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U.S.P.1 and the United States of America are standing wide because their faces are gone and when I meet the Stumpers and ask me where they are I say my sins are gone They're underneath the blood on the cross of Calvary as hard as their practices were gone In the sea of God's forgiveness there's good enough for me Praise God and my sins are gone Trust at the old-time altar where God gave him my heart And now my sins are gone The Lord took possession and the devil gave birth And now my sins are gone They're underneath the blood on the cross of Calvary as hard as their practices were gone In the sea of God's forgiveness there's good enough for me Praise God and my sins are gone When Satan comes to tempt me and tries to bring me down I say my sins are gone You got me into trouble but Jesus got me out on my tail My sins are gone They're underneath the blood on the cross of Calvary as hard as their practices were gone In the sea of God's forgiveness there's good enough for me Praise God and my sins are gone I'm living now for Jesus Every night and day we come My sins are gone My soul is filled with music With all my heart I say I know Amen, lift it up now on that chorus They're underneath the blood on the cross of Calvary as hard as their practices were gone In the sea of God's forgiveness there's good enough for me Praise God and my sins are gone In the harvest field now ripen There's a word for all to do Hark the voice of God is calling Till the harvest's calling new Little is touch when God is in it Favour not for wealth or fame There's a crown and you can fit in 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 he'll not forget his own Little is touch when God is in it Favour not for wealth or fame There's a crown and you can fit in If you'll come in Jesus' name When the conflict here is ended And our race on earth is done We will say if we are faithful Wealth or loss, my son will come Little is touch when God is in it Favour not for wealth or fame There's a crown and you can fit in If you'll come in Jesus' name Saved by the blood of the crucified one Now ransom roasted and a new word begun Sing praise to the Father and praise to the Son Saved by the blood of the crucified one Glory and safe, glory and safe I save for all for if my guilt is all gone Glory and safe, glory and safe I save by the blood of the crucified one Saved by the blood of the crucified one The angels rejoicing because it is done A child of the Father to hear the Son Saved by the blood of the crucified one Glory and safe, glory and safe I save for all for if my guilt is all gone Glory and safe, glory and safe I save by the blood of the crucified one Saved by the blood of the crucified one The Father who's faithful, who is willing, who's done Praise to the Lord and His love is the Son Saved by the blood of the crucified one Glory and safe, glory and safe I save for all for if my guilt is all gone Glory and safe, glory and safe I save by the blood of the crucified one Amen, on that last Saved by the blood of the crucified one All hail to the Father, all hail to the Son All hail to the Spirit, the great great God Saved by the blood of the crucified one Lift it up now Glory and safe, glory and safe I save for all for if my guilt is all gone Glory and safe Good afternoon everybody and welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. It's great to see everybody here tonight. We can go ahead and find our seats, we will get started. And tonight we will start with song number 22. Song number 22, Are You Washed in the Blood? Song number 22. Let's all sing it out tonight on the first. Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing ground? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you holy, trusting in His grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you walking daily by the Savior's side? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Do you rest each moment in the crucified? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? When the bridegroom cometh, will your robes be white? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Will your soul be ready for the vengeance bright? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin, and be washed in the blood of the Lamb. There's a fountain flowing for the soul of the King, for be washed in the blood of the Lamb. Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Song number 19, there is a fountain. Song number 19. Sing it out again. There is a fountain filled with blood for coming many well things, for coming many well things, and sinners much beneath their blood, whose all their guilty states, whose all their guilty states, whose all their guilty states, and sinners much beneath their blood, whose all their guilty states. The night he rejoices to see that fountain in his day, and there may I go quietly, wash all my sins away, wash all my sins away, wash all my sins away, and there may I go quietly, wash all my sins away. Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power, till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more, be saved to sin no more, be saved to sin no more, till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more. E'er sins my pain, my soul astray, my flowing wounds supply, redeeming love that's in my need, and shall be till I die, and shall be till I die, and shall be till I die, redeeming love that's in my need, and shall be till I die. Within a nobler sweeter song, I'll sing my power to save. In this poor listening, staring drunk, by a siren in the grave, by a siren in the grave, by a siren in the grave. In this poor listening, staring drunk, by a siren in the grave. Thanks for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you did not already get a bulletin, you would like one, just lift your hand up nice and high. On the front, we have our Bible memory passage. Matthew 28, we're getting really close to completing this passage on the inside. Our church terms, our church times, and our soul winning times, we have our church stats, and keep up the great work. We're doing really good, and it would be great if we could just double our last year's total, so we just gotta keep working, and we've been doing really, really great, so keep up the great work on our soul winning. On the right, we have the list of our expecting ladies. We have some upcoming events. We have our kids' choir practice that's been happening, and we're getting really close to our Easter services, so looking forward to them performing on Easter. We have our spring swap, April 13th, then Mansfield Soul Winning Marathon, April 19th, and we still have Easter cards if you'd like to hand out, but we'll be doing a big push on the 19th for Easter. We have Easter services, of course, April 20th. We have the Scott Baby Shower, May 3rd. Mother's Day Brunch, May 10th. I don't think it's in the, it's not in our bulletin, but just so people would be aware, we're gonna do the Lord's Supper service Sunday evening on Easter, so I know that we typically may do that on Thursday or something, but just so we have maximum participation, we'll be doing that Sunday Easter evening services, and so if you'd like to participate in the communion service, we'll be having that for the evening service. Church reminders, they're down below. Make sure you're watching your kids on the back. Baby Shower for the Scotts and their baby boy, May 3rd, and if you can bring a side dish or dessert to share, please let us know. You can RSVP to Mrs. Milstead as well. They are registered on Amazon if you'd like to get them a gift that is nurselings only preferred. Our prayer list there, if you continue to pray for the Naims for their grandmother, and we've been praying for Ms. Carlson's mother, Faith Miller's mother, friend's mother, I'm sorry, the brother Scott, his parents. We've been praying for both brother Horace and Ms. Grace and also his wife, Ms. Olivia, if you've been praying for the Garcia's health. Ms. Goodwin's been praying for Ms. Sarah's health. We also have brother Nick's praying for his mother's salvation and another coworker. We have Ms. Larke. We're continuing to pray for her arm. Brother Brad, we've been praying for his father and sister as well as he has a couple personal prayer requests there. Continue to pray for brother Diego's friend, Ms. Sheila. Ms. Sarah is also, from our church, is having an upcoming surgery, so if you'd please be in prayer for her for that. Ms. Yewakim is also praying for a friend for their health, and then the Knares have one for their cousin who's recovering from a vehicle accident. So a lot of health requests and some others. We'll go ahead and 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 just bless their pregnancies. Please help those that are wishing to conceive. I pray that you would also just be with our church family that needs health or recovery from sickness or illness or a chronic issue. I pray also those that are friends and family, if possible, that you could give them health and that you could heal them. And I pray that those that need to hear the gospel, that you would just soften their hearts, that you would give us the boldness and courage to approach them, that you give us the opportunity to preach unto them, and I pray that you could help them to get saved. I pray that you would also just bless our church family and friends that need favor with their work or with their travel. I pray that you would also bless our evangelists in the Philippines and continue to help them with the work that's going on over there. I pray that you would bless our upcoming Easter services. I pray that you would help us to get many people saved and get them baptized and also encourage them to want to change their life and serve you. