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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Well, so much coming to Pure's Baptist Church. We'll get started this evening by turning to song 441. Song 441, Great is Thy Faithfulness. Song 441, Great is Thy Faithfulness. Turn the verse. Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with thee, Thou changest not thy confessions they fail not, As thou hast been, thou forever will be. Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness, Morning by morning new mercies I see, All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me, Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above, Joined with all nature in manifold witness, To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness, Morning by morning new mercies I see, All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me, Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide, Strength for today and vital for tomorrow, Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside, Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness, Morning by morning new mercies I see, All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Brother James, would you lead us in a prayer for us to start the service? Amen. We've got a song 224. Song 224. There shall be showers of blessing. Song 224, there shall be showers of blessing. There shall be showers of blessing. This is the promise of love. There shall be seasons refreshing, Safe from the Savior above. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling, But for the showers we plead. There shall be showers of blessing, Precious reviving again, Over the hills and the valleys, Shield of abundance of rain. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling, But for the showers we plead. There shall be showers of blessing, Send them upon us, O Lord. Grant to us now our refreshing, Come and now honor thy word. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling, But for the showers we plead. There shall be showers of blessing, O that today they might fall. Now as to God we're confessing, Now as on Jesus we call. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling, But for the showers we plead. And then in our guest coming preaching, April 3rd, brother Dylan Oz came and preached for us, and that's always great that he's able to come out here. On the 10th, which is this upcoming Sunday, it's actually going to be brother Chris Agura. Chris Agura is going to be coming out here, and he's going to be preaching for us. And then April 17th, we have Duncan Urbanek. His name is weird, but it's with an E, it's not with an I. So we'll put that in there. But it's okay, it looks kind of Russian, you can give him our time. And then May 15th, brother Ben Naim is going to be coming out here. July 7th, Pastor Steven Anderson, God willing, is planning on coming out here and preaching for that Thursday service. And so that'll be a great blessing to have him come out here and preach. I think it's been a little bit, but he tries to come out and preach for us at least once a year. That's kind of his standard. So hopefully he'll be out here July 7th. And then also upcoming events. May 21st is a soul-wanting marathon in Austin, Texas. So it's the Keep Austin Normal Soul-Wanting Marathon. And so we want to, or make them normal, right? And then a couple prayer requests. Just continue to pray for Steadfast Baptist Church if you can. Also, brother Edward, he's in the flesh. So praise the Lord for that. Yeah, that's great. Also continue to pray for Strong Old Baptist Church and Pastor Berzins. Also, Miss Liberty was asking for her sister's family had been sick. And her daughter-in-law's mother, whose name was Catherine, was diagnosed with breast cancer. So she was asking for prayer for them, sorry about that. And then continue to pray for the Goodwin family. One bit of good news for the Goodwin family. They're from Steadfast, the Dallas-Fort area. All their children have been released from the hospital. And they're back home and everything like that. And so that's some good news. And definitely recovering and everything like that. Some of the stuff that they were debating ended up going really favorably. They were contemplating surgery for their two-year-old, Anna. But they didn't and everything still seems to be going really well. So definitely continue to pray for them. Definitely a lot of people have been loving on them. They noticed and they feel really comforted by how many people truly cared about them and reached out to them and blessed them. And I know a lot of people may have even been honestly given to them. And praise the Lord for people that are willing to do that and help them too. But thanks so much for putting in your prayer requests so we can put them in the bulletin and we can be in prayer as a church family for them. I'll just say a quick word of prayer for those that were mentioned. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for our church. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to be gathered here this evening. Thank you that Brother Edwards is here with us. We just bless Ms. Darnell who's expecting that you would just give her favor and that you would be with us today. That you would help the development and the pregnancy and the delivery to all go to the best of their ability and that you'd be with them. I pray that you'd also bless our church family that's struggling with health concerns. Even our extended family, that you'd be with them. That you'd give them recovery, give them mercy. And just shower them with blessing, as we just sang. And I pray that you would also just be with our friends, Pastor Burzen, Stronghold Baptist Church, be with our other brethren in the Dallas-Borth area. Strengthen them and that you would just allow us to keep serving you to the best of our ability. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. We're going to do our third song for the evening, 116. Song 116, He Leadeth Me. Make sure to keep handing out those Easter invites as we get really close around. One other announcement, we are going to be doing the Lord's Supper for our Easter evening service. So immediately following the Easter evening service, we will be having the Lord's Supper here as a church family. So if you just want to have that in the back of your mind, that is going to happen on that day. I think it's what, two weeks from now? Yeah, so it's the 17th, I believe. So 17th is Easter this year. So that evening service, and Brother Duncan will be here, and Brother Gomez should be the one administering the service as far as the Lord's Supper. That would be good news. And you've got all those nice cards. I mean, we passed out like thousands, so we should have like millions of people coming to church, right? You can invite your family and friends, all right? So that's a good way to bring people to church. 116, He Leadeth Me. 116. 116. 116. 116. 116. 116. 116. 116. 116. 116. 116. 116. 116. 116. 116. 116. 1 Thessalonians chapter number 3. Brother Jeffrey, you want to read for us? 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 will pass the offering plate, as long as he reads the entire chapter. All right, so 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. In verse 1, the Bible reads, Wherefore, when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and sent Timotheus our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you as a comfort you concerning your faith, that no man should be moved by these afflictions, for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation, even as it came to pass, and ye know. For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means a tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain. But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you. Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith, for now we live if you stand fast in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God, night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. Now God himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you, and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love, once toward another and toward all men, even as we do toward you. To the end he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. So I'll bow our heads for a quick prayer. The Christ the Father, that is the Son and the Son and the Holy Spirit, come and receive us through the service of the name of the Bible, come and receive us through the adoption of the Greek, come to find us through day-to-day life, to better tone us in the Pharisees, in the name of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So we're doing a Bible study through the book of 1 Thessalonians, and we're in chapter number 3, and it starts off with a kind of conjunction here. It says in verse 1, wherefore? So obviously it's continuing the same thought from the previous chapter, and that's important to understand that while we have chapter divisions in the Bible, and I like the chapter divisions, I don't think there's anything wrong with them, that the context is often being carried forward in a book of the Bible. It's not like these chapters are just these complete, just abstract ideas and abstract concepts, but many times it's building blocks that are being added one to another, and we're continuing the same train of thought. Sometimes we're elaborating further on where we're going in the chapter, especially in these epistles. These epistles are kind of meant a lot of times as one big thought, or one big admonition. Some epistles, more like 1 Corinthians, they deal with a lot of different issues. When you go to the Gospels and you look at chapter divisions in the Gospels, they're