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For my sin did us all, and Calvary covers it all. Calvary covers it all. I passed in sin and sin. My guilt and despair Jesus took on in there, and Calvary covers it all. The stripes that he bore, and the thorns that he wore, joys, mercy, and love evermore. And my heart fell in shame as I called on his name, and Calvary covers it all. Calvary covers it all. I passed in sin and sin. My guilt and despair Jesus took on in there, and Calvary covers it all. How matchless the grace when the world of grace covers Jesus, my Bruce, and my Lord. My redemption complete, my impalement is here, and Calvary covers it all. Calvary covers it all. I passed in sin and sin. My guilt and despair Jesus took on in there, and Calvary covers it all. How blessed the Father that my soul might impart, shall be his in the glory on high. When gladness and sorrow come upon of the throne, and Calvary covers it all. Calvary covers it all. I passed in sin and sin. My guilt and despair Jesus took on in there, and Calvary covers it all. One day when heaven was filled with his praises, one day when sin was as black as the green, Jesus came forth to be born a virgin. Well done, Calvary, example is here. Living he loved me, dying he saved me. Buried he carried my sins far away. Rising he justified, breathing forever. One day he's coming, O glorious day. One day they led him up Calvary's mountain. One day they knelt him to die on the tree. Suffering he blazed his eyes and pretended. Buried our sins by redeemer is he. Living he loved me, dying he saved me. Buried he carried my sins far away. Rising he justified, breathing forever. One day he's coming, O glorious day. One day they left him alone in the garden. One day he rested from suffering free. Angels came down for his scientific measure. Above the hopeless, my Savior is here. Living he loved me, dying he saved me. Buried he carried my sins far away. Rising he justified, breathing forever. One day he's coming, O glorious day. One day the grave could conceal him no longer. One day the stone rolled away from the throne. Then he arose over deathly and conquered. Now he's ascended, my Lord evermore. Living he loved me, dying he saved me. Buried he carried my sins far away. Rising he justified, breathing forever. One day he's coming, O glorious day. One day the trumpet will sound for his coming. One day the skies with his glory will shine. Wonderful day, my beloved was ringing. Glorious Savior, his Jesus is mine. Living he loved me, dying he saved me. Buried he carried my sins far away. Rising he justified, breathing forever. One day he's coming, O glorious day. From the fount of every blessing to my heart to sing thy praise. Streams of mercy never ceasing, all for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some Hallelujah sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount I face upon it, mount up thy redeeming love. Here I raise my Ebenezer, deliver by thy help I'm come. And I hope by thy good pleasure, safely to the bright and bold. Jesus sought me with a stranger, wandering from the fold of God. He to rescue me from danger interposed his precious blood. O to grace how great a debtor, lately I've come straight to thee. Let thy grace, Lord, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee. Come to wander, Lord, I feel it. Come to lead the God I love. Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it. Seal it for thy works above. I've found a friend who is tall to me. His love is ever true. I love to tell him how he painted me, and what his grace made me for you. Save us, my divine, save you, my divine. Let now the sea and the trees run deep for us. Save, save, save. He saved me from every sin and harm. Save us, my soul, his name. My bleeding soul, my mighty arm. My good and good will guide me all the way. Save us, my divine, save you, my divine. Let now the sea and the trees run deep for us. Save, save, save. We're poor and needy and all alone. If love is sad to me, come on to me. Let not me do harm. To him take me eternally. Save us, my divine, save you, my divine. Let now the sea and my joys run deep for us. Save, save, save. Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. God be all else to thee, safe at thou art. Thou my best thought, my day or my night. Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light. Be thou my wisdom and thou my true word. I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord. Thou my great Father, thereby thy true Son. Thou with me proudly and I with thee one. Gracious I heed not for man's ending praise. Thou mine inheritance now and always. Thou and thou only first in my heart. My King of Heaven, my treasure thou art. My King of Heaven, my victory won. May I reach as well joys our brightest Son. Thou art of my own heart, whatever befall. Still be my vision, O ruler of all. Now firm the foundation, these saints of the Lord. It is laid for your pain in his excellent work. What for can he save? And to you he has saved. To you our vengeance, to Jesus has bled. In every condition, in sickness and wound. In poverty's hand, o'er abounding in ground. At home and abroad, on the land of the sea. At your face may he mend, shall your strength ever be. When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie. My praise, oh, so vicious shall be. Lights shall fly, the flames shall not hurt me. I only desire thy cross to consume. And my goal to be mine even now to all things. All my people shall prove, my sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love. And when blinded there, shall their temples adore. My plans they shall steal, and my cause appear. Fear not, fear not, I am with thee, O being of his fame. For I am thy God, and will still give thee aim. My strength then be healthy, and cause me to sin. Unveiled by my righteous command. The soul that on Jesus hath paid for repose. I will, but I will not be stirred to this post. That stroke of hell should it never to shame. I'll never, no never, no never forsake. There's a peace in my heart that the world never gave. A peace it cannot take away. Though the trials of life may surround like a cloud. By the peace that has come there to stay. Constantly abiding, Jesus is mine. Constantly abiding, rapture divine. He never leaves me lonely, whispers oh so kind. I will never leave, Jesus is mine. All the world seems to sing of a Savior and King. When peace sweetly came to my heart. Troubles all fled away, and my night turned to day. Blessed Jesus, how glorious thou art. Constantly abiding, Jesus is mine. Constantly abiding, rapture divine. He never leaves me lonely, whispers oh so kind. I will never leave, Jesus is mine. This treasure I have in a temple of clay. While here on this footstool I roam. What is coming to take me so glorious day. Over there to my heavenly home. Constantly abiding, Jesus is mine. Constantly abiding, rapture divine. He never leaves me lonely, whispers oh so kind. I will never leave, Jesus is mine. Love divine, all loves excelling. Joy of heaven's birth. Fixing us, a full crowning. All my faithful mercies crown. Jesus, Lord of oppression. You're the fountain of the heart. Visit us with thy salvation. Enter every trembling heart. Breathe, oh, breathe thy loving spirit into every troubled rest. Let us all in, we in heaven, let us find thy coming. Lift it up this morning. Our bed to sinning. Alpha and Omega beam. In the faintest, it's beginning. Send our hearts at liberty. Come almighty to deliver. Let us all thy life receive. Suddenly return and never, never more. Light with most pain. Leave we would be, oh, gracious. Serving as thy hosts, the light. Great and great, keep with us, we sing. Oh, be in thy perfect love. Finished in thy new creation pure. And spotless, let us be. Let us see thy great salvation. Perfectly restoring thee. Change from glory into glory. Till in heaven we take our place. Till we bless our grounds before thee. Most in wonder, love, and praise. Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day. A day I will never forget. After I wandered in darkness away. Jesus, my Savior, I bend. Oh, what tender, compassionate friend. He met the need of my heart. Shadows dispelling with joy and telling. He made all the darkness depart. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. When at the cross the Savior made me whole. I sent the cross away. And my eye was turned to day. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Born of the Spirit with life from above. Into God's faith will he be God. Justified, just like the holy, boundary's flood. Oh, his faith is mine. In his righteousness the baby was made. And as the sinner I came. So many on the road faced him in poverty. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. When at the cross the Savior made me whole. I sent the cross away. And my eye was turned to day. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. I'm the last now. Now I'm a hope that will surely new. After the passing of time. I am the future and then for sure. There is no chance to survive. And if he doesn't mind what he will bring. There will cross only me. When things are going fast. He will come from his precious hand I receive. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. When at the cross the Savior made me whole. I sent the cross away. And my eye was turned to day. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Simply too I cross I cling. While I draw this fleeting breath. When my eyes shall close in death. When I rise to worlds unknown. And behold the online throne of the ages. Let for me. Let me hide myself in thee. In the harvest field now ripen. There's a word for all to do. Hark the voice of God is calling. To the harvest calling new. Little is touch when God is in it. Favour not for wealth or fame. There's a crown and you can win it. If you'll come in Jesus' name. Does the place you're called to labour. Seem so small and little known. It is great if God is in it. And if not for heaven's own. Little is touch when God is in it. Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to the Steadfast Baptist Church. It's great to see everybody here this afternoon. If we can go ahead and find our seats, we will get started. And once we've found our seats, let's grab a hymnal and go to song number 114. Song number 114, The Great Physician. Song number 114, let's all sing it out together on the first. The Great Physician now is here. Let's sympathize in Jesus. He speaks the truth before to cheer. Oh, hear the voice of Jesus. Sweetest God in Sarah's song. Sweetest King on earth song. Sweetest Carol ever sung. Jesus, blessed Jesus. Your many sins are all forgiven. Oh, hear the voice of Jesus. Oh, lock your way in peace to heaven. Wear a crown with Jesus. Sweetest love in Sarah's song. Sweetest name on moral tongue. Sweetest Carol ever sung. Jesus, blessed Jesus. All glory to the dying well. I now believe in Jesus. I love the blessed Savior's name. I love the name of Jesus. Sweetest God in Sarah's song. Sweetest name on moral tongue. Sweetest Carol ever sung. Jesus, blessed Jesus. And when to that bright world above We rise to be with Jesus. We'll sing around the throne above This name, the name of Jesus. Sweetest God in Sarah's song. Sweetest name on moral tongue. Sweetest Carol ever sung. Jesus, blessed Jesus. Lord, we love you and just once again we want to thank you for this church. We want to thank you for everything you're doing here. We're just so honored to be a part of it. And we just ask now that you bless this church, fill it with your spirit, and help us to sing out unto you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, for our next song, let's go to song number 448. Song number 448. Brethren, we have met to worship. Song number 448. Let's all sing it out together. Brethren, we have met to worship. And the Lord, the Lord our God. Will you pray with all your power While we try to preach the word. All is made, God bless the spirit Of the Holy One comes now. Brethren, pray in holy manna. Will these showers fall around. Brethren, see your sinners round you. Some rain on the brink of woe. Let this coming hell is moving. Can you bear to let them go. See our fathers and our mothers and our children singing down. Brethren, pray in holy manna. Will these showers fall around. Sisters, will you join and help us close this system. Hey, give in. Will you help the trembling mourners who are struggling hard with sin. Tell them all about the Savior. Tell them that he will be found. Sisters, pray in holy manna. Will these