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was heard afar off. Father God, Lord, thank you again that we can gather this evening. I pray, Lord God, that you would refresh us with the word of God. Fill your servant, Pastor Shelley, with your spirit. Help him to edify the congregation tonight. In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen. Before we dig in, I just wanted to go over a few other announcements just to make sure. Anybody that's going on the Renosa-McAllen trip tomorrow, if you just just hang back just right after the service so we can just go over a few of those details. But the people that are doing the church transportation, we're going to leave tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. So that's the time we're going to be leaving. So just see us afterwards and we'll just follow up with just a few more instructions. Just make sure everybody's on the same page. Also, on the 16th of this month, that's a Saturday, we're having a men's preaching night. I don't think it was put in the bulletin, but I just want to make sure y'all are aware of that, that the 16th at 6 p.m. there will be a men's preaching night again. And I was a little bit late just because we're coming back from soul winning. We had six saved from the van, so praise the Lord on that. It was really receptive, the area we were in. Yeah. And then also, the Firebreathing Baptist Fellowship. I'm making a video, I guess I could say, of some of those details. But again, we'll be meeting at 6 30 every single night and we'll be doing soul winning on that Wednesday at 4 p.m. So we'll do soul winning for about an hour or an hour and a half before that service if you'd like to join us. But everything will pretty much start at 6 30 p.m. and we'll have ice cream after Wednesday, we'll have cookies after Friday, and we'll have a pot luck on Thursday and then on Friday, we're gonna have a pot luck, which I just ask everybody that's a member here, if you want to just bring a dish or bring a couple of dishes, we'll just kind of have a pot luck for everybody after the service. On Thursday morning, we're gonna have soul winning from 10 to about lunchtime. And then from 2 to 4, we're gonna meet at a trampoline park. So and I'll give everybody the address when we have when we get there. Also, on Friday morning, I'm sorry, yes, Friday morning, we're gonna have a ladies coffee time. So it's gonna be in the afternoon, but I've moved that, decided to be better during the morning. So 9 a.m. we'll have like espressos and desserts and stuff for all the ladies to come and hang out for a few hours in the morning. And then we'll have soul winning in the afternoon from 2 to 4 on Friday. And then that Saturday, we're gonna have the soul winning from 10 to noon. And then we'll have ice skating at 3 p.m. So I'm kind of leaving the lunches, you know, open for people that want to do things. If you're gonna be working or whatever, just feel free to participate in as much as you possibly can. I've ordered new shirts for the conference specifically. So and I got some kid sizes and everything. So you want to show up on that Wednesday night, get a shirt. I think they're gonna look really, they look pretty nice online or whatever. And so really looking forward to this. Also, I made another video today and released that about the Bahamas. I know I kind of mentioned that I've decided it's going to be May 4th through May 9th. We're going to be going, we're going specifically to Nassau. So that's the city on the island New Providence. There is multiple islands of the Bahamas. That's the main island. That's the capital city. That's like where everything's at. So we'll be flying in there. I've looked from Dallas specifically. You can fly, you can get a Southwest flight to there for about $445 round trip. You can get a American Airlines direct flight from Dallas for about $600 per person round trip. So there's a lot of options. A lot of other people obviously have those options as well. Basically, if you can get yourself a plane ticket down there and you can provide kind of your food for the week, you know, we'll put you up and we'll kind of drive you around. So it's a really cheap missions trip to be able to go on. It's kind of a do-it-yourself missions trip. If you want to do that, you could send the itinerary to the church if you end up booking a flight. And we'll just keep that logged. And we'll give you more information as we get closer. But you will have to have a passport. And if you have any questions, you can always email or talk to me about that. But I'm really looking forward to this trip. It's going to be very receptive. I think we're gonna get many people saved. Hopefully we can get some of the schools to allow us to also preach there too. And we'll have some fun too. We're not just gonna go to the Bahamas and just work. We're gonna have some fun. That was just a few announcements I wanted to go through. We've been going through Ezra and we're in chapter number three this evening. And Ezra chapter three is awesome because just like every Old Testament book, it's all about Jesus Christ. But it just continues to be that way. And in verse number one the Bible reads, So what's happening? Well, in chapter number one we had the commandment of Cyrus for the Jews to return back to the land, rebuild the temple. And chapter number two, we got a huge list of all those people that are going back. It told us there was 42,360 people that are headed back. They're going to worship the Lord. They're going to rebuild the temple. They're going to do these things. And then in chapter number three, we actually get to where they're actually doing the work that was commanded. And they're saying the seventh month. It was kind of the first month we had the commandment. Now in the seventh month, they're starting to actually do some of the work and they start building the altar. Now one thing that's interesting about this is how many people are coming back. Well, if you keep your finger, go to Isaiah chapter one. Go to Isaiah chapter one. We saw it. I mean, there's a pretty big group. I mean, 40 plus thousand people. That's a pretty sizable amount of people going back to the land. But in proportion to how many people were actually exiled, how many people actually left in the captivity, how many people are really returning? And I think this is kind of an interesting thing to think about says in Isaiah chapter one, look at verse one, the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, As, and as a kind of Kings of Judah. So the book of Isaiah, who is it written to Judah? It's written to Judah. It's written to Jerusalem. Now, sometimes when you're reading the old Testament, you'll notice that they're talking to Israel. Israel's the northern kingdom, the rebellious kingdom. Judah and Jerusalem, that's the southern kingdom. And so the specific, you know, visions that Isaiah has, you know, the things that he's trying to talk to, he's trying to talk to Judah, he's trying to talk to Jerusalem. And the kings that are mentioned here, Uzziah, Jotham, As, and As, who are those kings? Those are kings of Judah. The prophecies of Isaiah are very specific. They're mostly dealing with and talking about Jerusalem. Now, in the book of Isaiah, he's going to mention all kinds of different people here and there, and he's going to mention Israel. But the book of Isaiah is primarily targeted to those of Judah and Jerusalem. Now, go to chapter number six. Chapter number six. Who is it that goes into captivity? It's not Israel. Israel had already been decimated and turned into Samaria many years before Judah and Jerusalem go into the captivity of King Nebuchadnezzar. Okay, so at the time that the children of Judah and Jerusalem go into captivity, Israel's been gone and long-waited. You know, it's gone into the heathen. It's been mixed. They're just not really in existence anymore. God's already rejected them. It says in Isaiah chapter six, verse one, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. So it's in the reign of King Uzziah, and the King Uzziah, that's kind of the beginning of the ministry of Isaiah. But skip down to verse number eight. Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I sin? And who will go for us? There's your Trinity doctrine, all right? Then said, I hear my sin me. Notice that he wasn't out at home watching the football game. He's ready. He's like, Here am I. You know, if you want to actually do the work of the Lord, you got to show up and just wait and then say, Here am I. It wasn't like, Hey, we need somebody. Let's go find them. No. Here am I, Lord. Send me. Notice he says in verse nine, and he said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? Now, that's an interesting question, and what is he really getting at the point out? Is he saying, How long am I going to preach this? Or is he saying, How long is Jerusalem going to be like this? That's what he's asking. He's trying to say, How long are they going to be unresponsive to the message of God's word? How long are they going to be fat? How long are they going to be unwilling to listen to the message? What does he say? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. So what is he saying? He's saying, Until you guys get wiped out. When is that? That's when Nebuchadnezzar came and wiped them out. It says in verse 13, But yet, and it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten, as a teal tree and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves. So the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. You know, the interesting thing is, God told us how many people are going to return, and he said it was 10 percent. Ten percent were going to come back to the land. Now, why is that significant? Okay, because when we read the book of Ezra, what's happening? They're returning, and then what are they doing? They're building the altar again. They begin to do the offerings of God again. They're observing the feasts again. What is that? That's the work of the Lord, and if you lived in the Old Testament, what is the work of the Lord? It's the altar. It's the burnt offerings. It's the thing that Moses had commanded them to do. It's the commandments of God. If you wanted to serve God in the Old Testament, what was it? It was the altar. It was the Levitical priesthood. It was following the Old Testament commandments. That's what was super important. That's how you served God at that time, but how many people came back to serve God? Ten percent. Now, go if you went to Luke chapter 17, Luke chapter number 17. You know, sometimes you get asked this question. They'll look at how many people would get saved, and they'll say, well, where are all of they? Where are all those people? You got six people saved and not Pastor Sherri? Where are they? They're still at their house, because guess what? I was like, hey, church is seven. They're like, okay, we're going to sit here. See you later. Do you think there's anything different? Back then, ten percent wanted to come back and serve God. Well, let's see what the New Testament says. Luke chapter 17, verse 11, and it came to pass as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were leopards, which stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said to them, go show yourselves unto the priest. And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back with a loud voice, glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answered and said, were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? There are not found the return to give glory to God save this stranger. And he said to them, arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. Now, this is a great story of just reality. What is he teaching? Well, first of all, all of them that cried and asked for mercy, they all got it. Meaning, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. All you have to do is, in faith, just ask God to save you, and he saves you. But notice, only one of them wanted to come back and say thank you. Where are all the nine? Where are the ninety percent? I mean, think about it. A hundred percent of them are going to captivity. The land of Jerusalem is without inhabitants. There's nobody. But how many wanted to come back? Ten percent. Now, that's significant. Why? Because they're the ones serving God. All the people not coming back to Jerusalem, they're not following the commandments of God. The commandment of God is to return to the land and to offer the offerings that God had commanded them to do. And in the New Testament, it's no new thing under the sun. Most people that get saved don't serve God. You know what? It shouldn't discourage you that ninety percent aren't interested in going to a church that actually believes the Bible. It's just reality. God just wants to help you understand that. You know what? You ought not be the ninety percent. You ought to be the ten percent that says, hey, it's important for me to go to Jerusalem and offer the burnt offerings and offer the free will offerings and to keep the feast, because that's what God commanded me to do, and that's why we're here. You know, we don't serve God in the temple today, do we? I'm not supposed to go to Jerusalem and build the temple. I'm not supposed to go start offering burnt sacrifices anywhere, okay? What does it say in verse number 20, okay? And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation, neither shall they say lo here, lo there, for behold the kingdom of God is within you. So in the Old Testament, I need to go back to Jerusalem, okay, in order to pertain to the kingdom of God. That's where his nation is set up. It's a holy nation. It's a nation where I'm supposed to go and worship and serve God. There's supposed to be a temple, but in the New Testament, we don't have this physical structure. We don't have these physical commandments that we have to do. Go to Mark chapter number one, Mark chapter one. He says the kingdom of God is in you, inside you. Now the kingdom of God represents several different things, okay? What do we think of the kingdom of God? Well, specifically, it would be when God's reigning on this earth. That's the kingdom of God. When Jesus Christ is literally ruling and reigning on this earth. Also, when God the Father descends down, and he's ruling and reigning with us, okay? That's one way to look at the kingdom of God. Another way, the Bible says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. It also could be in relation to the service of God. How do we serve God? We are supposed to seek serving God while we're on this earth. Look at