(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) Okay, we're in Genesis chapter 28 look down at your Bibles of verse 16 the Bible says here and Jacob awake out of his sleep and he said surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it Not and he was afraid and said how dreadful is this place? This is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of heaven And what I want to preach on this morning is the house of God throughout history the house of God Throughout History and what I want to do this morning is show you where the house of God has been throughout the ages throughout history We obviously know where it is today But we want to know what's where was specifically in the Old Testament at the apex of Israel's history During the time of judges during the time of Moses and even before the tabernacle was established in Israel Where was the house of God and one of the reasons I want to preach this this morning It's just to emphasize the importance of the house of God, you know We're going into 2022 and we want to make sure that we as God's people emphasize the importance of being in God's house Amen being in church making sure we have the spiritual discipline of coming to church hearing the preaching of God's Word Being a doer of the word not a hearer only amen Making sure that we're fellowshipping one with another that we're being equipped to preach the gospel that we're being sent out Making sure that we put place an importance on the house of God and so I want to talk about that This morning stay there in Genesis chapter 28. The first thing I want to mention here is that the house of God? Obviously has other synonyms in the Bible right when we think of the house of God we can also say church Which is what we call where we meet now. We call it a church is also congregation We see that in Acts chapter 7 the Bible talking about the church in the wilderness Hebrews 2 12 talks about in the midst of the church Which is a quotation from Psalm 22 where it says in the midst of the congregation So these are some of the synonyms that the Bible will use to describe the house of God But let me also say this is that the house of God has always existed. Okay, it's always existed This isn't something that was brand new in the New Testament words It's like well, you know The church was established in Matthew chapter 16 or the church was established in the book of Acts or something like that No, it's always been you know You have the temple in the Old Testament during the time of Solomon that was considered the house of God Prior to the construction of the temple you had a tabernacle There was more of a portable house of God that was considered the house of God there, but you know, the Bible also says in Ephesians chapter 3 unto him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages world without end Amen now when it says in the church this isn't referring to a universal church, you know, because a lot of people try to use that to try to claim that the Universal Church exists because glory is gonna be in the church throughout all ages But what this is referring to is it's actually referring to specifically the church at Ephesus So glory shall be in the Church of Ephesus because Jesus Christ is the head of that church But when it stays throughout all ages We obviously know that it's not referring to the church at Ephesus because the church at Ephesus didn't exist for very long, right? It was around for who knows how long but it's no longer here today What this is referring to is the fact that? Churches will have the glory of which is Jesus Christ over its head as long as they remain a church throughout all ages There's always gonna be a church in existence that has Christ as its head because Christ is the glory of that church not the Magnificence of the building or the materials that they have or you know, how great the people look No, the glory of the church is Jesus Christ Who's the head of that church and there's always gonna be a church in existence who has Jesus Christ as its preeminent one You understand? But even prior to the establishment of the tabernacle with Moses, we still have the house of God somewhere look at Genesis 28 He says in verse 17 and he was afraid and said how dreadful is this place? This is none other but the house of God now what he's specifically referring to according to the context of the chapter He's referring to Bethel. Okay, Bethel was that location and Bethel literally means house of God he said well, where's the building though? You know, where's the the four walls on the roof? Well, there is no four walls on the roof okay, because of the fact that the church of the the church or the house of God is Basically based upon the people that meet there and the God who meets with them understand Now hold your place there We're gonna come back to Genesis 28 and big go to the book of Hebrews in the New Testament if you would book of Hebrews in the New Testament So we see that the house of God existed with Moses the house of God existed even with Jacob in Bethel but we can even go further back than that and See that we can go into eternity past and see that the house of God existed prior to even Jacob discovering Bethel Okay, in fact the worldly sanctuary that Moses constructed in the book of Exodus under the the Leadership of Moses was actually patterned after the heavenly sanctuary Okay, look at Hebrews chapter number eight in verse number four. This is the house of God from eternity past Look what it says in verse number four. It says for if he were on earth He should not be a priest seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law Who serve unto the example and shadow of Heavenly things as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle For see saith he that thou make all things according to the pattern Showed to thee in the mount go to chapter number nine if you would chapter number nine So in chapter eight, we see that the tabernacle was an example It was a shadow of things to come but it was patterned after Something that Moses had seen or that God revealed unto Moses that was from heaven look at Hebrews 9 verse 8 It says the Holy Ghost is signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest While as the first tabernacle was yet standing which was a what? figure for the time then present and which were offered both gifts and Sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience go skip down to verse 23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these But the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these so what we see What the physical tabernacle in the Old Testament is that that's where they would go to do the animal Sacrifices on a daily basis on a yearly basis, but you know, it's impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins Right, and so that tabernacle is simply a pattern of something that was in heaven This is why when Jesus Christ died What happened when he after he descended he ascended into heaven and he spread his own blood on the mercy seat of the tabernacle Which is in heaven That's the real tabernacle the tabernacle that was here on this earth During the time of Moses was simply a figure there was a pattern it was Patterned after that the the physical tabernacle or the spiritual tabernacle in heaven Verse 24 for Christ is not into until holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true But into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us over and over again. We see this figure pattern The example what is that telling us? It's telling us that the house of God has always existed somewhere. Amen Go back to Genesis chapter 28. So it existed in eternity past in heaven. Okay, it existed During the time of Jacob look at Genesis 28 Look at verse number 11 of Genesis chapter 28 He says and he lighted upon a certain place and Terry there all night Because the Sun was set and he took of the stones of that place and put them for pillows now Why would you use stones for pillows? I have no idea. Okay. This is a tough guy I guess and laid down in that place to sleep and he dreamed and look what it says and behold a ladder set up up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold the angels of God ascending and Descending upon it now. This is a beautiful picture here Okay, because in the New Testament Jesus Christ tells Nathaniel he says in John 1 15 You don't have to turn there verily verily. I say unto you here after you shall see the heaven open and the angels of God Ascending and descending upon the Son of Man So the vision that Jacob sees with the ladder You know reaching unto heaven and the fact that you know The angels of God are descending and ascending upon it. The ladder is actually referring to Jesus Christ So he is that picture of that ladder now Why does the Bible describe him as thus well because he's the way the truth in the life And no man cometh unto the Father but by him the only way to get into access to heaven The only way to have eternal life is through Jesus Christ you understand You know, he's the way the truth in the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by him He is the one that gives us access unto the Father So he's the latter in Genesis chapter 28 and he reveals that in John chapter number one, but not only that, you know Jesus Christ is the mediator between God and man So if we're gonna speak unto God or God is gonna speak unto us he does it through his son Jesus Christ, right? The Bible talks about how in these last days he has spoken unto us by his son So the way we communicate to God God the Father is through Jesus Christ himself And in fact, let me reach you from Matthew chapter 18 and verse 17 It says and if he shall neglect to hear them, this is talk about Church discipline here Tell it unto the church Now if the church Started in the book of Acts and you have a problem here because Jesus Christ is referring to the church Here in Matthew chapter 18. He says tell it unto the church But if you neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and as a publican Barely I say unto you whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven and again I Say unto you if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask It shall be done for them of my father which is in heaven Listen to this for two or three are gathered together in my name There I am in the midst of them the Bible talks about so we can tie in what he's saying here How Jesus Christ is present when two believers are gathered together Understand so here's the thing is that the one of the reasons that Jacob referred to Bethel as the house of God is because the presence of God was there. That's why it was a dreadful place to be So, how does that help us today in 2022? Well, guess what God's here Now he's not gonna come in an audible voice and there's not gonna be a bright light that shines and all these Theatrics that we see in the Old Testament But we know that he's here because of the fact that the Bible specifically tells us that when we're gathered together There he is in the midst. Let me just let me just break the news to you He's not in the midst of the Mormon tabernacle today He's not in the midst of the Jehovah's Witnesses Little cult there. He's nowhere near that. Okay, where is he? He's in the house of God and the house of God today is the church. Okay is our church look at verse 17 So the house of God is where he comes to meet with his people This is why we should place an importance on being in church Because when we're coming to church, yeah, you want to come see your friends? You want to come seeing the hymns you want to hear preaching of God's Word? But you're coming to hear what God has to tell you. Amen You're not coming for Pastor Mejia You're not coming because of X Y & Z you should be in the house of God because this is where you meet with God This is where you hear God's Word being preached. The Word of God is manifested through preaching It's where God meets with you deals with your sin Exhorts you to continue to go forward and you place an emphasis on being where God's presence is Now obviously we understand that God is omnipresent He's at all places at all times, but there is a sanctioned place A Designated place that he said he wants his people to meet because that's where he meets with them that's what the Bible tells us not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is and So much the more as you see the day approaching, you know, what we see today is we see people Not necessarily just kind of not really emphasizing being in the house of God anymore You know, it's a lot easier to just be on the internet and watch the preaching on the internet And if my hair hurts, I'm just gonna stay home or you know I just don't feel like it. I'm just feeling too lazy. I just worked too hard last night I just did this and I did that There's all types of reasons and excuses not to be in the house of God and God prophesied of that and said this So much the more as you see the day approaching there are some people Who forsake the assembling of their selves together as the manner of some is okay Look at verse 17 So this is the house of God is where God comes to meet with his people This is why it says in verse 17 and he was afraid and said how dreadful is this place? Now, I don't know if that's what you think of our church here like this is a dreadful place How dreadful but the reason he's saying that is because of the fact that God's presence is there Okay, and the way we can relate it to today is