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Storm 146 shelter in the time of storm start on the pickup of the first the Lord's hour Rocking him we hide a shelter in the time of storm See Cure whatever He'll be tired a shelter in the time of storm. Oh Jesus is a rock in a weary land a weary land a weary land Oh Jesus is a rock in a weary land a shelter in the time of storm a shade by day demons by night a shelter in the time of storm no fears alarm no foes of fright a shelter in the time of storm Oh Jesus is a rock in a weary land a weary land Oh weary land Oh Jesus is a rock in a weary land a shelter in the time of storm on the third 146 the raging storms may round us beat a shelter in the time of storm We'll never leave our safe retreat a shelter in the time of storm Oh Jesus is a rock in a weary land a weary land a weary land Oh Jesus is a rock in a weary land a shelter in the time of storm Oh rock divine oh Refuge dear a shelter in the time of storm Be thou our Helper ever near a shelter in the time of storm Oh Jesus is a rock in a weary land a weary land a weary Land Oh Jesus is a rock in a weary land a shelter in the time of storm Amen brother Sam would you open us in a word of prayer this evening? For Amen for the next hymn this evening turn if you would to 150 in 150 My faith has found a resting place one five zero 150 will sing they're starting on the first my faith has found a resting place not in device nor creed I trust the Ever-living one his wounds for me shall plead I need no other argument I need no other plea It Is enough that Jesus died and then he died for me Enough for me that Jesus saves this ends my fear and doubt a Sinful soul I come to him. He'll never cast me out I need no other Argument I need no other plea It is enough that Jesus died and then he died for me My heart is leaning on the word the written word of God Salvation By my Savior's name salvation through his blood I need no other Argument I need no other plea It is enough that Jesus died and then he died for me My great Physician heals the sick the lost he came to save For me is precious bloody shed for me is life he gave I need no other Argument I need no other plea It Is enough that Jesus died and then he died for me Amen Thanks so much for coming to pure words Baptist Church If you don't have a bulletin you can get one real quick as a witness to someone need to be thrown out No, I'm just kidding. I Guess Cameron decides to have fun the bulletin and and show what heresy really looks like It's right there in the front and So I guess he might even bring that heresy with them on Sunday night and you can try it But a little leaven leaven at the whole lump, so be careful. We have our service times and so many times Our church stats. I know we had I think five salvations for this evening What about outside of any salvations report the last few days one? Okay six and then We have our list of expecting ladies continue to pray for them We also have our upcoming events this Sunday. We have the chili cook-off and We have some really nice prizes so try to bring your chili for immediately after the service for the Nick Gomez is gonna get other stuff for the church as far as just like chips sour cream drinks cheese and all the kind of the fixing stuff and If you want to bring a really gross chili, that's like pictured on the front You still can you just can't win the prize. All right, so I guess you can just be satisfied beans are your prize All right. So if that's what you really want, you can have the Zico bread later, too also, we have our Thanksgiving service Tuesday, November 23rd, we're gonna have a Dessert fellowship. So you want to bring your favorite dessert and I'll be done here instead of having on Thursday Well, let's have it on Tuesday and then our crystal Christmas candlelight service is gonna be on Thursday as well There's something else I want to do. We're gonna try and do and I haven't announced this up in Fort Worth yet I'm gonna announce it Sunday, but we're gonna try and do another Yearbook for the steadfast and we kind of I just separated it I don't think we've done it for here But I was gonna include pure words too And so if we have somebody that's willing to help with like taking pictures or something like that Just let me know So then that way we can kind of get that organized and set up and then we can try to take pictures for the next couple of weeks just so we can include all those and We'll try to take baby pictures too and get them put in there We made some like two years ago and they came out really nice and so I'm hoping that we can do the same thing this year and Get all that organized so if anybody wants to help with that just let me know Also, we have our fair request brother Edward for health just continue to pay for him and He's here in the flesh. So, you know, how you doing? Okay, good. We'll just continue to pray for him and I'm sure he appreciates that I think that's pretty much all I have for Announcements at this time. We'll go ahead and go to our third song 124 or the camera can read for us 124. God will take care of you 124 All right 124 God will take care of you Starting this in the right key is always fun 124 we'll see if we can hit it. God will take care of you. It's a good song Let's sing they're starting on the first be not dismayed Whatever be tied God will take care of you Beneath his wings of love abide God will take care of you God will take care of you through every day All the way he will take care of you God will take care of you Days of toil when hard doth fail God will take care of you Dangers fears your path assail God will take care of you God will take care of you through every day although He will take care of you God will take care of you All you may need he will provide God will take care of you I Think you ask will be denied God will take care of you God will take care of you through every day although He will take care of you God Will take care of you on the floor matter what may be the test God will take care of you Where we won upon his breast God will take care of you God Will take care of you Through every day all the He will take care of you God will take care of you Amen good singing this evening if you would while the offering plates being passed around turn to Acts chapter number 21 brother Brandon will Read for us acts chapter number 20 Already we're there in Acts chapter 21 the Bible reads and it came to pass that after we are gotten From them and had launched we came with the straight course unto cool and date and the debt and that in the day following unto roads and came from thence unto to Tyra and Finding a ship sailing over unto Phoenicia and went abroad and Set forth now when we had discovered Cyprus we left it on the left hand and sailed onto Cyra and land At Tyre for there that the ship was unlaid her burden in finding Disciples we tarried there seven days who said to Paul through the spirit that he should not go up to ruthless and When he had accomplished those days we departed and went our way and they all brought us on our way With wives and children till we were out of the city And we kneeled down on the shore and prayed and when he had taken our leave One of another we took ship and they returned home again And when he had finished our course for entire we came to Ptolemais and saluted the brethren and bowed with them one day and the next day We that were of Paul's company Departed and came to Cycera and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist which was one of the seven and abode with him and The same man had four daughters virgins which did prophesy and as we tarried there many days there came down from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus And when he and when he was come unto us He took Paul's girdle and bowed found his own hands and feet and said thus saith the Holy Ghost so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle and Shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles and when he was heard these things Both we and they of that place we sought him not to go up to Jerusalem then Paul answered what men he Weep and to break mine heart for I am ready not to be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus and when he would not be persuaded we ceased saying that will of The will of the Lord be done and after those days we took up our carriages and went up to Jerusalem There went with us also certain of the disciples of Caesarea and brought with them one manna son of Cyprus an old disciple with whom we should lot and When we were come to Jerusalem the brethren received us gladly and the day following Paul went into What in with us unto James and all the elders were present and when he had saluted them he declared particularly What things God hath wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry and when they had heard it they glorified the Lord and said unto them thou see it brother how many thousands of Jews there were which believe and they are all zealous of the law and They are informed of thee and that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses saying that they ought not to Circumcise their children neither to walk after the customs What is therefore the multitude must needs come together for they Where they will hear that thou art come do therefore this that we may say to thee We have found we have four men which have a vow on them Then take and purify thyself with them and be at the charges with them If they might shave their heads and all they may know that those things that were of they were Informed concerning thee are nothing but that they'll my myself also Walkest orderly and keepest the law as touching the Gentiles which believe we have written and concluded that they observed no such thing They've only that they keep themselves from the things ordered to idols and from blood from strangled and from fornication Then Paul took the men and that make the next day purifying himself with them entered To signify the accomplishment of the days of purification and to that an offering should be offered for every one of them And then the seven days were almost ended the Jews which were of Asia When they saw him in the temple stirred up all the people and laid his hands on him crying out men of Israel help, this