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🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Alright, good morning everyone. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Let's all find our seats. As you find your seat, please grab a song book. Turn to song number 191 as our first song, In My Heart There Rings a Melody. Let's all stand together for this first song if you are able. Song number 191, In My Heart There Rings a Melody. All together nice and strong on that first verse. I have a song that Jesus gave me It was sent from heaven above There never was a sweeter melody Is a melody of love In my heart there rings a melody There rings a melody with heaven's harmony In my heart there rings a melody There rings a melody of love I love the Christ who died on Calvary For he washed my sins away He put within my heart a melody And I know it's there to stay In my heart there rings a melody There rings a melody There rings a melody In my heart there rings a melody There rings a melody of love Will be my endless theme in glory With the angels I will sing Will be a song with glorious harmony When the courts of heaven ring In my heart there rings a melody There rings a melody With heaven's harmony In my heart there rings a melody There rings a melody of love Amen. Wonderful singing. Let's start off our service with a word of prayer. Dear Lord God, Heavenly Father, we just thank you for giving us another day, Lord. That we can come to your house and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ here, Lord. And we thank you, Lord, for this church and the six years that you've given us so far. We just ask that you please give us many more to come. And I ask, Lord, that you please bless the service this morning, every aspect of it. I pray that you would please bless the singing, Lord, that it would be pleasing unto you. And that it would prepare our hearts for the preaching, Lord. And I ask that you please fill past me here with your spirit as he preaches his message unto us, Lord. And I pray that we would be attentive and that we would apply that which we hear to our lives, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Please turn to song number 255. Song number 255, Come and Dine. Song number 255, all together on that first verse. Jesus has a table spread where the saints of God are fed. He invites his chosen people, come and dine. With his manna he doth feed, and supplies are every need. O, just sweet to sup with Jesus all the time. Come and dine, the Master calleth, come and dine. You may feast at Jesus' table all the time. He who fed the multitude turned the water into wine. To the hungry calleth now, come and dine. The disciples came to land, thus obeying Christ's command. Come and dine, there they found their hearts to sire, bread and fish upon the fire. Thus he satisfies the hungry every time. Come and dine, the Master calleth, come and dine. You may feast at Jesus' table all the time. He who fed the multitude turned the water into wine. To the hungry calleth now, come and dine. Soon the Lamb will take his bride to be ever at his side. O, the host of heaven will assemble be. O, it will be a glorious sight, all the saints in spotless wine. And with Jesus they will feast eternally. Come and dine, the Master calleth, come and dine. You may feast at Jesus' table all the time. He who fed the multitude turned the water into wine. To the hungry calleth now, come and dine. All right, great singing. Thank you for being here this morning. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Just a few announcements here. Before we sing our next song, which will be 105, All That Thrills My Soul, if you want to get that ready in your songbooks. Song number 105. If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand and one of the ushers can get one for you. Some important information on there. Of course, happy anniversary to you all. Of course, this is our sixth year anniversary that we're celebrating today. And we're going into our seventh year. This is the sixth year completed and so we're having a special service this morning. Of course, our services are as follows. Sunday morning is at 1030 Sunday evening at 5 p.m. And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. You see the so many times and teams and the list of expecting mothers if you can continue to pray for them. We had a so many marathon yesterday in Fontana. We had a total of 22 people saved. So that was exciting. Let's give the Lord a round of applause for that. Amen. That was exciting. It's good to see a lot of receptive people out there and a lot of good stories, I'm sure. And so thank God for that. If you look on the right there, some of the upcoming church events, as I mentioned, today is our anniversary service. And in light of that, we are going to have two extremes here as far as food is concerned. So we're going to have tacos for the Mexicans. No, I'm just kidding. Tacos for everyone if you want. But we're also going to have burgers. So I'm kind of somewhere in the middle so I'll probably have both because although I'm Mexican, I enjoy burgers as well. Now here are the rules. The rule is obviously you can have either or. But as far as getting them, there's going to be an usher right outside this door. And then there's going to be an usher at this pillar right here. So we just need you to line up and they'll direct you where to go to get your tacos and burgers. OK, so there's not going to be any hot dogs today. I announce hot dogs, but we change that. It's only going to be hamburgers and tacos so the kids can have either or as well. And then tonight we're going to have cake. And so happy anniversary. And that's pretty much it for that. I am going to tell the story of how we started our church during the sermon and what are some of the things that took place just to kind of give us a greater appreciation for our church. And so happy anniversary once again. On Friday, September 29th, we have a homeschool field trip to Kids Space Children's Museum meeting there at 945. You have the address there. Of course that's free. If you'd like to participate in that, you can talk to my wife, Sarah. And then on Saturday, October 7th, is the Ladies Prayer Breakfast. And then on October 27th, we have a homeschool park day as well. I do want to announce something that's not on here. Not this coming Friday, but the following. Pastor Anderson is going to be preaching in Fresno. And so we're going to take a group out there on that Friday. So if you're interested and you need a ride in the church van, you can see Brother Ulysses for that. We're going to be heading up there to support the church. And he's going to be preaching there. He's not going to be preaching here until December. So he kind of forsook us in that regard. And he didn't come visit us, so I'm going to hold him accountable to that. But he's going to come in December, I guess, so I guess we should just be thankful for that. But I'm not over that. And so if you have any questions, you can see Brother Ulysses, but we're going to be heading out there. We haven't really figured out what time we're heading out because we do have an activity that day on, I think it's the 29th actually, right, the 29th. And so thereafter is when we're going to head out to Fresno. And so that's it for the announcements. If you look there at the bottom, just the regular announcements there. There's just no food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for water and coffee. Please make sure you're not loitering in the four-year fellowship hall during the preaching service. Quiet time is this afternoon from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. throughout the whole building. And then please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. And that is it. Let's go ahead and sing our next song, 105, All That Thrills My Soul. Song number 105, All That Thrills My Soul is Jesus. Altogether on that first verse. Who can share the heart like Jesus? By His presence all divine. True and tender, pure and precious. Oh, how blessed to call Him mine. Oh, that thrills my soul is Jesus. He is more than life to me. And the fairest of ten thousand, in my blessed Lord I see. Love of Christ so freely given, grace of God beyond degree. Mercy higher than the heavens, deeper than the deepest sea. Oh, that thrills my soul is Jesus. He is more than life to me. And the fairest of ten thousand, in my blessed Lord I see. What a wonderful redemption, never can a mortal know. How my sin, the red like crimson, can be whiter than the snow. Oh, that thrills my soul is Jesus. He is more than life to me. And the fairest of ten thousand, in my blessed Lord I see. Every need His hand supplying. Every need His name. On His strength divinely lying, He is all and all to me. Oh, that thrills my soul is Jesus. He is more than life to me. And the fairest of ten thousand, in my blessed Lord I see. By the crystal flowing river, with the ransomed I will sing, and forever and forever praise and glorify the King. Oh, that thrills my soul is Jesus. He is more than life to me. And the fairest of ten thousand, in my blessed Lord I see. Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time the ushers will come forth to receive the offering. You can turn your Bibles to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter number 4. Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4. The Bible reads, Therefore my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. I beseech Eudias and beseech Syntyche that they be of the same mind in the Lord, and I treat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say, rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men, the Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things, those things which you have both learned and received, and heard, and seen in me, do, and the God of peace shall be with you. But I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at last your care of me hath flourished again, wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound. And everywhere, and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Notwithstanding, and give well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction. Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica, ye sent once and again unto my necessity, not because I desire a gift, but I desire a fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all and abound. I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God. My God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. I want to God and our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you. All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Let's pray to the Lord God. We just thank you so much for this church and for our pastor. I just ask that you would strengthen him now and please just fill him with your Holy Spirit, bless the preaching, and continue to bless our church and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay, we're in Philippians chapter 4. Look down at your Bibles at verse number 10. It says, But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me have flourished again, wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want, listen to this, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. And the time of my sermon this morning is the seven year itch. The seven year itch. Of course we've completed our sixth year as a church and we're going into our seventh year and I want to talk about the subject of discontentment because in general when you look at different institutions, whether it's a church, it's marriage, it's even a job for example, they say that on average people stay in those institutions for about seven years and it's at the seventh year that they start getting a little itchy wanting to try something new, wanting to leave their marriage, leave their spouse, leave their job, leave their church and they don't necessarily reap the benefits at being somewhere within an institution for a long period of time. There's a lot of blessings that comes with being faithful and consistent in the biblical institutions that God has set for us. And so this morning I want to talk about one of the reasons why people quit. Why do they quit on their marriage? Why do they quit on their job? Why do they quit church? And in fact this also includes pastors by the way. It's not just church members. They say that on average even pastors quit churches on average about seven years or so. One of the reasons why is because they just grow discontent with that institution. They grow discontent with their spouse, they grow discontent with their job, they grow discontent with the church members, with the pastor, with the church itself and so they begin to look into new areas where they can branch off to and maybe reignite that fire to get them back going into that particular institution. But the reality is this, the problem is not the person, the problem is not your spouse, the problem is not your job, the problem is not the church. Often the problem is you. Often the problem lies within, it's called discontentment. And the Bible talks extensively about the importance of just being content where you are. And in fact the Apostle Paul said, Whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. And in context he's referring to being abased and abounding, to suffering need and being hungry and being full. But we can apply this all across the board in all areas of the Christian life because of the fact that the sin nature of man is to become discontent with all areas of life and allow that season of discontentment to cause us to throw in the towel, to quit, to look for greener grass or whatever it may be. And so I want to talk about that this morning and exhort you as your pastor to stick it out. Amen? Stick it out during this season if you're going through a difficult season. And let me just say this, I'm not going through a hard season right now. I'm basically just having a blast. I'm having a good time. And obviously it can be stressful at certain times as a pastor, but I'm having a blast. But you know what? At the end of the day, it's not like that for everyone. You might be sitting there right now thinking to yourself, Yeah, I'm planning to quit my job tomorrow. Or I'm planning to quit my marriage within the next couple weeks. Or I'm planning to leave this church. This is actually my last service. I wanted to come here and honor the six years that you've been around, but I'm actually looking on the Internet as you speak for new fundamental Baptist churches or something. Hopefully it's a fundamental Baptist church. Because I'm getting that seven-year itch. I'm kind of bored with this church. I feel like I'm not growing. I feel like I'm just not going forward. I feel like I'm in the same place I am this year as I was last year. Well, let me just give you a reality check and tell you that that's not my fault. It's not the church's fault. Because it's our responsibility as Christians to make sure that we grow in the Lord and in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And here's some changes that you can make to make sure that you don't fall into that particular trap. Now let me just read a couple statistics to you. According to the Institute for Highway Safety, the average length of a car ownership in 2017 was about seven years. You get a brand-new car. You get the new car smell. It's just the business. You're showing it off. Well, after seven years, you're like, before it's just like no one eats in my car. No food in my car. And you're cleaning it. You're taking care of it. Visit that person in the seventh year. You'll see they're eating in their car. They're throwing the trash. You look in the backseat. There's old McDonald's bags in there. Tupperware that's been there for a couple weeks. Science projects growing in the back. They really care as much, right? That happens often on average on the seventh year. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics says this. In January of 2022, wage and salary workers in the public sector had a median tenure of 6.8 years, about seven years. You're working at a job for a consistent amount of time. You get that new car smell when it comes to your job. You're excited. You're doing well. But after seven years, you're just like, you know, I feel like I need to look for something new. Not necessarily because you're not getting paid enough. Not because you're angry at your boss or whatever. You're just looking for something new. That happens often. Cleveland Clinic in 2023 states the percentage of divorces, particularly in first-time marriages, tends to spike around the seven- or eight-year mark. So believe it or not, if you've been married for about six, seven years, after a while, people start, within marriage, becoming discontent, entertaining the possibility of divorce, and unfortunately, breaking that covenant before God. Now, if you've passed the eight-year mark, you're into the ninth and tenth year, good job. You know, go for another ten, okay? But I'm just saying, statistically, this is what happens at around the seven-year mark, okay? Baptistpress.com says that ministers at large churches tended to have a longer tenure. So for some reason, you know, pastors who are, you know, pastoring a megachurch, for example, and we obviously understand that there's a lot of bad stuff that comes with megachurches, you know, but there are megachurches out there that are legitimate. When we talk about megachurches, we're talking about a church of about a thousand people, okay? I attended a church of about a thousand people, it was a legitimate church, they had the right doctrine. Those pastors have a tendency to stay a lot longer, whereas on average, 8.7 years in the current position, or excuse me, compared to 7.2 years among smaller churches. So, you know, pastors of smaller churches have a tendency to quit seven years in. Now why is that? Maybe the church is not growing. Maybe, you know, the church members are just getting to it. Maybe he feels as though he's not being successful. Maybe he got into the ministry for the wrong reasons, right? For whatever reason, on average, certain pastors of smaller churches, when we say smaller, referring to an average church size of about 60 to 70 people, they have a tendency to quit and want to go to another church, pastor another church, or just get out of the ministry completely. And a lot of the reasons why people do this is because of discontentment, okay? Discontentment. The honeymoon phase is over. And this is a common phrase we often say, it's just like, you're in the honeymoon stage. What's the honeymoon stage? You know when you first get married, and you go on that honeymoon, and you're in love, and she's in love, and you guys are just head over heels over each other, they can do no wrong. They're just a perfect person. And, you know, that's called the honeymoon phase. And it lasts, you know, about a year or so, okay? But then, you know, you start realizing that his socks smell, he's got bad habits, and she has bad habits or whatever, and you start to really get to know each other, right? And you're like, well, you know, I'm going to overlook those things, you know, because she's still perfect in my... But then seven years in, it starts wearing on you a little bit, okay? And then they're not as perfect as you thought they were, because obviously no one is. Then what happens is the honeymoon phase is over, you become discontent with your marriage, because you're not working your marriage, and then obviously you end up quitting. I was talking to my wife about this, and she was telling me that even things around the house, we talk about physical, like, appliances, things of that nature, they last for about seven years, okay? Because last year, like, a lot of the stuff that we got when we first got married, they just don't work anymore, they start breaking down. And so what I'm trying to get across here is the fact that there is going to come a time in your life, in your marriage, and even here in our church, where you're just going to be like, I'm not really happy anymore. I'm not really happy with being here. I'm not really happy in my marriage, I'm not happy in my job. And here's the worst thing you could do, is actually make some sort of jump to something else, only because you're not happy at that moment, okay? You're like, well, I'm going to get a divorce because I'm not happy. Wrong choice. First of all, divorce is wicked. You know, you think to yourself, well, I'm not happy at my job. Well, you know what? Join the crowd. People sometimes are just not happy with their job. You know, I'm not really happy at church. Then come next Sunday, when you're in a better mood, and maybe you'll be happy. What am I trying to say? Sometimes a lot of this discontentment is just seasonal. You're just going through a hard time, a hard week, a hard month, yeah, maybe even a hard year. And often, the result of that is that you start thinking to yourself, well, maybe I'll have something better if I leave this institution. And go look for something new. But really, the