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

Out the middle to reward, even when the heart is ringing, keep my crown, who held my soul. Hallelujah, God, I sing, hallelujah, Lord, I pray. Singing, helping, believing, loving, he is ready to hear. Jesus, Lord, high and deep, throughout the deathless, still is I. Storms shall now be mine for days, be mine by the yearside by. Hallelujah, God, I sing, hallelujah, Lord, I pray. Singing, helping, believing, loving, he is ready to hear. On the last. Jesus, I do now receive you more than all that give and find. He hath granted me forgiveness, God, and given me his life. Hallelujah, God, I sing, hallelujah, Lord, I pray. Singing, helping, believing, loving, he is ready to hear. Jesus comes to reward his servants, whether in bitter or nigh. Painful to him and advised us, watching, in our mental strength and pride. Oh, can we say we are any other, any good old souls by God, saying he'll be kind, he will be still watching, waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come. If at the dawn of the early morning, he shall call us one by one. When to the Lord we restore our talents, we'll be here to be well-done. Oh, can we say we are any other, any good old souls by God, saying he'll be kind, he will be still watching, waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come. Have we been true to the trust he left us? Do we seem to do our best? If in our hearts there is not good in us, here's to the glorious rest. Oh, can we say we are any other, ready for the souls by God, saying he'll be kind, he will be still watching, waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come. Blessed are those whom the Lord finds watching, in his glory they shall share. If he shall come at the dawn or midnight, will he find us watching there? Oh, can we say we are any other, ready for the souls by God, saying he'll be kind, he will be still watching, waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me. I praise salvation so rich and free. I will meet you in the morning, just inside Easter day. Then be ready faithful children, Blessed are you in me today. I will meet you, I will meet you, just inside Easter day. I will meet you, I will meet you, I will meet you in the morning over there. If you face it all to glory, leave her near Easter day. Oh, I'm coming in the morning, so you'll not have long to wait. I will meet you in the morning, I will meet you in the morning, just inside Easter day. I will meet you, I will meet you, I will meet you in the morning over there. Keep your legs all trimmed and dirty, or the bathroom washed away. We'll be with us at the meeting, just inside Easter day. I will meet you in the morning, I will meet you in the morning, just inside Easter day over there. I will meet you in the morning, I will meet you in the morning, I will meet you in the morning over there. Oh, the joy of that glad meeting with the saints who love us. . . Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. It's great to see everybody here this morning. If we can go ahead and find our seats, we will get started. And for our first song this morning, we're going to sing together song number 55. Song number 55, When the Roll is Called Up Yonder. Song number 55. When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more, and the morning breaks eternal pride and care. When the saved and versed shall gather over on the other shore, and the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. When the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise, and the glory of His resurrection share. When His chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies, and the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. When the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. Let us labor for the Master of the dawn till setting sun, let us talk of all His wonders love and care. And when all of life is over and our work on earth is done, when the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. When the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, when the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. Great singing everybody. Let's open up the service now with a word of prayer. Lord, we love you and we just wanna thank you again for this awesome church. Thank you for the ability to gather here and sing unto you and hear your preaching. Lord, we love you. We just ask you to fill this church with your spirit, Lord, and bless the service. And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, for our next song, let's go to song number eight. A little bit of a newer song, song number eight. I don't believe we've sung this together. If you know it well, sing it out loud so we can all follow along. Song number eight. I am coming to the cross. I am poor and weak and blind. I am counting all the draws. I shall grow salvation mine. Oh, my heart has sighed for thee. Long as evil reigns within, Jesus sweetly speaks to me. I will cleanse you from all sin. Here I give my all to thee, friends in time and earthly store, soul and body kind to me, holding out crying forevermore. In the promises I trust, now I feel the blood of life. I am prostrate in the dust. I with Christ have crucified. Jesus comes, he fills my soul. And I give him where I am. I am every wind made whole. Glory, glory to the Lamb. Great job. Good morning. Thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you did not already get a bulletin, you would like one. Lift up your hand nice and high. One of our ushers can come by and get you guys a bulletin. On the front, we have our Bible memory passage, and we're getting really close to completing Matthew 28. If you can quote the entire chapter, there will be a prize that we give out to everyone. On