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Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. About five minutes. Silence. In your head. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence. Alright, we'll go ahead and get started for this evening. We'll go to our first song, song number 15, lead me to Calvary. Song 15, lead me to Calvary. Song number 15, lead me to Calvary, there on the first. Lest I forget Gethsemane, lest I forget thy nagony, lest I forget thy love for me, lead me to Calvary. Show me the tomb where thou wast laid, tenderly mourned and wept, angels in robes of light arrayed, guarded thee while thou slept. Lest I forget Gethsemane, lest I forget thy nagony, lest I forget thy love for me, lead me to Calvary. Let me like Mary through the gloom, come with a gift to thee. Show to me now the empty tomb, lead me to Calvary. Lest I forget Gethsemane, lest I forget thy nagony, lest I forget thy love for me, lead me to Calvary. Nevertheless, may I be willing, Lord, to bear daily my cross for thee. Even thy cup of grief to share, thou hast borne all for me. Lest I forget Gethsemane, lest I forget thy nagony, lest I forget thy love for me, lead me to Calvary. Brother James, would you lead us in prayer this evening, please? Amen, let's go to 263. 263, verily, verily. 263, verily, verily. There on the first. Oh, what a savior that he died for me. From condemnation he hath made me free. He that believeth on the sun sayeth he hath everlasting life. Verily, verily, I say unto you. Verily, verily, message avenue. He that believeth on the sun tis true, hath everlasting life. All my iniquities on him were laid, all my indebtedness by him was paid. All who believe on him the Lord hath said, hath everlasting life. Verily, verily, I say unto you. Verily, verily, message avenue. He that believeth on the sun tis true, hath everlasting life. Though poor and needy, I can trust my Lord. Though weak and sinful, I believe his word. Oh, glad message every child of God, hath everlasting life. Verily, verily, I say unto you. Verily, verily, message avenue. He that believeth on the sun tis true, hath everlasting life. Though all unworthy, yet I will not doubt. For in the comet he will not cast out. He that believeth on the good news shall, hath everlasting life. Verily, verily, I say unto you. Verily, verily, message avenue. He that believeth on the sun tis true, hath everlasting life. Very good singing. If you don't already have a bulletin, we should have maybe a couple over there in the cabinet. We can get to you on the inside. We have our service and soul winning times. And then we have our stats. Is there anything as far as soul winning report for the last few days that was not already counted? All right, keep up the good work on soul winning on the right. Continue to pray for the Darnells for their expecting baby. Also, upcoming guest preaching, we have brother Ben Naim here this past Sunday. And he's always a fiery preacher, so that's always good to have him out here. For upcoming preaching and events, February 6th, brother Duncan Urbana is going to be coming back down here and preaching. And also the 20th of February, brother Chris Segura is going to be coming back out here. And then March 6th, brother Dylan Oz is going to be coming down and he's going to be preaching. At the end of March, Steadfast is having a soul winning seminar. So it's kind of like a conference of types, but it's not really a conference where we're going to have a lot of guest preachers. The goal is actually to do like a workshop and a seminar based on soul winning specifically. So it's going to be like March 24th, 25th, and 26th around that timeline. It's a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. And so Thursday will just be soul winning during normal business hours like 8 to 5. But we won't go out today. We'll show up in the morning, we'll go out for a couple hours, have lunch, go out in the afternoon. But then the seminar part will be in the evening. So we'll just kind of have like a dinner at the church and then we'll have like some kind of a tutorial with a workshop. And the goal is really just to help everyone of all skill levels when it comes to soul winning. So someone that's never gone soul winning all the way up to, you know, you've been an experienced soul winner. We want to basically use everybody and have everybody participate if available. And the seminar portion is going to be both in Thursday evening and Friday evening and Saturday morning. So we're going to have three workshop days. And we're going to pair people up and give them a safe environment to practice, work on giving the gospel, getting better, improving. And also for those that are real experienced, they can help assist other people learning how to give the gospel, preaching the gospel. And really just a goal for us all to get better. And, you know, it's open to anybody that wants to participate. So if you have family member friends, people that live in other parts of the country that they just, they're not sure how to go soul winning or they want to improve. This would be a great event to invite them to so they could help or they could participate in and learn how to do a lot of soul winning. And so I'm really excited about it. Lots of opportunity to actually go soul winning. We'll have the seminar instructions. We'll be partnering, you know, people with experienced soul winners and everything like that. And I just look at it as an event to really improve on our soul winning as a whole. So if you want to participate, you can always come up there. The following weekend, Pure Words is going to have a soul winning marathon again. Kind of a small town soul winning. We're going to go back to College Station. So we're going to do another College Station soul winning marathon as a church. And hopefully a lot, I think a lot of other people want to participate and come and join us. I know there's people that are in Austin and San Antonio. And we got people obviously in the Dallas Forward area. And so it's pretty close to us. It's only about an hour and a half. We got brother Nick already over stationed over there. So and we even have some people over there. So I'm really excited about that. April 2nd is going to be the College Station soul winning marathon for Pure Words Baptist Church. And so that should be a good time. And it was really receptive. A lot of people have given me feedback saying they really like going over there. There's also a Waco soul winning marathon that Steadfast is doing. And that's a little bit further from here. I want to get the date. I think I have, I think it's in March as well actually. Let me see. Or maybe it's in February. Sorry, it's February 26th. February 26th, there is a Waco Texas soul winning marathon. Now that's probably about three hours from here. I think that it's about an hour and a half from the Dowsport area. And it's probably about three hours from Houston. And we haven't really done an event in Waco so I don't know what to expect per se. But it's a cool area. You know it's a nice area. People like it. But we'll be going over there for soul winning February 26th. March 26th is the Steadfast soul winning seminar. April 2nd we're having the College Station soul winning marathon. And so lots of great events to get plugged into and do some of that soul winning. And also we have a couple of prayer requests. Continue to pray for Edward Gomino Health and his mother. And Brother Yair, is he doing okay? Alright, good. So we'll just continue to pray for them. And we'll, that's pretty much all I have for announcements. Let's just go ahead and go to our second, or third song. 257, just flip back a few pages. Two pages, Look and Live. What a great song with all this soul winning we're talking about, you know. So we go out and proclaim that message. Just all you have to do is look and live. 257, Look and Live, there on the first. I have a message from the Lord, Hallelujah. The message unto you I'll give. It is recorded in his word, Hallelujah. It is only that you look and live. Look and live, my brother, live. Look to Jesus now and live. It is recorded in his word, Hallelujah. It is only that you look and live. I have a message full of love, Hallelujah. A message, oh my friend, for you. It is a message from above, Hallelujah. Jesus said it and I know it is true. Look and live, my brother, live. Look to Jesus now and live. It is recorded in his word, Hallelujah. It is only that you look and live. Life is offered unto you, Hallelujah. Eternal life thy soul shall have. If you'll only look to him, Hallelujah. Look to Jesus who alone can save. Look and live, my brother, live. Look to Jesus now and live. It is recorded in his word, Hallelujah. It is only that you look and live. I will tell you how I came, Hallelujah. To Jesus when he made me whole. Was believing on his name, Hallelujah. I trusted and he saved my soul. Look and live, my brother, live. Look to Jesus now and live. It is recorded in his word, Hallelujah. It is only that you look and live. Nice to sing a song like this after going soul-winding and hearing so many bad answers over and over that it's only you look