is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people and The law in this place and the further brought Greeks also into the temple and hath polluted this holy place Where they had seen their? being there before him with him in the city of Remus, he's the museum whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple and all the city was moved and the people ran together and they took Paul and Drew him out of the temple and the or with the doors were shut And as they were into and as they went about to kill him hiding came on to the chief captain of the band That all Jerusalem was in the uproar who immediately took the soldiers and centurions and ran down Unto them and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers a left beating of Paul Then the chief captain came near and took him and come Commanded him to be abound with two chains and demanded who he was and what he had done and come cried one thing some another among the multitude and when he could not know the certainty for the Tumult he commanded him to be carried into the castle when he came on Came upon the stairs So it was that he was born of the soldiers for the violence of the people For the multitude of the people followed after crying away with him And as Paul was to be led into the castle He said unto the chief captain may I speak unto thee who said can't thou speak Greek Art not thou the Egyptian which before these days made us an uproar and led us out into the wilderness 4,000 men that were murderers But Paul said I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus a city in Cilicia a citizen of no mean city and I beseech thee suffer me to speak unto the people and When he had given him license Paul stood on these stairs of the back end with the hand Onto the people and when there was made a great silence he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue They Men were in Acts chapter number 21 and in chapter 20 the Apostle Paul had spent some time speaking to the elders at Ephesus and They basically depart from one another and Paul's taking a journey where he's trying to get to Jerusalem And he's kind of saying his goodbyes to a lot of people, but at this point. He's gonna kind of go fast-track He's just trying to get to Jerusalem very quickly says there in verse 1 And it came to pass after that that after we were gotten from them talking about those in Ephesus and at launch we came with a straight course unto Coos and the day following in the roads and from thence unto Patara and Finding a ship sailing over unto Phoenicia We went abroad and set forth and when we had discovered Cyprus we left it on the left hand and sailed in Assyria and landed at Tyre and there the ship was to unlaid or burden and Finding disciples we tarried there seven days who said to Paul through the spirit He should not go up to Jerusalem and when we had accomplished those days We departed and went our way They and all brought us on our way with wives and children till we were out of the city We kneeled down on the shore in prayer prayed and When we had taken our leave one of another we took ship they returned home again So he's basically taking a very quick journey That's why it says in chapter or verse number one with a straight course meaning. They're just going right on their way They're not really stopping to too many places. It does say when they landed in Tyre though They spent seven days with some of the disciples and the Apostle Paul is communicating with them But in this stop on his way to Jerusalem It says that they were talking to him through the spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem now this is an important thing to kind of pay attention to when we're reading this story because just because Someone that's good in the Bible does something doesn't mean it was right Okay, you have to compare their actions with the Word of God You have to compare it with other commandments that God has given them and this is kind of a subtle clue I wouldn't say it's that subtle, but you know if you're just kind of reading through you might kind of skip over this But essentially the Holy Spirit is the one that's telling the Apostle Paul not to go to Jerusalem But he doesn't really care. He's kind of he's stubborn. You know he's a little bit stubborn and you can kind of pick up on this When you're reading the Bible, but he's really stubborn here, and he just wants to go and the reality is that's just the human condition You know we all kind of have our own Vices our own stubbornness some people they just resist the spirit You know they they're told very clearly not to put beans and chili, but they just they do always resist the Holy Ghost You know they always do resist the good doctrine, and they're just really stubborn about it And you know you're just not gonna fix it sometimes. You're just not gonna fix it sometimes You're not gonna fix people's stubbornness. They're just gonna do That which is wrong or whatever they did they think is the best thing and you know the question you have to ask yourself Because Paul's constantly saying wants to go to Jerusalem like what's the point? You know like why is he really going there? I we don't see like an angel from the Lord coming to Paul and saying like go to Jerusalem You know and he's like I got to go to Jerusalem You know the Lord told me in fact we kind of see the opposite We kind of see him on the mission field doing a lot of work for God And then randomly just saying like I got to go to Jerusalem And then as he's leaving it's like everybody's like the Holy Spirit saying no you know like the Spirit saying don't go and You kind of see this sometimes in people's life You know you see Christians who they kind of know what's right? And they'll even have brothers and sisters in Christ tell them like this is right, but then they just don't do it You know what would be an example of this? Someone that knows they should go soul winning and they're even told by their brothers and sisters in Christ to go so winning But they just stop going so winning you know or they stop going to church or they stop reading their Bible Or they they know it's right, and they even have people encouraging to do that which is right But they just kind of resist anyways or there's been people They've come up to me, and they say hey, I'm moving and I'm like okay Where are you moving and it's like to Timbuktu and I'm thinking like well There's not a good church in Timbuktu and then like what church you can go to and they're like I don't know and they're like. What do you think about that, and I'm just thinking like no That's a bad decision like why would I move if I'm in a good church, and I have a good church opportunity Why would I move to where I'm not going to have a good church opportunity? It doesn't matter when it comes to money goods married I mean even if you're getting married to the woman of your dreams You know not being in church is in my opinion still a net negative You know you want to be in a place where you can serve God especially when you already have it You know if you're just moving from Timbuktu to Timbuk-Buk or whatever I don't know Timbuk 3 or something like that like I guess it doesn't really matter But I'm just saying like why would you go from a good church and look I've seen this I've seen people They're three to thrive they're in a good church They're going soul winning and they end up moving to an area where there's not really a good church Or they're a lot further away from a good church, and now they're not going as much now They go maybe they go on Sundays every once in a while They're not going soul winning as much and and look it's gonna impact your life Church will impact your life. It'll impact your family. It'll impact your marriage. It'll impact your actions It'll make a big impact on your decisions That's why it's important to go to church, and I believe you should be three to thrive You know and you're not gonna say thrive carnally But you'll thrive spiritually and you have to ask yourself this question which one's more important And when it comes to the Apostle Paul You know it's really kind of a foolish decision. He's thriving so well on the mission field I mean everything's going great outside of being you know beaten, and you'll hate as far as those people getting saved I mean it's going great lots of people are turning to the Lord the Gentiles are getting saved But then you just I have to go to Jerusalem, and you're just like why? You know it's kind of a weird decision. I think that the Bible is real clear. This was wrong And you say why because the spirits saying not to you know the way to the spirits telling you not to do something You're supposed to just not do it But while he's on this journey We see that It says in verse number five when they're leaving that they all kneeled on the shore And they prayed together, and you know at least whenever someone's doing something That's wrong you can still just pray with them You know you can still just pray for them and just say like hey You know I don't think you should do that, but I still I'm gonna pray that God blesses you anyways I'm still gonna pray that things work out for you And you know you don't want to just say like well, that's a dumb decision I can't be your friend anymore No You'd still want to pray for them and be kind to them and hope that things work out for them even if they're not filling God's ultimate will or perfect will in their life. We still want them You know even if they're going to church once a week I still want them to go to church once you know just because they Stop going three times or just because they're going once a while I still want them to fill the works that they can Even though it's just not God's perfect will even though It's just not what God had them for them in their life and most of us are not fulfilling God's perfect Well, let's just be honest you know God probably would want us to do more than we're doing or serve in different ways Or we could go a little bit further above and beyond or we can get plugged in more So no one's just like perfect. No one's just like I've arrived and at the end of the day We still want to pray with one another and have grace and mercy towards each other look at verse 7 and when we had finished our course