showers fall around. Let us love our God so freely. Let us love each other too. Let us love and pray for sinners till our God makes all things new. Then he'll call us home to heaven. At his table we'll sit down. Christ will cure himself and serve us with sweet manna all around. Thanks for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you did not already get a bullets in you would like one. Just lift up your hand real quick. One of our ushers can come by and get you guys a bullets in. On the front we have our Bible memory passage. Matthew 28 verse 17. And then on the inside we have our service times. Several soul winning times there. Down below is our church stats. Please keep the great work on our soul winning up. And on the right we have a list of expecting ladies. Upcoming events. We have our kids choir practice. They've been working on that Sundays at two. And we're looking forward to them performing on our Easter services. So that's going to be a lot of fun. We have a spring recital this Saturday at 4 p.m. So make sure if you signed up for one of those try out times you're showing up for that. We have the Foley wedding coming up the following Friday which is going to be March 28th at 6 p.m. And they have invited the church so if you'd like to attend we would love for you to attend but please they have a RSVP if you'd please just fill that out so that way they can prepare. And we can have a good idea of who's planning on coming. Also there's a man's filled soul winning marathon April 19th. We have some Easter invites that we've already made some flyers and so we'll get those set out so you can start handing those out. And then of course our Easter service is April 20th. So it's a little bit later in the year this year. It's going to be April 20th. Down below some church reminders. On the back is our prayer list. Go ahead and just walk through our prayer list. We're continuing to pray for the Naims and their grandmother's vision, health and salvation. We've been praying for the Carlson's mother and also father's health. We've been praying for the Millers. One of their friends is having cancer treatment so we're continuing to pray for them. Also we're praying for the Scotts. We're praying for brother Horace and Miss Grace and they have several a couple different health issues there. Continue to pray for them. We're also praying for brother Tony's health. We've been praying for well this has actually turned into a praise request but we've been praying for the Foley's for their fiancee Visa to get here and praise God that's happened so that's exciting. We've been praying for the Goodwin's friend Miss Sarah for continued recovery from surgery. We're also praying for brother Nick's mother for her salvation and then he also had a prayer for a co-worker for their salvation. We're also praying for brother Stewart's son who had passed away and if you could pray for his dad pray that he would get saved and then we're also praying for Miss Larkey for her arm unfortunately had been broken so several prayer requests there. Please make sure you're praying throughout the week but we're going to go ahead and just say a quick word of prayer as a church family. Thank you Heavenly Father so much for our church. Thank you for all the ladies who are expecting. I pray that you would please just help them with their pregnancies. I pray that you would help those that are desiring to conceive and I pray that you would bless them. I pray that you would help those who have recently given birth that you would be with their children. I pray that you would also just help our church family that's struggling with chronic illnesses or health issues I pray if possible that you would just give them health. Please give them grace. Please also give them peace during this time of difficulty for our friends and family. I pray that you would also bless them with health and also give them an opportunity to hear the gospel that you would soften their hearts and give us the boldness to be able to confront them and help them to understand the gospel. I pray that you would also just bless our church family that's needing requests with their job or with favor I pray that you would just please bless them. And I pray that you would continue to bless the work that we're doing in the Philippines with our evangelist and his family. I pray that you keep them safe. That you would keep them encouraged and give them a lot of zeal. And I pray that you would continue to use our church for your honor and for your glory. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. So we're going to be singing Psalm 58 It's a special Psalm. We just learned it this week. It's a little bit lower of a tune but it's kind of a somber song and so of course not only do we sing the positive things we sing some of the negative things in the Bible and Psalm 58 has got some sombering verses in there. So Psalm 58 and our special binders. Alright that was Psalm 58. Let's all sing it out together. Let's sing it out together. Let's sing it out together. Let's sing it out together. Let's sing it out together. Let's sing it out together. Let's sing it out. Let's sing it out together. Let's sing it out together. Let's sing it out together. Let's sing it out together. Singing everybody. That's the book of Matthew chapter 14. That's the book of Matthew chapter number 14. Singing everybody. Matthew 14 the Bible reads At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus and said unto his servants this is John the Baptist he has risen from the dead and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. For Herod had laid hold on John and bound him and put him in prison for Herodias sake his brother Philip's wife. For John said unto him it is not lawful for thee to have her and when he would have put him to death he feared the multitude because they counted him as a prophet. But when Herod's birthday was kept the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask and she being before instructed of her mother said give me here John Baptist's head and a charger and the king was sorry nevertheless for the oaths sake and them which sat with him at me he commanded it to be given her and he sent and beheaded John in the prison and his head was brought in a charger and given to the damsel and she brought it to her mother and his disciples came and took up the body and buried it and went and told Jesus when Jesus heard of it he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart and when the people had heard thereof they followed him on foot out of the cities and Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion toward them and he healed their sick and then when it was evening his disciples came to him saying this is a desert place and the time is now past send the multitude away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves vittles. But Jesus said unto them they need not depart give ye them to eat and they said unto him we have here but five loaves and two fishes he said bring them hither to me and he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and took the five loaves and the two fishes and looking up to heaven he blessed and break and gave the loaves to his disciples and the disciples to the multitude and they did all eat and were filled and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full and they that had eaten were about five thousand men beside women and children and straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him unto the other side while he sent the multitudes away and when he had sent the multitudes away he went up into a mountain apart to pray and when the evening was come he was there alone but the ship was now in the midst of the sea tossed with waves for the wind was contrary and in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them walking on the sea and when the disciples saw him walking the sea they were troubled saying it is the spirit and they cried out for fear but straightway Jesus spake unto them saying be of good cheer it is I be not afraid and Peter answered him and said Lord if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water and he said come and when Peter was come down out of the ship he walked on the water to go to Jesus but when he saw the wind boisterous he was afraid and beginning to sink he cried saying Lord save me and immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt and when they were come into the ship the wind ceased and they that were in the ship came and worshipped him saying of a truth thou art the son of God and when they were gone over they came into the land of Gennesaret and when the men of that place had knowledge of him they sent out into all the country round about and brought unto him all that were deceased and besought that they might only touch the hem of his garment and as many as touch were made perfectly whole. Let us pray. Heavenly Father Lord thank you for this chapter of the Bible thank you for this church thank you for our pastor I just pray that you bless Pastor Shelley fill him with your Holy Spirit help him to preach your word unto us and help us to receive your word with an open heart. Praise in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. We've been going through the book of Matthew in chapter 14 it says in verse 1 at that time Herod the teatrarch heard of the fame of Jesus. A teatrarch is someone that's a lesser ruler a subordinate ruler and specifically over four provinces so Herod is a ruler of a fourth of the region of the Roman Empire specifically and that's a vast area this would be a great position of power and authority at this time and he heard of the fame of Jesus because of course you can't really hide the Spirit of God under a bushel because when someone is doing great works of the Lord Jesus Christ people are going to hear about it and there's going to be fame associated with that and so I believe anytime you see the work of God being performed in the Bible people find out about it and even rulers find out about the work of God that's happening it says in verse 2 and he said unto his servants this is John the Baptist he has risen from the dead and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him now what's interesting is it's going to kind of go and do a little bit of a going back in time here in the next few moments to kind of explain what it's bringing up but when Herod hears about Jesus he thinks it's John the Baptist and what's kind of interesting is he thinks that John the Baptist came back from the dead now this is just crazy to think about because the Sadducees according to the Bible don't even believe in a resurrection and yet Herod believes in a resurrection and he's not even a Jew he's not even of the Jews religion yet he also recognizes the idea or the concept of a resurrection specifically he also recognizes the working of God in the sense that he's kind of afraid of what he's done unto John the Baptist because he knows he was a man of God another thing that's interesting about this is he says and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him the Bible makes it clear that John the Baptist did no miracle and yet Jesus performed a lot of miracles and Herod thinks that John the Baptist is doing a lot of miracles even though he did no miracles and I think that just goes to show that when you preach the word of God and when you're doing the works of God the unsaved and those in positions of authority actually think that all things are possible they actually are afraid of what you could possibly do because it's funny how John the Baptist didn't even do any miracles but he's kind of afraid thinking but he's capable of doing all manner of miracles he could raise himself from the dead he could go out and do all these kind of miracles because he's kind of attributing Jesus miracles to John the Baptist specifically and of course Jesus is doing things like healing everybody he's raising people from the dead he's doing all kinds of things that are miracles by the Bible's definition and so it's attributed unto John the Baptist now it's going to give us a little bit of information about why John was dead it says in verse 3 for John had laid hold on John I'm sorry for Herod had laid hold on John and bound him and put him in prison for Herodias sake his brother Philip's wife for John had said unto him it is not lawful for thee to have her this is what's interesting keep your finger here and go to Leviticus chapter 18 go to Leviticus chapter 18 in the Old Testament what's interesting is that John the