(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to be singing What a Day That Will Be. Welcome to Church Foundation Baptist Church. If you find your seats and grab your blue song books and turn to page number 515. We'll be singing What a Day That Will Be. And after that we're going to be singing favorites. So start thinking about your favorite songs in this blue hymn book. I'll try to pick on you if I can. Song 515, What a Day That Will Be. Sorry about the closing out. Get on the first. There is sun in the day With no heart or age to come No more clouds in the sky No more tears live in the eye All is peace forevermore On that happy, golden shore What a day, glorious day that will be What a day that will be When my Jesus I shall see When I look upon his face The one who saved me by his grace When he takes me by the hand And leads me through the promised land What a day, glorious day that will be There'll be no sorrow there No more burdens to bear No more sickness, no pain No one's hurting over there And forever I will be With the one who died for me What a day, glorious day that will be What a day that will be When my Jesus I shall see When I look upon his face The one who saved me by his grace When he takes me by the hand And leads me through the promised land What a day, glorious day that will be I'm gonna get you some wine, sweetie, too. She wants 466. 466. Oh, man, I don't know this song, either. You guys keep on picking the songs that Brandon knows. Miss Crystal, you got a different song? I'm just kidding. Okay, I'll fix it. 462. 463. His eyes on the sparrow. Song 43, his eyes on the sparrow. Teeth on the first. Why should I feel this courage? Why should the shadows come? Why should my heart be lonely? And long for that at home When Jesus is my portion My constant friend is he His eye is on the sparrow And I know he watches me His eye is on the sparrow And I know he watches me I sing because I'm happy I sing because I'm free For his eye is on the sparrow And I know he watches me 39. 39. That's the man with the case right there. My favorite man is on number 39. Crown him with many crowns. Sleep down first. Crown him with many crowns The lamb upon his throne. Our galler, hamly, and drear All music but its own Await my soul and sing On him who died for thee And heaven has a matchless game Through all eternity. There's certainly goodness in verse, so let's sing on the first. A pilgrim was I and a wandering In the cold light of sin I did roam When Jesus the fine shepherd found me And now I am on my way home Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days, all the days of my life Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days, all the days of my life And I shall bow in the house of the Lord forever And I shall feast at the table spread for me Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days, all the days of my life All the days, all the days of my life I don't know if I know this song. You said. I know. I'll come back and read a different one. I'm so sung, I feel bad. Beaming. It's 31. 31. Song number 31. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty. Sing a verse. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation. Oh my soul, praise Him for He is my health and salvation. For ye who hear, now to hear sample draw near. Join me in glad adoration. The B.I.D.L.E. You got a number for it? The Emmy don't get nothing. Huh? 199, the B.I.D.L.E. The shirt from Daisy Classic. 199. The B.I.D.L.E. Let's see, I've only got one verse. The B.I.D.L.E. Yes, that's the book for me. I stand alone on the Word of God. The B.I.D.L.E. Fireball! You don't even need to do your turn. Ms. Dixie? 437. 437. Send the light. Song 47. Let's keep going. The verse. There's a fog from dreaming out her restless wake. Send the light. Send the light. There are souls who reign. There are souls who sing. Send the light. Send the light. Send the light. Let blessing gospel light. Let it shine from shore to shore. Send the light. Let blessing gospel light. Let it shine forevermore. Ms. Chris, you got the song, then? 16. 16? Yeah. Number 16. Heaven came down before it does my soul. Ooh. Let's see if you get on that verse. Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day. I will never forget. After I wandered in darkness away, Jesus, my Savior, I met. Oh, what a tender, compassionate friend. He met the need of my heart. Shadows dispelling with joy and telling. He made all the darkness depart. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. When at the cross the Savior made me whole, my sins were washed away and my night was turned to day. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Pass the psalms. 438. 438? Jesus what? Let's do it. 438. So you get to get on that first. Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world. Pass the psalms. No. No. You can deal it to your wife if you want. But Chris. 491. No. Stand up for Jesus. 491. Stand up. Stand up for Jesus. The first. Stand up. Stand up for Jesus. Jesus, we soldiers of the cross. Where fire's royal manner, it must not suffer loss. From victory unto victory, His armies shall He lead. Every foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed. Ms. Rachael. 81. 81. We'll have two more after this. We're in the whole room. Mary couldn't scare us. Mary, I think I can scare you more. I'm like, oh, can you feel bad? It's all 80 points. Bring your eyes upon Jesus. We'll sing on the first. Oh, soul, are you weary and troubled, a light in the darkness you see. There's life more of a God than a Savior, and life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full at His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Jack. 273 on the third. 273 on the third. We'll have the last song after this. Song 273. I heard the bells on Christmas Day. Can I pick for Mom here? No Christmas songs. I got a pizza. I'm sorry. It's too far now. Jack. I'll pick on you next time, Jack. But this time, I'll pick Catholic. Wait, which one? Liberty or the Catholic? Catholic, no? 523. 523. 523. My Savior, first of all, let's sing on the first. When my life work is ended and I cross the swelling, when the bright and glorious morning I shall see, I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side, and His smile will be the first to welcome me. I shall know Him, I shall know Him, and Redeem by His side I shall stay. I shall know Him, I shall know Him, by the print of the nails in His hand. That's all. 323. 323. Be thou my vision. Nice. Song 323. Sing on the first. Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. God be all those to me, safe at thou art. Thou my best thought, by day or by night, waking or sleeping, thy presence my light. Good afternoon. Welcome back to Sherriff Foundation Baptist Church. I'm going to go over to Bolton again real quickly. I think we might be out of Bolton. We have one left. On the top cover we have our verse of the link. It says, likewise you husbands dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor to the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together with the grace of life, and prayers to be not mattered. So it's the first year, chapter three, verse seven. There's scripture there. Now we're going to Valentine's Day. Sweethearts and all that stuff. We had our sweetheart banquet last night. It went really well. Very well decorated. Really great job by the volunteers. I appreciate them. Of course, I appreciate my lovely wife, Ms. Sherry. I was wondering why I was hurting so bad when I got home last night. I realized that I walked eight miles yesterday. I counted how many steps I did and it was like double what I'm doing today. So it was pretty rough. But I'm feeling okay today. But we had a pastor, he had preached for us last night. Of course, he preached for us this morning. So we'll probably upload that sermon from last night so everybody can get a chance to listen to a really good sermon. And the one this morning, the livestream fried out on us. So we're not livestreaming except for on one of our channels, which is on the phone with everybody. I just don't want to risk losing the good audio of Pastor McGee's hair. I mean, not audio, but the visual of Pastor McGee's hair while he's up here listening. You know, we're going to have to like put a picture with the audio or something and slice it together. So we'll try to get a good one. Maybe we'll put the me and you standing over the machine gun or something. But anyway, I'm sorry about that for anybody who was listening on the livestream when it kind of went out. So we got fail safes for this afternoon. So it was really great to hear the message this morning about getting crowns and really hopefully that helps motivate some people to just, if you're out of the fight, get back in the fight. You know, it's a battle. We're in a war. We're a spiritual war of men. So anyway, I'll get on with the announcements here. We have Pastor McGee one more time today. And so it's going to go. It's going to be one of those sermons. I'm preparing so he has to preach something really hard. Something really edifying and at the same time ripping