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. That's pretty much all I have as far as announcements. Let's go ahead and sing our Psalm of the Week, Psalm 119. Psalm 119. It's in our Psalm binders. Alright, that was Psalm 119. Let's all sing it out loud together. Psalm 119. My word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path I have sworn and I will perform in that I will keep thy righteous judgments God of good and dead very much wicked be O Lord of glory unto thy word the wicked have laid us near for thee yet I err not from thy three steps thy testimonies have I taken and set their exits forever my word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path except I beseech be the freewill offerings of my mouth O Lord and teach me thy judgments my soul is continually in mine and yet do I not forgive thy law the wicked have laid us near for thee yet I err not from thy three steps thy testimonies have I taken and set their exits forever my word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path for they are the rejoicing of mine for I have in mind my heart to perform thy statutes obey even unto the end I gain faith in God's blood I love you I love the wicked have laid us near for thee yet I err not from thy three steps thy testimonies have I taken and set their exits forever my word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path Great singing everybody. Now as the offering plates are being passed around go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 17 that's the book of Matthew chapter number 17 Thank you. Matthew chapter number 17 the Bible reads and after six days Jesus taketh Peter James and John his brother and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart and was transfigured before them and his face did shine as the sun and his raiment was white as the light and behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him then answered Peter and said unto Jesus Lord it is good for us to be here if thou wilt let us make your three tabernacles one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias while he yet spake behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold a voice out of the cloud which said this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him and when the disciples heard it they fell on their face and were sore afraid and Jesus came and touched them and said arise and be not afraid and when they had lifted up their eyes they saw no man save Jesus only and as they came down from the mountain Jesus charged them saying tell the vision to no man until the son of man be risen again from the dead and his disciples asked him saying why then say the scribes that Elias must come first and Jesus answered and said unto them Elias truly shall first come and restore all things but I say unto you that Elias has come already and they knew him not but have done unto him whatsoever they listed likewise shall also the son of man suffer of them then his disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist and when they were come to the multitude there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying Lord have mercy on my son for he is lunatic and sore vex for oft times he falleth into the fire and oft into the water and I brought him to thy disciples and they could not cure him then Jesus answered and said O faithless and perverse generation how long shall I be with you how long shall I suffer you bring him hither to me and Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him and the child was cured from that very hour then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said why could not we cast him out and Jesus said unto them because of your unbelief for verily I say unto you if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed ye shall say unto this mountain remove hence to yonder place and it shall be removed and nothing shall be impossible unto you howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting and while they abode in Galilee Jesus said unto them the son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men and they shall kill him and the third day shall he be raised again and they were exceeding sorry and when they were come to Capernaum they that received tribute money came to Peter and said doth not your master pay tribute he sayeth yes and when he was come into the house Jesus prevented him saying what thinkest thou Simon of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute of their own children or of strangers Peter saith unto him of strangers Jesus saith unto him then are the children free notwithstanding lest we should offend them go thou to the sea and cast and hook and take up the fish that first cometh up and when thou has opened his mouth thou shall find a piece of money that take and given to them for me and thee let us pray Heavenly Father thank you for this church thank you for allowing us to be here I pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with your Holy Spirit Lord that he may preach the Bible to us Lord I pray that we receive what he preached unto us Lord with an open heart I pray this in Jesus name Amen Amen. Matthew 17 I want to back up one verse because the previous verse kind of comes into chapter 17 look what it says in verse 28 of chapter 16 verily I say unto you there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom now some interpretations of the Bible or some strange ideas about the end times will take this verse and they'll use it to try and teach what we call Preterism Preterism is a weird doctrine that suggests that Jesus Christ has already come back already returned and everything in Revelation has already happened that is the idea of Preterism and they'll often point to a verse like this or other passages and they'll say see Jesus Christ came back in their lifetime and they'll point to other verses in the New Testament about the disciples waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ to come and the idea of Peter and John kind of discussing this in the book of John about how what is it if I tarry till he come and so they're kind of giving this idea where hey Jesus Christ came back in their lifetime but if you read chapter 17 you end up realizing that is not what this passage was saying it's not talking about the second coming of Christ because it was talking about the second coming of Christ well then a lot of things just wouldn't fit with reality of course we understand that Jesus Christ has not come back and one of the questions I always ask is when were the locusts from hell you know I'm just, anybody that believes in Preterism or these ideas that all the stuff has already happened I'm always curious about that part of course there's a lot in the book of Revelation that we could point to and say when did this happen that doesn't seem to fit I would even argue though that saying that Christ has already come back when he hasn't is a damnable heresy and it's a evil false doctrine because the Bible even warns that people teaching that the resurrection has already happened overthrow the faith of some so they're just destroying people's faith causing Christianity to seem like a nonsensical religion cults like the Jehovah's Witnesses and other groups the Seventh Day Adventists have tried to declare that Jesus Christ was coming back and then they obviously got it wrong multiple times over and over and we have to understand that this passage is not talking about the second coming of Christ but rather it's talking about what's described here in chapter 17 verse 1 it says in after six days Jesus has taken Peter, James and John his brother and bringing them up into a high mountain apart now you kind of wonder like why does it bring up the six days because for the most part we haven't been really tracking specific timelines and the six days is random so it doesn't really help us like identify anything but what I think it's trying to help us understand is that six days after he made this proclamation of the fact that people would not taste of death before they saw this it's just saying this was the timeline from that being said to this event actually happening it wasn't 60 years, it wasn't some time in the future that still hasn't happened it was just six days later what does it mean to taste of death? well consistently the Bible when it uses the word taste just means some kind of a short duration or just a short sampling of something if you think about tasting you partook in something but it just hasn't been a long time you know the Bible says about Jesus Christ in the book of Hebrews that he should taste death for every man what does that mean? it means that he went to hell for three days and three nights so he tasted it, he didn't go there for an eternity he didn't go there for thousands of years he went there just for three days and three nights so he tasted it in the sense that it was just a short duration it was a small amount of time that he went there but even just that short duration was an incredible experience I don't want to spend five seconds in hell let alone three days and three nights and I'm sure it feels like eternity even when it's only a few days just because the excruciating amount of pain, suffering, separation from anything that's good, water, no light I mean it's just a horrible experience that's unimaginable there's nothing worse than hell no one could dream up anything worse than hell it's the worst punishment and Jesus Christ took that for us now it says when Jesus made this proclamation he then takes three people, Peter, James and John brings them up to a high mountain apart it says in verse 2, and was transfigured before them transfigured is just another variation of transform transform just means to change so just saying Jesus Christ changed right before them now what did he change into or what was the transformation or what was the transfiguration well it's going from a mortal just regular state to a glorified state what Jesus Christ would inevitably look like in his full glory and so he's shining bright but notice that he didn't transform into someone else he didn't transform into something else he just was a more glorified version of himself and when he's transfigured it says and his face did shine as the sun his raiment was white as the light and behold there appeared on him Moses and Elias talking with him then answered Peter and said unto Jesus Lord it is good for us to be here if thou wilt let us make here three tabernacles one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias while yet spake behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold a voice out of the cloud which said this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him and when the disciples heard it they fell on their face and were sore afraid so a lot of things we can pull out of this few verses here but notice a couple things number one Elias that would be Elijah Moses is really well known a lot of people would point to these guys as potentially being the two witnesses and if you think about it the Bible does talk about Elijah being carried up where the world went up into heaven so we never saw him die physically we never know where his body went the Bible also brings up the concept that the devil will argue about the body of Moses and so you could even argue that possibly Moses and Elijah are the only two people that have a physical body in a sense and haven't lost that body yet I don't know maybe they have lost it, maybe they've been transfigured we don't know exactly but the Bible does bring kind of this mystery up about what happened with Moses' body and we saw Elijah just go straight up into heaven we don't even know what happened to him they looked for him all over the earth and could never find him they never said like oh here's Elijah's dead body so his body is kind of missing Moses' body is kind of missing and that's just kind of an interesting idea so some people have suggested this might be the two witnesses makes a little bit of sense think about this when Jesus Christ comes and is glorified like the second coming of Christ and he comes in the clouds that's kind of the timeline of when the two witnesses show up so another interesting parallel here is that when Jesus Christ is transfigured oh there's Moses and Elias almost signifying another clue that perhaps they would be the two witnesses because they just happen to show up at the same timeline as Christ kind of being there in the clouds transfigured for all to see I'm not going to say it's you know I don't want to be dogmatic about future things so we can always you know be willing to adjust our view but I would say that that's a really likely theory makes a lot of sense I feel like there's a lot of verses in the Bible that point to the idea that they too could be the two witnesses I've heard some people bring up maybe Enoch just because he was translated and we don't really see him physically dying but I honestly like the