from Tyre we came to Ptolemais and Saluted the brethren and abode with them one day And the next day we were of Paul's Comfy departed and came unto Caesarea and we entered in the house of Philip the evangelist Which is one of the seven and abode with him and the same man had four daughters virgins which did prophesy now this is kind of an interesting little section of Scripture because Philip's not mentioned a lot in the Bible So I mentioned a couple times and this is the only time where we hear this we see this kind of like title or this This wording attributed to him it calls him Philip the evangelist now. I personally believe that Anyone who's saved is an evangelist okay to some degree in the sense that we all have the job and the responsibility of going out and preaching the gospel and You know it's not it's not really necessarily an official title that you know it's not like hi I'm Jonathan the evangelist you know or whatever, but it's just that we're all evangelists. Just like we're all children of God Just like we're all Christians. Just like we're all Baptists you know we have certain things that are attributed to us. You know we're all Soldiers you know once you believe in Jesus Christ you're part of God's army You are a soldier, and it's your job duty to fill out You know be in the war and to contribute and so I also believe we're all evangelists And we're supposed to contribute to the work of evangelism man boy woman child It doesn't matter if you're saved you are an evangelist, but it seems like Philip goes beyond just simply the title of Everybody's an evangelist because then why would it call him in a you know like Philip the Christian? You know Philip the Baptist you know although it is John the Baptist, okay? Don't but again. I think that it's kind of going beyond and it's pointing to Something about Philip that's maybe unique Okay, well it says he's one of the seven go if you would back to Acts chapter number six And we'll see the first time that he's mentioned Acts chapter number six look what it says in verse number three Wherefore brethren Look ye out among you seven men of honest report full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom whom we may appoint over this business, so there was a neglecting of widows in the daily ministration in the daily ministry and The apostles are like we're not gonna stop studying the Bible to take care of widows Let's just grab seven guys to take care of them, but they didn't just take pick seven randos They picked as his Bible describes them seven men of honest report Full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom whom we may appoint over this business so notice the work of the Lord It's never without qualification It's never just for some random person, but rather people that take the Word of God seriously those that are full of the Holy Ghost those that are honest people you don't ever want to hire someone that's not honest and They basically get a good report among other people other people are willing to say like this guy's honest This guy's a hard worker this guy is one who takes the Word of God seriously not one that sings their own praises You know every man will tell you how good he is on his own, okay? But a faithful man who can find right everyone will sing their own praises every you know everyone will tell you that they're faithful Everyone will tell you they're great, but what would other people say about you? That's why I had a lot of job interviews you have references, right? You're supposed to provide References and it's usually not supposed to be your brother cousin and dad or whatever supposed to be like People you've worked with just other people that would vouch for you So in this instance Philip was a man of renown amongst his people you know in the church that he was at amongst the children of Israel amongst this early church and group of people he stood out as Someone that was full of the Holy Ghost had an honest report was serving in his church without even having a title But then they end up appointing them to a specific office within the ministry it says in verse 4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer in the ministry of the word and the saying please all multitude they chose Stephen a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost and Philip and Procuris and I can't err and Timon and Parmenas and Nicholas a proselyte of Antioch whom they meaning the the whole group Set before the Apostles and when they had prayed they laid their hands on them, so it's some really Important like distinctions here, but essentially the Apostles are gonna lay hands on someone But they asked the congregation to give them the seven guys whom they are gonna appoint and they're gonna ordain choose to be of these seven now It doesn't say explicitly What title these guys were given okay? Some people would point to this passage and say this is like the first deacons of the church and I think that makes a lot of sense because You know in some ways they have To meet certain requirements They're serving. They're not necessarily in a position of authority. They're kind of more in a position of a servant and The root word deacon simply mean servant That's kind of what the word deacon even means just someone that's serving in the church and When you study in first Timothy chapter number three the qualifications of a deacon It's someone who is basically there to serve and is going to be found faithful There's certain requirements that kind of overlap in the sense that you're supposed to test him and prove him Or even give him any kind of a title any kind of position okay, and again Mostly the job function would then indicate to me Why they would be a deacon now go to go to first to meet chapter three, and I'm gonna kind of come back here I know we're kind of taking a couple Rabbit trails here for a moment, but Phillips not mentioned that much So we might as well just kind of dig in for a second first to me the chapter number three Look what it says verse 10 and let these also first be proved Then let them use the office of a deacon being found Blameless even so must their wives be grave not slanderers sober Faithful in all things let the deacons be the husbands of one rife ruling their children in their own houses Well, they they've used the office of the deacon well Purchased to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith, which is in Christ Jesus So he gives a lot of qualifications of a deacon and a deacon essentially According to the Bible would be someone that's not necessarily in a position of authority But rather is a servant of the church Yet he still basically has to meet almost all the same requirements as a pastor. I mean him in a past That's why it even starts out and say even so you know or Likewise you know must the deacons be grave in verse number eight So it's saying like in a lot of the same ways that the pastor has to meet these qualifications The deacon has to some distinctions though. You know it doesn't mention every single similar qualification and according to The qualifications of a bishop it says not given to wine in verse number three whereas for the deacon It says not given to much wine, okay, so You know in verse number eight is like not much wine now wine in the Bible can mean a lot of different things I Believe the word wine in this context is in reference to indulgence okay, because wine is often looked at as a luxury and You know it's a little bit just obvious to say like don't drink liquor Okay, like the pastor can't be a drunk It's like really you know it can't be a murderer too and like you know that would just be kind of a little bit obvious So I think it's a little bit more subtle of the qualifications giving saying someone that's not just given to luxury You know that's someone that's just over Indulging themselves. They're not someone that just has to have all the fancy things in the world. It doesn't mean that You know and I don't think this is saying that they can't have wine It's just simply saying that they're not given to it You know given means that they just have to have top top dollar of everything clothes cars houses food everything just always over-the-top really indulgent and It's basically saying the pastor should just not be given to that Meaning that he can be satisfied with just never having the nice things. He doesn't have to have them He wouldn't be someone that's just forcible and luxury or overindulgences and The deacon though is someone that's not given to much wine Meaning what he might have some of the finer things he enjoys some of the finer things It's not a big deal or whatever, but he's it's just not like over-the-top again You know he's not rolling in like flavor slave with you know all these like all the bling and rolling in his Rolls-Royce Or whatever you know you just gotta what you want to make sure that you're careful that you're not given to covetousness You're not given to these type of things and so it's just basically giving these qualifications of this deacon But again the deacons are serving in the church They're proved in the church before they're given the office and the office is position is basically insinuating as a title Right the deacon or the pastor or whatever so we go back to Acts chapter number six You Know one interpretation of this passage would be that these are seven deacons of the church And I would say that that makes sense now They may not have had that title back then because the church is kind of like forming You know the church is kind of just getting things established some things might not be as formal at this point in time It's more about the practicality of it and later Paul's coming around and explaining like this is actually a real position This guy's got these qualifications we see later in the passage that Philip had four virgins, which did prophesy, okay? Which if you have four virgins that prophesied back then he probably had kids didn't he and they were probably Well-behaved considering the fact that they turned out really well You know I mean notice how the Bible describes them later in their life because if they're prophesying I would assume they're probably at least you know teenagers. They're probably all at least teenagers or even older And the fact