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faithful. Sing it on that first verse. Oh, come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. Oh, come ye, oh, come ye to Bethlehem. And behold Him born the King of Angels. Oh, come let us adore Him. Oh, come let us adore Him. Oh, come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Sing choirs of angels, sing in exaltation. Oh, sing in the cry of Oh, come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Yeah, Lord, we grieve, Lord, yes, happy morning. Jesus, to Thee we all call, we give. Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing. Oh, come let us adore Him. Oh, come let us adore Him. Oh, come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Amen. Wonderful singing. Let's start our service with a word of prayer. Dear God, only Father, we thank you so much, Lord God, for just allowing us to be here in your house this evening. We do pray that you please just bless every aspect of the service, Lord God. I pray that you please, Lord God, help us to be filled with your Holy Spirit, Lord God, to be able to be attentive to your service, Lord God, to the message that you have prepared for us. And I pray that you also fill our pastor with your Holy Spirit, Lord God, as well. I pray that you please just guide him through the scriptures, bring to remembrance of the things that he has studied as well. And I pray that you would just bless every aspect of the service, from the singing unto you, the preaching of your word. We pray now these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Song number 426. I heard the bells on Christmas day. Song number 426. Song number 426. Seen on that first verse. I heard the bells on Christmas day. Their old familiar carols play. And wild and sweet the words repeat of peace on earth, goodwill to men. I thought how as the day had come, the belfries of old Christendom had rolled aloft on broken song of peace on earth, goodwill to men. And in despair, I bowed my head, there is no peace on earth. I said, all is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, goodwill to men. Then pealed the bells more loud and deep, God is not dead nor doth he sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, goodwill to men. Till ringing, singing on its way, the world revolved from night to day. A voice, a time, a chance of life, of peace on earth, goodwill to men. Alright, great singing. Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song, which will be song number 429. Hark the Herald Angels Sing, song number 429. Of course, our services are as follows. Sunday morning is at 10, 30 Sunday evening at 5 p.m. and Thursday night at 7 o'clock. You see the zoning times and teams, the list of expecting mothers, and of course, there are important reminders there. Please make sure that you are supervising your children in the building. No children should be in the mother baby room or any other room alone for that matter without their parents. Please keep that in mind, parents. And of course, no men allowed in the mother baby room or in the women's fellowship restroom. Men, you can use the fellowship hall or the foyer if you need to take out your children during the service to distract them a bit. So just keep that in mind. Next week is our Christmas service. And of course, Sunday morning will be at 10, 30. And then we will have lunch. We'll have La Chon and a lot of different sides with that. And the Sunday evening service will actually begin in the afternoon at 1 p.m. approximately. And so I hope you stick around for that. We're going to be having some fellowship, some fun for Christmas. And so I hope to see you then. New Year's service is on the 1st. And then we begin our Barstow zoning. Once again, on Monday, January 2nd, we'll meet here at the building at 11, 30. And you're welcome to come with us if you'd like to. We'll go eat some lunch. And then we'll head out there to Barstow. It takes about an hour and a half to get there. We'll do some zoning. And then we'll have dinner out there and come back. If you are interested in participating in that, you can see Brother Ulysses Hernandez for more details. And please be in prayer for us as we go out to Barstow once again in January. Men's prayer night is coming up on Friday, January 6th. And of course you have the regular reminders there at the bottom. Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. Let's go ahead and take some soul winning numbers from this past week. Salvations from Monday to Thursday. Any salvations from Monday to Thursday? One for Brother Maureen. One for Brother Ulysses. Okay, how about Friday and Saturday? Friday and Saturday? One. All right. Anybody else? And how about this afternoon? Salvations for this afternoon? One for Brother Cody's team. Two for Brother Maureen's team. Two for Brother Hikes' team. One for Brother Ulysses' team. And one from last week. Okay. Anybody else? Did I miss anybody? Okay. Great work on the soul winning. Let's go ahead and sing our next song. 429, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Song number 429, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Song number 429. Sing it on that first verse. Hark the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King Peace on earth and mercy mild God and sinners reconciled Joyful all ye nations rise Join the triumph of the skies With angelic hosts proclaim Christ is born in Bethlehem Hark the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King Peace on earth and mercy mild Glory to the newborn King Christ by highest heaven adored Christ the everlasting Lord Late in time behold Him come A spring of a virgin's womb Filled in flesh the God at sea The incarnate deity Pleased as men with men to dwell Jesus our Emmanuel Hark the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King Hail the heaven formed in peace Hail the Son of Righteousness Light and light through all He brings Brisk with healing in His womb Mildly lay His glory by Born that man no more made by Born to raise the sons of earth Born to give them second birth Hark the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King Come desire the nations come Rise in us our humble home Rise a woman's conquering sea Bruise in us the serpent's head Atoms likeness now effaced Sempt thine image in its place Take an atom from above Re-enstate us in Thy love Hark the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time our ushers will be receiving the offering. Thank you. . . . . . Good evening. Tonight we're in James chapter number one. James chapter number one. James chapter number one in the Bible reads James the servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes which are scattered, broad, greeting. My brethren, count on all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have a perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let a mask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and abraitheth not, and it shall be given him. But let a mask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. But let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Let a brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted, but the rich in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with the burning heat, but it withered the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth. So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. For when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say, When he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. 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. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For, friend, be a hearer of the word, and not a doer. He is likened to a man, beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion, and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Let's pray. Dear Lord God, we thank you for, first and foremost, our salvation, Lord, and thank you for the King James Bible, Lord, and we thank you for this church you've given us, and we thank you for pastors, Lord, we pray that you bless him, and fill him with the Holy Spirit as he preaches your word, and please bless the congregation, and us tonight here, Lord, that you fill us with the Holy Spirit, and that we have ears to hear, to the message that you have before us, Lord, and we pray this all in Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Alright, we're in James chapter number one this evening, you have to excuse me, I feel like I'm losing my voice again, so if it cracks, please don't make fun of me, after the service, no I'm just kidding. Look at verse number one there, it says, James, a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. And what I want to preach on this evening is the doctrine of temptations, the doctrine of temptations. And I want to preach on the subject of temptation and essentially explain the different meanings behind that particular word there. And this is a word that is used multiple times in the Bible in various ways, in various manners, and I want to show you that although they're all distinctly very much different, in many ways they're closely related one to another, we're going to look at that this evening. And the most important thing you can take away from this sermon, even though we're going to explain all different types of temptations, just walk away knowing this, the goal is to pass all of them, okay? And when you pass all the temptations, it will produce godliness in your life, it will produce God's blessing in your life. It doesn't matter what temptation you are facing, of which we're going to look at tonight, the important thing is that you determine to pass it, that you are determined to overcome it, that you are determined to essentially pass the test that is set before you. And so we're going to talk about those temptations this evening. Now the first temptation we're going to look at is what we see here in James chapter 1, is essentially the temptation that comes from God himself, okay? And this could be described as what we see here as the trial of your faith. It's when God puts your faith to the test, okay? And we obviously understand that when we get saved, you know, we have to place our faith