this is that preaching can be dreadful My preaching can be dreadful to your ears, you know, especially if we highlight your sin I'm not saying we'll call you out by name But I'm talking about if there's this particular sin that you're involved in and I'm preaching about it, you know, that's dreadful to you Okay He says this is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of heaven I want you to notice what he says in verse 18 he says and Jacob rose up early in the morning and Took the stone that he had put for his pillows and set it up for a pillar and poured oil upon it So I don't think it's a coincidence that he calls this the house of God and all these elements are being mentioned here Why because he takes the stone? Right, and that's basically what he makes for a pillar Well the stone which the builders rejected the same has become the head of the corner The Bible says referring to Jesus Christ and the Bible tells us thou art Peter and upon this rock. I will build my church You see Jesus Christ is the rock. He's the foundation of our church He's you know, the person that we base our religion off of understand. He is the Word of God You understand, you know, it's funny I've been making these uh, this this content about Catholics recently because it's the it's caught a lot of attention from Catholics and I made a you know pastor me here reads mean comments little thing and I did it about Catholics because they left me a bunch of mean comments and One of them literally said well, they got the Bible as the basis of their beliefs Protestant era 101 and it's like oh, sorry that I make the Word of God my foundation for my beliefs Not some dude in a dress In fact, I'm not sorry about that I'm being facetious here Okay, but he's like mocking me because the Word of God is my foundation It's the basis for my beliefs because Jesus Christ is the preeminent one who gave you the authority to say these things Well, Jesus did So there you go No, who are you sent for? I was sent out of a church that was also sent out of another church I was ordained by a pastor and because I was ordained that is God sanctioning me to become a pastor and to preach God's Word and And yeah to reprobate people or whatever So he takes that stone well that stone is figurative of Jesus Christ You know, we don't want to build first works Baptist Church on the sand Because if it's built on the sand the storms will come the winds will blow blow and just knock our church down Spiritually speaking people scatter people will not be grounded in God's Word. No, we want to build it upon Jesus Christ himself Who's the foundation the strong foundation that we need? Okay, but not only that he says there He says that he takes the stone that he had put for his pillows and set it up for a pillar What does the Bible tell us about the house of God in the New Testament? He tells us in 1st Timothy chapter 3 verse 15 But if I tarry long that thou mayest know how the oddest to behave thyself in the house of God Which is the Church of the Living God listen to this the pillar and ground of truth The pillar and ground of truth the church our church should be an epicenter of spiritual information So when the world wants to know, you know, some crazy stuff is happening on the world and Christians want to know What is God's mind all this they should come to the house of God? and it was like this in times past when you know if some political leader was out there or or Some something wicked was taking place out in the world They would come to the house of God to see what the preacher had to say about it because the preacher was preaching from God's work The pastor was showing the mind of Christ You know But instead we have all these fringe people out there that claim to know the Word of God these political leaders out there Don't go to a politician for the answers folks Because you're gonna get like ten different answers from the same person From the same politician, especially if you ask Biden Sometimes you won't even get an answer Or you'll get an answer to a question. You never asked Or you'll just get silenced for like three minutes You'll get a brain fart Which he seems to have a lot of that but it says here that you know, the house of God is the pillar and ground of Truth. Okay. So the house of God is based upon the truth now. I love coming to church to fellowship I love coming to church to to see the brethren and sing the songs But at the end of the day we come here because we want the truth Okay, we want the truth about our character. We want the truth about our sin We want the truth about the condition of our of our country of our state of our nation of our world We want the truth about you know, the the the souls that are going to hell We want truth and we can handle the truth. Amen So We see a lot of Parallels there. He says he took he took the stone That he put for his pillow and he set it up for a pillar by the way One of the reasons he took the stone and laid it for a pillow is because he's resting on the rock Amen You know cast your care upon him for he cared for you His yoke is easy and his burden is light we come to the house of God for some rest Sometimes we come to the stone the rock of our salvation for comfort and and and and rest and to be Exhorted and to be energized to do the work of the Lord to continue it He says he took the stone for his pillows set it up for a pillar and look what it says and poured oil Upon it now in the Old Testament when the Prophet would pour oil upon an individual He's basically deputizing or sanctioning that person's that said you are my anointed one Okay, I'm basically deputizing you I'm placing my Approval my blessing that you are gonna be the king of Israel or of Judah. Okay Well, the church or churches have the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon it Okay, it's where the power comes from. Amen You know the Bible talks about being filled with the Spirit and you know There's a lot of churches out there that can call themselves the church But they don't have the anointing of God's Word. They don't have the anointing of the Holy Spirit. There's no power there It's as dead as last year's Christmas tree. Okay, it's dead. It's not going anywhere. There's no power in the preaching There's no power in the soul winning. There's not thousands of people getting saved There's not baptisms taking place. Why because they don't have the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon their life You see we have the anointing not because I'm a great leader not because I'm a great preacher Not because you're a great church member, but because it's been sanctioned by God that this church should have the anointing of God's Spirit Okay, and it's available to us The power is available to