his face. He already said he was going to anyway, so I'm not like making him do anything. So he'll be here for one more service. And then we're going to head over to the Mongolian Grill afterwards and have a little fellowship. I got the back room for anybody who wants to show up. I'm not saying which Mongolian Grill it is. It's a Mongolian Grill. It's a battleground. So anyway, it actually isn't long with you. 45 minutes live. You know where to go. So anyway, we'll be doing that. So service time for Sunday morning at 10.30 PM. And our Thursday Bible studies. We'll be back in Hebrews chapter 5 to finish off the rest of that chapter. It's morning today. But thanks for going. For the labor. You have one too? I have two. Sweet. You're rewarded any of the full reward. So good job. All right. So you saw these for the afternoon and then you see the print report all the stats down there. And then you have a homeschool activity on the 15th. And that's at 11.45 PM. And see Miss Rachel if you have any questions about that. February 21st, we have the sewing class here at the church building at 4 PM. See if there's any questions about that. And March 7th and 8th is the next-gen youth rally at the Baptist Church in Sacramento, California. March 17th through 19th is the four-year Spokane anniversary. Our church plant over there. And Tester, the rest of them will be preaching for us on Friday night. We're preaching both sermons on Sunday. And then April 13th through 17th is going to be the Detroit sewing trip. We've got a new video we're going to put up about that. We'll have more details. Obviously we'll have to keep some of the details private because we can't say anything without these freaks trying to shut us down. Anyway, the Canadian conference will be here May 20th, 20th, 20th. And our payment in your church. You guys all know all this other stuff. I'm just going to skip through it. But again, happy birthday to Ms. Kathleen. And that's all I've got for announcements. Let's sing another song. He is mine. Song number 129. He is mine. Long before the fall of man. He designed a master plan. He exchanged the sinner for the sinless one. Jesus left his throne on high. Came to earth to be and die. He said, Father, not my will, but God be done. He is mine. He is mine. I am blessed beyond all measure. He is mine. I have bought and fallen free. Through the blood he shed for me. Saved forever I shall be. He is mine. Through God's mercy and his grace. He's prepared for us a place. Words cannot describe the matchless beauty there. He will praise the perfect Lamb. King of kings, the great I Am. He has made the joys of heaven a source to share. He is mine. He is mine. I am blessed beyond all measure. He is mine. I have bought and fallen free. Through the blood he shed for me. Saved forever I shall be. He is mine. Amen. Can we take another moment to bless the offering for us? Father, thank you for another great day in church, Lord. Thank you for the two salvations, Lord. Thank you for Pastor Mejia taking time out of his schedule to come bless our church like that, Lord. I pray you bless him. Bless this offering. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 22, Matthew and North Luke. If you do not have a Bible, you can raise your hand and I'm not sure we'll bring you one. We'll read the entire chapter of our testimony. Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him, for they feared the people. Then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them. And they were glad and covenanted to give him money. And he promised and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude. Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the Passover, that we may eat. And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, wearing a pitcher of water, following him into the house where he entereth him. And he shall say unto the good men of the house, The master saith unto thee, Where is the guest chamber, where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room furnished, there make ready. And they went and found as he had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover. And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. And they took bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. And truly the son of Mandoeth as it was determined, but well unto that man by whom he is betrayed. And they began to inquire among themselves, Which of them it was that should do this thing? And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest? And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so, but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at me, or he that serveth, is not he that sitteth at me, but I am among you, as he that serveth. Your values have continued with me in my temptation, and I have appointed unto you a kingdom, as my father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter, that the cock shall not prove this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse and sprit and shoes, lacked ye anything, and I said, nothing. Then he said unto them, But now he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his sprit, and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. For I say unto you, that this that is written must be accomplished in me, and he was reckoned among the transgressors, for the things concerning me have an end. And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords, and he said unto them, It is enough. And he came out and went as he was wont to the mouth of Olives, and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, and as sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, and said unto them, Why sleep ye? Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. And while they yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? When they which were about him saw them and followed, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword? And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him. Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders which were come unto him, Be ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves? When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness. Then they took him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest's house. And Peter followed far off. And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them. But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with him. And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not. And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not. And about the space of one hour, after another, confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth, this fellow also was with him, for he is a Galilean. And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately while he upspayed the cock crew. And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out, and wept bitterly. And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him. And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is that that smote thee? And many other things blasphemously spake they against him. And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people, and the chief priests, and the scribes came together, and led them into their counsel, saying, Art thou the Christ? Tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, you will not believe. And if I also ask you, you will not answer me, nor let me go. Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God. Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am. And they said, What need we further witness? But we ourselves have heard of his own mouth. Father Chris, we thank you. Father God, I thank you and appreciate the fact that you brought us all here together in your name to pray and worship and to listen to the preaching of your will and your law. Father God, I ask that you please visit Pastor Mejia as he instructs us on your will. As he instructs us on how to walk in the Spirit and get close to you, Father God. In the name of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, God the Son. Amen. Amen. Alright, it's great to be here once again this afternoon, early evening, late afternoon. I don't know what you guys call here. You guys do it different here. But it's great to be here. What a blessing to be with Church Foundation. I love this church. I love your pastor. I love the congregation. And we're going to get right into it. And so the first thing I want to mention before I preach is that Remi, you had one job. And I'm singing my song. It's another creative impression that I've gotten from Church Foundation Foundation. Church Foundation leaders. That's all. The title of this sermon this evening is why Satan is after this church. Or another title could be why Satan hates this church. And just know this beyond a shadow of a doubt, Satan hates this church. And I know a lot of people hate this church. But they hate it because Satan hates this church. In fact, look at Luke chapter 22 verse 31. It says, And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. And I prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. This is some powerful words from Jesus