in Jesus Christ, but you know the Bible also says that we live from faith to faith, and God wants our faith in him to continuously grow. Obviously you understand that when we place our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, that's over and done with, we are sealed until the day of redemption, we are eternally secure in the hand of God, but you know what, God is interested in you growing in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and in order for you to grow, your faith has to be tested, it has to be put through the ringer so to speak, it has to be put to the test in order for it to grow. You have to feel pressure in this life, okay, in order for you to grow. So this type of temptation is when God puts your faith to the test. He says in verse number 2, Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. Now this isn't the temptation that we are probably familiar with the most, which is the temptation to sin, but rather it's just referring to the fact that, hey, count it joy when you are constantly being tested, when your faith is being tested, okay. And he says there in verse number 3, that this works patience in your life. So when you go through a trial, when you go through a difficulty in your life, this is essentially God allowing you to be tempted, allowing you to be tested in order to produce patience. Now let me say this is that patience, people often say it's a virtue, and I agree with that, but it's a virtue that most of us lack, right. Most of us, not all of us. And you know sometimes we have patience and then our patience wanes, and then we have to grow in our patience once again, and then we grow in our patience, we learn to endure, and then what happens, our patience wanes again, we start faltering in our endurance, and we don't have that patience the way we should. And you know we think of patience as like well patience just means to wait, right. But patience also means to endure. It means to endure our hardship. In other words, when you're going through a difficult time, you don't throw in the towel in the Christian life. See God's will for you, God's will for me, is that we essentially stick it out in the Christian life for the long haul. That we're in this for the long haul, that we want to finish the course that God has set before us, the race that is set before us with joy. We want to be able to start off when we get saved, and be in church, and read God's word, and win people to Christ, turn people to righteousness, serve the Lord until the day that we die. We don't want to be characterized as Christians that are constantly in and out of God's will, in and out of the Bible, in and out of church, in and out of God's will. We need to make sure that we stick it out until the very end. And the way we can make sure that happens is that we endure when hardships do come our way, when trials come, when our faith is tested, we don't become like little weenies, and just like, oh man this is too hard, I can't handle this, I just can't deal with that, I just need time off from God or something, I need time off from church. No, just endure it, face that temptation, learn how to execute biblical principles, and pass that test that God is sending your way. And so what happens is when your faith is being tried, it produces patience, and then patience essentially produces you being entire wanting nothing, you become a mature Christian. Now hold your place there in James chapter 1, go to Deuteronomy chapter number 8, Deuteronomy chapter 8. Let me say this, is that sometimes God will test you, not because you're involved in sin, not because you're a bad person, it could just mean that you're just a really good Christian. Or it could just mean that He's just trying to get you to grow. And so we can't enter into the Christian life thinking that nothing bad will ever happen to us, we're never going to face tribulation, we're never going to face trials, we're never going to face difficulties in our life, and pain, and sorrow, and all these things. We need to recognize that the Christian life doesn't equal an absence of pain, often it includes a lot of it. And sometimes God allows that because it's good for us, pain is a necessary teacher in our life because it humbles us. It humbles us, it causes us to seek after the Lord, to pray unto Him, to read the Word of God. But look at Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse number 1, speaking to the children of Israel he says, All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers. And thou shall remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or not. What is he saying? He allowed them to suffer a lot of the trials in the wilderness, why? To prove them. He says to prove them, he said to humble them, and to know exactly what was in their hearts, to know why were they in it for what reason, what was the motive in their heart for serving God. And then he said there, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or not. And so sometimes God allows a really difficult trial in your life, some fiery trial in your life to kind of see what you're going to do about it. Are you going to keep reading the Bible? You know it's easy to serve God and live for God when everything's going well. When the bills are being paid, when your health is well, when the marriage is going good, I was going to say the kids are obedient, church is great, and souls are being won, you're just kind of prospering and succeeding in the Christian life. It's easy to serve God under those conditions, right? You just got to raise at work, and everything's just going hunky dory, and you can't complain. Those are the easiest conditions to serve God in, so to speak. But it's when things go hard, it's when trials come upon us, difficulties arise, when there's a death in the family, maybe there is some health issue, maybe there is a financial woe that comes upon you, not because of your disobedience or rebellion, but just because that's just life. You have an unexpected medical bill that comes your way, you have some unexpected trial that happens to you, it comes at the worst time, you lose your job, you can't find a job, I mean there's all types of things that happens, not because you're a wicked person, not because you're being sinful or disobedient, it's just life. And God allows that to prove you to see, what are you going to do now? What are you going to do? You see, the Bible tells us that the love of Christ should constrain us, amen? The reason we serve God is because we love the Lord. And the Apostle Paul stated that he's learned in whatsoever state he is in, therewith to be content. He's learned both to be abased and how to abound. How to suffer need, how to serve God when he has a full belly, how to serve God when he doesn't. And so it's important for us to realize that when we suffer hunger, when we suffer trials and difficulties, we have to know maybe God is testing my faith right now. Because you know when you first get saved, it's just like man everything's great, I'm learning all these biblical principles, I'm becoming a better employee at my job, I mean everything's just going great. And then let me just say this, the newness begins to wear off. Brother Eli, can you turn the AC up? This is getting warm. I had patience before, but my patience is waning. And so I want to make sure no one falls asleep on me too. Sometimes it gets too warm in here and people get a little too cozy in here. So let's get you uncomfortable. And I'm just kidding, sort of. God allows these things in order to prove us, to see what are we going to do in that situation. And what I was saying is that sometimes the newness wears off. Because you know there's always a honeymoon state in the Christian life. When you first get saved it's like man everything's just great, the word of God is awesome, I love preaching, I love coming to church, I love the brethren. But then you're in it for a couple of months, you're in it for a couple of years, and then it's just like, then like reality starts setting in. Then the brethren that you used to be really excited about seeing on Sunday, and now it's just like, oh man, there goes brother so and so, he's going to tell me the same exact thing he told me last week. Oh pastor's preaching that same sermon again, oh I've heard this before, oh here we go singing the same songs again, here we go doing the same thing again. So now it's just like the newness begins to wear off. You're not as happy as you used to be in the Christian life. So now you need character. You need character to stick it out, and one thing you realize is that the longer you stick it out, the better life gets, the better the Christian life gets. But the best is yet to come when it comes to the Christian life. And not every Sunday is going to be a home run, not every Sunday is a great show, not every day is a mountaintop, sometimes you need the valleys. And you know what, let me just say this, sometimes some people are in the valley a lot longer, some people are in the valley a lot longer than others. They go through a lot of difficult times, and it's God humbling them and proving them to see what is in their heart, to see if they're willing to still read the word of God and have that same passion and zeal and love for His commandments as they did when they were on the mountaintop. Go to John chapter 15 if you would, John chapter 15. John chapter 15. So this temptation that we're talking about here is when God allows trials in your life and difficulties in order to humble you, to prove you, to see what is in your heart, and to see are you willing to still keep God's commandments even through difficult times. And you know what, unfortunately, often there's times when Christians, when they first get saved, they're serving God, they receive the word of God with joy, but then by and by persecution cometh because of the word or whatever, and then they're offended. You know, they fall by the wayside. Why? Because they're not necessarily rooted. They're kind of going off of emotion, they love what's going on, but they're not reading God's word on a day-to-day basis. And let me just make this public service announcement that you better be reading God's word every single day. What you're getting from the pulpit right now, you know, it's all good, but it isn't sufficient to sustain you as a Christian on your day-to-day basis, on a weekly basis, monthly basis. You need to make sure you're cracking open the Bible every single day and reading God's word and getting fed. You're like, well, you know, I don't even have enough time for that. We all make time for things that are important. And I'm not necessarily for New Year's resolution, but if you have to make this New Year's resolution, make it. You know, read the Bible every single day. Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Stop being lazy. Get off of social media. Get off of Instagram or Facebook or whatever it is that is distracting you and actually read the Bible. And don't try to appease your conscience by saying, well, I'm going to get preaching when I go there on Thursday or I'm going to get preaching when I go there on Sunday. I'm going to open up the Bible and actually read it when I'm there. No, read it every day. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceed out of the mouth of God. So you better be reading God's word every single day and make it your goal to finish reading God's word by the end of next year, at least once, amen? You know, every year, every Christian should have the goal to finish the Bible in one year. And you may think to yourself, well, I've read it in one year. Okay, read it twice then. Read the New Testament a couple times, but read it every single day, okay? Look at John chapter 15, verse number 1. Jesus says here, I am the true vine and my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away. So he compares us to branches that are supposed to be bearing fruit. And the Bible's telling us here that if there's a branch that doesn't bear fruit, it's not useful, it's worthless, he kind of takes it away. Why? Because, you know, it's not taking care of the job, okay? And that can come because of various reasons. We don't know exactly. We can surmise maybe it's because of sin, maybe it's because, you know, they're just being disobedient, or they just choose not to serve God and so therefore God doesn't use them, he removes them. But then it says here in every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it. Why? Then it may bring forth more fruit. So if you think of purging, he's like cutting away the leaves, cutting away the excess leaves or the excess branches on there, that's called purging. So God is saying, you know, if this person begins to bear fruit, I'm going to allow purging, okay, which can be interpreted as temptation and trials. Why? Because he's angry with you, because he's upset at you. No, it's so that you can bear more fruit. So this shows us that God's temptations that he allows in our lives isn't bad. You know, it's for a good reason. It's because probably you're bearing a lot of fruit. And so you think to yourself, you know, 2022 was so great. I bore so much fruit. I saw so many people saved. God used me in a great way. You better get ready for a purging. God's probably going to come to you in 2023 and purge you a little bit so you can bear more fruit. And when that purging comes, don't throw in the towel. Don't, you know, quit on God. Don't become inconsistent in the Christian life. You know, lick your wounds in secret. Go cry yourself to sleep, but keep serving God. Amen? See, that's a little rough. Well, you know what? The Bible says that we're soldiers of Christ, that we're to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ, that we're to endure hardness as a good soldier. And so I'm just preparing you for the inevitable. And the inevitable is this, is that if God is using you, you're like, well, God's not using me. Well, then I don't know what to tell you. You know what I mean? You know, you better start putting yourself in a position where God can use you, okay? And allow yourself to be in that position where you're bearing fruit, you're winning souls to Christ, you're turning people to righteousness so that He can prune you and you can bring forth more fruit. It says in verse number three, Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. So this temptation is a trial of your faith. It's your faith being tested. And this is, you can't really avoid this in a Christian life. It's not like, well, you know what? 2022 or 2023, I'm not really interested in a whole lot of trials. I think I'm just going to take it easy, just go to church, read the Bible. And, you know, maybe 2024 I'll be ready for a trial. Like, we don't choose our trials. It's not like we can schedule things, right? It's like, you know, I don't think I'm going to be persecuted this year. I think I'm going to just kind of let it, we'll schedule that for another time or something. It just doesn't work that way, my friends. You know, God takes inventory of our spiritual well-being. He sees if we're being useful, He sees if we're being fruitful, and He determines what areas needs to be purged out of our life, okay? If He wants to refine us and allow those temptations in order to do that. This is why Jesus said in the model prayer in Matthew chapter six, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Now, this obviously is not referring to sin, because God doesn't lead us to sin, right? He's referring to trials. He said, well, that doesn't make sense, though, because does He want us to go through trials? So why would it say lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil? Well, think about this. You know, Jesus Christ, when He was going to be crucified, what did He say? He says, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. It's essentially just describing the fact that we should, you know, let God know, hey, I don't want to go through temptation, I don't want to go through trial, but when I do, deliver me from that evil. Deliver me from the evil of parting from the faith, or getting away from God, or getting out of the Bible. Deliver me from the evil that can come upon me when I am weak. You understand? And so temptations from God are necessary. And you know what, we need to have the right attitude towards those types of temptations, because a lot of Christians, if they're not careful, they go through a trial and they become bitter towards God. You say, Christians can become bitter towards God? Yeah, you better believe they can. You know, because they begin to blame God for that trial, that temptation, why did you allow this in my life? Why did you permit this? Why am I going through this? And their focus becomes the bitterness of, you know, the sovereignty of God. It's like, why did God in his providential care allow this in my life? But the reality is this, is that, you know, we, when we go through temptation, we don't necessarily, we can't get bitter towards God, we need to thank God for the trials that we go through. And obviously that's easier said than done, right? But the mature Christian thanks God for the temptation, because they understand the type of fruit that it will produce in the long run. It will produce faithfulness, maturity. The Bible tells us in Psalm 119 verse 71, It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. You know what, often pain opens up our heart to actually listen to God's word. When you are spiritually fat and everything is going well, you have a hard time paying attention in church. You have a hard time paying attention in your Bible reading. But it's only when you're going through a really difficult time, that you're just hanging on to every word. You're hanging on to everything that you're reading, everything that you're listening to, because your heart has become tender towards the things of God. Why? Because the temptations of God have humbled you to do so. So what I'm saying here is that when God places a temptation, a trying of your faith, you need to be able to recognize it. Not get bitter towards God, not get angry towards him, not depart from the faith, or get out of church, or do whatever. You need to make sure you pray, Lord, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from this evil. Help me not to forsake the ways of the Lord. Help me not to get out of church. Pray unto the Lord. Read the Bible. Go to another brother in Christ and say, I'm feeling weak. I'm discouraged. I feel disillusioned. I'm hurt. I'm offended. And I want to quit. And this is a perfect place to do something like that. Because we are to exhort one another daily. We are to exhort one another to continue in the faith, to be confirmed in the Lord, and to continue in the grace of God. And sometimes you need a stronger Christian to come to you and say, Brother, I'm praying for you. I love you. You got this. You can call me at any time. Let's go hang out. I know it's hard now, but it's going to get better. The Lord loves you. He hasn't forsaken you. But the mistake that Christians make is that they just leave it bottled up. They go through a difficult time and they don't tell anybody. They go through a really hard trial. They go through a lot of depression and discouragement. And they feel like, I just can't tell anybody. But you know what? That's nonsense. You need to go to an older brother or sister in Christ and just be honest with them and say, You know what? I really want to pass this temptation in my life that I'm suffering right now. And I feel like I'm not going to be able to if I don't have someone helping me to do so. There's nothing wrong with that. And you know what? If someone thinks, I can't do that. Well, you're just being prideful and arrogant and you're not humbling yourself. Sometimes we just need to humble ourselves and go to someone and say, Hey, I need help. I'm depressed. I'm discouraged. I feel disillusioned. And it's because I'm not responding well to this temptation that God has allowed in my life. And then what you have is that the brethren will come and refresh your spirit. They'll help you through that temptation. They'll uplift you and your spirit by taking you out to eat, by making you laugh, by spending time with you, by reminding you of biblical principles. Because I don't know about you, but when I go through a