problem is within here, you need to learn contentment. And realize that if you were to find a new spouse, which is a wicked thing to do, seven years in, you're going to quit on that one too. And in fact, people who are divorced and remarried are more likely to get divorced again. Not all the time, but on average, that happens a lot. Because seven years in, you start realizing that this spouse is basically like your other one. You leave a job to go to a different job, and you're happy at this new job. You got a Christian boss. Everything's great. But then a couple years in, you start realizing it's not all that it was cracked up to be. You leave your church because you want to go to the purple lights with the smoke and mirrors and all the magic tricks and all the glitz and glamour. You're like, oh, this is what I really want. This is the kind of church I've been looking for. Where they don't talk about my CCM, and they don't care what Bible version you use, they don't preach on my sin, whatever it may be. But then you're in it a couple years, and you start realizing this church sucks. They don't teach the Bible. I'm not growing. The pastor is wicked. It's not even saved. And you start realizing, you know what, I was actually happier at my old church. And the problem wasn't my old church. The problem wasn't my old spouse. The problem wasn't my old job. The problem was I was just discontent for a season, and I needed to learn contentment. The Bible tells us, and obviously there's even people in the world who can learn contentment, but the Bible talks about godliness with contentment is a great game. I know some people who are not saved, and they seem just very happy individuals with their job, with their spouse, whatever it may be. But the Bible tells us that one element that they're missing is godliness, because of the fact that to just be content in and of itself is not enough. You need to add that virtue of godliness, of the word of God, to be eternally minded, to understand that at the end of the day, you're doing it as unto the Lord. The Bible also says in Hebrews 13 verse 5, Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have. For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Go to Daniel chapter 1 if you would, Daniel chapter number 1. The sermon is going to be simple this morning. Tacos await, burgers await. The reason we put it across is so the smell of the tacos is not just seeping in, and you just ignore. You become discontent with my sermon, because something better is waiting out there for you. I'm just going to give you four points on how to handle discontentment in the Christian life. And please don't take this as a, well you already know about discontentment. This is extremely important because of the fact that in my experience, I think this is one of the reasons why people just have a quitting spirit in general. They become discontent, and obviously that happens to everyone, but then they make major decisions based off of that contentment. Based off of that hard season of discontentment, they make a really bad decision, and then they end up regretting it in the long term. Let me show you how to handle discontentment in the Christian life, because it's going to happen. Number one, you need to commit before discontentment hits. You need to commit before discontentment hits. What do I mean by that? If you're happy right now, if you have joy, if you're serving God, and all things aren't going well, now's the time to say, you know what, when the hard times come, I'm still going to stick it out, no matter what. And you may think to yourself, well I'm not planning to quit on my marriage, I've been married for five years, ten years, I don't plan to quit on my marriage, but here's the thing folks, there's people that have been married for twenty, thirty, forty years that have quit on their marriages. And maybe they had the attitude of, you know what, maybe them, but not me, I shall not be moved, and everything's going hunky-dory, but you know what, maybe during that time when they were enjoying their marriage, they didn't really commit to having biblical convictions of not separating. And so you need to commit to say, you know what, no matter what happens in my marriage, no matter what takes place, I'm going to stick it out no matter what. And even in times of discouragement, and discontentment, and maybe if I was disillusioned a little bit, I'm still going to stick it out, because here's the thing folks, you can either stick it out, or you can divorce and remarry someone else, and then seven years down the road you're going to be in the same exact position of discontentment. Because discontentment goes nowhere, it comes and goes and ebb and flows into Christian life, you have to learn to deal with it, and one way to deal with it is not separate from your spouse. Commit before discontentment hits. As a pastor, before we started this church, I needed to commit to say, I'm going to be a pastor at this church no matter what happens. I had to commit to say, even if the church doesn't grow, if it's only me and my family, I just need to stick it out no matter what. You know, if someone blows up the church, burns down the church, and they threaten my life, I need to commit to say, I'm going to stick it out to the very end. Look at Daniel chapter 1 verse number 5 says, And the king appointed them daily provisions of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank, so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Of course this is referring to the Babylonian captivity, where these young men are taken into captivity, and the king wants to show them and convert them to the Babylonian way, essentially to, you know, get them to forsake biblical practices and customs and beliefs and adopt hedonistic manners. Okay, it says in verse number 6, Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names. For he gave unto Daniel the name Belteshar, to Hananiah of Shadrach, and to Meshach, and to Azariah of Abednego. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank, therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. They're trying to give him a Babylonian diet which consists of things in the Old Testament that were not supposed to be consumed by Israelites. Okay, they're throwing their shrimp or something, right? Pork. But Daniel purposed in his heart, before he even went to Babylon, I'm never going to partake of this because my covenant forbids me to do so. And here's the thing that I've learned as a Christian, it's always best to make commitments when you're strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Than to try to make them when you're weak, when you're tempted, when you are discouraged and disillusioned. It's better to just say, you know what, I'm on the top of the mountain right now, my walk with God is going good, I'm enjoying myself in church, Lord, help me to commit to just stick it out in the Christian life to the very end. Purpose in your heart that this is what you're going to do to the very end. To not defile yourself with the world's meat. And obviously, if you've grown up in church, that's easy for you. Because all you've known is church. However, if you got saved later on in life and you came into the church with worldly appetites and habits and sinfulness and baggage, you know, you need a purpose in your heart so much the more. Because in times of discouragement and disillusion, your mind wants to revert back to those things. And find comfort in those things and go back to your friends and go back to certain habits and go back to the habits and the conversations of the old man. What you need to do is just purpose in your heart beforehand, I'm going to commit to the things of God no matter what. So that when discontentment hits and you're bored with the Christian life, you're bored with reading the Bible, you become discontent with winning souls to Christ, coming to church while I yell at you for an hour, you just say, you know what, as much as I hate this sermon and I can't stand this preaching right now, I purposed in my heart that I was going to stick it out no matter what. So I'm just not going to listen to the pastor in this service and, you know, some people are nodding their heads, that's so funny. Some people are like, yeah, amen. Hey, if that's what you got to do, that's what you got to do, okay? Purpose in your heart that you're not going to defile yourself with the old man and commit before that discontentment hits. Habakkuk 3.17, you don't have to turn there, says, Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olives shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no hurt in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will join the God of my salvation. You know what he's saying? Even if it doesn't go my way, I'm still going to rejoice in the Lord. Because, you know, sometimes Christians can get this attitude that they only want to put into the Christian life as long as they get something out of it. And thankfully, obviously, God does reward us for our service, for our labor, for our faithfulness, but you know what? I like the attitude of Habakkuk here where he says, Even if the vine does not produce any fruit, I'm still going to praise God. Even if it doesn't go my way, and you might be sitting here thinking, you know, my spouse hasn't come around to the Christian life, my kids are strayed and they haven't come around to the Christian life, and I feel like all this is just in vain. Just in vain to just serve the Lord. The attitude you should have is, though my children never return back to the Lord, though my spouse doesn't come to church, though it doesn't go my way, yet will I praise the Lord anyway. Yet will I rejoice in the Lord. Why? Because he's worthy of it. But it requires for you to purpose in your heart beforehand so that when the discontentment hits, you know how to react to it. Go to Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14. Now, I've heard different various accounts of this, and I can't say it actually happened, although it sounds like a cool story about Julius Caesar burning the ships going into England. Some people say it's real. Some people are like, that never happened. But it's still a cool story to illustrate the point that, you know, because the story goes that when he went in to invade England, that he had his men burn the ships. As to say, there's no retreat. There's no going back. Now, whether that story is true or not, the principle is true, though. And it does work that once you get into the Christian