us. Okay, that's why we saw over a thousand people saved That's what we're gonna see thousands of people saved even thereafter. Okay, that's what we're gonna see more baptisms as the years go by Why because the anointing of the Holy Spirit is upon our church is upon our people not just for the preaching but just for godly Living as well. Okay, and So we see that there now go with me if you would to first Samuel chapter number four first Samuel chapter number four By the way, even prior or excuse me after the house of God was in Bethel We know that the children of Israel go into the wilderness and yet the pillar is not taken away Right, because what do we see that? There's a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night before the people leading them in the wilderness So the truth does not, you know leave, you know, it's subject to change locations, but the pillar is always there See there's a time when first works Baptist Church. We had a pillar in omonte But you know what just as the tabernacle of the Old Testament could be relocated and moved and it was movable You know in like man, or so are we amen? We're kind of like nomads in this world Okay, and now we just kind of move those pillars and we put it right here Amen, and I'm not talking about these things right here But now the pillar and ground of truth is in Anaheim Hills The pillar and ground of truth is in Orange County You know Pillar and ground of truth is just further south in California. Amen. And let me just say this the pillar can move again folks Man Are we moving again? Well, I don't decide when we move, you know Sometimes we have to move though and it sometimes we actually, you know live out the Bible and stuff, you know Sometimes the Bible actually is real, you know Well, we have to dust off our feet and move to different places maybe because of persecution and that helps us as God's people To not put our stakes so down deep into this world Recognizing this world is not our home. We're pilgrims strangers and pilgrims in this world and it's always subject to change now We're gonna stay in California though We're probably staying in Southern California for sure. Okay, but we might move across the street. I don't know just never know. Okay, and All right. What do I have you turn first Sammy chapter number four Let me continue reading here in Genesis 28 in verse 29 He says and he called the name of that place Bethel But the name of that city was called Luz at the first and he says in verse 22 in this stone Which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee so we see God's house being in Bethel in the time in the days of Jacob But we also see that the house of God becomes the tabernacle as I mentioned right because then you know God Delivers the children of Israel from the house of bondage of Egypt and places them into the house of God Okay, and then he instructs, you know, he instructs Moses on how to construct the tabernacle and how that was supposed to be movable and portable Because of the fact that they were going through the wilderness making their way to Canaan Canaan land So the house of God after it was moved throughout the wilderness and they would pitch it and then take take it down and move it again Ultimately when they reached Canaan land once again, it became relocated to Shiloh Okay, a lot of debate where Shiloh is, you know, you look at different maps But the maps are based off of like biblical statements, you understand So it is possible That Shiloh because when you look at a map you see that Shiloh is actually north of Bethel Basically in the same region. Okay, but it is possible that Shiloh is Bethel or at least it's just you know In very close proximity to Bethel, okay But we see that we see that the house of God is relocated to Shiloh And in fact, let me read you a couple verses here before we get into first Samuel Joshua 18 verse 1 says in the whole congregation of the children of Israel Assembled together at Shiloh and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there and the land was subdued before them Verse 30 says this and they set them up Micah's graven image, which he had made all the time that the house of God Was in Shiloh now what happens to? The house of God when it's in Shiloh Well, it's there during the time of Joshua's there during the time of judges and even into going into you know Eli and and Samuel, right Now I don't want to steal my thunder for first Samuel chapter number four, but we're gonna briefly go over this what happens. Well Eli has some pretty wicked sons preached about that on Thursday, right the sons of Belial and They brought reproach upon the house of God because they were desecrating the offerings. They were just wicked people They were fornicating with the women that assembled outside of the house of God and Eli was not restraining his sons He was not disciplining them. He himself had some pretty grievous sins as far as gluttony is concerned I mean, he was not an example of a leader and Obviously during this time Samuel still a little child He's being trained and God's hands upon him. And of course, he's gonna end up being the last of the judges But you know God has basically had it with Israel Okay, and because of Eli and his sons So look what it says in verse 19 what happens Bible says in his daughter-in-law Phinehas his wife was with child near to be delivered and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken and That her father-in-law and her husband were dead. She bowed herself and travailed for her pains came upon her so God Pronounces judgment upon Israel and he wants to slay Hophni and Phinehas. He wants to kill them by the hand of the Philistines But not only that he's not only gonna cause him to die But he's also gonna cause the ark of the Covenant to be moved from the house of God That's in Shiloh and taken from them It says in verse 20 and about the time of her death the woman that stood by her said unto her fear Not for thou has borne a son But she answered not neither. Did she regard it and she named the child Ichabod by the way, never name your son Ichabod Why saying the glory is departed from Israel? Now think about that because the Bible says that glory shall be in the church right throughout all ages and who's the glory Jesus Well here he says the glory is departed from Israel. What does that mean? God's presence is removed God is no longer with Israel during this time. Okay because the ark of God was taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband and she said the glory is departed from Israel for the ark of God is Taken the Bible says now think about this, you know if you because in chapter 4 and in chapter 3 What we see is that the lamp of God is continuously burning in the house of God Okay, and the