Elijah and Moses options a little bit better it's even possible it could just be two other random guys in the future you know I'm willing to say it could be but it seems most likely it's probably like Moses and Elijah so that's one idea we can bring up here's another idea notice that they weren't hanging out in Abraham's bosom did you notice that? it's just like these two guys appear and they're there because you know we believe that when Old Testament since died they went to heaven and that they were there in heaven and they didn't come back and show themselves we have people doing this not just them you have Samuel kind of being brought up at one point in the Old Testament you have of course a Jesus Christ resurrection some people coming back to life you have people just even coming back to life that Jesus Christ rose again from the dead you have other people that were risen from the dead and other places in the Old Testament so you know it's not unreasonable to see people being resurrected so I don't know exactly how to explain this but they're not talking about how they came out of Abraham's bosom or something weird like that so that's kind of an interesting thing also I think it's interesting that Jesus Christ transfigured and then it says in verse number five that a bright cloud overshadowed them and be able to voice out of the cloud showing another distinction again you have Jesus Christ transfigured but then you have a voice coming out of the cloud showing the distinction between the Father and the Son that Jesus Christ is not just the Father wearing like a body suit and then when he gets to heaven he'll go back to his Father state he's just not the Father he's just distinct from the Father you have the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost and even in Jesus Christ's most glorified state in heaven you still have that distinction where the Father is clouded with that shadow or fire or cloud he's just basically covered with something and again my speculation, my interpretation or belief is that it's just God the Father is too bright that if he just revealed himself unshielded people would just die instantly her faces would melt or we would just die we just couldn't handle it because the Bible says no man shall see my face and live and so of course God the Father has to shield himself from mankind so that's why he's always showing up in some kind of a cloud or fire or something just to kind of shield himself even when he showed himself to Moses he had to cover his face with his hand and can only show him his back parts because you just couldn't see it and live and so it's just kind of him protecting us also you see the distinction of what he says this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased so the Father is talking about the Son he's talking about being pleased with the Son and we see that relation between the Father and the Son of course the Father has a voice coming out of the cloud they heard it so they hear Jesus, they hear the Father, they hear them both and of course when they heard this though they fell on their face and were sore afraid our God is a consuming fire our God is a terrifying God in the sense that he would strike terror in the hearts of us if he was physically present he is an intimidating he's intimidating to be around he has just a lot of power and magnificence when he came down on the mountain the earth did quake and the children of Israel are just so terrified at his presence and so it's a fearful thing to be in the presence of God it's a fearful thing, it's a terrifying thing and we see them just being in complete just fear and falling down which is consistent consistently in the Bible when God and people are in God's presence in any context you know and he's not shielded by the incarnation or something people are just falling down and they're just in fear and terror whereas you know all these people that give you these stories like I went to heaven or like God appeared to me or something they never bring up this they don't even look at his magnificence they're just like hanging out like they're buddies or something and just having a good old chat one guy I heard said they were writing segues around in heaven I'm just like no he said they were writing segues around in a mall and I'm just like that sounds like hell that does not sound like heaven, alright? but you know of course when people see God in a sense or in his presence they're always just like falling down Daniel's falling down Peter, James and John are falling I mean they're just falling down because it's just he's a terrifying presence and you know it's something that we can't really even handle now Jesus in verse 7 it says and Jesus came and touched them and said arise and be not afraid now I want to talk more about these verse 7 verses but for sake of the sermon I want to just try and get through the rest of this chapter and then God willing we'll come back and I want to address a final point so we'll come back to this and I just don't want to spend the whole sermon on these first few verses look at verse 8 and when they had lifted up their eyes they saw no man save Jesus only and as they came down from the mountain Jesus charged them saying television to no man until the son of man be risen again from the dead another thing that's interesting is how many times Jesus Christ wants his disciples or others to kind of conceal information you know I think it's a lot of people save and tells them like don't tell anybody or don't go around and talk about this yet he's also telling his disciples not to share this experience until after the death burial and resurrection this is what you would just call exercising discretion not everything needs to always be shared at all times sometimes there's certain information that we need to keep private or keep to ourselves for the right timeline for the right moment to reveal it it's not that you're trying to keep secrets or anything like that but at the same time not everything's always appropriate to say or to open up with all that information sometimes it's better to have a certain timeline allow certain events to take place before you reveal certain information you know for example if I'm trying to get someone saved at the door I may not reveal everything that I believe before I get them saved you know isn't the most important thing while I'm there just to get them saved but I mean you'll have people ask you every question you could think of at the door you'll go out the door they're like hey tell me about homos and you're just like let's wait a second all right let me tell you about the gospel first now some people just demand like no I want to know that now and then you kind of have to show them but you know I'm not necessarily going to give you every idea about the Jews and about homos and reprobates and drinking alcohol sometimes we're like tell me about drinking alcohol it's like let's get you saved first and then we'll talk to you about this particular thing that we want to bring up and so you know sometimes we want to make sure that we're not trying to just get ahead of ourselves things need to take time we need to have discretion knowing when to reveal certain information when not to but we shouldn't just always just say everything and blurt everything out sometimes we need to think about what's the right timing can this person handle this information and considering people's ability to receive certain types of information you know one thing that I was going to say about the New Testament itself is I kind of believed loosely the New Testament is that you as you go through it get more advanced so like the information for your spiritual life as you go through the New Testament books they kind of get more advanced and they more deal with more mature subjects so the further you are into the New Testament it's usually dealing with the more high level and higher levels of maturity aspects of the Christian life whereas the earlier books and the earlier chapters are more dealing with some of the basics of Christianity you look at the Gospels it's dealing with what? Getting saved you look at the book of Acts it's kind of talking about some of the early stages of salvation baptism just some early points in Christianity Romans is a really likable book because it's kind of basic it talks about you know how you walk through salvation and just the points of doctrine kind of understanding baptism you get into 1 Corinthians and you kind of notice these are some of the early stages because they haven't gone that far in the maturity of the Christian life you look at 2 Corinthians again dealing with more carnal issues more baby issues and as you kind of go through Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians it starts to graduate as you get to the later books when we talk about Hebrews and James and 1 and 2 Peter those kind of books those are more for the mature Christians and those that have gone through loosely speaking it's almost like the New Testament kind of takes you on a journey and is it any coincidence that false prophets and false teachers they just love to go straight to Hebrews straight to James because they're not saved and they want to rest scriptures that aren't dealing with salvation they're not dealing with basic topics they're actually dealing with more advanced topics and more mature level of topics when we talk about the Christian life and the Christian faith those are things that have to do with salvation or baptism or basic doctrines but for the most part if you really study them they're kind of dealing with more advanced and mature levels of topics here's another thing if you kind of like some of the more early parts of the New Testament maybe it just means you're kind of more in an infancy or a beginning part of your Christian life and as you grow up you get more mature the more you read your Bible the more the later chapters of the books of the Old Testament and of course once you get through all that then there's always the minor prophets last and you're just like these are hard but of course God wants us to have some hard books in the Bible because the Christian life is one of our entire lives not just five minutes and of course God gives us all levels of difficulty when it comes to the Word of God and that's great it's great that you don't outgrow the Bible you can't outgrow the Bible because God is infinite and we are a finite being but just to give you some kind of a general idea about these books so again when I'm going out and preaching the gospel I don't necessarily need to explain to them the finer points of Hebrews and James when they're not even saved and again you know most people bring up James 2 as an objection I'll just kind of like quickly explain that because they need that obstacle to be overcome but for the most part I don't want to get into the deep doctrine of Hebrews and James or people that are baby Christians just because it's typically not something they can handle or grasp yet because they just haven't really got into those subjects yet just in the same way I'm not going to talk about a lot of adult subjects with children because they just kind of go over their head they may not quite grasp it yet they need to kind of go through more of the basics before we can get to some of the more advanced subjects and them to