going to be even more different, especially if you look in the Gospel of Luke, per se, where it's going to even cover multiple different stories. So if in a chapter you could cover completely different topics, this happens in 1 Corinthians 11. In the first part of the chapter it's covering hair length and authority, and then the latter portion is talking about the Lord's Supper, which is kind of like a completely different topic, seemingly. And yet, then you also have chapters like chapter 3 of 1 Thessalonians, where really this book of 1 Thessalonians is kind of just like one big thought. I mean, it really is just a very cohesive narrative, and we're constantly going off of the same context, the same ideas, and we're just elaborating further and further. So it's important to always pay attention to context. It's always important to pay attention to where you're at in the Bible and what's happening. And if you have a chapter start out with wherefore, it's important to figure out what that even means. Now, why is he saying wherefore? Well, if you back up in chapter 2 just a little bit, it says in verse number 17, But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. So according to the Bible, the Apostle Paul is trying to say, Look, we want to see you guys. And not just like he's saying it, he means it in a physical sense. He wants to see their face. He wants to go and be in their presence. That's kind of what he was alluding to in the previous chapter, is his desire to go and see them physically. And it says in verse 18, Wherefore, we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again, but Satan hindered us. Now, the word even, it'll help you in the Bible if you always think of the word specifically. Because every time I read the word even, it doesn't make sense to me. The word even means specifically. So if you think about what he's saying, Wherefore, we would have come unto you, specifically I Paul, once and again, but Satan hindered us. Meaning that sometimes you desire to do a work for the Lord, or you want to go somewhere, but the devil doesn't let you do it. And of course, you know, from a perspective of understanding that God is allowing the devil to do his things, also God is allowing you not to go down that path or go through that doorway through the hands of the devil. The devil's basically his instrument or tool to stop you from doing something that maybe he doesn't actually want you to do either. But it's also to illustrate that sometimes you want to do a good work for the Lord, or you find something that's important to do, but you just aren't allowed to do it. Now, when he says Satan hindered us, you know, how does he know that? You know, I've kind of always wondered that. Like, how do you know, like, the devil? Because sometimes something bad will happen to you, and especially the charismatic maniacs, especially the evangelicals, every bad thing is the devil. You know, it's like, I can't find my pen. The devil took it. You know, it's like they trip and fall, and it's like, oh, the devil's trying to get me, you know. And I don't believe that, okay? I do not believe that every bad thing that happens to you is the devil, or it's the demons, or something like that. To me, it's when it's like literal ministers are manifesting themselves, you know, like the satanic Jews, or like the sodomites, or somebody like that, somebody that's an obvious instrument of the devil, a minister of the devil. They're the reason why you're not allowed to do the thing that you want to do. Perhaps the Jews are running out of town. You could then be like, well, Satan's not letting us be there, right? Because they're the synagogue of Satan, meaning they're the ministers of the devil. And so, you know, if you have a literal minister of the devil stopping you or doing evil unto you, then I think it's appropriate you could use the colloquialism of Satan hindered us, you know, kind of just this phrasing. But I don't know that it's necessarily like the devil himself, or like Satan literally did the, you know, it's just kind of being attributed to him probably by proxy. Just like David killed Uriah, he didn't literally kill him, but he killed him at the hands of the Philistines, okay? And so the same could be attributed here where the devil may have not necessarily been the personal one attacking them, but through his ministers, through the synagogue of Satan, through demonic forces, a satanic type of attack, the spiritual warfare that exists, he's saying the devil's not letting us get in there, right? He's the top of the food chain when it comes to demons. Verse 19, for what is our hope or joy or crown rejoicing or not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ that is coming for your glory and joy? Wherefore? So he's saying, we wanted to come see you, but Satan didn't let us. Now we get into chapter 3, he's saying, wherefore of that, because of all that, when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone and sent to Mothius our brother and minister of God and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith that no man should be moved by these afflictions, for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. So what the apostle Paul is saying is, I wanted to come see you, but the devil wouldn't let me come. But I couldn't wait any longer, meaning I couldn't forbear. Forbear means to forego or means to not do something. Or you can't wait any longer, as is kind of being put in this context. He's saying, I can't just do nothing. I'm tired of doing absolutely nothing. I'm tired of just forbearing here. So we end up sending to Mothius. It's like, if I can't go, well then let's just send Timothy anyways. Let's just send him over there and figure out what's going on. Because Paul's just so concerned with the Thessalonians, basically their church being destroyed, people's faith being destroyed, people not serving God. So he's like, I wanted to see you guys, I want to make sure you're okay. Even if I can't go, we sent to Mothius. And to what? To establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith. So what is the point of Timothy? He's there to help increase their faith and to give them some level of comfort. Why? Verse 3, that no man should be moved by these afflictions. For yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. So we don't know exactly what's going on. And that's typical of the Bible. The Bible's not always going to give you all of the details. But the details aren't important. And I believe the reason why God often leaves out the details is because he doesn't want us to get hung up on the details because it's the point that matters here. If he said, you guys are being afflicted because your water pipes burst, or something like that, then some people would say the only affliction is when your water pipes burst, or someone evicts you, or you get shut down on this platform or whatever. And instead of getting so fixated on what the exact affliction is, you just have to realize afflictions are going to happen. Afflictions are going to occur, and the greater point that's being made here is that when you serve God, when you get plugged into church, when you're doing that which is right, afflictions will come. And we need to realize that we don't want to move because of that. We don't want to basically allow the afflictions to carry us. When we talk about, in the book of Matthew, Jesus Christ is talking about how you build your house. And you don't want to build it on the sand. You want to build it on a rock. We say, why do you want to build it on a rock? Because the tide's going to come in. That water is a picture of afflictions, persecutions, trouble, problems. What happens when water smashes that sand? The sand's going to move. It's called shifting sands. That's why they say you don't want to build your house on shifting sands. Why? Because then it's unstable, and then what happens, your house falls. Whereas the water hits that rock and it does nothing. The rock's just there. It's just steadfast. It's unmovable. It's not going to do anything. So then your house built on that rock, it's not going to do anything when the waters come and hit it and erode it and smash it or whatever. So that's why he's trying to paint this picture of you put your faith on the Lord Jesus Christ, you build your house on the rock, in essence, so that when the storms of life come, how are you going to handle yourself? What are you going to do? Well, you look at this and you say, oh, it didn't change. Whereas the people that don't have this as their authority, it's constantly changing. What would be their authority? The Republican Party. Always changing. I mean, their standards are changing every five minutes. I mean, it's the latest in the grade. I mean, it used to be that they were just completely against abortion. The Republican Party, I remember when I was young and I went to grade school. Now, at the time, I was ignorant, but I just remember they had a mock vote, okay? And it was for Bob Dole or for Bill Clinton. And I knew nothing about politics. I'm in third grade, okay? My parents never educated me on any of this. I didn't even know. I'd never heard either of these people in my life, and I voted for Bill Clinton, okay? Now, I'm not proud of this. I'm just telling you what happened. But I didn't know. I just picked a name, okay? They basically put a piece of paper and it's just like, Bill Clinton. Sounds like a good guy, you know? Let's go with that guy, right? Well, then they tallied the scores and they report them over the intercom. And they're like, all right, in third grade, we have 147 votes for Bob Dole and one vote for Bill Clinton. And I'm like, what idiot voted for