Baptist is telling Herod that he's doing something that's wrong he's preaching against Herod lots of things we could learn from this number one is that no one is exempt from being preached against period God is not a respecter of persons and preachers should not have respect of persons either a lot of preachers a lot of preachers today want to come and parade the mayor and parade governors and parade congressmen and parade all manner of people in positions of authority in front of their church and not rebuke them for their sin and not call them out for their sin because you know what they're a respecter of persons but John the Baptist was not a respecter of persons and he called Herod out for his sin another thing is Herod is not a Jew again Herod is not under Jewish law Herod has not been circumcised Herod is not trying to be a part of the Jews religion and yet John the Baptist is using the Old Testament to rebuke Herod now what verse look at verse 16 thou shall not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife it is thy brother's nakedness now if you understand the context of the entire Old Testament you would realize that if your brother died you could marry his wife but what you can't do is you can't be with your brother's wife while he's alive what would this look like most likely his brother had divorced his wife or perhaps maybe they didn't even divorce she just kind of ran off or she's just with Herod even though they haven't even officially divorced they're just kind of separated or having this adulterous affair whether it's divorced or not in God's eyes it's adultery period and the Bible says it's wrong to be with your brother's wife and so he is rebuking Herod for having his brother's wife you know some people think like oh the Old Testament law applies to the Jews no it applies to everyone God's law applies to everyone period we are all his creation we're all his creatures and we're all his servants and we're all expected to follow all of God's commandments the Bible says that the law of God is written on our hearts and the Bible tells us in the book of Romans that even though the Gentiles didn't have the law it wasn't given to them physically they had the law of God written on their hearts and so the Gentiles were expected to keep the Ten Commandments just like the Jews were expected to keep God's Ten Commandments because everyone is expected to keep God's commandments now of course the Bible says for it says in the New Testament that at the times of this ignorance God winked at so for some reason in the Old Testament God was a little bit more long suffering or merciful to the heathen nations but at the time of the gospel going forth God is basically saying there's no longer this grace period it's time for you to get in line with Christianity he's gonna really hold nations that have false religion and false gods accountable for their actions much harsher in the New Testament and he wants people to convert to Christianity and not just have a singular nation for Christianity but rather have a spiritual nation of all believers in the New Testament but no matter what era we're in whether we're in Old Testament or New Testament we were all expected to keep God's commandments period and this is a great proof text of this because some people say oh well you know the law only applies to Jews or the law only applies to this group of people and it's like no no the law applied to everyone all the time and of course we understand in the New Testament some parts of the Old Testament have been changed the Bible says for the priesthood being changed there's made of necessity a change also of the law this is in the book of Hebrews and it makes it clear the meats drinks divers washings and cardinal ordinances were only imposed on them until the time of reformation but Christ being come now we don't have that certain cardinal ordinances imposed on us we can have bacon amen and let me tell you something Christians are okay with the bacon doctrine you know when I meet these Christians that are trying to be Torah observing I'm like man you're just hurting yourself okay bacon is a good doctrine and I love the New Testament it's called the better testament and of course no creature of God is to be refused we're supposed to receive it with thanksgiving okay so I love the New Testament but this is a great proof text to help people understand you know everybody was under God's law period and John the Baptist preached against anyone he was an equal opportunist and preaching the word of God but of course this is going to threaten somebody think about this if John the Baptist is saying to Herod it's not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife who is kind of the most threatened person in this scenario it's Herodias because if John the Baptist does I'm sorry if Herod does what John the Baptist is saying he would then put her away from him and she would lose her position of authority and power because Herod is the top guy Herod's the one in charge and she's kind of you know there with him as second in command in a sense just saying that he's the wife she's the wife of the person that's the most powerful person so she kind of has obviously some power some influence as being his wife or being with him so by John the Baptist preaching against him it is by in fact you know threatening Herodias' position Herodias is being threatened by this now it says in verse number five and when he would have put him to death he feared the multitude because they counted him as a prophet now Herod wanted to put John the Baptist to death but was afraid of doing it because he didn't want to become unpopular and no one wants to become unpopular as a politician because your constituency could potentially overthrow you maybe they might even just kill you especially in the Roman Empire a lot of leaders were killed they were taken out of positions of authority and power because their constituency hated them when a constituency would hate the leader often what they would do is they would not pay taxes and when they're not paying taxes well then Herod isn't able to funnel money to Caesar and when Caesar is not getting his paycheck well heads start rolling and so that's why it's kind of a dangerous thing you don't want to make the constituency or your underlings or your servants mad at you you want to keep them happy but by killing one of their leaders or killing one of their religious leaders it could cause an uproar it could cause all kinds of conflicts so he's kind of just afraid of the people and you know the sad thing is in America our leaders have lost the fear of the people in many ways and it's because the people don't really have any commonality the people don't have common views the people don't have common heroes and as a result it makes for a weak influence of our population you know when the population is like minded has the same beliefs the same religion and is kind of united as a front it actually holds the leadership very accountable you know this church even this church is very united I mean we have the King James Bible we're united on salvation by faith we're united on soul winning we're united on a lot of doctrines we're united on standards we're united on purpose and so if I were to start doing something contrary to what the vast majority believes boy that would really upset the dynamic that would cause a lot of uproar potentially and could cause the constituency or the church membership to revolt or get mad or ask questions whereas think about a lot of churches today there's not continuity on what Bible they use what salvation plan what standards and so they can allow leadership just get away with whatever they want and so honestly having accountability is a lot of times in proximity to the servants all being in unison having the same doctrine having the same beliefs this is why it's important for evil forces to divide and conquer they want countries to be weak how do they do that well they have to bring in multiple religions they have to bring in multiple you know ideologies and demographics and just all kinds of different things because without a united front well now the leadership can kind of do whatever they want and so you know a nation divided or a house divided cannot stand and really when you don't have unity it causes a lot of issues a lot of problems but at this time obviously there's unity a lot of people are on John the Baptist's side and so that threatens Herod from doing what he wants to do he wants to kill him just because he's tired of this guy preaching against him isn't it funny that somebody just gets up and just reads the Bible and then what's the reaction I want to kill you I mean he didn't do anything to him John the Baptist can't do anything to him he just simply said what you're doing is wrong and Herod wants to kill him and unfortunately that is the reaction of people today you just tell them that they're doing something wrong or sinning and they want to kill you they want to hurt you because they just feel guilty about their sin and they don't want anybody telling anybody else that they're bad so let's just put them to death it's kind of funny it's like I'm sorry I want to go on a rant for a second but I went on this online spaces and I was talking to all these people and they were like super pro-Hitler and it's weird it's out there okay there are people out there that in fact one of the people in this group said that Hitler is the greatest Christian to ever live okay and they say like tell me one thing that Hitler did wrong I'm just thinking like I got a lot but I just said well how about Eva Braun this lady he wasn't married to that he had a relationship with isn't that like and they're just like well but that's your opinion on morality or no that's God's opinion on morality okay and look that's the least of Hitler's problems but what's just so funny is as soon as you say something like this it's like oh well we got to get rid of this guy because he's criticizing our hero he's criticizing our leader or something like that and so they just want to attack you and hurt you and call you all kinds of names and it's just like hey all I did was point out a fact hey it's not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife and you know now they want to kill you right now it says in verse 6 but when Herod's birthday was kept the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask this is also a really bad idea don't just give carte blanche promises like this don't just say like hey whatever you want it's yours this is a very bad principle keep your finger go to Ecclesiastes chapter 5 go to Ecclesiastes chapter 5 the Bible tells us that whenever we make some kind of a promise or oath we have to keep it and so we should be very careful that when we utter anything that we know exactly what we're saying and what we're getting ourselves into this is what the world likes to do to you today is they love to give you the terms and conditions and just snow you with all this information so you just say yes and you don't even know what you signed I mean who in here actually reads the terms and conditions of everything they've ever signed ok we don't have any liars alright good but I'm just saying like we don't have time for this do we plus you know at the end of the day a lot of times these contracts don't even matter anyways because most people don't even honor their word so we just kind of feel obligated to sign these things one of the worst is if you buy a house and you get a loan you will sign paperwork for about an hour straight I mean and you don't even know what you're signing it's all kinds of crazy documents, documents like you're not a terrorist and you're not funneling money for the cartels and you're not doing all kinds of crazy things and you just kind of feel like you're signing your life away but in general obviously we all kind of just go with that but in general we should be careful what we sign and what we say and what we do because we're going to be snared with the contracts that we enter into the Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verse 2 be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God for God is in heaven and thou upon earth therefore let thy words be few for a dream cometh through the multitude of business and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words when thou vowest to vow unto God defer not to pay it for he hath no pleasure in fools pay that which thou hast vowed better is it that thou shouldest not vow then