fully comprehend them now in verse number 10 the Bible says and his disciples asked him saying why then say the scribes that Elias and Jesus answered and said to them Elias truly shall first come and restore all things but I say unto you that Elias has come already and they knew him not but have done unto him whatsoever they listed likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them now listed there means whatever they wanted so just saying they already did with John the Baptist whatever they wanted to do with him now who's the they there typically the they is people they wear small hats okay but this is a little tricky one because it's I don't believe this is the that that they this is a different they because who is it that executed John the Baptist it was Herod it was the Romans and if you think about it what is he trying to suggest or what is he bringing up he's saying hey the Romans killed John the Baptist and who's going to kill Jesus the Romans now we understand that the Jews delivered Jesus unto the Romans and it was at the Jews bidding that the Romans killed Jesus Christ but we know that the Romans are the ones that carried out that action John the Baptist he wasn't really delivered by the Jews he was just simply taking custody by the Romans for offending Herod and Herodias and that's why he was slain but I think that it's just interesting Jesus already kind of knew hey I'm actually going to be killed by the Romans and not the Jews which is interesting because really the only reason you would be killed by Romans is for offending the Romans like committing a crime and since we know Jesus is never going to commit a crime it would be kind of puzzling like how in the world would the Romans kill you or why would they kill you it doesn't make any sense we know that the Jews want to kill you but the Jews want to stone him because the execution method by Jews was stoning but we know that the Bible is always pointing to the cross as the serpent lifted up or I'm sorry as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so also so the son of man be lifted up right so we have this interesting idea of like how is Jesus Christ going to die on the cross how is he going to be lifted up because the Romans wouldn't care the Romans aren't really that religious they don't really they're not interested in these kind of debates and talking about the Bible it would have to be a crime but God obviously orchestrated it and crucified to fill all scripture so it's interesting that Jesus is bringing this up and talking about how he is going to be crucified of course Elias here is just simply a loose mention of John the Baptist and it says there in verse 13 then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist so they were kind of confused because they're like is Elijah literally coming back or kind of in a metaphor and of course I believe the Bible says that he was like Elijah and he came in the spirit and power of Elijah but it was a genuinely different person it was John the Baptist and John the Baptist had the spirit of Elijah on him but he was like Elijah verse 14 and when they were come to the multitude there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying Lord have mercy on my son for he is a lunatic or for he is lunatic and sorvex for oft times he falleth into the fire and oft into the water so they could not cure him then Jesus answered and said O faithless and versed generation how long shall I be with you and how long shall I suffer you bring him hither to me and Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him and the child was cured from that very hour then the disciples came to Jesus apart and said why could not we cast him out and Jesus said unto them because of your unbelief for verily I say unto you if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed my thing shall be impossible unto you howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting so Jesus has healed a lot of people he has healed people of all ages here is another example of a young man who is considered lunatic often what we understand when we compare this with other passages and other places in the Bible he was demon possessed notice in verse 18 and Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him at that very hour so in many cases especially in the gospels it describes people of having some kind of a issue as being related to being demon possessed or having some kind of demonic spirit upon them this is kind of interesting and this is what I think is the point that I like to draw out of this text is a child we don't know the exact age here but notice the child can be afflicted by demonic spirits or demon possessed in some way and I believe that could still be possible today and there is probably some children in our world that are demon possessed what is demon possession look like? someone hurting themselves and so often when the world will see children hurting themselves or trying to harm themselves they try to put them on drugs and they try to subdue them with some kind of a drug but you know drugs doesn't cure anything it doesn't cure a demonic possession and you know that's the wrong treatment for demonic possession now of course anybody could have a disease or an illness and you know medication could apply I do think that there are potential issues where people need medicine there are sometimes people have disabilities and they or maybe some kind of deficiency whether that be vitamin and they need some kind of medicine but when we're talking about children hurting themselves you know this kind of just sad depressed state trying to do things to harm themselves doesn't make sense again throwing yourself into fire or trying to drown yourself or something extreme is not something that's normal sometimes you have to ask this question maybe this person is demon possessed and of course for us you know I don't have the ability to just cast out demons but what I do believe we have the ability to is to give the gospel and get someone saved and when you get someone saved the Holy Spirit comes inside and I believe that that would cast out whatever demon or devil be inside of them that would be demon possessed and what I think is really important about this passage is thinking about the idea of why it's important to get children saved number one perhaps it could relieve them of that but number two once they get saved this can't happen to them and a lot of people might even criticize our church or churches like us where we go out and we preach the gospel and oftentimes we'll preach to children you know we'll go to apartment complexes we'll go to parks we'll go to areas and we'll preach to young children but you know what children need to get saved just as much as adults and if children can be deemed possessed to the point where they would kill themselves or harm themselves how much more important is it to get them saved at a young age and we shouldn't look down upon the idea of getting a young child at 7, 8, 9, 10 giving them the gospel and getting them saved when we go out to preach the gospel because you know what they need the gospel and someone needs to save them and you know what Jesus had compassion on the young children in his time and we need to go out there and preach the gospel because we don't know what influences they have in their lives many times we talk to kids their parents are Muslim or Hindu or they have some kind of false religion or perhaps they're atheist who knows what kind of influences they have in their life who knows what kind of friends they have in their life and what kind of demons could come and torment them afflict them if we don't get them saved we need to go out there and preach the gospel and hey I'm not trying to usurp the authority of parents I'm not going to try and infringe on parents rights when it comes to children but if children are out and available for me to give them the gospel I will do so when appropriate obviously when there's a young child at the door I'll often ask for their parents or try to get their permission to give them the gospel but you know for the most part if a child understands and wants to hear I want to give it to them and you know we go into these apartment complexes a lot of times they're just out running around like if you're going to allow your kids to just run around with you paying attention me giving the gospel is not going to hurt anything you know what I mean and we need to go out there and preach the gospel and get a lot of these kids saved and we do and you know what it's the same as getting anybody else saved and in fact I would argue it's even better think about this kids are being cured at a young age the Bible tells us in 2 Timothy let's keep your finger here go to 2 Timothy chapter number 3 the Bible teaches that children can get saved which to me is just a great proof of the fact that salvation is not a hard process it's not a long process and has nothing to do with repenting of your sins because frankly speaking all of us have sinned way worse after being a young adult than when we were kids I mean 99.99% of people sin way more after being a teenager than before being a teenager I mean when you were a young kid your sins were not anything in comparison to probably what you did later in life or as an adult and you don't even have time to repent of those because you're still a child but look what it says in 2 Timothy chapter number 3 towards the end of this chapter it says in verse 15 and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus yes you can get saved as a young child and if you can get saved as a young child you know what else you can get baptized as a young child and you know there's nothing wrong with us getting our children saved and baptized at a young age and trying to get them on the right path for the rest of their life and look at the great example of someone that did that who ended up being greatly used of God Timothy someone that was saved at his young age he saw the faith of his mother and his grandmother and he ended up being greatly used by God yes by getting them saved at a young age encouraging them to take that step in baptism and serving God with the rest of their life I was saved at a young age and baptized at a young age and you know what I don't think that that is a coincidence that then I want to end up serving God with my life and then I know other people in my family didn't get saved at a young age and didn't get baptized ever and you know what they don't serve God you know I notice a lot of people that get saved and they don't get baptized end up not serving God in fact show me the person out there that's greatly serving God that's never been baptized hey we're Baptists we don't believe you have to do that to get saved but let me tell you something people that get baptized serve God and people who don't get baptized often never serve God and look there's plenty of people that get baptized that don't serve God but I'm telling you the ones that don't get baptized wow it's pretty much scarce pickings on anybody that's actually serving God or trying to live a godly life we want people to get baptized because we want them to serve God and walk in newness of life it's an important step it's a big step to say hey not only did I accept free salvation I want to die to self and I want to serve Christ with my life