him, you know? I was thinking like, oh, man, what happened? Now, back then, that really alerted me. I was like, I need to figure out who this Bill Clinton guy is. So I remember going home and I played it cool and I was just like, hey, Dad, like, you know, I've heard that there's these people running for office, like Bill Clinton, Bob Dole. What do you think about them? Like, is Bill Clinton a good guy? And he's like, oh, no, we would, you know, you don't want to vote for him. And I'm like, oh, yeah, cool, you know. And the big deal back then was abortion. Now, the Democratic Party, they said, well, we're only for abortion in matters of incest and rape. And the Republican Party, Bob Dole and the candidates, they said we're against abortion at any level, at any stage. Boy, have things changed. Okay, then later down the road, it's like the Republican Party saying, okay, we're against marriage being between a man and a man. Wrong. You know, marriage is a God institution. It's between a man and a woman. God defines marriage. Fast forward, then what is it? Well, you know what? The men's restroom is only for men, you know, that were born men, okay. Then fast forward a little bit and it's like, well, unless you've already gone through all the transition and you're taking all the hormone blockers, you shouldn't be using the bathroom. Okay, so you have to actually really do it, okay. Then you fast forward a little bit and this, you know, it used to be like decades before you get to the next stage. Now it's like two months, okay. Then what was the next Republican stance? It's like, okay, well, we can go to school with them. They can use what bathroom they want, but they can't compete in the sports, okay. At least the ones that count. Like they can in PE class, but just not the ones that count for collegiate sports. I mean, they can't be in the NCAA, right. Now what's the new Republican stance? Okay, well, we can't teach people about being a sodomite until they turn at least nine years old. It's like, how fast is this devolution going on? This is not building your house on a rock. I mean, it's just, it keeps creeping just to the point, I mean, what's next? I'm scared of what's next. I mean, two months from now, you know, they made a joke. There's like this funny cartoon I watched and it's not that, it's funny, but it's like sad at the same time. They're like making fun of the Republican Party, saying that eventually they're going to say, you can't have this position, you can't have this new stance, you have to have a weaker stance. And the strong stance at the time for the Republican Party is offering painkillers to babies before they offer them in sacrifice to the devil. They're like, that's a slippery slope into just ending child sacrifice. And it's like, I don't even know that they're wrong. I don't even know that we're not going to get there. And you say, Pastor Shelley, there's no way we would get to child sacrifice. Have you read the Bible? I guarantee, if we fast forward, if we go back to the 1950s, and I said, men are going to put on dresses and compete in women's sports in America, he would say, what's women's sports? You guys don't even realize. They didn't have women's sports in the 1950s. They would say, I don't even know what you're talking about. What you're talking about doesn't even make sense. Like, what are you talking about women's sports? It's like, yeah, there's going to be these professional leagues. And you're like, what do you mean professional leagues? Where women go and play and people pay to watch that? They're like, I don't even know what you're talking about. Not only that, but then they're going to start letting dudes into there that claim to be women. What do you mean claim to be women? Well, according to America 2022, men can get pregnant. They're like, what are you talking about? Yeah, in an all women's prison, you know, they're getting pregnant. It's like, if you tried to explain this to somebody in 1950, they wouldn't even know what you're saying. They couldn't even comprehend it. And what I'm trying to tell you is that me saying child sacrifice sounds so incomprehensible right now, it may not be. When you read about the Canaanites, when you read about the things that they were doing, I mean, they're beastophiles, they're open predators, they're having all kinds of rampant incest and child sacrifice. I mean, look, if you can commit abortion, I mean, the sky's the limit in my opinion. I mean, some of this abortion is literally nine months. In America, there has been times, I mean, why is that much different than six months? A six month old baby. I mean, they're going to just get to a point. I mean, the Christianity in this nation has declined and is so weak right now that they just let them just walk all over them. And let me tell you why. It's because their faith is not on the King James Bible, it's on shifting sands. Because when your faith is in the King James Bible, you never change. It doesn't matter what wind blows. It doesn't matter what tide creeps in. It doesn't matter what the world says. You just say, hey, I'm still on this rock. Sorry that everybody else is just rolling over. Sorry that everybody else is just washing away and being washed up. You know, as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. And of course, that's why they put so much pressure because many people do change. Many people don't have any standards. Most people don't have a fundamental. This is a fundamental Baptist church. That actually means something. It means that we've already settled what we believe. We're not changing on it. We believe the fundamentals of the faith. We believe in baptism. We believe, look, we don't even need to ask the question, you know, what's a woman? What's a woman? Asking that question, you know, the Bible says to avoid foolish questions. That's a stupid question to even have to answer. You even have to explain to someone what a woman is. If someone doesn't know what a woman is, it's because they're stupid on purpose. It's not because they don't know. Don't play this stupid mind game with people where they're like, well, I don't even know what a woman is. Yes, you do, you idiot. Don't tell me you don't know what a woman is. You know, this stupid judge that's been confirmed, this can, Tonjie Jackson, I don't even know what you call her. Call her KJ or something. Like the vicious dog. Isn't that a vicious dog movie or something? Kjo, yeah, we'll call her Kjo, all right? Kjo's been put on the Supreme Court, some dog, and they're like, Biden's like, I don't know who I'm going to put on the Supreme Court, but I know it's going to be a black woman. Well, then, I guess he knows what a woman is. But then she, in her process of being asked questions of like, hey, let's test her and see how good a judge she's going to be. She doesn't even know what a woman is. Sounds like a great judge. Sounds like she's going to make a lot of really important decisions for our country. She's going to really impact our country positively. Well, they also asked her about some of her previous rulings. And Senator Tom Cotton asked her about seven cases in which a child molester was going to be sentenced, and she always gave them the most lenient possible sentencing in all seven cases, including one case where the, well, I'm sorry, this was like looking at images. They were maybe not the child molester. They were basically having the images on their computer of that happening. But in all seven cases, and I'm thinking like, when I'm hearing the punishments that are being asked, I'm like, this isn't even good punishments, because they're saying like the federal government says that they should get 60 months in prison or 90 months in prison, and you gave them 60 months. And I'm thinking like, it should be six feet under. Okay, what's going on here? I mean, these people are in possession of like the most filthy, abominable things. Well, in one case, it was an 18-year-old who was convicted of being in possession of these images, and the images included children the age of eight. Well, according to, you know, KJ or whatever, Kujo, she's like saying, oh, they're peers. How are you saying an 18-year-old and an eight-year-old are peers? It's because they're bringing in pedophilia into this country. Oh, an eight-year-old. That person doesn't even know what an eight-year-old is. I mean, to say that an 18-year-old and an eight-year-old are on the same level is just an order of magnitude difference, my friend. And, of course, why would she say that this corrupt judge wants to bring in the pedophiles in this nation? She wants to de-escalate the punishment. She wants to get it to where there is no punishment. I mean, there used to be legal punishment in our country for being a sodomite or being a homosexual. You were put to death in this country. Then it got to a point where it was 20 years in prison. Then it got to a point where it was five years in prison. Then it got to a point where it's just like probation and a few months in prison. Now it's what? You can't even say anything negative about them or you'll be canceled. Why do you think that's going to be different with pedophiles? Oh, because we would never stand with pedophiles. Oh, is that because you have this book as your final authority? No, because you already changed on the sodomite issue. No, because you don't believe any of these other standards. So why would I believe that you would stop with the pedophilia? Why would you stop with anything? I mean, our country is going to get to a point where it's unrecognizable. It's already there. And I'm telling you, we haven't hit the floor at all. It's going to get so unrecognizable, you wouldn't even