Mark chapter one, verse 14. Here's another way we can look at it. Now after that, John was put in prison. Jesus came into Galilee preaching. Notice the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God, notice this, is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. So we have to believe the gospel to enter into the kingdom of God. Go to Matthew chapter number 19. Matthew chapter number 19. The thing you have to understand is God is spiritual. We can't see that which is spiritual. We're physical today. But you know, your life is hid, the Bible says. Just like the kingdom of God being in you, you can't really see it in a physical fleshly sense. The Bible says in Colossians 3 verse 3, for ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory. We can't really see all the spiritual things that are going on in this world with our fleshly carnal eyes. But you know what? Those are the things that matter, and your real life is hid in Christ. Your physical body will perish one day. It will cease to exist, and the only thing that matters is that hidden life you have with Christ. The only thing that matters is the kingdom of God. The kingdoms that exist today will perish. They'll all wax old as doth a garment. He's going to fold them up like a vesture. But thou remainest. The Lord is going to remain. His word's going to remain. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. So the kingdom of God, and some people say, well, what about the kingdom of heaven? They're the same. Just let me help you out, okay? Some weirdos will be like, oh, there's a difference between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God. Look, where does God live? It's called heaven, okay? It's the same thing. Now let me prove that to you. Matthew 19 verse 23, then said Jesus and his disciples, verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. What does that mean? People that are trusting in their riches, people that are prideful, they're arrogant about how much money they have, it's very hard for them to put their faith and trust in Jesus to save them. Says in verse number 24, and again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man, notice this, to enter in the kingdom of God. So notice he just uses them interchangeably. But then he gives us another definition for it. Look at the next verse. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed saying, who then can be saved? So hey, entering in the kingdom of heaven, what is that? Being saved. How do you get saved? By believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we had six people call upon the name of the Lord today, and you know what happened in their heart? They got saved. But I didn't see it. And the kingdom of God's within them. They have the ability to serve God now while they're on this earth. They don't have to drive, you know, in a car and fly in a plane and go to Tel Aviv. They don't have to try and find Jerusalem and rebuild the wall. They're not going to go back and offer the offerings on that altar. Now here's the thing, when we read this in the book of Ezra, what they're doing is right. That's good. But it's a spiritual book. How do we apply those things in our lives today? Well, Matthew chapter number 16, look what it says in Matthew chapter number 16, because there was a transition period where the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God was swapped hands, in a sense. It says in Matthew 16, look at verse 19, and I will give thee the kings, I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. So notice that the disciples, the early apostles, they have the keys to the kingdom of heaven. What's the key? Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation, right? They're going out preaching the gospel of the kingdom. How do you get into the kingdom? By believing. Now once you're in the kingdom, what do you do? Serve God. Your life, it should be serving God, in the kingdom of God, in the kingdom of heaven. But notice, it's not a physical kingdom. We're not going to observe the physical kingdom, you know, until Christ returns. That's when we'll have the physical kingdom. So while we're on this earth, the kingdom of God's within us, and we need to go out and help people understand what the key is to get it themselves, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Go to Matthew 21, go forward a little bit more. But in the Old Testament, what was the model? The model was there to be one nation, a holy nation, a separate nation that was supposed to be the light of the world, that was supposed to point people to God for them to have faith and to believe in him. But they rejected God's commandments. They weren't the light that they were supposed to be, and God took it away from them. It's called replacement theology, all right? Matthew 21, look at verse 43. Therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. So notice, the kingdom of God was taken from the Jews. And you know what it was given to? The spiritual Jews. It was taken from the physical Jews and given to the spiritual Jews, and we are the ones to share the light of God. Now go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 3, 1 Corinthians chapter number 3. In the New Testament, we have the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and we're supposed to allow people to come in through their belief in the gospel. And again, according to the Old Testament, even if I wasn't born a Jew, I could still return to the promised land. I could become a Jew. I could convert under the religion. Now converting had a couple physical acts. You had to get circumcised, and you had to keep the Passover in order to be a partaker. In the New Testament, we have to be circumcised of the heart, which is believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and our Passover is Christ. So it's really the same conditions, it's just one spiritual and one physical. Now the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 16, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. Why did you show us this verse, Pastor Shelley? Why are you going through the points that you're making? Okay, well first of all, none of us are going to leave here and go to Jerusalem. None of us are going to go... I hope not, okay? If you do, I'm going to think differently of you, all right? They went out from us, but they were not of us, all right? We're not going to go and lay a lamb on the altar, okay? We're not going to keep the feast of tabernacles. We're not going to do, you know, these freewill offerings. So how does it pertain to me, Pastor Shelley? Well, here's the reality. There's still a temple. You are the temple. And you know what? There's still burnt offerings. And guess what? There's still the freewill offerings. And guess what? There's still the feasts. But you know what? They look different in the New Testament. And it was always pictured this in a different way. Go to Psalms chapter 51. Psalms chapter 51. What was the first thing they did? They built the altar. Now, what is the altar? What do you do with the altar? You perform sacrifices on the altar, don't you? Now, there's multiple types of sacrifices, okay? But in order to do a sacrifice, you have to have the altar, okay? And you have to build that altar. The Bible tells us what that altar is. It says in Psalms 51, look at verse number 18, okay? Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Now, what were they doing? They're going to build the walls, build Jerusalem, build these things. Look at verse 19. Then shall they be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness with burnt offering and whole burnt offering. Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. So isn't that what they're doing? They're going back, they're building Jerusalem, they're offering things on the altar, specifically these burnt offerings. And he says it's really sacrifices of righteousness, okay? But go back to verse 14. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open now my lips and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desireth not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest not and burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. You know, the Bible tells us the altar is now your heart. And their sacrifices are sacrifices of righteousness, of a broken and a contrite spirit, of realizing when we trespass against God and going to God in prayer. The Bible says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, what was the point of the Old Testament sacrifices? When you sinned, you went and brought an animal upon the altar, and the animal being killed would be an atonement for your sin to be in good standing with God again. And the New Testament, what do we do? Well, some weird, you know, false teachers will go to a weird extreme saying once you're saved, God's never mad at you. Bad idea, okay? You can't read any of the Bible with that. Now, here's the thing. If I sin after I'm saved, what's going to happen to me? Well, guess what? God's not pleased with me. You know what? I can't offer some lamb on a physical altar. You know what I can do, though, is I can offer a sacrifice in my heart. I can have a broken and a contrite spirit. I can mourn in my heart for the sin that I commit, and I can get on my knees, and I can beg God to forgive me. And you know what? That's what he wanted anyways. He never really cared about the stupid, you know, animal offering. Kill them all. God doesn't care. What he wanted you to do is to feel bad about your sin and to confess and to forsake your sin. And in the New Testament, we need to go to church to hear God's word preached so your heart can be broken and it can be contrite, and you can say, God, I'm so sorry for sinning against you. Will you please help have mercy on me? Will you please help me walk in your ways and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness? That's what we're supposed to be doing. And those that don't go to church, what do they do? They don't offer the sacrifices. You're going to tell me the people that don't go to church and don't read their Bible, they're just every morning, they just feel so bad about their sin, and they're just asking God, and they're offering all these offerings. No. You've got to go to Jerusalem. You've got to get the lamb. You've got to put it on the altar. In the New Testament, hey, we've got to go to church. You are the temple of God, and when we hear God's word preached, it will motivate us to get right with God. Go to Philippians chapter 2, Philippians chapter 2. The Bible says in Romans 12, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy except one of God, which is a reasonable service. In the New Testament, we are the living sacrifice. We're supposed to constantly sacrifice for the Lord. We're supposed to, you know, give him everything that we have, and it's called a reasonable service. You know, it's reasonable to travel all the way back to Jerusalem. It's reasonable to offer every single one of his offerings and keep all of his feasts. He did everything for us. But today, if my church isn't five minutes away, I can't go. I mean, it's ridiculous. Look at Philippians 2, verse 12. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless as sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run vain, neither labored in vain. Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. What is he saying their sacrifices are? Is it a lamb on the altar? No, it's their service. It's them serving in the church. It's them doing the works of God. And notice, he says, do all things without murmurings and complainings. When you serve and you complain and murmur about it, it counts for nothing. I'd rather you not even help. Don't even show up. If you just want to complain and murmur, I'm not interested. I don't want your help. Go find another job. That's how God feels, too. Look, when you bring that animal sacrifice and your heart wasn't right, it was meaningless. And when you do the service of God and you're constantly complaining and murmuring, God is not interested in your service. It's carnal. Why are you complaining about everything? Why do you have to murmur about everything? You know, God takes the children of Israel out of the wilderness and all they can do is, or out of Egypt into the wilderness, all they can do is complain the whole way, can't they? What did God take the children of Israel out in the wilderness to do? Perform the sacrifices. But they couldn't do it because they're just complaining all the time. They're just murmuring all the time. They don't actually want to do what God had for them. And look, those that constantly are complaining and they're constantly murmuring, they're not going to do the work of God. You know the people who do the work of God are? People are too busy to complain and murmur. Go to 1 Timothy chapter 5. Go to 1 Timothy chapter number 5. You say, why do people complain and murmur and they're so discontented? Let me tell you why. Because they're lazy. Laziness breeds complaining. 1 Timothy chapter number 5. What does it say in verse number 13? And with all they learn to be idle. Wandering about from house to house and not only idle but tattlers also and busybodies. Notice this. Speaking things which they ought not. The Bible says when you're lazy, when you have nothing to do, you just start complaining and murmuring. You know, the people that are hard at work, they don't have time to complain about everything. And guess what? I didn't see a lot of complaining in Ezra chapter 3. You know why? Because they're busy. They're building the altar and they're offering all the sacrifices and they're doing all the work of the Lord. The people that are not serving and they're not doing work, well, they have all this time on their hands to just complain about everything. Well, why do we have church service on this night? You know, why do we meet over here? And, you know, what are we doing about the soul and the program right now? And why do we take mission trips over here? And why don't you just go on them and then you don't have to worry about complaining about it. Look, the people that complain and murmur, they're not right with God. When did you, when do you see anybody complaining and it was a good attribute? Never. Never. I don't see anybody complaining and it was positive. I don't see anybody murmuring and it was positive. I don't see anybody tail bearing and it was positive. We ought to just keep our mouths shut and worry about ourselves and worry about how we can do better. What was the sacrifice? Being of a contrite and broken spirit. You know what