and live, right? Let's go to in our Bibles. We're going to start a new Bible study this evening in Habakkuk. It's in the Minor Prophets, right after the book of Nahum. You have Habakkuk, three chapters. We're going to have Brother Jeffrey, do you want to read for us? Jeffrey's going to come and read for us. Habakkuk, we're going to do chapter number one this evening. Follow along as Brother Jeffrey reads for us and we'll pass the offering. Alright, so we're there in Habakkuk, chapter one. The Bible reads, The bird in which Habakkuk the prophet did see, O Lord, how long shall I cry and thou wilt not hear? Even cry out unto thee of violence and thou wilt not save. Why dost thou show me iniquity and cause me to hold grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore, the law is slack and judgment doth never go forth. For the wicked doth promise about the righteous, therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. Behold ye among the heathen in regard and wonder marvelously. For I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, possess the dwelling cases that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful, their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than a leopard and are more fierce than the evening wolves, and their horsemen shall spread themselves and their horsemen shall come from far. They shall fly as an eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence, their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be as sworn unto them. They shall override every stronghold, for they shall heap dust and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over and offend, imputing this his power unto his God. Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die, O Lord. Thou hast ordained them for judgment, and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. Wherefore, lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he, and maketh men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things that have no ruler over them? They take up all them with the angle. They shall catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag. Therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag, because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenty. Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations? Thou shalt bow your heads for a quick foot of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, I have a question for you. First of all, do you still have to go to the church? How best to have you here today? First of all, do you still have to go to the church? Amen. So we're starting a new Bible study, and we're in the book of Habakkuk, and it's in the Minor Prophets. And the timeline of the book of Habakkuk is sometime before Jerusalem is going to be judged. It's kind of anticipating the coming and impending judgment of Babylon upon all the nations, and specifically even the nation of Judah. And so we have other books that are similar in timeline. The book of Isaiah gives a lot of warning about the coming judgment of Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon, the Chaldeans. So it's probably sometime around Isaiah. It's definitely going to be before books like Jeremiah and things like that, because Jeremiah is actually happening. You kind of are living through and experiencing the Nebuchadnezzar judgment that's coming. And Habakkuk kind of gives you the foreshadowing and kind of the idea of when this is going to happen. And it's a very negative book. And you have to understand that even though we have prophets like Isaiah and we have prophets like Jeremiah, there's other prophets that even exist at the same time. You know, when you look at books like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, these are all written around the same time, and these men are contemporaries, one with another. So there are points in history where you have multiple prophets of God, multiple men of God that are delivering messages and giving out the word of God. It's not just necessarily always a one-man show when it comes to the Bible or the word of God. I mean, you think about after Christ, we still have the 12 apostles. There's a lot of great men all at the same time going out and preaching the gospel. And so when it comes to the minor prophets, we have to understand that from a historical perspective or a chronology perspective, we don't have any new information than what we kind of had at the end of Chronicles and then going into Esther and going into some of those books there. It's just like going back and overlaying on top of and just giving you more information and filling in some of those gaps as it were. Because from a historical perspective, the Bible kind of ends with the book of Esther from a historical perspective. And really, we don't really get any new history as much as it's going and starting with Job and then you kind of got the Psalms. Those are just kind of poetic books that are kind of pushing a further narrative and they have their own chronology. Because the way the Bible works is it basically, it's chronological but it's broken up in sections. So from Genesis all the way to the book of Esther is basically your history. And it's not, you know, they break up in different sections. So you're going to have Moses, the law, and then you kind of have like, you know, your next section of history. But it's really a consistent narrative as far as timeline. Then Job is going to be the earliest of the poetic books. And then you're going to kind of have Psalms and then you're going to have Proverbs and then you're going to have Song of Solomon, you know, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. You're going to kind of have this coordination also in a chronology. Then you have the major prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, you know. And that's going to go in essentially a chronology again. Isaiah is before Jeremiah and then you have Ezekiel. You have Lamentations obviously and then you have Daniel as well. So then you kind of start over again with the minor prophets. You have Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Sephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. Those 12 are going to also follow in chronology. But they always start back over. And God does this consistently. You've got Genesis chapter number one and then Genesis chapter number two, right? At the end of chapter one you have the sixth day creation is completed. Chapter two starts with the seventh day. But then randomly in chapter number two it goes back and it describes the events of day six. But then what chapter two does is it goes further, it goes beyond where we had started. So if you think about just a perfect chronology timeline, the Bible will often push out a narrative stop and then it will go back a little bit and then it will push that history a little bit further. And then it will go back and then push it just a little bit further. And then it will go back and then it will push it a little bit further. And so you kind of have all these overlapping stories and narratives throughout the Bible. So when we look at the book of Habakkuk, I'm just trying to give you an idea of how to conceptualize where this book is at in the timeline. It's probably somewhere around the time of Isaiah as far as a historical perspective. And Isaiah is mentioned in books where you have King Hezekiah. King Hezekiah is dealing with Isaiah. So when you're reading through the Kings and the Chronicles, you run into Hezekiah, the whole book of Isaiah is fitting in around that time frame. And then you'd also have kind of what? Habakkuk. So you could think about this. Whenever you're reading the Bible and you're reading like Kings and Chronicles and you kind of run into people like Hezekiah or Isaiah, you could think, hey, Habakkuk's kind of around this timeline too. It's kind of like a similar thing. And then you could look up charts. People maybe have even more dialed in perfect idea of exactly where this book is at. But I'm just kind of giving you a general idea of kind of what this book is going to be about and kind of where its time frame is set. And you have to understand that none of these things that it's going to talk about have happened yet. So it's a lot of prophecy and a lot of, you know, it's talking about the Chaldeans. And the Chaldeans are synonymous with Babylonians, synonymous with Nebuchadnezzar specifically. Okay, that's who that's talking about. It says in verse 1, The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. O Lord, how long shall I cry and thou wilt not hear? Even cry out unto thee of violence and thou wilt not save. Now if you think about the Kings and we're kind of in the latter portion of the Kings and the Chronicles or kind of similar with books like Isaiah, what's happening in that time frame? Well, the children of Israel are very wicked. The children of Israel have turned from the Lord. They're harkening unto false gods. They have a lot of bad kings that are kind of coming in and out of the kingdom. And so, you know, the prophet is talking about the fact that he's at a time in history where there's just a lot of violence. There's just