Christ to the disciple Peter. And just put yourself in Peter's sandals for a minute. Just hearing those words come out of the mouth of Jesus Christ. You're there and the Lord turns to you and says, hey, Satan wants you. And he's desired to have you, he wants to sift you as wheat. In other words, he wants to attack you, he wants to cause you to fall, he wants to cause you to stumble. He wants to do something to your life. But I prayed for you, that your faith fail not. And then he says this, and when thou art converted. Now those are some pretty awesome words there too because Jesus Christ is telling him you're going to overcome this. You're going to be converted. And by the way, when thou art converted doesn't mean that he got saved again or something. There's some stupid teaching out there that tries to say these weird wannabe pastors like Adam Fannin that basically said that this verse basically means that Peter had to get saved again in the New Testament or something. Converted simply means that he was transformed once again. And because of the fact that once he was attacked by Satan, he was able to overcome that temptation, that attack. When he was converted, so to speak, he essentially was able to strengthen his brother and essentially help them to fulfill God's will as well. These are some pretty powerful words, but it shows us that there are seasons in a person's life or in a church's life where Satan targets that person. Satan targets that church. And when I look at Sure Foundation Baptist Church, I just see a huge target on this church. I see a huge target on the preaching. I see a huge target on the man of God. I see a huge target on the congregation. And I'm here to tell you tonight that Satan has a desire to have you. Satan has a desire to have you that he may sift you as weak. But not only that, you know, Satan hates you. He hates this church. He has recruited many people to hate this church as well. He's caused infiltrators to come in and try to take this church down. And so I want to talk about that this afternoon. No doubt that Satan does hate this church. His agents hate this church. And it should come as no surprise. And you know, this story is found in the New Testament, but it's very similar to what we see in Job chapter 1. Where we see that Satan is going about the earth. He's walking to and fro. He's essentially seeking whom he may devour. And the Lord comes to Satan and he basically says, Has thou considered my servant Job? But there is nothing like it. And of course, Satan takes the challenge there. And he says, Does Job fear God for not? So we obviously know that when Satan attacks a person or a church, you know, God obviously knows about it, right? And in fact, I would even say that God allows it because he is seems that person or that congregation is being worthy of that type of attack. So when you think about your church and everything that it's gone through, you know, all the attacks, persecutions, all of the death threats, all the lawsuits or whatever it may be, just know this. It means that your church is a worthy church. You should esteem your church as being a great church because of all the attacks that it has suffered. And it's showing us, it's showing me, it should show you that God obviously holds this church to a very high standard. To the point where he said, Has thou considered sure foundation of the Baptist church? And of course, Satan will continue to attack this church because he hates it. Go with me to Acts chapter four. We'll come back to Luke 22 at the end of the sermon. We'll go to Acts chapter number four. I'm going to give you some pretty obvious reasons tonight as to why Satan is after this church. So let me say this. If you're a weenie, if you're a sissy of a Christian, you should go to a different church. You shouldn't be at this church. If you can't handle the persecution, if you can't handle the criticism, if you can't handle the attacks, if you can't handle, you know, Satan coming after this church and after your pastor, you can't handle the lawsuits, you can't handle the hard preaching, then you should go to some other church. Go to some other church where, you know, the pastor, you know, Satan doesn't even know who he is. It's like, who? Pastor who? Why would I even know that person? You know, Paul I know, Jesus I know, who are you? If you don't like conflict, you don't like affliction, you don't like persecution, you don't like drama or something. And by the way, everyone loves drama. Don't give me that. We all love a little bit of drama in our lives. We all love a little bit of, we like that a little bit of excitement in our lives. Amen. But if you don't like that stuff and you're just like, well, I just want to serve the Lord without distractions and not have anything bad, then go to some wee Baptist church where they don't preach hard, where they don't teach you doctrine, where they don't do so many, where Satan doesn't even know that church exists. Okay. And you live a mediocre, average Christian life that won't count for eternity. But if you want to do something great for God, if you actually want your life to count for the Lord, if you actually want to be a target, then be at this church. Let me give you a couple reasons why Satan is after this specific church. Number one, obviously, it's because you follow Jesus Christ. That's one of the main reasons why Satan is after this church. It's because of the fact that you follow the Lord Jesus Christ by reading his word and preaching it. Okay. Look at Acts chapter 4 and verse 13. It says that when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, let's talk about the Pharisees here, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. And they took knowledge of them, listen to this, that they had been with Jesus. It should come as no surprise when you come here, you recognize a couple people that are obviously walking with the Lord. So people know their Bibles, the pastor knows the Bible, they're being obedient to the faith. You have been with Jesus, so to speak, because you read his word. Verse 14 says, and beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they can say nothing against it. So aside from the fact that they had been with Jesus, they had done some works that were very evident. It's evident that God's hand was on them. Verse 15 says, but when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they could burn among themselves, saying, what shall we do to these men? For that indeed a notable miracle had been done by them as manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem. We cannot deny it. What is it saying? They're saying, we've got to figure out what to do with these guys. Because they're doing some pretty amazing works. The truth of the matter is, we can't deny it. There's no fighting against the truth. There's obvious, some pretty hardcore evidence here that God is working in this area here by the hands of the apostles. And you know what? The same can be said of this church. You can have whatever criticisms you want of new IFB churches or fundamental Baptist churches or this pastor or that pastor, but at the end of the day, look at the fruit that it's produced. People that have turned to righteousness, people who love the word of God, people who have won others to Jesus Christ. A notable miracle has been done here. It can't be denied. It says in verse 17, but that it spread no further among the people. It's like, yeah, a great miracle is done, but we've got to make sure it doesn't continue though. Bunch of haters. So it's like, man, they healed this guy. He's walking. This is obviously God's hand is on this person, on these two guys. But let's make sure it doesn't go further than that. That it spread no further among the people. Let us straightly threaten them. Let's put their address online. Let's shut down their channels. Let's bring lawsuits against them. Let us straightly threaten them that they speak henceforth to no man in this nation. They think that by threatening them, coming to them and saying all manner of evil against them, that somehow that's going to cause them to apologize and say, well, you know, I didn't really mean what I said in that sermon. I really just want to say I apologize for everything I've done, everything I've said, you know, because they don't want them to continue to preach that way. And they called them, verse 18, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. Peter and John answered and said unto them, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye, for we cannot but speak to things which we have seen and heard. And so their response is, you judge within yourselves if you think what I'm saying is right, but I don't really care if you think what I'm saying is right or wrong. I'm still going to say it because I can't speak with the things which I have seen and heard. All I can do is talk about what I've read in the Bible. All I can do is preach about what the Bible tells me to preach. And if you think it's wicked, you think it's bad, you think it's unpilical, that's on you. I'm not going to change my message based upon your opinion. This is the attitude of the apostles and this is the attitude of Sure Foundation Baptist Church. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them because of the people, for all men glorified God for that which was done. Go to 1 Kings chapter 22. 1 Kings chapter 22. So the first point is, you know, Satan's after this church because of the fact that this church is obviously following the Lord Jesus Christ, following the commands of the Lord. We see that this church is fulfilling the great commission. It's preaching the gospel to every preacher. I see the map back there and everything that's being done. I was just looking at it right now. I mean, that's a lot of area that's been covered so far. I mean, a lot of work's been done. There's people in church. There's people that have been turned to righteousness in this church. A notable miracle has been done and it can't be done without Jesus. But, you know, that's not the only thing. Because the truth is, one of the reasons Satan hates this church and the reason he's after it is because of that man's preaching. You see, when you preach a certain way, when you say certain things, when you use certain passages, it pisses off a lot of people. It makes a lot of people mad. You're like, well, yeah, the unsaved are given. No, no, not just them. We're talking about just Christians in general get mad too. Oh, yeah, people who think that they're Christians. Yeah, yeah, them too. But I'm talking about even people who are saved get mad. You know, a lot of Christians out there who are saved, they get upset when they hear this type of preaching. They don't like that kind of preaching because it's challenging them and it's calling out their lapidazical spirit. It's calling out their mediocre spirit. It's challenging them to actually get on the ball in this matter of Christianity. And so they don't like him getting up here and preaching the word of God and preaching hard and preaching hard against sin because it makes them look bad. Look at 1 Kings 22 and verse number 7, it says here, And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides that we might inquire of him? The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him. So all these preachers are coming up and, you know, these two kings are like, you know, let's go off and take Ramoth, Gilead. And then, you know, one of the kings is like, we should inquire. We should ask God what we should do. And so they get all these prophets, and all these prophets are a bunch of Joel Steens, a bunch of Rick Warrens, a bunch of Paul Chapel types. And they're like, go up, it's yours, you know, God's going to give it to your hand. It's like a positive only kind of message, right? So then the king of Israel is just like, well, is there anybody else? They all seem to be saying the same thing, so I don't know, it seems kind of sus, you know. And then, you know, one of the kings is like, well, this guy Micaiah, we can inquire of him, but I hate that guy. He says, I hate him, for he does not, does he hate him because he's a heretic? Does he hate him because he doesn't really preach God's word? Does he hate him because he's not really following the Lord, he's a prophet of Baal or something? No, he says, I hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. So he's just like, I hate this guy because he's always preaching hard against me. He's always calling me out. You know, Pastor Thompson gets up and he calls me out for nagging my husband. He calls me out for being effeminate. He calls me out for being lazy. He calls me out for all these things. I hate this guy. But that's not a legitimate reason to hate someone. They're basically saying, I hate him because he actually preaches the Bible, he actually tells me what I need to hear. That's Micaiah, right? And then it says, and Jehoshaphat said, let not the king say so. Like, hey, relax, don't exaggerate. Skip down to verse 12. And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, go up to the very mouth of Gilead and prosper. For the Lord shall deliver it into the king's hand. These are these false prophets for prophesying falsely and they're just saying, yeah, go and prosper. You know, throw your, send in your money and your offering here and you're going to prosper and you're going to succeed and all these things. Verse 13, the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth. Let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them and speak that which is good. They're like, hey, okay, you see how they're all saying the same thing? Okay, Pastor Thompson, why don't you go ahead and play along. And you say some good things too. Micaiah said, is the Lord livid? What the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak. So he came to the king and the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth Gilead to battle or shall we forbear? And he said, he answered him, go and prosper. The Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. This is the most insincere answer he gave. He's not lying to him. He's kind of being insincere about it. He's like, go and prosper. You know, just, yes. Go and prosper. But the Lord shall deliver it into thy hand. And he's kind of like, the king said unto him, how many times have I had a dragon that did not tell me nothing which is true in the name of the Lord? And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills as sheep that have not a shepherd. And the Lord said, these have no master. Let them return every man to his house in peace. So the guy gets mad at Micaiah. He's like, I told you to only tell me the truth. And Micaiah's like, all right, you're basically done. Basically what I saw was all your people scattered because they had no shepherd because you're done for. You're going to lose. Verse 18, and the king of Israel said unto Joshua, did I tell thee that you would promise I know good concerning me but evil? So it's just like, you can't win with these people. He gets mad because he doesn't tell the truth. And when he does tell them the truth, he gets mad anyways. This is why when I preach, I just let it win. Because you're going to get mad at me no matter what. Right? Now the people who are sensitive to God's word, who love the Bible, they're going to like it no matter what. You know what? The people who are constantly getting mad at the man of God for what he preaches, they're going to get mad at him whether he preaches hard or he preaches good concerning them. Right. They're going to get mad even if he gets up and preaches a TED talk to them, a positive only sermon, they'll get mad at that message just as much as they'll get mad when he rips on them. So you might as well just rip all the way because it doesn't really matter because they're going to get mad no matter what. You see, thank God that this church follows Jesus Christ. Thank God that Pastor Thompson follows Jesus Christ because he's not here to please anyone but Jesus Christ. So therefore, he has the liberty to just say whatever the hell he wants to say. Yeah, get it. Based upon God's word. Amen. I don't like that kind of preaching, you know. You're making me feel uncomfortable. Well, it's about time. And so, look, this shows us here, it didn't please them either way. If he preached good unto them, it wouldn't have helped them. So you might as well tell them what God's word says and let them follow what they mean. That's right. This church is going to tell you the truth, my friends. Because this church is obviously following Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us, you don't have to turn there, go with me to John chapter 15. John chapter 15. The Bible says in John 17 verse 14, I have given them thy word in the world that hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. One thing that will cause Satan to hate you is when you stand up for God's word. When you preach God's word, when you live God's word, when you proclaim God's word, that will cause him to hate you and come after you. But you know what? If you don't want any conflict in your life, don't read the Bible then. If you don't want any conflict in your life, don't obey the Bible. But you know what? If you want rewards, if you want to be blessed by God, you obey the Bible. You support the man who is obeying the Bible. You support the man who is preaching the Bible. The Bible says in John chapter 3 verse 20, For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deed should be reproofed. You know, sometimes I'll preach at my church, and a lot of the, not a lot of times, but sometimes, I'll preach at my church all the time actually, but sometimes when I preach at my church, I'll have people come up to me and be like, you're preaching against me. You're preaching against me. I know you're preaching against me. And you know what I told them? Yeah? What do you want me to say? You came to this church. But here's the thing, when I preach at my church, I'm preaching against everyone there. And they're just like, you just preach against this or whatever. You preach against me because of this. And it's just like, well, you gave me content. And here's the thing, I'll tell them like, you chose to come here. You came here knowing that I will say some crazy stuff and I might preach against your sin. So that's your fault for coming, you know? So look folks, if your pastor preaches against you, if he gets up and starts calling you out, and you know that he's talking about you, you know he's calling out your sin, you know that he's stepping on your toes, you came here for that. And you know why? You came here so you can correct that in your life, so you can be a better Christian. Yeah, but he's stepping on my toes. Well, sometimes we need our toes to get stepped on to wake us up. And get us back on track. Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light. You don't hate the light though. We come to the light so that our deeds can be made manifest that they're a rotten God. We come here to confirm that we're actually serving the Lord. And I'm not saying when pastor Thompson starts preaching against your husband or your wife, that's your thing to just start jabbing them. You know what I'm saying? I told you, you know? I'm saying apply it to yourself and make sure you are a doer of the word, not just a hero. Only the Bible says in John 7 and 7, the world cannot hate you, but we have hated, because I testify it, that the works thereof are evil. Satan hates this church because of the fact that, you know, this church follows Jesus Christ. And because we follow Jesus, we are commanded to testify of the works of this world that they are evil. You know, it's his responsibility to get up and rip on all the filthiness of this culture, all the filthiness of the public fool system, all the nonsense in Hollywood, all the faggotry and transvestite crap that's being pumped through YouTube and social media. It's his job to get up and expose that nonsense to help you to understand this is not the way we're supposed to act and think as Christians. We support this nonsense. You come here to get your mind renewed and transformed. The reality is, you know, you're going to work and you're living your life and we're in this world, and so as we're in this world, we're going to have things come through our mind, through our eye gate and through our ear gate. We need to come to the house of God to have our minds renewed by the preaching of God's word. Sometimes we come here with bad ideologies, my friends. Feminism, right? Feminism can get, you know, can infiltrate the mind of young Christian women, and you know what? You need to come to church and hear a sermon against feminism. Being a feminine little punk is something that happens to the young men of our generation. So you need to come to church and hear a sermon against being feminine and stop acting like a little faggot. You know, making sure that you are acting like a man, talking like a man, behaving like a man, because folks, this is a biblical thing to do. You need to hear that. And you're like, oh man, I don't like that. It makes me feel uncomfortable. Of course it does because you've been in the world for so long. You think that stuff is normal. You know, this is why, and look folks, there's a problem with this generation. There's a problem with the young men in this generation where they're just not strong enough to bear the infirmities of this lifetime. They're not able to bear the infirmities of this world because of the fact that they've been taught to simp over girls all the time or something. They're taught to simp over girls. They're taught to just, you know, yield and just be submissive and just be soft and weak, and therefore there's no man to fight the battles. So you need to come to church to hear him rip on that so that you man up. You know, stop being a little spiritual vegetarian or something, a little spiritual vegan. It's time to get the meat of the word, amen. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. I'll tell you why Satan hates this church is because of preaching like that. Don't worry, I'm not going to be here next week. It's good to go, you know. That's why I'm dropping the bomb today. Boom, then you never have to see me again. I have a YouTube channel if you want to check it out though. It's up to you. You're in John chapter 15. Why does Satan, why is Satan after this church? Because it follows Jesus. And not only that, because many mighty works are wrought by this church. I mentioned this in the beginning, but you know the works of this church pose a threat to Satan's kingdom. When people are getting saved, when young people start serving the Lord, when young ladies are being feminine, and young men are being strong, and men are leading their wives, and women are submitting to their husbands, and families are being built, and people are being turned to righteousness, that poses a major threat to this community. You say, well that's bad then. No, no, it's good for the community, it's bad for the wicked people of this community. His agents also hate this church because of that, and it should come as no surprise. The Bible says in John 15 verse 23, He that hateth me, hateth my father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin. But now have they both seen and hated both me and my father, but this cometh the past, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, they hated me without a cause. I mean folks, this is the local New Testament church, and we have every right to get behind this pulpit and preach the Bible, right? We have people out there who feel like it's their job to determine what we do in here, right? They're like, well you can't preach that. Says who? He's like, well you can't just get up and preach that, you don't go to this church! You're not even a Christian! One of the most annoying things for me to see is for atheists and people who don't believe in God trying to teach me how to be a Christian. Right? What? People who try to tell me how to be like Jesus when they don't even believe in Jesus. People try to tell me, oh, what Jesus would have done, how would you know? You never read the Bible! How are you going to tell me how to be a Christian when you're not even saved? You're going to hell in a hand basket. You're like a Nicodemus and you're trying to tell me how to be a Christian? I mean, it's nonsense, my friends. That's why we don't esteem the knowledge of this world in regards to salvation, Christianity, and biblical teachings, because the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can be known for their spiritual discernment. That's right. And so, but you know what, they hate us without a cause though. And look, they're like, yeah, but he preaches against the LGBTQ or whatever. Then turn it off! Isn't there like an X button that can click where it closes the screen in the sermon, the Batman goes away? Doesn't that exist? Isn't there like something on the computer where it's just like, you know, when your ears start bleeding because you can't handle the preaching, and your estrogen levels are so high, you just like, men start going on their cycle or something like that, and you just like click the X button and then just turn the bad man off so he doesn't talk anymore? But you know what, this generation can't handle that. But they think, oh, you know, we should shut them down and shut down their YouTube channels and shut down their church and do all this. But you know, at the end of the day, it's because mighty works are being done in this church. Folks, you know, and by the way, they also say this. They're like, oh, you guys are uneducated, a bunch of uneducated Christians, and you and your small little churches. Well, if we're so small, then why are you worried about us? That's right. If we're so small, and it's so insignificant, and so unlearned and uneducated, then go bother someone else. Why are you scared? Why are you so afraid that we're going to have influence if we're just a bunch of dumb, uneducated fundamentalists, you and your small little channels, then why are you trying to shut it down? That's right. You see what I'm saying? I'll tell you why, because many mighty works are being done here, and they know it's a fact, my friends. Right. They can try to degrade and talk down on churches like ours and talk down in this church as much as they want to, but at the end of the day, the very fact that they're investing so much effort in shutting him down in this church shows that it poses a threat. Right. They hated me without a cause, you know. It's not like we're going door to door. Look, folks, we go door to door to go preach the gospel. We're not going to door to door preaching the referee doctrine. No, if someone asks, I'll tell them the referee doctrine. And in fact, I've had a lot of people saved because of the referee doctrine. Because there's so many unsaved people out there that are so sick and tired of churches that are like, well, yeah, he's a pedophile, but he can still get into heaven. You know, he can still make, because Jesus just loves everyone. And unsaved people are like, you guys are idiots. And to all of you out there, I apologize on their behalf because they are idiots. But you know what, when someone tells me that, I'm like, Romans 1. And they're just like, what must I do to be saved? They're like, say less. Because it helps, my friends. My good works are being done here, and that's why Satan hates this church. And you think to yourself, yeah, just all this drama and all this stuff. It just rubs me the wrong way or whatever. But folks, it's confirmation that God is doing right now. Because, listen to this, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So let's think about that verse for a second. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So if you don't have persecution, that probably means you're not living godly in Christ Jesus. It's not that hard, right? So then if a church is suffering persecution, is that an indicator it's just a bad pastor? No, it's actually an indicator that the church is a godly church. Because if there was no conflict, no persecution here, that would mean this church is not a godly church. That would mean that this church is capitulating to every whim of the culture. It would be like a republican political church, where it's just trying to please everyone. It's a church that would be talking out of both sides of its mouth and basically trying to please both sides or something like that. But you know when we please Jesus Christ though, the Bible says that Jesus brings that division. And so this is drama about the church, amen? Love it. They hate your church because they also envy your church because of the works that are being done in your church. A lot of times it's envy my friends. You know we get a lot of hate from the unsaved and that's like normal. It's like another day in the office. What else is new? We get a lot of hate from the reprobates, we get threats from the reprobates, it's just like okay, you know. That's normal, okay. But the ones that really bother us is when other Christians persecute us. People who are saved persecute us. People who claim to believe the Bible persecute us. That is what ticks us off. Because they should know better. Because if they believe the Bible that we're reading, you know what that means? It means that they should be reading the same verses that we're reading and be preaching that same Bible. But when they're not, what do they do? They envy those who are actually standing up for the principles that they should be standing up for. The Bible tells us in Genesis 27 you have to turn there. Turn with me if you would to Matthew chapter 27. Genesis 27 41 says that Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him. You know a lot of times churches and pastors and Christians hate other pastors and churches and Christians because of God's blessing on that church. Genesis 37 verse 4 says that when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him. They could not speak peacefully unto him. And Joseph dreamed a dream and he told it to his brethren and they hated him yet some more. So folks I want to prepare you, and you already know this, that you're going to be hated by the world. You're going to be hated by the unsaved and the reparations of this world. But let me just say this, you're also going to be hated by other Christians. Don't think it a strange thing when saved people who claim to believe the Bible, who believe in the right salvation, hate on you. For the works that you're doing that it's going to happen. They can't stand it. You say why? Because you're making them look bad. That's what it is. You know the fact that you actually believe the Bible. You know the fact that you actually believe Leviticus 2013. They're just like, well you know that's Old Testament. Well yeah the last time I checked my Bible has both Old and New Testaments. That's a great observation. I'm glad you know enough about the Bible to know that Leviticus is in the Old Testament. Thank you for sharing that with me. Well you know, yeah but we shouldn't preach Leviticus because that's when everyone was under the law. Folks the Bible says in the New Testament that we have the law of God written in our hearts. Think about that for a minute. So even before the Levitical law was instituted, people knew murder was wrong. Stealing was wrong. Adultery was wrong. And even after the Old Covenant was done away with with the death of Christ on the cross. The Bible still says we have the law of God written in our hearts. And what law is it referring to? The moral law. It's not referring to like the Sabbath. It's like I just know in my heart I got to keep the Sabbath. I just know in my heart I got to you know mead drinks and diverse washings. That's what it's all about. It's obviously referring to the moral law. Because the moral law transcends all the dispensations. At the end of the day though, they know that. Why do they persecute churches like this? Because of envy. Envy! Matthew 27 verse 15 says, Now at the feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner whom they would. And they had then a notable prisoner called Barabbas. Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas or Jesus which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him. See the Pharisees knew and they observed that Jesus Christ had a lot of people following him. And Jesus Christ didn't really care about having multitudes. He cared about preaching God's word. He would heal people when necessary. But the numbers really mattered to the Pharisees though. That really mattered to them. And so when they saw that multitudes were following him and they loved Jesus Christ, they became envious of that. They didn't like the fact that they didn't have that influence with other people. Go with the Jewell to Acts, the book of Acts chapter 13. We'll look at some more examples of this because this is not only true in Jesus' day with the Pharisees, but even the Pharisees during the apostles ministry, the book of Acts, this is very much the case. This is a common theme we see with the Pharisees is that they were moved with envy. They couldn't take the fact that Christians were being successful at preaching the gospel, getting people saved, turning people to righteousness, and so they would have to conspire against them and persecute them to try to get them to stop. Look at Acts 13 verse 42. And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles would be sought that these words might be preached to them the next seven. And when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious prophets would like to fall upon Larnabas, who speaking to them persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. Now, what does that teach us there? It teaches us that when you preach the Bible, people are going to come, no matter what. Because there's always someone who wants to hear the truth. It says in verse 44, the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. So they're preaching and it's just like the whole city is there and they're just like, I've never heard preaching like this before. This is good preaching. Verse 45 says, but when the Jews... That's like a common phrase in the book of Acts. It's like everything's going good. It's just like, but the Jews. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said it was necessary that the word of God should have first been spoken to you, but seeing you put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, Lowell returned to the Gentiles. He said, look, you guys didn't want to hear it. So why are you guys mad when you didn't want to hear it? I'm going to go to someone who does want to hear it. And you know what? The same goes for this. People get mad at him and they get mad at this church because of his preaching. Well, then you preach. Well, then you get up on a sunny morning and preach hard sermons then. Well, then, oh yeah, but you know, it's not fair because you guys get like a large YouTube following. Well, then you post crazy stuff on your YouTube channel then too. Well, then you preach the Bible, you preach against the Sodomites, you preach Leviticus 2013, you preach Romans 1, you suffer that persecution, you do it! Stop being envious of this church and the man of God and you putting the work for it. Look at chapter 17. Chapter 17 of Acts, verse number 1 says, Now when they had passed through Epipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was the synagogue of the Jews? And the pause of the matter was, went unto them, three days of Sabbath, reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must have need suffered, have suffered and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. Some of them believed in consortable Paul and Silas, and of the devout Greeks at great multitude, and of chief women not a few, but the Jews. I'm not playing it, it says it a lot. But the Jews, it's like everything's going great, but the Jews, which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered company, set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. So what do we see? They're moved with envy and then begin to hire some of the lowest scum of the earth. You guys know people like that in this area? Some of the most vile, most disgusting, filthy baser sort of the