Bible talks about her before the lamp of God went out, you know It talks about the condition during that time. Well that lamp was supposed to continuously burn in the house of God But then we see what happens it actually goes out Okay, and it's signifying the fact that the glory has departed well in Revelation chapter 2 We see that the churches are referred to what as candlesticks and he tells the candlesticks, you know For example, the Ephesian Church repent or I will come and remove thy candlestick So what is that showing us? It shows us that the house of God can actually cease being a house of God at one point Now in the Old Testament, it's just like the lamp of God goes out and in the New Testament we don't have lamps in here It's a spiritual candle, right? It's a symbolic candle and God says that candle can go out But when does it go out when we cease making Jesus Christ important in obeying his commands and cease being a church So it's removed. The ark of God is removed go to go with me if you would to 1st Kings chapter 12 1st Kings chapter number 12 Now it's eventually, you know, ultimately it was good that The Ark of the Covenant was removed from Shiloh from Bethel, which is the house of God. Okay, it was supposed to be there You know, it's good because it's Bethel. It's the house of God That's where Jacob met with him and and it was in Shiloh for an extended period of time But it's good that it was removed because of the fact that ultimately God wanted the house of God to be where in Jerusalem That's ultimately where he wanted the house of God to be Okay In fact 1st Kings 11 36 says unto his son will I give one tribe that David my servant may have a light All the way before me in Jerusalem the city which I have chosen me to put my name there Okay, so he wanted his name to be there. And of course his name is associated with the house of God So what do we see the house of God in Bethel? What do we see the house of God in the wilderness? What do we see the house of God coming back to Bethel specifically Shiloh, what do we see Shiloh's Ichabod? He destroyed it. He sent the Philistines upon it removed the Ark of the Covenant Ultimately, what do we see the house of God being instituted in Jerusalem? Okay Now look at first Kings chapter 12 what's going on during this time Well, if you remember you have a divided Kingdom, right? Israel is divided between the northern and the southern kingdom Of course Israel is that northern kingdom Judah is that southern kingdom? Israel is that kingdom that just kind of you know, they get into idolatry and they come they forsake the Lord and Jeroboam is over that northern kingdom. Okay, he's over that northern kingdom and He gets pretty desperate because he doesn't want people To go into Judah to where the house of God is the real house of God, right, which is in Jerusalem So what does he do? He tries to create this substitute house of God Look at verse 26 and Jeroboam said in his heart now shall the kingdom return to the house of David So he's more concerned with his reputation Than he is actually doing what God said Verse 27 if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem Then shall the heart of this people turn again into their Lord. Oh, man, that would be bad Even it's a rare boom King of Judah and they shall kill me and go against a rare boom King of Judah where upon the king took counsel look what it says and made two calves of gold and Said unto them it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem behold thy gods Oh Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt and He set the one look what it says in Bethel and the other he put in damn Now, let me point out a couple things here first and foremost. So he's creating convenience for the people Yeah, you don't have to go to Jerusalem to worship the Lord You don't have to go to Jerusalem to do the sacrifices. You can do it in Bethel You can do it in Bethel you can do it in Dan now Obviously during this time Bethel and Dan have become like basically a den of iniquity because they're just a den of idolatry and Dan obviously was the first tribe if you studied the book of Judges that was really given over to idolatry. Okay, and Bethel Shiloh Bethel is no longer the place where the glory of God is the glory of God has departed from Bethel and Shiloh, okay So he sets one up in Bethel and he puts the other in Dan and he encourages the people to worship the Lord in Bethel and Dan instead of going to the house of God Okay, verse 30 and this became a sin for the people went to worship before the one even unto Dan and he made a House of high places look what it says and made priests of the lowest of the people which were not of the sons of Levi so this Fake house of God is not in its proper place There's a bunch of sin taking place in idolatry, but even aside from that the people are not qualified to run the house of God He's just putting like a it's a warm body. Oh, come on in you can be a priest unto me then, right? He says he makes priests of the lowest people Which were not of the sons of Levi people who had no business in the house of God doing the office of the priest He's putting them in the house of God to fulfill the office of a priest it says in verse 32 and Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month on the 15th day of the month Like unto the feast that is in Judah and he offered upon the altar So did he in Bethel sacrifice him into the calf that he had made and he placed in Bethel the priest of the high places Which he had made so he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the 15th day of the eighth month even in the month which he had devised of his own heart and Ordained a feast into the children of Israel and he offered upon the altar and burned incense. Okay, so I Let's do some brainstorming here. All right, everyone wake up Okay, we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna do some brainstorming now Jeroboam Has the house of God he made a house of God in Bethel and in Dan. Where is the true house of God? Jerusalem, okay. What does Bethel mean? House of God is Bethel the house of God No so Bethel now the name means house of God But the house of God is not there So finish the sentence for me thou hast a name that thou and are dead So what we see here is this fake congregation this fake house of God this fake church in Bethel and in Dan Trying to take the place of the true house of God Now here's the thing Sardis in Revelation chapter 3 they were actually ahead of Bethel Because they said, you know, Jesus told Sardis and basically told them like hey You know, you can just strengthen the things which remain which are ready to die He's kind of giving them a second chance the glory of God are already departed from Bethel It's gone The