life and you commit to the Christian life, one of the best things you can do as a Christian is to burn your ships. So there's no going back. The reason people go back and they retreat, they backslide, they go back to their friends and back to old habits is because they're still keeping in contact with those things. What you should do as a Christian is identify your weaknesses and in times of strength, burn those ships. Burn those phone numbers of those old girlfriends you got. Burn the numbers of, you know, your old buddies, your old drinking buddies or whatever it may be. Burn those ships. You're like, well, I'm trying to win them to the Lord. It's been seven years. You haven't done it yet. How long is that Gospel presentation? That seven-year Gospel presentation. That was the point where you just got to move on. And I've learned by experience that most people that say that, that they want to win them to the Lord, if you were to peer into their relationship and their fellowship, they're not talking about the Bible. It's just a mask. It's just an excuse to hang out with your worldly friends. Like, oh man, I'm this close though. You sound like these old IFB missionaries that are on the mission field for seven years and they're just like, we're close to getting this one salvation. We're discipling this one person. You know, it's time to move on. There's a ton of people in Fontana that you could just get saved in about 15 minutes. You don't have to wait seven years to do it. Burn those ships. So when discontentment comes, you can't go back even if you wanted to. You can't go back to those old friends, those old boyfriends or girlfriends, even if you wanted to. And you're like, well, you know, I'm still going to keep it around just in case. And here's one of the worst things that a Christian can do is have a Plan B in case Plan A doesn't work out with the Lord. Forget Plan B. There's only a Plan A. No retreats. Burn the ships. Luke 14 27 says, And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you intending to build a tower, sit it not down first and count at the cost, whether he has sufficient to finish it. Less happily, after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. I don't want to be mocked at the end of my life because I didn't finish the Christian life. And I think of one time when I was in Bible college, I had a friend that I had gotten saved and he ended up going to Bible college with me. And I was trying to teach him this principle because this is a principle that I learned early on in my Christian life. Burning the ships. And I knew how important it was to me because I loved my friends. I loved the world. I was in the world. So I knew that in a time of discouragement that I would be tempted to go back to the world. So I burned my ships. And I told my friend, and I didn't tell him the ships because I didn't know this illustration back then, but in so many words I said, Hey, you need to burn your ships because this guy was really popular. A lot of friends. You know, he was just a well-known person in our area. And I said, you need to burn your ships. You need to get rid of your friends because I'm just telling you, you know, the college is in the same city that your friends are in. And there's going to be a temptation that when you're tired, you're discouraged, you're failing your classes, you know, you're working, you're going to want to go back to your friends and contact them. And he didn't listen. And I remember being in college with him and at first he was just really committed, just serving God, soul winning, participating in his ministries. But little by little I just stopped seeing him as often, right? You know, you just kind of cut a service here, cut a soul winning time there. And then one day we're at the dorms because we're in college. I think we're like at a table or something. We're just kind of talking and he picks up his phone and he looks at a text message and he says, I'll be right back. He goes out, gets in a car and I just never see him again. What was that car? It was a ship that he didn't burn. And those friends were waiting for him, you know, they just took a couple times to contact him and he got in that car and he never came back. And by the way, that happened like twice. I remember that happening twice in college. Another guy, same thing. It was like we're going on Christmas break and we're just talking about all the things that God did throughout that ministry and our bus ministry and the people that we reach and all these things. And he did literally the same exact thing. We're just hanging out and then he's like, oh, hold on, I'll be right back. I'm going to go outside real quick. I'll be right back. And then after a while, we're just like, where's Anthony? Like, did this guy go somewhere? But then we realized later on, oh, his friends came to pick him up and he just literally left all his stuff in the dorms and just took off. He didn't burn his ships. Now, those are extreme examples and I don't think anybody in here would just like leave their Bible, their purse and, you know, their bags, their backpack and be like, I'll be right back and just leave and just never come back. If you do, you got some issues. But what I'm saying is you need to burn your ships. Especially if you're feeling committed right now. If you're feeling like, man, I'm on fire right now. I'm serving God. Everything's just going well spiritually. Everything is just going the way I feel like the Lord would want it to go. Now is the time to say, Lord, I want to commit to just serving you and I don't want to leave church. I don't want to leave my friends. I don't want to leave the service of sowing. I don't want to leave the service, your service. I want to just commit because I know there's going to come a time where I'm not going to feel like this. And so commit before discontentment hits. But secondly, here's another way to combat discontentment and that is practice the virtue of gratitude. A lot of times marriages become discontent because they're not thankful for their spouse. They become discontent for their job because they're not thankful for a paycheck. They become discontent with their church because they're not thankful for their church. And often you just need to be, stop focusing on all the negative stuff. How ugly the carpet is. How, you know, boring your marriage is and all these things that happen at your job. Your boss cuts you out or whatever. Start focusing on positive things. What are some positive aspects of your job? Here's one, you get paid. Always a good thing to get paid, amen. Paying your bills. Here's one, you know, if you have a spouse, you know, you're not single. That's like number one right there. No offense to you single guys, but singleness sucks. But hey, I was single one time, so I know how you feel. I'm just saying, you know. When you're married, when discontentment hits, just realize, hey, it could be a lot worse. I could be single. Like there's a person who wants to be with me for the rest of their life. I mean that's a miracle. Hey, your church, you know, you're like, oh man, I feel like I've heard this from you before. Okay, then why don't you go to like an old IFP church? Well, all they do on Sunday morning, they're like, hey, I'm single. Well, all they do on Sunday morning is talk about salvation, you're already saved. Or how about they don't talk about doctrine at all? Or how about you could go to some church and sit next to a pedophile? How do you like them apples? Something called gratitude, my friends. You're like, oh man, we're going solo, we got a marathon we have to go to, and we got zoning on Sunday. Okay, maybe you could go to a church where they just put door hangers on the door. And they don't even preach the gospel. How about that? Oh man, they're going to be at a church where the pastor's just yelling at me and calling out my sin all the time. Okay, then go to some church where the pastor looks like a sodomite. He's as effeminate as the day is long. So is his Bible. That he's reading from an iPad. That he puts on the screen for you with smoke. Is that what you want? Now if you're like, actually that sounds pretty good. Then you know what, you're in the wrong church. You see, we could all find something to complain about. We are natural born complainers. From the time that we're born, we're crying and complaining. Like a baby comes out of the womb crying and yelling, complaining. You took the child out of the womb. So we're natural born complainers, right? And so if we're not careful, we need to realize that it requires discipline to be grateful. We're naturally inclined to complain, but it takes discipline and a spirit-filled Christian to actually say, thank you to the Lord, thank you to people, to have gratitude for what you have. Focus on the good stuff in your marriage. Focus on the good stuff of your job. Focus on the good stuff of your car. Stop looking at everyone else's car. You're like, oh man, my junky little car. And look at so and so. They got a Beamer, Benz. Are those two different cars? Oh, okay. They got a Beamer and or a Benz. You know, they got this kind of, they got the car that I want. Be happy, you got four wheels? You can be riding a bike. You know? Like, I'm not happy with my van. You know, I wish I had a bigger van. Well, you know what? It could be a lot worse, my friends. It could be a lot worse. Be thankful. Now, let me talk to you about how our church started to kind of help you to be thankful. Okay? Because a lot of people in our church don't, you know, a lot of people have heard the story, but many new people have never heard this story before. And sometimes I'm surprised. I'm like, you don't know how, they're like, I don't know anything about the church. I just know that there's a church here. So this is how First Works Baptist Church started. Years ago, while I was still at an old IFB church, Paul Wittenberger, who was a producer, was a member of our church as well. He's a producer for a lot of the movies that Pastor Anderson made. And eventually, you know, he became discontent and left our church. But he mailed me a copy of After the Tribulation. And so this is a long time ago and I saw it and I really liked it. And one of the funny things about that movie is that my father-in-law was actually in the movie. Who was the pastor at that time? And not in a good way, like he was getting called out by Paul for being pre-trip. But I was like, oh, that's Pastor Esposito in that movie. So I saw it, but I really liked it. I agreed with