so much violence and he's saying, I'm crying unto the Lord. I'm praying to the Lord. You know, why are you allowing all this violence and evil to happen? And essentially you're not doing anything about it. You're like, why is it just all this bad? Now, there's no new thing under the sun. There's always been violent times throughout history. There's always been tumultuous times. There's always been times where wicked people are doing their thing. And to the people that are in that present reality, it feels as if God's doing nothing. It feels like, why is God just allowing all this bad stuff to happen? And there's a psalm that kind of talks about this a little bit too. Keep your finger here and go to Psalms chapter 13. And this is kind of the theme of this chapter. Just these first two verses when we think about Habakkuk. Habakkuk is a man of God. He wants to serve the Lord and he feels just kind of alone. He kind of feels a little bit trapped. He kind of feels like things don't make sense. Why? I'm serving the Lord. I know that you're real. I know that, you know, the Bible is the truth here. But things aren't adding up. How come there's all this evil in the world? How come there's all this violence in the world? How come there's all this bad stuff going on? How come nobody cares about the word of God? And to me, I feel like this book really helps us in 2022 America understand the right perspective. Because we could have the same questions, couldn't we? We could kind of look at this world today and think, man, Houston's filled with violence today. And not just Houston, I mean, America. America's filled with all kinds of murder, with all kinds of evil. You go outside of America and you look at other parts of the world today, even more murder, even more violence, even more hatred, and it seems like everybody's just getting away with it. You know, the Clinton body count just keeps ticking up. I mean, I don't know what's going to stop that thing, right? I mean, you kind of wonder to yourself, like, what's going on? Look at Psalms 13, look at verse 1. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord, forever? Isn't that kind of a, I mean, you know, just being a real person. Have you ever had a day where you're just kind of thinking like, it just seems like God's not even like, he doesn't remember that I exist or something. And then this guy's just having a really bad attitude because he's thinking like, you're just going to not remember me forever? Like, you know, I love the Psalms because isn't this just like how people would think today? These over-exaggerated things like, how long forever, Lord? You know, like, how long? Look at this, how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? So isn't this kind of the same thought, kind of a similar, just kind of like, what's going on here? Like, just don't you realize I got this enemy? And like, you won't do anything about it? And it's like, what's going on here? And really, that's kind of the premise of chapter 1. Go back to Habakkuk chapter number 1. This is not a new thing under the sun. The psalmist says this. Habakkuk says this. In fact, I could just show you place after place where the man of God is essentially just at a loss for words, just so confused as to why the world is so wicked, there's so much violence, and it just seems like God's doing nothing about it. And so if every man of God in the Bible, or lots of them are experiencing these thoughts and feelings, it shouldn't shock us if we have moments where we kind of are thinking something similar, kind of thinking like, where is everybody? Why does nobody care? Why is everybody so apathetic to the things of God? Why are the wicked just acting as if there's no God? Why are they almost like an atheist in their actions where they just do evil thinking that they're never going to get caught and know bad things are going to happen? And then seemingly nothing bad does happen. Verse 3. Why does thou show me iniquity and cause me to behold grievance, for spoiling and violence are before me, and there are that raise up strife and contention? Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth, for the wicked doth compass about the righteous. Therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. I mean, this could be the headline of the newspaper today. I mean, think about it. He's just saying, look, there's just all kinds of iniquity. And he's like, why, God, do I have to live in a world where all I see is just sin everywhere? Right? I mean, he's just like, why do I have to? I mean, I'm the man of God, I'm the prophet, I'm Habakkuk, you know, and all I get to see is just iniquity everywhere, just sin everywhere. And really, you live in the United States of America today, you know what you'll see? Sin everywhere. On the billboard, on the TV, in the music, on just, you know, the broadcast of the news. I mean, it's just everywhere. You go to the workplace, sin. You see somebody's t-shirt. I mean, literally, the t-shirts are filled with smut and evil and blasphemy and wickedness. People's clothing, not just the messages on the clothing, the way people dress. People dress in a very sinful way. I mean, virtually, most women in America are dressed naked. They're not covering their body appropriately. They're flaunting off their nakedness. I mean, nowadays, you go and knock on doors and half the women just open the door in their underwear, it seems like. And I'm just thinking like, what in the world? And dudes, too, and I really don't want to see that. It's like some guy walking out in his boxer briefs and I'm thinking like, bro, get some pants on, you know? Like, why is there just so much iniquity everywhere, okay? And he's saying, you're causing me to behold grievance. Not only do you see the sin, but he sees the consequence of sin. And you know what? That should really grieve you at your heart. You know, when you see the consequences of divorce and you see what it does to children, right? You see children whose parents don't care about them. You see the consequences of the drunkard and the poverty and just the filth and just, I mean, whenever there's a lot of sin abounding, what happens? Just everything just degrades. You look at Houston and you kind of think like it used to be probably a really nice looking city and now it just seems dirty everywhere. And not just because we're in the ghetto, okay? I get that we're in the shady part of town. But I'm just saying, like, you drive just about anywhere. I mean, every wall is just dirty, trash everywhere, just filth, and it just seems like it keeps getting worse. You go to the apartment complex, I mean, what sidewalk in the apartment complex even looks like a normal sidewalk? I mean, they're just like, oh, like, you know, it's like a roller coaster, trash is everywhere, nobody cares. I mean, you just see the consequence of people. People are so lazy today, so slothful, filled with drugs, alcohol. I remember walking up and knocking on a guy's door and I kid you not, it seemed like there was 500 beer cans in this guy's yard. Just everywhere, just littered as if it was the trash can or something. I'm thinking, like, how do people live like this? How are people even surviving like this? How can you even have done that much since? I mean, this guy is literally drinking, like, 500 beers in, like, the last month or something. Probably out of some help, I'm guessing. But, you know, you look at the world today and it just sometimes just doesn't make any sense. It's just confusing, it's frustrating, it's grieving. He says, for spoiling and violence are before me. He's just saying, man, it just seems like everybody's getting ripped off. I mean, it just seems like catalytic converters are being stolen off of every car. You know what I mean? And it's just like, when is someone going to stop it? Because the cops don't care. I mean, who cares? It seems like nobody cares. I mean, and that's just one area of theft. I mean, theft is on a rampant scale going on everywhere in America. I mean, just constant spoiling, constant thievery, constant deceit, constant fraud. I mean, it's just an epidemic of just spoiling that's happening in our country. Violence, he says people are raising up strife and contention. Just constant argument. It doesn't really seem like there's a lot of peace. It doesn't seem like Democrats and Republicans like each other. And, you know, in some cases for good reason. But at the end of the day, you know, it doesn't seem like the media, it doesn't seem like the government, it doesn't seem like any of these people want people to get along. They don't, you know, it's not that we live in a country where people actually like each other. Everyone's racist. Everyone's bigoted. Everyone is evil. You know, white people that, you know, are married to black people are apparently racist and they didn't even know it. You know, it's like, what? It's like, you know, we have this disease of systemic racism and you don't even realize it. It's like, no, you're just trying to create conflict. There wasn't a conflict and you're trying to create it. You know, living in Houston or in Dallas or living in one of these tech, you