temptation, there's principles that I've known for years. As a Christian, they just kind of go out the window. I just kind of forget about them. You guys know what I'm talking about? Some of the most basic things about the Christian life, I just completely forget about. I just don't remember them. I don't know. I just don't think about them. My flesh doesn't want to think about them. And it's things that I've taught others. It's things that I've encouraged others with. But it's sometimes the most basic things that go out the window when you're going through the temptation. Therefore, you need another brother in Christ to bring those things into remembrance. You say, hey, don't quit. You might be going through a temptation that God has allowed in your life, and you don't even know it. You're just like, oh man, I'm so discouraged because of all this. God might be tempting you right now. He's trying your faith. He's trying to prove you. He's trying to humble you. And you need someone on the outside looking in to kind of bring that into remembrance. And sometimes that's all you need. Sometimes all you need is someone to tell you it's God tempting you. He's testing your faith, and it's just like, oh man, it's true. Why am I acting like this? I need to pass this. I need to pray. I need to read God's Word and just endure the temptation. Go to Job chapter 1, if you would. Job chapter 1. So don't balk at the temptation that God allows in your life. Whenever you have a financial struggle, some health issue, something that's completely out of your hands, and it's not because you're being rebellious or you have sinful behavior. It's simply because God is pruning you. Don't resist the temptations of God. You need to welcome those and have God teach you. And here's the thing about when God tests your faith, you have no choice but to endure it. It's not like, okay God, I'm free this week if you want to just let me go through a trial. I'm good Monday through Friday, but as long as you stop it on Friday, He doesn't adhere to our schedules. And when God allows you to go through a temptation, He doesn't tell you when it's going to stop. It's not like, hey, by March of 2023, you'll be good to go. It's going to be over with. It's just ongoing. You just don't know when it's going to end. You say, what is it? Why? So it can produce patience. What does patience do? It's just like, you know what? I'll just wait it out. However long it takes, whenever you want to take this away, whenever you want to get rid of this temptation, I'm just going to read the Bible. I'm going to pray. I'm going to be in church. I'm going to serve you. And then what happens is you transition out of that temptation, not even knowing that you've transitioned out of it. It's just like, oh man, it's gone. But you become like a better Christian because of it. But then other Christians don't. They get worse. They degrade. They stop reading the Bible. They stop living for the Lord, et cetera. So you have the temptation of God that He does, you know, in order to make you a better Christian. But then God can also bring a temptation that is essentially Him removing His hedge of protection from you, okay, which results in Satan tempting you. So you have God tempting you because He's trying to make you a better Christian. You know, He wants to try your faith. He wants to see how you respond to the difficulties of life. He wants you to seek Him out. And look, that's another thing is like difficulties are a motivation for us to seek after the Lord. Right? Like let me ask you. I mean, don't answer, by the way. Like are you seeking the Lord? You know, we've got some really honest people here. Someone will be like, not me, you know. I don't know. I don't know. No, I'm not, you know. I need this sermon, you know. Are you seeking the Lord? Have you been like earnestly seeking the truth in God's word and seeking after God? You know, if you're just kind of putting everything on cruise control, you know, God might just bring a temptation in your life to kind of motivate you to actually earnestly look for the Lord through His word and prayer. And that's why He allows that. But then other times, you know, God removes the hedge of protection. It's not necessarily God bringing the trial. It's God removing the hedge of protection that He places upon every believer so that Satan can come and tempt you as well. We see this with Job. Look at verse number seven of Job chapter one. It says, And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it. Now, don't be mistaken. They're not just, you know, shooting the breeze here, okay. It's like, oh, where have you been? You know, just going to and fro. Satan is giving an account. Okay, so what do you mean? Satan can't just do things without God's permission. So whatever he does in this world, he has to report back to God and God says, What have you been up to? And he's like, Well, this is what I've been doing. So this shows us that God has Satan on a short leash. You know, don't believe Hollywood's, you know, movies where it's just like God versus the devil. It's just like God's already won. Don't compare God to the devil as if they're like on the same playing field of power. God's power is so much greater than Satan and not to minimize the power of Satan because we obviously know that he is a powerful being. However, in comparison to God, God is so much greater, okay, to the point that there is no comparison. Understand, like he has him on a short leash. Whatever he does, he has to hold himself accountable to the Lord at all times. As we see here in Job chapter one, look at verse number eight. It says, And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God and is true with evil? And Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast thou not made, listen to this, an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. So what is he saying? You know, Job is serving you, it's not like he's serving you for nothing, you've blessed him. And he specifically says, you've placed a hedge, a protection around him, his home, everything that he has, you've blessed the work of his hands, and this is why he's serving you. So they're going back and forth about Job here. Verse 11 says, Put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. The Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power, only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. So what do we see here? We see that God removes the heads of protection from Job, from his possessions, from even his own body, and Satan is then allowed to carry out his own temptations, where he actually afflicts Job by taking the life of his children, destroying his substance, allowing him to just kind of suffer this need of allowing his resources to go away, including his own family. Now this is a pretty heavy trial, right? This isn't something that was necessarily God's will for his life, but God removed the hedge which resulted in Satan coming in and testing Job by afflicting him, killing his children, removing his resources, etc. So this shows us that sometimes when God removes the hedge, it's not because you're a sinner, or should I say it's not because you're involved in sin, it actually means that you're a good Christian. That's what it means sometimes, because Job is not a wicked person. He eschews evil. He loves the Lord. He's an upright man. He's perfect, meaning that he's entire. I mean, this is your ideal Christian. He's a man who's just a great example of what it is to be a believer, and that's why God is the one who went to Satan and said, Well, have you considered my servant Job? Because there's no one like him in the earth. I mean, for the God of heaven to say that about a person kind of shows you that Job, you know, he's big stuff. He is essentially the cream of the crop. I mean, out of all people, the one person that they're talking about is Job. Satan and God are both discussing the servant Job, and God says, Have you considered him? And then, of course, Satan says, Well, you have a hedge about him. Remove that, and he'll curse you to your face. We obviously see how that turns out. It ends up being that Job is a really godly person. He is righteous. He is upright, because although he went through all those trials, the Bible says that he did not charge God foolishly. So let me say this, you know, sometimes you go through a trial, and it's God actually bringing that temptation upon you. There are other times when he removes the hedge of protection, and it's Satan coming in to essentially destroy your life, or whatever it may be, allow some difficulty in your life. He's attacking you. He's attacking your resources. He's attacking your health. He's attacking whatever it may be. We don't necessarily know though. You know, when we're going through a difficulty, sometimes we'll say, Man, I feel like I'm being attacked by Satan. But at the end of the day, we don't necessarily know. What's important to know though, is that you're in a temptation. Now, here's the thing though, is that, here's one way you can kind of determine if it is Satan. Is when you're going through a temptation, you have to what? Kind of examine yourself. Ask yourself, Am I involved in Satan? Is there something that's just not pleasing to the Lord in my life? Am I living in rebellion against God? And after you've taken inventory of your spiritual life, and you say, Well, everything seems to be in place. Okay, maybe just God's allowing Satan to kind of attack me, because he sees that it pleases him to kind of, you know, that maybe I'm serving him. Yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And you know, that's an honorable thing, okay. And so sometimes God will allow the hedge to be removed in order for Satan to attack you, not because you're involved in sin, but just because you're a good Christian. Now, don't let that be the first thought that comes into your mind though. Like, I knew it. I didn't know why this was happening. About time. Well then, you know, God's probably removing that hedge of protection because you're prideful and you're arrogant. And you need to be humbled, okay. Because at the end of the day, most Christians, when they go