and you know we don't go around trying to give out licenses of sin we say hey after you got saved get baptized that's what we try to get people to do we try to encourage people to dedicate their life to serving God and yeah do they have to do that to be saved just telling people about it Jesus is the one that gives it out obviously but at the end of the day you know we're trying to encourage people to get baptized so that they will then serve God with their life and we need to get these children saved baptized and encourage them to serve God with their lives of course you know as a parent I want this for my children I don't want to necessarily force it on them though you know I want them to make that decision for themselves I want them to want to get baptized I want them to want to get saved so that they remember it that it's important to them that they don't just get baptized to get baptized you know I've known a lot of people and I've heard a lot of testimonies from people they say I was baptized as a young child but I didn't know what I was doing I just thought it was cool I just wanted to get baptized you know we don't want to just baptize people because it's fun or cool in fact most of them don't even seem like they like it you know I've baptized a lot of children and they're just all like it's not like super fun experience or something like that it's to talk about the fact that they want to die to self and serve God and we should talk to our children and talk to those who get baptized and explain hey this is you deciding you actually want to serve God with your life and this is a serious commitment this is something that you're dedicating yourself to and we want to take baptism seriously of course we don't want to discourage anybody from getting baptized we want everyone that wants to to get baptized that's what it looks like just like marriage you know we want people to take marriage seriously want people to take baptism seriously we want to take all these steps seriously and you know what we should take preaching the gospel to children seriously too don't think that it's a meaningless thing you know children need the gospel just as much as adults and we should care for them and give them the gospel notice also though that they couldn't get it done you know the disciples were struggling with this Jesus brings up in verse 20 because of your unbelief is the reason why they couldn't just a small faith just a small faith you would have been able to do anything but verse 21 how be it this kind goes not out but by prayer and fasting I think sometimes we have to understand that not every prayer request is answered immediately and not everything that we want to happen happens on our timeline and it doesn't mean that God's not hearing our prayers but there could be another reason why it's taking a while I want to go to a passage in Daniel if you would to chapter 10 Daniel chapter 10 and show kind of a clear example in the Bible where a prayer request takes time but what's interesting about Daniel chapter 10 is that this prayer request well it took time it wasn't God trying to delay the prayer request now in Daniel chapter 10 let's read verse number two it says in those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks I ate no pleasant bread neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth neither did I anoint myself at all till three whole weeks were fulfilled you could argue that this is a type of fasting isn't it he's not eating pleasant bread he's kind of holding himself back and he's praying for three whole weeks then if you skip down to verse 12 some angel shows up then said he unto me fear not Daniel for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God thy words were fulfilled were heard and I am come for thy words but the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one in twenty days but lo Michael one of the chief princes came to help me and I remained there with the kings of Persia now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days for yet the vision is for many days so Daniel wants to understand the word of God he's chastening himself as the Bible describes what is chasten? Discipline he's disciplining himself with what? some type of fasting so fasting is a form of self-discipline I've heard people say that you cannot discipline yourself that is a false doctrine Daniel disciplined himself he chastened himself that's what the text says so you can exercise self-discipline and Daniel then of course continues to pray does it for twenty-one days or three whole weeks is what the Bible says finally the angel shows up this tells me that we need to be steadfast in our prayers and realize that not every prayer request will be granted the day that we ask it now it wasn't that God didn't want to grant it in fact it almost seems like he did say go ahead the problem was somehow there's spiritual warfare happening that we can't see between angels and between the devil that was preventing him from coming notice it said in verse thirteen but the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one in twenty days below Michael one of the chief princes king to help me and I remained there with the kings of Persia so somehow the devil can fight against God's angels you know the Bible says in the book of Revelation chapter twelve that the devil at one point is going to have a battle and is going to be cast out of heaven so it seems very clear in the Bible that the devil can actually go up to heaven right now I don't understand how that works I don't understand what that looks like exactly but in the book of Job chapters one and two the Bible says that the devil or Satan presented himself before the Lord we also have in the book of Revelation chapter number twelve a time upon which the devil is cast out of heaven and once he's cast out of heaven he has but a short space a short time and that's where we kind of see that end times coming to fruition that last seven weeks or seven years of Daniel's 70th weeks sorry it's really just one week I misspoke it's not seven weeks but it's seven years which is one week that the devil just basically is going to have just kind of wreck havoc towards the end part of course God pours out his wrath on them but what we can see in the text is the devil somehow can fight even God's messengers and God's angels and so we see this spiritual warfare in the same way we have a child who's experiencing spiritual warfare of some kind of demon or some kind of devil possession and the disciples couldn't do it but it seems like they kind of must have given up they weren't steadfast they weren't fasting they weren't praying enough and he's kind of just mad at them for giving up and you know we want to make sure that we're not giving up on God you know sometimes we have prayer requests in our bulletin for a long time you know what we don't want to give up we want to be steadfast in God we want to be steadfast and we want to realize hey some things happen in God's timing now it could be that God's just never going to answer that particular request maybe we just don't understand it but I don't want to be the one that gives up I don't want to be someone that just prays and oh it didn't happen right now must not happen or lose faith in God you know we want to be the type of person that's just continually asking continually praying and allow the Lord's will to come to fruition whatever it is thy will be done but at the same time having the faith that hey this can happen it is possible we could even cast mountains into the sea and we just need to keep praying for those events you know whether that be good negative you know keep praying in precatory prayers keep praying positive prayers and there's been a lot of times in my life where there was things I thought couldn't happen or I was skeptical that they could ever happen but I say you know what I believe God's real I know that he answers prayer I'm just gonna pray for this anyways and he has performed miracles in my opinion things that I thought just didn't make sense or wouldn't really happen and just kept praying you know if there's that family member or friend or situation that you feel like needs to get saved don't give up on them again obviously there's reps and we get that but I'm just saying you know if there's not this obvious sign that they rejected of God we shouldn't give up on them we should keep praying and we should have faith and I think that's the lesson that he wants us to get here in Matthew 17 go back if you would I don't want to give up on the hard words and I don't want to give up on children we need to go out there and preach the gospel and get a lot of people saved verse 22 the Bible says and when they abode in Galilee Jesus said unto them the Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men they shall kill him and the third day he shall be raised again and they were exceeding sorry so Jesus is talking about the gospel notice he says in verse 23 and the third day he shall be raised again interesting Jesus can call it hey on the third day that's real specific you know as we we enter into the Passover week or this this timeline you know we'll have Palm Sunday coming up on Sunday and then we'll have Wednesday which was the Last Supper and then we'll have Thursday which was the crucifixion and then we'll end up celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Sunday Easter Sunday that's what we celebrate Easter Sunday is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ that he was raised the third day how do I get all those other days well there's a lot of things you can look at I want to go to one of the past keep your finger to Luke 24 I've made a whole chart on this before but I believe that Jesus Christ was crucified on Thursday not Friday also some people believe that it was Wednesday I believe it was Thursday now we notice that Jesus says that he was raised on the third day on Sunday Luke 24 is another clear verse on the subject and in Luke 24 it's the it's Jesus Christ kind of walking with two guys and they don't really like their high their eyes are beholden they don't realize it's Jesus it's called the walk to Emmaus a lot of people kind of know it by that and he's just he's just going through the whole Bible just explaining how Jesus was going to die be buried and risen again how he's gonna suffer and I'm always like thinking like did he die because it seems like the whole Testament signifies Jesus Christ death and resurrection but would have been a really cool you know walk it would have been a really cool conversation in fact these guys are blown away they're saying that their heart did burn within them but he's there's something that they say in this chapter that's kind of a clue about the timeline look at verse 21 this is them speaking we had trusted that had been he which should have redeemed Israel and beside all this today is the third day since these things were done now what were the things verse 20 it says and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him so it's the third day since what since he was crucified so if you think about it Sunday the first day of the week that's the day that Jesus Christ rose again early in the morning before the Sun came up before 6 a.m. Jesus has risen I don't know the exact time could have been 2 a.m. 3 a.m. maybe even 4 a.m. probably