that it's noting that they're virgin also in my mind Signifies the fact that they're virgin because it's kind of of no significance when we're talking about little children okay again Implied that they would all be virgin so the fact that he's saying virgins is prophesied It's probably most likely they're all adult children like you know they may still be living at home But they may be you know early 20s. Maybe you know late teenagers Yep these all these daughters are well-behaved they're chased They're they're prophesying the Word of God so meaning it's faithful children not accused of riot or unruly meaning that he's doing a good job Taking care of his house, so that make a lot of sense to me. Why he's probably ordained here as a beacon now Another interpretation is that they're just a point of this job And we don't know they weren't even given a titles or or maybe their title changes or something like that But I wouldn't really say that he was ordained as an evangelist here because He's not doing evangelism really you know he's really ordained to serve in the church. That's his primary job This is primary focus now They do end up preaching the gospel and Stephen is even noted here as doing that look at what it says in verse number 7 so they pray their hand they lay hands under and the Word of God increased and the number of disciples Multiplied in Jerusalem greatly in a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith and Stephen full of faith and power did great wonders and miracles among the people Then there arose certain of the synagogue which is called the synagogue with the libertines and so it goes on And basically we find out that Stevens like a great preacher And he's doing great works and people are being added to the church, but again to me That's more of like the the deacon the deacon is gonna. Do what help the church grow facilitate the needs of the church Whereas an evangelist is more someone that's going out and Preaching the gospel it's someone that's going out and doing the work of the Lord. That's what we end up seeing from Philip in Acts chapter number 8 if We skip over there real quick It says in verse number 4 or let's do verse 3 as for Saul He made havoc of the church entering into every house and hailing men and women committed them to prison Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them, so Essentially the church just gets wrecked by Saul. Okay. Who's later called Paul That's who we know him as and when he wrecks this church or whatever Philip ends up getting scattered and going into all these areas to preach the gospel So now he's like doing forced evangelism in a way like he wasn't really doing evangelism But because the church gets you know persecuted and has all these problems He ends up going and spreading the word and is it kind of interesting that? their kind of initial connection is Saul's kind of like sending him out in a sense albeit not on purpose right and then later He comes by and runs into that same guy that was sent out Philip. Who is this evangelist? I just think that's kind of an interesting connection How he kind of is the reason why he goes out and starts doing the evangelism and then later he runs into Philip Again now go to Ephesians chapter number four for a moment Ephesians chapter four now the word evangelism Not used very much in the Bible Okay, it's used a handful of times in the scriptures, and it kind of just Describes it in a few different sections I'm I'm thinking I'm thinking of Ephesians chapter number four Look at verse number 11, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some Evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the reflecting the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ So you know we have very clearly laid out in the Bible pastors and Deacons okay, that's very clearly two offices that are labeled in the Word of God notice in this list Deacons are mentioned Okay, so I would say that when you look at this list You can't necessarily say that all these things are offices per se and in the New Testament You know we don't really have apostles beyond the initial apostles You know that kind of ceases to really exist prophets You know we don't have a prophets in the sense of like the Old Testament prophets really Although anybody that preaches the Word of God in the sense to my you know understanding scripture would be a prophet because he's prophesying You know prophesying is just to speak the Word of God Many times in the Bible when you're speaking the Word of God you're saying something that's gonna happen in the future And look I would say that all the preachers today are prophets because we constantly preach books like Revelation the coming of Christ We're constantly prophesying of what the return of Christ Prophesying of us being redeemed one day and going up to heaven so a lot of what a preacher ends up preaching is future-telling Okay, but what I don't you know believe in is saying like God told me you need a red car You know God told me that you know you need to go over here and do like that stuff's hocus-pocus Okay, and I believe the men of God in the Old Testament You know while they may have spoken the Lord or had different experiences. They're doing the same thing They're just preaching the Word of God. They're not sitting over here like get a red car get a jacket You know do it all these weird hocus-pocus things that you see in the charismatic world today So some of these you know are not necessarily an official You know our church is never gonna have a prophet. You know like this is Prophet John You know this is Prophet so-and-so or whatever like that's not really an official title or anything like that And here's another non official title how about teacher? You know we're not gonna have somebody walking around that's like I'm teacher so-and-so or whatever now historically Baptist churches if kind of only stuck to two offices Pastor and deacon and that would be because when you study You know the qualifications in first Timothy chapter number three and Titus. That's all that's mentioned That's all that's being laid out now. It does tell the pastor to do the work of an evangelist I think that's an interesting phrase because in order for you to do the work of someone than that Kind of position has to exist so I think it goes beyond Something that's just obvious it might be some kind of a title though Some kind of an you know if I said do the work of a plumber You know because plumbers exist right if I said do the work of a soccer player do the work of you know a guitarist Whatever I'm mentioning it must exist as an actual thing otherwise it kind of is a nonsensical You know do the job of a chair sitter And you're like a chair sitter. What's a chair sitter. It's like never even heard of that You know you don't even know what that is because so then it doesn't really have as much of an effect You know there must be something tangible with evangelists, okay? Philip is called the evangelist you know again making it seem like there must be something kind of official to this So you know from my study of scripture and again from some of our friends they believe that an evangelist is another legitimate Office in the church, and I would say that if someone doesn't agree with that I think that that's fine, and I think if someone agrees with that. That's fine. I don't see there really being Something in scripture that just definitely says no Anything that in the Bible just definitely says yes I think it's kind of open to how we interpret things But I would lean towards the fact that you can't really say anything against it because we have clear verses You know talking about Philip the evangelist or we have other verses talking about do the work on evangelists And this wouldn't really make sense if it's just no title, but I've heard people kind of take some of the passages I just showed you is like proof text for an evangelist And I'm just like I don't really believe that either. I don't think you can squeeze out Ephesians chapter 4 is this perfect list of offices because teachers not in office You know and you know we don't really have the office of a prophet today in the New Testament And where's the deacon at we didn't even see that in the list I don't really think of Acts chapter number 6 was really necessarily that process But here's the thing I do think that an evangelist would be an ordained position Meaning that they will be ready so when it comes to baptisms okay, or when it comes to doing some of the official work of the church I think it would be limited to pastor a deacon or an evangelist But to understand these roles we have to understand the purpose of the job. You know it's it's really purpose driven titles It's not just lofty titles for no reason if someone's a deacon. What are they going to be doing? They're gonna be serving the church right they're not really in a position of authority They're not necessarily calling the shots They're just there to assist the church to grow to help people to do visitation to preach the gospel and things like that What would the evangelist do well an evangelist is someone that's going somewhere and evangelizing right going to a place that doesn't have the gospel Preaching the gospel. What does Philip do in Acts chapter number 8? He's baptizing okay, and you say well Where do you get the authority to baptize where he had hands laid on him in? Acts chapter number 6 So I think he kind of is just he's ordained deacon But then the deacon just kind of his position just kind of gets destroyed if you think about is the church is just wrecked habit So now what's he what's he got well? I can go out and preach in other areas so now he kind of converts and transitions into an Evangelist as kind of a new role so if someone's not Doing evangelism is not preaching the gospel on a regular basis It's not going to a new area to reach of the gospel. It'd be hard for me to call him an evangelist and If someone's in a position of authority Ruling a church it'd be hard for me to call him a deacon Yeah, so we want to have all these positions accurate and correct, and I also think a deacon you know God-willing would be a full-time employee of the church, and he's not just like Let's just start giving you know let's everybody