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["O Come All Ye Faithful"] ["O Come All Ye Faithful"] Amen. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. We're going to get started with song number 143, as you find your seats. Song number 143, Blessed Assurance, as our first song. And if you are able to, let's all stand together to sing this song. And at the last verse, we're going to slow it down on the chorus. And sing out loud to the Lord. Amen. Sing it on that first. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God. Lord of his Spirit, washed in his blood. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, perfect delight. Visions of rapture now burst on my sight. Angels descending, bring from above. Echoes of mercy, whispers of love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, all is at rest. I, in my Savior, am happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking above. Goodness, lost in his love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. Amen, wonderful singing. Let's start our service with a prayer. Dear God, only Father, we thank you so much for just allowing us to be in your house this morning. We do pray that you would please, Lord God, just bless every aspect of the service, the singing unto you, and most importantly, Lord God, the preaching of your word. I do pray that you please fill pasture with your Holy Spirit and guide him through the scriptures as he preaches unto us, Lord dear God. And I also do pray that you please just be with us in the congregation, that you would help us to have open ears and open hearts, Lord God, that we might receive your word. And Lord God, change some things in our lives that we need to change and apply some things, Lord God. And I pray that you would please just, Lord God, again just bless us now. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Song number 17, One Day. Song number 17. We also slow it down at the bottom of this chorus as well. So just follow along. Sing on that first. One day when heaven was filled with his praises, one day when sin was as dark as could be, Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, dwelt amongst men, my example is he. Living he loved me, dying he saved me, buried he carried my sins far away. Rising he justified freely forever, one day he's coming, oh glorious day. One day they led him up Calvary's mountain, one day they nailed him to die on the tree. Suffering, anguish, despised and rejected, bury your sins, my Redeemer is here. Living he loved me, dying he saved me, buried he carried my sins far away. Rising he justified freely forever, one day he's coming, oh glorious day. One day they left him alone in the garden, one day he cast him from suffering free. Angels came down o'er his tomb to keep vigil, above the hopeless my Savior is he. Living he loved me, dying he saved me, buried he carried my sins far away. Rising he justified freely forever, one day he's coming, oh glorious day. One day the grave could conceal him no longer, one day the stone rolled away from the door. Then he arose over death he had conquered, now is ascended my Lord evermore. Living he loved me, dying he saved me, buried he carried my sins far away. Rising he justified freely forever, one day he's coming, oh glorious day. One day the trumpet will sound for his coming, one day the skies with his glories will shine. Wonderful day my beloved ones is bringing, glorious Savior this Jesus is mine. Living he loved me, dying he saved me, buried he carried my sins far away. Rising he justified freely forever, one day he's coming, oh glorious day. Alright great singing, thank you for being here this morning. Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song. Which will be song number 36 if you want to get that ready. Christ Arose song number 36 in your song books. If you did not get a bulletin go ahead and raise your hand and one of the ushers can get one for you. Have one right here who needs one. Anybody else need a bulletin? Okay the services are as follows. Sunday morning is at 1030. Sunday evening at 5 p.m. And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. You see the so many times and teams. The list of expecting mothers if you can keep them in prayer. And then the important reminders are at the bottom. Some of the upcoming church events. We have the homeschool field trip to the Discovery Cube in Orange County. And that will be on Wednesday September 14th. And so it's free. If you have any questions about that you can see my wife for more details. But of course you have to be homeschooled in order to participate. You see the seminary missions trips coming up on Saturday September 24th. We have a men's prayer night on Friday September 30th. And then the fall program kickoff is on Sunday October 2nd. And of course that's about a six week program. Where we have different things each week that we emphasize. And we encourage people to bring visitors. And then there's rewards at the end of the program. And we conclude it with the annual Thanksgiving banquet. And so looking forward to that. It's going to be a great season. Now you see the typical reminders are at the bottom. No food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for water and coffee. Make sure you're not loitering in the four year fellowship hall during the preaching service. And quiet time is from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Throughout the whole building lights will be turned off if you want a fellowship. You can do so outside. But I would not recommend it today. I think it's going to go up to about 105 degrees today. And then you see there at the bottom make sure you silence your phones during the preaching. So as to not be a distraction during the service. Alright. And that is it. Let's go ahead and sing our next song. Song number 36, Christ the Rose. Song number 36. Song number 36, Christ the Rose. Song number 36. Sing it on that first. Lo in the grave He lay, Jesus my Savior, waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord. Up from the grave He rose with a mighty triumph o'er His foes. He arose a victor from the dark domain and He lives forever with the saints to reign. He rose, He rose, hallelujah, Christ the Rose. Vainly they watch His bed, Jesus my Savior. Vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord. Up from the grave He arose with a mighty triumph o'er His foes. He arose a victor from the dark domain and He reigns forever with the saints to reign. He rose, He rose, hallelujah, Christ the Rose. Death cannot keep His prey, Jesus my Savior. He tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord. Up from the grave He rose with a mighty triumph o'er His foes. He arose a victor from the dark domain and He lives forever with the saints to reign. He rose, He rose, hallelujah, Christ the Rose. Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time our ushers will be receiving the offering. And please turn your Bibles to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. The Bible reads, Stand fast therefore in the liberty where the Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the oak of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ has become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, you are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Ye did run well, who did hinder ye that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded. But either troubleth you, shall bear his judgment whosoever he be. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased. I would they were even cut off which trouble you. For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty. Only use not liberty for an occasion unto the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one another. This I say then. Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh is contrary one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. For the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. Of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another and envying one another. Let's pray. Dear Lord God, thank you for this day. Thank you for your word. And just ask that you would bless Passover here with your Holy Spirit now as he preaches it unto us. And please just help us to give us an ear to hear it and take heed unto it and to apply it in the Jesus name we pray. Amen. Okay, we're in Galatians chapter number five this morning, and the time of my sermon this morning is who did hinder you? Who did hinder you? Look at Galatians chapter five verse number seven. It says he did run well. Who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. And I want to talk about this morning things or or people that are could be impeding you from doing what you're supposed to do. Doing God's will, serving in your church, being essentially reaching the potential that you have in the Lord. And before I get into who's hindering you, let's talk about first what you're being hindered from. Okay, in context here, we see that you're being hindered from running the race. The race of the Christian life is essentially just talking about living the Christian life, serving God at different capacities. And often the Bible describes the Christian life or serving God as a race. It's not a sprint, but it's a race. Okay, it's a race where we are constantly running our own in our own lane, just making sure that we're competing essentially against our own selves. And we want to make sure that we finish this race with joy. The Bible says in Hebrew chapter 12, you don't have to turn there. It says, Wherefore, seeing we are also compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. So there we see that something that can hinder you from running the race are these weights, sins, things that can impede you from reaching your potential. It says in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 24, Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize, so run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight I not as one that beateth the air, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest by any means when I preach to others, I myself should be cast away. What the