that's focused on? Me. How can I do better? How am I at fault? The complainer, he's looking at somebody else. Well, this person, do you know what Jesus did to me? Do you know what he looked at me and said? He gave me a dirty look. Look, I'm not concerned with myself. I'm concerned with him. That's, that's complaining. That's worrying. Nobody's complaining about themselves. Man, I'm just so lazy. I don't show up on time. I'm just not doing good things. You know, they're always complaining about other people. Well, if I was in charge and I made all decisions, it would run well. Why did we pick this restaurant for the catering for soul winning? You know, I don't like mayonnaise on my sandwiches. You know, where's my chips, pastor? I always get chips with my sandwich. You know, well, I get a soda. Did you not get me a soda? You know, they're just sitting there complaining and murmuring. This is not the right heart with God. And guess what? You're, you're not without rebuke. You're with rebuke. You get rebuke when you complain and murmur about everything. We as God's people ought to learn to just be content with everything that we have and actually just give praise and honor to God. You know, when we read the book of Exodus and we see the children of Israel going through the wilderness, what is a normal person thinking? What are all those things God did for them? I mean, look at all the stuff that God did for them. You know what they were thinking? Look at all the things God hasn't done for me. You know why you start complaining? Because you're thinking about all the things that haven't happened for you than rather than the things that already did happen for you. And it's a bad attitude. It's a wicked attitude. It's not of God. And we as God's people need to get less talking and more doing. More work. Stop being so lazy. What was the cure in 1st Timothy chapter 5? I will therefore the young woman marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion, notice this, to the adversary to speak reproachfully for some already turn to sign up to Satan. Hey, when you complain, you're like the devil. Well, I'm ready to complain. Hey, you know what your complaint box is? It's the garbage can out there. You can go inside and you can complain and that as much as you want. And murmur. You can do it all. I don't care. You know, it's not in God's house. It's being like Satan. And notice the cure was to get busy. Why do women just go around and gossip and complain and murmur and do all these things? It sounds like you're not busy enough. Sounds like you need to get married. Sounds like you need to have some kids. Sounds like you need to go to the house and do some work. Sounds like something needs to be cleaned. Sounds like a sandwich needs to be made. Why? So that you can stop being like the devil. Look, and the more work that you have, the more trouble you'll get out of. You don't realize it. Stop complaining about all the work you have. Embrace the work. Think, this is great. I'm glad I have all this work to do. So I don't get in so much trouble. So I can do all these things. God has ordained us to work and to serve Him and to do these things. When you're going around complaining, you're not being like a godly Christian. You're being like the devil. The next time you have the urge to complain, think, I don't want to be like the devil. I need to just keep my mouth shut. I need to count my blessings. You know, all the days of the afflicted are evil. But he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. You know, the guy that's just looking on the up, he's got a good heart about him. He's praising God. He's counting those blessings. He's thinking what God's doing for him. He's going to be excited. You think that it's easy to travel across the world to Jerusalem? You think it's easy to build the temple? You think it's easy to offer all these burnt sacrifices? Look, we're talking about some hard work here. It's not hopping in a car with air condition and driving to church. And then people just want to complain and murmur and bicker about all these things. Go if you would to Deuteronomy chapter 12. We need to build our altar today. We need to get our hearts right because that's what God's after. God's after your heart. And notice 90% of people are going to be offended and not show up. But I'm not worried about them. I'm worried about the 10%. And I want the 10% to stop complaining and bickering and build stuff. And look, this church is doing great things. Tomorrow, we're going to have a great missions trip where no one's ever going to complain. They're not going to bicker. They're not going to be like the devil because we're going to be working. We're going to be doing the work of the Lord. You think that I love everybody in this room's personality 100%. You think that I think everything you say and do is perfect and great and wonderful? Do you notice me going around complaining about you all the time and bickering about you? Look, you don't have to be friends with anybody in this room if you don't want to. But you've got to be friendly to every single person. And we've got to tolerate each another's differences and personalities and grievances. You know how much God tolerates you and me? God puts up with a ton of stuff with me. And much more with a lot of other people. God has to extend His grace upon us. We've got to be like God and extend grace onto people, not murmuring and complaining and bickering. Look, we have a conference coming up. Oh, well, I think we should have gone here and done this and played this song. And why couldn't I read and do this? Don't be like the devil. You get a great conference with great people coming and hearing the Word of God preaching unto you. You should be nothing but thankful and excited. Hey, a missions trip to the Bahamas. If you can complain about that, you can complain about anything, all right? I had to buy a plane ticket. I had to fly American. I don't know what it is. It's stupid. It's petty. It's carnal. Look, I'm glad we're in the better testament. I would rather fly to the Bahamas and preach the gospel than have to drag my carcass around the Middle East back to Jerusalem and do manual labor building a temple. I'm so glad I get to go where it's perfect weather on the sandy beaches and just preach the gospel. I mean, that sounds so much better. It could always be worse anywhere. And look, this church is going to be doing the work of the Lord. We're going to continue working hard. We're going to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. That way, we don't have time for complaining. We don't have time for murmuring. We don't have time for bickering and all this petty nonsense. That's what the devil wants to destroy us with. You know, the devil can't destroy us with fags, with protesters from the world, so he'll try to destroy us from within, wouldn't he? Try and get us all against one another and pitted, well, I don't like that guy's jacket. I don't like what he said, and he's not the nicest person I've ever met. Well, you're not either, and your jacket's ugly, too. I mean, stop being so concerned with everybody else. Why don't you work on yourself? I spent a while on this point, all right? Deuteronomy chapter 12. Deuteronomy chapter 12, look at verse five. But none of the place