just get a title you you're an evangelist And you're a deacon and you're the pastor now It's like now there has to be some like real come you know reason further to be a deacon You know our church runs. You know 40 50 on a Sunday morning You know and last on Sunday nights and in Wednesdays do we really need a deacon to make sure the daily ministration You know it's kind of like It's not very practical when you're running thousands though and and lots of things are getting neglected And you want the pastors to focus more on the preaching and the teaching and the leading then it's like Let's get some other guys in here to clean and to do visitation They're like take care of the phone calls, and you know and all the other messages message related tasks lower level tasks You know and if you don't have those people Maybe just hire someone I don't even think there's anything wrong with hiring somebody like I have deep Dylan who works for steadfast and he also you know serves in this church everything like that and You know he kind of in my mind fulfills the role of what a deacon would be like But he's not a deacon because he doesn't have any official. You know titling or anything like that. What is he just serves You know he just there he's Taking care of lowly tasks Taking care of many old things, but he has no authority You know he's only going to do things that I've told him to do and if people come to like can I do this? It's like as Pastor Shelley. You know he's not making decisions. He's not having any realm of authority He's just serving and really someone that would become a deacon I would think they would kind of be like in that role at some point. They were just they're just being tested They're being proved They're just serving whether on staff or not for a long period of time And then you're just like let's just make it official now You know let's just bring you on and put you in that position But it's funny because I've seen people just like do weird stuff with deacon, and you know a lot of Baptist churches deacon They this is what they do they have deacons every two years, okay? So they have like they just pick out random guys in the church that they feel like it's just a decent church member and They just become the deacons and then they literally rule the church the decision-making of the church Who who the pastor is what the pastor can preach how much money the pastor's paid all this is it? The deacons are making these decisions, and I'm just like where did you see that in Scripture? The Bible says they're supposed to be proved. You know they're supposed to be tested They're basically just a servant of the church the pastor is the leader. You know why is it written the epistle written to Timothy? It's not written to the deacon board. You know Paul to the deacon board This is how you rule your pastor. No. It's like hey pastor. This is how you pick deacons You know and you're in control of the deacons and when a deacon steps out of line see a bot see everybody You know see a sucker That would make sense also for the evangelist evangelist is there under the authority and the shepherding of a pastor being sent out By a pastor ideally and and doing evangelistic work, okay, so when I look at evangelist when it comes to the qualifications to me The qualifications are just someone who's full of the Holy Ghost Who wants to evangelism and is it going to be sent out by his pastor to do evangelism? You know wouldn't make sense to me to ordain someone here at our church to be an evangelist if all he does is just serves The church that's more of a deacon right but some people give people that title because they don't actually meet the qualifications of a deacon And so it's important to get all these concepts just kind of right in our mind and say okay. What are the qualifications? What's the job duty? What's the role and not care what Baptist tradition is but care what the Bible actually? Says in all of these areas because whenever you're fulfilling these roles appropriately you're gonna have the most success you know and so we may have a deacons or evangelists in the future and There was actually a point where I actually really heavily considered this with a couple individuals And and I'm not going to elaborate on that but I basically wanted one guy to become a deacon and another guy become an evangelist at one point and It was specifically based on their role One was just like really good at leading and doing soul winning and preaching and I'm like you'd make a good evangelist You know and the other one's really good at just serving and just lowly and humble and making sure things that are going well At the building so to me you don't have to be the greatest preacher to be a deacon You know you don't even have to necessarily be You know is enthusiastic and soul winning obviously you should go so winning But I'm just saying like you don't have to be the most evangelistic type person You're just a helpful person, and you know that person's needed in churches We need people that don't have to be in charge They don't have to be the leader or whatever and then we need Evangelist type people that are leaders. They're so winning. They're fired up They want to preach the Word of God and then from these people we also get pastors Maybe they become pastors and we can have an evolution right someone can be hired as a deacon and then we're like you're doing good But we're just gonna send you out over here and start doing evangelism right or you get an evangelist He starts building the church and growing the church and settling and then it's like maybe you want to be a deacon or you know Then either one of them could turn into a pastor even But I don't really feel compelled to just give people titles just to give people titles you know to me It has to make sense What's the practicality? What if we were sending someone that's ten hours away from us and They're leading the church and how are they gonna get people baptized starts becoming pretty impractical? So maybe we want someone to be ordained as an evangelist there Just so they can actually get people baptized and we can fulfill the Great Commission You know why I can drive down here every Thursday night I don't really feel like there's a need you know if someone really wants to get baptized They can just show up on a Thursday night right and so you know we want to make sure we have all these roles in Their proper place go back if you would to Acts chapter 21 So we have Philip the evangelist, but I think it was probably felt the deacon at first You know and then he kind of transitions their role where he's an evangelist he's going out into other parts of the world, and he's preaching the gospel and You know he has a great family here seven four daughters, and they prophesy meaning that they preach the gospel They're not women preachers, okay, I know that that disappoints Joyce Meyer and her friends But you know these women are going out and preaching the gospel you can compare that with Acts chapter number two Which is about the prophecy of Joel where it talks about on the handmaidens they would prophesy That's specifically talking about the gospel No one should be barred from preaching the gospel and woman boy child a girl verse 10 is this and as we Terry there many days There came down from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus and when he was come unto us he took Paul's girdle and bound his own hands and feed and said thus say it the Holy Ghost so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that own it This girdle and shall deliver him in the hands of the Gentiles We've heard these things both we and they of that place beside him not to go up to Jerusalem Then Paul answered what me need a weep him to break mine heart I am ready not to be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ now This is just weird to me again because I'm just thinking like he just seems really Stubborn about it verse 14 and when he would not be persuaded we see saying will the Lord be done So it's like they're saying don't go the Holy Spirit is saying you're gonna get bound The disciples earlier were saying don't and he's just like just putting that bean in that chili I don't care. I'm ready to die on this hill. I'm ready to die in this hill of beans, right? It's just like sorry, you know, this is kind of a silly attitude that you have here Paul But you know at the end of the day, they're like, I guess this is how it's gonna work You know, we'll let the Lord do what he wants to do here. Maybe there's a reason why God wants to move out Maybe there's a reason why God is gonna allow him to go through that but even though that's true That God can still use him in this situation I want to make it clear though that I believe that he's making an error Look at chapter 22 verse 21 for a second. I'm skipping ahead in our timeline, but look at what it says in verse 21 This is Paul recounting a story from the past though, even though we're going further in the future in the story This is recounting hit what happened to him on the way to Damascus Just a verse 21 and he said unto me talking about the Lord Depart for I will send thee for hints Unto the Gentiles. So notice God was telling Paul clearly. I'm sending you to the Gentiles Are they in Jerusalem? No Okay, go back if you would to chapter 9 Acts chapter number 9 look at verse number 15 acts chapter number 9 look at verse number 15 But the Lord said unto him go thy way for he's a chosen vessel He's talking about Ananias to bear my name before the Gentiles and Kings and the children of Israel For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake So again, God's like go to the Gentiles go to Kings, you know, go to these other areas chapter 13 Look at verse 45 look at chapter 13 and look at verse 45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes that they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul Contradicting and blaspheming and Paul and Barnabas wax bold and said it was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to You but seeing he had put it far put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life Well, we turn to the Gentiles for so hath the Lord commanded us Saying I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles that thou shouldst be for salvation and the ends of the earth When the Gentiles heard this they were glad and glorified the Word of the Lord and as many as ordained to eternal life Leave so it's like hey, he's going to the Jews and he's like you guys are terrible, you know, you guys Won't believe this is frustrating fine We'll just go to the Gentiles like God told us to do in the first place, right? But as I said, he's a little stubborn isn't he go to chapter 18? Go to chapter 18 and look at verse number 5 now And When Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia Paul's press in the spirit and testified the Jews that Jesus was Christ When they opposed themselves and blasphemed he shook his raiment and said to them your blood be upon your own heads I am clean from henceforth. I will go under the Gentiles Now you kind of notice the theme here. He's like, alright I'm just gonna go to the Gentiles from now on and then we catch him what preaching to the Jews and then he's like I'm gonna go to the Gentiles now and then what he kept I have to go to Jerusalem and it's like dude when are you gonna learn and Really when you study acts it's basically like Paul It's like Paul stop going to the Jews stop going to the Jews I'm going to do and then finally when you get to the end and I'm gonna spoil it well alert He's like, hey the Jews aren't interested but the Gentiles, you know It's like thanks for telling us Paul. Did you learn that one quick or what happened? So even a great man of God Could take a while to figure it out and and you know, he had great aspirations To do all kinds of other exploits look at chapter 19 verse 21 right here chapter 19 and look at verse 21 After these things were ended Paul purposed in the spirit when he passed through Macedonia Nicaiah to go to Jerusalem Saying after I've been there I must also see Rome So he's like got this idea to go to Jerusalem, but he's like but I need to go to Rome Just go to Rome Why does he have to go to Jerusalem? You know, it doesn't really make any sense Rome makes sense because God's like go to the Gentiles go to the kings or whatever. He's like, I just go back Gotta go back there for some reason, but we don't see that in Scripture. We don't see the Lord saying like hey You've been doing good here for the ginger go back And think about why would you go back? Isn't that where all the other apostles are they're all camped out in Jerusalem. Do they really just need Paul to Or do you think they got it? Maybe Rome needs Paul a little bit more than you know, having another apostle down there They already got James and they got Peter down there most of the time I mean do they really need Paul to come down there too? Now here's a couple verses I want us to think about go to Psalms 37 for a moment go to Psalms 37 This is the point that I really want to make with this chapter Paul's wrong, okay But even though he's wrong God can still use him even in his error Okay, and so some of us are gonna make bad decisions We're gonna go to the wrong place or do the wrong thing or or whatever but God can still fulfill a great work in our lives Despite our error. Okay. Look at Psalms 37 and look at verse 23 The Bible says this the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord in his lighteth in his way though He fall he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand So he's saying, you know If you're a good guy and you love the Lord all things are gonna work together for good Them that love God to them that are the called according to his purpose. So God gives us free will and Even though God, I believe God has a perfect will for us, you know, there's option a you know Even if you do option B God will still make that work out there or if you choose C God will still make that work out for you or D and some of you it's like M You know or like you're on you're you're like on T or something and it's like but no matter what letter you're on Stay on that letter at least, you know, don't go down to the next letter Just keep just keep plugging away and notice. You know, what God's this still gonna be there God can still take care of you go to Psalms 18 go backwards for a moment Go to Psalms 18 and look at verse 36 from Psalm 18 and look at verse 36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me that my feet did not slip now. I love this verse I think I've already preached on it because I went through Psalms a little bit But what does that picture it pictures the fact that if you're going up a flight of stairs or maybe you're walking on a path You know the stepping stones you have to step on it's like God's making them bigger so that your margin of error You know has increased so even when you're a little off it's like even though you miss the step God just makes the step go a little bit bigger and just catches you and So it's just like whatever if as long as you're just on the right path You're headed in the right direction God can make up for your error God can make up for your mistakes, you know, some people would say well I'm not perfect. So I don't want to keep serving God. No, no, no, no, just keep going in the right direction You know, even if God has to sit there and make your steps huge, okay It's better to be walking in the right direction with your steps being enlarged and just not walking in the right direction And you know the the while he's walking in the wrong direction He's going to Jerusalem instead of going to Rome. God's gonna somehow make it where he goes up to Rome Anyways, he's gonna enlarge his steps and give him grace and mercy and allow him to get to a place where he should be Psalms 119 go to the the middle of your Bible Psalms 119 Let me show you another verse here and this should really give us great comfort when we screw up It's how I think because at the end of the day you and I are gonna screw up You probably screwed up today. Okay. You're like, how'd you know? I Don't but I just do okay. I just know cuz you probably you probably screwed up this week You know, you probably screwed if I did something you're really disappointed in your life recently There's probably something that you were mad about or sad that you did You know what God is still gonna be there to carry you when you keep walking in the right direction He's still there to enlarge your steps. Look what it says in Psalms 119. Look at verse 133 Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. I Love this verse. He's just saying look, please help me. You know, just help me have the right steps Help me go in the right direction Don't let me just fall by the wayside and let iniquity consume you go to Proverbs chapter 16 Proverbs chapter 16 Why does he not want iniquity to take hold of him because he doesn't want to stop serving God You know, he doesn't want covetous to come and creep into his heart and then he stopped serving the Lord or he doesn't want You know fornication or he doesn't want adultery or doesn't know I'm not just talking about palms talking about anybody The person that's in the psalm is just pictured by any Christian just saying like I just don't want to stop something I don't want booze or alcohol to be the reason why I stopped serving God I don't want it to be you know, just the lust of the flesh or desiring this world or you know Whatever it is having problems in my relationships or just having apathetic or not being zealous or you know Heresy, or you know being offended or letting bitterness get in there, you know, it doesn't really matter what the iniquity is He just doesn't want iniquity to get in there and stop him from walking in the right direction so Proverbs chapter 16 look at verse 9 a Man's heart devises his way The Lord directed the steps saying like at the end of day you're gonna do whatever you want And God's gonna let you do whatever you want But when you have your heart right towards him at least and when you want to serve him a lot of times You know, he's like the GPS little autocorrect You know you take a wrong turn, but it's like no problem You know, we can just turn left and then you know Fortunately GPS usually doesn't get mad at you. Like that's five wrong terms in a row buddy. I'm turning off. It's just like redirecting redirecting Redirecting, you know redirecting and and you know, I've heard a lot of people preach that but it seems very true in the Bible That even when you kind of screw up a little bit, it's like no problem. We can still get there It's gonna be double the time, but you know, you got to do a u-turn, but we can still get there And so when we look about Paul go if you would to back to our chapter don't look at Paul is just he always made the right decision because he didn't and That's an important thing to realize because when you don't make the right decision you have to ask yourself this question what am I gonna do now and The thing is just just redirect like okay u-turn sure Okay, just don't stop serving God Just don't stop taking the right steps allow the Lord to take you wherever you go Allow the Lord to direct you pray for the Lord to direct your steps and you know You're gonna end up finding yourself in the right destination in the end, which is the most important thing Like what it says in verse 22. Let's keep reading here in Psalms. I'm sorry in Acts chapter 21. I Didn't read verses 15. Let's start at verse 15 and after those days we took up our carriages and went up to Jerusalem There went with us also certain other disciples of Caesarea and brought with them one Nason of Cyprus an old disciple With whom we should lodge when we were coming to Jerusalem the brethren received us gladly in the day following Paul went in with us unto James All the elders were present and when he had saluted them he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry When they heard it they glorified the Lord and said unto him thou seest brother how many thousands of Jews? There are which believe and they are all zealous of the law And they are informed of thee that thou teaches all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses Saying that they ought not to circumcise their children neither walk after the customs so they come he finally gets in Jerusalem and The Apostles are excited to see him James and the other elders are there There's other pastors other leaders