are commie politicians in every single state. There are commie people in charge of companies, and you know, you say, well, why are you saying this? Because it's true. You want me to hang the American flag in here today and be like, God bless America? Well, God hates America today. God looks down, because the Bible says his eyes behold the nations, and he said, hey, don't let the rebellious exalt themselves, and that's exactly what the American church has done. That's exactly what American Jesus has done. He has allowed the wicked and the rebellious to exalt themselves above God's people, right? So look, with that understanding here, we're going to read some stuff here, and it's going to make a little bit more sense. Again, we are almost done. Obviously, you can see whose fault this is. Seriously, whose fault that the United States is as wicked as it is today? Yeah, it's people. It's these people who adopted American Jesus, right? These baby boomers, right? What was their whole goal? Well, yeah, we love God and country, right? But it was more country than God, wasn't it? It was more country than God. Hey, you know, we've got to fight the commies. We're all about that, you know, back in the 40s and 50s. Hey, yeah, communism sucks, right? But the problem is they forgot about God along the way. That's what happened. And then because that, because they forgot, oh, you know, we've got to support the government because the government's anti-commie, right? The government just took little tiny steps, and the devil came in and changed little things here and there and just basically led the people ultimately to be primed for the Antichrist because that's who American Jesus is. It's the Antichrist in disguise, okay? So it is the new Evangelical's fault. It's certain Baptist preachers' fault, right? It's all kinds of people's fault. It's anybody's fault who neglected the words of this book and failed to preach them, failed to take a stand, and failed to display what I'm about to show you here, okay? So are you in Ephesians 3? Okay, go to Ephesians chapter 3. And like I said, we're almost done here. We are almost done here. Now, when I was at Faith for Word, I preached a sermon here called When the Mega Powers Collide, and, you know, I could just hear Pastor Thompson laughing. It was funny. I think I was the only one that could hear him laughing, but trust me, he was laughing, even though I couldn't see him. I guarantee he was laughing. But the whole point was very powerful, okay? I spent a lot of time talking about some basic things, and I came along, and I made mention of a verse here in Ephesians, and I'm going to make that same statement, because I know a lot of you maybe didn't listen to it or whatever, but I want to make sure that no one in here leaves without understanding what I'm about to tell you here, okay? Because it's going to help you to understand why I am the way that I am. Why do I get so mad? Why do I get so upset? Why do I keep hammering these things down here? You're going to see why here in a moment. So, again, Ephesians chapter 3. Let me just give you a quick rundown, book of Ephesians, okay? In chapter 1, you learn about this mystery, which is very simple, okay? It's the fact that Jew and Gentile are one in Christ, okay? There's no more physical nation. That's not what it's about anymore. It's about being one in Christ, okay? We serve him, okay? God is not a respecter of persons. And then God's going to talk about, I'm sorry, Paul's going to talk about this mystery again here in chapter number 3, right? And that's really what the whole letter is centered around. It's centered around this mystery here. But there's a reason why you need to understand this, okay? Let's just go through this here. So Paul's talking here. Verse 9, he says this. He's saying, hey, this is why I preach. This is why I say what I say. Verse 9, he says, And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, okay? So he's making it very clear here. Hey, my job as a preacher is to not only communicate the gospel, but to communicate the fellowship of that gospel, right? To let mankind know, hey, guess what? It's not about being of a certain race. It's not about being born in a certain country. It's about you believing on him and what he did for you. And then you're in the family. You are now a citizen of the most high God's kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. You don't have to worry about your crooked and perverse nation anymore. You are a citizen of the Israel of God. And that's basically what he's saying here in verse number 9. But he's saying, hey, this was a mystery that was hid, okay? Now he's going to explain the purpose of this, okay? Verse 10, he says this. To the intent that now, okay? We'll stop right there, okay? What's the intent here? The intent is preaching the fellowship of the mystery of God, which is the fact that we are all one in Christ, in the Savior, in the Messiah, okay? And he says that now, meaning not prior to this, unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, okay? Look, this here is very important for everybody to understand what's going on, okay? What he's saying is, hey, the power here, the power of preaching, the power of people in the pulpit, I'm sorry, in the pew, okay? The power of the church, okay, is supposed to display wisdom to the heavenly realms. That's what he's saying. Our job as a local Bible believing New Testament church is not for you to come here and see a show. It's not for you to come here and be spectators. You are not the spectator, okay? Because a lot of people want to be like, oh, the preacher's up here and I'm just kind of down here just doing my thing and whatever. I wish I could be a pastor. I wish I could get some clicks on YouTube. That's not what it's about. It's about us coming together. It's about you coming to church in agreement with the preaching if it's right, okay, and making application in your life. You understand that just by you coming in here today and sitting down and listening to the Word of God is teaching the principalities and powers in heavenly