was the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even on his habitation shall ye seek. That's interesting. Wherever I decide, you just show up. Hey, did you decide where any church is at ever? No, you just find where God's house is, and you just go there. That's what the Bible says. It says, and thither thou shalt come, and thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifice, and your tithes, and your heave, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your free will offerings, and the first things of your herds, and of your flocks. And there ye shall eat before the Lord your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that he had put your hand unto. Ye and your households, wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee. You know, serving God is a blessing. It's not a privilege. You don't earned it. You didn't earn it. You don't deserve it. If you get to serve God, it's a blessing. It's mercy. It's grace. I'm blessed to be able to stand here and preach the gospel this evening. I'm blessed to be a pastor of a church. I don't deserve it in any kind of sense, more than any other person. Obviously, men that are qualified and, you know, do the work of the Lord, they're the ones that should be put in charge, but it's not like I'm just up here on my own merits. I'm standing here by the grace of God, too. I got saved the same way everybody else did, and God, you know, had his mercy and grace upon my grievances and my problems and my sins. Look, I'm not a perfect man standing here preaching the gospel to you today. It's by his grace and mercy that I get to do the work that I do. And it's by his grace and mercy that you have the job you have, you have the family that you do, that you get to go out and preach the gospel, that you live in this country. You know how many places on this earth you could live right now that would be a hundred times worse? You want to be in North Korea right now? What church do you go to then? I bet they drive 30 minutes to church. You know, you live in a third world country where it's just extreme poverty. You can't do anything. The dung hills where they go and scrounge for food. I mean, we ought to count ourselves blessed today. It's hard for Americans to just wake up every once in a while and realize how privileged you truly are and say, hey, I'm blessed to be able to go to church and we ought not squander those blessings. There's a lot of people that would say, hey, I would do so much for God if I had the opportunity. You do have the opportunities. What are you doing? What are you doing with your life? Are you going to actually put some sacrifices on that altar? Are you going to actually do what God told us to do? He said, hey, wherever I put that house, you go find it. You go find the house of God and you offer all those sacrifices that I told you to put on there. Go to Leviticus 23. Whatever burnt offering he says, we ought to do it. He says, without faith, it's impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder. Notice this, of them that diligently seek him. Brother Jesse preached a great sermon about faith. You know that whole series of people in the book of faith? You know what they have to constantly do? Seek the Lord. Abraham had to do what? Leave his whole family and go seek the Lord. What did Moses have to do? Oh yeah, leave all Pharaoh's house and go seek the Lord. And then he's in the wilderness and God says, hey, go back. And then he has to go back. And he's like, wait, no, come back. And he has to go back. I mean, Moses is just like, what am I doing? You know, he has to constantly seek the Lord. Those of God's people have to constantly seek the Lord. You say, well, most people aren't doing it. Yeah. Where are the nine? Ten percent. Leviticus 23 verse 33. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto the children of Israel, saying, the fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be a feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. Now that's interesting. Go back to Ezra. If you hadn't kept your finger there, go back to Ezra. And let's look at verse one. Chapter three verse one. What does it say? And when the seventh month was come. Why did they keep the feast of tabernacles? Because it's the seventh month. It's time to do it. Noticing what? Whatever God commands us to do, whatever timing it is, let's just do it. Whatever he tells us. So what, keeping the feast? How do we keep the feast in the New Testament? Whatever the ordinances of God are, we ought to keep them to the letter. Whatever he said, whatever timing, whatever he has for us, we ought to keep them. Go ahead to Philippians four. I'm kind of going to hurry through this a little bit. Genesis eight. We had free will offerings. So what do we have? We have the altar. That's your heart. Okay. We had the burnt offerings. That's fine. The commandments, you know, that's, that's getting your heart right with them and laying, you know, actually putting stuff on that altar, you know, putting your broken contrite spirit. Then you have the feast. That's like keeping all the statutes and everything in the New Testament. Then you also had free will offerings. Now free will offerings are those where God didn't command you to do anything specifically. You just desire out of the goodness of your own heart to do things unto God. And God even says, you know, there's certain things that are a reasonable service and then there's things above and beyond that. And it says in Genesis chapter eight, I'll just read for you. Okay. It says Noah builds an altar unto the Lord and took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet saber and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I again smite anymore every living thing as I've done. So in the Old Testament, the first word altar, the first time it's mentioned is in Genesis chapter number eight with Noah, he offers an offering and the smell comes up and God is pleased with the smell. Again, we can't offer a physical sacrifice today and God is still pleased with the smell of our sacrifices. But look, it says in Philippians four verse 15. Now Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but you only for even in Thessalonica, ye sent once and again into my necessity, not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all and abound, I am full, having received Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you. Notice this, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Now unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. Not only were the children of Israel supposed to follow just all the commandments, they had the opportunity to do a free will offering. So what does this look like in the New Testament? Well, this is specifically talking about money in Philippians, okay. And we're commanded by God to give a tenth, to give ten percent. And if we don't, that would be a sin. Now if you only give ten percent of your income, of all your increase to God your entire life, you've never sinned financially. But God still gives you the ability to go above and beyond. This would be known as a free will offering. These people saw that Paul had a need and they decided, hey we're just going to supply his need, we're going to bestow a gift unto him. And notice how God described that gift. It was a