believe it if I told you. Just like if I told someone in the 1950s what our country is like today, they wouldn't believe it. They couldn't even understand the words coming out of your mouth. It would be so crazy. And it's fascinating to me how people who were alive in the 1950s. I'm talking people that lived in the 1950s and they come to now and they don't even think it's like, they're like, I don't know, this is normal. Like the frog being cooked in that boiling pot of water slowly. You're just thinking like, wow, you were actually back there when it was so different. What happened? They just slowly shifted with the sand. They were just standing on the seashore and it just kind of slowly kept moving and moving and moving and moving back. Whereas we were like, hey, I want to jump on that rock that was way back over here and stay over here. But it's real. People get moved by afflictions. People get moved by persecution. People get moved by the pressure, by all of the forces that are trying to get you off of what? This book. They're just constantly trying to move you and trying to shift you. And Paul, you know what he's really worried about? That the Christians are going to get moved off that rock of Jesus Christ. It's a real threat. It's a real problem. And people are constantly doing it. People will find the truth. They'll get saved. They'll get kind of plugged in. But then some pressure is going to come along that's going to sweep them away. It's going to cause them to drift away from the rock. And you know what? That's very concerning to a minister. It's very concerning to the apostle Paul who has a heart for these people. And he's like, I can't sit here and do nothing. I better send Timothy to establish you guys. And you know what? The goal of a Christian, the goal of every church member should be this. I am going to get my heart established to the rock of God's word so that I'm not going to be moved when persecution comes. When tribulation comes. You know what? There's nothing better for a minister, a pastor, evangelist, or whoever to hear than that his fellow Christians, his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, his church is unmovable during a time of persecution. Because let me tell you something. It's easy to go to church when it's easy. It's easy to go to church when it's fun. It's easy to go to church when you're experiencing a revival and people are showing up and you're having fun and there's brisket. It's like lots of people come for the food. I mean, Jesus' ministry thrived when he's feeding people, didn't it? But then when there's no food and there's hard preaching, it's less people. And then what happens? When the Roman soldiers come, it's no one. Everyone flees. Everyone's out of there. But you know what? The people that even left, they were really sad that they left. Peter wept bitterly for the fact that he abandoned Christ. And if Peter can be tempted to be washed away, then all of us can. Okay? So we shouldn't be so high-minded to think like, oh, I know I'm going to last. Oh, I know I'm good. We need to constantly be reminded at church. We need to constantly be reading our Bible. We need to constantly be praying. We need to constantly humble ourselves and say, you know what? I'm dependent on Christ today. My flesh is too weak. I need to crucify the flesh today. I need to subdue the flesh today. I need to get plugged into church. I need to have Timothy minister unto me. I need Timothy to come and establish me and to strengthen me and to comfort me when I'm going through difficulty. Another great thing is just we need comfort sometimes. We shouldn't think of ourselves as like, oh, I'm so tough. I can handle anything. No, no, sometimes you need comforted. Sometimes you need someone to minister unto you, to love on you, to be your friend, to be a shoulder to cry on. And, you know, it doesn't make you weak to realize you need comfort. You know, it makes you prideful to think that you don't need it. If you don't think you need it, it's just because you're prideful. It's not because you're so strong. No one's so strong that they don't need comfort. Even the Apostle Paul needed comfort and we'll talk about one of the strongest Christians in the Bible. Even Jesus Christ needed to be strengthened. Okay, we're talking about God in the flesh is in the Garden of Gethsemane about to face the worst evil imaginable and the Bible says that angels came and strengthened him. Oh, why did you need some strengthening? It's because we all need strength. If Jesus needs strength, don't tell me that you're so strong you don't need it. Oh, I don't need other Christians. I don't need other ministers. I don't need church. I got it. I don't need any man to tell me what to do. Oh, you're stronger than Jesus then? Because Jesus learned. Jesus had friends. Jesus was comforted. Jesus was strengthened. I mean, what kind of a foolish attitude is it to act like you don't need other people? You don't need church. You don't need preaching. You don't need to read the Bible. You've already arrived. You know, you basically said you're ready to just fall away. You're so prideful you're ready for a fall is what you really are. The humble will constantly be depending on others, depending on Christ, depending on the Bible reading, depending on church. And you know what? Those are the people that are going to make it. Not the ones that get so arrogant and prideful and puffed up and think like, I've already done it. Let's go. No, no, no. We have to stick together and we have to realize that we need other Christians. We need church. We need these institutions that God gave us. God didn't just give us church in vain. God didn't give us ministers in vain. He gave them to us so that we'd realize when afflictions come, people are there to help establish us. People are there to help comfort us. And when you go through a hard time, you shouldn't be ashamed to tell someone. I mean, if you're like on the verge of quitting church, you know what the best thing you could do is? Tell someone. Be like, hey brother, I just want to be honest with you. I'm really struggling. Like, I feel like I'm going to stop going to church. I'm going to stop going soul winning. I'm going to stop reading my Bible or whatever. And help someone just help you. And be like, please don't. We love you. You know, the people that are kind of the loners and they don't tell anybody, just like all of a sudden they just disappear and it's like, what happened? You know? And so it's important that you're honest with yourself, you realize your dependence, realize that we need other people, and that we're going to have to go through hard things. You know, notice that he's saying that we are appointed thereunto. Meaning that good luck going to church and serving God and it's always easy street. That's not going to happen. The Bible literally prescribes that it will never happen. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer first accution. So if you're going to church and it's been easier your whole life, you weren't really serving God. Whatever church you were going to that was easier your whole life, you're like, I want to go back to that. Oh, not serving God? Okay. Yeah, it's easy to just let the water just carry you wherever you go. You know, what's hard is to stop and then have that pressure kind of start hitting you and kind of mounting you. But you know what? The reason why you're stopping is because you're actually serving God. You're actually trying to be godly for once. You're not just going with the flow. Yeah, it's easy to go with the flow. It's hard to resist the flow. That's why it's saying you're going to suffer some kind of level of persecutions. Some kind of affliction. It's going to happen. So if you go to 1 Peter chapter 3, go to 1 Peter, keep your finger here, go to 1 Peter chapter 3. I quoted for you 2 Timothy 3 about how you're definitely going to suffer persecutions. But there's so many other verses that talk about this in your Bible. 1 Peter chapter 3, look at verse 13. As of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. Now, what I like about this passage is the context because a lot of people will quote, you know, verse 15. They'll be like, be ready to give an answer to every man that asketh thee. And that's a great verse. And often when I hear this verse, this is the context in which I hear this verse. You need to study the Bible so that you can be smarter than them. There's obviously a level of truth there. There's obviously a level of truth that you want to be prepared. Like, obviously when we go out and preach the gospel, we have more wisdom than someone that's not saved. And we want to be more learned in the scriptures so that we're capable of getting them saved, overcoming obstacles. And there's a point, there's a level of truth to that. But what is really the context of this passage? The context of this passage is someone being, is suffering for righteousness sake. Meaning that you're doing right and then someone's persecuting you. Someone's doing evil against you. Think about the verse right after chapter 15, or verse 15. It says, having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse you. Okay? And it's saying specifically, they're accusing your good conversation in Christ. So what does this look like? Well, the picture that's being painted is you're going to church. You're reading the Bible. You're serving God. And something comes out about your church, or your pastor, or you. And they're like, oh, you guys are a bunch of hateful cult following psychos or whatever. You guys are evil. You guys are so mean. That's what they're labeling you as. Even though you're just a kind-hearted, God-fearing, respectable