through a trial, the first thought is, Oh, maybe I am in sin. Maybe God is displeased with my life. And by the way, you know, even if you are a good Christian, when you go through a temptation or a trial, you automatically start thinking of, like, every single particular sin that you may have done. You're just like, Man, I need to go get right with my wife. Maybe I was, you know, mean to my children. You start examining your heart really deeply. And you know what? That is the byproduct of going through a trial. Because shouldn't we be examining our hearts like that all the time anyways? I mean, this is why Joe was such an upright man. I mean, he's doing sacrifices in case his children sin in their hearts. Right? He's like doing sacrifices in case they curse God in their hearts, they sin in their hearts. I mean, he's examining his heart, his kids' hearts. This is a very righteous person. Well, you know what? Trials do that to us. The only difference is, Joe didn't need a trial for that. He was just already kind of, like, he was just that godly. But trials, when trials come in our life, we think to ourselves, Oh, man, I did cuss out that person in my mind when they cut me off on the freeway. Lord, you know, you just kind of, you start thinking about everything. You know, Oh, man, I did kind of like mouth off to my husband in my heart when he said this. Oh, Lord, forgive me. And then you start confessing all these things. You know, that's a good thing to do. Okay? But once all that is taken care of, then you realize, But at the end of the day, I'm not really involved in any grievous sin. Maybe the Lord's just allowing this in my life because he's pleased with my life. He's pleased with what I'm doing. But in either case, I need to pass this temptation. I need to pass this trial. I need to pass this difficulty. Think about Joseph. I mean, was Joseph a bad guy? Did Joseph commit any grievous sin? But didn't he go through some of the most difficult temptations that you can even think of for years on end? People are just forgetting him, the betrayal of his brothers. I mean, like so many bad stuff, so much bad stuff happened to him. He was sold into slavery. He was lied about. You know, this woman's calling rape and all these things. I mean, he's a godly person suffering in this world. And yet, you know, the Bible says that the Lord was with him. He was obviously walking with God. And, you know, when you live a godly life, you're essentially, listen to this, fear not, you're welcoming Satan's attack on your life. Let me say this. If you're like, well, forget that. I'm just going to live a worldly life as possible. Well, guess what you're doing? You're inviting Satan into your life as well. No, there's no escaping that. I'd rather live a godly life and have Satan attack me because I'm living a godly life because now I have God with me rather than not live a godly life and Satan's attacking me, but God's not with me on that. You know, the Bible says in Luke chapter 4, verse 1, And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil, the Bible says. And so we see that sometimes God removes that hedge of protection from a church. You know, we see our friends are experiencing that right now. Where, you know, Pastor Joe Jones and Pastor Jonathan Shelley, we see the hedge being removed to a certain extent where the enemies of God are allowed to just go and persecute them and revile them and just kind of be a grief unto them, right? That is a form of God removing his hedge of protection. And here's the thing is that when you're in the midst of it, people can often have this temptation in their mind to think, Oh man, God forsook me. If God allowed this, that means that God's not with me. But we have to understand that when he removes the hedge of protection, he can put it back at any time as well. You see, the only ones who has the keys to remove the hedge or put it is God. So what you have to do, listen to me, is you have to make sure you fear God more than anything else. Fear God more than Satan. Fear God more than Satan's minions. Why? Because he's the one who is essentially in charge of everything. So when the hedge is removed, just be like, Lord, I want to be pleasing to you, whatever they do. I'm not going to fear what they can do unto me. I'm not going to fear what's going to happen in this trial. I want to fear you. And you know what, we're not just talking about a godly reverence. We obviously know we've got to reverence God. We're talking about fearing God. We need to be afraid of God. That doesn't sound right, being afraid of God. Yes, you ought to be afraid of God, because God can essentially stop you from breathing at this moment. Everyone in this room can just drop dead if they want to. They're just like, listen and just die. If God wanted to be that way, that would happen. Because that's how powerful God is. And God wants us to have that fear towards him, recognizing, Lord, all power is in your hand. You allow this, and so I just want to please you. What sin do I have in my life? What do you want me to do? I want to keep living a godly life. I want to please you and honor you. And when Satan attacks and his minions attack and they do whatever, I don't want to deviate from this road of godliness. I don't want to deviate from the Christian life. I want to keep serving you. And so sometimes God can remove the hedge of protection because you're a godly person, but you know what? Sometimes it's because you're a wicked person too. You say, really? Yeah, I mean, we just threw someone out this morning. And the Bible says that we throw them out for the destruction of the flesh so that Satan can destroy them. So sometimes, you know, when a person gets excommunicated from a local assembly, what we bind in here is bound in heaven. So when we bind it in here, it's bound in heaven. God is like, okay, where's that key at? And just removes the hedge of protection from that person because they have violated the institution of the local New Testament church and therefore the hedge of protection is no longer there. Because in order for that person to repent and get right with God, they need to be disciplined. Not by us, physically. We discipline them by getting them out of the local congregation, but then we do it so they're delivered unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Well, how can we deliver someone unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh if they have a hedge about them? I'll tell you how God removes it. God removes it. He removes it with the intent to help that person get right with God, repent of their deeds and be reinstated and, you know, just live a godly life thereafter. Live a life that's pleasing unto him. But you know, sometimes that doesn't happen. And, you know, sometimes people think, well, you know, I was excommunicated and nothing's ever happened to me. Well, number one, that's dangerous because that means you're probably a bastard, okay, according to Hebrews chapter 12. You're probably a spiritual bastard. You thought you were saved and you're not because a mark of a saved person is when you're involved in sin is that God chastises you. And any Christian who's been a Christian for any length of time knows for a fact, when I was in sin, God chastised me. He whooped me. He whooped my hind parts. He spanked my buttocks or whatever, spiritually speaking. And I got it from God and I know that it was from God that that happened because that is a signification that you're saved, okay. But two, you know, people think, well, if someone's excommunicated from a church and they're not suffering, you know, Satan's not destroying their body in some form, then, you know, can we really say that they're being chastised? But sometimes it's a matter of Satan bringing temptations to that person's life that will eventually destroy them in the long run. That's what it can be as well. So God can remove the hedge of protection, if you're godly, to make you a better Christian, but he can also remove the hedge of protection to discipline you as well, okay. Go with me, if you would, to 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1. I'll read to you from James 1, verse 12. It says, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive a crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Look at 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse number 3. And this is just a good sermon just to remind you that when our church or churches like ours, believers like us, you know, they go through a temptation where they're being persecuted. We need to support them. We need to pray for them. We need to be open about our relationship with them. And let me just make myself very clear. First Works Baptist Church supports Pastor Joe Jones and Shield of Faith Baptist Church. I agree with everything that he preaches, mostly everything, because I haven't heard every single one of his sermons, but I'm pretty sure I agree with a good chunk of what he says, especially what he's saying against the Sodomites. I for sure agree with him, okay. And I agree with Steadfast Baptist Church and Pastor Jonathan Shelley, okay. Because these are men who obviously love the Lord, they're preaching the word of God, and they're receiving persecution because of it, okay. And here's the thing is that when I examine them, I see that they're men who are enduring temptation. So what's going to happen is they're going to receive a crown of life that they keep it up in, men. But not just them, yourself as well. You know, we've only been around for five years, but you know what, who knows what's going to happen in the next five years. I'm not making any promises. You just never know what's going to happen. We were just talking about this prior to the service. You just don't know what trials are coming down the pipeline. Anything can happen. And you know what, we've not yet resisted into blood. We're very close to it. We've not yet resisted into blood, but that can happen too in the next couple of years. And my prayer is that every single one of you, if that ever takes place, you don't quit on God. If someone beats you up for the cause of Christ, you take it like a man and you