that thou shouldest vow and not pay suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin neither say thou before the angel that it was in error wherefore should God be angry at thy voice and destroy the work of thy hands so God is just basically saying when you say you're going to do something you should keep your word it used to be that in times past if someone promised something and there was like a handshake it was kind of looked at as like it was a good contract it was something that people would actually honor and do but today people are constantly breaking their word breaking their vows going back on what they said and the Bible is saying God is just not going to bless you as a person when you're constantly going back on your oaths constantly going back on your vows constantly breaking promises you know when we make a vow when we make a promise we need to keep that and what's the most important vow it's marriage the Bible says says that hey when you make a vow especially before God you better keep it and boy when you stand there and say till death do us part somebody better die I'm not giving you an incentive okay I'm not giving you some kind of a recommendation but I'm telling you you know what it should be that way and it's serious it's serious and we live in a very wicked world we live in a world where people commit grievous sin where people are really bad or people make a lot of big mistakes but you know marriage is a beautiful thing because marriage pictures you saying I will not end this no matter what and isn't it nice I mean isn't that the contract that Jesus made with us when we put our faith in him isn't it when you put your faith in Jesus Christ he gave you eternal life and he says I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee doesn't he say that he's sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise and that we're not supposed to grieve the Holy Spirit but guess what you're sealed under the day of redemption and of course in marriage we shouldn't be trying to grieve one another we shouldn't be trying to hurt one another but you know what inevitably there will be pain there will be suffering there will be detriment in marriage and what you're supposed to say is you know what I chose to love you no matter how bad you are and of course we would want to be good spouses we want our spouse to be good but you know what isn't that a beautiful picture of love when you say I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee and isn't that the beautiful picture of the gospel how Jesus Christ says that unto us and isn't in a symbol the church the bride of Christ in a symbol and isn't it nice that the picture of the husband Christ is saying I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee that is what a husband is supposed to do unto his bride is to say hey I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee I'm going to cherish you I'm going to love you and till death do us part that's the only thing that's going to separate us would be death and would to God we would have a lot of marriages in our church where it's till death do us part and I've seen unfortunately divorce is an ugly thing I hate it God hates it the Bible says that God hateth putting away and you know when Jesus was even asked about this question he said what God has joined together let not man put asunder you know divorce even in times past used to just be illegal plenty of Christian countries wouldn't even allow divorce period there's no divorce allowed and it's crazy how the entire world could agree on that and today fundamental Baptist can't even agree on that I mean you have Roman Catholics saying we won't divorce because of the Bible the Roman Catholics that call their priest father the Roman Catholics that think that they're literally eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus Christ Roman Catholics that read the verses that say hey don't sound a trumpet before your alms and then they sounded trumpet before their alms Roman Catholics that literally put ash on their forehead when the Bible says hey when you're fasting wash your face I mean the same Roman Catholics are the ones that said hey divorce is off the table and then you have fundamental Baptist today that will actually give excuses for divorce isn't that sad isn't it sad that the unsaved Catholics of hundreds and hundreds of years could get this right and fundamental Baptist and many Christians can't get it right why because they go with the world they go with what the world has to say you know we should be better than that go back if you would hey keep that vow if you make a vow for marriage keep it period you say like hey pastor Shelly what about this scenario I will never ever ever ever tell someone to divorce I never have and I never will before I was a pastor I never told anybody that and I saw some ugly stuff I even had people that were really close to me that were wanting to get divorced and I told them don't do it and you know I've even seen low spots in marriages I've seen where both parties say we don't love each other anymore we're not interested in each other anymore and then time healed that wound and they ended up getting past it and they now love each other again they're having a great marriage so you know even though you might have a low spot or you might have difficult things going on you know what just stay in the fight just fight the good fight and keep that vow and you know what God will bless you when you keep the vow some people think like no no God will bless me more if I get divorced and start over or try again or find the right person no no no you already had the right person you vowed that's the right person just love them be good to them stay with them don't then go get your brother's wife Herod don't try to get some I mean this woman is wicked as hell this Herodias woman I mean think about what we already read she's allowing her daughter to dance before all these men that's not a woman of value that's not a woman of character that's not a woman that loves her own daughter and she's not even allowing her daughter to do this for her own benefit she's using her daughter to harm the man of God she's a selfish wicked woman who only cares about positions of authority now it says in verse 8 and she being before instructed of her mother said give me here John Baptist's head and a charger I love this verse just because it's not just John the Baptist it's just John Baptist he just dropped the the he just became fully Baptist in this verse alright he's just I mean it's just his last name just what's your name Baptist John Baptist you know but see how wicked this woman is she she kind of like had already dreamed this up who knows if she planted this idea in even Herod's head saying like hey if your daughter if my daughter danced before you should probably just promise her whatever she wants I mean who knows maybe not but she kind of already had this plan concocted she knew that this might be a chance that could happen where hey you're gonna go dance he's probably gonna offer you something and in my mind I'm thinking she probably said something to Herod because it's not gonna be normal that he's gonna say hey who do you want to cut off whose head you want to cut off it's probably she says like hey if you really loved her you really like this you'd probably just say I'll give you anything and of course just then kind of having this idea planted in his head this is my speculation she's telling his daughter hey when he says whatever you want this is what you're gonna ask for you're gonna ask for John Baptist's head on a platter now isn't that what you think every teenage daughter wants don't you think like every teenage young woman just wants some preacher's head on a platter I mean hey you're promised hey whatever you want you want a new car you want I mean this is a new chariot you want a new chariot a pink chariot you want a pony you want some new clothes you want a nice house no no I want the preacher's head on a platter isn't that bizarre but it actually makes sense why they would want this why do they want this because again Herodias feels like her position is threatened she's afraid of losing her position of authority and she's probably told her daughter hey if we don't get this guy he might get us out of the king's palace or out of Herod's household and we won't be rich anymore and we won't have power anymore and we won't have fame anymore so in order to keep our fame in order to keep our position of authority we gotta kill this Baptist and you know what there are wicked women out there in positions of authority that if you mess with them they'll put your head on a platter there's women that are connected to all these mysterious deaths people like Hillary Clinton I have no idea but for some reason just all these friends of hers that keep committing suicide and have mysterious deaths and you kind of wonder like what's going on it's because they're threatened their position of power and authority should be lost and so they take people out there's no new thing under the sun that's why in some cases you know the Bible says that we should be wise concerning that which is good and simple concerning evil sometimes having certain information is not beneficial to you some information will cost you your life you know why did Jeffrey Epstein kill himself well he didn't so I mean it was a hard question to answer he had too much information didn't he okay and so sometimes information is not always the best thing and so we should be simple concerning that which is evil but of course even when you do that which is right still sometimes people want to take you down just because at the end of the day the ultimate God and judge of this world is the God of the Bible now here's something that you should learn a couple things we should learn number one is that if your mom asks you to do something wicked don't do it you know we should always do what our parents tell us to say and do like we should always obey and honor our parents but if your parent is saying hey let's kill the preacher it's wrong if they say let's kill Pastor Shelley after the service don't do it if they want to come after hey if they want to go after the things of God you just say no and you know what we don't know much of what happened to them but because we didn't really read much I'm sure nothing good happened I'm sure they're probably both burning in hell and I'm sure they regret you know this decision you know what she should have asked hey can I hear what John the Baptist has to say I want to hear his message because then maybe she could have gotten saved maybe she just said hey will you release John the Baptist you know she's asked hey give her whatever you want if your mom asks you to do something wicked don't do it sometimes parents can be selfish of course this mother is very selfish she doesn't care about her daughter I mean your daughter what did her daughter actually benefit from this nothing she just procured under herself all kinds of wrath and evil from God having done what her mother said and so you know we should be careful sometimes our parents especially if they're not godly if they don't love the Lord they give us bad advice and then we have to make sure that we're going to do what the Bible says even if our parents we love them sometimes we have to say no to our parents says in verse number nine and the king was sorry nevertheless for the oaths sake and then which sat with him at meet he commanded it to be given her and he sent beheaded John in the prison here's another thing that you should realize that John is killed in some ways because of peer pressure obviously Herod now feels peer pressure because of them which were at the table and what he had said and you know this is another thing that you young people should be afraid of is peer pressure you shouldn't allow peer pressure to cause you to make a bad decision even if you say hey guys I'm going to do whatever you want and they say hey do something stupid don't do it you know we shouldn't hurt ourselves we shouldn't harm ourselves we shouldn't sin against God and unfortunately a lot of young people are being pressured by friends to do really bad things hurt themselves harm themselves to try drugs and of course what this is what everyone will tell you is they'll say oh it's not that bad drugs aren't that bad just try it it's not a big deal oh are you a Christian are you a goody two shoes and they'll try to make fun of you but you know what it's never worth