person. So then when they say all this about you, and then they actually encounter you. And they're like, aren't you one of these hateful, whatever. And you're just like, no, I actually love a lot of people. I love my family. I love the Lord Jesus Christ. And then they look at that and they're thinking like, oh, I've been calling this guy. I've been saying this guy is such a wicked, evil person, but he's actually kind of a nice guy. He works really hard. He has a nice family. And what happens? They end up becoming ashamed for calling you this evil, wicked person when you really aren't. So that's where the real context is of be ready to give an answer. The answer is the fact that you're living a godly life. And whenever they come and talk about how terrible a person you are, and you're like, here's who I am. And they're like, oh, wow, that doesn't really line up with what we said about this guy. You know, we called him all these names and we said he's like all this. But then when we actually examined the facts, we realized they're not like we described them. They're actually just God-fearing, good-hearted, Christian people. You know, they say, oh, you just want to murder. You're just this violent, hateful, evil person, a cult follower. And then it's like they examine the evidence and it's like, oh, well, we don't need proof. And they're like, when did I say that? It's like, well, you know. Here's all the preaching. Here's what, you know, it's like then they start being, what, ashamed that are falsely accusing you. But you know what you're going to have to endure? Being falsely accused. Being labeled as evil. Being told that you're something that you're not. What was Jesus called? Beelzebub. And he said, hey, if they're calling me Beelzebub, how much more are they going to call you guys? Because you've got to think about it. Christ is literally perfect. Christ is literally the greatest guy ever. Christ is literally feeding people just for free. Okay, if you're going to falsely accuse that guy, how much more me, who's not perfect, who has sinned, who every time I speak it doesn't sound like running waters, you know, that isn't just the word of God just like perfectly portrayed. I mean, it's way easier to criticize me than it is Jesus. You know what I mean? So it's a lot easier to give a really bad name to me. And so he's saying like, look, if they call Jesus Beelzebub, they're going to call you way worse. And of course they do. Anybody that's a minister of Jesus Christ, anybody that actually believes the Bible, anybody that's a child of God, you're going to get all these horrible labels. You're going to be accused of all manner of evil and sin. And notice they're basically acting like you're the worst people on the planet. Like we've got to eradicate them. We've got to remove them. I mean, they literally, some of these people in America today, they think that fundamental Baptists are like terrorists, child abusing, rapist, murderer, violent, you know, just satanic, cult filled people. Like that's what they describe them as. They use all these words. They're terrorists and, you know, they're basically abusing children by teaching them to, you know, love Jesus, right? You know, by hating evil. They'll teach you that, they'll say that they're child abusers even though they never did. It's the Catholic church. Sorry, you got the wrong church, buddy. Okay. They'll accuse you of being filled with devils when you're filled with the Holy Spirit. That sounds like somebody. Oh, yeah, Jesus. Remember Jesus formed miracles and then they falsely accused him by doing it by the power of Beelzebub, which is called blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. Okay. These reprobate. You know, there's no new thing under the sun. And the Thessalonian church is going through a hard time where people are doing things like this. Falsely accusing them, attacking them, lying about them, putting a lot of libel and slander on them. And I would have to say that this is probably one of the most common ways you're going to be afflicted. There's a lot of ways to be afflicted, but if you want to really boil it down, like what are most every Christian going to experience is a lot of just lies about who they are. Slander, just made up things, things that aren't true. And, you know, it's really frustrating because you know that it's not true. You want to defend yourself. You don't want people to think poorly about you. Okay. And so it's really hard to, you know, basically endure some of this. But you've got to be ready to give that answer and basically say, you know what? I'm afraid of the Lord. That's why I do the things that I do. That's why I dress the way I dress. That's why I go to church. That's why I read the Bible. I'm not doing this because I have to. I'm not doing it because Pastor Shelley's going to call me tomorrow if I don't do it. You know, I'm not wearing these clothes because Pastor Shelley laid out my outfit on my bed this morning. You know, I don't even, I barely can dress myself. Okay. Let alone somebody else. Okay. You know, it's like they want to accuse you of all these things and you know it's not true. You just have to endure it. And whenever you give that good answer, they're going to end up feeling embarrassed for having falsely accused you. Look at chapter 4 and look at verse number 19 now. It's easy to accept the blessings from God. Right? I mean, is it really hard to be thankful to God when you get another child? You know, you get another child, you're like, that was great. You know, is it really hard to be thankful to God when the pregnancy goes perfectly, when the delivery goes perfectly? Is it really hard to be thankful to God when your children are always, you know, perfect little angels and they obey and they're doing right and they turn out great and they love their mom and dad? Is it really hard to be thankful to the Lord when he gives you a great job or he blesses you with money that you weren't even expecting you? He blesses you with a nice house. He gives you a lot of wisdom. He blesses you with good relationships. He blesses you with a wonderful spouse. I mean, it's really easy to be thankful for God, you know, when all these great things are happening. Well, here's a question. Is it easy to be thankful for God when you get fired, when someone lies to you about you, when someone attacks you, when someone does evil to you? But the Bible teaches that God's still a faithful creator through your suffering. You know, it'd be easy for Jesus, when he's going through the cross, to be like, what's going on here? You know, I liked all the blessings, but this doesn't seem like a lot of blessings. But you know what? God was still faithful through the crucifixion. God the Father still loved Jesus when he was being lied about. God the Father still was okay with Judas betraying him. That didn't feel very good. God was still with him when he's being surrounded by the chief Pharisees and they're smiting him and blaspheming. God was still faithful. God was still faithful when he was drugged before Pilate. God was still faithful when he was drugged before Herod. God was still faithful when he was drugged up to Mount Calvary, literally. He had to drag his own cross. You know, God's still sending someone to come there and carry that cross for him, wasn't he? God still sent some people to be there. There were still women there warning and weeping when Jesus was there. God was still faithful the whole way. And you know what? God was still faithful saying, hey, I'm still going to take you out of hell. You know, your soul's not going to be left in hell. And that was the only hope he had. He's like that he's not going to be left there. God never stopped being faithful in any of Jesus' afflictions. But yet, we go through affliction, we think like, where's God at? He's still in heaven and he's still faithful. So we have to commit ourselves unto God and say, you know what? Even if I'm going through evil, it must be that God wanted me to go through this evil. You know, it must be that there's a reason why I'm going through this suffering, especially when it's for righteous mistake. That's the context. You know, you did right and then something bad happened as a result of it. You have to just say, I guess that's what God wants me to do, but he's still faithful. I mean, you think Stephen, after preaching that great sermon to the Jews, wasn't hoping like they were all going to get saved. I mean, he's sitting there at Acts 7, he's just laying out the Bible. He's just full of the Holy Ghost. I mean, don't you think he wants them to all just be like, Woo! Believe in Jesus! We're all saved! Let's go, Stephen! You know, that's what he wanted. But then when they're just like, He's like, he's stiff necked, uncircumcised in heart and ears. You always resist the Holy Ghost! You know. And then they picked up rocks and he's like, What's going on? And then they rocked him to sleep. But you know how he knew how God was still faithful? Because he looked up and he saw Jesus standing. Still standing for him. Still there. And you know what? Stephen wasn't moved by those afflictions. He might have thrown rocks at him. You know, Paul got stoned multiple times, but he still kept going. Still kept fighting. And he's trying to tell these Thessalonians, Hey, you're going to go through afflictions. We're appointed unto afflictions. You know, the pre-Tribbers aren't appointed in anything, apparently. You know what? Us actually believe the Bible, know that we're appointed unto tribulation. Okay, we're appointed to go through suffering. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 1. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 1. And let me tell you something about 1 Thessalonians. You want to know what it's all about? Tribulation. I mean, it's all about suffering. It's all about persecution. It's all about not getting moved through persecution and suffering and tribulation. And it's not a coincidence that it happens to have something really famous in the book of 1 Thessalonians. It's called the rapture. Why? Because that's to help you realize you're going to have to go through a lot of evil building up to that point. It's like some people are like, I really want to be raptured. You realize what that means. In order to get raptured means you have to go through the door of great tribulation. You don't get to go from easy street to rapture. You go from super difficult, horrible persecution that no man has ever seen ever. I mean, the Bible says it's the greatest tribulation to ever happen. Think about things that happen in the Bible. Okay, Daniel being thrown in the lion's den. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being thrown in the fire. The apostle Paul being stoned multiple times. He's saying it's worse than all that. I mean, worse than when the church was made havoc in Jerusalem. Worse than that. There's no worse than Cain and Abel. We don't even know yet exactly how bad it is because it's indescribable. Because I can't go to a story in the Bible and say it's like that because it's worse. It says there's never been. You say, I can't wait to get raptured. Well, buckle up. You know, we're going to get, you know, the seatbelt sign has been put back on by the pilot. Because we're going to go through some turbulence if you want to get to that rapture point. And 2 Corinthians 1 is also emphasizing the fact that in this life, if you get saved, buckle up. As soon as you get saved, it's on. Okay, the fight is on. I like that song. 2 Corinthians 1, look at verse 3. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer, or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. So you're saying, hey, here's a fact. I know that you're going to be a partaker of what? Of the sufferings. But he's like, the reason why I went through so much evil, the reason why I went through so much suffering, is so that I could comfort you when you go through suffering. And so that I can be like, hey, I know what that's like. Hey, I know that it gets rough. Hey, I know it can be difficult. You know what? Salvation's on the other side. And the salvation in 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, you have to understand is a physical salvation. I'm not talking about spiritual salvation. Because why is he bringing up physical salvation? Because so many times in the Bible, Paul was physically saved. There were so many times where his life was literally on the line, where he's going to die literally, and then he's saved. Think about all the salvations in the Bible. They're virtually all physical. I mean, Daniel's putting the lions in. He wasn't spiritually saved. He was physically saved. The lions didn't touch him. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were put in the fire. They were physically saved from the fire. So there's a lot of times in the Bible where God's people are physically saved, and you say, well, how are they physically saved? Because they didn't move. Because they didn't stop. Now let me ask you this question. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had said, you know what? We'll go ahead and worship that thing. Would they have survived? No. Why did they survive the fire? Because they didn't move off the doctrine of Christ. Because they said, hey, we're not going to worship that thing. That's what ended up saving them. And let me tell you something. I don't believe the key has changed. The key to physical salvation in the Christian life is not moving. Now, not a guarantee in the sense that, you know, even Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego say like, well, even if he doesn't deliver us, we're still not going to do it. And Stephen didn't get physically delivered. OK, we get that. And of course, the Church of Sardis is told to be faithful unto death. But they get a crown of life. So the key is just not moving. 97% of the time, that's going to lead to literal physical salvation. And the small chances that it doesn't, hey, you have all of eternity to brag about how you were martyred for Christ. But the alternative is never a good option. Abandoning Christ, forsaking Christ, allowing the world to move you. And Paul, that's what he's worried about. He's not worried about them being a martyr. He's worried about them stop moving in the right direction in order to just be carried away. We are appointed unto tribulation. We're not appointed unto wrath, but we're going to suffer. Go back to 1 Thessalonians, chapter number 3. Go back to 1 Thessalonians, chapter number 3. It's important that we have ministers to come and to preach unto us and to explain unto us that there is a light at the end of the tunnel in many cases. You know, most of the sufferings that we're going to experience in our life, there's an ebb and flow to it. You know, there's going to be kind of that valley, and then you're going to kind of come back out of it. And then you're going to kind of go back down. You know, and it's just kind of like this ebb and flow is what the Bible teaches for the Christian life. Now, if you look at Paul's ebb and flow, it's kind of like one of these. It's kind of trending in the wrong direction. But it still has that ebb and flow, okay? It's like Pfizer stock or something, you know. It's just kind of like going that way. But at the end of the day, you know, it doesn't matter, even if it was just a straight downward curve, you don't want to move from Christ. You don't want to let these things stop you from serving Christ. Because who do you want to be ashamed of? Do you want to be ashamed of America or God? And, I mean, when you think about this world, I'm so embarrassed to be an American. I'm so embarrassed that we literally have the most top, I mean, we're talking about the top of the top of judges in America, and she says, I don't even know what a woman is. I mean, how embarrassing is that? How embarrassing is it that our supposed leader, you know, is Joe Biden? He can't even put a sentence together. He's not fooling anyone. No one's fooled by it. Even the Democrats are making fun of him at this point. I mean, nobody thinks that guy's cognitively dead. And, you know, when they look at our leaders, it's not like they're just laughing at our leaders. They're laughing at us. Because they're saying, look at the idiots that are allowing this to be their chief idiot and their chief justice. And, look, most countries, they haven't been bitten by the feminist bug yet, so they just laugh and mock and scoff at the idea that we literally have women leading in almost every position in our country. I mean, some cultures, they wouldn't even have any respect for a woman in any position of leadership. You know, it could be in the business setting, it could be in a political setting, especially in a military setting. I mean, they're not going to go and confer with the general Susie or whatever, you know. It's like, that would be a joke to them. Because it is a joke. Our country is a joke. Why would I be ashamed of the Bible and this culture and this nation? We should be ashamed of our culture. We should be ashamed of America. We should be ashamed of the red, white, and blue. I don't care what color it is. You know, pretty certain it's going to turn into a rainbow flag, probably. Talk about something to be ashamed of, but people are going to get a mood from it. You know, people are going to be ashamed. Oh, you go to that Pure Words Baptist Church. Oh, you're a Democrat? I know which one I would be ashamed of. Oh, you actually voted for Biden? You voted for Beto O'Rourke? You voted for whoever the next woman governor or president or whatever? I mean, that's really what we'd be ashamed of in our culture, in our nation. But you get to pick. Look what it says in verse number five. For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you and our labor be in vain. You know, he's really frustrated a little bit, too, because he's thinking, like, I don't even know if all the work that I did even matters. And what a shame if you, like, plan a church and you get a bunch of people saved and you rally a bunch of people around the Bible, and then when you go or you can't be there for some reason, all the people, they just fall away. They just let the devil just drag them out. And he's like, I'm just worried that you guys are like that. I'm worried that the persecution that came really drug you away. And as much as I would love to, you know, be with you my whole life, I'm not. There's no guarantee that I'm going to be with you here tomorrow. You know, God could take me like that, but it'd be so sad if for some reason I couldn't be here and then I find out, oh, pure words, they all just quit church. They're all at Joel Osteen's church, you know, singing Kumbaya. They're all doing, you know, whatever. I mean, wouldn't that, that would be embarrassing. You know, it'd be kind of frustrating. You'd be like, what did you teach them over there, Pastor Shelley? What did you root them to? Because, you know, if you fall away, if I fall away, that means you're rooted to me. But if I go berserk and you're still here, that tells me that you're rooted to something else. Hopefully it's this. Hopefully it's the pure words of Jesus Christ. You know, that you're rooted and established in that faith. And that's where, you know, you really find out what someone's like in the tribulation. You know, you figure, you