sweet, what does it say? Smell. The Old Testament sacrifice of the free will offerings are the same in the New Testament, but notice in the New Testament, hey, I can still do a free will offering and it's a sweet smelling sacrifice unto God. Now who are the people offering these type of sacrifices? The ones that went back to Jerusalem. The ones that are serving God. The people that get out of church and aren't serving God, they're never offering the free will offerings. They're usually in sin because they're not even offering the tithe. They're not even following God's commandments at all. Look, you can't offer the free will offering when you haven't even done the first burn offering. You got to first do the burn offering, then you have the opportunity and ability to offer a free will offering. And notice God says, hey, what does he say in verse number 19? But my God shall supply, notice, all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. God loveth a cheerful giver, not a necessity, not by constraint. And notice even in the New Testament, we could still offer offerings unto the Lord. Go back to Ezra. Go back to Ezra. So again, we could focus on all the Old Testament pieces here, but I really wanted to take them and apply them to the New Testament and kind of see, you know, how these things relate. But isn't it great that we have the opportunity to serve God? And look, I think it's great you have the option of a free will offering. Because first of all, you don't have to. But you know what, you get the opportunity to, if you would like to, help somebody go above and beyond doing alms deeds unto the poor and not letting your left hand know what your right hand doeth. And look, this church is going to do great things for God. And I hope that every offering that is coming to the church can be used for his service, for his glory, for his edification. We're already doing great things for the Lord. We're getting many people saved and we're going to continue doing that. Look what it says in verse number six. From the first day of the seventh month began they'd offer burnt offerings in the Lord, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. So it's great to have a temple. You know, just think about if you lived in an area where there was no temple and you go lay an offering on Joel Osteen's altar. And look, there's Joel Osteens in every country. Unfortunately, there's not like a fable or Baptist church in every country. So you don't even have anywhere to go take a free will offering. There's some people that I would love to offer something, but look, laying the offering on Baal's altar isn't going to get you anything with God. You got to lay it on the right altar, my friend. And so it's important to have the house of God. It says in verse seven, they gave money also unto the masons and the carpenters and meat and drink and oil unto them of Zidane and of them of Tyre to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia. Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem in the second month began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Josadak and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem and appointed the Levites from 20 years old and upward to set forward the work of the house of the Lord. Yeah, it tells me if you're 20 years old you need to get a job. You need to get to work. God created us to work. None of these 28 year olds living with mom doing nothing, playing video games on the computer. Get a job! Quit being lazy. Look at 20 years old you could be doing the service of God already even too. And look they're being priests of God at age 20. Let no man despise thy youth. Verse nine, then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brethren Cadmiel and his sons the sons of Judah together to set forward the workmen in the house of God the sons of Henedad with their sons and their brethren the Levites. And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets and Levites the sons of Asaph assembles to praise the Lord after the ordinance of David king of Israel. And they sang together by course and praising giving thanks in the Lord because he is good for his mercy endureth forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house the Lord was late. But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers who were ancient men that had seen the first house when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes wept with a loud voice and many shouted aloud for joy so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise the weeping of the people for the people shouted with a loud shout and the noise was heard afar off. Now this is interesting because it really kind of focuses on one aspect here just the foundation being laid. Now go to Isaiah chapter 44, Isaiah chapter 44. Now there's a lot of things that we can learn here and a lot of great symbolism in the book of Ezra but in Isaiah chapter 44 we see why some of these people would have been so emotional. It says in verse 23, Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it. Shout, ye lower parts of the earth. Break forth into singing, ye mountains of forest, and every tree therein. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and glorified himself in Israel. Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb. I am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretches forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself, that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh the viners mad, that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish, that confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers. That sayeth to Jerusalem, thou shalt be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah, ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof. That sayeth to the deep, be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers. That sayeth of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built, and to the temple thy foundation, notice this, shall be laid. Now at the time that Isaiah is preaching this, Jerusalem has people there. They have the temple. Isn't that interesting to say, hey at some point this temple is going to be built. Right? Why? He's proclaiming the future. He's already proclaimed their destruction, and he proclaims their return, and notice he says the foundation is going to be laid, and at the beginning of this he says, sing all ye heavens. So it's just a triumph of God's word that he was merciful on the children of Israel, that he allowed them to return back to the land, and still allowed them to serve him. So that's one part of the aspect of, hey we finally got to see God's promise come fulfilled before our eyes. We literally get to see the laying of the foundation again, which we had seen before. Can you imagine seeing the temple, reading the proclamation saying, hey we're going to rebuild this. You're thinking like, what? What are you talking about? Then you watch it destroyed before your eyes. Then you come all the way back, and you see it laid again before your eyes. That would be a quite emotional experience. Now that's from a physical perspective. Go to Job 38. There's also a spiritual significance to what's being said here. What is the foundation? Well, look at Job 38. Look at verse number 3. Job 38 verse number 3. The