it drugs are never worth it you know praise God I never succumbed to drugs I never even tried them and I don't want to try them I'm not interested in it and everybody I know that's tried drugs they read it and many of the people that have done drugs are addicted to them it's destroyed their lives it's harmed them in so many ways today's drugs many times they're laced with poison or something that's going to harm them or kill them right away and you know we want to make sure that we're not putting ourselves in positions where we're even going to be peer pressured if you know there's some friends that are going to ask you to do stuff that's wrong don't do it you know what we don't really when I was a kid it was kind of a cool thing to go hang out at other people's house and spend the night at other people's house and I mean I did this all the time I stayed at all kinds of people's houses and many of my friends their parents were not Christian or they were just on paper Christian or something like that and so their parents had different rules they had different stuff and you know you put yourself in these environments you put yourself in these situations and there can be a lot of pressure to go along with what your friends are offering or what they're saying you know they're going to offer you drugs alcohol or just to disobey your mom and dad if they're asking you to do something your mom and dad said no don't do it in fact tell your mom and dad say hey they're asking me to do this they're offering me to do this they're telling me to do things that I know you don't want me to do watch things that I shouldn't watch listen to things I shouldn't listen to go to places I shouldn't go hang out with people I shouldn't be hanging out with you know don't allow peer pressure to cause you to sin because it's real it's a real threat it's a real temptation just remove yourself from the situation call your parents you know and I'm not innocent in this there's been many bad decisions I've made in my life because of peer pressure specifically and so you know it's a real threat to every person whether you're Christian or not and you need to be careful which friends you have you don't want to be around friends that are pressuring you to try drugs and alcohol you want to be around friends that are pressuring you to go soul winning you want to be around friends that are pressuring you to not gossip to not lie to not steal to not do things that are wrong to actually want to be interested in godly Christians to date not the bad boy or the whorish girl or something like that you know we should stay away from those people and these temptations are real we need to be very careful with the pressures that we allow to be in our life and of course Herod just gives into whatever whatever the woman says whatever his friends say hey I'm going to do it he wants to keep this oath let's kill John the Baptist now it says in verse number 11 and his head was brought in a charger and given to the damsel and she brought it to her mother and his disciples came and took up the body and buried it and went and told Jesus so John the Baptist is killed now it's kind of a crazy story because John the Baptist is the greatest man born among women and yet he dies at a young age I mean he dies in the middle of his life at his prime he's only about six months older than the Lord Jesus Christ we know Jesus is about 30 years old so venture to say John the Baptist is probably somewhere around 30 years old when he was killed and that's a major major sacrifice to lose your life at such a young age but you know not everybody's going to be John the Baptist so you don't have to think like we're all going to be beheaded but some people might have to actually give the ultimate sacrifice of dying as a martyr for the Lord Jesus Christ but you know what this is what some people would do is they would say oh John the Baptist shouldn't have preached that and look there are a lot of Christians they would say oh well if John the Baptist just wouldn't have preached against Herod he would still be alive now or hey if John the Baptist didn't bring up the Old Testament law or oh I don't think that verse applied to Herod I don't know why he brought it up but you know what nuts to those people hey there's nothing wrong with preaching the word of God period and let me tell you something I don't care what happens to people if people are thrown in prison that are serving God I'm going to support them and I'm going to be behind them I'm not going to sit here and criticize them because people are typically never put to death for something that just everybody can get behind they want to bring something up that's a little bit controversial they'll say oh well you should have done that gone there you know we should get behind the martyrs of the Lord Jesus Christ and the martyrs of God and we should get behind John the Baptist and you know I get sick and tired of so many people criticizing me because when I get persecuted they'll say like oh well why'd you preach that well why'd you say that why'd you have to do that why do you have to read certain verses of the Bible well you know what I'm going to read certain verses of the Bible and I'm going to explain them and if you don't like the word of God if you don't like the Bible that's your problem it's not my problem and at the end of the day hey yay and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution and you know most people are probably not going to be thrown in prison for being nice this Christian was praying for people and we just put them in prison this Christian was just loving people and we put them in prison this Christian was just sharing the gospel and we put them in prison usually they try to find some other angle they try to say hey this guy's a malefactor this guy's starting an uproar this guy's causing a riot this guy's not paying taxes this guy wants to overthrow the government this guy's attacking Herod you know they try to make it political or they try to make it something that it's not to try and demonize God's people and to throw them in prison how about Joseph adultery but he didn't commit adultery in fact he tried to not commit adultery he did the exact opposite and then he's thrown in prison so many times the martyrs of God you know what their accusation isn't going to be something that you really can get behind but what we can do is get behind the guy and get behind John the Baptist and realize hey he's being lied about and falsely accused and being attacked and I'm still going to support him just like I mean think about why would the apostle Paul say at my first answer no man stood with me but all men forsook me it probably wasn't that he was arrested and they were saying hey the apostle Paul was arrested for being too nice of a Christian or for preaching the gospel it was probably they're saying like this guy's trying to overthrow the government who's also an insurrectionist and people are like oh we don't know the guy you know we don't want to be with Paul and so it's probably something more like that why the apostle Paul's constantly thrown in prison or attacked and yet Onesimus was not ashamed of his chain yet he often refreshed him and it was encouraging him and I give you these examples because who knows what's going to happen in the future God willing the next four years will be a pretty great four years we'll be able to have a lot of free course but things change quickly with COVID and who knows what the next birthing pain is going to be when things are just going to change on a dime again and people are going to be persecuted I mean they're already trying to pass all kinds of legislation for if you're you know against Israel or something like that and who knows when that tie could just turn on a dime and people could be put in prison for saying things they don't actually believe being a Nazi even though you don't support them or something like that right who knows what could happen but whenever the man of God is thrown in prison or killed I'm going to still support him now it says in verse number 14 this is kind of changing gears here it says and Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude was moved with compassion toward them and he healed their sick and when it was evening his disciples came to him saying this is a desert place and the time has now passed send the multitude away they may go into the villages and buy themselves vittles now one other thing you know when Jesus had a disciple come unto him and he said hey I'm going to follow you but let me first bury my dad and he said let the dead bury their dead when John the Baptist is killed you know we don't see Jesus burying the body or going to the funeral he just immediately goes to works and you might think of that and you might think of that as being calloused or something like that but from the Lord Jesus Christ perspective he has a work to do and he doesn't stop he just keeps going and I'm not saying that we shouldn't go to funerals I'm not saying that we shouldn't participate in other activities but in some ways when we have devastating or bad things happen in our lives we need to figure out a way to just pick ourselves up and move on and just keep doing the works and just keep going and many of us are going to suffer loss we're going to suffer difficulty we're going to suffer frustration but we need to be like Jesus and say yeah that's awful but I'm just going to keep going and I'm just going to keep doing works and there's still enough there's still people out there I need to minister to and we could all just be sorry for ourselves and just constantly want people to minister to us but sometimes we have to just say you know what I'm capable of ministering to other people so I'm going to put my feelings on the back burner and I'm just going to minister I'm just going to keep ministering and you know what when you minister to other people it actually helps you anyways if you kind of just keep feeling sorry for yourself this is what happens people stop feeling sorry for you and then you start feeling more depressed because you're just like why doesn't anybody care about me enough or why isn't people loving me enough whereas when you just pour into other people's lives you stop worrying about your problem so much and you start realizing the importance of just serving other people and it just helps you mentally so you know even though obviously I'm sure Jesus Christ was very upset I'm sure it hurt his heart a lot to know that his friend John the Baptist got his head cut off I mean that's horrible but you know what he's here to minister and so he just gets back on the train he just gets back on the track on the bike and he's ministering to other people and he's healing other people and he has compassion on other people and now they're in a desert place the disciples are saying hey we got to get rid of these people because we can't feed them and boy you know this recent Sunday we had to feed 272 people that was a task I can't imagine 5,000 men and women and children like I would just want to run away I'm just like I don't know what we're going to do I mean that is a serious serious task and some serious food it says in verse 16 but Jesus said to them they need not depart give you them to eat boy you know and this is the worst thing the worst thing is when you have to feed people last minute like it just it just really rubs me the wrong way when someone's just like didn't plan and they're just kind of like all right now figure out a plan for 5,000 people to eat real quick you're just like I don't know like what do you what do we do I mean and effectively you know what Jesus is asking them to do is something that's impossible you're in a desert you have 5,000 people feeding you you're like I have nothing like what do you mean like this doesn't even make sense verse 17 and they say on him we have here but five loaves and two fishes he said bring them hither to me and he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and he took the five loaves and the two fishes and looking up to heaven he blessed and break and gave the loaves to his disciples and his disciples to the multitude and they did all eat and were filled and they took up a lot of food and the disciples to the multitude and they did all eat and were filled and they took up of the fragments that remained 12 baskets full and they that had eaten were about 5,000 men beside women and children now there's a lot of great things we can learn from this one thing