and they're like, hey, it's great to see you guys And they tell them about how the all the great things that is in Gentiles getting people saved and they glorify the Lord But then James has a problem. He's like but man, you know we hear that When you're out preaching to the Gentiles, you're telling the Jews that live out in these Gentile areas not to be a Jew anymore You know not to follow the law not to follow the customs not to get circumcised Not do all the rituals and stuff like that, you know, and that's gonna piss a lot of people off Paul and he's saying you're telling them forsake Moses Now here's the thing is that true Yeah, it is true to some degree but it's being twisted because he's not just saying forsake Moses You know, he's going out there saying that Christ fulfilled the law, you know that we no longer have to be a Jew There's no distinction between the Jew and the Gentile anymore that we've all become one And so there's no point in being a Christ rejecting Jew anymore to be a Christian, right? So we're all Christians and that's what he's basically preaching and teaching but these Judaizers don't like it. They want him to be like them What's interesting about these people though is they're safe. So James and a lot of these Jews they're saved but they're just mixed up in this Judaizing Doctrine of all these rituals and all this law-following and look there's no anything on the Sun There's a lot of Christians that are mixed up in this crap It's like they call themselves Torah observing Christians or whatever and you're just like for observing and it's like the word Torah It's just mean law. Okay, and the reason why they say Torah is because if they said law Observing Christians people like laws are like I thought we were free from the law, you know, but when you say Torah, you know It's like it's like whoo Yeah, who the Torah, you know, I notice this is kind of how it is with like Mexican restaurants and businesses Is they just give it a weird name in English, but it sounds cool because it's in Spanish. It's like Lacasa and it's like in English is just the house, you know, imagine you see like English stores, you know It's like the house the car the place the tree But you know, this is what it's like as much the grandparents But it's like you go to abuelos, you know El arbol, you know la plaza, you know, it's like oh, it's so cool We're going to la plaza and it's like the place, you know It's like, you know, it's kind of silly when you put it in English, right and it's like the Torah Torah observing Christians It's like the law way to go buddy. That was so cool that you said in a different language, you know It doesn't make it special just because you say in a different language The same word, all right, and There's Christians a day. They think that they have to follow the law But you know, it's funny about all these Torah observing Christians is they don't follow the law though. Where's their sacrificial lamb on a regular basis? Where are they? You know, they're not following the law They're just following a hand-picked list of things to do and this is what's so funny about it all the things the Bible tells you not to do in the New Testament they do all of that and Then all the things that were done away with they don't do those either and so it's like what are all things that are done With the meats the drinks the divers washings and the carnal ordinances and one of these Torah observing Christians Do they put on funny hats do weird dietary restrictions? They blow the trumpet they observe times They do everything that the Bible is just like no don't do this It's been fulfilled in Christ and you say why do they do that? Why did James do it? Because Instead of being spiritual a lot of times what Christians will do is they'll do carnal things To make them feel like they're being spiritual when they're not like by wearing a special hat and blowing a shofar and You know observing these customs. They feel like they're getting closer to God rather than like going soul-winning or being filled with the Spirit by preaching the gospel and Singing praises and you know being free from the law I mean you don't have to do any of this but by bringing in this Judaizing you also bring in a lot of false doctrine with it a lot of times people start saying you have to do those things even be saved and We even see that in Acts chapter number 15 we see that from a lot of these Judaizers And and really it's the devil trying to sneak in a false gospel through these means That's why it's important to not observe these things But it's important not to observe circumcision and not to observe the feast days not to observe You know these dietary restrictions eat more bacon Okay, you know when my wife makes chili she puts sausage and hamburger in it BAM and bacon I mean, it's double pork. You know. I mean we're double free from the law, and I'm just saying like praise the Lord You know every every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if we received with Thanksgiving Okay, and it's received with Thanksgiving all right, and it's sanctified by the Word of God in prayers what the Bible says So we don't want to be people that are keeping the law You know as they're gonna say you're telling them to walk after these customs look at verse 22 What is it therefore the multitude must needs come together for they will hear that thou art come? Do therefore this that we say to thee we have four men which have a vow on them take them or them take and purify? Thyself with them and be at charges with them They may shave their heads and all may know that those things wherever they were informed concerning They are nothing and that thou thyself also walk us orderly and keep us the law, but here's the thing does Paul keep the law no Do the Jews that are amongst the Gentiles keep the law no do the Jews that live in Jerusalem keep the law no That's the whole point of Christ even coming Now let me prove that to you go to Galatians chapter number five for a second and look in Galatians chapter 2 Paul rips Peter a new one When certain came from James, and he's carried away in the dissimulation and basically caused Barnabas to not even eat with Gentiles And they're offended at being around Gentiles, but Paul elaborates even further in Galatians He says in chapter number. Well. I want to actually look at verse 4 or chapter 4. I'm sorry chapter 4 look at verse 21 Tell me that desire to be under the law Do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons one by a bondmaid and the other by a free woman But he was of the bondmaid was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise So he's saying you know you're just trying to be a slave again, but you can't even do these things You know they didn't keep the law nor are they keeping the law now go back to chapter number Or go to chapter number 5 look at verse 1 stand fast therefore in the Liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be Not entangled again with the yoke of bondage the old-eyed Paul saying to you that if you be circumcised Christ shall profit you Nothing go back to chapter number 3 for a second Go to chapter number 3 for a second And he says in verse 1 of foolish Galatians who have the way which to you that you should not obey the truth Before whose eyes Jesus Christ have been evidently set forth crucified among you It's only what I learn of you receive you the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith Are you so foolish having begun the spirit? Are you now made perfect by the flesh? So he's saying how did you guys get saved? Did you guys get saved by the customs and the rituals and the shaving of your head? No, none of that you started in Christianity by believing in Christ, and what was the whole point of Christ and fulfilling the law? Therefore there's no point and then going back to the beggarly elements and going back to all the shadows of Christ Rather you should embrace Christ and walk in Liberty Okay, and all those things were nailed to the cross what the Bible says the Apostle Paul is telling Peter in chapter number 2 look at verse 14 When I saw they walked not uprightly according the truth of the gospel I said in Peter before them all if thou being a Jew liveth after the manner of Gentiles Not as do the Jews why compelest thou the Gentiles to live as the Jews Who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles? So I'm saying like why? You know trying to compel Jews I'm sorry Gentiles to live like a Jew when you don't even live like a Jew you're living like a Gentile You're not keeping the law and here's the reality nobody keeps the law Galatians chapter 3 look at verse number 10 For as many years are the works of the law under the curse where it is written cursed is everyone that continueth not And all things that you're written in the book of the law to do them But that no man is justified by the law on the side of God is evident for the just shall live by faith So he's saying like nobody keeps the law you you guys that are pontificating about keeping the law are just fooling yourself because no one does and How much of the law do you have to keep anyways? Oh, yeah all of it Lucifer shall keep the whole law yet a fin in one point. He's guilty of all isn't that what James said So you know James is screwed up here James is trying to get Paul to You know live like a Jew and be like a Jew and and pretend like he's not really a Christian here It seems like the pander to the Jews, but it's wrong It doesn't make sense. It's contrary to all Galatians now I don't know what the timeline is as far as when Galatians was written and when this happened But either Paul is you know just Compromising and just kind of being weak on his convictions here, or maybe he makes those revelations later And he's like wow I shouldn't even done that that was kind of silly. I don't know what he keeps the law But obviously what was his goal his goal is just to get Jews saved and so he's just trying not to offend people And and I think that's where his motivations probably coming from but he's just wrong It's okay to pander to people when it's not a sin Right it's okay when you're in Texas to eat, Texas chili. Okay. It's okay to wear a Houston, Texas Jersey You know it's okay to put on the cowboy hat and where