apostle Paul is essentially saying here is that he wants to make sure that he's a disciplined person in the Christian life, because aside from preaching the word of God to others, he wants to make sure that his body is under subjection, so that as he's exhorting others to continue in the faith, as he's encouraging others to continue in sound doctrine and in serving Christ, he wants to make sure that he doesn't become this cast away where he just kind of falls out of the race, gets out of God's will. He wants to make sure that he's keeping his own backyard clean, essentially. And this isn't the sermon, but it's important for us as Christians that if we're exhorting others, we need to make sure that our backyard is clean as well. Amen? We want to make sure that we're removing the beam out of our own eye if we're trying to remove a moat out of someone else's eye. And so we need to make sure that we're continuously running this race and that we're not being hindered from running it. Now, the running of the race can be, you know, we can apply it to running the race of our Bible reading and prayer life. Now, that's a race to be run, and that's a thing that we have to do on a constant basis every single day. We need to make sure we keep it in check. And sometimes Christians can get to a point in their Christian life where they kind of excuse away why they don't read the Bible. Like, well, you know, I listen to good preaching. I listen to some of the best preaching out there. I listen to preaching every single day or, you know, I go to a good church or, you know, I try to walk in the Spirit. But you know what? You still have the responsibility to make sure that you're reading the Word of God. The Bible tells us to give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. And, you know, when it comes to this matter of reading, if you're not good at reading, then get good at it. Okay? And you say, why is that? Well, because our spiritual life literally hinges upon whether we can read the Word of God or not. I mean, our fellowship and communion with God, us knowing God's will, us being able to be the vessel, meet for the Master's use, is dependent upon whether we can read God's Word and extrapolate the principles and wisdom that we need. And so run the race of reading your Bible, prayer life. Run the race of sowing, getting others saved, preaching the gospel, running the race of having harmony in your home. You know, it's great to have unity and harmony in the church, but you need to make sure that you also have harmony in your home, that there's harmony in your marriage, that there's harmony with your children, that there's harmony between you and your spouse, that you guys are on the same page, right? It's one thing to say, well, you know, I'm a Bible-believing fundamental Baptist, but, you know, God wants you to be a fundamental Baptist at home as well, you know, and have your spouse to be on board with you and not just have division at home, both of you should be on the same page, excuse me, and the children should be on the same page as well. Running the race of being a blessing at church. You know, the Bible tells us to do good unto all men, but especially those of the household of faith, and we're to endure sometimes and have patience when serving in the church and making sure we keep that a priority. Just running the race of your fellowship with God, being where it needs to be, just essentially referring to just the Christian life overall. You want to make sure that you have all of these factors in line and that you're not becoming a castaway in any one of these categories. Run the race. Now, I want you to notice here that often we say, what's hindering you? You know, what's hindering you from having harmony in your home? What's hindering you from reading your Bible? But let me just say this, is that the question presented in Galatians chapter 5 is not what, it's more often a what? A who? What is that referring to? It's often people who hinder us from serving God, hinder us from having harmony in the home, hinder us from, you know, being a blessing in the church. It's not necessarily a what, it's always a who, okay? Who is hindering you? Now, you're there in Galatians chapter number 5. What is Paul the apostle to talk about in context? And we're going to go over a couple points of who's, the who's in your life that can be hindering you in your Christian life. But the most obvious in context that we're looking at here are the false prophets, right? False prophets can hinder Christians from serving God, believe it or not. And you say, well, how is that? Well, you know, false prophets can often teach the right things, but they mix it with lies. And if Christians are not mature enough and they don't have the discernment, they can get a little leaven in their spiritual life and it can hinder them from actually knowing God's word and knowing the truth. And so that's why we don't permit just every Tom, Dick, and Harry with whatever doctrine into our church because a little leaven can leaven the whole lump and it can actually destroy Christians, okay? It can hinder them from doing what they're supposed to do. Now, Christians aside, how about just unsafe people? You know, the Bible tells us in Luke chapter 11 verse 52, So we know that false prophets are experts at hindering people from getting saved, right? How do they hinder people from getting saved? Well, they kind of give you a half gospel. You know, they'll speak out of both sides of their mouth and say, yeah, you have to believe on Jesus Christ, but if you truly believe, you'll turn from your wicked ways. If you truly believe, you'll repent of your sins. If you truly believe, you'll produce fruit. And if you don't produce fruit, it just means you're not safe. But, you know, that's a little leaven that's going to leaven the whole lump and keep people and hinder people from getting saved. I mean, how many times do we knock on doors where we talk to people where initially they give us the right answer, but then later on in the presentation they're like, oh yeah, for sure you could lose it. Obviously, that's a little leaven. Obviously, that comes from some false prophet that has hindered them and has taken away the key of knowledge, that key of knowledge being the truth, the Bible, right? You know, we're coming on Sunday afternoons and Thursday afternoons and Saturday afternoons, we're coming with the whole entire keychain of God's word to kind of remove all doubts and dissolve those doubts and remove whatever hindrances and that which is impeding them from understanding the full truth. And here's the thing is that, you know, salvation is very simple. It's very easy. It's the easiest thing to understand in the Bible. There's a lot of difficult things to understand in the Bible. Salvation is not one of them. It's the easiest thing to understand. It's the most simplest truth, and the reason for that is because God wants people to be saved, so He wants salvation to be communicated in the simplest form so that even a child can understand it. But what false prophets do is they complicate everything. So they obviously know that the Bible says over and over again you have to believe, so they have to kind of infiltrate and add other things to that. They'll agree with you that you have to believe because it would be stupid to deny that you have to believe on Jesus Christ for salvation, right? It would be completely dumb to do that. So what they do is they add things to that. But, folks, the Bible tells us that you can't add anything to Jesus Christ. You have to believe exclusively on the Lord for salvation. It's not like adding anything to it. The Bible makes it very clear in Romans 11 and verse number 6, And if by grace then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. And so you can make the gift of God null and void to yourself by adding something to salvation. And the greatest people or the people who are most responsible for adding to works or to salvation are false prophets. They'll do this. They'll confuse people. A lot of these liberal churches are guilty for this. I'll run into people who go to a Calvary Chapel, go to whatever liberal church is out there, and sometimes they're well-meaning people, but they're very much deceived because they can't give you a straight answer. They'll often say, well, you have to have a relationship with God. You have to know God. You have to love God or whatever. And so they've obviously been duped. They've been hindered from entering into the kingdom of God by these false prophets. Now go to Galatians chapter number 2, if you would. You're in chapter 5. We're going to come back to chapter 5. Go to Galatians 2. But let me just say this is that false prophets can also hinder, save people, and kind of get them mixed up on salvation as well. If a Christian is not grounded in the Bible, he's not attending a Bible-believing church where doctrine is the emphasis, and salvation is clearly explained, they can often become confused with the terms that they use and just not really understanding how to communicate salvation well. And that's because of false prophets. You know, they get on YouTube and they listen to some idiot out there, like Robert Breaker, or they listen to Gene Kim, or they listen to some repent of your sins heretic. They can often confuse them in regards to salvation. And this is very much a thing. Look at verse 3 of chapter 2. It says, But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised, and that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. Go back to chapter 5, if you would. So we know that the churches in Galatia were being infiltrated by Judaizers who were coming to these different congregations trying to bring people back under the law, saying that you have to be circumcised to be saved. And the Apostle Paul describes it as spying out their liberty, which is a pretty wicked thing to do if you think about it. Well, let's see who's free here. Let's bring them back under bondage. Let's see who believes on Jesus Christ solely for salvation. Let's try to bring them back under bondage, which is exactly what