it was at least by 4 a.m. just because other people had shown up before the Sun had risen and they he was already gone so and it says it very early on the first day so it's probably somewhere around 2 a.m. 3 a.m. is what I would just speculate but it's definitely on Sunday early in that morning so if you think about it Sunday is the third day since okay and we'll do three so that would make Saturday the second day since that would make Friday the first day since what since crucified Sunday is the third day since crucified Saturday is the second day since crucified Friday is the first day since crucified well you can't really have died on Friday if it's been the first day since that's happened so that's just another great evidence of how you could kind of figure out it's Thursday it's it's it could be complicated there's I've made a whole chart if you want to show people but if I were to try to explain it to somebody really quickly this is what I would do I just go to Luke 24 say hey verse 20 he was crucified verse 21 is the third day since so then you just count backwards Sunday is the third day since Saturday is the second day since Friday is the first day since crucified he was crucified on Thursday it's pretty good and of course the Bible you know talks about three days and three nights that he's gonna be in the heart of the earth well he was crucified at the ninth hour which would have been approximately 3 p.m. and you know it says that he died in that ninth hour so that would be somewhere between three and four so you basically have Thursday is that first day a couple hours then you have Thursday night so there's your night then you have Friday day that's the second day Saturday night then you have Saturday day then you have Saturday night and then he rose so you have three days and three nights and he rose you know before the Sun came up on that first day so you have the three days and three nights now is it a 72 hour period no but doesn't matter where you plot it it's never gonna be 72 hours it's just not possible to be 72 hours because he died in the ninth hour and he's not rising again on the ninth hour of that other day so it's just it's like two point you know something days and and two point something it's basically you know two point something on both sides two point something days two point something nights but think about it that's how we talk when we talk about hotels if you get a hotel and you're staying somewhere you say hey I'm gonna be there two days in one night but usually when you show up at the hotel you can't clock in until what 3 p.m. or something right but you still count that as a day even though it's interesting Jesus died at 3 that's where hotels got it okay guys you know you're wondering like why it's 3 p.m. it's and I'm just that was a joke okay but you got that day then you have the night and then you have the next day and you don't even stay there the whole day they make you clock out at what 11 or something or 10 or something like that in the morning but it's still two days one night because that's just how we speak okay so that's that's how you can kind of quickly understand that go back to Matthew chapter 17 if you're watching the video chart it's on our website you can't share it on Facebook they'll ban you but you can you can see the chart Matthew 17 look at verse 24 and when they were come to Capernaum they that received tribute money came to Peter and said does not your master pay tribute he saith yes and when he was coming to the house Jesus prevented him saying what thinkest thou Simon of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute of their own children or the children of them of strangers Jesus saith on him then are the children free notwithstanding lest we should offend them go thou to the sea and cast unhook and take up the fish that first cometh up and when thou has opened his mouth thou shalt find a piece of money that take and give unto them for me and thee so I think you know Jesus is kind of answering this question in an interesting way it's almost like he's saying like technically speaking since we're the sons of God and God is the one really in charge we we wouldn't have to pay taxes but in a sense by not paying taxes you're gonna offend earthly authorities and it's an unnecessary offense that will just hinder your life and hinder your testimony and going to preach the gospel someone that did this is Ken Hovind Ken Hovind was not paying taxes he was just he was just basically saying like no I'm just a guy of the land and you don't have any authority over me and he tried to make all these arguments about why he didn't have to pay taxes well I mean I can't even say he's wrong because Jesus is saying here hey technically we should be free but what happens when you do that you offend them and then Ken Hovind had to go to prison for like a decade or something like that don't quote me on the timeline but it was several years that he went to prison and you know I'm not saying that he didn't accomplish anything in prison but couldn't have accomplished more by not going to jail hey I'm not saying that I don't want to go to jail for some things you know if it's preach the gospel and I'm gonna go to jail well I'm gonna be willing to do that you know preach you know controversial things in the Bible I might be willing to do that but at the end of the day you know I don't want to go to jail for something to the Bible saying this is not a die to heal or a hill to die on and to me it's just like pay the money and just move on and notice hey you pay your taxes God will cause miracles sometimes just give you the money to pay the tax anyways right just open up a fish and hey here's the message it's just a symbolic meaning here of like how do you get money you work right he's a fisherman he gets the fish it turns into money hey you go out and you pay your taxes yeah we all have to work and pay taxes we can't just all be full-time soul winners and never go and work and again is that is that frustrating yeah does it slow us down a little bit sure but that's just how God has ordained it and so God wants us to do this but think about if we just all gave up on marriage and working and we just preached the gospel then it wouldn't last to the next generation we're raising up the next generation and trying to reach more people and so from a longevity perspective it's important that we still earn wages make income have houses have children and basically be fruitful and multiply so that more work can be done you know this church we've been doing a great work we've been growing and in some ways you know I think we feel a little bit of the inconveniences of growing just you know we've moved around a lot that's caused a lot of people hard hard times you know raising money to buy buildings or have nice stuff takes a lot of work and effort but you know I don't want to just sit here and not accomplish that you know I'd like to pass down something to the next generation and even if we don't get to enjoy it as much in our lifetime it'd be nice for them to get to enjoy it and so you know working hard to build them a nice building and build them a nice program and have a nice church that we can pass on to the next generation you know I don't want to sit here and just say he couldn't build the house of the Lord but he laid up so that his son could end up building the house of the Lord and even if we don't get to enjoy all the fruits of our labor I still think it's biblical to lay up and build for the next generation so that they can enjoy those things and you know church has been kind of on the decline in the past but let's go ahead and rebuild hey the temple of the Lord was destroyed with the Babylonians but then Nehemiah and his generation came and rebuilt it so then the next generations could enjoy it and they could go forward and so you know we can rebuild the Baptist faith we can rebuild independent fundamental Baptist we can rebuild King James only ism we can rebuild soul winning we can rebuild you know baptism by immersion we can rebuild singing the Psalms we can rebuild a lot of different things that the next generations can enjoy and use for the service of God and for the glory of God and we had to invest in that you know we don't want to have a short time or short-term mindset one thing that kind of gets brought up in this passage recently is something about the idea of tariffs and I think that President Trump has been really pushing this idea and a lot of people ask like what do you think about tariffs well you know when it comes to tariffs it's it's kind of a complicated issue and and economics can be a little bit complicated but generally speaking I believe tariffs if done correctly can be a good thing now what is a tariff okay and if you're you're like I don't care just just close your eyes for a moment and pray to the Lord and pray to the Lord and pray to the Lord something okay I'm gonna educate you if you actually want to learn something let me explain how terrorists work okay terrorists are essentially just charging extra money to a foreign country when they bring a good to America so let's just say they bring and and we have almost every good imported today lumber steel even finished products such as just toys and electronics and all kinds of goods so let's just say we have almost every good imported today lumber steel even finished products such as just toys and electronics and all kinds of goods they're constantly being imported from China China and China okay and a few other places very few other places a lot of cars though brought in from Germany and I don't know why Germany just made a lot of cars and they're superior that's a different conversation but they bring in all kinds of different goods now what does a tariff do essentially let's just isolate it to one product because it's all products was all products were all products were all products were all products were all products were all products isolated to one product because it's all products was isolated to one this is a steel steel steel has a certain price well you could buy Chinese steel or you could buy US steel I looked at today it said that US steel and I don't know the exact conversion rate but they were saying whatever normal unit of measurement that you buy steel in American steel is four hundred and sixty five dollars more expensive than Chinese steel right now so what America could do or what the president is suggesting is they would just impose a tariff on that so let's just and I don't know the numbers I don't even know if he has one but he could just say all right now Chinese steel is two hundred dollars more than it was before and it closes that gap a little bit instead of being four hundred and sixty five dollars different now it's two hundred dollars difference and that two hundred dollars would just simply be collected by the US government so the US government would just get this extra two hundred dollars and be paid by the Chinese when they sell this good now of course when you do this what does the Chinese do well they just jack the price up two hundred dollars so then who ends up really paying it us we end up we end up having to pay that and of course we do it indirectly pay that a company that buys the steel would pay that and then that company that's producing whatever goods we need to seal they