I'd like to point out is notice that the men were there with their wives and their children that's why we have a family integrated service I mean you know before like the 1900s there's no such thing as Sunday school I mean you think out of the middle of just the desert they're like alright now let's take all the kids to Sunday school no they're just all there for church services when they went to the synagogue when they're going all these ways I mean obviously the families are coming together they're with each other of course that's what we do for church and you know we're very unique most churches do not have all the children and especially the babies and toddlers in the sanctuary with them and sometimes that can make it difficult because for us when we're looking for properties or looking for a building we kind of need a larger sanctuary than our church size compared to other church sizes a church similar to our size may not need a very big sanctuary because most of their kids are somewhere else or in another area but us wanting to have everybody together we need like a bigger sanctuary and so it's a logistical difference and with Jesus Christ here you know you have all these people think about how loud of a preacher Jesus had to be when you're outside preaching to 5,000 people also think about how good those children must have been to have heard alright so we need both of those right we need a loud preacher we need kids that are willing to sit down and listen to the Word of God being preached and not being a distraction and of course I would venture to believe that a church like ours is much better than most other churches at that you know a lot of people just want to basically drop their kids off to run around scream eat cookies and crackers and juice and you know our kids are sitting in the chair and hearing long sermons I mean very long sermons sometimes okay and I try to be dynamic I try to incorporate them occasionally but you know at the end of the day I'm not going to sit here and try to just have a watered down version of what I'm saying for the kids I've had people they say like hey why don't you just have like someone else teach the kids the same thing you're teaching like that's not very effective why don't they just hear me preach it and you know I often I pretty much ask my kids most of the time like hey what was the sermon about what did I say was there any verses and they a lot of times can tell me a lot of things that were in the sermon a lot of the points that were being made and so I think if my kids can get it everybody's kids can get it and they pick up a lot more than what you realize I remember being five years old and in church like the big boy church and liking it liking the preacher liking what was being said I can't really remember before that so I can't really compare anything I'm saying is my earliest memories have been of being in that church and I liked it more than the other church because the other church was kind of lame and weak and weird you know I didn't I didn't like all the gimmicks and all the cheap stuff because even as a kid you can kind of tell things are like cringe and once you become a teenager it becomes real cringe OK you know sometimes you just want the real thing you want something authentic and don't let people criticize family integrated service and act like oh you're doing the children to disservice by not having bozo the clown up here entertaining the children well it's funny that those kids then go to a non-denominational church where they need a literal bozo to entertain them huh or they just aren't they aren't entertained enough at church so then they just don't go and they just watch movies because this isn't entertainment this is preaching this is the word of God it should be different this isn't this isn't a TV show this is us expounding the word of God another thing that we can learn from this passage and what was happening is a miracle was performed and Jesus Christ you know he doesn't really hesitate he just prays to God doles out the food and the miracle is performed sometimes we just have confidence in the Lord that he's going to take care of us even when we can't see how it's going to work I mean there's no way to see how this is going to work this does this doesn't even make sense and I also like the the faith of the disciples because you handed him five loaves and two fishes and he prayed he's like all right hand it out wouldn't wouldn't a lot of people just say like no this doesn't make sense no that's embarrassing no I don't see how that's going to work but what did they do they just did it and it worked and you know what sometimes God asks us to just do things and we're thinking like doesn't make sense I don't see how it's going to work but we just do it and you know what all of a sudden now you have 12 baskets full and you're just like wow God really blessed me you know how about tithing tithing doesn't make sense it's like give more money to the Lord and somehow he'll bless you with more you're thinking like that literally doesn't make sense because it doesn't it can't make sense on paper but I guarantee people that tithe and give offerings to the church somehow they have 12 baskets over and they're thinking like how did that happen there's been many times in my life countless times in my life where I've helped people bless people done things for church done whatever and then just God blessed me somewhere out of nowhere and it's just thinking like wow I didn't expect that and there's been building times where I didn't get an immediate blessing or something but you know what it just feels good to do what's right and trust in the Lord and when you trust the Lord he'll take care of all your needs no matter what I try to really dwell on this passage because it's interesting that he gets five loaves and two fish and then they have 12 baskets I have no idea I can't say for sure what this is this is meaning but this is a thought that popped in my head is maybe these things could represent something because they hand out all this food and it satisfies the congregation and of course Jesus is doling it out well five in the Bible can represent what we know as the Pentateuch which would be the first five books of the Bible that is the law and then I thought of the fish that could possibly represent the Old and the New Testament and what I was thinking about is when Jesus Christ is blessing them hey if you just give people the law and the Old New Testament that's enough to satisfy them I mean the only thing we really need is the Word of God and the Word of God can sustain everyone it can sustain the 5,000 and the women and the children all you need is the Word of God we live by the Word of God the 12 then could even represent maybe the 12 disciples and how they are full and then they go out and they preach the gospel and they go into all the world and they are using that same Word of God they got filled with the Holy Spirit and they're going out they're filled with the Word of God and then they're going out and doing these great works and if you want to do a great work for God you know what you need to fill yourself with loaves and fishes you need to fill yourself with the Word of God the greatest preachers are people that are meditating on the Bible the greatest Christians are the ones that are letting the Bible satisfy them and that they're full of the Word of God and so we shouldn't look to the world how do I become a great preacher do I need to go to a college do I need to go to university do I need to read some commentary no you just need to read the five Old Testament books and the Old Testament and the New Testament you just need the loaves and the fishes and you'll be good in fact you'll have so much more than you can even handle when you go out there that's just one way of looking at it I'm sure there's probably other ways of looking at this but the Word of God is sufficient to feed the crowd and here's another thing how about we just put it in context of church when you show up at church you know what you only need this we only need this and this will satisfy the men the women and the children this will explain every problem you could ever have it'll be every solution you could ever need it'll tell you every thought it's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart is what the Bible says it's a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path I mean it's literally everything you could possibly need but many churches today they're getting away from this they're trying to think of other books other philosophies other ideas other gimmicks movies and all kinds of stuff to try and satisfy the congregation no the congregation can be satisfied with this so we don't need to get away from the Word of God or the Bible we just need to trust in the Bible in verse 22 the Bible then says in straight way Jesus constrains his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him unto the other side while he sent the multitudes away and when he had sent the multitudes away he went up into a mountain apart to pray and when the evening was come he was there alone now another thing we could notice is that Jesus often separates himself for prayer I think in the Christian life we need to have a prayer life and we need to separate ourselves often and pray to God you know prayer is done corporately there's nothing wrong with corporate prayer or public prayer obviously we pray for our meals with our family we pray at church together as a congregation there can be other times you know prayer for funerals and prayer for weddings and things but we also need to just have a time where we just get away and we just privately pray to God and we have our own personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ everyone in here should pray and if you're four years old you should pray you know at night maybe that's your time in bed to just pray to God and ask him for all the things that you want and you need and pray for other people we don't do it every night but when we do have a family devotion I often will ask my kids and say hey what do you want to pray for and I'm trying to help them to think about like how to pray for other people and what to think about and you know we should do that we should teach our children how to pray we should encourage our children to pray on their own you don't have to pray with your parents you can pray wherever you are whenever you're alone and you know what you kiddos when you wake up in the morning you should pray and you should read your Bible you should pray and you know what the Bible says pray without ceasing there's never a bad time to pray we often see the Lord Jesus Christ also praying at night praying you know in the wee hours of the night early morning you know and that's an easier time to pray because a lot of people are asleep maybe you're kind of more alone at that time so you know maybe on your lunch break at night when you're in bed when you wake up early you know these are great opportunities to separate yourself and to pray to God and this is something that we should be doing as Christians now of course you say well no one will see me right why would you do that because you actually believe you actually have faith in the Lord and you actually believe that prayer works and you know what I prayed a lot of my life and God has answered so many of my prayers and I know that it works I know that prayer works and I believe in prayer and I pray to God every day multiple times a day and I always want it to be that way and I feel bad when I forget to pray or I don't feel like I've been praying enough and we should be constantly in prayer as a church the Bible also says in verse 24 it says but the ship was now in the midst of the sea tossed with the waves for the wind was contrary and on the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them walking on the sea and when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were troubled saying it is a spirit and they cried out for fear but straightway Jesus spake unto them saying be of good cheer it is I be not afraid and Peter answered him and said Lord if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water and he said come and when Peter was come down out of the ship he walked on the water to go to Jesus but when he saw the wind boisterous he was afraid and beginning to sink he cried saying Lord save me and immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt when they were come unto the ship the wind ceased