find out what a car is like when they go through the testing phase. You know, when they put that dummy in and they're going to smash into the wall. When they slam on the gas and they see how it goes. You know, when it goes a couple hundred thousand miles. And when you realize that that Ford doesn't go a couple hundred thousand miles, you realize it's not that great. Oh, but you have to fix it every day. Then it works, okay, right? That's why they call it fix or repair daily, right? But you never know how good it is until you test it. You know, the car looks so pretty on the lot. Zero miles. It smells good. I love the smell of new car. I mean, isn't that great? So then you get in it and you go to McDonald's by mistake and it's ruined forever, okay? You accidentally leave the food in there and it's just like, wow. No new car smell anymore, right? And you value like the next new car, I'm never going to get food in it again. Then you get a new car and then you have food and you're just like, okay, the vicious cycle, right? That's why you have kids, to ruin the new car smell. That's why I like going with James. You know, he doesn't have any babies in there or whatever. So it keeps smelling like a new car. But you never know what something's like until you try it out, until you test it, you know? And the same is with a Christian life. You don't really know what Christians are like until they go through something hard. And then you get to see who's real. Then you get to see, it's kind of like, I remember the first services here. We had a Friday night service. We had like 110 people or I don't know, it's a lot of people. It was stuffed in here. There wasn't even enough seats. It was like standing room only and it was like 85 degrees or something. It was so hot. And I remember, you know, some people looking at me, some of the newer people, they're just thinking like, what are we going to do? We're not even going to fit in the building. We already need a new building. And I'm like, it's the first service, bro. Just wait for Sunday morning. And I said, and then just wait for Wednesday night. Okay. So then it's like 110. Sunday morning, I think we had like 80 or something. I don't know. It was like 75, 80 people. So there's still a lot of people in here. Very full. First service. Wednesday night, it's like 17 or something. And then the next Sunday, it's like 50. And then six months from now, it's like a lot less. And I tried to say, look, I said at first, it's going to only just the church population or church is going to go like this at first. Because the first service and stuff is fun. It's exciting. I remember some guy came up to me. First service we had Sunday. And he said, I'm so glad that this church is here. I've been waiting for a church like this. I'm going to come to every service and every soul wanting time. I can't wait to get plugged in. This is the Sunday morning service right after, right? Soul wanting time comes, he's not there. Sunday night service, he's not there. I've never seen him again in my entire life. Okay. I don't know who he is. I just remember, he was so excited. And I'm just thinking like, great, you know? And then it's just like, okay, where is he? And look, I'm not, this is a real person. These are real people. And look, there's plenty of real people. They kind of get plugged in. They're a little bit on fire. But then they just, it's like, where'd you go? And then it just feels kind of like labor was in vain. But, you know, the point of a church or a pastor, in my opinion, is just to help others serve Christ better. And you know, if people, even if they're not the greatest Christian ever, even if they're just a little bit better, I say mission accomplished. And even if they got one thing right in their life, or they believe a little bit better, they go soul wanting at least one time. Hey, that's better, you know? And of course, we're all still working and striving. No one's arrived. I have not arrived. I'm not anywhere close to arriving. We all need each other. We need to constantly be reminded of these things. And the Apostle Paul is trying to say, hey, the devil's trying to get you off your faith. Every attack is on one thing. Stop trusting the Lord. Stop serving the Lord. He just wants to get you to quit. It doesn't matter. The devil doesn't care why you quit. He just wants you to quit. It doesn't matter if the devil doesn't care why you go to hell. To the devil, if you were the greatest Catholic in the world and go to hell, that's the same as being a pedophile Satanist to him. He doesn't really care. He doesn't care the reason why you go. He just wants you to go. And the devil doesn't care why you quit church and quit serving God. He just wants you to quit. The devil's message is quit, quit, quit, quit, quit. And you know what the Bible's message is? Don't move. Don't move. Be steadfast. Be unmovable. Stick with Christ. Be faithful. Just keep walking. Just another step. Just another step. Just one more. Just step by faith. You know, it's this constant battle, this constant struggling every single day. And the apostle Paul is just worried about this church. He wants someone to be there to strengthen him. And I get it because when I go to work out, I suck at working out if I'm by myself. Anybody else like me? No one else. Oh, you're all great. Okay, no, I'm just kidding. If I go work out, I'll just start doing reps, and I'll be like, oh, I'm tired. Okay, all right. Let's move on to the next one. I need that person next to me that's like, keep going. You can do another one. Do another one. Or like, I've been, you know, there's this guy, a steadfast works out with me, brother Nick. Sometimes I've noticed he does this to me. It's like kind of lightweight. He'll put his hand on it and like put a little pressure, make it harder. I'm like sitting here like this, and he's like, you know, I'm like, at first I didn't know what was going on, and then I'm thinking like, what are you doing? You can't do that to yourself if you're working out. You can't sit there and like put your own pressure on it. You know why he's doing that? It's because he's trying to make me better. Because he loves me and he's trying to help me. Okay. And so sometimes a preacher is going to come in, they're going to put a little pressure on you. You're like, oh, I'm doing really good. And they're like, oh, with that weight? Okay. Let me put a little weight on that for you, you know. Let me put a little pressure on that for you. Why? Because he wants you to be better. He wants you to get a little stronger so you can endure it and handle more. Verse 6 says, but now when Timotheus came from you unto us and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us as we also to see you, therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith. For now we live if ye stand fast in the Lord. Now this is great because the Apostle Paul says, you know what? I'm not so concerned with you just for your sake. The fact that you guys are being faithful helps me be faithful. And look, this is so true. If all of you stopped showing up on Thursdays, I'd probably stop showing up on Thursdays. You know what keeps me coming on Thursdays? You guys. That's the only thing that keeps me coming. Okay. Literally. Because every other reason is negative. Okay. The traffic, okay. In fact, some of my comrades, Brother Dylan, he's like coming down here on a Thursday, and it's like some guy tries to kill him literally when coming down here. Okay. Some road rage freak just like literally is chasing around the city trying to literally kill him. You know. And it's like, that's like the devil. I think that was a literal satanic attack. That guy's probably filled with devils trying to flick us when we're going through a hard time. You know, it's probably not easy on him to come either. You know, it's easier for me because I know you guys better and I like you guys. Okay. He's like these random people in Houston. I don't even know these guys. And I'm almost going to get killed on the way down there. You know. It's probably harder on him, so the devil wants to put even more pressure on him. You know. Because if they could get him to quit, then, you know, that could discourage me, that could discourage you. You know, it's discouraging when people quit. What if I stopped coming? You know, people think I'm crazy. Literally like everyone in my life thinks I'm insane. You know, they're like, you're still going to Houston? And I'm like, yeah. And they're like, why? Because of you guys. That's the only reason. Because I don't want you to quit. And I'm thinking like, if I can, you know, if I can drive four and a half hours, I'm thinking like, you can drive 30 minutes, okay? Or 45 minutes or something. I'm like, you know, if I can drive nine hours in one day, maybe you can drive, you know, a little bit. You know, and again, it's not a competition. It's not like it matters. Some people drive a lot further than me on Sunday mornings. People, you know, make bigger sacrifices. I'm the pastor. I get paid. So you could argue that I'm just getting, it's my job, you know. But at the end of the day, why do I even come? Why do I even care? It's because of you. But you also impact me. Don't think that your being here is just for you. You're here for other people in this room, and you're here for me. And just like the apostle Paul's saying, hey, the fact that you guys didn't quit is going to help me not quit. Because I know that what I'm doing matters. He's traveling across the world trying to plant churches. What if every church behind him just folded up shop every single time he left? Then you'd think like, what am I doing? Everything I'm doing is nobody, you know, like