population to persecute them. Right? This sounds familiar. I don't know. You know anything about the baser sort of Pastor Thompson? What do we see here? We see when a great work is being accomplished and multitudes are being reached, there's going to be people who envy them because of the work that's being done. You say, why are you saying this? I'm saying this so that you don't get used to the work that's being accomplished here. Don't take it for granted. Well, you know, I'm trying to check something else out to see, you know, I want to see some other churches. You've got a great church here. Be faithful here. Get part of the work here. And don't roll your eyes at me either. Like, oh man, well I don't know. Don't roll your eyes at me. I'm the guest preacher here, but Pastor Thompson's not behind the poker right now. He's not going to stop me from preaching up here. I'll apologize to him later. He already gave me the love offering, so. This isn't my church. Like, then you shouldn't say that. No, I mean, like, it's not my church, so I'm going to say it alone. Don't roll your eyes. Take it as truth. This is what the Bible says. Be grateful for this church. Get involved in this church because this church is doing many mighty works. And that's why Satan is after this church. That's why Satan hates this church. That's why people hate this congregation. Because many mighty works are being wrought by the hands of the people of this church, my friends. You know, and you know what? You might need to go visit another church just to see that that's true. Because then you start visiting other churches and you're like, man, what I had back there was good. Right? You know, man, this church doesn't even do any soul. It didn't even preach hard. I had it good with Pastor Thompson. It's true. And so, you know, Satan hates this church. Go with me. You're in Acts. Go to chapter 14. Let me give you another reason why Satan is after this church, okay? And I think this one right here is one of the biggest reasons. And I'm talking about a shared foundation about this church. I'm going to tell you why Satan just hates this church. Why he's after this church. It just won't stay down. This freaking church will not stay down. It gets knocked down over and over and over again. It's just like, lawsuit, shut down the channels. Pastor Thompson's like, we're starting a new church. What? It's like persecution, death threats, all that stuff. We're going to start a church in the UK. What? It won't stay down. They're like jumping this church. Satan is like beating it. And he, let's look at Acts chapter 14 to get a visual on how this would look, okay? Look at verse 15, and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are therein. When time pass, suffer all the nations to walk in their own ways. You know, he's preaching unto them. Skip down to verse number, let's see here. Verse 19, there came fit of certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. So he's preaching the Bible. The Jews come, you know, because, but the Jews. They persuade the people, and then they stone Paul. Okay, what does that mean? They basically beat him to death with rocks. And they think he's dead. And when it says they drew him out of the city, they're not like, come on, you know, it's time for you to leave. They dragged his carcass out of the city, because they were like, this guy's dead. Took care of him, shut down his channel, he's never coming back, gave him a couple strikes, you know, gave him a lawsuit or whatever. Supposed, supposing he was dead, though. Verse 20, howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up and came into the city, and the next day he departed with Barnabas the Derby. And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, to Iconium, and Antioch. So he gets stoned, I mean, his teeth are probably knocked out or something, he probably looks terrible, probably feels terrible too. And then he just wakes up from his coma, like some of you are right now, you know. He wakes up from his coma, he gets up and he's just like, alright, let's do it again. Dry blood and all. And he's just like, hey, you want to take a break, you don't want to go on vacation for a little bit, maybe you want to heal? He goes back to Lystra. I told him in Antioch, where they did this to him, and he preaches more. You can't keep the man down. And obviously, the apostle Paul went through way more than this, I mean, he was shipwrecked, he was beaten, there's so many things that happened to him that you would think, yeah, that probably caused me to quit. Like, agulo, shipwreck thing, I'd probably be done for a while, I'd take a break for a little bit. He just kept going, and they could not keep him down. You know what, no one can keep Sure Foundation Baptist Church down, other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And it seems as though, you know, the more Satan and his agents continue to attack this church, the more he just gets up. The church just gets up. The church just gets up, just keeps preaching, just keeps going, meets again on Sunday, meets again on Thursday, meets again on whatever, and just keeps preaching, just keeps getting up. And it's just like, every time he gets up, he just starts a new work. It's like, I have a podcast, called the Rod of Iron podcast, and I was talking to Pastor Birds, I was interviewing Pastor Birds about church planting, and we literally were just joking about how this guy just starts churches, and then the next day, he's like announcing, I'm starting a new church. Man, this guy's not messing around. And I'm just telling you, the more this church gets knocked down, a just man falls seven times, what does he do? He rises up again. I'll tell you why Satan just hates this church, after this church, because the church doesn't know how to stay down. It just keeps getting up. It just keeps plowing away. It just keeps preaching. It just keeps doing the work of the Lord. No matter how many times it was stoned, no matter how many lawsuits and threats, no matter what happens, the work of God continues. As far as I know, this church has the most church plants in the new I.V. I mean, you're basically taking over the new I.V. I mean, you got, you just, I mean, what are you doing, man? You got, in Canada, out of all places, too. Canadian. You know? You got churches in Canadian. You got churches in the U.K. You got churches in Spokane. I mean, like, good night and morning. Nothing can stop this church from doing the work. Folks, let me just tell you, that's very rare. So stop taking this church for granted, if you do, and recognize that great work is being done here. The Bible says in Exodus chapter 1, in verse number 10, I believe this also describes your church very well. It says, Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply and come to pass, that when they fall without any war, they join us also into our enemies and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore, they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens, and they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Python and Ramses, but the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. Amen. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. It's like the more they just afflicted them, the more they persecute, the more they just multiplied and grew. See, a lot of the persecutions that this church has faced, the people who have been doing the persecution, they think, oh, we're going to slow them down, or we're going to stop them, or we're going to discourage them from continuing to go forward. Oh, he's not going to preach like that anymore. Well, it doesn't look like he's putting on first gear at all. It looks like he's putting on fourth gear. So obviously, they're starting to realize, he's not slowing down. This church is not slowing down. Let me say this, you need to make sure you don't slow down either. Keep up with the pace of this church and the work that's being done. Go to Acts chapter 5. Acts chapter 5. You know, the Apostle Paul wasn't the only one. Look at verse number 40 of Acts chapter 5. It says, to him they agreed, when they had called the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. So they're like, you know, we'll let them go, but let's give them a good little whooping before they leave. So they whooped them, they beat them, and they said, don't preach in this name anymore. You know, they're just punching them. Verse 41, they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were kind of worthy to suffer shame for his name. So they're just like, busted nose, busted lip, and they're like, yeah! Got beat up for the cause of Christ! Verse 42, and daily in the temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. They're like, anyways, I forgot what that guy told me to do, but let's just keep preaching and teaching here. So obviously it doesn't work. Now, the great thing about this is the more you're persecuted, the more rewards you get. But also, the more you're persecuted, the more the work continues, the more you inspire others. You see, a lot of times people are afraid