they did. Look at verse 1 of chapter 5. He exhorts them and says, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Now, a lot of people think to themselves, well, if someone's truly saved, how can they be deceived in such a manner? Because it's not really clear whether the people that the Apostle Paul is addressing in the book of Galatians, which is various churches, were really saved or not. We're kind of left in obscurity as far as, okay, so were they not saved or did they just get deceived? Because there's instances where the Apostle Paul states, I am afraid of you, lest I bestow upon you labor in vain. In other words, it's like, I don't know if you're even saved. But then later on in the epistle, we see that he tells them, Hey, stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Now, here's the ultimate assessment that we can make, is that whoever read this and said, you know what, it is by faith alone. Okay, then that person was saved. But the person who goes to the Apostle Paul and says, no, no, no, we have to, you know, they said this, they proved it, you got to be under the law, you have to be circumcised in order to be saved. Okay, that person believed in vain and was never saved to begin with. You see, an individual who is saved, even if they're confused, will eventually make their way back on track on the road of truth. Okay, and you know, you've run into people like this where you corner someone and maybe they're giving you the wrong answers, but ultimately, as soon as you corner them, they're like, no, it is by faith alone and it's not by works and you can't lose your salvation. Okay, that person probably just got mixed up in their terminology and, you know, they need to be brought back on track because some false prophet led them astray. He says in verse number two, behold, I, Paul, say unto you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. I mean, that sucks, you know, these guys come into these churches like, you got to be circumcised, they get circumcised, and it's like, by the way, that was like in vain. Jokes on you, you didn't have to do that. It's like, Christ shall profit you nothing. And by the way, you know, you think about the stupidity of saying that you have to be circumcised to be saved, and it's like, okay, what about the women? You know, false prophets don't even think through these things, it's like how nonsensical this is. Whereas the Bible tells us that a woman who, even a woman who believes is circumcised in heart because it's a spiritual truth that matters, that which is done physically, okay. Verse three says, for I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is indebted to do the whole law. So in other words, they sell you this bill of goods and say, oh, you have to be circumcised to be saved, but what they don't realize is if that's what they're doing to be saved, okay, then you have to keep everything. Okay, you know, they bargain more than they can, than that which they can pay because it's not just circumcision they have to keep, they would have to keep the entire law to be saved, which obviously is impossible. Verse four says, Christ has become of no effect unto you, whosoever you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace. Now, obviously, the Apostle Paul is exaggerating here because no one is justified by the law. He's essentially saying, those of you who think you're justified by the law, you're fallen from grace because Christ has become of no effect unto you, okay. Verse five says, for we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith, for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love, and then he says he did run well, who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth. This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Now, the race that he's referring to is the race of being doctrinally sound. And we as a church, this is a race that we're going to run until the second coming of Christ. This is a race that we want a purpose to run until the second coming of Christ, because of the fact that it's essential that we as a church remain doctrinally sound. And the way we can know that we're running this race is that I'm constantly preaching on doctrine, but even aside from that, we need to talk about doctrine even in the church, and not let it be some subject that's just boring to you. Oh, he's talking about doctrine again, he's talking about salvation, he's talking about all these different... Yeah, you need to hear it though. Because then you're going to be like these Galatians where some Judaizers are going to come to you and deceive you, and you're going to be led astray into believing some stupid doctrine, and you know what, you're going to become a castaway in regards to doctrine. And so it's important, and here's the thing, not everyone has to be this theologian in doctrine and in the church, but you should have a general understanding of doctrine though. You're like, well I'm a wife, well yeah, you should still have a general understanding of doctrine, because guess what, it's your responsibility to teach your children the Bible. I thought it was the dad's responsibility, his responsibility is to bring home the bacon. And teach the Bible, yes, but ultimately the wife is the keeper at home, which means that the wife is responsible for learning the Bible and teaching it to their children. Now luckily, you don't have to know a whole lot of systematic doctrine to teach kids, you just got to know a little more than your kids. Which hopefully everyone here knows a lot more than their kids. You don't have to have the knowledge of a pastor, a deacon, an evangelist, a full-time Christian worker per se, but you should have some general understanding of the basic doctrines of the Bible, because these are the things you need to teach your children, and you need to be doctrinally sound as well. If not, you're going to be hindered by false prophets. Now go to 1 Thessalonians 2, and obviously we understand that false prophets are the physical instrument that is used to hinder Christians, but they're obviously sent by Satan himself. These are agents of Satan that Satan is using in order to kind of get Christians off kilter, not believing the right stuff, and believing nonsense or whatever. Look at 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 7, he says, But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavor the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. Wherefore, we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again, but Satan hindered us. The Apostle Paul is saying, I wanted to come see you, I wanted to come exhort you, I wanted to come and kind of encourage you, however Satan hindered us. Now in context, he's actually referring to the Jews. So when he says Satan hindered us, he's essentially talking about the Jews who would impede the Apostle Paul from not only preaching the Gospel, but even coming to see the brethren that are in Thessalonica. Go to Romans chapter 15 if you would, Romans chapter 15. And let me just say this is that people, Christians, or excuse me, people and those who are instruments in Satan's hand can slow us down a little bit, they can hinder us in the sense that they can slow us down, they can kind of frustrate us a little bit, but let me just make myself very clear, they can never stop us. The enemies of the Lord can set up all types of walls and brigades and everything that they possibly can in order to try to stop us and hinder us and slow us down, and they may be able to just kind of put it in first, cause us to be in first gear for a little bit, but they can never stop us. The preaching of God's Word will always go out no matter what. You can shut down the channels, you can do everything in your power to try to stop us, but it's not going to work. It might frustrate us a little bit, but at the end of the day, we're going to keep pressing forward, we're going to keep preaching God's Word, we're going to keep preaching the Gospel, and hopefully you'll put us on the news again, and that way we can get back out there again, amen? So it's like it's one of those things where they're damned if they do and damned if they don't. And by the way, they're damned either way, right? Because if they're like, well, if we leave them alone, they're going to keep spreading their hate doctrine or whatever. They're going to keep doing it, yeah. And then he's like, but if we do something about it and expose them to the media, then it's going to give them more attention, so it's just like they don't win, we win either way. Now, here's the thing is that it's important for churches to recognize that in order for us to defeat the enemy, we have to make sure we just never give in. Let them threaten, let them say whatever they want, you just never give in, okay? Because the moment you give in is the moment you lose. The moment you give in and apologize and capitulate and issue an apology to the AIDS community and issue an apology to the feminists or whatever, that's the moment that they're like, alright, we won. But once they realize that you're not willing to give in, once they realize that you're just as an adamant stone, once you realize that you're not going to be moved, you know, they kind of don't have nowhere else to run. And in my opinion, that's one of the reasons why the reprobates in Omani just kind of stopped pursuing us. Because they knew that they couldn't stop us. And in fact, even after the bombing, I preached a very exhortative sermon call, things that make you puke. And I kept preaching against the homos, even to the point where the Sonomites in Omani were contacting the chief of police saying, hey, I thought he left the city, he's still preaching. And the chief of police called me and he said, hey, I thought you left. And in my mind, I'm like, why are you worried about this? Are you with them or what's going on? Are you scared of me too? And he's like, yeah, I'm getting all kinds of calls and people saying that you're still preaching. I'm like, I am still preaching. I told you I was going to do that. I told you. Changing locations changes nothing. The message is still