then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him saying of a truth thou art the son of God this is a really interesting portion of Matthew 14 I want to point out some things about the story and then kind of look at it in another context but you know when Jesus Christ is here he is walking on the sea we have that famous idea of Jesus walking on water and of course some people want to explain this away as not a miracle but this is obviously a miracle it is stormy seas he is walking on the water but Peter says hey Lord if you want I will walk on the water bid me I will come and then Peter gets out of the boat he walks on water I think a couple of things we can see is number one Jesus while he is special and while Jesus is the son of God and while never man spake like this man spake and while he was given the spirit you know without measure so that is kind of unique he was fully human I believe and I believe that he didn't do things that other humans couldn't do but what separates him from us often is that he had full faith and he had full spirit but when we are fully in the spirit and have full faith we too can do the things that Jesus had done where he was walking on water and doing a lot of these different things now of course I am not saying walk on water don't hear what I am saying wrong what I am saying is that I believe that we can do the things that Jesus was doing generally speaking and by faith we can accomplish the same kind of works and so we shouldn't doubt our capabilities and say oh well Jesus can do this but we can't do that no I think that we should he is our example maybe I would give the exception of course of like he forgave sin we can't forgive sin we don't have that opportunity there is going to be maybe a few minor exceptions like that but just generally speaking what he did and what he said is things that we should be doing and we should be following in his footsteps now this portion of scripture a lot of the bible has kind of a double meaning and this kind of has a end times prophetic symbolism in this passage of scripture and if you think about it what happens is initially Jesus sets himself apart and then sends his disciples on if you think about this from a big picture that is what Jesus has done Jesus has gone up to heaven and now he has commissioned his disciples and commissioned us to go out into all the world and preach the gospel and do the works so Jesus is not with us physically even though he is with us spiritually and he is supporting us from heaven so we kind of have this picture now they are out on the sea eventually what happens is trouble comes storms come and they are in what we would call tribulation essentially now I believe that this has just always been the case since the moment that Jesus went up into the clouds until now that there has been stormy seas and that Christians have gone through tribulation but there is coming a great tribulation that the bible describes and it is going to be the greatest tribulation that Christians have ever faced now that is kind of incredible because Christians have faced extreme tribulation throughout the ages the Roman empire specifically was martyring Christians by the thousands feeding them the lions killing them for sport Christianity has been outlawed in many ways people like William Tyndale who was burned at the stake for having believed that salvation was by faith for having translated the word of God into English for having given the bible to people home school families were murdered and burned at the stake by the catholic church for having taught their children the Lord's prayer so of course on an individual level there has been many Christians that have faced the ultimate price of martyrdom and sacrifice for the cause of Christ yet from a corporate perspective the bible is saying there is going to come a time when the sheer number the volume of Christians experiencing this type of tribulation will have never happened before there is coming a great tribulation where more Christians will be martyred at that time than has ever happened ever before and that is why it is called the great tribulation now this is kind of what is being symbolized here as the disciples going in this boat and there is this great tribulation happening because while many are being killed not everybody is being killed disciples are out there doing the work but there is this great fear there is this great threat of death impending doom as it were and think about it when the antichrist comes the bible says that he is going to tell everybody they have to receive a mark in their hand or their forehead and if you don't do so or worship the beast you are going to be killed well Christians aren't going to do that and as a result there is going to be a great tribulation many are going to be killed many are going to be beheaded go if you would to revelation chapter number 20 go to revelation chapter 20 if you would the bible tells us that there is a lot of saints that are going to be beheaded for not having worshiped the antichrist revelation chapter 20 verse 4 the bible says I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God and which had not worshiped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years so the bible is telling us there are Christians there are saints that didn't get the mark that didn't worship the image and they were beheaded as a result of rejecting the antichrist and not worshipping the antichrist specifically and so there is going to be this impending doom impending threat on Christians at this specific time now the bible says in the fourth watch Jesus came unto them the night is divided into four watches they are three hour segments and there is four of them so we generally divide the day as night and day being two twelve hour periods so if you take the night period as a twelve hour period you have the fourth watch is essentially the last three hours so it's categorized as 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. that would be the fourth watch because basically 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. is just generally the night time 6 a.m. then back to 6 p.m. is the daytime so in the fourth watch Jesus comes that could be just symbolic of the fact that it's like you know it's kind of the darkest part or it's the last part or it's impending doom seeming but it's also right before the light comes isn't it it's kind of that last moment of darkness and then the light comes well I want to go back to Matthew but go to Matthew 24 if you would go to Matthew chapter number 24 so if we kind of get our picture Jesus is not with them there's this great tribulation but then Jesus comes in the fourth watch and he says be not afraid and he's walking on water this is really interesting and he tells Peter or Peter wants to come out and walk on the water to him now we're going to read a little bit of this let's read it verse number 29 immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken and then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they should gather together his elect from the four winds from the one end of heaven to the other so the Bible tells us when Jesus Christ comes back it's going to be after the tribulation there's going to be the sun darkened the moon's not going to give its light and he's going to come in clouds and then the angels are going to gather his four from the four winds all of the elect all the saved and bring them unto Jesus and the Bible paints this picture in 1 Thessalonians chapter number 4 as being gathered together with him in the clouds let's just go there 1 Thessalonians chapter number 4 and let's read a couple of different passages there too I want to come back to Matthew but 1 Thessalonians 4 is kind of like the most famous rapture passage in the Bible often used in funerals to comfort people knowing that they'll be reunited with their loved ones one day but it also tells us that Jesus Christ when he returns notice it says in verse number 16 for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord so the Bible tells us that when Jesus Christ comes there's going to be that same shout that same trumpet he's coming with clouds Matthew 24 clouds 1 Thessalonians 4 clouds he gathers his elect from the four winds and they're gathered where? to Jesus Christ in the clouds now those that are already dead they're coming with him all the saints that have died in the Old Testament everybody that's already died even in the New Testament they're coming with Jesus but those that are alive and remain those that have never died are going to be what we know as raptured which means caught up that's what that word means and that as far as if you look at the underlying Greek word harpazo it means caught up and then what happens is they're all together in the clouds think about this we can't really be in clouds unless we're in an airplane you can be in the clouds in an airplane but you can't walk on clouds but think about it isn't it interesting that Jesus is walking on water and then what happens? Peter's coming out and walking on water with Jesus in the same way that we'll be walking on water in the clouds with Jesus at the rapture and so at this time of great tribulation and turbulence Jesus comes and has this miracle where he's walking on water and then hey the apostle Peter is coming out there with him but notice that Peter was beginning to sink if you go back to Matthew 24 go to Matthew 24 and what did Jesus say? O thou faithless he was saying oh you have little faith he's saying hey the problem with the reason why you weren't walking on the water is because you didn't have enough faith now in Matthew 24 the Bible also says in verse 13 but he that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved some people use this verse to teach work salvation and they're just lying heretics this context is not about going to heaven it's about enduring the tribulation period and it's saying if you endure the tribulation period you'll be saved what physically? you're going to be part of the rapture so who's going to be raptured? those that have the greatest faith and those that endured with faith just like Peter who's going to be the ones that get to walk on the water? the people that have the faith in the same way I believe the people that are going to be raptured are those that had faith and weren't unbelieving those that had the great faith and those that were enduring those hardships are the ones that are going to be raptured and be with the Lord Jesus Christ just like Peter was there in a special unique way walking on the water now you say how many people are going to make it? well it's kind of sad numbers because think about it it's one out of twelve so I don't know is that representative of how many people are going to be saved? I have no idea but just based on that example it may be that one out of twelve Christians is going to make it to the rapture and that eleven well they're the souls that got their heads beheaded I don't know that's just a thought you can think whatever you can have a happier thought I'm just giving you what the Bible says now also think about this it says that they worshipped him right all those that were in the ship go back to Matthew 14 where we were it's a really interesting story Jesus goes away the disciples are out there's great tribulation Jesus shows up on the water they're kind of saved and then all of the tribulation just goes away instantly because once you're raptured man you're out there's no more tribulation there's no more turbulence you've been delivered you've been saved you've been rescued just like Jesus got on the boat this is a great picture of the end times also notice in verse number 33 then they that were in the ship came and worshiped him saying of a truth thou art the son of God well let's go to Revelation chapter number eight now go to Revelation chapter number eight if you understand the book of Revelation chapter number six you have all of these different seals that are being broken and you have all these different crazy things that are happening and kind of at the end of chapter number six the Bible tells us that Jesus has come it says like on verse 16 fallen us and hide us from the face of them that sit on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath has come and who should be able to stand and then you have the 144,000 who are being marked now I want to see which verse I want actually I want to go to chapter seven and I want to start in verse number nine so you have this picture Jesus comes