know, we're so diverse. I mean, there's everything, especially in Houston. I mean, you got Asian, Hispanic, black, white. I mean, you got it all. And a lot of times you got like a mix of it. You can't even tell if they're Hispanic or Asian, you know. They're kind of both, right? And people don't even care that much. But in the last few years, what's happened? It's increased, there's been an increase in racism and prejudice in our city and in our nation because of what the government's trying to do. They're trying to pit us against one another and cause us to not like other people based on these, you know, prejudging things. Whereas God doesn't care. God's not a respecter in person. I don't care what color-skinned someone is or what ethnicity they are. You know, the only thing that matters is if they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we see a world where there's just all this conflict and all this strife and all this contention, you know, I feel like, you know, me and Habakkuk, we're like reading the same book here and seeing the same reality. I'm more experienced. I feel like the guy is just speaking for me. He's speaking for us. He's just saying, man, this is just crazy. He says, verse 4, therefore the law is slacked. You know, no one's getting judged right. Criminals aren't getting punished. People aren't following God's commandments. And this is an incredible statement. Look what he says about his present reality. Judgment never doth go forth. How does he feel about his justice system of the day? He doesn't like it, does he? He thinks that the justice system is corrupt and it never seems to ever prevail. There's not really any judgment. He says for the wicked doth compass about the righteous. Therefore wrong judgment proceeds. Not only is he saying there's not judgment, he's saying there's wrong judgment. Perverted judgment, bribes, bad decision making, evil. You know, really the Bible is just the most relevant thing that we could ever look to. This is describing a present reality for us. And, you know, there has been times in history where people are not necessarily in this situation. But, you know, I feel like America is not only somewhat in this direction, but at least heading in this direction. And I think it could actually get a lot worse. But, you know, it seems really similar to the present reality that we live in. And here would be the question again. He's kind of thinking, like, what's going on? Like, why? How long is this going to happen, right? Verse 5. Behold ye among the heathen. Now, here's the thing you have to understand about the Bible is it will switch character of who's talking, what's going on. And you don't know. You have to kind of get the context. So I'll just help you. All of a sudden now God's going to talk to him, okay? So we got the first four verses of backing, you know, complaining and being kind of upset about everything. Verse 5, God's like, oh, you want an answer? Okay, here's your answer. Behold ye among the heathen. Behold ye among the heathen. And regard a wonder marvelously. For I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breath of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful. Their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. And their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far. They shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence. Their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them. They shall deride every stronghold, for they shall heap dust and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over and offend, imputing this, his power unto his God." Now, what's sometimes difficult about the Minor Prophets is it doesn't always give you all the context. So when you're not necessarily thinking about the context, it's kind of hard to figure out what he's saying, right? But if you kind of just slow down the verses, and you kind of get the right context in your mind, the verses really kind of fall into place and make a lot of sense. So verses one through four, the back is upset, everything's going bad. Verse five, God's going to answer him and he's going to say, look, I'm going to do something about it, don't worry, I'm going to work a work in your days, and it's going to be so incredible. He says, specifically, a wonder marvelously, he says that even if I just tell you exactly what I'm going to do, you still wouldn't even understand it or believe it exactly. Like, it's just like, hey, I'll tell you what I would do, but even if I told you, you wouldn't even get it. You won't even really believe it. So there's no point in me telling you anyways. You know, he's like, what are you doing, God? He's like, well, I'd tell you, but you can't figure it out, dummy, okay? And he's just like, okay. Verse six, because he's saying what he's going to do, he's going to raise up the Chaldeans. He calls it that bitter and hasty nation. So what do we know about the Chaldeans? Well, it's going to be really bad for everybody. Bitterness is not something you like. You know, something that's bitter, it's awful, it feels bad, it tastes bad, right? And hasty meaning they're coming quickly. Says, shall march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. So he's saying they're going to invade a lot of people and take them over. Verse seven, they are terrible and dreadful. Their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Meaning they're going to have a reputation of coming and being very horrible. Their judgment being the worst thing you can imagine. Says in verse eight, their horses are also swifter than leopards. So he's saying like, they have one of the greatest militaries. They're going to come in and they're going to come in so fast it's faster than the fastest animal. You know, it's faster than how fast a leopard could run. Not only that, they're scarier or fiercer than a wolf would be. You know, a wolf is just take no prisoner, just rip the guts out of the animal, just attack and just devour. It's like that's what they're going to be like. Not only that, they're going to fly as the eagle that hasted to eat. Meaning they're just so fast, it's just so quick. He's just saying this is going to happen just so suddenly. Verse nine, they shall come all for violence. Meaning that they have no motivation other than just to destroy and kill and hurt and violate. I mean they're not coming for mercy. There's no mercy with this guy. Their faces shall sup up as the east wind and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. Meaning that they're going to capture so many people. So many people are going to come under their domain. It would be as if it was how much sand there is on a beach. Like if you're going to try and count all the grains of sand on a beach. He's like that's how many people they're going to captive, make captive when they come. And then he's saying in verse 10, and they shall scoff at the kings. And the princes shall be a scorn unto them. They shall deride every stronghold for they shall heap dust and take it. So he's saying every defense, every other military, every other ruler, every other leader, they're going to laugh at and scoff at. It's going to be nothing to them. It's going to be like taking candy from a baby is what he's saying. He's just saying look, there's an enemy that's coming, the Chaldeans, super fast, super horrible. They're going to just run through the land, take everyone captive, and they're going to just laugh all the way. Because they're just so much more superior militarily and everything else. And then in verse 11 it says then shall his mind change, talking about the leader, talking about Nebuchadnezzar. And he shall pass over and offend, imputing this, his power unto his God. So Nebuchadnezzar, while going through and doing all this work, and it's of the Lord's hand, he's not going to think that it's God that's doing it or allowing him to be successful. He's basically going to think that his God, his false God, is the reason why he's so successful and why he's having the ability to judge and take over all these nations, not realizing that it's the Lord that's giving him this ability. Now let's compare this with a couple verses. Go to Jeremiah chapter number 4, or 25, I'm sorry. Jeremiah chapter 25, if you flip back to the left. Isaiah, Jeremiah chapter 25, and look at verse number 4. Let's compare and see if this is mentioned and described in other places in your Bible. Jeremiah 25, look at verse 4. And the Lord has sent unto you all his servants, the prophets, rising early and sending them. We have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear. So Jeremiah's preaching against the children of Judah, and he's saying like, look, God constantly sent you men of God and prophets to tell you, turn from your wicked ways and stop rejecting the Lord, and they just wouldn't do it. They just didn't care. They didn't like the true men of God, the real prophets. And what you have to understand about the book of Jeremiah is there's lots of prophets. It's not like, you know, some people would think like, oh, well, you know, there's all these churches, so of course, you know, God's in this nation. What do you think? At