the same. And so, you know, kept preaching, kept preaching, and they're just throwing up their hands like, well, we can't do anything about it. I mean, what are you going to do, come like protest us again? What are you going to do, come blow up our church again? I mean, we're going to eventually need a new building. And so maybe that's what you need to do or something. But in their minds, they realize, you know, the more attention we give them, the more they come out on top and come out winning. You say, well, how do you know that? Because I preached against the fags so many more times even after that, and they still haven't done anything. That's why. Well, maybe they're just ignoring you. Yeah, they have to because they lose either way. Now, was it a hindrance? Yeah, it hindered us for a season. It was it was uncomfortable for a season. It might have slowed me down for a season, didn't slow the preaching, but it might have slowed us in our work for a season, but not entirely because we have a mind of witty inventions that dwell with prudence. And when we had to meet under the tabernacle, we just saw it as an opportunity to evangelize that area. We'll just go sowing in that area. Look at Romans 15, verse 20. It says, Yea, verse 20 says, Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation. Now, I will say this is that we're getting to the point in the United States of America where this is basically us, because I've talked to people who, like, don't even know who Jesus Christ is. They don't know anything about the Bible. A new generation has risen up which knows not the Lord, doesn't know the Lord. Because, you know, the previous generation is not telling them or, you know, churches, they're not evangelizing for whatever reason. Verse 21 says, But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see, and they that have not heard shall understand. For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you. So obviously we see that there's an enemy, an adversary that the Apostle Paul was dealing with that was kind of stopping him from going to Rome and reaching people and what have you. But what we see in Chapter 1 is that eventually he made it to Rome. Eventually he made it to the brethren. So what does this mean? It shows us that Satan can stop, or excuse me, he can slow us down, but he can't stop us. He can slow us down for a season. We can say he hindered us, but eventually he'll make it to Rome. And the same thing with us. You know, whatever goal you may have for the Lord, you know, Satan can try to slow you down and put it into first gear, but eventually you get it into fourth gear and eventually you make it to your destination. Turn with me if you would to go to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter number 10. I'm going to read to you from 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 1. It says, Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you, that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for all men have not faith. But the Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep you from evil. So, you know, although we believe and we know that the word of God cannot be stopped, that should not impede us from praying, though. Right? We should pray that the word of God would have free course, that it would have liberty to just spread as far as it possibly can by the efforts of First Works Baptist Church. Who is hindering you? Is it some weird false prophet on the Internet? And by the way, you know, sometimes it's not necessarily a false prophet. It's just like a YouTube influencer or something. Who's hindering you, right? Some libertarian conservative type person who's just constantly talking about conspiracies and whatever. You know, these type of people can hinder you as well. He said, No, no, no, they're leading me in the truth. Yeah, they're leading you in the truth that what the world deems as being truth. And, you know, I find it interesting that a lot of these influencers, you know, Christians give them a pass. If they're wrong on doctrine, if they're wrong on salvation, Christians have a tendency to just give them a pass anyways. You know, we should not be respecter of people, my friends. There's people out there who are just wrong on salvation. We shouldn't listen to them. And he's like, Well, they're right on this. But here's the thing, though, is that, you know, often if you allow yourself to just constantly listen and constantly be influenced by these YouTube influencers who are talking about the news and every single conspiracy that's out there and the election is rigged and vaccines and the moon landing, you know, it can mess with your mind a little bit. And you say, Well, how can I mess with my mind? Well, number one, it can cause you to be fearful, which is a great sin in the eyes of the Lord. Because then at that point, you're just kind of like, you know, where's the hope? You know, and what's going to happen? Look at all this evil. The world is evil. I didn't need some influencer to tell me how wicked the world is. But God already told me that. That the imaginations of their heart are only evil continuously. Thank you, Sherlock Holmes, for pointing that out to me, how evil this world is. And do I really need to know every single detail of how evil this world is? Do I really need to see social media posts of children that are being trafficked to know that that's taking place? Do I really need to know how filthy and disgusting the fags are? Do you really need to show me a picture of that for me to know that? Do I need to see drag queens and every filthy thing under the sun to know that this iniquity exists? No, I don't. Be simple concerning evil, the Bible says. But see, here's the thing is that people have a tendency to say, Well, we need to expose all these things. We don't need to expose it because they're already condemned. And anybody who has the Spirit of God dwelling within them doesn't need to delve into evil to know that evil exists. Understand? Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us that we have to just delve into evil to know how evil operates. The Bible says we need to know the truth. And based upon the truth, we're able to filter when things come through our feet, when things come through our eyes, through our ears, and say, Well, obviously I know that's wicked. I don't need to know all the details of that to know how wicked people are or whatever. Don't get carried away with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. And I'm not saying people can't get into constructive type of conversations. But folks, let me say this. Once you start debating and arguing and getting mad at each other, at that point it becomes there's no profit in it. Right? It's not God's will. It doesn't please God. It's not honoring to the Lord. Get off that horse. Okay? And so who is hindering you? Is it the false prophets? Is it, you know, these YouTube influencers? Let's just talk about bad influences. Okay? Because that was obviously the main interpretation of the text. But let's make some applications to people who can hinder you. Let's talk about friends in general, people in general, such as friends, co-workers. Okay? People that can hinder you from serving God. Now let me just say this is that, you know, you need to choose your friends wisely. And don't just be this person that's like, well, anybody can be my friend and I have friends at church but I also have unsafe friends out there. Folks, the Bible clearly tells us that we are not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Let me just explain to you what it means to be unequally yoked. A yoke is something where you put two oxen in to work together. Right? And obviously if you're at a job or something where you have to work with an unsafe person, that's obviously the exception to the rule in the Bible. But if you purposely yoke yourself with an unbeliever outside of work, outside of church, just because you like their company, you know, that person is going to hinder you. And the Bible is telling us don't yoke yourself up with this world. Especially with people who you know can tempt you to do things that you're not supposed to do. You know, you're yoking up with your cousins, with your friends, people who you knew before you committed to the Lord or before you got saved and you're just kind of yoking up with them on the weekends. You're just hanging out with them. And you know, you can always excuse yourself and say, well, you know, but I'm not going to drink with them. I'm not going to smoke with them. I'm not going to go to those places with them. I just want to have them around. But for what though? To win them over to the Lord? It's been five years. It looks like you're not making any progress. It's time to move on. And we move on when someone's not receptive at the door. Use that same principle to move on if your friend's not being responsive to you because they're going to end up winning you over, my friend. You know, you need to choose the right friends. And let me just say this. Okay, you know, friends are valuable. The right type of friends are valuable. And you need to make sure that you have the right perspective on what a friend should do, what a friend should be. According to the Bible. You see, a friend is not just someone you just hang out with to shoot the breeze with or whatever. A friend is someone who actually exhorts you. Okay. The Bible tells us that iron sharpened its iron, so a man sharpened it the countenance of his friend. You know, you're the friends that you, the people you have around you who you consider to be friends, they better be sharpening you up in the Lord. Not making you dull. Not making you dull of hearing. Right? He's saying sharpened you. In other words, hey, they should get you more zealous for the things of God. They should get you more zealous about the Bible, more zealous about soul winning, more zealous about church. Right? And not become dull of hearing where it's just like, well, we don't have to go this week. Let's go hang out. Let's go fish. Let's go swim. Let's go barbecue. Let's go do something else. That's not