the doctrine and I remember looking at the scriptures and confirming that it was true. But this is during a time that, you know, even though YouTube was around, culturally, YouTube wasn't a thing where it's just like you just go on YouTube right away. It's like something you would watch every once in a while. Like now YouTube is just like you open your phone and boom, there it is, right? You could just pop open the app and pull up a video. It wasn't like that like in 2010, 2011, 2012, even 2013, it wasn't necessarily like that. You would have to go on the computer and look something up. But even then, it wasn't like a part of the culture as of yet. I would say now it's very culturally acceptable to just pop it up on your phone and watch YouTube. So I saw it and I agreed with it. I liked it. My father-in-law was training me to be a pastor of a church that he was going to plant. And I wasn't married at the time. I was going for his daughter and obviously ended up marrying his daughter. But I remember in 2013, he ended up going into the hospital and through a series of events, his assistant pastor ended up taking over. Now they had already started the church plant and so I was working in that church plant as the like satellite pastor and overseeing the ministries there, preaching there, just overseeing the soul winning. I was basically in charge of everything there. Just gaining that experience in the ministry. But then this other guy took over and he kind of had his guy who he favored. And this guy at the end of the day was a more qualified person than I was because he was married. He had kids. But he basically told that guy, I want you to go over there and just kind of take over. So the guy came and he said, hey, you know what, you're not in charge anymore and this is your last sermon that you're preaching. And I just kind of figured like, okay, well the training's over. I guess this is how life is. You invest all this time and effort and resources into something and then it's just kind of stripped away. But I just figured this is just a way of things. Life is just not fair sometimes. So I said, okay, you know, I'm under your authority. You're in charge. I said, if you could just do me one favor, just let me finish this series that I'm preaching through. Next week is my last sermon. If I could just finish that off and then you take over after that and he's like, all right, fine, you can finish it off. And this is for like a midweek Bible study that we were doing, that I was doing. Well, Pastor Anderson and his wife were coming to California to get a surgical procedure because she was pregnant with twins and so she was supposed to get a surgical procedure that she could only get in Los Angeles and Hollywood. So he looked up fundamental Baptist churches in Southern California and they found my home church. But the thing is that it wasn't, the church that he found wasn't the exact home church, it was the church plant where I was. So that's where he came. And I remember, you know, just kind of running things. And at that time, brother Marcos was there and he was the PA guy. And I just remember seeing a guy in a flannel walk by. I'm like, where have I seen this guy? You know, like I know, I recognize him. So I went to Greenham and I said, how are you doing? I was like, I feel like I know you, you know, in this classic, I am Pastor Steven Anderson. You know what I mean? Faithful Word Baptist Church. How are you? I'm like, oh yeah. I was like, I know you. I was like, Paul used to go to our church. He's a member of our church. He's like, yeah, that's kind of how I found out about this church. And then I looked it up and I realized that you guys were in Maywood. So I wanted to come here. I thought you guys were in Long Beach. I said, we are in Long Beach, but this is like a church plant 20, 30 minutes out. So he came with his wife and they sat there and I preached. And what I didn't know is that he was actually going through, both him and his wife were going through a really difficult time during that time. As was I. I was going through a really hard time. We didn't know. We just kind of met each other. But he was like the loudest amener, the loudest singer, you know, just really loud. But it was encouraging because, you know, some people there just needed a fire to be lit under them. You know what I mean? So it was just like, man, I'm on an island here by myself. But, you know, he kind of made the service exciting because he was actually really into the preaching. So then after the service, you know, they told me their situation. I said, you know, I'll be praying for you. It's really nice to meet you. But I also remember people criticizing him prior to that. So I thought to myself, like, I don't know what the big deal is. He seems like a really cool guy. You know, he's nice. His wife's really nice. Whatever. We cross paths. We shake hands. He goes back home. And things only get worse in our church plan. Okay? Because this guy ends up taking over. And then he kind of like, he like, at that time I had like the largest Sunday school class at the church. And then he's like, by the way, I'm taking your Sunday school over too. And, you know, like putting all that investment into it and I'm just like, man, this guy's just like really pushing his weight. And then he's like, and by the way, since you're like Mexican, you're going to the Spanish ministry. And the Spanish ministry at that time had like five people. And I'm like, Spanish ministry? I'm Americanized, you know? Like, I don't preach in Spanish. I can preach the gospel, but I don't preach in Spanish. He's like, you're going to have to learn. You know? Because you're not going to be here. Like, I don't want you in the English ministry. You're going to the Spanish. So, I go to the Spanish, and the guy who was there, I was kind of replacing him. And he was not happy that I was replacing him. He hated the fact that I was replacing him. Obviously, I didn't want to be there. I was on his side. I'm like, I don't want to be here either, you know? You know? Me hablo español, but yo no quiero. But he didn't understand that. He was angry at the whole situation. And so, I had to sit with my wife, she wasn't my wife at the time, with Sarah in the services for about like five services before he went back to the home church. And in those five services, all he did was just preach against me the entire time. But you got to take into account there's five people in the service. So, when he's calling out the Bible college students, it's pretty obvious who he's talking about. And then, you know, my wife, she's just trying to be a good church member. So, as he's ripping my face, you know, she's just like nodding her head. And I'm like, he's preaching against me. Don't nod. Don't do that. So anyways, we take over the Spanish ministry and we end up growing it to about 40 people through sowing and teaching people how to bring people to church. We end up moving back to Monterey Park where the church plant originally started. Well, you know, things got tense with the satellite pastor there. And he ended up getting injured and the home pastor said, you know what, you need to come back and I'm just going to keep Bruce there. And then he's eventually going to take over the church once he gets married and he has kids, he can take over the church. Well, through a series of events, that changed literally overnight. And he ended up telling me that we're calling that off, you're coming back, he's going to stay there. And so I go back to Long Beach where the home church is and, you know, the pastor basically says, you know, I can't get over the fact that it actually says on this computer that your father-in-law had or the pastor Esposito had. He said, you know, he wanted me to train you to be a pastor. So what can we do to train you to get ready so that when you're married, you have kids, you know, we can send you out. And so one of the big things in the old IFP is like start a Sunday school class. So if you can start a Sunday school class, you can grow the Sunday school class, you're good to go, right? Like you can, it shows that you can reach people, you know how to work with people. So, you know, he told me that and I said, all right, let's do it, let's, you know, whatever you want. Well, then, you know, there's a guy who used to go to the church there. I'm sharing a lot of personal stuff here, by the way. There's a guy who used to go to church there and he was like a new IFP listener before the new IFP phrase was coined. And he just made us look really bad. Like he got us in a lot of trouble, particularly me, because he's very vocal about our beliefs. You know, what's wrong with that? Well, you know what? I personally believe that if you're at an old IFP church where they don't like the new IFP, it's probably just best to just shut up. You know what I mean? Like just don't say nothing, you know, which is what I did. I just didn't say anything. I just supported the pastor and that was it. Well, he wasn't like that. He was very much like, God hates fags to the pastor. He's like, what do you think about that? He's like, God hates fags. Are you going to send me out? Would you send me out still? And I'm like, you're killing it. You're killing it, you know. So anyways, the pastor gets a bad taste in his mouth for Pastor Anderson through this guy. And then starts realizing that we, that me, Brother Marcos and some other people are associated with this guy. So they're wondering like, am I also influenced by Steven Anderson kind of thing? So things start going around and then I get married and I'm at home. And at this time I'm already listening to Pastor Anderson pretty frequently, you know, just, you know, when I get home. And I was working on staff there, by the way. So I was working on staff there and I was listening to Pastor Anderson a lot. And then, you know, one year we decided to go on vacation. And one thing that we like to do as a family is we like to go to Arizona, right? So my wife jokingly says to me, because we're going to go to Arizona, she's like, you want to go visit Faithful Word? And I was just like, let's do it. But we kind of knew, like we counted the cost. That if we were to go, we'd be in a lot of trouble. So I told her, I was like, we've got to be like really discreet about this. So we're going to go visit your grandparents in Arizona, because they live in Arizona. I said, so we're not lying, but we're going to tell everyone we're going to go visit your grandparents, because that's really what we're going