Bible says, gird up now thy loins like a man, for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where was thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who has stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? Notice this. Or who laid the cornerstone thereof, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Now the cornerstone, who is that? That's Jesus Christ. And the cornerstone is laid in the foundation. When the foundation was laid, what do they do? They all shouted for joy. When Jesus Christ was laid, his foundation was laid, the Bible is saying, hey, they all shouted for joy. It's a glorious thing. Go to Matthew 21. Matthew 21. Let me prove this even further. Matthew 21, look at verse 42. Jesus saith unto them, did you never read in the scriptures the stone which the buildings rejected? The same has become the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof, and whose earth shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. Jesus Christ is saying, hey, I'm that cornerstone. Did you not read about the cornerstone? Hey, why can't we, what should be marvelous in your eyes? The laying of that foundation. Go to 1 Peter chapter 2. In Acts chapter 4, it says, then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, it would be this day examined of the good deed done to the impotent man by what means he has made whole. Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him that this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at not of you builders, which has become the head of the corner, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. The Bible is saying Jesus Christ is that head cornerstone. When was he laid? It says which is become the head of the corner. The death, burial, and resurrection, hey, that cornerstone has been laid, and you better believe on him because if you don't, that stone's going to crush you, is what the Bible says. Christ was a rock of offense, a stumbling stone for them which, what, do not believe. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 5, he also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. And you therefore which believe he is precious, but in them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders is allowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even in them which stumble at the word being disobedient, wherein to also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation of royal priesthood and holy nation of peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praise of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have attained mercy. He's saying, hey, you are that spiritual priesthood. You have returned to the land. It's time for you to put sacrifices on the altar. It's time for you to do the offerings of God. He is that foundation. There's no other foundation. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number three. How do I offer those offerings? Well, I have to have the right foundation. And notice when the foundation is laid, it's for us to offer spiritual sacrifices. We as God's people need to offer the spiritual sacrifices. Just like they offered the physical sacrifice, we ought to offer the spiritual sacrifice. When we're not offering spiritual sacrifices, we're like the 90% that didn't return. We're like, where are the nine? And notice when he said the one, who was the one? A Samaritan. Proving what? The Gentiles are going to be the one that believes. The Gentiles are going to be the one that accepts Christ. They're going to be the ones that, notice, do the work of God. Obviously there's a remnant. Obviously the Apostle Paul is a Jew, and obviously Peter's a Jew. But who's really doing the work of the church? Who's really doing the work of God after all the Apostles die? It's the Gentiles. You should know the half, you got the half-breed like Timothy, right? He's a Jew and kind of a Greek, whatever. But it's a lot of Greeks. You know, Titus. That sounds like a Greek person to me. I mean, do you want to read Romans chapter 16? Andronicus, you know, and Philogus. It's like, who are these people? They're the Gentiles. 1 Corinthians 3, look at verse 9. For we are labors together with God, ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's, notice this, building according to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder. I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon, but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Why are they getting so excited about that foundation laid in the book of Ezra? Because it's the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, the foundation laid. And I think, you know, one way to look at this is my personal opinion. When we're reading the book of Ezra, we see kind of a mixed result, don't we? We see some people are really happy and some people are really sad or they're kind of having an emotional response. But when we think about the cross, doesn't it at some point kind of bring us a little bit of sadness that the fact and the reality that our Savior was crucified for us? Doesn't that kind of bring a certain emotional response that's not just joy? There's a lot of emotion to the cross, but obviously when we think about salvation, when we think about eternal life, when we think about going to heaven, when we think about the grace of God, it brings us great joy and we should be shouting. And notice you can't do anything without that foundation. What's 1st Corinthians 3 all about? Laying other things on that foundation, not putting wood, hay, and stubble, but gold, silver, and precious stones, by putting sacrifices, being a living sacrifice. We want to return spiritually back to Jerusalem today. We want to return back spiritually and offer the spiritual sacrifices. We don't do it with murmuring and planing. We want to work hard. We want to do the feast. We want to make sure we're keeping it perfectly. Hey, it's time to do the feast. Let's do it. Hey, it's time to do this. Hey, this is how we're supposed to do it. Here's all the ordinances. Let's follow all the ordinances perfectly and, hey, on top of that, I have the ability to make a free will offering today. Do you have to go on a missions trip? No. Do you have to, you know, give money above the tithe? No. Do you have to give alms deeds? Do you have to be a friend to somebody? Do you have to extend grace? Do you have to do all these things? No, but why don't you want to? We got to have a broken and a contrite heart today. My question is, where are you? Obviously, you physically showed up, so it sounds like you're not like the 90%, but are you one that's just constantly complaining along the way, or are you ready to get some work done? We ought to be God's people that say, hey, the point of us being here is to serve God, is do the work of the Lord, to always abound in the work of the Lord. Let's go in prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for this great chapter. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve you. I pray that we would every day just check our heart, check the altar of our heart, and that we would decide to lay the morning and the evening offering upon our heart, and that you would just convict us of the sins that we have, that we clean up our lives, and that we'd always go to you in confession and forsaking our sins.