in the clouds and he raptures his saved then you have in the book of Revelation the 144,000 are sealed but then look at verse nine after this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the Lamb clothed the white robes and palms on their hands and cried a loud voice saying salvation to our God which sit it upon the throne and under the Lamb and all the angels stood round about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts and fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped God saying Amen blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be under our God forever and ever Amen and one of the elders answered saying unto me what are these which are arrayed in white robes and whence came they meaning where did they come from and I said unto him sir thou knowest and he said to me these are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb so notice the Bible is saying when Jesus Christ raptures the saved then immediately after you have all nations and all tongues all the people coming and they're worshiping the Lamb and where do they come from? Great tribulation so of course you know the Bible does teach very clearly in the end times that we will go through a seven year period that's the end the first half is a tribulation period then there's a short period that's called the great tribulation after the tribulation period of the great tribulation you have the rapture then you have a wrath portion and so some people will mistakenly call the entire seven years a tribulation period they'll say oh it's the seven year tribulation period but tribulation is to the saved all the saved get sucked out at the rapture so there's no more tribulation there's a wrath period okay where God just pours out locusts from hell and just fire and just wormwood and just all kinds of horrible evil punishments on the earth and that's his wrath being poured out but the Christians are not appointed under wrath we're only appointed under tribulation and persecution so we're sucked out of that just like Noah is delivered just like Lot is delivered and just like the disciples are here just kind of warped to the other side when they're going through this great storm and of course when we go through storms of life we need to have faith in God now I've kind of completed the chapter let's go back and read the last few verses but it's kind of an interesting end times picture that we have here in this story of him walking on water a lot of cool symbolism that we can see as parallels to the future the Bible also says in verse 34 and when they were gone over they came in the land of Gennesaret and when the men of that place had knowledge of him they sent out into all the country round about and brought him unto him all that were diseased and brought him that might only touch them of his garment as many as touched were made perfectly whole here's another thing once you get raptured eventually we're gonna be made perfectly whole too right we're gonna get that new body we're gonna rule and reign with Christ and so we're made perfectly whole in that moment so you have this great picture another thing is you notice that when these people just touch Jesus they're made perfectly whole meaning like once you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ you're saved and it's easy think about it all you have to do is just touch his garment is that hard now it might be hard just because of the multitude but at the end of the day you just touched him saved just like you just believe saved and immediately they touch they're completely whole just like as soon as you believe on Jesus Christ all your sins are forgiven they're all washed away you've been made perfect in Christ and you can never lose your salvation I want to go to one more place go to 2 Corinthians 1 and we'll finish I think that this chapter though even though I focus in on some verses about being the end times it's almost like the entire chapter teaches the exact same story just think about it how do we start this chapter John the Baptist gets his head cut off what's gonna happen at the beginning of the tribulation at great tribulation saints are gonna be getting their heads cut off and so and here's a good thing to think about John the Baptist is the greatest do not be discouraged if the greatest Christians alive gets their heads chopped off in the great tribulation you keep serving God okay because I have no idea what's gonna happen I pray to God that I will get rapture too but I don't know it may be that those that are causing the biggest ruckus and preaching against the authorities might get their heads chopped off but you know what you keep serving God you keep being faithful you keep being steadfast then what happens in the second portion is the word of God sustains the disciples they're without they're hungry and then God performs miracles to sustain them physically and I believe spiritually and I believe you know during that great tribulation period God is able to perform miracles to sustain us physically and spiritually and the only thing we need is the word of God what about Alex Jones you know survival kit nope you need this God can multiply loaves and fishes for you instead of worrying about storeable food you should get this in your heart and your mind this should be what's going to sustain you in the end times then we see of course the story of the disciples being delivered from their great tribulation where we have that great rapture event and then at the end we have them being made complete which is that resurrection you get your new body so it's like the whole chapter teaches this and then you have a micro version of it also within the chapter and it's kind of incredible how God can put so many layers in the exact same story but 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 I wanted to read a little bit here just because it kind of goes with the theme that we've been talking about of tribulation and you know the Bible says in 1st Thessalonians chapter number 3 that we're appointed unto these afflictions and tribulation it'd be weird to think like the pre-trib doctrine is kind of weird because I'm thinking like we're suffering tribulation now they'll say we're not going to suffer tribulation and I'm thinking we already are what do you mean we're not going to suffer tribulation Christians have always suffered tribulation of course there's coming a great tribulation that'll be a little bit more intense but we've always suffered tribulation I don't really see how that makes sense plus there's no verse in the Bible that teaches that whatsoever 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 is telling us about tribulation verse 3 Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God so this is dense language but this is what he's saying when you go through tribulation and you allow the Bible to help you get through that then you can then come alongside other Christians when they go through tribulation and comfort them with the Bible and so that's why sometimes God will put you through difficult things so that you can learn how to trust him and be comforted by him and then you can be empathetic for other people if you've lost somebody that's close to you a child, a spouse, a mother, a father, anybody and you had to use the Bible to comfort you then come alongside other people when they lose their loved ones and help comfort them when you lose a job, when you lose your health when you lose money, just bad things that happen to us when you have protesters or you have people lying about you or you have all kinds of evil happening maybe just physical assaults, all kinds of things comfort yourself with the word of God and then help comfort other people I've been lied about so many times it's a lot easier for me to comfort people that have been lied about because again, and it was funny, I went on a cruise missions trip and I was hanging out with my friend, Pastor Steven Anderson and we were just sharing a lot of stories with each other we've never shared just a lot of more personal stories than we normally share and I was kind of just sharing to him some of the lies that have been told about me things that are just kind of personal things I don't want to share but I was kind of telling him and he was just saying like, look, if I hadn't been lied about severely he's like, I wouldn't even believe you like, your stories don't even seem believable but he said, I know that you're telling the truth and I know those are believable because it's happened to me and it's like sometimes you just have these severe lies and weird things happen to you so you can kind of empathize with other people and actually help other people in difficult situations and sometimes you have people just turn on you for no reason and then it helps you to empathize with other people that have people turn on them for no reason that's what it's bringing up it says, verse 5 he's saying hey, I know you guys are suffering in tribulation right now but just as I was comforted by God eventually I know you guys will be comforted by God eventually and you know what, God is not just going to drag us through the ringer and cause us to go through all kinds of tribulation and persecution and never bring comfort he will bring comfort he will bring consolation he will get you through the hard spots sometimes it's very difficult to trust him sometimes it's difficult to think, how is this going to work out but what I've seen is people that are steadfast end up getting comforted people that are steadfast end up receiving the consolation so just trust the Lord even when we go through difficult things even when things don't make sense and you know, when we're going through those storms let us not be faithless but let us believe and let us allow the God of all comfort to comfort us when we go through tribulations and difficulties not only for our own benefit but for the benefit of others and if you have been comforted by God at any point in your life allow that opportunity and that experience to be used to empathize with other people and to comfort other people and to help other people as they go through their struggles let's close in prayer thank you Heavenly Father so much for giving us so much comfort when we go through tribulations and difficulties thank you for never leaving us and never forsaking us thank you for keeping your oath and your promise unto us that we have believed thank you for giving us eternal salvation I pray that as we go through difficulties and tribulations in the future that we'll be reminded that you also will bring with them consolation and comforts and I pray that as we go through these experiences that you'll give us a better understanding of how to comfort others and to be a blessing unto other people I pray that when we go through difficulty we would take the opportunity to just move on so that we could help other people and minister to other people and that we could just have a great faith no matter what the obstacles set before us and in Jesus' name we pray amen alright in closing let's go to song number 46 song number 46 my savior first of all song number 46 when my life's work is ended and I've lost a swell of time when the bright and glorious morning I shall see I shall know my redeemer when I reach the other side and this cloud will be the first to welcome me I shall know and I shall go and redeem by his side I shall stand I shall know him I shall know him by the plinth of the males in his hand hold the soul thrilling rapture when I view his blessed face and the luster of his kindly being died how my full heart will praise him for his mercy, love and grace heaven there will be a mansion in the sky I shall know him I shall go him and redeem by his side I shall stand I shall go him I shall go him by the plinth of the males in his hand hold the dear ones in glory how they beckon each to come and our parting at the river I recall to the sweet bales of Eden men will sing my welcome home but I long to be my savior first of all I shall know him I shall go him and redeem by his side I shall stand I shall know him I shall go him by the plinth of the males in his hand through the gates to the city in a robe of spotless white he will lead me where no tears will ever fall in the glad song of ages I shall people with me light but I long to be my savior first of all I shall know him I shall go him and redeem by his side I shall stand I shall know him I shall go him by the plinth of the males in his hand great singing everybody you are all dismissed