a friend. You got a friend in need. You got a friend in need. Is that how the song goes? You got a friend in need. Hey, come here. I'll be your friend. And I'll exhort you, you know, to continue in the faith, continue in the Lord, continue soul winning. Look what the Bible says in Hebrews 10, 24. And let us consider one another to provoke unto worldliness, to carnality, to lukewarmness, to lameness, to wickedness, to sinfulness. No, to love and to good works. You should keep, the kind of friends you should have in your life are those who are, you're either influencing to go forward for the Lord or they're influencing you to go forward for the Lord. Right? The kind of friend who will say, let's go to church on Sunday. Are you going to church on Sunday? Well, you know, I'm kind of tired. Get your butt up and let's go to church. You know, go brush your teeth. I'm going to be there to pick you up. I don't really feel like going. Well, you know what? We don't do what we feel like doing. We're supposed to do what we're supposed to do, not what we feel like doing or don't feel like doing. That's the kind of friend you need. And the great thing about the friends here at First Workers Baptist Church is that I believe people are like that. But, you know, they're also enjoyable to be around. Because obviously we want friends that we actually enjoy being around. You know what I mean? Like not annoying and just kind of like holier than dolls and just, you know, the only fun we have here is soul winning, my friend. You're going to have fun today. We're going to have fun, you know. No, they actually enjoy just kind of cutting up and laughing and, you know, messing around. I think that's wholesome. I think that's fine. You know what I mean? I don't think we should ever have this attitude where it's just like, well, today we're going to go to church. We're going to go to a corner. We're going to read the Bible together. And this is our fun. Okay. You know, no one here is like that. And don't have this perception that like that's what we consider to be fun. We actually like to have a good time. And often it's centered around food, you know what I mean? Other times, power lifting. Other times, just hanging around, chopping it up, just talking. And just, you know, just hanging out. I mean, we just like to hang out. You understand? But these are the kind of friends you should have. Not the kind of friends that will make you dumber. Not the kind of friends that will make you worldly or carnal or people that, you know, they're not there for you in times of spiritual adversity. You know, you need a friend who's there with you when you're fighting some spiritual battles. The Bible tells us a friend loveth at all times and a brother is born for adversity. So you need a brother who will laugh with you, laugh at you. But when the stuff starts hitting the fan, they're side by side with you saying we're going to fight this together. You know, I'm here with you. I'm praying with you. Let's fight this battle together. Let's go to war together against Satan, against your flesh, against whatever it is that you're struggling with. Proverbs 18 verse 24 says, A man that hath friends must show himself friendly, and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. I'll be honest with you, you know, I have blood brothers, but I'm way closer to my brothers in Christ than I am to my own physical family and physical brothers. And I much prefer to be around my brothers in Christ than them. Now if you're like, well, my physical brother is actually a Christian and I like hanging out, man, you got it made. That's how it should be, amen. A friend should be someone who actually tells you the truth. The Bible says faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful, the Bible says. Go to Ruth chapter number one if you would, Ruth chapter number one. You know, you should have people around you that are not going to excuse your sin. They'll actually say something to you if you're regressing, right? The kind of people you should have around you are those who, you know, you're like, hey, why weren't you in church? Why weren't you in church? Oh, I didn't really feel that coming. Why? Why are you being lazy? Why are you being that way? You know, sometimes we just need someone like that in our life. Sometimes we need it like, oh, okay, well, you know, hopefully you can make it next week or something. But sometimes you need a friend that sticketh closer than a brother who would say that's a pretty lame reason to not come to church. You should be here tonight. That's the kind of friends you need. Not the friend who will give you kisses that are deceitful, right? Who would just enable you in your lukewarmness, enable you in your lack spirit, in your apathy. We need someone who just kind of gives us a reality check. Amen? Now, this is a passage that I commonly read at weddings and I definitely think that it applies to a marriage. But in context, it's actually talking about friends. These are the kind of friends that you should have, okay? Look at verse 16 of Ruth chapter 1. This is Ruth speaking to her mother-in-law. It says, And Ruth said, And treat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For whither thou goest, I will go. Whither thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me. This is like your first BBF, amen? I mean, best friends forever. So what is Ruth saying? She's like, your people, your church is my church. Your God, your Jesus Christ, that's my God as well. I want to get saved too. I want to serve the Lord just like you're serving the Lord. Wherever you go, I will go. I'm going to be with you until the very end. Now, some of you are just like, man, that sounds like a clingy person. I don't want friends like that. But just take the spirit of the passage that's basically saying this is the kind of friend you would want. What are we seeing here? Loyalty. But loyalty that's based upon biblical principles of being loyal to the Lord Jesus Christ, being loyal to the Bible, etc. And so choose your friends wisely. You know, get away from these lame friends that you have that are trying to get you to compromise God's word. Who don't rebuke you when you commit fornication. Who don't rebuke you when you drink alcohol, when you smoke pot, when you do something that's not pleasing unto the Lord, and they're kind of cool with it, that's not a good friend for you to have. And so get yourself some good friends. And you know, there's a bunch of good friends here. And obviously, you know, there's people in our church that have good friends even in other churches. I think that's great. As long as they're exhorting you to go forward. As long as they're being a good influence on you. But let's talk about, let's get off of friends and let's talk about boyfriends and girlfriends. Huh? Go with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter 10. I'm just going to go ahead and say it. If you have a girlfriend or a boyfriend, first and foremost, they're not saved, you need to just dump them. Okay? If you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend and you're just like, oh, I'm just trying to win them to the Lord, I'm just trying to help them. Okay. But if they're not getting saved, then you need to dump them. Because you're not supposed to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Oh, but she's so pretty and she's so beautiful or whatever. Yeah, but she's like as rotten as in your bones though because she's not even saved. And you know what? Beauty is vain, my friends. And when you get married to that person and you see that she doesn't want to go to church, she wants nothing to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. You see that she doesn't, she's not putting spiritual things as a priority. You know, all that beauty ain't going to do nothing for you. It's meaningless if they don't want to serve God. And if they're just hindering you from doing something as simple as going to church. Folks, if you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend that is hindering you from doing something as simple as going to church, you need to drop them like, I don't know, give me a metaphor. First period gym class. I'd never drop first period gym class. But first period gym class. Drop them like a bad habit. That's the one I was looking for. Thanks though, Brother Alex. Apparently Brother Alex did not like gym class in the first period. That's true. I guess I didn't care when I was... I just hated getting math in my first period. All this critical thinking you have to do. Anyway, we'll talk about it later. You know, drop them like a bad habit. Or how about this, maybe you're dating a saved person who claims to be saved, but they're still hindering you from even doing something as simple as coming to church. And let me make myself very clear, I don't undermine the importance of coming to church at all. I don't know if you noticed that. I do not undermine the importance of going to church at all. And in fact, it's something that I continuously talk about because I know it's an important thing to do. And it should be important to you as well. And you know what, if you have some girlfriend that would rather do X, Y, and Z to come to church on Sunday, that should be a red flag to you that it's something so simple as coming to church, she's trying to keep you from doing that, he's trying to keep you from doing that. You need to break up with that person. Are you trying to control people's lives? No, I'm trying to get you to control your life so you're not a castaway because obviously that person is hindering you. Now if you have a boyfriend or girlfriend and they're in church with you, you should do like a back flip. Like after church, do a back flip. Because that's like a great thing. That's awesome. That's a rare find sometimes. If they're sitting next to you in church today and they're emphasizing the things of God as you are, if they're kind of pushing you to go to church or if they're supporting you and they're there with you, I think that's a great thing. And in fact, you should probably get married. Because here's the