places. You say, how can that be? Because prior to this, prior to the Messiah dying on the cross and defeating death, right, these principalities had no idea about this mystery because it was hid in God. Back at verse 9, it says it was hid in God, okay? The fact that Jew and Gentile would be one in Christ. That was hid as was a lot of the manifold wisdom of God, okay? And so our job as a local New Testament church, my job as a preacher is to proclaim truth, okay? And we are in a spiritual battle right now, okay? We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers of darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places, right? Isn't that what's written in the last part of this book here in chapter number 6, okay? So when we are under attack and we can feel the Satanists and the devils coming after us, guess what? I'm going to take the sword. I'm going to take the Word of God and I'm going to keep harping on these things and preaching on these things. I don't care if you've heard them a thousand times. It doesn't matter. You were supposed to agree with these things. Oh, another sermon on this. No, don't you understand what this verse is saying here, okay? We preach truth. We apply Bible to display the manifold which means various, which means many to the heavenly realms. So when someone approaches God in the unseen world and says, hey, what's the wisdom today in 2022 regarding these dogs and these freaks? You know what God does? He says, hey, look at this church right here. Look at this church right here who is standing strong under persecution. Hey, look at this church here. Look at how they are applying the Word of God. Look at how they raise their families. That's what he does. That's why we do this. That's why I get upset. That's why I keep hammering on these things. It's not for a show to the seen world. It's for a show to the unseen world, to the principalities and powers in heavenly places. God uses the church to display his manifold wisdom. And the Bible says that the angels desire to look into these things. The question I have today is how much of a church is left in this world that God can look to and say, hey, demons or hey, angels who are ministering spirits to those who would inherit salvation. Here's a group of people who have it right. Here's a group of people who are not afraid to stand their ground amongst a world that hates my ever loving guts. It's not a place for cowards. It's not a place for weak people. This is truth. This is the Word of God. This is why we do things the way that we do them. I will preach whatever I want to as long as I want to. I don't care because I understand this verse. You understand this verse. You understand the purpose. Why have a bottom line? Why do you keep harping on these things? It makes me paranoid. Good. It should. We need to apply the Word of God. Look, when you make wise decisions on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, guess what? The heavenly realm looks at that and says, wow, is this what you meant by this, Lord? Is this what you meant by this, God? Now, unfortunately, with that, you know, brings and stirs up devils. And then comes the puppy. Well, they're not even puppies. They're dogs. But, you know, but that's okay. We have the truth. And we will preach wisdom. We will stand for wisdom. And we will apply wisdom because our job as a church is to be that manifold wisdom to the seen world and the unseen world. So don't ever get this attitude. Oh, I'm just filling up a chair. What I do doesn't matter. Yes, it does. More so than you can even possibly fathom. That wise decision that you're going to make tomorrow with your family, guess what? That has ripple effects in eternity. And God promised us in Hebrews. Go read Hebrews chapter 1 again tonight. Who are the angels? They are ministering spirits to the errors of salvation. We have God on our side. If we're displaying the manifold wisdom of God, then guess what? He's going to continue to take care of us. I'm going to shut your online gaming down. I'm going to get you kicked out of the building because you're drawing too much attention. It doesn't matter. They cannot shake us. They cannot move us. The more of the word of God that we apply in our lives, the more we're going to grow and the more success we're going to have. And that's why I am the way that I am. That's why I'm always harping, hey, apply this. Look, you're not going to get it right all the time. You never will. None of us will. But can you apply one thing? Everybody in here can apply one thing from the word of God. One thing that you heard. Can you just at least agree with us? Right? And stand with us in some kind of way. Can you post these things online? Can you teach people the truth? By doing so, you are shaking the heavens, not only the earth. Look at verse 11. According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, this is God's purpose. This is not an accident. I don't care what Samsung git down the street has to say, oh, the only reason you're even a church is because the Jew messed up. No, this was always his purpose. He knew they weren't going to be able to keep the laws. He knew they weren't going to be able to manifest truth and to be that manifold wisdom. He knew that was going to be the case. And so he set this mystery up and now it is no longer a mystery to us. We are to preach this mystery to the heathen. Look at verse 12. It says, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Look, we have boldness. We have privilege of approach. We can go to him with our concerns, with our failures, and with our need of help. That is wise. That's wise. We're all jacked up. We've all got issues. It's not going to slow us down one bit as long as we're honest. As long as we're just asking, hey, we need your help, God. We're going to turn to your word. We're going to learn these and we're going to work on these things. And you know what? He looks at the church. Not just this church. There's lots of churches in this world, believe it or not, that believe like us. I would say there's lots. I mean, I don't know, maybe 