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

Let's look back at verse number 12 where the Bible reads, deliver me not over under the will of mine enemies, for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. And we have a great passage here, and really a lot of the Psalms in this section of the Bible are constantly hammering and hitting on the same point and the same concept that's warning people, or it's really just this guy's talking about how there's all these enemies and all these people rising up against him and all these people attacking him, and really we know this is a lot of pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ, but we see an admonition here in this Psalm, and I wanna pick out this phrase in verse 14 where it says, be of good courage. Be of good courage, and that's the title of the sermon this morning, is be of good courage, and point number one I have this morning is this. When you're of good courage, the Lord's gonna do something for you, and courage specifically is gonna do something for you. It says in the next breath, and he shall strengthen thine heart. So my first point this morning is this. When you have courage, what courage will do is it will give you strength. Courage gives you strength to do what? Well, to face the enemy, to face your foes, to face those that are gonna attack you or to try to hurt you or those that would harm you. It takes courage, and when you have that courage, it can give you strength to continue to fight against your enemies or to continue to press on or to do the work of the Lord. Let's look at a couple more passages here. Let's go back to verse one. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid. When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though in host should a camp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. He's saying, you know what, I'm not afraid of people that rise up against me. I'm not afraid of those that would attack me. And he says, you know what the one thing that keeps him on the right course? He says the motivation is just to be in the house of God. He just wants to be in church. He just wants to be in the congregation. He wants to be in the sanctuary. He wants to be able to hear God's voice being thundered forth from the pulpit. He wants to sing praises unto God. And you know what, that motivates him to not be afraid of his enemies. Because even though enemies may rage against you, you know what, if you're steadfast in your heart to serve and worship God, he's gonna make sure you can do it. Because God wants you to worship him. The gates of hell may rage against the church, but you know what, they're not gonna prevail. Hey, we are built upon the rock here, and that's why we have to have courage today to face enemies, to face foes, to face opposition. Let's keep reading in this passage and let's read a few more verses. It says, for in the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion. And the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me. He shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me. Therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy. I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord. So notice, this guy's, not only is he have a lot of enemies and people attacking him, not only does he wanna go to church, but specifically, he's gonna sing with joy. Even in the midst of a lot of people attacking him, even though he's in the midst of people hating on him or wanting to hurt him or to harm him, he's able to go in the secret place of the Lord, he's able to go in his pavilion, go in his tabernacle, go into the house of God, and he's still able to sing joy unto the Lord. Why? Because this person's of good courage. And courage will give you the strength to sing joy to the Lord, even though everybody's attacking you, even though everybody's trying to harm you and to hurt you, and even though there's enemies encamped around about you, you can still sing with joy to the Lord. Now, go if you would to Psalms 31, just Psalm 31, you might flip the page. Look at verse 13. For I have heard the slander of many. Fear was on every side. While they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life. But I trusted in thee, O Lord. I said, thou art my God. My times are in thy hand. Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies and from them that persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant. Save me for thy mercy's sake. Let me not be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon thee. Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips be put to silence, which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. Notice there's a constant theme here. What does the evil do? How do evil people attack the righteous? They lie about them. How do the evil attack the righteous? They slander them. And they do it privily, they do it privately, they go around sneaking, they go around just whispering, they go around saying all manner of evil. Keep your finger here because I want to look back at this. Go to Psalm 41. Go to Psalm 41 and look at verse number seven. Seven, all that hate me whisper together against me. Against me do they devise my hurt. You want to know someone that's evil? They whisper. They go around whispering. They say things in private. You know, a righteous person is not afraid to get in someone's face and call them out. Jesus Christ didn't go around whispering about the Pharisees. You know what he did? He just preached boldly in their face. You know what, those that are evil and wicked, they have to go around whispering. They have to go around privily and privately attacking people. And even sometimes you may be aware of it. You don't know everything that they're saying about you, but you know people are whispering about you behind your back. You know people are attacking you. You know people are slandering about you. You know people are lying about you. Yet the Bible teaches that you can still just trust in the Lord that he is going to exonerate you. You can trust in the Lord, you can be of good courage and know, you know what, their plan is gonna fail. Their lies and their deceit and their malicious intent, it's gonna fail, it's not gonna succeed, and it's not going to destroy me. Go back to, keep your finger in Psalm 31 still, but go to Matthew chapter number five, Matthew chapter number five. And there's a temptation whenever you're being lied about, whenever you're being slandered, to feel like if you don't fix the problem yourself, then justice won't be served. Now, let me say this. When someone lies about you, there's nothing wrong with pointing that out. You know, when someone slander you or hurt, you know, is basically doing a smear campaign against you, there's nothing wrong with pointing that out or bringing it into the light, but there's also a temptation to wanna fix the problem. You wanna go and actually grab their face and shut it in for them, you know. You wanna go around and you wanna exact vengeance and justice yourself, and you wanna make sure that they're gonna, you know, get what's coming to them. But the Bible teaches you should refrain from revenging yourself. You should refrain from avenging yourself. You should simply allow God to avenge you. And this is the actual attribute you should have when someone's lying about you. Look what it says in Matthew five, verse 11. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. He says, hey, you're blessed when people are speaking evil of you and it's false. Notice he didn't say when it's true. Notice he didn't say when you're doing something wrong. He's saying when they're just making up stuff about you that's a lie, that's a slander, you're blessed. What's your reaction, verse 12? Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. So notice when someone's doing a huge smear campaign against you and lying against you and railing on you, you know what your emotions should be? Joy. Now that's counterintuitive, okay? Because whenever you find out someone's lying about you and railing on you, you know what you normally think? You kind of feel like, you get mad and you're like, ah, this isn't right and I'm being attacked. You know, the Bible says you have a great reward. The Bible says you can rejoice. The Bible says, hey, this is an indication you're doing something right. You know why people lie against the righteous? Because they're trying to attack the righteous. They're trying to get the righteous to stop doing what they're doing. You know, and let's take a carnal application here. Let's, you know, and I'm going really carnal here, okay? But let's think about the election, all right? And let's think about Donald Trump trying to expose all this, you know, alleged voter fraud, which frankly, they have over 200 plus eyewitness testimony affidavits claiming there's all this voter fraud and all this kind of stuff. And they keep making up all these weird ad hominem attacks against him and his campaign and all of these different things. But you know what? They shouldn't be afraid of all the lies and slander. They should be afraid of not uncovering that truth. Because you know what? God wants