to do. It's just that on the way to the grandparents, we got to go to Faithful Word first, you know. But we're not going to tell them that, we're just going to say we're going to go to, and we're even going to go visit an old IV church where her grandparents are. So we go, and I planned it out, I was like, we're going to leave on Saturday, and then Sunday we'll go to Faithful Word, Sunday morning, Sunday night. And then Monday we'll head to your grandparents. We'll stay there for a week or whatever, and then we'll tell them that we went to an old IV church, which is true, because on Wednesday we did go to an old IV church. So I get there, and he's preaching, and I meet him afterwards, I was like, hey I don't know if you remember me, but I just want to say your sermons have been a blessing. And he's like, I do remember, and Pastor Anderson literally quoted the sermon and gave me the points of my sermon from years ago. This guy's memory is like crazy. And I was just like, wow, yeah, that was the sermon. He was like, yeah, that was a huge blessing to my wife and I because we're going through a hard time. And then he was just like, let's go out to eat. I'm like, let's go. So we went out and we just hit it off and became really good friends at that time. And I was telling her, I was like, man, my church really hates you. Like, the leaders really hate you, and everyone kind of just really hates you, and I don't know why, because you seem like such a really nice guy, you know? And so we talked for a long time, and at the end of the day, like at the end of that visit, it was just a great visit. And I just thought to myself, like, there's nothing wrong with this fundamental Baptist. You know what I mean? Like, he believes things that are different from the old IFP, but no major things have changed, you know what I mean? So anyways, we finish our vacation, we come back to church, and on that Sunday morning, I remember walking in, and one of the church members came up to me and he's like, hey, they know. I'm like, know what? He's like, they know. I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about. He's like, they know you went. I'm like, what? I'm a faithful word? They're like, yeah. Like, the pastor's going to talk to you. I'm like, how do they find out? You know, I'm just thinking like, how did that happen? Well, come to find out that someone, to this day, we don't know exactly who it is, but I have like an inkling who it is. Someone, because during that time, during that time in Pastor Anderson's church, when you would have visitors, this was during the time when he would have visitors, he would actually have them stand up and kind of say who they were and where they're from on the live, right? He doesn't do that anymore because weird people get up sometimes and they say stuff, which is one of the reasons why we don't do it anymore, too. Someone was watching on the live and heard me introduce myself. But here's the thing, they hate Pastor Anderson. What were they doing watching the live? So then they snitched me out, and at that point, I do believe snitches get stitches. There's no riches in that snitch, okay? And I'm, so, they wait a really long, they wait like a couple weeks to even confront me about it. So then, you know, I'm still of this mentality, we're going to start a Sunday school class. So in the old IFB, you had to like bring a list of things that you, of items that you're going to purchase and what it's going to cost. So, you know, I met with the pastor and I came with my list and he's like, hey, how's it going? You know, I'm like, good, just here with my list, you know, ready to start this class? And then he's just like, well, I got to talk to you about something. I'm like, okay. He's like, did you go to Faithful Word? And I'm like, yes. And he's like, why? And I just told him, I said, you know, I just, I've heard a lot of bad stuff about him, but I had a really good encounter with him a couple years ago. So I wanted to see if it was true or not, what people were saying about him. And so I just went to go try it out. It was a fundamental Baptist church. I didn't mean any harm by it. And he said, are you post-trip? I'm like, man. I'm like, yes. He's like, are you replacement theology? Yes. And he's like, do you believe in a family integrated church? I'm like, oh man, he's pulling out all those stops. I'm like, yes. I said, but wait, let me explain. I'm not spreading this in our church though. So these are my personal beliefs. I don't propagate it. I don't teach it to anybody. This is just things that I believe. And that's it. I'm not trying to like cause any division or anything like that. I love our church. I said, I love you. You know, I love the minute is where I got saved. And so, you know, that's it. And so we had a good conversation. And then at the end of the day, I said, is this going to hinder me from getting sent out? And he said, no, it's not. He said, cause you're going to go start a church, get people saved. These are secondary issues. And I was just like, wow, that was cool. Which by the way, when I was at Faithful Word on that Sunday, Pastor Anderson even told me, he said, when you go back, just be a blessing. He said, be a blessing to that church, be an asset to that church, win people to Christ, bring people to church, teach them to tithe, do all those things that a good church member does. And then, you know, he's not going to be bothered by you. And so he wasn't. But then the next week, a guy by the name of Jack Treiber came to preach, which Jack Treiber is like the pope, one of the popes of the old IFP. And he was having some trouble with some Andersonites that he would call them at his church. Well, the pastor had divulged to him of me and some of the problems that he was experiencing, which weren't really problems. And basically, Treiber told him, you need to fire that guy, get rid of him. And he even ended up preaching and saying that I should be fired. Obviously not by name, but my wife knew. So then, did I turn this off? So then he ends up telling me, he meets with me and he says, you know, I can't get over the fact that you went there and, you know, so you have a choice. You can either stop listening to Pastor Anderson or you can't work here anymore. And I was like, well, you know, that's it just doesn't seem right to me to keep earning a paycheck here or like to like forsake good preaching and a good friend only because I want to earn a paycheck here. I said, you know, I just. And so I said, I just won't work out, be a regular church member and I'll still want to be a blessing here. At that point, I just realized I'm probably not going to get sent out. Oh, well, you know, I mean, there's there's 10 years down the drain of training and, you know, I'm just going to be a regular church member. So then I got a regular job and I was working at a battery company where a lot of the Bible college students were working at that time. And, you know, I was just a regular church. I was not on staff anymore. I'm a regular human being church member working at a secular job. And I made a lot of good friends there. One friend in particular, we hit it off really good. He was from the church. He wasn't a Bible college student, but he was a church member there and we just became really good friends. Ulysses was working there at the time as well. We became really good friends and he would ask me questions about the Bible. And through a series of events, we ended up finding out, he ended up divulging that he was involved in an adulterous relationship in the church. Because this lady kept seeing him at his job and then she asked me, can you go get so-and-so? And I told him, I said, hey, so-and-so, your wife is outside. And he's like, she's not my wife. I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, she's someone else's wife. I'm like, dude, you're in adultery. He's like, well, isn't it? He's like, I mean, her husband's in prison and one of the pastoral staff is trying to help them to get divorced so that we can get married. I was like, what? I said, here it says you deserve death. And he looked at it and he was just like, oh man, I've never seen that. I'm like, you deserve to die. He's like, what should I do? I'm like, just separate from her right now. He's like, but I live with her. I was like, move out. He's like, when? I said, tonight. Do it now. He's like, I'm going to do it. And that night he separated and he left and he went back to his, he went to go live with his sister. And he told me, he's like, thank you for telling me because I didn't know. Well, the guy who was helping him ended up calling me and said, hey, did you tell so-and-so to dudes? I was like, yes, I did. I was like, the guy's involved in adultery. What? I mean, what's, what's the problem? He goes, okay, I was just wondering, you know, just kind of checking in or whatever. Well, he ends up telling the pastor and the pastor texts me and he says, we're meeting when you get back because you're causing trouble at this job. So prior to him and I meeting, my boss calls me in, my boss where I'm working, and he's just like, I got to meet with you. And I was like, okay. And he, the first thing he says, who's Steven Anderson? I was like, he's a pastor. He's my friend. He's like, your old church is calling me, telling me to fire you because you're associated with this. And I was like, what? He's like, yeah, they're trying to get me to take your job away. And they're threatening to remove all the Bible college students if I don't, because they had like a, like a lot of Bible college students working there at the time. I was like, are you serious? He's like, yeah, they're trying to get me to take your job. And they're saying, if I don't, then they're going to remove the Bible college students. Now me, I'm old IFB. I know how things work. And I said, they're never going to remove those students from this job. You know why? Because they got to pay those bills. They got school bills to pay. You know what? This speaks louder than the words to them. Okay. And so I was like, call their bluff. They won't do it. And he's like, why don't they like them? I said, because he doesn't like homos. And he said, well, what's wrong with that? This is like an old school Taiwanese guy. And I told him, and his name was Wen. And I said, Wen? Exactly, Wen. Exactly. Can I go now? And he's like, yeah, I'll tell them that I'm not going to do it. So I went home and I ended up ripping the person who was responsible for it. And then of course the pastor wanted to meet