rejoice evermore for being persecuted and afflicted physically for the cause of Christ, amen. And you don't say, well, I don't know if I want to go to church on Sunday. You know, that whooping didn't feel that good or whatever. But see, you know, I knew getting jumped when I was a kid, it served a purpose. You know what I mean? It was to prepare me. I'm just kidding, sort of. But it's important to just endure and not quit on God when you go through a difficult time. Not quit on God just because someone reviled you. Not quit on God just because your family members are getting on you for your beliefs, just because your friends are mocking you because of your beliefs, just because people think that you're weird or something because you believe the Bible. Folks, just endure temptation. Let it be like water off a duck's back and rejoice over the fact that you're being persecuted for righteousness sake. Okay, look at 1 Peter 3, or excuse me, chapter 1, verse number 3. It says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, that faith is not a way reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. What does manifold mean? Diverse, many temptations. So, you know, I'm not saying that when you go through a trial, you've got to go through it with a smile on your face because here it says that it brings heaviness to us. Stress, anguish, tears, these are the byproduct of going through manifold temptations. Don't give me this, oh man, you know, when I get beat up, or when I go through a trial for the cause of Christ, I'm just going to be super happy about it. Yeah, you might be happy about it the first time, but after a while, it might weigh on you a little bit. Then you start questioning things. It brings heaviness. It can bring sorrow, it can bring grief. Listen to this, it can bring doubt. Did you know that? You know, sometimes Christians, they go through a trial, and then they begin to, you know, at first they're like, oh man, I know God loves me, and he's going to provide for me, and he's protecting me, and then you're three months in, and you're like, I think God loves me, and I think he's going to protect me, I think he's going to provide for me, and then you're still in it for like a year, and you're like, oh, I don't know if God loves me, I don't know if he's protecting me, and then you begin to doubt, and doubt is one of the greatest enemies of the Christian, because it's easy to say everything's going to be okay when you're barely into the trial, but when you've been there for like a year, when you've been there for two years, and you've been there for three years, then you kind of wonder, is this ever going to get better? It requires great faith, and you know what, sometimes we just have to realize, I just need to endure this, it's causing heaviness in my life, I just need to endure. He says in verse number seven, that the trial of your faith, there goes that phrase again, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. What is it saying? Endure into the second coming of Christ. You're like, oh, man. I mean, I've been in it for like two, three years, five years already. You know what, though? When we're in the millennial reign, when we're in the new heaven and new earth, this will seem but a drop, not even a drop in the bucket, less than a drop in the bucket. I mean, I had a friend who came here last night for the Christmas program for my old church, and he was actually a dorm buddy of mine. We lived together. A bunch of us lived in the dorms during Bible college, and we were just kind of talking about those days when we were in the dorms and we were in Bible college, and he was reminding me of some of the trials that we went through while we were there, and I remember thinking to myself, man, I completely forgot about that. Thank you for opening that womb. Thank you for, you know, and I started twitching again. And then, you know, I felt like I had an anxiety attack. But, you know, that was like, I don't know, 2013, well, 2014 maybe, 13. It wasn't, I mean, it was 10 years ago, but still, like, that's not necessarily a long time ago, but I had already forgotten about a lot of that, and in fact, he had to like remind me, like, don't you remember this, and don't you remember that, and don't you remember, and I'm just like, stop, stop, stop, and I went into the corner and just stuck my thumb in. But I remember thinking, I was like, whoa, I forgot about that. But you know what? When those trials first happened, I mean, they're heavy. They're difficult. They're sorrowful. They were just really difficult situations to deal with. And when I was in those temptations, I remember thinking to myself, like, I'm gonna be here forever. Like, this pain is gonna stay with me forever. Like, this is never gonna heal. But here I am 10 years later, someone has to remind me and go into great detail in order for me to remember what it was like and what I felt. Well, folks, if that was just only 10 years, imagine when you're already in the millennial reign. You know, you're gonna be, someone's gonna go, remember when you were whining when you were going through that trial and all those tears, and you'd be like, oh yeah, I did do that, didn't I? I was kind of a wimp that time. Well, that's funny. I barely remember that. Because in light of eternity, you know, the Bible talks about our light affliction. And it is a light affliction in comparison. And obviously, when you're in it, it doesn't feel that way. But the point is, folks, is that it's the trial of your faith. You know, the things concerning, as Jesus said, the things concerning me have an end. There is an end to these trials. There is an end to the difficulties. You just gotta wait it out. Look at chapter four, if you would. Chapter four in verse number 12. It says in verse number 12, Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you. This is what the prosperity preachers need to read here. Because they think, oh man, if you're a Christian, everything is just going to go hunky-dory for you. There's going to be a bed of roses. God's going to bless you financially. You're never going to have any problems. And then what happens? They have problems and issues, and they're just like, well, this is strange. Well, the Bible is specifically telling us here, don't think it a strange thing. Don't think it's weird when you go through a fiery trial. What is it telling us? You should expect it. The only expectation that we should get this side of eternity is that we're going to go through some hard stuff. We're going to go through some difficult times. The Apostle Paul said, We much through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. And when did he say that? After they stoned him. After they stoned him with rocks, they dragged his body, his carcass, outside of the city and left him for dead. He got up and went and preached again, and he told everyone else, We much through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. I mean, think about that. How powerful that testimony is. Obviously, Paul the Apostle didn't think it was strange. He says in verse 11, or 13, excuse me, But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partaker of Christ's suffering, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. And so we see here that often, or there's times when God will remove the hedge of protection because you are a good Christian. Because you are being fruitful. You are doing great things. And here's the thing, I do remember in times past, you know, when Christians would come to church, or I'm sorry, people would come to church that would get saved, they're just new Christians, and they'd be on fire for God for like months, and then they'd just kind of fizzle out. This happened multiple times. Not just in our church, but just in churches that I've been in in times past, I've always noticed that. Like a Christian would come, and it's just like they're on fire, they're reaching all kinds of people, they're just serving God, they're excited about the preaching, they're reading the Bible, and then you get like seven, nine months in, and they just kind of fade out. But this is what the Bible teaches, my friend. Is that persecution arises because of the word, and by and by they are offended. Something takes place where they didn't get rooted, they didn't get rooted in the Bible, they don't make their practicing of the Christian life a personal conviction of theirs. It's not real to them in the sense of, you know what, like I'm going to be in this for the long haul, and then they just kind of phase out. And I'll share a personal testimony of mine. I remember when I first got saved, it was 2007, and I got saved, and I was really on fire for God, and I was bringing all my friends to church, and just getting a lot of people saved by bringing them to church, having someone else lead them to the Lord, and then I learned soul winning. And then I remember one of my aunts purchased the ticket for me to go to Guatemala in December, for like a month. And I was really excited to go because I had just come back from Guatemala prior to getting saved, and I remember I literally made a vow to God. I said, Lord, if you bring me back safely from Guatemala, I will seek after the truth, and that's when I began my journey, you know, into seeking for the truth, and of course, you know, he gave me the best church in the world, which is an independent fundamental Baptist church, amen. I ended up getting saved, and the rest is history, but I remember that my aunt purchased the ticket for me to go to Guatemala, and I was really excited, and then I thought to myself, this could be actually like a really bad trip. And I remember thinking to myself, I have a lot of good momentum spiritually right now. I wonder if any of it will be affected if I go to Guatemala. And my cousins were going with me, and my cousins weren't necessarily the best influence in my life either. And I just remember thinking to myself, going to Guatemala could be the best trip of my life, but it could also be the worst trip too because I have so much good momentum. And I remember I was nearing the date when I was gonna go in December, and I went to my pastor, and I