the truth to come out in every situation. It doesn't matter if it's two ungodly nations or if it's two wicked people. God still wants the truth to prevail. God still wants the light to come out. And you know what? If they came out and said, well, the Republicans are the ones that cheated in the election, that's fine with me. I just would like for the light to be exposed in that situation. I would like for all the cheaters and the frauds and all these people in our country that have been deceiving our nation, you know, to be tried for treason, for being a domestic terrorist and for people attacking our democracy. You know what? Praise the Lord that someone's exposing light on it. I don't care who it is. But you know what? You have good courage to do the right thing today. And you know what? If people are lying about you and slandering you and using a bunch of gaslighting techniques, that should tell you you're on the right track. Because you know what? They're not going to lie and slander about people that they don't care about. You know, nobody really makes up a bunch of lying slander about flat earthers because they know it's stupid. They attack them for the things that are just true. Because you know, it's just obvious that they're such idiots and fools and morons, they don't need to make up lies to attack them. So whenever they have someone that's doing something right or they're on the right track, they have to use lies and slander to get them off the right course. But you don't be derailed by lies and slander. You don't let lies and slander get you off the right course. No, you be of good courage and let the Lord strengthen you even though an entire company of people may be attacking you. They may be lying against you or speaking evil against you. Go if you would to 1 Peter chapter 4. You say, well, what if they're victorious? Well, here's the question. Obviously, this happened to the Lord Jesus Christ, didn't it? Didn't the Lord Jesus Christ have a whole bunch of witnesses come and lie and slander? And didn't they use that to try and convince themselves to go and turn them over to the Romans? And they say, yeah, what has this guy done? If he were not a malefactor, we would not have brought him unto you. It's like, he's just bad. You know, he did something bad. He's a bad person. It's like, well, what's his accusation? He's bad. They can't come up with anything. They don't actually have any real witness. And even Pilate himself, he said, well, I've examined the evidence, and there's nothing. He's completely innocent. I'm going to even wash my hands in front of you guys just to prove how I've examined them and I've scourged him for, I don't know why, and I've proven that he did nothing wrong. Why? Because he was the perfect, spotless lamb for our sacrifice. That's why. Now, he had a death. And the will of his enemies, in a sense, was accomplished. But the reality is this. It was a victorious death, though. And the only way God is going to allow your enemies to have triumph over you is if it's actually going to bring victory and glory to God. Hey, talk about Stephen. His enemies encamped him a route. They rocked him to sleep, as some would say. But the reality is, that was a victorious death. He got to see the Lord Jesus Christ in the supernatural. I mean, you just got to look up in heaven and see Jesus. You don't think Stephen's going to be one of the most greatly rewarded people of all eternity? Do you really think if we asked Stephen, hey, do you wish you had compromised on your message a little bit? Maybe you could have lived a couple, 10, 20 more years. He's like, no, it was great. No, I'm glad I got out of here. No, I'm glad I got the martyr's death. No, I'm glad I preached one of the greatest sermons ever recorded in history. Hey, I'm glad that I motivated the apostle Paul to do some of the greatest works that anybody has ever seen. You know what? Even if your enemies might have a temporary victory over you, if they're doing with bad motives, you know what, God can use it for good. Even though Joseph's brethren threw him in the pit, and they sold him to Egypt, and even though he was lied and slandered by Potiphar's wife, and even though he's in the prison, and he helped people, and they still forgot about him, they still didn't care about him. Eventually, God brought him into remembrance. God brought him out of the prison, and God used all that evil for his good. And you know what? When you're on the right path, and you're doing the right things, and you're serving God, no matter what evils may come upon you, God can turn that around for good. So you need to be of good courage so that God can strengthen your heart when the enemies and the foes attack. But let me say this. You will not get the same treatment for your faults. What I'm teaching you is this. When you're on the right path, you shouldn't fear. But you should be afraid if you're not on the right path. Look at 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 12. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. But rejoice, and as much as you're partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. So he's saying the same thing. And he also says this. Don't think it strange the fiery trial, meaning if your life is pretty tumultuous serving God, that's to be expected. Well, you don't understand the difficulties and the hardships. You don't understand all the false brethren. And you don't understand all the people that have lied about me. And you don't understand all the persecution I've received. I bet Paul does. Why don't you read what Paul did and then come back to me and see if your life's hard? I think he was killed like three times, basically. Somehow he survived it. I'm pretty sure he was in the ocean just floating, doggy paddling for 24 hours. Good luck with that one. I mean, he's just beaten and whipped and starving and fasting, and everyone hates this guy. I mean, he also had good people, good Christians, forsake him. There was a point where no man stood with him. All men forsook me. That's crazy. That's insane. I mean, can you imagine you get somebody from the church, you get the best person in our church to go with you on a missions trip. You've been buddies for like years. And then all of a sudden, a bad situation happens, and they turn on you. You're like, what in the world, am I crazy here? You know, what's going on? The difficulty that he did, but you know what, he stayed the course. But you know what, the Bible says the Lord strengthened him. Why, because he was of good courage. He was of good courage. When you have good courage, when you decide to do the right thing, when you decide to let the Lord strengthen you, you know what? He will be there, and you can get through the difficulty. But what does he say in the next verse? If you approach for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their party is evil spoken of, but on your party is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, or let him glorify God on this behalf. So notice there's a contrast between you being persecuted for Christ's sake and you being buffeted for your faults. You suffering for your sins, and your wickedness, and your evil. And it's very clear that we need to be on the right path so that the sufferings in our life actually mean something. I would rather suffer in my life and it be for a benefit not to suffer because I'm just a bad person. Not to just suffer because I'm lazy, or a derelict, or I can't subdue the flesh, or I do things that are wrong. Look at another passage, chapter 2, and look at verse 19. He says this, For this is thankworthy if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently. For what if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently, this is accepted with God. Notice some people, they'll brag about how patiently they take their faults. Like, oh man, I'm such a humble person because I keep screwing up. And it's like, that doesn't make you a good person. It doesn't make you humble. But look how well I'm enduring all of my problems. And it's like, that doesn't make you a good person either. You know what makes you a good person? When people are persecuting you wrongly and you take that patiently. When someone lies about you and you don't quickly come to offend yourself. When someone rails on you and you don't immediately return back to them some kind of accusation. Whenever you just take it patiently, you allow things to manifest, you allow yourself to even be persecuted wrongfully, that's true ministry. True ministry truly being like the Lord Jesus Christ is taking on wrongful persecution. Wrongful lying. Wrongful slander. But here's the thing. Slander lies shall never hurt you. Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words shall never hurt me. I wish people would actually believe that. You know, they say that on the preschool, but it's not very true. Because people, in fact, some people it seems like they'd rather throw punches than words. Right? They're like, well I could take a few punches, but you just tell them that they did something wrong and they blow up. They can't handle that at all. Whereas we should be the opposite. I'm not looking to get in a fist fight. I'm not looking to get in a knife fight with you or a shoot down at OK Corral. But here's the thing. We should be willing to withstand the evil and the slander and the railing and the lying and all this different stuff. Look, every great man of God was lied about constantly. Was constantly slandered and railed upon and evil came upon them. And you know what? The people that I look up to in this world, they have constant enemy, lying and slandering and attacking them and doing evil. And you know what? They've never been destroyed by lies. Nothing bad's happened to them because of slander. Their church is not going to be destroyed because of lies. Their church isn't going to be destroyed because of slander. Their church is not going to be destroyed by the enemies of God. If they're on the right course, you know what? God will see them through. Go back to Psalms 31. Go back to Psalms 31. I had you keep your finger there. Be of good courage today. Don't let the lies and the slander and the evil out there persuade you to get off the right course. Don't let evil discourage you. We should be of good courage. We should be strengthened by the Lord. Psalms 31, look at verse number 23 now. Oh, love the Lord, all you saints, for the Lord preserveth the faithful and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. And here's my question. Do you believe that? Because if you believe that, then you have nothing to worry about. He says, hey, he'll preserve the faithful. This is what you have to worry about. Am I faithful? Because as long as you're faithful, he says, hey, I'm going to preserve you. And you know what? These proud, evil, wicked, slandering liars, you know what? I will reward them. I will take care of them. They will get what's coming for them. So based on that, what is he trying to do? Well, verse 24, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. Notice, when you're of good courage, God will strengthen you. When you go out and you fight the battle, when you face the foe, when you don't care about the opposition, God will actually strengthen you even more. And you know, when it comes to working out, you know, if I just get a one-pound dumbbell, you know, I'm not going to really get any gains. I got to get a real foe. I got to get some weight on that thing. I mean, I got to get 20, 30, 45, I mean, I got to get some kind of weight on this dumbbell, and as I work on these things, you know what's going to strengthen me. The more weight that I can do, the stronger I get, and the more weight that I can get. And you want the more enemies that I face, the bigger enemies I can face in the future, too. If you can't even handle the little enemies in your life, good luck with big ones. Good luck with the really difficult enemies that may come in your way. God wants you to have courage to face the enemies so that you can face even bigger ones in the future. What's a little enemy? How about the little protesters out here? Look, if you can't face these people, which they're hit or miss, I don't know what they, you know, maybe they're doing drugs this week, who knows. But whatever they're doing, it doesn't matter because that's not a big enemy. If you can't face that enemy, you are not going to be able to face the enemies that the Bible really describes. The Bible really shows, I mean, there are some serious enemies in the Bible. The apostle Paul has men take a vow that they're not going to eat until they kill him. That's an enemy. I mean, that's someone that wants to do a lot of damage to you, and guess what? We never heard about them. I'm guessing they got pretty hungry. I wouldn't want to be that guy. Go to Psalm 39 for a second. Go to Psalm 39. You say, well, how do I handle this enemy, Pastor Shelley? Because their signs are a bunch of lies and slander and railing. They say that we're teaching people hate. You know, that's a half-truth, all right? We do teach people the Lord's hatred, but we're not teaching them hatred that's outside of biblical parameters. Hey, there's a time to love. There's a time to hate. There's things to love, and there's things to hate, and you know what? We need to have that good balance. We're not just a love-only church because that's impossible. No one loves only. No one. If God does not love only, then why would I believe that I could do that? Oh, because these stupid atheists and rejects want to claim that they're so much more loving than God, even though they hate tons of things. You find me a person that doesn't hate anything that doesn't exist. There is no person that doesn't hate something, that doesn't hate anything. That's what's so stupid about their position. They literally have on the sign, damn you for teaching your children hate. It's like, well, do you hate me? Do you hate Jesus? Because you definitely do. They blaspheme his name, and they say all manner of evil falsely against him and falsely against our church. Really, if you talk to these people, they don't even care about us. They really hate Jesus. They'll bring up all these accusations of the Bible and Jesus. When I tried to talk to this person, I tried to open my Bible, and all he wanted to do is blaspheme the word of God and blaspheme Jesus Christ. That's how I knew, all right, see you. You can hate me and go to heaven, but you can't hate Jesus and go to heaven. You can't hate God because you have to believe on Jesus Christ to get saved. Psalm 39, look at verse number 1, I said, I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me. I was done with silence. I held my peace even from good, and my sorrow was stirred. Now, let me help you and let me encourage you how to defeat this enemy of the protester. Don't talk to them. You want to drive them insane? Ignore their existence. They're a troll. You know the only thing a troll wants is your attention. People, they don't even understand this point. They're like, oh, I really got a zinger on this troll, this YouTube comment, and then they just troll another comment. They're like, wow, they're not getting it. I'll put another thing in here. Oh, wow, they're not logical. I'll give them another one, and it's like they're just sitting there laughing at you. They don't care. They just want your attention. They just want to distract you. You know what they want? They just want your attention. They just want you to pay attention to them, and if you don't pay attention to them, it drives them insane. They hate it. They can't stand it, that you just ignore them, and you know what? Notice what it says. I held my peace even from good. Oh, why don't you go give them the gospel? You're stupid, okay? You're a fool. The Bible says to not cast your pearls before swine, okay? I'm not going to go and cast my pearls before them. I'm not going to open my mouth with wisdom. They've already proven they're not worthy of it. I'm not going to waste breath on these type of people. You know what? Jesus didn't sit there and try to preach the gospel to Pharisees. Hey, when he was being accused, when he was brought before the synagogue, he wasn't like, hey, guys, can I give you John 3.16? Here's a tract. I hope you read it later. He didn't even open his mouth. Hey, when he's standing there with Herod, well, you know what? I don't know if Herod has a reprobate yet, so I'm going to go and sneak him a tract real quick. It's like, you don't even read the Bible. You don't even know what it... Look, there's some people that you just need to keep your peace. There's certain people that just need to guard your mouth. And you know what? People are like, I can't stand. I talked to this person. He made me angrier. Yeah, keep your mouth shut. Don't engage the trolls of today. Don't engage the weirdos and the freaks and the losers. Look, these people out here, they're done. Don't worry about them. There's a city... We live in an area of eight million people. You have plenty of people to talk to. I can line you up with... I got tons of maps over here. I can give you door after door and person after person. You can preach the gospel to your heart's content, I guarantee it. Don't waste it on losers, though. Don't waste it on people that Jesus wouldn't preach to. If Jesus wouldn't preach to them, then you don't. I don't remember Jesus having a separate ministry of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. All he did was preach against them, okay? So you be of good courage and you strengthen your heart. Ignore the troll. Ignore the protester. Ignore the evil person. Go to Matthew chapter 10, Matthew chapter 10. That's an easy enemy. Because you know what? I don't care about them at all. The only care I have is I hope that they get struck by lightning or something in front of me. Because I just want to witness it. I just want people to realize the fear of the Lord, you know? Because I have great faith. I believe... I have great fear for the Lord, you know, by faith, not by sight. But I'd like for some people just to see it. Maybe their faith will get spiked up a little bit, you know? But Matthew chapter 10, this is a real enemy. This is a real person that takes courage, that takes a lot of strength to overcome. Matthew chapter 10, look at verse 34. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. That one was easy. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. Notice what it says, and a man's foes. Is that good? That's bad. It's saying your enemies would be that of your own household. And you know, if we were to try and figure out people that lie about you or attack you, what would be the most devastating one? I think it's family. I mean your own father, your own mother, your mother-in-law, your brother, your sister. I mean a child. A child. That would be so difficult. And really, this is when it takes courage. It takes courage when you have that person that's so close to you attacking you and lying about you. Oh, you guys are in a cult. Oh, you know, you guys are a bunch of hippies. You guys worship fairy goddesses. I've been told that. I'm like, what in the world? Because I didn't want to get vaccination, I believe in fairy goddesses. It's like, what are you talking about? I mean I've had so many random slanders and lies from people that are very close to me. And I'm not going to go down the list because it's not my goal to shame my family members. But let me tell you what, I've heard about anything and everything under the sun from those closest to me and those hurt. You know why? Because I keep thinking about them. And the words can't get out of your brain. You know, his words, I don't even know what he said because I don't even care. He's an easy enemy. He's easy to have courage. But you know what? You need to be of good courage even against family members. Go to Micah chapter 7, Micah chapter 7. And here's my philosophy when it comes to family members. Let them walk away from you. But don't walk away from them. You know, I'm not going to try and abandon my family. I'm not going to try and stop reaching out to them. I'm not going to stop trying to encourage them to serve God and do things that are right. And I'm going to love them even if they lie about me, even if they persecute me. You know what? I'll still reach out to them. I'm going to love them. But you know what? If they want to withdraw company from me, I'm going to let them. And I need to be of good courage to choose Christ over blood. To choose Christ over my father, my mother, or anybody in my life. And in fact, oftentimes, they're the most devastating because they'll literally cause people to stop serving God. I know plenty of people, dozens of people, that because of a family member, they're not in church this morning. Because of a family member, they don't go soul winning. They don't read the Bible. They don't serve God. And they're choosing family over Christ. And sometimes that family member is not even saved. So you're literally choosing someone that's going to go to hell over Christ. It doesn't even make sense, my friend. It's a real enemy. Look at what the Bible says. Micah chapter 7, look at verse 6. Let's back up a verse. I wanted verse 5. Trust you not in a friend. Put you not confidence in a guide. Keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. For the son dishonored the father. The daughter rises up against her mother. The daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies are the men of his own house. That's crazy. But it's biblical. You know what? You could be the nicest person in the family. You could be the most loving, the most gracious. You could be the kindest person in your family. But as soon as you decide, I want to serve Christ, all of a sudden you're the bad guy. As soon as you want to do that which is right, they will attack you. As soon as you will say, you know what? I'm not going to commit rampant fornication anymore. Hey, I'm not going to drink alcohol every second. Hey, I'm not going to do these evil, wicked things. Hey, I do want to go to church. Hey, I do want to read the Bible. They will attack you. Oh, you're so hateful and mean and judgmental. You try to dress godly. You're just walking around telling us how wicked and evil we are. When did I say that? Well, you didn't say it. But just the fact that you just dress right just makes me uncomfortable. Just the fact that you like the Bible and you want to bring it up. I don't want to talk about the Bible. It's like they're the problem. You're not the problem. And you know what? You have good courage to still do that which is right. Even to walk away, if that was the case, go to Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12. Sometimes you have to even put distance between you and your family members. Now again, my goal is to win them over. My goal is to be loving and kind and gracious to them, be long suffering with family members. We should never try to trash any relationship of our family. But it could come to such an extremity that you even have to say, well, I have to put some distance between you and me because what you're doing is just not something I'm allowed. I'm not going to allow my family to participate in. I know tons of people who have a sodomite in their family. You know what? I'm not going to let my kids be around a sodomite. I have family members that are saved, but they're drunkards, or they're committing fornication, or they're in adultery, or they're in whatever manner of sin and evil and wickedness. And 1 Corinthians 5 doesn't say, well, I know you're supposed to separate from this wicked person, but if they're family, no problem. It's Thanksgiving, right? You know what? I have enough courage to follow the Bible. I have enough strength to follow the Bible. And you know what? These people, you really think they're going to quit without any kind of warning? No. You know, praise the Lord that God actually has great wisdom and says, you know what? If the whole family would shun this person for their wicked evilness, maybe they would get out of it. There used to be a thing called intervention, where someone had a problem and the family would get together and say, look, you have a problem. Fix the problem. Now we just, people talk about how humble they are because they cater to the worst sin. They cater to the worst filth. Oh, you're doing all this wicked evil stuff? No problem. Just come on in, you know. We'll love on you. We'll help you. Look, you don't help lazy people by giving them money. You don't help drunks by continuing to give them alcohol. You don't help drug addicts by allowing them to go out and get drugs. You have to put boundaries around them. You have to warn them. You have to tell them, you know, what they're doing is wrong. And you know what? If your family says, I'm not going to go to church, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go to church. And if your family lives with the heathen, I'm going to say, well, I'm going to come out among them and be separate. And you know, Abraham had to do this. Look at Genesis chapter 12, verse 1. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee. And make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. So Abraham is commanded by God to leave his family, to leave his home, to leave everything that he's known, leave the place that he was raised. And you know what? Abraham's pretty old, in fact. This isn't even like a young man by our standard. He's really old by our standard. And he has to pack up and leave everything. And notice, he doesn't say, he doesn't even complain. This says in verse 4, so Abraham departed. God says, hey, Abraham, I need you to leave all your family, all your friends, all your lands, everything you've ever known. Just get out. He just gets out. You know why God picked Abraham? Because he just did it like that. Hey, you know Jesus Christ walked by a ship with James and John. And he was calling out, and he told him to follow him. You know what the Bible says? And they immediately left the ship and their father and followed him. Don't let that phrase stop you. And their father. How long did they think about it? It says immediately. Hey, when Jesus is calling you, you know what the response should be? Immediately follow him. Immediately serve the Lord and do it. You know what, that takes courage. It takes courage to say, you know what? No matter what my enemy is, even if it was my own father, even if it was my own family member, I will serve God. I will serve the Lord. And you know why God used James and John so much? Because they immediately left. Hey, my job, trash it. Personal relationships, trash them. Hey, you're supposed to even hate your own life to win Christ. Just everything. Just forsake it all. That's some faith. That's some courage right there. And look, you say that sounds reckless. Look, it's not reckless to serve Christ. Hey, if he's calling, answer the call. Have the courage to go. And that brings me to my second point. Be of good courage, because courage will help you go. Courage will give you strength. But number two, courage will help you go. Courage will help you go. Deuteronomy chapter 31. Deuteronomy chapter 31. Deuteronomy chapter 31. Point number one is courage will give you strength. Point number two is courage will help you go. And the Bible emphasizes this. You know, how did Abraham get out of there? Well, by courage, it