with me. And then my wife was just like, what do you think he wants to say to you? Because you don't work on staff anymore. Like, what is he going to say? What have you violated? I said, he's either going to apologize for everything that's taken place. And I said jokingly, or he's going to kick me out of the church. I said, but I don't think he's going to kick us out though, because that would be weird. I said, your dad started this church. We're not even like staff members here. You know what I mean? There's no grounds for like excommunication. I didn't use that term, but I just said, there's no grounds to kick us out. So anyways, that Thursday we met and he said, you can't be here anymore. I said, what do you mean? He's like, you got to go. I'm like, go where? He's like, I don't care. Just not this church. You can't be here anymore. I said, why? He said, because of your association and your beliefs. It can't be tolerated here and you need to go. And I was honestly all speechless. I just didn't know what to say. Because this is like the church I got saved in. This is the church that my wife grew up in. And so basically we're all being thrown out. And I said, where am I going to go? And he said, I don't really care. You just got to go. And I said, are you giving me a deadline? And he said, sooner the better. He said, by next week you got to go. And I literally started like just weeping in his office because like this man was the first guy who visited me when I first got saved. And he was like my mentor. He was my friend. And I just couldn't believe that like it got to that point. So then I said, okay. And I walked out and I told my wife and she was like, what? I'm like, we're being thrown out. I'm like, I don't even know what to say. So then the emotions of bitterness start like swelling up and anger and just these carnal passions of just wrath in me because it's just like this is unjust. But I had a couple days and obviously Sunday was coming around and I told my wife, I said, you know what? This will be our last service. Sunday will be our last service. And we were not making any type of good money there at all. Like we were struggling a lot when we were working there. And I told her, I said, buy gift cards, In-N-Out gift cards and we're going to give them to the pastor and we're going to say thank you for everything you've done to us. This will be our last service. We love you. Sorry things didn't work out. God bless you. Just as a way of saying like peace because I didn't want to harbor any ill feelings towards him. So we did that. On Sunday night, I came to him and I said, this will be our last service. Here's some gift cards for you to say thank you for everything you've done for me. And he took them and said, all right, I guess we'll see you. I'm like 10 years of friendship just down the drain like that. You're just going to see you? Nothing else? So then we walked home and we're just devastated. We're in tears because I was thinking like I have no church to go to. So I did what basically anybody does when you go home from your old IFP church. I want to go listen to Pastor Anderson. I'm just like, all right, let's see what we got. Swipe away those tears and just like. And he just so happened to be preaching on church discipline that day. And my heart kind of dropped because I thought to myself, maybe I did deserve this. I'm like, is he going to talk about it? And literally as I had that thought, he said, by the way, you can't get thrown out of church for just listening to me. That's stupid. Literally at that moment, I was just like, whoa, that has to be from the Lord. So it was really encouraging. And I remember telling my wife, I said, we've got to go. We've got to find a church as soon as possible. Our car was like really run down. We're really discontent with our vehicle at that time because it wasn't getting it. It was having a lot of issues. And the best church was like in Anaheim. It was like a Spanish church. But the unfortunate thing about this church is that it was using a 1960 Raina Valera, which is a bad Bible. But this is a guy who I influenced. And so he welcomed me to come to his church and he believed in replacement theology and all those things. So I told my wife, this is where we're going to go. You know what I mean? And I told her, I said, we'll just kiss being sent out goodbye. It's not the end of the world. It's just how it is. And so that's what we'll do. So that Monday morning, I wake up to go to work and I had Pastor Anderson's number. So I text him. I said, hey, I just want to thank you for your sermon last night. It was very encouraging to my wife and I because we just got thrown out. I just want to say thank you. Immediately he calls me, which is very odd. And he's like, you what? And I said, we got thrown out of our church. He's like, why? And I kind of explain everything that had happened. And he's like, that's so ridiculous. He's like, where are you going to go? I said, I don't know, but you know, I'm planning to go to the Spanish church and you know, that's probably where we're going to go for now. And he's like, well, I hear like you have like some reservations in your voice. Like you are you against going there? I said, well, the only reservation I have that he uses the 1960. He's like, oh, I can't recommend that. I can't recommend for you to go to that church. He's like, that's a that's a bad Bible. Why is he using that? I'm like, I don't know. I tried talking to the guy. He doesn't want to switch. That's like literally the best church around. And the other two churches that are in the area, they're not going to let me in because of what happened here. So he throws out a sigh. He's like, well, I've always wanted to start a church in Los Angeles. And so let me call you back. So then he calls me back and he meets with the staff. And luckily, one of his staff members knows my father in law, who was in the hospital, obviously at this time, but was under his preaching. Like he remembers his preaching. He knows who Pastor Esposito is. And he's like, well, if this guy comes from that ministry, he's legit. So he calls me and he says, I think we're going to start a church over there. And how about you heading it up? And I just told him, I was like, I'm down. And this is what he said. He goes, OK, this is what we're going to do. He's like, I'm going to make a video tomorrow and I'm going to say we're going to start a church. Now, keep in mind, the home church is in Long Beach. The church plan is in Monterey Park. He said, we're going to start a church and I'll say it's somewhere between Long Beach and Monterey Park. And in my mind, I'm like, they're going to freak out. They're going to freak. And he's like, I'm going to say this and I'm going to say, and the boots on the ground is Bruce Mejia. And I think he was kind of testing me out to kind of see like how to react to that, because who knows, maybe other people were like, well, yeah, that's fine, but just don't say my name or something. You know, he's like, how do you feel about that? I was like, let's do it. He's like, all right. So he makes the video on that Tuesday and all hell breaks loose. Everyone's texting me, calling me a wolf. You guys are planning this for six months. And I literally responded and said, he came up with the idea yesterday. He's like, no, he didn't. You guys have been planning this for months. You're a wolf in sheep's clothing. You've been in cahoots with Stephen Anderson this whole time. I'm like, you're not my pastor anymore. Like what gives you the right to talk to me like this? You know, like you kicked me out yesterday. Like, we're done, dude. Like, you know. So he tells me, like, Pastor Anderson says, we'll have our first soul winning meeting on Thursday, and then the first service is on Sunday. Where are we going to have church? He's like, I don't know. We'll figure it out. I'm like, oh, man. So then an onslaught of persecution from my old church began at that point. Because I live across the street from my old church at that time. And I have all my church leaders, all my Bible college teachers contacting me. They're just like, look, I just want to know where your heart is. Where's your heart? And in my mind, I'm thinking like, brother, is thine heart right as my heart is with thine heart? There's nothing wrong with my heart. I'm like, I've been in the way. That was it. But everyone thought I was just this really backslidden Christian, that I was just backstabbing this old church, and I was doing them wrong by doing this. It's just like, you guys tend to forget I'm not a member here anymore. My membership was revoked yesterday. This Sunday, I'm not a member there, so why even worry about where I'm going to go? Because the reason they're worried is because of Pastor Anderson. And so meetings ensued thereafter and about me and about Pastor Anderson. And Pastor Anderson didn't take kindly to it, so he called them out during his services and backed me up and defended me in a lot of ways. And I remember one leader particularly coming to me and saying, look, if you're going to start a church, that's fine, but could it just not be in Long Beach, please? I'm like, I'm not the pastor. I don't choose where it starts. If he wants to do it across the street from your church, that's on him. I can't control that. So we ended up starting a church, and it was just a great success. We started in Dr. Rita's backyard. We had services there for about two weeks. And then a guy who used to work for Pastor Anderson named Garrett Kirschway, he was there, and he was supposed to help us find a building, which he didn't. It ended up being a guy by the name of Alex Berea who ended up helping us find the building. But it's just really funny because when this church started, we had an infiltrator right off the bat, Garrett Kirschway. And immediately when we're starting this church, he would just constantly tell me, like, you're going to have so many sodomites on the first day. There's going to be so many reprobates on the first day. And in my opinion, it was probably like a scare tactic, like he was trying to get me scared so I wouldn't do it, because hindsight is 20-20, so I think he was probably trying to take over that church. But in my mind, I'm like, oh, okay, there's going to be sodomites, then we're just going to have to whoop some people when they get here. So I had a group of guys with me, and I said, hey, homos might be showing up on the first day, so we need to throw them out, start practicing. And our group was of the type that was