glory of the Lord is in Jerusalem. That's where he sanctioned it. But you know what? What is Jeroboam doing? Well, we have Bethel which means the house of God So we can cause people to come here now, how do we apply that to today? Well, you know, there's a lot of places out there. They call themselves a Baptist There's a lot of congregations out there that call themselves a church There's a lot of congregations out there. They claim to believe the Bible. They have a name that they're living but they're actually dead Why because they've already forsaken the right ways of the Lord the candles that has already gone out The lamp has been put out in obscurity They don't have the power of God in their lives and God has not sanctioned that place to be the house of God How about the like the Lutherans? Well, they literally have trannies preaching the Bible not even preaching the Bible having story time in drag Folks they can call themselves a church all they want That's not a church They can call oh, but we have Bethel on our name. So what? It's a house of bondage It's not a true house of God having a name doesn't do anything for you. If you don't have God backing you up Okay, but even then how about just Baptist churches in general, you know, there's we're the first Baptist Church We're like the first church in this city You know because Bethel was like the first one Bethel's were you know on this earth where the house of God was first instituted was in Bethel, but you know what? It's no longer the house of God, even though the name means house of God So go to the first Baptist Church of whatever I guarantee you a lot of those churches Especially if they're like over a hundred years old or so, they're probably teaching some false doctrine That's probably more than likely what's taking place so just because you have Baptist on your name of the church, you know What's your salvation doctrine? Because if you're teaching a works based salvation if you're saying you have to repent of your sins to be saved You have to do X Y & Z you have to do this you have to do that Oh, oh, so what you're telling me is that the glory of God is departed Also, what you're telling me is that your Ichabod Baptist Church Right It's Ichabod Baptist Church. I don't know pastor, you know, they got a lot of activity in there I see people going in people coming out There's a lot of people at the cemetery, too The cemetery is packed with people All dead Doesn't mean anything It doesn't mean a thing. How about these just these mega churches out there, right? These mega churches, you know, whether it's Mariners Church Which is by my house, you know Greg Laurie Who else who's another what who dream center? Oh, man Filthy dreamers, you know that dream center. That's the one in LA, right? How can you say that about that because of the fact that even though they have a name that they're living they're actually dead folks How dare you pass judgment? I dare to pass judgment. Yes Absolutely Because this is not here on accident folks What it's showing us is that there's a bunch of fraudulent phony congregations out there They claim to believe in the Bible, you know They claim to have Baptist or they have Church or there of Jesus and all these other things But when you look at the Bible that they use it's not a King James They use some NIV or ESV some modern perversion of the Word of God, you know Their salvation doctrines off they don't believe in the Trinity or they don't go soul-winning. I mean you can meet together all you want You can ordain by the way, a lot of these places are doing some of the lowest people Get a lot of unqualified people to run those churches You can call it a church. You can get a large following You can get a lot of people to come to that building and have all kinds of activities And all types of Sunday school classes and and preach sermons. It doesn't mean it's the house of God Because the house of God is in Jerusalem So you're not going to change the mind of God and say, you know There's a church that's actually meeting in our old building in Omani And I use that term very loosely Because it's not a church You say what do they believe? I honestly don't know because we went on their website and they believe so many crazy things So many wild things how many you've seen the building already what color is it that's as wild as their beliefs are When you look at the buildings like well this thing looks crazy. Well, that's like their beliefs It's like some African church or something right some African cult Who believes a false? Gospel, they teach false doctrine Yeah, but it's this church and they're not against sodomites. Well, there you go There you go Red flag right there folks How is the church able to meet in Omani now? like a real church Explain that to me Hey Explain to me how an independent fundamental Baptist Church can still meet in Omani if they're really preaching the Word of God Because there's some independent fundamental Baptist churches in there. There's like two I think or something, right? Tell me how do you do it? How did that get on you for preaching God's Word maybe it's because you're not preaching God's Word Yeah, I mean folks. Let me just share this real quick. I Remember during that whole protest or prior to the protests when we're getting death threats and people are contacting us and they said they're gonna burn our building down and You know, they're harassing us. They're doxing my address and putting my address online all these things. I remember there is a barbershop In Oman to you guys remember the bar the famous barbershop who remembers the famous barbershop Okay, there's a there's a sodomite that went into that barbershop For a haircut Seemed pretty legit so far, right and you know, the guy's about to cut his hair or whatever and he's just like, you know How's the barbers just making small talk and he's like, how's your weekend? He's like, oh good. I got married He's like, oh cool. He's like who's the lucky lady? He's like, it's actually a man and The barber took a step back grabbed the scissors and just chopped his hair and said you're done I Fell in love with that barbershop I'm like, why can't we get like churches to be like you? Why isn't it like a barbershop has more guts than a lot of churches? Now look, I wouldn't recommend for people to for you to do that. Okay, I'm not gonna I'm not even gonna I don't even want to like be like 10 feet near a sodomite, okay I'm not gonna touch any sodomites hair or something. It's not my interest What I'm saying is, you know that guy could care less but you know There's independent fundamental Baptist churches in Omani who will refuse to talk about the sodomites for fear of them, especially now. I Remember when my pastor friend said this