10, 20. That's a lot to me. But who knows the exact number? There are believers in all nations. There are believers in all nations who are people who are saved and who are doing the best that they can to apply the word of God in their lives. And God can use that and he can look down and say, yes, this is my standard. This is what I'm talking about. Look at verse 13. Wherefore I desire that you faint not in my tribulations for you, which is your glory. So when you understand this, okay, he makes tribulation or any kind of persecution like nothing. Paul's like, hey, don't be ashamed of my chain and all the drama that you hear about me. It's all good, right? Because what Paul went through shook the heavens and it did the earth as well. And it's the same thing with our church, with our friends' churches, with any church who has the right Bible, the right gospel, and the truth. You see that there? So the fault lies on the church failing to display the manifold wisdom of God. You say, why do we need sermons on stuff we're not doing right? Because we need to display the manifold wisdom of God in our lives, not just on Sundays, not just on Mondays, but every single day. It needs to be who we are, right? We don't preach these things to make people paranoid. We preach them so that we can get better, right? How is this church going to grow in number and in power? It's going to be by us, that word that most people don't understand. It's going to be by us realizing that the way we conduct ourselves as Christians has ripple effects on the physical world, but also the unseen world. Look, if we become a people, and I believe that we are, whom God can look to and say, hey, you want to see some wisdom? Look at Shield of Faith Baptist Church. Go look at Faith Award. Go look at Verity. Go look at steadfast. Go look at First Works. Go look at all these different churches. That's how we become powerful. Not by making excuses. Not by being weak. Not by crying and complaining and whining. Oh, another statement about something I'm not doing right? God can't use people like that. They're a disgrace. They are disgusting, and they don't belong here. And that's why they're not here. You don't like that? I don't care. That's the truth. God is looking for a people that he can point to that says, hey, they're displaying wisdom. They're taking the word of God, and they're saying, how do we function in 2022? How do we deal with this garbage and this wickedness out here? He says, hey, there's a sermon right there. There's a teaching. There's a group of people who have set their service up in a way that prevents these types of people from coming in here. And the angels are like, oh, okay. That's the truth. That's the wisdom there. Well, here's how we're going to go down and help them. And it will be fascinating one day to actually see and actually get some insight on how that all happened. How did that all go down? You get a little bit of it if you go to the book of Daniel. Didn't Daniel make supplication to God? And then the angel that came to help him was like, yeah, the prince of Persia slowed me down. You ever kind of wonder how he slowed? Were they wrestling, chasing each other around? I don't know. All I know is it's real, and we are fighting the same spiritual battle today. So, hey, look, that's the reason I preach these sermons. That's the reason why we've got to harp on these things while they're hot. Because it's spiritual. Okay? Even if you already know it, it's fine. It's okay. The question is, is it wise? Is what I'm saying wise? Is it from the word of God? And if it is, and we all agree, God says, amen. That's displaying the manifold wisdom that I have given you. Right? That's the point. America, Jesus, real quickly, go back to Psalm 66, verse 7. We're almost done. I almost forgot this. Psalm 66, verse 7. We've got to close with the verse that we started with. So, again, we started off with Psalm 66, verse 7, which says, He ruleth by His power forever. His power is His word. His power is Him, and they are the same. Right? He ruleth by His power forever. His eyes behold the nations. The eyes of the Lord God right now, the Jesus Christ of the Bible, they are beholding this nation, the United States of America. Please understand that. It says, Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Okay? Is He going to go to Rock Harbor and say, Hey, angelic community here. Here is a church. Right? That's displaying my manifold. No! He's going to be like, They've got pride flags. What? They're supporting wickedness. They're supporting abortions. They've got people who can't even read Timothy chapter 3? Who can't even read the requirements to become a pastor? Just like this garbage building over here that calls itself a church? We're handing dog flags to people so that they can come flaunt them in our faces? Do you think God goes to that episcopal place and says to His angelic creation, Hey, here's a place that's standing in the gap. Yeah. No. What does this say? His eyes behold the nations. What's the point of the church to display His manifold wisdom? So when that runs out, we're done. Life as we know it is done. And the reason why American Jesus is talked about so much and being promoted so much today is because there aren't enough believers understanding the true power of applying the word of God in their lives. We've got too many people stuck in this spectator mindset. They don't understand that the spectators are in the unseen world. You're a worker. I don't care how old you are. If you're saved and you're in here today, you are part of the battle. The fact that you agree with the word of God, the fact that you want to live right for Christ, I mean, you are doing more than you understand, and we need to keep it up. So let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for your truth. Again, pray that you help us to all understand this, Lord, that what we do here in this world affects the unseen world. Help us to have great fellowship today, Lord, and we thank you again for all that you do for us. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.