the inside, we have our service times, our soul-winning times. We also have some church stats. And we're on pace to do better than we did last year, even at the halfway mark. And so I think a good goal for us is to see if we can beat our salvation totals from last year at our halfway mark and then do it again. So we'll basically double our numbers from last year. I think that would be a great goal to have. Also on the right, we have a list of expecting ladies. Continue to pray for them. Upcoming events, this is going to be the final kids' choir practice this Sunday. And then we're going to have our kids' choir perform for us on Easter services, so that's very exciting. There's a spring swap later this afternoon. Mrs. Naeem has been helping organize that. And so you can, I believe it's set up outside. Is that correct? So after the services are in between services, you can go out here. And of course, our spring swap is just something where people just donated items that they no longer have any need of. And so if you would like to just browse, everything is just completely free. So it is first come, first serve. Please don't fight anybody over it. But it is essentially just there for the taking. So if you'd like to go out there and just kind of look. And anything that's left over is just going to be donated to some other organization like Goodwill or something. So don't feel bad about taking anything. They were obviously donated to be taken. And so they're goods for you if you want. Also Easter Sunday, April 20th. So next Sunday, the evening service, we're going to have a Lord's Supper. And so we're going to partake then. Of course, I do believe that Jesus died on Thursday. We don't have services on Thursday. Some people do Lord's Supper on Wednesday, and I get that. But just to maximize the amount of people that are able to attend and participate, we're just going to do that on Sunday evening service. Also, we have the Scott Baby Shower. And there's some details about that. The Mother's Day Brunch. My wife already put out a notice about this to sign up in the ladies' group chat. So if you've already RSVP'd via the group chat, you're good. But there's also a sign-up sheet. So if you haven't done that, you can sign up out here in the foyer. Or you can do it via the ladies' group chat. A couple church reminders. We do still have a quiet time. It's slightly adjusted because of choir practice. But immediately after choir practice, we do try to dim the lights and be completely quiet in the sanctuary area. No running around. Kids should not be doing anything like talking or doing anything like that. And it just gives opportunity for people to just kind of rest in between services if they'd like it. If you want to talk or fellowship, you could do it in our fellowship room or just somewhere else. Also, there's no running or rough playing in the church at any time. Children should not be in our stage area or the kitchen area or fridges or ice machine. Also, they shouldn't be in a Mother Bay room without their mothers. This is all for their safety and just trying to keep things decently and in order. Our fellowship room is not a play area either. Children should also not be using our church materials or supplies unnecessarily. Please make sure you're cleaning up after yourself. We do have water bottles in our fridges for guests or for soul winning. And then down below, make sure you're watching your kids and kiddos. Please obey all the authorities and the adults here. On the back is the note about the baby shower. And it's going to be in honor of the Scotts and their baby boy. It's going to be from 12 to 2 on May 3rd. They are registered on Amazon. It's nursing's only preferred. If you have to bring your kids, we still want you to show up. But if you can, leave them at home. That is ideal. Please RSVP to Ms. Milstead about that. Down below is our prayer list and continue to pray for our church. So that's pretty much all I have as far as announcements are concerned. We're going to sing our psalm of the week. It's in our psalm binders. Psalm 126. Psalm 126. We'll write them Psalm 126. Psalm 126. We'll write them Psalm 126. We'll write them Psalm 126. Great things for us. Great singing everybody. Now as the offering plates are being passed around, go ahead and turn in your Bibles to John chapter 12. That's the book of John chapter number 12. We'll be right back. John 12, the Bible reads, Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. Then said Jesus, Let her alone, against the day of my burying, has she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you, but me ye have not always. Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there, and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead. But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death, because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus. On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna, blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon, as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, thy king cometh, sitting on an ass's colt. These things understood not as disciples at the first, but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him. The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave and raised him from the dead bear record. For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing, behold, the world is gone after him. And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast. The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethesda of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew, and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come that the son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my Father honor. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. The people therefore that stood by and heard it said that it thundered. Others said an angel spake to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever, and how sayest thou, The Son of Man must be lifted up, who is this Son of Man? Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. That the saying of Asias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed, are report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed. Therefore they could not believe, because that Asias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Asias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him. Nevertheless, among the chief rulers also, many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me, should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judge him. The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself, but the Father, which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak, therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you so much, Lord, for this day, for our church. I pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit. Help him to preach the sermon. Bless all aspects of the sermon this morning, and help us to apply it to our lives so that we could serve you better, Lord God, and give us zeal for the things of God for you, for your work. We love you. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Amen. I want to look back at verse number 12 here in John chapter 12. The Bible says, on the next day, much people that were come to the feast when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried, Hosanna, blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. And we have here a triumphal entry of the Lord Jesus Christ into the city of Jerusalem, and a lot of things are happening. One of the things that's pointed out in the text is that they took branches of palm trees, and they're waving them, and they're putting them in front of the Lord Jesus Christ, along with other coats and garments, and he's riding along these palm tree branches. And this is where we get the title that we celebrate, the idea of Palm Sunday. Now, Palm Sunday is just a term that's used to describe the Sunday before the resurrection, before Easter, and it kind of starts that timeline that we have here in the Bible. And I don't think I've ever preached a sermon on Palm Sunday about Palm Sunday, and I figure today would be a great day to do so. And so the title of my sermon this morning is just simply Palm Sunday. And I want to talk about the palm tree and I believe its significance in relation to these events as well as just biblically speaking. Now, one thing you have to understand about the Bible is that God uses carnal truths to expound spiritual truths, things that we observe in our physical reality often reflect spiritual truths that we can glean from the Word of God. If you think about a palm tree itself, it's a very unique tree, unique vegetation that can thrive in some of the most harsh and strict conditions. It's something that does well in a desert-type climate or climates that don't necessarily have as much water as other areas. It's a special type of plant and vegetation, and it has certain properties about it that I believe if we study and look at the palm tree, we'll see parallels of this in the Word of God. Now, to talk about the text for a second, if you think about the timeline here, Jesus Christ enters into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Now, Wednesday is going to be the day upon which the disciples come together and they have the Last Supper, where they come together and they eat and they fellowship, and this kind of is the beginning of that Passover week. Passover is a word that can describe several different things in the Bible. Passover can refer to the animal upon which is sacrificed, so the sheep or the lamb that is sacrificed is often called the Passover. Additionally, Passover can be referred to as the entire festival or the entire week of events that happen. Now, the Passover is a special festival that is seven days of 11 bread, but they have one day prior to called the day of preparation or the preparation day, and so it's technically an eight-day feast if you think about the Passover as a particular event. Also, Passover can refer to the meal which is eaten at the beginning of the seven days of 11 bread. So you have the preparation day where you're preparing the lamb and you're preparing everything to enjoy this seven days of 11 bread, and so they get set up and then at 6 o'clock the Jewish calendar switches days, so at 6 p.m. they switch into the next calendar day and that's when they have the Lord's Supper. So if you understand, about 6 p.m. on Wednesday they entered into the eight days of the Passover feast, and so they have their last supper, they go through the preparation day, the Lord Jesus Christ is killed at 3 p.m. on Thursday just when the Passover lamb would normally be sacrificed, roast with fire, and be ready to be eaten by 6 p.m. on Thursday starting or commencing the seven days of unleavened bread. Some of these things are pretty interesting when you think about traditions that we hold as Christians because we're meeting here on Sunday morning, and why would we meet on Sunday morning? Well, we meet on Sunday morning because of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we see in the book of Acts that the disciples met on the first day of the week. I saw someone commenting and saying, why aren't we meeting on the Sabbath? But the text does not imply the disciples meeting on the Sabbath day, but rather we meet on the first day of the week, signifying that God is first in our lives, He's of the most importance, we see the disciples, they met on the