the only unfortunate thing about your church getting bombed is that now for sure No Baptist churches will ever preach against the sodomites Like before if they're like straddling the fence like yeah, maybe maybe I'll say gay in this sermon or something, you know Maybe I'll just talk about against gay marriage or something like that Now they're for sure not going to because they don't want to get bombed Yeah cowards But what I'm saying is this is that you know Just because they say they believe the Word of God Just because they say they believe all these things or have the the church on their name Baptist her name Christian. It doesn't mean it's true Because we see here an example of even though the fact they were in Bethel which is called the house of God I mean it gave them credibility, you know, I'm sure he's like why go over there Why don't you come to the house of God? This is Bethel. It's called the house of God Okay But it wasn't the house of God and so go to Jeremiah chapter 26 if you would Jeremiah chapter 26 If you're new here you're getting the full experience amen So where do we see the house of God so far we see it in Bethel We see it in eternity's past we see it in Bethel and then it's in the wilderness Then it then it comes back to Bethel. It's in Shiloh. It's removed from Shiloh It's placed in Jerusalem, but guess what? It doesn't finish in Jerusalem, though Because guess what Jerusalem is not a place where the house of God is today Right and in fact It's actually referred to by God as Sodom and Gomorrah He says which is spiritually Sodom and Gomorrah Look at Jeremiah 26 verse 4. It says Jeremiah is preaching here This is about Jeremiah says verse 4 and thou shall say unto them thus saith the Lord if you will not hearken to me To walk in my law which I have set before you To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets which I sent unto you both rising up early and sending them But you have not hearken then will I make this house? Like Shiloh So everyone knew what he was talking about Because Jerusalem was just like we're the real house of God not Shiloh not Bethel and God's like well if you don't get right I'm gonna make you like Shiloh And will make this city a curse to all nations of the earth well that for sure happened Already fulfilled So we obviously know where the you know what happened after that Verse 7 so the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord So Jeremiah's got some guts man This guy has some guts. He's saying this in the house of the Lord and the prophets and the people heard Just keep in mind folks You know, obviously there's prophets in those days who were right with God But there's a bunch of them even though they're of the Lord. They were not as bold as these prophets as Jeremiah You know because there's seven thousand prophets who have not bowed the knee to Baal, but just remember those seven thousand were hiding Just keep that in mind Okay, because it's like if you're to really put it on a spectrum you would have like unsaved false prophets, but then you have saved Prophets, but they're not they agree with you, but they're not really outspoken And then you have like two or three that are like Elijah, okay, like Jeremiah or something, okay? But that's just how it is That's just how it is. I mean there's tons of pastors and tons of churches that actually Agree with us but will not support us openly They won't support us openly You know now there's a lot of churches. They will support us openly You know my sending pastor, Pastor Stephen L. Anderson is very open about it. My friend in Northern California, Pastor Roger Jimenez supports us very openly My friends my close friends are not ashamed of me at all This is like a badge of honor for us. Okay But there's other churches just like I'm praying for you. I agree with you, but they're not going to actually get up on Sunday morning And preach this sermon, okay So he's preaching this in the house of the Lord verse 8 Now it came to pass when Jeremiah had an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people That the priests and the prophets and all the people took him saying thou shall surely die Like we're gonna just kill you you you're saying we're gonna be like Shiloh You're gonna die You're dead Verse 9 why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord saying This house shall be like Shiloh and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. I'll tell you why because God told him to say it Why ask why when you know that God is the one who told him to say these things It blows my mind folks when so-called saved people Get on me for just preaching the Bible. I can literally Only to only quote verses and they're just like, oh you got a bad spirit Just just for quoting a verse I made a video on on on instagram where literally i'm mute like i'm not even saying anything And it was a video called verses that your pastor will probably never preach from And all I did was put verses on the screen Controversial verses on the screen and people are like, oh this is bad. Oh, you got a bad spirit. Oh, you're taking it out of context I didn't talk I didn't say anything. I just put the verses on the screen It's God's word Oh that's out of context I didn't even give context all I did was put the verse on there It's the it's literally the text And you know, i'm sure a lot of these people are not saved but I guarantee you some of them are And it bothers them Why because soft christians will always be bothered by hard truths Snowflake christians exist folks Even as they're listening to my voice right now say what i'm saying. It's rubbing them the wrong way because they hate it It rubs them the wrong way it gets them upset they start cringing a little bit because they don't like the hard truth Well, sorry, you're not the one ordaining me to go and preach the word of god God has told us to speak as to speak this way and to proclaim his truth in spite of how offensive it may be You're not the meter of how offensive I should be Go to first peter chapter 2 So then, you know, it's no longer in jerusalem House of god has left jerusalem. It's no longer there. The bible says that Jerusalem is like Sodom and Gomorrah spiritually Sodom and Gomorrah he says okay So don't worry about like, you know, you have all these archeology biblical archaeologists. Let's look for the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah Where this amazing event took place just go to jerusalem God already relocated he said it's in jerusalem Look at this brimstone. This was obviously burnt and destroyed and all it's in the water in the sea and all the no You don't you're looking all in the wrong places I'll find it for you Jerusalem That's what the bible says Jesus literally said that that it's