the time of Jeremiah, it's not like there isn't a church on every corner, quote, unquote. It's not like they don't have a preacher everywhere. It's not like they have a prophet everywhere. It's just they're filled with false prophets. And the real prophets, they don't like. They don't want to go to that guy's church. That guy's church is in the ghetto or something. No, that guy's church isn't as cool or something. They don't swing and sway or they don't give you, you know, a raffle to win a lottery of a car or something. You know, they're just preaching what the Bible says, and they don't like that. Verse 5, they said, Turn ye again now, every one, from his evil way and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you, and to your fathers forever and ever. And go not after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands. And I will do you no hurt. So, the prophets are saying, if you guys follow God's commandments, do right, God will not allow any bad thing to happen to you. But they didn't do that. Verse 7, Yet you have not hearkened unto me, saith the Lord, that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Because ye have not heard my words, behold, I will sin and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment and a hissing and perpetual desolation. So, they're saying, look, because you won't listen, because you won't hearken, fine, I'll just destroy you. Now, he calls Nebuchadnezzar his servant. What we have to understand, though, is even though Nebuchadnezzar is his servant, that doesn't make him save. The Bible uses the word servant in a lot of context for everyone. Like everyone's God's servant to some degree. And some are good servants and some are bad servants. This will help you with parables in the Bible. Because, you know, you'll read about good servants and bad servants, and everybody will think, like, it's talking about saved people, but that's not true. He talks about the Jews being his servants. Here's the thing, the Jews didn't get saved. They rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're unprofitable servants, they're wicked servants, and even though they've been given the Bible and given all these things, they end up just burying it in the ground, and then God's just going to, you know, toss them out into the lake of fire, okay, because they didn't accept the Lord Jesus Christ, they didn't do anything with the gospel, okay. So, Nebuchadnezzar's his servant, but some of God's servants are used to essentially just judge other people. God will raise up a very evil, wicked king to just judge a bunch of people and to fulfill his will. And so Nebuchadnezzar, while he's wicked himself and not saved, God basically raises him up to judge all the other nations. And then he raises up the Medan Persians to come and judge Nebuchadnezzar. And there's just this cycle of him just raising up a wicked person to judge the next wicked person, and then raise another wicked person to judge the next wicked person. And it's just kind of this cycle, and so it's not like God's not going to judge the wicked. He is. But there is a group of people that can essentially be absolved of judgment. Who's that? His people. If they do what? Follow his commandments. Do that which is right, then they could dwell in the land, then they could have peace. But essentially they won't do that. Verse 11, it says, And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. So in Isaiah, he warns about the Babylonians. In Jeremiah, he's warning about the Babylonians. And Jeremiah's kind of their last chance, like their last opportunity to finally harken. They just won't harken, and so they eventually get destroyed at the end of the book of Jeremiah. But go to Ezekiel 21. I want to show you another example here. So we have confirmed in the book of Jeremiah the same thing that Habakkuk sang, because they wouldn't harken, because they wouldn't listen, because there's no judgment, all this evil. He's raising up the Babylonians, the Chaldeans, Nebuchadnezzar to come and to judge them. It also said that he was going to attribute that to his god, though, to his false god. Look at Ezekiel 21, verse 19. The Bible says, Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come, both twain, come forth out of one land, and choose thou a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city. Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabath of the Ammonites, and to Judah and Jerusalem the defense. The king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways to use divination. He made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver. At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, cast them out and to build a fort. And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, to them that have sworn o's, but he will call to remembrance the iniquity that they may be taken. Therefore, thus say the Lord God, because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear, because I say that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand. So, it's kind of a difficult passage, but basically what the Lord is trying to communicate to us, is the fact that when Nebuchadnezzar is coming, and he's doing his works, in his mind, he's doing everything that he wants. Like he's showing up to a fork in the road, and he's saying like, I don't know which way to go, so then he practices his divination, and he's doing all these spells or whatever, and he's looking in the liver or whatever that means, sounds gross, but the guy's like doing all this weird stuff, and the Bible's saying it's false, like it's not real, and the meaning that all the stuff he's doing, it's not actually that he's divining, or like it's a real thing that he's communicating with the gods or something like that, but what is going to happen is, in his mind he's going to think it's real, but it's ultimately God directing him wherever he wants him to go. So, God's the one in control, God's the one that's going to be directing him, and then Nebuchadnezzar's going to attribute all the success and all the things to his false god. So, every time he's basically rolling the dice and it wins, he's thinking like, oh man, the gods are on my side, not realizing it was the Lord that was giving him the victory every single time, and he's attributing it basically to his false divination, to his false gods, and because God is real, and because supernatural things happen throughout history, it causes the wicked to believe in false gods, if you think about it, because essentially they are winning battles, and they're having all these things happen for them that can't really be explained in a naturalistic sense. They know that something supernatural is happening, but instead of realizing it was God that did it, they just are always attributing it to Baal or some false god or whoever it is that they have their flavor of the month, essentially, whatever god they have of the weak, and then they think that that god is the one that really has the power, that god has the real might, not attributing it to the Lord. So, that's essentially where these people are coming from. So, they're sincere. They believe in their gods. They believe in their false religion. They're going up. They have confidence that their false gods are going to deliver them, and so they're very confident. They're going up. Some people get confused, and they think, like, why are people doing this stuff? They really believe it. Like, they're really convinced in their mind that this false god's real and that they're having victory, and they're doing the right thing and whatever. They may be very sincere, but here's the problem. They're sincerely wrong, okay? But god will take people that are sincerely wrong and use them to judge other nations, other countries, other areas, and he'll use evil to destroy other evil, to basically take out other people. And, you know, we see this all the time. You'll see all kinds of places where I saw, like, a Muslim terrorist went and entered a Jewish synagogue and was, like, terrorizing them, and I'm thinking, like, well, that's horrible. You know, I don't want any evil to ever happen to anybody, but you know what god will do is he'll raise up evil, wicked people to judge other wicked, evil people. You know, that's just life. That's just how it works. And even if you think you can get away with essentially attacking the innocent, god will take some other wicked person to come and take advantage of you. You know, there's no honor among thieves. There's no honor among the cartels. You know, it's like one cartel gets away, you know, hurting a bunch of innocent people, but then another cartel, a more wicked cartel than them, that'll come and destroy them and take over all their territory. You know, there's no rest for the wicked. There's no peace for the wicked. The only real peace that you can have is knowing that you're in god's hands and that god's not going to let those evil, wicked people come and turn on you, essentially. Go if you would to back to our chapter Habakkuk here. Go back to Habakkuk. And, you know, you can get frustrated living in a time like this. You know, Habakkuk's very frustrated and