just like, they're not scared if they hear that they're going to have protesters or something, they're just like, alright, let's do it. This is exciting. But nothing happened, of course. Nothing took place. Many of you for the first time on that Thursday and on that Sunday, and we started with about 30 people, 35 people or so, and it's grown to what it is now. And obviously throughout the years we've had instances where things took place with the other church and they weren't happy about what some of the things were taking place, because some of the people from that church were coming here. Some of the people from that church are still here. I'm looking at two right there in the back. Brother Chris there, he was from the old church, and he was part of the church plant that was in Monterey Park. And they called me a sheep stealer, but first and foremost, these are God's sheep, but secondly, you can't steal well-fed sheep. So I'm not like Chris, like, come over here, Chris. Like my preaching more, Chris. I mean, I'm just putting my sermons online and people come, so that's not my fault. You don't like that, preach better sermons. Stop being such a greedy, a filthy, lucre type pastor, and maybe people will stay at your church and you can grow it. Because that Monterey Park church has been around for 13 years, and they're still small. And look, I'm not bagging on small churches if you're putting in a lot of effort to grow it. But if all you're doing is talking about money, and all you care about is money, then you know what, we got a problem here. So what was the point of telling that story? The point is to make you grateful. It makes me grateful. Because you know what? Many people who are in our church right now are this close to moving to Arizona. I mean, even myself, I remember being with Ulysses and I said, all right, this is the plan. We got to work for this amount of time, we'll save this amount of money, and we're going to move to Arizona when we have a chance. Because it's just like, there's kind of like nothing for us here. And many people were on that same boat until the church started. And now we have a church home. And now we have Bible preaching and soul winning. And we can speak of doctrines freely. We can voice our doctrinal opinions freely. And in fact, it's weird if you are pre-trip instead of post-trip. You know, we can talk about the Jews freely. We can discuss the reprobate doctrine freely. Hey, we can have our kids in the service with us. That's huge, my friends. So, before you start getting a discontented spirit and complaining about all the things, just remember the things that you didn't have prior to coming here. Just remember that. You know, in the Old I.P. church, you can't preach this hard. In June, you can't preach hard. Here, we just kind of like, just let loose. But you know what? You can't do that in the Old I.P. churches. It's frowned upon to preach against the Sodomites. It's frowned upon to talk about hate. It's frowned upon to talk about the Bible sometimes, believe it or not. Not here. Now, I know I just spent a lot of time talking crap about my old church and everything that they did, but I mean, it's history. And tonight, I'm going to give honor to the Old I.P. and say some of the things they did right. Obviously, after I give the introduction of things they did wrong, we have to have a balance, okay? But you know what? At the end of the day, that's what it was. And I believe that this church was providentially started. The way things worked out, the way Pastor Anderson and I crossed paths during difficult times in our life, the way everything just turned out, it seems as though God was working in the midst. And you know what? God is still working in the midst. Children that would have not existed had this church not started. Marriages. People who have gotten married in our church and wouldn't have gotten married if it wasn't for our church. Spiritual growth, salvations. You know, the list goes on and on and on and on of all the blessings that we have inherited because we have a church here. You know, you're kind of speaking as though you're like the black sheep of your old church. I was, yeah. And so are all of you. Especially if you came from an Old I.P. church, you're probably the black sheep. We can all be black sheep together, amen? And so I have four points but I'm just going to leave it at those two. The third point was just understand the principle of the grass is greener. And let me say this, sometimes the grass is greener. I remember a sermon like that a couple of years ago. Sometimes the grass is greener. That's a fact. But sometimes it isn't. Sometimes it's just more well kept because they're actually putting in the work. Sometimes it's astroturf. You go there like, oh, that's why it's greener because it's fake. You go to these lib churches, it's just like, oh, that's why I thought it was greener because it's all fake in here. There's not even real, say, people here. But really at the end of the day it's because people have put in the work to make it green. And you know what, if you're discontent with church, do something about it to make it better. If you're discontent with your church, then go reach someone and bring them here and make it better. If you're discontent with your church, then you grow. You do something about it. You invest your resources and time and energy into this church and make it better. And that's the only way it's going to get better. In your eyes. Be an asset to this church if you want to make it better. The answer is never, oh, I'm going to leave my spouse. That's not the answer. The answer is do something about it. Make it better. Make your marriage better. The answer is not, oh, man, this job is just terrible. That's not necessarily the answer. Maybe you just need to make it better and be a better worker. Maybe they need a better supervisor and that's you. Maybe you need to work your way up to becoming a supervisor. Maybe you just need to become an asset to the church to make it better. But I'll be honest with you, I think this is the best church around. If I wasn't a pastor here, this is the church I'd be going to for sure. Because I love the people here. I love our stance. I love our doctrine. And I love the fact that I get to raise my kids here. And here's the thing, folks, is that too many people have this attitude of, well, it's not wrong to go to another church. You're right, it's not wrong to go to another church. Especially if it's a fundamental Baptist church. It's a good thing. But in my opinion, it's not the best. Let me explain to you why and I'll finish with this. It's always best to get your roots down deep in one church. It's always best to be in one place for a long period of time. It's always best to keep and raise your family in one church. Because when you go to another good church, there's nothing wrong with that. You've got to start all over again. It's always good to build your reputation in one church. It's always good to be faithful, consistent, and be an asset. And, you know, just be a great Christian in one church for decades upon decades to come. You not only strengthen the church, you end up strengthening your family, your wife, your kids. It's always the best option. And so when you're in a time of discontentment, just think about those things. And happy anniversary. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much. And I'm thankful, Lord, for the fact that you moved providentially to start this church. And it was born in much trial and affliction and heartache. And obviously what I told today was just a small percentage of everything that really went on. So many details that I left out, Lord. And nights of prayer and tears and fears. And I pray, Lord, that you'd help us to be grateful for what we have. And a lot of people that came on the first service that are still here, it says a lot that they have the endurance to stick it out. And even through the hard times and trials that they've personally experienced and that we've experienced as a church, Lord, help us to continue to be faithful for another six years and decades upon decades to come. And you bless our church. May your hand be upon us, Lord. Help us to create an institution here whereby we can raise our children, have godly marriages, and continue to reach the next generation through the gospel of Jesus Christ and through the preaching of your word. We love you. We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Please turn your song books to song number two hundred and five. Song number two hundred and five. He keeps me singing. Song number two hundred and five all together on that first verse. There's within my heart a melody Jesus whispers sweet and low Fear not I am with thee, peace be still In all of life's ebb and flow Jesus, Jesus, Jesus Sweetest name I know Fills my every longing Keeps me singing as I go All my life was wrecked by sin and strife Discord filled my heart with pain Jesus swept across the broken strings Stirred the slumbering chords again Jesus, Jesus, Jesus Sweetest name I know Fills my every longing Keeps me singing as I go Feasting on the ridges of His grace Resting near His sheltering wing I was looking on His smiling face That is why I shout and sing Jesus, Jesus, Jesus Sweetest name I know Fills my every longing Keeps me singing as I go Though sometimes He leads through waters deep Trials fall across the way Though sometimes the path seems rough and steep See His footprints all the way Jesus, Jesus, Jesus Sweetest name I know Fills my every longing Keeps me singing as I go Soon He's coming back to welcome me Far beyond the starry sky I shall wing my flight to worlds unknown I shall reign with Him on high Jesus, Jesus, Jesus Sweetest name I know Fills my every longing Keeps me singing as I go Alright great singing, I wanted to remind you about the tacos and burgers There's gonna be two people on the side here Parents, please watch over your children, okay? You need to be the one serving them Obviously it's a parking lot so it could be dangerous if cars are going in and out Be conscious of that We're gonna do our best to kind of help with the traffic So let's pray for your kids, alright? So let's pray for the food and we'll be dismissed Father, we thank you once again for six wonderful years Thank you for this food, Lord And may you bless it as we reminisce on the years past And we look forward to all the great things you're gonna do in the future We love you, we thank you, pray these things in Jesus' name Amen, you are dismissed