helped him go. How did James and John jump out of the ship? Because courage helped them to go. And sometimes you're in a bad situation. Sometimes you're in an area where you're not serving God. And the answer is to go. There's plenty of people that I know that could do great things for God. But you know what? They're not willing to go. And you boil it down, you know why they're not willing to go? Nana and Papa. Grandma and grandpa. Whatever relationship it is in their life. And you know what? I love my parents, and I want them to see my grandkids. But you know what? Not over the idea of serving Christ. I'm not willing to put a relationship between me and Christ. And the moment that I do, now I'm on the wrong track. Now I'm on the wrong path. And you know what? They may attack you. They may lie about you. They may slander you. They may make all manner of evil against you. I've had relationships where they said that was the worst decision you've ever made in your entire life to go serve Christ over leaving your family. Saying that it's wicked, saying that it's sinful, saying that it's sinful to leave family. I'm like, have you ever read the Bible? They're constantly leaving family. They're constantly getting out of there and moving and doing all. I mean, Elijah just kills all the oxen and just follows Elijah. I mean, what man of God? They're constantly going out and doing different things. Woman, what have I to do with thee? Deuteronomy 31, look at verse 1. And he heard the words of Laban's son, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our fathers. And of that which was our fathers, hath he gotten all this glory. And Jacob, I'm sorry, I'm reading Genesis 31. I don't know why I'm doing that. I just happened to land on 31. I didn't even check the book. Deuteronomy 31, that was a test to see if y'all were paying attention, all right? Some of you failed. Deuteronomy 31, look at verse 1. And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel. And he said unto them, I am 120 years old this day. I can no more go out and come in. Also, the Lord hath said unto me, thou shalt not go over this Jordan. The Lord thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them. And Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the Lord hath said. And the Lord shall do unto them as he did to Sion, Og, Kings, the Amorites, and in the land of them whom he destroyed. And the Lord shall give them up before your face, that you may do unto them according unto all the commandments which I have commanded you. Be strong and of good courage. Fear not, nor be afraid of them. For the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee, he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him, and the sight of all Israel, be strong and of a good courage, for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord has sworn in their fathers to give them, and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee. He will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee. Fear not, neither be dismayed." Look what the Bible is emphasizing. Hey, be strong, be of good courage. And what is that going to do? It's going to cause you to go. Hey, they have the promised land all before them. But the only way you're going to inherit it is actually go. You actually have to go into the battle. You actually have to walk into the promised land. You actually have to do something. You have to leave the home in Egypt. You have to get out of the wilderness. And you have to go into that promised land. And you know what? In the Christian life, it's a lot of going. We have to do a lot of going. And it takes courage. Because if you looked at the enemy and you said, can we beat them from a physical fight? The answer was no. But he said, I will defeat them for you. He says, hey, I'm going to destroy them. I'm going to go with you. I'm going to deliver you. It's not even by your might. Don't even worry. I got you. It's like when you get your little kid and you put them up on something kind of high and you ask them to jump. You're like, I'll catch you. It's like, we're not trusting your ability to save yourself here. It's all dad, right? But they get nervous. And it takes courage to go. It takes courage to jump. And that's what Christ is asking for us to do, is to just go sometimes to step out in faith, to do something with their life. He says, hey, I'll win the battle for you. What do you have to worry about? I'm going to do it. Look, they're going to take the promised land. The Lord will do the work. But you have to step out in faith. God doesn't have control over a bunch of slaves, a bunch of mindless robots. It's not Calvinism today. It takes your action of faith. Praise God, it doesn't take your action of skill or your ability to defeat the enemy. He's like, I don't know about you guys. He's like, I got it. Just come on. Just get out the door. Let's go. It's been 40 years. Come on. Just come on. And they just wouldn't go for the longest time. But now, they're ready to go. And they have to be of good courage. The Bible says, for we walk by faith, not by sight. A lot of Christians are waiting to see the future before they step out in faith. But you'll never step out in faith, because faith is not sight. If you're waiting for God to put you in the right direction before you start going, it's never going to happen. You have to take that first step of faith. You have to be the one that put your foot into the Jordan Banks. You're the one that has to put your foot there, and then the water will spread. And you're like, I'm not going to walk across this river. It's not going to happen. But you know what? God said to step in there, so I'm just going to step and see what happens. And as soon as you step in the water, bam, it's like, wow. You know what, if you'd never put your foot in the bank, if you'd never put your foot and touch the water a little bit, you would have never opened the seat. You have to go. But you know what? It takes courage. Go to Hebrews chapter 10. Go to Hebrews chapter 10. What's the practical application of this? Well, you know what? It takes courage for a lot of people to do this. But courage should help you go to church. There are people that will not go to church because they don't have courage. They drive by. They see the protester. And they're just like, eh, no. They look at the Google reviews, and they're like, eh, no. They listen to a sermon, and they're like, I don't know. They see someone getting called out, and they're like, I don't want to show up. Will I get called out? It's like, look, if you're not a bad person, don't worry about it. It's like, look, if you're not a bad person, don't worry about it. Hey, what's the sermon? Hey, if you're faithful, be of good courage. Hey, if you're a good person, never worry about getting called out. But you know, if you're a bad person, be really afraid. Hey, if you're evil and you're wicked, you should be terrified. You should be shaking in your boots. But you know what? The righteous should not be afraid to go to church. The righteous should be encouraged to go to church today. And I think this is something that I've seen in a lot of people. They haven't been in church in a while. And so they're afraid of coming back. They get fearful. They get timid. They think, well, what are people going to say? Or I'm afraid to just go back and show my face, or I'm afraid to get plugged back in, or I'm afraid to do it again. You know what? You need to be of good courage and go to church. Because there's really nothing to fear. When you show up, people will be excited to see you. When you show up, God will be pleased that you showed up. And I think some people forget this. Look at Hebrews 10, verse 24. And let us consider one another, provoking a love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Did you know that going to church is a commandment? It's not an option. It's not a good idea. It's a commandment to go to church. And people that are forsaking the assembling of themselves are not right with God. And you know what? When I look at America's future, when I look at what's going on in this world, you know what? I don't want to be out of the will of God. I want his protection. I want him to be there with me. Hey, we could have some seasons of famine going on. We could have seasons of turmoil and all kinds of evil. We could have protesters walking up and down the streets trying to harm people. I'd rather be in the will of God, though. I don't want to be the person not going to church. Church is the safest place you can be, because you're in the will of God. Not necessarily just from, obviously, this is glass, OK? It's not like a fortress. But you know what? God has angels out here protecting us. If you could just see what God is doing to protect the Church of God, it would strengthen your faith. I walk by faith, not by sight. I don't have to see a legion of angels standing here protecting us. I believe that God is protecting me by faith. So be encouraged to go to church. It's a commandment. And look, why would you not want to go to church? It's the only normal social interaction you'll ever have. Where else are you going to