very upset. But at the end of the day, you know, where's he going to go? What other option does he have? You know, why not trust in the Lord? Because if you think about it, you have to live somewhere. You have to do something. You have to put your trust somewhere. Okay, you're going to put your trust in yourself. Are you going to put your trust in another false god? Are you going to put your trust in money? Are you going to put your trust... I mean, because if you live in a dangerous time, at the end of the day, you've got to say, well, what am I going to trust in? Am I going to trust in my home security system, in my shotgun? Am I going to trust in my bodyguard? Am I going to trust... You know, what are you going to trust in? You're going to trust in your country, you know, America, right? Trust in your military. Are you going to trust in your allies? You know, for a lot of other countries, they're not America. They have to trust in their allies. That's got to sound even scarier. Can you imagine, you know, being allies with some of these people, some of these other nations, like your allies are Russia, and like, or your allies are Japan, or India, or like whatever. Is India anybody's ally? Does anybody care? I don't know. But why would you, you know, our allies, our only hope is Canada. It's like, oh man, that's got to be a pretty scary day, right? I mean, who are you really putting your trust in? Well, I put my trust in Biden. I know he's got my back. It's like, that's a scary person to put your trust in, right? You got to put your trust somewhere. Why not the Lord? Why not the Lord Jesus Christ? Why not the Bible? Why not say, you know what, I'm going to make my safety net God, and not my money, which is going to constantly be devalued through inflation and all kinds of other economic tricks by, you know, the so-called Jews or whatever. Or do I want to put all my trust in the word of God that hasn't changed, that's unchangeable? You know, am I going to put my trust in my car? Well, when that breaks down, I can't buy a new one because they basically stop making new cars. So we're all screwed there, right? We're going to have to ride bikes. We're going to become China. I feel like they're turning us into China. Mass everywhere. We're only going to have like bicycles or something. You know, the government's in control of everything, complete censorship. Hey, you know, what are you going to put your trust in? It's a scary world that we live in. But you know what? There's been scarier worlds in the past, and there's even scarier worlds in the future, okay? Who are you going to put your trust in? How about the Lord? Look at verse 12. Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, mine holy one? We shall not die. Now, isn't that a pretty good response? You kind of have a backing talk. Then you have the Lord tell him, like, what's going to happen? And then he's just like, hey, you know what? You're the Lord. You're from everlasting. You know, we're not going to die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment. I like that pronoun, them. He doesn't say us. He's saying those guys, right? And, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. Thou art of pure eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. Wherefore, lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth a man that is more righteous than he? And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things that have no rule over them? They take up all of them with the angle. They catch them in their net and gather them in their drag. Therefore, they rejoice and are glad. Therefore, they sacrifice under their net and burn incense under their drag, because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. Shall they therefore empty their net and not spare continually to slay the nations? So I guess there's no new thing under the sun. The wicked like their drag back then, and they like their drag today, huh? Bunch of drag queens. That's a different drag, though, OK? This drag is talking about a fishing instrument where they're basically taking nets, and they're dragging them through the sea as they go by, and it captures fish. It catches the fish as they kind of sail through the waters. But it's saying these wicked people, they're devouring people that are better than them, and they're just catching so many people. It's just like they're catching fish almost. They're just like dropping a net and just catching hundreds of fish and then going back and catching hundreds of fish. It's like this wicked just going out, just slaughtering men and slaughtering people and just killing people, and then it says they sacrifice under their net. They praise their net. They think that their net, there's something special about nets, something special about the drag that they have, right? And it says that their portion is fat and their meat plenteous. And he says, shall they therefore empty their net and not spare continually to slay the nations? He's saying, look, they go out and just slay and slay and slay and slay, and then nothing bad happens. He's like, aren't they just going to go and do it again? I mean, if you went out and you were a fisherman and you go to a particular part of the waters and you drag your boat and you just put your net out and you're just catching fish just like left and right. I mean, you just fill up your net and you kind of come to the shore. He's like saying, wouldn't you just empty the net and then just go back and say like round two? Let's just try that again. And he's really confused. He's just thinking like, what is going on? But this is answered in the Bible in lots of places, and we'll get the answers later in this book, but go over to Psalm 73 for a moment. Go to Psalm 73. This chapter just is hammering this question of just like, why? Why does God allow the wicked to be wicked? Why does he allow them to destroy people? Why does he allow evil to happen? Why is it that we see just so much injustice, so much iniquity, so much grievance, so much perverted judgment, and it could cause a righteous person to want to give up? Say like, I'm sick of this. I'm sick of serving God. I'm sick of reading the Bible. I'm sick of doing the right thing. All the wicked people just constantly get away with murder, literally. You know, what's the point? Look at what it says in verse one. Psalm 73, verse one. Truly God is good to Israel, even as such as thereof a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had well and I slipped, for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. He's saying, hey, I know God's good and everything, but I'm like done. I'm burnt out. I'm ready to just quit. I'm ready to just slip and fall and go and just go back to my wicked ways. You know, what's the point? Yeah, I got saved, big whoop. Let's go back and let's hang out with the wicked. Look at the prosperity of the wicked. They have everything they want. Verse four. For there are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm. He's saying it's not like these guys have anything bad happen to them. They're strong. Verse five. They are not in trouble as other men. Neither are they plagued like other men. He's saying not only do these guys have all this money, nothing bad happens to them. They don't even have any trouble. It's just like good and good and good. Verse six. Therefore, pride compassed them about as a chain. Violence covered them as a garment. They're so filled with pride because they feel like nothing will ever happen. No bad will ever happen to them. They can't, no evil. Verse seven. Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart can wish. Everything these people want, they get. I mean, everything that Mark Zuckerberg could ever want, he can have on a silver platter tomorrow. Right? Any car, any house, anything that Bill Gates wants, just served up, just however they want it. I saw one of these rich people parties or something in California, and they have this like, they have like a cocktail party or something, and they have this wall of like greenery, okay? And the servants, the people that are serving them, they basically stick their arm through the grass, like the grass wall or whatever, and they're just holding cups. So there's just all these hands, just like kind of sticking through this wall, and you can't even see the people. And so then the rich people just get to come up and just take a glass out of the little floating hand through the greenery wall. And I'm thinking like, who comes up with this stuff? If they're just so rich and they just have so much money, they just have to invent weird crap just at their little party. I mean, can you imagine someone's like, hey, I need some guys to hold champagne through like some bushes. You're like, what? Just come on. I mean, where are they getting these things? Isn't that weird? Isn't that bizarre? I mean, these people have everything they could ever wish, everything they could ever want for. I mean, their eyes stand with fatness. They have more than their heart could wish, meaning that they have more than you could even dream up, it seems like. Verse eight, they are corrupt and speak wickedly concerning