thing, there's nothing in the Bible about boyfriends and girlfriends. And there might be like in the modern versions because they're so stupid. But you won't find boyfriends or girlfriends. It's always about like a relationship that leads to marriage. Like the betrothal states. That's often what the Bible refers to there. So if you're dating someone and it's going really well and they're just on board, they love the Lord, they seem to love God's people and they're making God a priority in their life, you better put a ring on that finger before it's too late. Okay? I mean that's a great catch, amen? I hate to make it sound like fishing, but it's a great catch. Because you know what, there's a lot of people out there who don't have that. And so if you're dating someone who's hindering you from spiritual matters, forget them. Forget them. And you know what, whoever girlfriend or boyfriend out there is listening to this and they're getting mad at me because I'm encouraging their boyfriend or girlfriend to drop them, so be it. I'll tell you to your face. Because it's the right thing to do because you're a bad influence on that individual, you're a bad influence on that girl, you're a bad influence on that guy. They're trying to serve God, they're trying to win souls, they're trying to make church an important thing in their life. Stop them from doing that. Which is a wicked thing to do. No one in here should ever impede anybody from serving God to the fullest extent. And don't complain when they just want to go sowing, they want to go to both services, they want to go to Thursday night. You better not complain about that. And if you don't like that, then go find yourself someone else. Go to some Calvary Chapel, find yourself some skinny jean wearing, effeminate dude who loves the long hair Jesus, it's cool just reading one verse out of the Bible a week, and likes going to that lame burger joint where they stack the burger super high and they serve it on a driftwood piece of wood or whatever. If that's what you want, then go do that. But don't hinder a fundamental Baptist, folks. Don't hinder an independent fundamental Baptist from wanting to love the Lord, his or her God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. Okay, well I'm just afraid that I'm not going to find anybody like him. Well yeah, you probably won't, so then why don't you just get right with God and get zealous, right? I mean it's kind of selfish of you to want to get the cream of the crop, but then just kind of dumb him down and make him lukewarm, but you like the quality that he's loyal, you like the quality that he loves the Lord, but you don't want all the responsibilities that comes with that. Being in church faithfully, winning souls to Christ, hating feminism, wanting his wife to be a keeper at home. Where are all the good guys at? In church with good women? So why don't you become a good woman, why don't you become a good man, and then you don't have to get dumped, right? Why don't you actually become that what you need to be? And look, what I'm saying right now is not to tell the guys or the girls who have this hindrance, I'm not trying to give you hope that they're going to change because sometimes they just don't. And if you've been in this relationship that long and they have not changed, you're not going to change them. I think I can change her. I think I can change him. It's not going to happen. My wife has not changed me one bit. We've been married for seven years. I'm the same man today that I was then. I just know more Bible. And I've just gotten a little more strict too. I got a little more zealous. I got a little more crazier. She could tell you. But you know, whatever, I don't think my wife ever went into marriage thinking like I'm going to change him because she knew what she was getting into. She knew this dude was crazy. And but, you know, he's going to make my life exciting. Amen. And don't think don't think that you're going to be able to change him or change her. Folks, what you need to do is dump them like a bad habit. Yes, I said it. Drop them like a bad habit and focus on the things of God. And you know what? You being in the way, the Lord will lead you to the right person. OK. And you know what? You know, what's wrong with the people in here? What's wrong with the dudes in here? What's wrong with the guys here? If there's a guy in our church today and he's going out soul winning, he's in church, he reads his Bible. He loves the Lord. You know, that's a great catch too. You know, because obviously he's a man who probably hates fornication. He hates the things of this world. He loves loyalty. He loves faithfulness. He hates adultery. He loves children. He wants a family. That's a great catch. And he's like, yeah, well, you know, he's a little ugly, though, you know. Who cares? He'll grow on you. You know, I'm just saying I'm just saying, you know, we're talking about bad influences that can hinder you from doing God's work. You know, hinder you in the Christian life, hinder you from going forward. You need to drop those bad influences in your life, young people. You know, drop that girlfriend, drop that boyfriend. And you know what? If all of a sudden when you when you dump that person, now you feel like you're liberated to actually like, you know, go to church, then that's a sign to you. That you just drop this dead weight. And I know there's all types of emotions that you feel or whatever, like, oh, man, you know, I miss this person or whatever. It's for a short time. For a short time. Man up, get in church, win souls to Christ, read the Bible, be a man. And you don't walk in the Spirit and just know this, you know, the blessing of the Lord and make it rich and he had no sorrow to it. So it's not like you're dumping someone to get something that's inferior. God's blessing is always superior than whatever you have right now. If you're out of God's will, if you're not doing things the right way, whatever you have is inferior in comparison to what God has. And you know what you think? Yeah, but I'm not really interested in anybody here. I just don't know if I'm ever going to get married. Forget all that. Why don't you just serve God and just leave it in God's hands and you know, when the time comes, it comes. Just leave it in God's hands. And obviously, you know, go back to my previous point. Maybe you just need to start talking to some of the girls in here. Some of the guys in here. Well, girls, you know, allow the guys to talk to you is what I'm saying. Don't just like, you know, be mean to them or something like that. But look at Matthew Chapter 10, verse 37. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. So is your boyfriend worthy? Is your girlfriend worthy of the Lord? Can you really say of your boyfriend or your girlfriend that they love the Lord, that they're serious about the things of God? Or is it that you're constantly having to play catch up with them? And I'm not talking about marriage. I'm talking about boyfriend or girlfriend because that's a completely different situation. OK. You know, if you're in a relationship, you have a boyfriend or you have a girlfriend, you know, you have a lot more liberty with that to just kind of leave that relationship at any time. And what's up with this? Like these long dating relationships, too. You know, it's time, folks, that we just grow up and go back to like biblical Christianity, biblical marriages. And when we find someone that we recognize this is the person I want to be with the rest of my life. And I want to I want to raise children with this person. I want to have a godly marriage. I want to serve the Lord alongside this person. So let's put a date. Let's get married. Amen. That's a good thing, my friends. But we live in a generation that's just so afraid of commitment. I just don't know if you've been with this person for like five years. OK. You really think it's going to take another five years to change that person? If they haven't changed in those five years, what you see is what you get. Right. And so, you know, dump your boyfriend, dump your girlfriend. I don't care. I think you should. I'm not talking about anybody specific here. I'm talking in generalities because I don't know. I know a couple of people who are dating here, but the people who are dating in here seem to have they haven't made right now. Amen. You know, they're they're they're they're dating the right kind of person. And, you know, they're in church. I mean, if you have your boyfriend or girlfriend here with you in church today, it's a good thing. But here's your sign from God. OK. Time to take it to the next level. Amen. And if this makes you nervous, then you're not ready to get married. You're not ready to grow up, apparently. Shouldn't make you nervous. Shouldn't be like, oh, I feel so much pressure. Pressure's for men. Amen. We deal with pressure and we should take pressure. And you know what I'm saying to you? You should be like, you know what? Yeah. I want to get married. I want to have a family. Yes, I like this Christian life and stuff. I like God's blessing. I want to. It's time. It's time for a new chapter in my life. All right. I'll move on. Who's hindering you? Who's weighing you down? Now, you may think to yourself, well, like my spouse is weighing me down. Right. I feel like my spouse is kind of hindering me from from serving God to my fullest potential. Now, this is obviously a complete different category because you don't this is not dump and divorce. OK, it's there is no divorce. Let me just say this first and foremost is that if you feel like your spouse is hindering you, number one, hey, spouse, get on board. You know, if you if your spouse is the one who's on fire for God and serving the Lord and is constantly wanting to just delve into to doing God's service, you know, you better catch up and not hinder your spouse. From doing that, if you have a wife that is just on fire for God, they want to serve God, they want to just, you know, have a godly home, be a keeper at home. Husbands should not hinder them from wanting that. And in fact, you should catch up and vice