spiritually Sodom and Gomorrah So you can save thousands of dollars with your ex, you know, excavating machines and submarines that go into the ocean and Looking for all these ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah, you don't have to do all that You can literally go there today and there's people there today. They're sodomized there today And god said it so guess what the house of god is not in israel So there's no reason to make a pilgrimage there To go check it out Now obviously like deep down inside. I would want to go there just to see where the lord was On this earth, right? It's kind of cool to think about that like where he walked the sea of galley and all these things But at the end of the day, i'll just go visit it during the millennial reigns probably it's nicer there anyways during that time And there's no sodomites allowed during that time either so It's better to be there. So it was in jerusalem. Jerusalem became a curse unto all nations And now the house of god is here Now here's the difference is that in times past the the house of god was in one centralized location It could be moved but it was like one tabernacle one temple, right? Now the difference is this is that now the house of god is made up of just multiple churches Like this is the house of god right here And even our beloved brethren who don't necessarily support us or are a little soft on certain truths. That's the house of god, too That's still the house of god People are still growing there. They're still learning the bible there. They're still soul winning there They don't have to be to our specific level to be the house of god. We're not the standard But what the house of god is you understand? And so the house of god still exists today and I would even go as far as to say this The house of god is in some churches that are not baptists Sometimes they're just churches Now I don't recommend churches like that, but I guarantee you they're out there where they're actually preaching the word of god They're using the king james i'm sure it's very rare But it's out there. I mean, I remember when we first went to belize brother milan and I Brother milan kinesovich. We're on the airplane and and I don't know if we're I think we're coming back from belize And a flight attendant who's a male He's a male flight attendant, but you know, he came he's just like Are you guys like christians or something? And we're like, yeah, we're christians Like oh cool. Where you guys going? We're like, oh, we're coming back from a mission strip to belize And he's like no way He was like all bro'd out He's like no way bro. He's like dude. I just came back from a mission strip I was like, okay, you know because when you hear that it's like all right, you know What'd you go do build a well or something, you know? What'd you do like feed the poor, you know? It's like, you know, but then he was just like dude we got like 56 people saved there Because people you know, not everyone talks that way Yeah That's that's particular lingo right there of a soul winner He's a we got like 56 people saved there. We got people saved Because a lot of people they don't like that terminology like oh you didn't save anyone God saved them Yeah, I know but i'm like the one who gave him the gospel and so god actually gives me some credit too Because if it was only god saving them that I would get no rewards Think about that, you know rewards are based off of things that we do And we get rewarded for getting people saved So if we do not partake in the salvation of anyone by, you know Giving them the gospel if god doesn't give us any credit that we should get no reward But the reason we get reward is because we actually have a part in that But he said that he was just like dude. Yeah, we got like 56 people saved. It's awesome Yeah, I think he was from like northern california or something like that But he said the name of the church and it was not a baptist church You know, but what i'm saying is, you know, that guy probably goes to the house of god Amen But I will say, you know, you should go to a baptist church though for sure It's the best kind look at first peter two verse four. It says to whom coming As into a living stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of god and precious Ye, also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices Acceptable to god by jesus christ. So we are the spiritual house We are the house of god and it's important that in 2022 we emphasize the fact that it's not this It's not the walls that makes up the church It's the people that make up the church It's the preaching that makes up the church. It's the beliefs that makes up the church Now do we want a nice building? Yeah, of course But can we operate without a nice building? Yeah, we did it for like two months Under a tabernacle We still went soul winning the word of god was still preached offerings were still taken I mean we still operated basically We did the same exact thing that we would do just in a different location Why because we the people are the house of god? And so take this sermon and take it as a reminder of how precious and important the house of god really is Don't undermine the importance of being in god's house and let me say this don't undermine the importance of being in a real house of god Yes Do not undermine the importance of that Do not take it for granted Place an emphasis in your christian life and say, you know in 2022 i'm going to buckle down in my church attendance way more Because this is the house of god This is where I come to worship. This is where I come to hear god's word being preached This is where I come to be equipped to go and preach the gospel to be a light into a dying world out there This is the house of god. This is our bethel Amen Let's pray father. We thank you so much for your word. We're so thankful for church for the house of god that has always existed And god forbid if this if this house of god that we're in today were to go astray in the future For whatever reason we know that the work of god will continue whether here or somewhere else And uh, we're so thankful for for that perpetuity there lord. I pray god that you'd help us to to keep this Operation going all the days of our lives lord and and help us to do all that we can To train the next generation to to carry the torch And I pray lord that you bless our church. Thank you so much for an awesome year. Thank you for making our lives exciting Thank you for blessing us with so many salvations lord baptisms more church members more influence lord and More love and I pray that lord you continue to bless us as the years come and the persecutions come That you'd help us to be ready for it lord that you would be honored and glorified through our lives