oppression. They speak lawfully. They're shutting down businesses in California where people are not enforcing a mask mandate, yet they're at this little stupid party, the little cocktail party, not wearing a mask, right? Because they're corrupt. It's not like they believe in anything that they do. I mean, isn't there business owners all over America that could justly like condemn the government and just say like, they've been so wicked to us and they've hurt us and they've been hypocrites and it's like, what's going on? And these guys keep getting richer. I mean, do you really think that Jeff Bezos is hurting for money through all this pandemic and inflation? Dude, the guy's getting richer. Bill Gates is getting richer. Amazon and Google and Walmart, I mean, they're getting more money. Everyone is suffering virtually. In the whole world, everyone is getting poorer and getting destroyed through inflation. They're losing all kinds of stuff. People are losing their homes, their businesses. Things are just getting destroyed. Yet all these people, they're getting richer. More money, more luxury, more houses, more weird cocktail parties, more awards, more everything you could think of. Not only that, it says that they're speaking lawfully. They brag about it. They boast about it. I mean, there's no accountability, no fear whatsoever. I mean, they're just like saying that they have the most extensive voter fraud program ever created, you know? I mean, they could just say whatever they want. Verse nine, they set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walking through the earth. They blaspheme God. They talk evil of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, Barack Obama has said some of the worst things about the Bible. I mean, the guy is getting up and mocking the Sermon on the Mount. Mocking Leviticus. Mocking Deuteronomy. Mocking the Word of God. George Bush, you know, when asked if he believes the Bible is true, he said no. I mean, they just mock the Bible. They mock the Lord Jesus Christ. They just say whatever they want. They set their mouths against the heavens. It says in verse 10, therefore his people return either in waters of a full cup or rung out to them. And they say, how does God know? God know. And is there any knowledge in the Most High? Notice they're mocking the Bible. They're mocking the Word of God. Verse 12, behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. I mean, their stock just keeps going up. I mean, Pfizer stock just keeps going up. It doesn't matter how many people they kill. It doesn't matter how many people they hurt and damage and harm. Verse 13, verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency. So he's like saying, serving the Lord just seems like a worthless waste. He says, for all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning. He's like, well, I am getting punished and I'm having bad things happen to me. Nothing bad ever happens to these people. Verse 15, if I say I will speak thus, behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me. He's saying even just thinking about this just makes them angry, it hurts, it's frustrating. Doesn't that sound like a back it too? Just like, man, this is terrible. Then he says this, verse 17, until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I understood therein. So he's saying like, my whole life sucks and then I went to church. He's like, I thought, man, these guys are getting away with it. Everything's great for these guys. It's so wonderful, it's so good. Then I went to church. You know, and then I realized what's going to really happen to these people. How they're going to split hell wide open. And look, there's no punishment like hell. And they're definitely going to hell, my friend. These people that are blaspheming the Lord and hate God and are filled with just all kinds of evil and wickedness. I mean, do you really want to stand in the great white throne judgment? Which you don't, either way. And have Hillary Clinton's rap sheet Have Bill Gates' rap sheet Have these people, I mean, you know, there's no attorney that's getting you off on that, buddy. There's no like, I plead the fifth. He's going to laugh. Sorry. There is no exception. You know, there's no, what's it called, I'm trying to think of the legal term, whenever there's an expiration on a particular crime. Like, you can't be held against you, and it, like, passes its expiration. Oh, man. Yeah, statute of limitations or something. There's no statute of limitations on any of the sins you committed. It's not like, oh, well, that was 50 years ago. It's like, doesn't matter, buddy. You know, I mean, you're getting held accountable for everything. You know, I made this video, this short little video clip for Pure Words. It was called, like, What It Feels Like to Burn Forever. And all I did was just take, like, my ceremony on hell that I preached here and mashed it up with, like, pictures of lava and fire and whatever. Well, YouTube took it down, of course, like, this week. Makes me mad. Because they know what's coming. And they took it down, and they said this, We're worried about your safety. They said that I was, it was, like, a self-infliction concern that they had. They're so afraid that I'm going to hurt myself by preaching about how they're going to go to hell and experience burning for all of eternity. And I'm just thinking, like, how ironic. You know, it is that these people feel this way. I mean, look what he says in verse 18. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places. Thou casteth them down in destruction. How are they brought into desolation? As in a moment. They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one waketh. So, O Lord, when thou wakest, thou shalt despise their image. Verse 22. So foolish was I in ignorant. I was as a beast before thee. So he's saying, like, man, I was just an idiot, envying these people, thinking that I should have a life like these people or wanting to be these people or going to the weird party and drinking the champagne from the garden wall or whatever. Stupid. Go to Luke chapter 16. Go to Luke chapter 16. I'm almost finished this evening, but here's the thing. It's easy to get caught up in the present because we don't often think of life from an eternity perspective. What you have to realize is that our lives are not one moment in time. Our lives are not 70 years on earth. Our lives are going to be spent in eternity. Eternity. Our life is but a vapor, okay? And whatever little bit of vapor of suffering that you go through in this life, it's not worthy to be compared under the riches of heaven and eternity and while some people may seemingly enjoy now, their little bit of joy is going to fade very quickly while they're in eternity in hell. Here's an example of someone. How about Luke 16? Look at verse number 19. Chapter 16, verse number 19 is a little parable here. There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. You know what that means? This guy is like Jeff Bezos. I mean, this guy has everything he could ever want every day. There's not a day where he has something bad happen. There's not a day where he's missing a meal. There's not a day when something evil happened. I mean, just every day is just good, good, good. I mean, win the lottery and just, you know, showering down riches and he's just got all the champagne and the caviar and the luxury. I mean, he's getting a new car and he's getting all the tickets to the game downtown and just all the good. His stock just goes up and up and up and up. I mean, just good. Just everything's happening good for this guy. It's just always good every single day. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which laid at his gate full of sores. Here's the opposite. A guy whose every day sucks. Every day just no food, just at the street corner, just full of just pain and sorrow and woe. Says, in desire to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table, more where the dogs came and licked his sores. I don't even like dogs. The fact that they're licking him is just gross. They're coming and licking his sores. What kind of a weird, depressed person is he? I mean, and think about how gross dogs are. They want to lick sores, right? Says in verse 22, And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels in Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and in hell he lifted up his eyes. Now, here's the thing. Which of these guys do you want to be? Do you want to be in heaven, comforted, or do you want to be in hell for all of eternity? But you know what? You also have to accept the first part of their life. Well, I would love to just, you know, fare sumptuously every day. Would it really matter in the context of, well, you're going to go to hell after that, though? No one would press that button. You'd say, give me the sores. Bring on the dogs, you know? Let them lick, you know? Because I'm eventually going to go to heaven, right? I mean, we look at this world and we just think about now. Well, here's the thing. No one would want to live as a beggar getting sores and being licked by dogs and just hoping for crumbs. But at the end of