versa. You have a husband who just wants to serve the Lord, wants to get on board, just wants to win souls and be in church and make church and the things of God a priority. Don't hinder him from doing that. I mean, it's a wicked thing to do, my friends, to just hold them back and hold them back and hold them back. And here's the thing. Obviously, if you have a spouse that is just kind of falling behind, you know, you want to be patient, bring them along gently. But there comes a point, my friends, where you have to make the decision to say, you know what, I don't want to just be like dead weight on my spouse's agenda. We're not going to get divorced. We're not going to split up. You know, the only other options for me to just catch up. And, you know, marriage will be so much more a blessing when both of you are on the same page and both of you make marriage and serving God a priority. It should be a priority. And, you know, my wife and I, obviously, you know, I'm a pastor, but even prior to being a pastor, you know, the things of God were just a priority to both of us. There's things that we didn't question whether we were going to do because it's a priority to both of us. We both read our Bibles. We both pray. We both go sowing. We both go to church. We both do the things of God because this is what we do. You understand? And if I ever felt like my wife was getting ahead of me spiritually, you know, I'd throw a stone in front of her and say, so I can catch up or do it? No, I'm just kidding. You know, it's time to spend more time in God's Word. It's time to catch up. And obviously the answer is never just leave them behind. Okay? The answer is never leave them behind and you just serve God, you just do that. No, it's not the right thing to do. Okay? If you feel like you're so much more ahead of your spouse spiritually and you're just kind of, you're lapping them, then you do need to slow down and help them come along. But you know what? It takes two to tangle, my friends. And you know, the spouse who has to catch up, you need to catch up. You know, if you have a spouse who's in church, that's half the battle won already. It's half the battle won. If your spouse is in church and they're serving God, you know, all you got to do is take care of yourself. Because what if both of you are just not into the things of God but you're saved? It's hard to get on track when one of you, either of you are not doing what they're supposed to do. But if you have one of you doing that which is right, then you know what? Half the battle is won, get your butt in church, get your butt into doing what you're supposed to do. And I'm exhorting you right now, I'm encouraging you right now, and you may not like this rebuke, you may not like this reproof, but it's fact and I promise you it will help your marriage. Stop having one foot in the church and one foot in the world. Stop being the worldly spouse, stop being the spouse who is just kind of on the fence of things, just get serious about the things of God. Because you know, all this is going to come crashing down one day anyways. This world is going to end one day. And so you need to start getting serious about the things of God and appreciate the fact that you have a spouse. And this is what you don't want, listen to this, because this has happened and it will continue to happen as the years go by. Listen to this. If you're not serious about the things of God and you have a spouse that is, and you're like well I'll get serious one day. Let me just say this, the one day you decide to get serious about the things of God will possibly be the one day when your spouse is no longer serious about the things of God because they're tired of fighting. And then you get to this point where you're just like I want to be in church now and I want to do this and I want to do that. Now my wife and my husband doesn't want. Yeah because you missed the train. You missed the season of opportunity where you could have done it together. And sometimes you know, people get weary, they get tired. They get tired of fighting their spouse to come to church. They get tired of fighting to do the things of God. It wears on them. It wears on them. And then one day you get serious about the things of God. You get zealous and then your spouse is no longer serious about it. And then oh how the tables have turned. Don't let it get to that point. It's a serious issue that happens in many homes. You better get serious about the things of God. And you don't want to be the person in the relationship, in the marriage that is keeping all these blessings from coming to your marriage because of your worldliness, because of your compromise, because you're just not serious. And so I know it's a harsh truth but it needs to be said. Go to Romans 7. Who's hindering you? Who is hindering you that you should not obey the truth? Who is hindering you from doing God's will? And again, let me just say it again. This doesn't mean just leave your spouse behind either. Because it's till death do you part and you know you have a responsibility to bring your spouse along lovingly and reverence them and love them and do whatever you can to help them get on board. Don't just be like, well you got to catch up. Well you better love her so that she's motivated to catch up. You better reverence him so that he's motivated to catch up. Don't be a jerk to your wife. Don't be a loud mouth to your husband. Don't be preaching to your husband, hey you should be doing this, you should be catching up, you should be no more Bible than me. You're just going to push them further away from God, further away from church because men hate that stuff. Preaching to your husband never works. I don't care how good your sermon is. It never works. It literally has the opposite effect on your husband. When you nag your husband and then you add on top of that preaching, oh man. It's just like you know what just for that I'm going to disobey God in every area now. Just because you said that this is what I should do. I'm going to do the exact opposite. That's what preaching to your husband does. Yeah but he needs to hear it. Well not from you though. Not from you. What wins a husband over is their conversation. Is their meek and quiet spirit. Get that meek and quiet spirit. Their reverence towards their husband will win them over. Not nagging them and preaching to them and showing them what Ephesians 5 says. And likewise men you know being rude to your wife and mean spirited towards your wife doesn't work to win your wife over either. You know what obviously we have the liberty to preach to whoever we want but you know what I've learned is preaching to your wife doesn't work either. Preaching to your wife and say hey you need to submit to me and you know as unto the Lord and this is what you should be doing. I've found over the years that doesn't work. Not by personal experience okay. I don't do that to my wife. You say what do you do for your wife? Well you know if I want my wife to do something I just do my best to love her. Be patient with her and be kind to her and be gentle with her because she is the weaker vessel. So it doesn't help to just be like hey stop being a loud mouth. That's in the Bible you know. Stop being such a loud mouth and odious and stop doing all that. You're going to hurt your wife's feelings. And then you're going to make them bitter towards the things of God. You're going to hurt their spirit and you know what it's going to turn out worse for you if you do that. Why don't you just do it like the Bible way which is to love your wife as Christ also loved the church. Okay I know I spend a lot of time on that but it's necessary. So who else can hinder you? Well how about yourself? You know the flesh hinders us. Look at Romans 7 verse 15 it says, For that which I do I allow not, for what I would that do I not, but what I hate that do I. If then I do that which I would not I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing for to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do. Now if I do that I would not it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me. Try to say all that five times fast. What is he saying? He's just saying like this is a battle within me. And often our biggest hindrance is our flesh. So if one of your biggest hindrances is your flesh then you need to make sure you don't position yourself to always give in to the flesh all the time. We have this constant battle with our flesh. And so what we don't need is to feed the flesh constantly by feeding it worldliness, by feeding it the wrong music, by feeding it the wrong things to watch, by feeding it the wrong information. We need to have the upper hand on our flesh. And that comes by situating ourselves in a spiritual place whether that's church, it's in your Bible, it's walking in the spirit that you should not fulfill the lust of the flesh. I'm going to skip a couple of things here. Go to Acts chapter 16 if you would, Acts chapter 16. And by the way sometimes you know people in church can be a bad influence on you too. You got to be careful with that too. And I'm not the Baptist police so I don't go around making sure that everyone's on board with everything because that's just not what I do. But when I'm behind the pulpit it's my responsibility to talk about those things. We need to make sure that we separate ourselves from people that would hinder us from loving our wives as Christ loved the church or from reverencing our husbands. You know I remember back in the day there was a, not at my old church but the church plant that we started, you know there's a woman in leadership who would go around to the ladies in church encouraging them to be on birth control. What the hell? And I remember telling my wife like you're no longer allowed to be around that woman. I do not want you to talk to her at all. Like you guys are not friends anymore because we couldn't do anything about it. They were like in leadership and I just remember thinking to myself like red flag, never again, I don't want this person around my wife. And I don't think my wife would have gotten influenced