are the cowboy boots and you know because these things don't really matter They're not like sin or whatever But I'm not gonna drink a beer with someone to get them safe I'm not gonna go into sin to get someone saved and pander to people I'm not gonna go to the Catholic Church to get people safe Like I'm not gonna go into a false religion, and I'm not gonna carry a Catholic Bible around with me I'm not gonna You know get a rosary and go into the confessional booth and try to get the pre-saved at the confessional booth or something like that There's certain lines. We just don't cross and I don't want to appear I'm not gonna get a name badge that says elder Shelley or something like that So I look like a Mormon to try and get Mormon safe now I'll confront him with the gospel. Okay, and the Apostle Paul doesn't have success here in this chapter by doing these things in fact You would he's that he's pandering to them. He's doing everything you could possibly do to win them over. What happens? Well, it says in verse number 25 and it's touching the Gentiles which believe we have written and concluded But they observed no such thing save only they keep themselves from things offered to idols and from blood and from strangled from fornication Then Paul took the men and the next day purifying himself With them entered in the temple to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification Until that an offering should be offered for every one of them and when the seven days were almost ended the Jews which were Asia When they saw him in the temple stirred up all the people and laid hands on him crying out men of Israel How this is the man that teaches all men everywhere against the people and the law and this place and further brought Greeks also into the temple and a polluted this holy place For they had seen him before with him in the city of Trophimus and Ephesian And they supposed that Paul had brought in the temple So he's saying like Paul showed up with someone that wasn't a Jew and they said they thought that he brought this non Jew in the Temple, but he didn't do that. Okay. They're just falsely accusing him verse 30 and all the city was moving all people ran together they took Paul and drew him out of the temple and forth where the doors were shut and As they went about to kill him tidings came under the chief captain of the band that all Jerusalem was in an uproar Who immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down under them and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers they left beating up Paul and the chief captain came here and took him and commanded him to be bound with two chains and demanded who he was and what he had done and Some cried one thing some another among the multitude and when he could not know the certainty for the tumult He commanded him to be carried into the castle and when he was came upon the stairs So it was that he was born of the soldiers for the violence of the people for the multitude of the people followed after Crying away with them and as Paul was led and as Paul was to be led into the castle He said unto the chief captain may I speak unto thee who said canst thou speak Greek art They're not that Egyptian which before these days made us an uproar and led us out into the wilderness 4,000 men that were murderers but Paul said I'm a man which am of a Jew of Tarsus a City in Cilicia a citizen of no mean city and I beseech thee suffer me to speak unto the people When he given him license Paul stood up on the stairs and beckoned with the hand unto the people and when there was made a Great silence he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue saying now this latter portion will kind of pick up when we get in chapter 22 But what happens he panders of the Jews a hundred percent as much as he possibly can and then what do they want to do? Kill him Meaning what compromises never end up accomplishing anything, you know, you don't want to compromise You don't want to pretend to be something that you're not you should just go ahead and just tell everybody Exactly what you believe and where you stand and just take your lumps because being a compromiser is never gonna satisfy the implacable You know a lot of you want to pander and compromise today to dogs. I'm talking about spiritual dogs You know what? I sodomized today. You know what? They're not gonna be appeased by that They still want to rip you out and tear you to shred they still want to kill you just because you might as well just be bold like a lion and Just tell it as it is and stand up for what you believe in and at the end of the day though the Apostle Paul still gonna be You know getting to the place that he needs But probably just not in the way that he wanted and probably not in the best possible way I'm sure God could have actually taken him to Rome in a better way and he gotta gotten even more people saved In Spain or gone into other areas of the world and even done more for the Lord But because he's just kind of stubborn God's gonna take him through this Jerusalem journey But nothing good came of this so far. I mean what good has come from it He was a cop he compromised and people wanted to kill him and now he's taken by the room and look at all the confusion People are just it's so confusing the Romans. They can't even tell like what's going on. They don't know why they want to kill him They're bringing him out. They're like, are you this Egyptian? He's like, you know, he must be this bad guy, you know They don't even know and so, you know It just brings confusion when you're not serving the Lord correctly when you're not doing that was right when you're not being up front so that's why I think that you should just you know be very Clear and straight forward with who you are and what you do And at the end of the day, you know keep this in your mind because we're gonna keep coming back to this But even though Paul screwed up and did wrong God can still use them You know God's gonna still bless his ministry and you don't have to be perfect to serve God You just have to keep fighting Don't quit You know, you may you know backpedal you may backslide a little bit like that But really the worst thing you can do once you're saved is to quit Because then what's the point of you in living? You know she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth is what the Bible says Meaning that being alive physically but doing nothing for God is worthless Someone's like hey, I'm gonna go out and move in the country I hate COVID and I hate the mask and I hate society and I'm just sick of it I'm just gonna go live out in the woods by myself You might as well die That's harsh What's the point? You know It's better to screw up but keep serving God than to quit Or to just stop serving God or to be a do-nothing or just a nobody, you know Keep going to church. Keep preaching the gospel. Keep going someone you say well, I screwed up pastor Shelley. Well, I quit Well, I haven't been in a few weeks show up anyways Go anyways, just keep fighting just keep serving just never quit on the Lord Never stop never allow things that discourage you to the point where you just give up on the Lord, you know Hey, we all need to get right with God We have to suffer the consequences of our actions, you know, Paul's gonna go through a pretty Intense phase here, but he's still gonna write some cool letters in the future The second Timothy has not been written yet and I'll explain why I believe that that's not been written yet So he's still gonna do great works He's still gonna accomplish things to the Lord albeit not necessarily the way you probably could have if he never went to Jerusalem But why go just you know in today's world? Missionaries I have to go to Jerusalem Why? You know and some people say this I have to go to this foreign country But in order to get there I have to get all these shots and I have to go through all these exams and I'm thinking like just go outside you don't have to you know, you don't you don't have to convince me that you're really spiritual by going to Jerusalem and By putting on this show and by you know going out of your way to basically rebel against the Lord You know, the right thing to do is always follow God's commandments no matter what our life circumstances are let's close in prayer Thank you Heavenly Father for this great chapter for being able to order the steps of Paul Even though he may take some wayward steps here in in chapter number 21 I pray that would encourage us that when we may make mistakes or screw up or do something wrong that You know, there's forgiveness. There's grace. There's long-suffering with the Lord that you're willing to enlarge our steps that You are our father that's loving to us and that as your children you want us to succeed and I pray that we would never be so discouraged that we would quit or we'd stop serving the Lord But rather we were minded of the failures and the setbacks of even the Apostles even the Apostle Paul, but that he didn't give up That he he fought the right fight that he finished his course That he's gonna get the crown of life He's gonna get the crown of righteousness and and that we too can have that if we continue to serving God to the bitter end In Jesus name we pray. Amen For our last song for the evening 309 there to be a Daniel song 309 You All right, 309 309 there to be a Daniel 309 Will sing they're starting on the first standing by a purpose true Heeding God's command Honor them the faithful few all hail to Daniel's band There to be a Daniel There to stand alone There to have a purpose firm there to make it known Many mighty men are lost Daring not to stand Who forgot I'd been a host by joining Daniel's band There to be a Daniel there to stand alone There to have a purpose for her there to make it known many Giants great and tall stalking through the land Head long to the earth would fall if met by Daniel's band there to be a Daniel there to stand alone There to have a purpose firm there to make it known Hold the gospel banner high on to victory grand Satan and his hostify and shout for Daniel's band there to be a You'll dare to stand alone There to have a purpose firm there to make it known Amen good singing this evening with that you are dismissed. Have a safe night You