jack up their price and then we end up paying it so here's the thing about tariffs and you got to think about goods that we purchase if there's an American good and let's just say it's twenty dollars to make it and the Chinese goods five dollars if they raise a tariff that's like let's just say they add two bucks onto it well it's never going to change the amount of consumption of that product it's literally just gonna be a two dollar tax on Americans because everybody that was buying the five dollar good is probably gonna still buy it at seven dollars so in fact for a tariff to be effective it almost has to raise the price to about an equivalent price or close to for it to actually change the consumption of that particular product okay so if America does not raise tariffs enough to actually affect the consumption all it is is just passing on more tax to us just increasing the price of the goods that we have here's the second thing if the US government does not then have an offset of a tax rebate to us lowering our taxes to compensate for the income they get from tariffs then again it just taxes the American people even more so if America does not raise tariffs enough to actually affect the consumption all it is is just lowering our taxes even more so tariffs done wrong is just an extra way to tax us okay just tax the American people just pass we just have to pay that much more money on our goods and we don't get any benefit whatsoever and the federal government just gets more money of course the foreign companies don't get anything either it's just simply the federal government lining their pockets through the Americans by a consumer tax essentially now because we have so many illegals in our country though they're not paying a lot of taxes they're not even registered so by increasing taxes though it actually just helps them collect money from people that weren't paying so consumer taxes can be good but we again want offsets from the federal government so again my position is hey I'm all for terrorists if number one you actually affect the consumption of that product and then number two you give us tax offsets because of those terrorists now I've done correctly it's greatly beneficial to the American people and to us if done poorly it's just an extra tax burden that's given unto us okay and another factor of tariffs though and this is really important that people don't understand is just a military aspect you know we like to think of that we're at peace with everybody but we're not necessarily at peace with everybody and I think you've probably experienced in COVID the supply and demand issue with vehicles because we had certain computer chips that were being manufactured afar and because of basically supply chain issues them not manufacturing and sending them to us nobody had cars to sell and we have certain raw materials like steel lumber other goods that if we're completely dependent on foreign companies or foreign countries to supply those goods to us in a military situation we're hurting and harming ourselves you know you don't want to be dependent upon foreign countries or foreign institutions for raw materials and goods and so another factor of tariffs that's good is when we actually tariff important infrastructure type raw materials so that in a military situation we're not dependent upon them because what if we just say you know what we're gonna make US Steel so expensive that no one's ever gonna buy it we're only gonna buy foreign steel well then what happens all the steel plants shut down and then we have no infrastructure and then what happens in a military situation we need steel all of a sudden well we have no manufacturing plants we have nobody producing it and we basically put ourselves in a bad situation where we can't produce the goods we need for military situations so you know tariffs are a good thing in the US again applied for poorly all it is is an extra tax passed on to the United States but again executed properly they protect you militarily they protect your economy and they reduce the tax burden on citizens of richer nations we are a rich nation already and it would just make us a little bit richer if done correctly so again I'm not against tariffs that's just that's just a quick rundown high level there's a lot of nuance to this if you want to study that let's go back to the verse one and I'm gonna point out a few more things okay you're like I don't care about tariffs well it could affect you I'm just I'm just bringing up some people ask me and they care all right here's the thing I want to point out we've gone through this whole chapter here's something that I find really interesting about this did you notice in verse one that only Peter James and John get to go Jesus here's something that the Bible teaches and it's interesting is that God has favorites you know the Bible talks about John being the disciple on whom Jesus loved doesn't mean he doesn't love all of them but he has a special place in his heart for John and is it any coincidence that when you look at this group Peter and John those are two of the guys end up writing large sections of the New Testament in fact of the disciples who writes the most of the New Testament John John writes the most of the New Testament you got John and you got Paul and you got John and you 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, written by John. You have Peter, he has 1st and 2nd Peter, but if you look at the disciples themselves, John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, is the one that ends up writing the most of the New Testament as far as the disciples only, and then Peter's kind of like second place. And if you think about it, they're both the ones that do the most work for the kingdom of God. Peter, of course, being that rock that helps the church get started. So think about it this way, not everybody's gonna be treated the exact same by Jesus and used the same by Jesus, because there is a hierarchy in the kingdom of God. Let's prove this, go to Matthew 5. I'm gonna look at a lot of verses here real quick and we'll finish. But, you know, only Peter, James, and John get to go up. Of course, James and John are considered the sons of Zebedee, they're greatly used of God. Matthew, chapter number five, look at verse number 19. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. How you live your life will determine all of eternity how you spend it. And if you're considered great or the least, there will be a hierarchy in heaven and it'll be based on your works. Not all the disciples are the same. Not all Christians are the same. Let me say this, not all pastors are the same. Not all churches are the same. Not all soul winners are the same. And you say, is that fair? I don't know. I kind of like God's system. You know who likes it to not be this way? Communists. I'm not a communist. I like that God rewards us according to our works. Go to Luke nine, go to Luke nine. I'm gonna look at a lot of verses here. You know, when I was going into the workforce, I ended up working for a bank for a while. And what I noticed in the bank is it wasn't really about how much skill or effort or work you put in. It was just about how many years you'd been there. And everybody got the same raise basically. And I kind of thought, you know, I want to work in an industry where if I work harder than someone else, I get rewarded more than them. I want to work in an industry where skill matters. I want to work in an industry where the effort and energy that I put in has a direct output. I don't want to just sit here and work super hard and the next guy does nothing and we both get the same raise. And you know what? That's what I love about Christianity is that in Christianity God does not operate that way. God doesn't look at someone working super hard and reward them the same as someone that's lazy and doing nothing. And you know what? We're here on Wednesday night. Don't think that you serving God on Wednesday night has no impact on your life. Hey, you could be a Sunday morning only, but you know what? I'm not looking to be the least in the kingdom of heaven. Hey, you can be an Easter only Christian, but you know what? I'm not looking to be the least in the kingdom of heaven. I don't want to be an Easter only Christian. I want to be a Christian that's there Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night at the conferences, at the missions trips, at the soul winning times. I want to go out there and the highways and hedges and preach the gospel to every creature. Because you know what? I'm not trying to see a bare minimum Christianity that I can live. I want to live a steadfast Christianity. That's always abounding in the work of the Lord. That's what I was striving for. That's what I want to encourage you to strive for. You know, not all pastors, not all churches are the same. Is that fair? It's not fair in a sense, but in another sense, it's completely fair because people should be rewarded according to their works. You know, there's this idea that, and it's usually people that aren't very successful and aren't very good. They just kind of act like, oh, size doesn't matter. And works doesn't matter. And all the things that we do don't matter. And how good a preacher someone is doesn't matter. It should all matter. I mean, you know, God gives people 10 talents, five talents and one talents. You know what he wants them to do with them? Produce, produce results. And you know, if God gives someone 10 talents, they should output 10 talents. Hey, if he only gave you five and you can only produce five, okay, but produce five. Hey, if you only got one, well produce one. But don't be someone that doesn't produce. Luke chapter number nine, look at verse 46. Luke chapter nine, look at verse 46. Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be the greatest? Notice that they want to be the greatest. Now, of course they had the wrong mindset of how to accomplish that, but there was nothing wrong with wanting to be the greatest. Go to Mark, go back to Mark. I want to look at a couple more verses here. Go to Mark chapter number 10. The disciples, you know, they want to be great. James and John come to Jesus, asking to sit at his right hand and his left hand. You can kind of see there's a rivalry constantly between Peter and John. And you can tell Peter's just kind of like, he's kind of frustrated that he feels like he's in second place. And he wants to get in there. But you know, I like the competitive aspect that these disciples have. And of course I think that's why they're greatly used by God is because they want to do work. They want to be great. They're not sitting here just like, you know, I don't know if I want to serve God or not. It's like Jesus walks by and says, come and follow me. And they just immediately follow him. They're ready to go. They're ready. They said they had forsaken all to serve God. They weren't just some, you know, fly by night Christian. They were a lifelong dedicated Christian to serve God. They were all in. Look at Mark chapter number 10, verse 35. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee come on him saying, master, we would that thou shouldst do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And he said to them, what would ye that I should do for you? They said to them, grant unto us that we may sit one on thy right hand and the other on thy left hand and thy glory. Somebody is going to be really close to Jesus and his glory. And some people aren't. Some people are going to be the right hand. Some people are going to be left. Some people are going to be really close. And you know what? They want to be close to Jesus. They want to succeed. They want to win. They want to accomplish something great for the Lord Jesus Christ. And not everybody got to go to the Mount Transfiguration. Peter, James and John, they got to go. Why? Because they dedicated themselves. Go to first Corinthians chapter number nine. Go to first Corinthians chapter number nine. Hey, you want to be greatly used by God. Well, there's limited spots in some cases. Who you say, Oh, I want to do it. Are you sure you can be baptized with that type of baptism which Jesus basically says to them? Are you sure that's what you want? He'll give it to you, but you got to work for it. You got to forsake all. Look at first Corinthians chapter number nine verse 24. Know you not that they which run in a race run all but one receive at the prize. So run that you may obtain and every man that strived for the master is tempered in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we and incorruptible. He's bringing out this analogy. Paul, he's saying, look, in a race, only one person wins. And in a sense, only one person will be the greatest Christian. In a sense, only one person will be the second greatest Christian. In a sense, only one person will be the third greatest Christian. And here's the question, where are you going to be? Well, it's up to you and what kind of race that you're going to run. Go to first Corinthians 15. Is it a coincidence that we see Peter used by God kind of in second place and in a sense kind of second place in the number of books of the New Testament he writes from the disciples perspective. First place would be John. But you know what? Who's really first place in being used? The apostle Paul. Apostle Paul writes the most of the New Testament. Is it a coincidence that then the apostle Paul is also the one that accomplishes the most work and does the most things for God? No, it's not a coincidence, okay? And what does the apostle Paul say, why? Why did he accomplish more? Why did he get used more by God? Why did he write more than the New Testament? First Corinthians 15 verse 10. But by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain but I labored more abundantly than they all. Yet not I but the grace of God which was with me. You know why the apostle Paul was greatly used of God? You know why God had so much grace on him? Because he knew that the grace would not be in vain and that the apostle Paul would labor more abundantly than they all. That the apostle Paul would put his life in sacrifice and go out and start churches all over Asia and all over this world and turn the whole world upside down to the gospel. Someone that would be willing to be stoned and get up and go to the next city. Someone that would be shipwrecked for a day and a night and the depths of the sea and then get out and go again. Someone that would be basically killed and get up and just do it again. Someone that would get whipped 39 times or 40 times save one and get up and go to the next city. The apostle Paul who was contemptible in the flesh but yet he was mighty in the spirit and the demonstration of spirit and power by preaching the word of God. And he's the one that's used by God. So you know what? If you're willing to put in the work, God will greatly reward you. And God has favorites. Why is John the disciple whom Jesus loved? Because of the works. It's all about the works folks. And we need to be willing to do the works. Go to James four and we'll finish. Go to James chapter number four. Only one person gets to sit on the right hand. Only one person gets to sit on the left hand. There's only 24 elders in heaven that are throwing down their crowns. There's only certain positions limited to certain people. And you know, where are you gonna be in heaven? That's based on you and your works. Oh, you know, I don't wanna go to church on Wednesday night. Well, you know, that might be a sacrifice but think about what kind of rewards you're gonna have in heaven for all of eternity. Think about the extra soul winning you did. Those are gonna be eternal rewards, eternal labors that you had laid up. Whereas this life, we even forget what we did. I mean, who in here can tell me what they did 70 weeks ago on Wednesday night? Now, some of you said I was in church. I have no idea what happened but it's probably a long sermon. It's pretty accurate. But I'm just saying like, do you even remember? Was it really worth it? What was your life like before you went to church? Do you even really remember Monday from Tuesday from Wednesday the third? Do you even remember those days? I mean, does it even really matter? It's all vain. You've forgotten. It's meaningless. But you know what we do to serve God, getting people saved and doing the things of God. You know, these are gonna have eternal consequences. And if you really wanna be close to Jesus, well, you have to draw close yourself. Look at James chapter four, verse eight. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Peter and John are drawing nigh to Jesus and then notice he's picking them to go out with him. You know, it's not just that example. Earlier in the text, we had Jesus going to heal a young girl and he only allows Peter, James and John to go into the house again. And it's not like he's just randomly picking three people out of the crowd. Who does he always pick? The three best. You read the Old Testament, David had his mighty men and then he has them literally ranked. Here's number one, here's the next three, here's the next three. This guy's mightier than this guy. This guy's better than that guy. And look, I'm not trying to take this to a carnal way where we start comparing ourselves among ourselves and we start trying to like see where we rank or something, but we should also realize that we are ranked. We should also realize that what we do has an impact and what we should do is we should compete for that prize. I like competition. I like sports and athletics and things like that. But you know, the most important competition we're in is the one for serving Christ. You know, I'm not like upset when someone posts like, hey, I got five people saved today. I'm just trying to pray. He thinks he got them saved. You know what I'm thinking? Like, I need to do more. You know, when someone goes out and does a great missions trip, I'm not sitting here thinking like, ah, he's probably just doing that to try and get glory of man or something. No, I'm thinking like, I need to do more missions trips. Hey, I need to get more people saved. Just like, hey, when Peter and John are running to the tomb, one guy gets a little ahead of you kind of like, hey, I got to pick up the pace. I got to run a little harder, you know? And sometimes we look at other people serving God. I want to be around people that want to go hard. I want to be around people that want to get people saved. I want to be around people that want to go on missions trips. I want to be around people that want to be in church. I want to be around people that want to serve God, not just on an Easter service once a year. No, I want to be around people that want to serve God with their life. They want to go three times a week. They're going to get baptized. They're going to dedicate their lives to the word of God. They're going to memorize scripture. They're going to read the Bible cover to cover. And you know what? They're going to raise their family to serve God. I'm not looking to see how lukewarm I can get. I want to see how red hot I can get. And I want to get church going harder and harder, not softer and softer. I want us to mature and learn and grow more and do more. I don't want to get to a point where we're slowing down. Where we say, hey, remember when we used to do a lot of missions trips? Remember when we used to have all these cool conferences? Remember when we used to be busting at the seams? Remember when we used to get a lot of people baptized? Remember when we had a big soul winning year? Now I want to say, hey, let's do more this year. Let's keep going. Let's do bigger things and bigger events and let's just keep going. And then whatever God's blessed us with, let's use it for his honor and for his glory. You know, some people could try to build a big church or do a lot of stuff for themselves. But honestly, those people that have that attitude are probably going to fail. But I don't think there's anything wrong with us accomplishing big works and great works. I mean, Jesus said, greater works they eat you do. So we should try to do great works. Someone should love God enough to do something big. So how many people are just dedicating their lives to be some great champion of the world? We should be great champions of the faith. And we should model to the world what it looks like when a bunch of people dedicate themselves to the things of God. And they're not steadfast in name, they're steadfast in action and purpose. Let's close in prayer. Thank you Heavenly Father so much for the word of God. Thank you for this opportunity to serve you. I pray that you would just help motivate us to realize that the works that we do have an impact. I pray that we could see the importance of accomplishing works, not only for just reward's sake, but rather for your honor and for your glory. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to do something that matters with our lives. I pray that we've motivated to go out and preach the gospel to not only the old, but also to the young. I pray that you would help to use our church to do great works for your son's name. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, for our last song, let's go to song number 23. 23. Song number 23, there is power in the blood. Let's all sing it out together on that first verse. Would you be free from your burden of sin? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you be worrying for a day turning in? There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, under working power in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, under working power in the precious blood of the Lamb. Would you be free from your passion and pride? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Come for a cleansing to shower inside. There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, under working power in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, under working power in the precious blood of the Lamb. Would you be wider, much wider than snow? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Since things are lost in its life giving flow, there's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, under working power in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, under working power in the precious blood of the Lamb. Would you do service for Jesus your King? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you live daily as praises to sing? There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, under working power in the blood of the Lamb. There is power, power, under working power in the precious blood of the Lamb. . . . . .