by it but I don't want my wife to hear that nonsense from someone who we would esteem as being a leader. Because they're leading them in an unbiblical manner. Understand? And there's times when there's women who would just like vicariously or just indiscreetly like encourage women to disrespect their husbands. You need to tell your husband this. It's like what? If I ever found out that there's people like that at our old church or whatever, I'd just tell my wife like you can't hang out with this person anymore. Not because I was afraid that my wife was going to disrespect me because that's just not going to happen. But I just don't want my wife listening to that kind of nonsense. I don't want them to hinder my marriage in any way. Understand? And so you know, and by the way guys, if you're around someone in our church who is just like openly mean and disrespectful towards their wife, you know that's the kind of person you don't want to be around. And we don't need spouses just disrespecting each other in our church either. You know if that's like your culture, that's what you want to do, that's your way of living, keep that at home, don't bring it here. We need to have an atmosphere at our church where it's the known thing that women respect their husbands and reverence their husbands publicly and men publicly love their wives. And not just put them down and just talk all kinds of smack about them. That is not a Christian thing to do. I know it's crazy you have to say that but sometimes I got to say it. You know don't be a public reproach to your husband by putting them down in public before everyone. And don't be a public reproach to your wife by just being this mean spirited person where you just want to be the macho boss and you're just constantly putting down your spouse. It's not right to do it my friends. It's wicked. And I'm not going to control what you do at your home because whatever you do at your home is your business. But don't bring that stuff here. Don't bring that kind of disrespect here. I think it's wrong and by the way you're being a bad example to the children in our church too. You're being a bad example to the little girls in our church that see you disrespecting your husband. You're being a bad example to the kids in our church that see you disrespect your wife. I need to make sure that you know when I'm playing with my wife at home and we're joking that you know my kids don't get the wrong impression right. So I got to like make sure I got to be careful how I talk to my wife. Because you know sometimes my kids they soak it up like a sponge and then they see that. Well you know what the same should be here my friends. Don't be a bad example to the kids in our church because we got a lot of little ones in our church. And right now they're at an age where they're very impressionable. OK. They're very impressionable. They see everything that we do and so we need to take it serious and make sure that we're not doing that. That was for free. That was a bonus. Lastly God can hinder you. Sometimes God hinders you. You know that? Sometimes He can hinder whatever you're doing. He can hinder your progress. He can hinder your success. Maybe it's for your own good. Maybe it's for His glory or maybe He's trying to keep you from sin or keep you from a sinful situation. Sometimes God can stop you from doing things. Look at Acts 16 and verse 5 it says, So were the churches established in the faith and increased in number daily. Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia, they had said to go into Bithynia but the Spirit suffered them not. Now we don't know exactly how that looked. We don't know if God just was in a vision and told them not to go. But I personally think that maybe the Spirit just led them in a different direction. Like just kind of stopped them from doing that and just led them in a completely different direction. And you know sometimes God can do that in our personal lives. God can stop you from getting that job. God can stop you from you know developing a relationship with a person. He can stop you from something because you know He has something else planned or it's for your own good. Now let me say a couple things that I've done in regards to that point. How do you know if the Lord is hindering you? Well here's the thing, if you're doing everything you're supposed to be doing, you're doing God's will, then keep trying. Because you know sometimes people can see like a hindrance and say man maybe it's God who's trying to stop me from doing this. But if all your spiritual ducks are in order, you're in the right place, you're doing the right thing, just take it as you just need to keep trying. And you'll know when the door closes, when you can no longer try. He'll lead you no matter what. So here's the thing, if you're trying to make a decision and you're like man I don't know if this is what God wants for my life. Well here's the thing, if everything else is in spiritual order in your life, just do it. Or if you feel like maybe you shouldn't do it, then don't do it. But here's what you for sure need to do though. Okay, listen to me closely. If you feel you're being led in a direction, you're like this is what I want to do with my job, this is what I want to do, you know I want to marry this person or I want to do this, I want to do that. You're like man is God hindering this situation? Well one, you could either continue to persist and pursue or you can stop. But here's one thing for sure you need to do. You need to make a decision to do either or. So if you're doing God's will and everything is in order and you feel like you're being hindered, you can either have one of two choices. Continue to pursue and God will bless it or don't pursue and God will bless it. Because all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. But if you are just kind of flip-flopping between the two, God will not bless that. And in fact the Bible says, But let him ask in faith nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like the wave of the sea, driven with the wind and toss, for let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. So you're like well I think I'm going to dump her, I think I'm going to dump him. And then you're just like no we're going to continue. Oh I'm going to dump and then like you dump her and then a week later you're like you know let's make up. You know what God's going to do? You're not going to get anything man. You're just going to be a miserable person. I'm not going to have any blessing. Because what God wants from us is decisiveness. Be a decisive person. Not just wavering about like I don't know, I think I'm going to do it, I think I'm not. Just make a decision and do it. Well I'm afraid what's going to happen? If you're serving God it's going to be okay. It's going to turn out together for good, don't worry about it. What you should be worrying about is not making a decision. What you should be worrying about is being double-minded. Because a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Lord if that ever takes place. And so you know if God is hindering you in a situation and you feel like God's hindering you, okay. Well if you're involved in sin and you know that you're involved in sin, maybe He is stopping you. But if you're like well no I think as far as I know everything is on point, everything is where it needs to be, then continue to pursue it if that's what you want to do. Or stop and pursue something else if that's what you want to do. But what you need to do is make sure you make a decision to do either or. And don't flip flop because God is not going to bless that. Amen. What's the question this morning? Who's hindering you? Or are you the one hindering someone? If someone's hindering you, drop them like a bad habit if they're a friend or a boyfriend or girlfriend. If your spouse is hindering you, the spouse needs to catch up but you also need to be patient. Or maybe it's God who's hindering you, you better just make a decision what you're going to do. But at the end of the day we need to be aware of these hindrances because we want to continue to run the race that is set before us. Amen. Let's pray. Father we thank you so much for your word and Lord I pray you help us to have discernment. Maybe there's some truths in discernment that were not palatable for some but it's what needs to be said and I pray that Lord you'd help them to receive it and help them to be humble to receive it Lord. And Lord if there's someone here who maybe has a friend or they're in a relationship that's hindering them spiritually, help them to make a decision based upon their spirit not based upon their emotions. And may you bless them, lead them, guide them, help us Lord as your people to continue to discern the great decisions that we have in this life and to avoid these hindrances. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, where rivers of pleasure I see. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, that shadows a dry thirsty lamb. He hideth my life in the depths of His love and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, He taketh my burden away. He holdeth me up and I shall not be moved, He giveth me strength as my day. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, that shadows a dry thirsty lamb. He hideth my life in the depths of His love and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand. With numberless blessings each moment He crowns, and buildeth His fullness divine. I sing in my rapture, O glory to God, for such a Redeemer as mine. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, that shadows a dry thirsty lamb. He hideth my life in the depths of His love and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand. When clothed in His brightness, transported I rise to meet Him in clouds of the sky. His perfect salvation, His wonderful love, Thou shalt with the millions on high. He hideth my love in the cleft of the rock, that shadows a dry thirsty lamb. He hideth my life in the depths of His love and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand. Amen. Wonderful scene. You are dismissed. .