said, hey, I got this ticket someone purchased for me to go to Guatemala. He's like, oh great, you know, have a good time. And I was like, and I kind of looked at him, and I said, but I'm having second thoughts about going. He's like, why? And I explained to him my concerns, and he's the one who taught me about spiritual momentum. He said, Bruce, you have good spiritual momentum right now. And you don't wanna hinder that. So if you feel like if you go there, it's gonna hinder you in any way in your spiritual life, take the loss and don't go. And you know what? I didn't go. I missed out or whatever, and $700 down the drain or whatever, and it was a disappointment for my family, but you know what? Thank God I did that though. Because who knows what would have happened if I would have gone for an entire month without church, without Christians and believers, just being out in the world, you just never know what might happen to you. Understand? And so you have to realize that when you're a new Christian, we got a lot of new Christians in our church. And that's great. I think that's awesome. I think it's great. We see a lot of new Christians come in, but may you not be the one that nine months from now we say, hey, remember so-and-so? How on fire they were for God, and they just kind of phased out. And you know what? If you've been here for a couple of months or you've been here for a year and the newness begins to wear off, the preaching is not as exciting as it used to be or the Christian life is not as exciting as it used to be, whatever, well, it's time to just grow up. It's time to just grow up and say, you know what? I'm not looking for excitement. I'm just looking to serve God. And I just want to live the Christian life. I want to read the Bible. I want to get people saved. And look, after a while, like after a couple months, my pool of new people just ran out because I had a bunch of friends. So I just bring friends every week. Every week I had friends coming to church. Every week I would bring a bunch of friends, all these gangsters and coworkers and all types of people, just the motliest people you ever see. Some of them got saved, not all of them. But after a while, it's just like I ran out. Like I brought my family, my friends, and then it's just like, I ain't got no one else. He says, what did you do? I was like, well, I had to go soloing now and like invite people who I get saved to come to church because I don't. You know, and we would have this thing called Friend Day. Okay. And Friend Day was really good for like the new people because the new people are always the ones who have all the new friends. But for people who've been saved for like a long time, all our friends are in church. Like all my friends now, they're all in church. I don't really have like unsaved friends as friends, you understand? Yeah, no unsaved people, but we don't really, like the people I hang out with are in church. So now it's just like we have to like go out and like invite like just brand new people. You understand? But what I'm saying is that after a while, folks, some of you new people, I'm proud of the new people in our church. They're doing a great job. Don't fizzle out. And the newness will wear off. And you know what? You're gonna come up with some really good excuses why not to come to church. I didn't say bad excuses. I didn't say bad excuses. I said you're gonna come up with some good ones. Like even if you were to tell me, I'll be like, that's a good reason, baby, you know? But you know what? We don't need to find excuses not to come to church. We need to find a bunch of excuses why it's important to come. So instead of making excuses of why not to be in church, make some excuses why you should be. And start making church a conviction in your life. Make the Bible a conviction in your life and say, you know, this is not something I just do on the weekends. This is something who I am. This is who I am. And you know, there's a book that I read on a yearly basis and it's about habits. And one of the things that the author said in that book is that when a person is trying to get a new habit or they're trying to quit a bad habit, he'll say that one of the biggest mistakes that they'll make is that, you know, let's say for example, someone's trying to quit smoking. Someone will offer them a cigarette and they'll say, oh no, thanks, I'm trying to stop smoking. But other people will say, oh no, thanks, I'm not a smoker. Or no, thanks, I go to the gym or whatever, you know. And often the person, the second person will actually be more successful at not smoking than the first person. Because the first person still identifies himself as being a smoker who's trying to quit. Whereas the other person just identifies himself as just a healthy person who just doesn't touch the stuff. And the way we would apply it to the Christian life is just saying like, oh man, yeah, I can't go because I'm trying to go to church. Oh, I'm just trying to be faithful to church. No, you just say, no, I can't go because I'm a Christian. This is just what I do. You open up the Bible, not because you're trying to read it, it's because that's just what you do. You pray, not because you're just trying to, but because that's what you do. You go sowing and preach the gospel, not because you're just trying to go and preach the gospel, it's because it's who you are. It's what you do. It's like, I'm a Christian, this is just how I live my life. I live my life going to church. I eat food. I spend time with my family. I reach people for Christ and I read the Bible and I love the Lord Jesus Christ. This is my boring life. When I can't change it, I don't want to change it because this is who I am. Rather than, yeah, I'll try to make it. I'll try to be there. I'll try to read the Bible. I'll try to go sowing. This is the only time where Yoda was actually right. Remember the broken clock? He's another dumbass speaking with man's voice. He was actually right about that. Dude, there is no try, amen? B, there is no try. It should get to a point where no one's asking you are you going to go to church? It's like, you should be insulted by that. Be insulted by that. When someone asks, are you going to be in church? I'll be like, bro, what? Get out of my face, dude. Are you going to be in church? Don't ever ask me that again. Are you going sowing? Are you going sowing? Are you reading the Bible? Are you reading the Bible? This is who we are. This is what we do. This is who we are. It's not like, well, I'm going to try to go to the gym. No, you're just like, this is what I do. This is who I am. This is what I do. This is how I naturally operate. You understand? And so I chased a rabbit there, but it's necessary. Now, when God removes the hedge and Satan begins to tempt you, obviously he can do it by sending trials into your life, attacking your resources, your health, whatever it may be. But let me say this is that Satan can also tempt you by appealing to your flesh. And he doesn't necessarily need the hedge to be removed for that. Sometimes he just does it. That's just who he is, right? He is the tempter, the Bible says. Okay? Go to 1 Peter and look at chapter 5, if you would. That's why it says in 1 Peter chapter 5, verse number 8, Be sober, be vigilant, because you're adversary of the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Listen to this, whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world, the Bible says. So, you know, when you are tempted to sin, yeah, it could be your own flesh, and we'll get into that in just a bit, but it could be Satan tempting you as well, because part of his operation is that he wants to appeal to your flesh, he wants to appeal to the weaknesses of your flesh and try to exploit those weaknesses and cause you to sin. And you know what? When he tempts you and you do sin, then he accuses you to the Father. The Bible says he is the accuser of the brethren. Okay? Now go back to James chapter 1. So we have the temptation of God when he allows you to go through a trial, a difficulty, you suffer a great loss somehow, maybe you're suffering in your marriage, maybe you're suffering with your child rearing, your health, your resources, whatever it may be, sometimes this is a temptation of God, okay? Other times, God removes the hedge of protection, and then Satan comes and he tempts you by afflicting your resources, by afflicting whatever it may be, or by just tempting you by appealing to your flesh and trying to cause you to sin. The last temptation, of course, is the temptation of our flesh. Okay? It says in verse 13 of James chapter 1, Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. Now, if you didn't know everything that I just said before, it would make no sense, right? Because the Bible is telling us that he tempts us. He causes us to go through temptations, but here it says, when you are tempted, don't say that you are tempted of God. So automatically we know, the Bible is not contradicting itself, this is referring to two different temptations. He says, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. Now what is he saying specifically? Look at verse 14. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed, the Bible says. So now we're getting into the realm of your body desiring things that the Bible says you shouldn't desire, right? You're being tempted, and it says you're drawn away of your own lust. Why? Because everyone's lust is different. Some people lust after marijuana. Some people are just not bothered by that at all. You know, you smell marijuana, it smells like skunk in here. How can people do this stuff? Some people are tempted by alcohol, right? Whereas most of us, I would hope so, you know, it's like the smell of alcohol is pungent, it's disgusting, you know, the thought of consuming alcohol and the repercussions of it are just very off-putting to us. It's not something that we're tempted with. Some people are tempted with heroin, cocaine. You know, some people are tempted with pornography. Some people are tempted with, you know, adultery and fornication. Some people are tempted with stealing. They're kleptomaniacs or whatever it may be. At the end of the day, they're drawn away of their own lust and they are enticed. And it says in verse 15, Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. So one thing we have to realize is that, you know, well, let me say this first and foremost. According to verse 13, this is why the doctrine of Calvinism is so stupid and evil and wicked. Because Calvinism would teach you, oh, you know, this child was molested, oh God, you know, ordained it that way. Because, you know, according to the Calvinists, God overrides the will of people to commit wicked acts. So if someone's getting molested, it's like, oh God ordained for that person to do that. And they'll never tell you blatantly that that's what they believe, but if you ask them blatantly if that's what they believe, they just beat around the bush. But eventually they come to terms with the fact that that's exactly what they believe. But the Bible says here that God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempted He any man. He's not going to tempt some pedophile to go and molest some child, okay. It's such a wicked doctrine. But not only that, you know, this is why we also have to be careful and not, you know, bring a railing accusation against Satan. It's like, oh, Satan made me do it. Well, no, you're drawn away of your own lust and enticed. You know, the reason you sin is because you keep hanging out at the bar. When you have struggled with alcoholism for so long and you think that like going to a bar and it's like, oh, man, Satan put this alcohol before me. It's just like, no, you put yourself at the bar. Hello? You know, it's like, oh, man, you know, Satan tempted me to smoke weed. No, you're just hanging around with all your pothead friends and they're passing the, what do you call it, the joint around the blunt. Okay, well, they pass around the blunt around and you're just like, no, I'm a Christian. You know, you guys should really stop that. And then you end up taking it. And then, you know, four puffs later, then you're just like, oh, man, what did I do? Satan got me. Satan didn't get you, that was you. Congratulations. You played yourself, right? You did that to yourself. And it's often Christians just not being careful and not, you know, really taking into consideration. What are my weaknesses? Don't be a foolish Christian to think you have no weaknesses. We all have weaknesses and we need to make sure that we stay away from temptation so that we stay away from sin. And so there's the temptation of the flesh that we have to fight all the days of our life. And you know what? The temptation of the flesh is often much stronger than the temptations of Satan. Because Satan can only be around, you know, he's not omnipresent. His minions are not omnipresent either. But guess who's with us like all the time other than the Lord? Our flesh. I mean, the spirit, the new man is encapsulated within the old man that's constantly, you know, lusting against the flesh, or lusting against the spirit, spirit against the flesh. These are contrary to the ones he did so you cannot do the things that you would. So what am I saying here? So what am I saying here? What I'm saying is this, is that, you know, there's a temptation of God where he puts you through trials and difficulties to make you a better Christian. There's a temptation where he removes the hedge of protection so that Satan can sift you as wheat. That's what he told Peter, right? Satan hath desired you that he may sift you as wheat. And it's not because Peter was a wicked person. It's because he was like the top dog of the apostles, the disciples. So Satan wanted, he wanted the main guy. He's like, I want Peter. Because it says Satan has desired to have you. That means Satan went to God the way he went to Job and said, I want Peter. Give me Peter. Which is pretty cool too, you know, if you think about it. Now he failed a little bit, you know what I mean? You know, he denied the Lord three times, but then, you know, he bounced back. So thank God for that. Or sometimes the hedge of protection is removed because you are involved in sin. You're not repentant and then God's like, you know what, have Adam. Because he needs to get humbled. Or someone gets church discipline and that's us telling the Lord, hey, we bound this in our church. And God's like, don't worry, I bound it in heaven. The hedge is removed, that person is going to be destroyed. Which, by the way, should motivate us to stay right with God in church. Don't go around saying stupid stuff and stupid stuff won't happen to you. Right? Don't go around acting like a complete idiot offending people in our church. Saying all manner of evil and gossiping and disrespecting people in our church. And being a holier than thou. And you know what, you don't have to suffer the consequences of it. Look, can't we as a church just live peacefully with one another? This is church, my friends. You know, some people just don't seem to understand that. That, you know, this is not your playground. This is not high school. This is not your classroom where you can go and just start trouble or whatever. You know, go do that at some other lame church where they permit that type of behavior. Not here. And so, you know, that person was excommunicated and you know what, hopefully Satan devours that person. Hopefully. You say, why? So they can get right with God. And obviously, if that person repents and gets right, they can be reinstated. But, you know, it's thin ice, my friend. They'd be walking on thin ice if they ever come back. Okay. And lastly, of course, is that temptation comes via our flesh. Now, here's the last part and the important thing is, and I've already mentioned this, is that the important thing is you just pass them all. Okay. Because you may not have the discernment to be able to distinguish which one you're going through. Other than probably the last one, that's pretty easy to describe because it's our flesh. But if you can't necessarily pinpoint who's doing this, just be able to pinpoint the fact that you got to pass. You have to pass that trial. Okay. You have to pass that temptation. You have to pass that difficulty. Your faith is being tested. You're being tried. God's trying to make you a better Christian. He's trying to get you to get right or become repentant of sin and he wants you to get right. You have to pass that trial in your life. And if you've examined yourself and you say, well, I feel like I have no sin in my life, then you know what? You're just a fruitful Christian. But let me say this. Don't go around telling people, hey, I'm going through a trial. It's not because I have any sin either. I read the Bible so much, you know. I'm just, you know, you call me Job. Obviously, then at that point, you're just being humbled because you're prideful and arrogant. Okay. And so, you know, whatever trial or difficulty or temptation you're experiencing, just have the mindset, I need to pass. I just need to pass. I need to get through this. I need to Christian up, grid up the loins of my mind and pass this with flying colors and not come up with an excuse why I should take a break from church or from the Bible or from my Christian practices. I need to come up with a reason why I should stay in God's will. And just gnash your teeth if you have to. You know, weep if you have to. Do whatever it takes, but stay in the fight. Don't get out of the fight. Stay in church. Stay in the Bible. Stay in prayer. Keep doing what you're doing, even if it hurts. And then you'll find that when you pass, you're like, wow, I could actually handle more than I thought that I could handle. And you become better for it. Let's pray. Thank you so much for the word, Lord. Thank you for the temptations in our life that you've allowed us to experience. I pray that, Lord, as the years go by, that we would become better at enduring hardness, Lord. And none of us are perfect. We all fall short. And sometimes in the Christian life, there are things that come upon us that would make us want to just throw in the towel and quit and not put in 100% effort, Lord. And I pray that in those times, you would deliver us from evil. Of course, we would love to be delivered from temptation, but we know that we have to experience tribulations in this lifetime. And so when we do, Lord, help us to be spiritually minded, to not neglect our walk with God, to not neglect our church attendance. And I pray for the new people in our church, Lord. I'm very proud and grateful for the new converts in our church who you're using greatly and mightily. I pray that, Lord, you would help them to get rooted and grounded in the Bible and make the things of God a priority and a conviction in their personal life, something who they are, not something that they're trying to do. And I pray that you bless us as we go on our way. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Anybody else need one? Anybody else? Don't be scratching your heads either. No, just kidding. All right, we're going to sing All Holy Night, that first verse. Sing it. O holy night, the stars are brightly shining. It is the night of our dear Savior's birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining. Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, for yonder brings a new and glorious morning. Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices, O night divine, O night when Christ was born. O night, O holy night, O night divine. Led by the light of His serenely beaming, with glowing hearts by His cradle we stand. So led by light of a storm completely gleaming, here came the wise men of Orient land. The King of kings and lowly men we greet, and our trials, born to be our friend, He knows our need. To our weakness is no stranger. Behold your King, before Him lowly men. Behold your King, before Him lowly men. Truly He taught us to love one another. His law is love, and His gospel is peace. Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother, and in His name all oppression shall cease. Sweet hymns of Jordan, grateful chorus raise we. Praise His holy name, Christ is the Lord. O praise His name forever, His power and glory evermore proclaim. His power and glory evermore proclaim.