to actually step out of the front lines because too many weenies out there who are worried about what might happen, they're scared that their church might get blown up or something. They're scared of death threats and lawsuits and all these things. And all we need is a few good men, amen? To just take the whooping. Take the whooping and go out rejoicing, keep preaching and teaching, and you're like, oh, I don't want to mess up my pretty face or whatever, you know? Don't worry, you're not pretty, so... Amen. I'm just kidding. Here's the last reason, okay? Go with me if you would to, turn with me to, go back to Luke 22, and then we're going to go to Mark 14. You know, it's unfortunate that sometimes it's our own brethren who attack us, right? And that's unfortunate. Obviously, we don't want to hate them because it's wicked to hate your brethren, those who are Satan. And don't be mistaken, if your pastor preaches against them, that's not hate. Sometimes people just deserve a strong rebuke for being idiots, right? You know, it is what it is. But let me say this, is that, here's the last reason why I believe Satan hates this church a lot because of this church. And I think this is probably the main reason. Obviously, there's a lot of reasons, but this would be like the top reason why. And don't miss this. They hate this church because of him. He's the reason they hate this church. He's the reason Satan hates this church. He's the reason all the agents of Satan hate this church. You're doing your part, but you know what? Every organization needs a leader. And the leader leads the way, my friend. Again, you can have some sissified preacher up here preaching God's word and no work would be done, but you don't have that. And the reason you want to blame someone for the target on this church, it's his fault. That's what it is. And I don't mean that in a condemning way. I say it in a way I'm honoring him because it's true. The churches do a great job. The congregations are doing a great job, but at the end of the day, it requires someone to lead that congregation in that way. This church is awesome. And the church is awesome because of the people of this church. Let's just be honest with you. Let's just be honest tonight. It requires this one man to lead that, though. That's him. That's him. It says in Luke 22, verse 31, And the Lord said, Simon, Peter, James, and John, twelve apostles, twelve disciples, anybody who's listening. Is that what it says? Simon, Simon. He didn't say John, John. He didn't say Mark, Mark. He didn't say James, James. I don't see anybody else's name there. You know why? I see Peter. He calls out Peter. Satan has a desire to have you. Now, you say, why do you say that? Well, because of the fact that when you study the Gospels, you see very quickly that Peter is like the leader of the apostles there. And most of the time, when the apostles were all in and following the Lord, it's because Peter was right there being all in first. Put in Mark chapter 14. Mark chapter 14. Let me give you an example of this. Mark chapter 14, verse 27. It says in verse 27, And Jesus saith unto him, All ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. But Peter saith unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. But he spake them more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Now listen to this, Likewise also said they are. See, we often attribute that specific passage to Peter. He's the one who said, you know, I will go to death with you, and I will die, but you know what, all the disciples said that. But it required Peter to say it first, and they all followed suit. And in fact, when they're at the Garden of Gethsemane, and Jesus is praying, and they all fall asleep, because they couldn't watch for one hour, amen? They're just like, they couldn't listen to a sermon for one hour. When Jesus comes back, who does he rebuke? Peter. Now, was Peter the only one sleeping? No. They all were. But who was he getting on? The leader. And you know what? At the end of the day, he bears a lot of this load, my friends, of this church. He bears a lot of load of this church, the persecution of this church, and a lot of it is on his shoulders. That's just the way it works. He said, what's the point of telling us that? Well, you know what? Number one, so you can appreciate your pastor a little more. Amen. The love leader. Respect him. Pray for him. Be a blessing to him. Follow him. Obey him. Well, I'm going to obey the Bible. Will the Bible tell? Okay, okay. If you want to obey the Bible, the Bible tells you to obey your pastor. Well, I'll obey in matters of like biblical stuff, but when it comes to like throwing out the trash, you know, I'm not for that. Nonsense. It shows that you're immature in the Lord. Obey. Be a blessing to your pastor. Love your pastor. Respect your pastor. And you know what? Every once in a while, go to your pastor and say, thank you for leading us. Thank you for being willing to stand in the gap and start this church and preach in the Bible. You have my support for the very end. I'm praying for you and your family. If you need anything, you let me know. What do you like, Coke or Pepsi? Neither. Root beer. Root beer? Never mind. I can see why you wouldn't get in my life. Get him a root beer every once in a while. Show him that you appreciate him. Why? Because the leader bears a lot of the hope, my friends. You know what? Being a pastor is a stressful job. You know, he's not going to get up here and tell you this. He's not. So I'm going to tell you. It's hard being a pastor. Well, don't you just get up there and like preach, though? Isn't that like all you do is just like preach the Bible study and like preach it? No! I'm trying to help you with your marriage. I'm trying to teach you how to rear your children. I'm trying to help people to get out of sin. All the while dodging all the reprobates who want us dead. And that's only like page one. Be blessed in your pastor. Love him. Every once in a while go up to him and say, Pastor Thompson, I love you guys. I just want to say thank you for being my pastor. Here's a great way to show your pastor that you appreciated him. Take his advice. When he counsels you and you ask for counsel, especially if you ask for it, let go of that counsel. Respect him. Why is that? Because Satan hates him. Satan hates this church and Satan hates him. And you know what? Thank God. Thank God. Because there's pastors in this world that Satan loves. There's some pastors in this world that Satan is like their number one pastor. There's a lot of pastors, well he's not really a pastor, but there's a lot of pastors in this world who, you know, they don't do anything against the kingdom of Satan. And you know, they don't pose a threat. But you know, he poses a threat. His church poses a threat. And so get involved, be supportive, and whenever you feel like there's too much drama, so much conflict, just remember this. I got to remember, Satan hates this church, which means that I'm in the right place. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Lord, thank you so much for Sherr Foundation Baptist Church. Thank you for Pastor Thompson. And of course, thank you for the congregation, Lord. And we as pastors, we need these congregants because we need an army. We need to be a part of an army that can win souls to Christ, that can mobilize, preach the gospel and see people saved, and turn others to righteousness. There's only so much that we can do as pastors. There's individuals in the church that can be an extension of the ministry here to disciple others, to get people saved, Lord. I pray that you bless this church, continue to bless it as you have been, protect them, place a hedge about them, place a hedge of protection about Pastor Thompson and his life, his family. And Lord, may the congregants here recognize what a blessing it is to have Sherr Foundation Baptist Church. Lord, we love you. We thank you for this season. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright, the last song will be song number 66, Ferris Lord Jesus. Song number 66, Ferris Lord Jesus. Let's sing it out together on the first. Ferris Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature, O thou of God and man of sun, Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor, Thou my soul's glory, joy and crown. There are the meadows, Bearer still the woodlands, Robbed in the blooming harvest green. Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer, Who makes the woeful heart to sing. There is a sunshine, Bearer still the blue line, And all the twinkling starry homes. Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer, Than all the angels ever can boast. Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations, Son of God and Son of man, Glory and honor, praise and o'eration, Now and forevermore be thine. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this Sunday. Thank you for being a blessing to this church. Come out and preach before us. And I pray that you just have your hand around us and a hedge of protection to keep this church on the right path.