the day, this guy's life is infinitely better than the others. Whereas the other guy is faring sumptuously. And so it's not a question. You don't have to sit here and be like, why, God? You're just thinking like, I'm so glad I'm not the rich guy. I'm so glad I don't have all this luxury and wealth. Because you know what? It's really hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. You know, we could look at our lives and say, man, why wasn't I born rich? Why wasn't I born with a silver spoon in my mouth? Why wasn't I born with the arm of Tom Brady? Or the physique of one of these basketball, LeBron James? Or why didn't I get so gifted that I could draw like Picasso? Or why don't I have the ingenious brain of the Tesla? What's the Tesla guy? Elon Musk, yeah, right? But why would you want that if you're going to go to hell? You know, you'd be better off being born crippled, born without hands and born without arms and born without legs and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ than to have the greatest physical gifts ever given. You know, we kind of look at our lives as, you know, oh, man, why don't I have a... Look, if you're saved, you've already, you can't complain. Your life's already better than Lazarus and it's way better than this rich guy. Rich guy, I mean, it's not even close. Go to Proverbs 16, last place I'll have you turn. But you know, lots of God's people are discontented with the Lord's long suffering and lingering judgment. You know what, he does it for lots of reasons. You know, Jonah was really mad about Nineveh, but you know what, it was so that people could get saved. You know, the disciples were really mad about the Samaritans. There was a point in time where they wanted to call down fire from heaven and just destroy all the Samaritans. You know what, the Samaritans were way more receptive to the gospel than the Jews ever were. A lot of people got saved. And even if it's not for people to get saved, sometimes it's just to reserve the wicked for the day of judgment. You know, in the book of Revelation, there's a point in time where God's people are in heaven and they're crying like, how long, oh Lord, will thou not judge? And he's like, you gotta wait until other people are killed like you guys were. So God's just waiting to let more people die, beheaded, killed for the cause of Christ, evil things happen. You know, God allows the evil to happen in this life to give him honor and glory. To say, look at the people that would serve me even through evil and go through the hard things. But at the end of the day, you know, why would I want riches when it leads me to hell? Why would I want money and this wealth and really, the people that have all that wealth and all that money, they're pretty much all the people that are going to hell. Look what it says in Proverbs 16, look at verse 19. Better it is to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud. You know, it's better to just be poor and right with God than to have all the money you could ever want. And it's real easy to get discontented. It's real easy to want more. It's real easy to look at the prosperity of the wicked and to say like, what's going on? It's real easy to look at all the evil that's happening and it seems like there's no judgment. It seems like there's no punishment. But let me tell you something, punishment will come. Judgment will come. God will judge them. Not only in this life, in the next. You know, it's silly for us to sit here and worry about everybody else, worry about all the evil that's going on. Let's worry about ourselves. You know, we're going to have to stand before Jesus Christ at the judgment seat of Christ and we're going to have to give an account. And even if you feel like, you know what, nobody else is serving God, how many other times in the Bible do we find literally there's just like one guy that wants to serve God? Or there's very few. There's not many serving the Lord. There's not many right with God. Why would I think that's going to be magically different now? You know, even some of them get so mad they feel like I'm the only guy left. And he's like, no, there's still 7,000. And look, it's not like you and I are the only people that want to serve God in this world. There's at least 7,000. You know, there's probably 7 million. You know, people serving God in some capacity. But at the end of the day, even if it is 7 of us, even if there's just 7 people in the whole world that want to serve God. Hey, there's only 8 that got on Noah's ark. Remember that story? You think that was nice? I mean, you really think it was a good world to live in when Noah is sitting here and it's like, hey, God's going to destroy the whole world. Who wants to get on the boat? No one. I mean, look, there's so many more people in this room than there were on the ark. And that was probably super cool. I mean, like in Kentucky, they built like a replica of that thing. People love to go see that thing, right? But can you imagine? Back then, no one wanted to get on it. Nobody wanted to show up. Their little house church of 8 people are the only people that want to serve God. And even one of them is a bad person. Ham's like, you know, wicked as hell or whatever. He's the Judas on the boat. You have a church of 8 and 1 of your, you know, 12% of your church is wicked. You know, isn't that crazy? Why would you think that it's going to be so much different now? It's like, oh, there's 8 million people in Houston. Okay, well, you know, it may not be that many people really want to serve God. You know, and I would love to see a huge revival, but even if it doesn't happen, we should just keep serving God. Just keep being steadfast, just not getting here and questioning the Lord's motives, saying like, what are you doing up there? We already know what he's doing. Don't get envious of the wicked. Just trust in the Lord and realize that from an eternity's perspective, it's all going to make sense to you. But think of it the way that God explained it to him. He said, hey, even if I explained it to you, you wouldn't get it. You're not going to believe it. You're not going to understand what's going to really happen. Just trust me. Just quit getting envious at the wicked and just trust in the Lord. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for giving us so many different passages that are relevant to our current times and our current day of life. And I pray that we would be motivated to keep serving you no matter what happens in our life or our circumstances that surround us. We realize that you're still in control. We realize that there's no one to trust in other than you. There's no wisdom in this world outside of the King James Bible. There's no thing to be desired other than your salvation and being pleasing in your sight. And if this whole world rejects you, we realize that you've already told us that the whole world lies in darkness. And I pray that we just wouldn't marvel at how evil and wicked the world is. We wouldn't marvel at your grace and long-suffering nature towards the wicked. We'd realize their day is coming. And not only is their day coming, but our day to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ is coming. And I pray that we would have the right mentality of eternity's perspective that would be pleasing in your sight, that we would keep serving you no matter what happens. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's go to Psalm 351, 351 in your Bible. Tell it to Jesus. Now, at least, Lisa Beckett got this one thing right, okay? When he was frustrated, he was telling it to Jesus. So, whenever you get frustrated, whenever you're a little depressed, you have things that are going bad, you know what? Just tell it to the Lord, right? Tell it to Jesus, right? 351, tell it to Jesus there in the first. Are you weary? Are you heavy-hearted? Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus. Are you grieving over joys departed? Tell it to Jesus alone. Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus. He is a friend that's well-known. You've no other such a friend or brother. Tell it to Jesus alone. Do the tears flow down your cheeks unbidden? Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus. Have you sins that to men's eyes are hidden? Tell it to Jesus alone. Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus. He is a friend that's well-known. You've no other such a friend or brother. Tell it to Jesus alone. Do you fear the gathering clouds of sorrow? Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus. Are you anxious? What shall be tomorrow? Tell it to Jesus alone. Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus. He is a friend that's well-known. You've no other such a friend or brother. Tell it to Jesus alone. There on the last. Are you troubled at the thought of dying? Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus. For Christ's coming kingdom are you sighing? Tell it to Jesus alone. Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus. He is a friend that's well-known. You've no other such a friend or brother. Tell it to Jesus alone. God bless you. You are dismissed. You are dismissed.