kids, you have the little siblings, they start building with toys, right? They build the little structure, and then their sibling comes and knocks it down, right? And they get all mad, and they build it. But if they knew when they built it, as soon as they're done building it, their little brother's going to come and knock it down, they're going to stop building it. Because they're like, what's the point? What's the point of me building this little structure if someone's going to come and knock it right down right afterwards? It seems meaningless. And so he's saying, what's the point of me going and building up all these little churches that the devil's just walking right behind me and knocking them all down every single time? But the fact that it didn't get knocked down, the fact that you're still going to church, the fact that you still love the Lord, the fact that you're still going soul winning motivates me to keep going, to keep living, to keep preaching, to reaching the next person and setting up the next church and getting more people saved. He's saying, you have a major impact on my life. And this is the apostle Paul. I mean, talk about a guy that you would think doesn't need anybody. This guy needs people. And if Paul needs people, I know I need people. And I know you need people. We all need people. We all need to be strengthened by our brethren. And you know, the point is that we can be perfected. Look what it says in verse 9. For what thanks can we render to God again for you? For all the joy wherewith we joy for our sakes before our God, night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. So the goal of church is to perfect that, which is not perfect. Perfect means complete, not lacking. So the point is that we're constantly trying to perfect ourselves. And how do we perfect ourselves with the Bible? You know, this is perfection. None of us arrived. Every time we open to the Bible, we're like, oh yeah, I need to fix that and that and this and this and that and get better here and have more faith here. And yeah, that's the point of coming to church. That's the point of hearing sermons. That's the point of being strengthened and being perfected. You know, Hebrews chapter number 6, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and the faith toward God. You know, we don't need the principal doctrines every single week. We need other doctrines. We need to learn about other things in the Bible. We need 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. You know, most people when they think about Christianity, it's not 1 Thessalonians chapter number 3. That's probably not a chapter being read by very many people. And you know why it's not being read by very many people? Most people are pre-trib and it doesn't make a lot of sense for them to go from chapter 3 of a bunch of tribulation straight into chapter 4 to the rapture. But I'm trying to lay a really strong foundation, a really strong framework here when we get into chapter 4 that it was like tribulation, tribulation, tribulation, tribulation and then it's like rapture. Why? Because that's the picture of the Bible. And chapter 3 is a really important chapter. You know, it gave us some apostles and prophets and teachers. What was the point of the perfecting of the saints is what the Bible says. And so if He gave them us, or He gave us them, then we need to realize that we need them. We need the preachers, we need the pastors, we need the teachers to help us get better, to perfect things, to fix our blind sights, you know, our blind spots. Because none of us are always right. A lot of us have issues. We need to fix doctrine. You know, I've had to fix doctrine several times in my life. Like several years of process of me thinking I'm 100% right and then realizing, oh wow, I was actually wrong on that doctrine. You know, allowing the word of God to change our minds and our hearts. Listening to what men of God and preachers have to say and hearing what the Bible has to say and getting stronger in our faith. Verse 11 says, Now God Himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another and toward all men, even as we do toward you. To the end, you may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God even our Father, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. According to the Bible, number one, He wants to see them. He's praying that God will allow Him to see them. Number two is He wants them to abound in love. And the more you love, the more you're going to follow God's commandments. If you love me, keep my commandments. I preached a sermon called Love, Hate, Sin. That's why we can't livestream on our normal channel tonight. You're welcome. And the more you love, the more you're going to hate sin. And the more you hate sin, the more you're going to be in holiness. And that's what He wants. The end means the goal is that we're unblameable in holiness, that we're set apart, that we're serving God perfectly, that we don't have sin in our lives. Now, of course, from an absolutist perspective, that's impossible. Close to that is possible. We want to be as holy as possible. We want to be as unblameable. We want to have no blame possible in our lives and be ready to meet Jesus. I mean, do you want to be meeting Jesus with cookie crumbs all over your face or do you have all the chores done? Even if you didn't do the chores perfectly, you don't want to be caught with guile in your mouth. You don't want to be caught sleeping. You don't want to be caught fiddling around. You don't want to be caught having denied Christ three times and Jesus coming around being like, Peter, love is thou me more than these? No, no, you want to be the guy that's ready to meet the Lord Jesus Christ, that's established in the faith, that wasn't moved. You're like the Apostle Paul that's like, I'm ready to go. I finished my course. I fought the good fight. There's a crowd of righteousness laid up for me. Think about getting to say that under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. That's pretty comforting. You're just like, hey, there's a crowd of righteousness, there's a crowd of life laying for me. And it's like, and that was a Bible. So it can't be not true. It's like, I know it. That's pretty cool, right? But if you know you're just going to finish with Christ, then you know you're going to get that too. Because he didn't say it was just for him, it was for all them that love his appearing. And if you love his appearing means that you're working for that, you're waiting for that. The Bible says that all those saints are going to be there. I'll talk about that in the next chapter, but every single person that's saved or has been saved is going to be with Jesus when he returns, when he comes back, all of them. And that's what we call the rapture. Even though that word's not found in the Bible, it just means a catching up, you know, to be caught up. And that's what the words, you know, caught up. The Greek word's like harpazo, and that's when we caught up with the Lord. It means like a great seizing. And the Bible makes it clear that we'll all be with Christ at that point, and then we'll never leave, you know, Christ. We'll never leave each other. It's the greatest family reunion you've ever had. And the world doesn't have anything to compare to that, all right? Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for this great chapter. Thank you for reminding us that we need one another. And one day we'll all be together. But as we go through this life, let us realize that there's going to be tribulation. Let us realize there's going to be suffering, and let us endure that suffering. When we establish our hearts in the Word of God, when we allow ministers to minister unto us, it doesn't just help us. It benefits others. Other people are strengthened by our example. Other people are strengthened and comforted by us enduring difficulty, enduring struggle. And I pray that we would always believe, that we'd always have the faith, that no matter what evil befalls us, you're still faithful. We have a purpose and a reason for the evil that happens to us, and that we wouldn't allow it to derail us. We wouldn't let the pressures of this world cause us to be ashamed of the Bible. Rather, we'd be ashamed of this world. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I'm going to go to our final song. Is it 35? 39. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. We read of a place that's called heaven. Do you want to start? We'll let her get an intro one more time, all right? Let's... You're on the first? We read of a place that's called heaven. It's made for the pure and the free. These truths in God's Word He hath given. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. Sweet home of the happy and free. Fair haven of rest for the weary. How beautiful heaven must be. In heaven no drooping nor pining. No wishing for elsewhere to be. God's light is forever there shining. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. Sweet home of the happy and free. Fair haven of rest for the weary. How beautiful heaven must be. Pure waters of life there are flowing. And all who will drink may be free. Rare jewels of splendor are glowing. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. Sweet home of the happy and free. Fair haven of rest for the weary. How beautiful heaven must be. The angels are sweetly are singing. Up there by the beautiful sea. Sweet courts from their gold hubs are ringing. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. Sweet home of the happy and free. Fair haven of rest for the weary. How beautiful heaven must be. Good to see you. You are dismissed. Thank you for watching. Thank you for watching.