get a normal social interaction? The public pool system? Good luck there. College campus? No. Starbucks? No. Target? No. The government? Hell no. I go to the mall? It's even worse. I mean, it's like we're living in The Hunger Games in the Capitol or something. People are dressing like freaks. I mean, it's just insane, the world that we live in. Why would you not want to go to church and have a normal social interaction for you and your children? Why don't you just go to church for your kid? Your kids need it. Your kids need friends. Your kids need social interaction. And you know what? If you don't go to church, you're going to get weird. Have you ever met? There's these people. They're like, hey, I've been following you guys online for 10 years. I've never been to church. They're usually weirdos. Have you seen this conspiracy figure on the flat earth? It's like, bro, you needed to be in church and talking to some normal people. Have you seen the David Icke videos? It's like, whoa, bro. You need to be around other people to realize that you're weird. And you know what? If everybody's looking at you, you're kind of like, eh. You need to work on your social interactions. I have a sermon. It's called How Not To Be Socially Awkward. Listen to that sermon, OK? But more importantly, go to church and get the practice. Just go into the world. Look, your spouse needs church. Your spouse needs friends. Your spouse needs social interactions. I can't keep my wife cooped up by herself with the kids and think that she's going to be sane. She needs to get out in the world a little bit. She needs to talk to other people. She needs a social life too, OK? Once you provide that for your spouse, provide that for your family. Otherwise, you're going to destroy yourselves. We are not meant to live in isolation. In fact, solitary confinement is considered one of the most cruel punishments that can ever be put upon a person. You'd rather be by someone you don't even like than to be by yourself. It's just agonizing. It's terrible. That's why we need church. We need to go to church for lots of reasons. It's a commandment. It's how we're encouraged to serve God. We're sent out to preach the gospel. Hey, there's another going. Hey, we need the courage to go and preach the gospel. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Go to Ephesians chapter number 6. Go to Ephesians chapter number 6. Hey, maybe you should go to preaching class and learn how to preach a sermon. Hey, maybe you should go to the sign up table and sign up to serve in church. Hey, go to the fellowship events. Go and do something with your life. God did not create you to sit and watch TV until you die. I know some people want to do that. Sounds terrible. Don't watch other people live your whole life. You live your whole life. You do stuff. You go. But specifically, go in the path that God has called you to go in. Hey, church, going out and preaching the gospel. Ephesians chapter number 6. And you know, if you want to talk about courage, I think one of the hardest things to do is to preach the gospel to family members. That takes courage. It takes both. We're a lifelong friend. I remember I grew up with some guy who was my buddy. We went to school together. We rode together. We hung out all the time. We played on the golf team in high school. We played on the golf team in college. I mean, we worked together. I mean, I knew this guy super well. If you want to say the most uncomfortable gospel presentation I've ever given, it was with him. He's a staunch Catholic and believes he's saved. He used to be Baptist and converted to Catholicism, which was already a bad sign. But he had never been like, you know, saved or probably preached the gospel to, obviously. And it was tough. You know what? I don't want to get up into heaven and be like, man, I wish I'd given my friend the gospel. I don't want to stand at the great white-throat judgment and see people that I love and care about and be like, wow, I wish I'd just opened my mouth one time and preached them the gospel. It's real courage that someone that will open their mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. And the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 6, look at verse 10, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power as might. It takes courage to have strength today. And that strength is preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And look at verse 18. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching therein to with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. And for me, that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. The Bible commands us to preach the gospel. You say, hey, Pastor Shelley, what's my purpose on this earth? To preach the gospel. Hey, I want to liberate your mouth today. I want you to loosen your tongue today. And I want the gospel to flow freely from your mouth today. But you know what? It takes courage to go and preach the gospel. And we need people that are courageous today and will face the foe and will go out into the highways and the hedges and to compel them to come in. To compel them to be saved. Making a difference. Hating into the garment spotted by the flesh. Hey, pull them out of the fire today. You know what? It takes your feet, too, though, because you have to go. Look at verse 15. And your feet shot with the preparation of the gospel piece. You've got to get out there. And you've got to open your mouth boldly. And you've got to make known the mystery of the gospel. Because you know what? If our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost. And you know why the gospel is hid to so many people today? Because no one's opening their mouth. No one's opening their mouth. Hey, the Bible is the most purchased and read book on the planet. Yet why is no one saved? Because no one's opening their mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. We need to be a church that's sending people out to go. And we need courage today to go. And you know what? Sometimes the courage is the fact that you just realize you're doing the Lord's work. Like, what's the point? I could be home watching the cowboys lose again. No, that sounds great. I could be watching Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. And he could be trashing Donald Trump. That'd be so fun. I could be taking a nap. I could just be eating chips off my chest. I could just sit and wear a mask in the shower. Just so I'm safe from all the water. Look, what do you got better to do? You don't have anything better to do. Vanity of vanity, said the preacher. Vanity of vanity is all is vanity. Why don't you open your mouth and preach the gospel? There's going to be a day where you enter into eternity, and the only thing that mattered was the people you preached the gospel to. Yet people go their whole lives never preaching the gospel one time. How about you have some courage today? How about you have some faith today to go? Say, what kind of church is this? This is ascending church. Go to Ephesians chapter 4, flip back. How about go on a soul winning marathon? Hey, we got one December 19th. Why don't you go to commerce and open your mouth boldly and preach to some strangers? That's the easiest you'll ever have it. Strangers are easy to preach the gospel to. Because as soon as they don't care, I move on and I forget about them. There's been thousands of people that I don't even remember that I offered the gospel to, and they just bam. It's just like, see ya. Pastor Shelley, does that break your heart? Well, it does a little bit. But you know what breaks my heart even more? People that won't even go. People that won't preach the gospel. It's sad. It's sickening. I mean, they talk about, oh man, how are we going to get this important vaccination to the whole of the United States so they can get injected with more chemicals and it'll do absolutely nothing positive for them. We better get the military employed for this. Why don't we get the Lord's army to get the best vaccination, the gospel of Jesus Christ? That's the only thing that you need. And I'm not going to put a wet blanket on soul winning. People that do this are evil. People that know the truth and then try to put a wet blanket on soul winning have a bad heart. Ephesians chapter 4. How about this? Not only going to preach the gospel on a missions trip, not even going on a soul winning marathon, how about doing something big with your life? How about doing something major with your life? Look at Ephesians chapter 4, verse 8. Wherefore, he says, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now, you know what this is saying? First of all, it's saying that Jesus Christ was captive in hell and then came out of it. He ascended, called the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And then he ascended all the way even further above, up to the heavens. Not only did he just come back to earth, he ascended far above the heavens. He seated at the right hand of God the Father. But he didn't leave us alone, he gave gifts unto us. Now, what are those gifts? Let's read. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first in the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. So what did he give us then? And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Notice what God calls gifts. He calls apostles gifts. He calls evangelists gifts. He calls pastors gifts. Yeah, he calls pastors gifts. Get over it. But he doesn't just call pastors evangelists. Not just evangelists, teachers. You know, the men in this room that go to preaching class and then go and preach a sermon to a church, that's a gift. That is a gift from God today. And you know what? We need some men to teach the Bible today what? For the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. There's people hurting all over this country and desiring to be fed with the work of God, to be fed with the milk of God, to be fed with the rabbi here in this Bible. Look, they just want kibble. I mean, they just want anything. And we need some people to be some teachers of the Bible today. We need some people to be an evangelist today. We need people, hey, another office not mentioned, a deacon. Why don't you go into the ministry? You know what, it takes courage, though. Because let me say this. The ministry is hard. It's not for the faint of heart. It's not something that's super easy. And guess what? If you don't like enemies now, never go in the ministry. Because your enemies will multiply exponentially. Enemies on every side. But you know what? Do something difficult with your life. Why not? You have this thing called the fear of missing out. And it's like for football. You know what my fear of missing out is? Serving God. Doing something big with my life. I don't want to get to the end of my life and be like, you know what? I could have served God. I could have done something really good with my life. But I watched a lot of TV. I did nothing. I got a lot of money. I got a big house that's going to burn. Why don't you go in the ministry? Why don't you do something big with your life today? Why don't you have some courage to go? Hey, Abraham had to go. Hey, James and John had to go. Peter had to go. Paul, hey, get out of here. Get out of Jerusalem. Go serve God with your life. And you know what? Sometimes getting in the ministry means you have to go somewhere. Sorry to burst your bubble. I love Dallas-Fort Worth. I like it too. I chose to come here. I didn't really, but I guess that didn't really work out. Well, guess what? You know what? It doesn't always work out, OK? But you know what? The where of God's will is not as important as the what of God's will. And some people need to have some courage today to go into the ministry to serve God. But you know what? You need to go with effort. You need to go by knowing the Bible. You need to go and actually sincerely mean it, not just like, hey, I feel called to Hawaii. I feel the calling. How many times have you read the Bible? Well, I haven't read it, but I do like the sound of it. I do carry one in my bag. Can you name the 10 commandments? Probably not, but I just really want to go to Hawaii. That's the wrong person to go in ministry, OK? The right person is the one that knows the Bible, is willing to put in the work. But you know what? Why don't you do something big with your life today? Why don't you do something hard with your life today? I wouldn't want you to have easy street, now would we? You know, if it's hard, it's actually worth it. You know, when it came to coming to this church, I was way more concerned with what would happen to this church if I didn't help than how hard it would be. Because I guarantee, if I sat down and I thought about how hard it would be, I would have been like, no thanks. I don't want to. If you think about how hard it will be to be a pastor or an evangelist or a teacher or to write a sermon or read the Bible or whatever, you won't do it. Why don't you be of good courage to just do it, just go? Go to Joshua chapter 1, Joshua chapter 1. Last one I have is this. Courage will motivate you to do it all. Courage will give you strength. Courage will help you go. And courage will motivate you to do it all. Look at Joshua chapter number 1. Look at verse 6. Be strong and of a good courage. Front of this people shall thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee, turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then shalt thou have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. So he says, hey, be strong. Have courage. I'll give you strength. Hey, have courage. I'll be with you when you go. But also have the courage to do it all. Do all of the commandments of God. And you know what? I see a group of people in Joshua 1 that have unparalleled courage, unparalleled courage. Look at what it says in verse 17. This is incredible. According as we've hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee. Only the Lord thy God be with thee as he was with Moses. Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words, and all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death. He shall be put to death. What's the next phrase? Only be strong and of a good courage. Hey, you know what? It takes courage to follow all of God's commandments. All of them. It takes courage. Some people, the only thing that they wanna do is obey the gospel. They're like, I like that one. Hey, I'm willing to do the ones that I already agreed with. Hey, how about the ones that you don't agree with? How about the ones that you're being challenged on? Are you gonna do all? And notice what he said. He said, hey, everything that God commanded you, we're gonna do, and everything you say. Sounds like they submitted to the leadership, didn't they? And obviously, you know, as long as God's with them. Obviously, if Joshua's like, hey, let's jump off a cliff, they're like, see you, sucker. But at the end of the day, hey, if the Lord's with them, if he's preaching the Bible, you better do what Joshua's saying and look at the courage of these people. They made a great proclamation saying, hey, any of you in here that won't do every single commandment, let's just kill them now. You think that I'm harsh. I guarantee our church would thin out quick if we made that a statute. I'll see you at Sunday night. Right? I mean, if you're not at Sunday night church, good luck. Hey, if you're not at Wednesday night church, good luck. Hey, if you're not at soul winning, hey, our soul winning numbers are gonna increase, at least in participation, right? I mean, imagine. That's the type of courage that these people have and I tell you this unparalleled courage. But you know what? We could do that. Who's stopping us? You are. Who's stopping me? Me. Who's stopping us from following all of God's commandments? We are. We have to have courage to do the right thing. We have to have courage to do it all. You know, when the children of Israel were given the 10 commandments, they didn't want to draw nigh unto God. They were afraid of drawing nigh unto God. And I think there's people that are afraid of drawing nigh to God and to Christian life. They're afraid of what their life would look like if they go all in for the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't go to church three times a week. What will people say about me? Sounds like you're drawing nigh to God. That's what they might say about you. Well, I can't actually read the Bible every day. Then I might actually hear God's voice every single day. Well, I can't actually, you know, go soul winning. What if I run into somebody I know? I haven't, so. I've never run into somebody I know. And even if I did, who cares? Takes a little bit of courage to just run into somebody that you know. Just be like, hey, silent party, you got the door. If you're that afraid, okay, ask Furo to come with you, okay? Come on, Gideon. You're supposed to be a strong guy here, right? Go to First Timothy chapter five. I have a few more points and we'll finish this morning. But look, it takes courage to serve God. It takes courage to follow all those commandments. Why? Because there's certain commandments that are difficult compared to others. Some commandments are more difficult than others, okay? And let's point out a few difficult ones. First Timothy chapter five, verse 14. I will, therefore, that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, and give none occasion to the Avasar to speak reproachfully, for some are already turned aside after Satan. The Bible tells women to guide the house. The Bible tells women to bear children. You know, the Bible tells parents to diligently teach them, their children, the precepts of the Lord. And so because of that, you know, I believe the Bible clearly teaches that women should homeschool their children. You know what, that could be looked at as something difficult, because it is. Frankly, teaching a child to read is super hard. Frustrating, it takes an enormous amount of patience, it takes an enormous amount of diligence. You know what, why don't you be courageous to take on that challenge? Because I guarantee you, a mother that cares about her children would never raise the fools that the public fool system is raising. You virtually can't do worse, okay? So you should already be encouraged. You should already be strengthened. It might be a daunting task, but why don't you have the courage to do it all? How about this, have as many children as God will give you. That's a scary thing for a lot of people. It takes a lot of courage to have that many children. It takes a lot of courage to say, you know what, I'm gonna put my family planning in God's hands. I'm just gonna let him deem how many kids I should have. But you know what, if you're of good courage, you're gonna do it all. And here's the thing, both of those things, at the end, you'll be so thankful you did. You'll be so thankful, you're like, I'm so glad I raised my child at home. I'm so glad I had as many children as God would give me that I didn't take away from any of those children. But you know what, going into the promised land is a lot harder than after already taking it over. Enjoying the benefits of it is a lot easier than going in and actually possessing it. Going to the battle, walking around Jericho seven times. Wasn't that a cool battle? And hey, there's gonna be moments in your life with your children, when you're raising them, when you're teaching the school, where you're gonna have Jericho moments in your life where you see walls tumbling down, and you'll be like, that was incredible! And you're gonna be able to reminisce about, man, do you remember when those walls came tumbling down? Rather than hanging out in the wilderness and being like, what if these scorpions keep stinging me? This sucks, and it's just dirty out. It's just dirt, there's dirt everywhere. It's just a famine. And you know what, they have nothing to live for, nothing they've accomplished. Why don't you accomplish something big with your life? Why don't you do it all? Go to Malachi chapter three, Malachi chapter three, and I'm just picking out ones that I think people are typically afraid of doing. But you know, the Bible instructs us to do it all. It doesn't say pick and choose which ones you like. I like all of them, so it doesn't matter anyways. But Malachi chapter three, look at verse eight. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me, but ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes in this storehouse, that there may be mead in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. The Bible actually commands the tithe, in the Old and the New Testament, and this is not a sermon on this topic, but that's one that people are timid about. People are afraid of actually doing that. But you know what, you should have the courage to follow God's commandments in every area of your life. And you know what, you should be more afraid of not tithing to God, because you're robbing God. I mean, imagine you go up to heaven, and you actually sneak out some gold bricks from heaven. You should be terrified. That's what he's saying it's like when you don't tithe. And he says, you're cursed. You know what, I'd rather have 90% of my money blessed, than 100% of my money cursed. And you know, praise the Lord, even though I went to a really bad church, you know, they always emphasize tithing, okay? So I've always been a tither, and you know when I've been forsaken financially? Never. There's one anecdotal evidence. You know when I've been forsaken financially? Never. Not one single time. When have I seen the righteous forsaken? Never. Nor is he begging bread? Never. And you know what, why would you want church to deteriorate at your own personal benefit anyways? You should want the church to flourish. Go to Deuteronomy 22, Deuteronomy 22. We're almost finished, I wanna look at a few more places. The Bible says the fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso put of this trust in the Lord shall be safe. We should not fear man today, we should be of courage to follow all of God's commandments. And you know what, when you get plugged in, and you're serving God, you will be different than the world. You'll look different, you'll speak differently, they will be able to tell, they will be able to notice, and you know what, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Because guess what, if you pander to the world, they'll still make fun of you. If you cater to the world, they'll have no respect for you. So guess what, why don't you just choose to not care what they think? Why don't you have the courage to only care what God thinks? Deuteronomy 22, look at verse five. The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God. The Bible says that how you dress is important to God, so much so that a man is not supposed to dress like a woman, and a woman is not supposed to dress like a man. If I were put on a dress today, I would be an abomination. Nobody in this room disagrees with me, no one. It's gross, it's sick, it's filthy. I saw, you just go on Facebook and they have ads of dudes in dresses. And it's like, it makes me wanna break my phone. It's so gross, and it's filthy. Yet, our culture has accepted the idea that women wearing pants is acceptable. Look, it's still a sin. And you know what, I don't get mad at women for dressing like this. I just think, you know what, I wish they'd have enough courage to just follow God's commandments. And you know what, why don't you have the courage not to just wear a dress on Sunday? How about Monday? How about Tuesday? How about Thursday? How about Friday night? How about Saturday? How about when no one's at home, you're just by yourself? Why don't you have enough courage to just follow God's commandments, and not be fake? Why be fake? What if I only wore dresses at home? Is that okay? Well, I only wear skirts and dresses in the weekdays. But at church, I wear a suit. It's like the Muslims, they wear those sorry things or whatever, that's a sorry garment to wear. Look, the fear of man bringing the snare. Why don't you just dress godly? Why don't you just dress like how God made you? You know what, I never look at a dude in a dress and think, oh, that's kind of stylish. You know, I never looked at a woman on her wedding day and thought like, man, a pants suit would have been so much better. And Hillary looks, she's styling that pants suit. Maybe a dyke haircut, no. The long flowing hair, the beautiful dress, that's what everybody likes. Don't think that I'm crazy, you're crazy. Deuteronomy chapter eight, we're almost finished. Just get plugged in. Just have enough courage to follow God's commandments. I mean, he created you, he gave you life and breath, he saved you from hell, the least you can do is follow the carnal commandments today. Oh no, the fags will make fun of me. The wicked will make fun of me. They're gonna go to hell. Why do I care? You know what, if they make fun of me for wearing a suit while they're all wearing dresses, they're the ones that are stupid. Imagine someone going around being like, you don't believe in the flat earth, ha ha ha ha. You're like, you're stupid. I don't care if 100% of people out there believe in the flat earth. They're stupid if they did, okay. I don't care if the whole world dresses like whores and whoremongers and abominable freaks and prostitutes. I don't care, because I don't have to. And I won't. Deuteronomy chapter eight, verse one. All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swears in your fathers. Like, follow all the commandments. And you know what, it'll benefit you. It'll bless you. Look at, Deuteronomy six, verse four, the last verse I'll have you look at. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou lies down, and when thou risest up. Here's my question, Christian. Do you have enough strength? Do you have enough courage to follow all God's commandments? When you read this verse, do you feel like, yeah, that's me, I'm loving with all of my heart and every area of my life and everything that I'm doing? Why don't you get challenged today? And you know what, I don't know what spoke to you this morning, but if God was stirring your heart this morning on something that you should be strengthened on, get strengthened on it. Have the courage to have the strength. Hey, if God was challenging you to go somewhere, you go somewhere. Hey, if God is challenging you to do something to follow one of his commandments that you're weak on, why don't you start doing it? Amen. Why don't you have the courage to serve God today? Be of good courage and the Lord will strengthen you to go and do it all. Let's go some prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for your word. Thank you for your commandments. Thank you for this church. Thank you for giving us the victory. Thank you for allowing us to have the opportunity to serve you with all of our might and all our soul and all of our strength. I pray that we have the courage to do it today. I pray that you would stir in the hearts of every man, woman, boy, child, girl, that they have the opportunity to serve you, that we would have the courage to do so. And I pray as we have the courage to be strengthened, we have the courage to go, we have the courage to do it, that you'd be there alongside of us, that you'd remind us of your commandments, that you'd give us this prosperous way to go. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.