first day of the week, and it commemorates the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Another day that's significant, if you think about it, is Wednesday evening, because what was Wednesday evening? It was the Last Supper. And who met at the Last Supper? It wasn't the entire church, it wasn't the 120 Sunday morning onlys, it was the disciples that met on Wednesday night. And if you've ever been to a fundamental Baptist church, you realize that you have a lot of Sunday morning onlys, and then the disciples show up on Wednesday night, don't they? And we sing hymns and we have a special meeting, and it's a little bit more of the core members that are meeting there on those Wednesday night services, the ones that are really dedicated and plugged in. So you have all these great significant events. Of course, you have Palm Sunday. It's great that you're here on Palm Sunday. It proves that you're not an Easter only Christian. You know, there's certain Christians that they only go to church on Easter, they only show up once a year, and I'm not going to fight these people and say that they're bad or something, but that's not the type of Christianity I want. I don't want a type of Christianity where I only show up at church once a week. I want a type of Christianity where I'm like the palm tree that's constantly flourishing throughout the entire year and no matter what the conditions are. And we see the Lord Jesus Christ is entering in, they're signifying His importance by laying down these palm trees, and they're saying, Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. There's a special blessing to people that are coming in the name of the Lord, that they're a representative of the things of God, that they're putting forth a message from God, that they want to be an ambassador for God. And there's a special blessing to everyone that comes in the name of the Lord. When we go out and knock on doors and preach the gospel, we're coming in the name of the Lord, and let me tell you something, there's a special blessing on those that are coming in the name of the Lord. There's a special blessing on a church that's here in the name of the Lord. There's a special blessing on people that, Hey, I exist because of the name of the Lord, and I want to be a representative of the name of the Lord, and I want to come in the power and authority of the name of the Lord. Why? Because we get victory from the name of the Lord. Now, this particular passage is a quote of the book of Psalms, chapter 118. Let's go there, Psalm 118. Think about this, they're shouting, possibly even singing, Psalm 118, when the Lord Jesus Christ is entering in. The book of Psalms is a psalm booklet. It contains music that is to be sung, and I want to look at a lot of psalms today, because the psalms reflect such great doctrine in the Bible, and they reflect great teaching in the Bible, that is timeless doctrine and timeless understanding, and I believe that it helps us understand some of the things that people are thinking and believing whenever they are hearing Jesus Christ coming into town, they're seeing him and they're worshiping him, and of course the Pharisees and the Jews are offended at this, many of them because they realize, hey, by saying Hosanna and the King of Israel, you're attributing this guy to be Christ, you're making this guy to be the Savior, making this guy to be the one that's coming in the name of the Lord, and Jesus Christ is that person, though, and they didn't want to believe that, the Pharisees were mad at this, they didn't like that people were singing it, but you can't help but just do it when you see Jesus Christ doing this. Now, for sake of time, I'm not going to go to all the places to talk about palm trees, but the Bible talks about after we get resurrected, so essentially we have the rapture, where all the saints are raptured, then we all go into heaven, and in the book of Revelation it says that we have palm branches, we have palm trees in our hands and we're singing in heaven, which is kind of interesting to think about, even vegetation or stuff like that being in heaven or having some kind of palm branches when we're in heaven. The house of God, the temple of God, also is decorated with palm trees. Palm trees are very significant in the Bible. Jericho was the city of palm trees. There's a lot of different symbolism and things that you could look at there. That was the first city that they took over. When Jesus Christ enters in, he's treading over the palm trees, and we see that he's coming in the name of the Lord, and so there's all kinds of different symbolism here, but Psalm 118, let's just read it, it brings up a lot of these different concepts about the blessing of coming in the name of the Lord. Look at verse 1. O give thanks in the Lord for he is good, because his mercy endureth forever. Let Israel now say that his mercy endureth forever. You know, it's great when you're saved, because you know what, you're always saved. You know, you don't get saved and then need to get his mercy later, because his mercy endureth forever. And, here's a great thing, if you believe in him, you can never perish. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life, is what the Bible says. Once you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're saved, you're in his hand, you can never be plucked out of his hand, and his mercy endures forever. Even if I sin in the future, God's grace and his mercy covers my sin. Now, should we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. But let me tell you something, his grace will abound, and his mercy does endure forever, and God has covered all my sin, and so therefore I could never go to hell once I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what God wants us to say? What does God want us to say? He wants us to say that his mercy endureth forever. When we go out and preach the gospel, we tell people, hey, let me tell you something, God's mercy endures forever. We're not like these Pentecostals who say you can lose your salvation. They're denying that the mercy of God endures forever. We're not like people that go out and teach that you can somehow lose your salvation by sinning, or falling away, or getting backslidden. No, once you're saved, you're always saved, because his mercy endures forever. Verse 3, let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endures forever. You know the house of Aaron represents priests, it represents the priesthood, and it represents prophets and teachers. We need the preachers of America to get up and thunder forth, once saved, always saved. And they need to explain it that once you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're sealed under the day of redemption, you cannot lose your salvation. We need this to be thundered from pulpits today, to be thundered from the house of God today, and it's a shame in America so many people are confused and don't even know if they're saved or not. They don't even realize that the mercy of God extends forever. It's embarrassing to Christianity because the Bible's so clear on this issue. Verse 4, let them now that fear the Lord say, that his mercy endureth forever. I called upon the Lord in distress. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side, I will not fear. What can man do unto me? Now, we're talking about palm trees again. A palm tree is, again, in the harshest, most strictest conditions in the desert, and it survives. What can the desert, what can the wind do to the palm tree? What can the absence of rain do to the palm tree? It just continues to just stay steadfast, growing, thriving, surviving. Here's the word, it perseveres. And let me tell you something, palm trees persevere just like Christians persevere when they're plugged into the things of God. Hey, when you're plugged into the things of God, you will persevere through the harshest of conditions, and you can say, what can man do unto me? Hey, our church is a church that's persevered. Why? Because we're drawing our strength from the word of God, and we can persevere through the word of God. What does it say in verse number 7? The Lord taketh my part with them that help me, therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. You know what's great? We don't have to always wait to get to heaven to see God take out our enemies. The Bible says, hey, if you just persevere long enough, you will see their demise. You will see God deal with the wicked people. You'll see it in your lifetime, you'll see it even on this earth. He says in verse 8, it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. All nations compass me about, but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them. Notice how you get the victory, because you're in the name of the Lord. Why did David kill Goliath? Because he came in the name of the Lord. Why is it that we will have victory in our lives if we're coming in the name of the Lord? What does that mean? What does that look like? We are trusting in this. We're trusting in the word of God. We're trusting in, hey, I'm saved and God is for us who can be against us, and I'm going to follow the word of God. When you're doing what the Bible says, you can have confidence that you will be victorious and that the enemies will be destroyed. They'll be destroyed because the Lord is on your side. Why did Jericho lose? All they did was walk around the city. All they did was blow a trumpet. You know why? Because they came in the name of the Lord. And when God tells you to go out and to blow the trumpet or march around the city or to just trust in him, no, he will deliver your enemies into your hand. He will give you that victory. He says in verse number 10, we read that, verse 11, I'm sorry. They compass me about, yea, they compass me about, but in the name of the Lord, I will destroy them. So notice in verse number 10, will I destroy them? Verse 11, I will destroy them. Verse 12, they compass me about like bees. They are quenched as the fire of thorns, for in the name of the Lord, I will destroy them. Hey, you know you get victory? You come in the name of the Lord. You know how you destroy them? You come in the name of the Lord. You know they're going to be devoured because you come in the name of the Lord. Hey, we've had people surround our church. We've had people compass us like bees, but you know what? We showed up in the name of the Lord, and where are they? I'm still here. Where are you at? Where are they now? And let me tell you something. Hey, when you come in the name of the Lord, God will give you the victory. And you will just persevere like that palm tree. All the other vegetation died in the desert, but the palm tree is just sitting here, a little happy tree, you know, just flourishing, just persevering, just having fun, just being out in the desert. And in fact, you know what makes it shine? The harsh conditions. Because if it wasn't harsh conditions, you'd have all kinds of weeds and other garbage vegetation, the thistle and the briar patch and all this other bad vegetation, but the palm tree is just sitting here having fun while everything is just wilting and dying and just completely being destroyed. And what makes it really shine is that stress, that stress of harsh conditions. And often God will put us in a stressful condition just so we can kill everything else off and we can survive. We can persevere and we can do good in those harsh conditions. And then who gets all the honor and glory? God. Because we were coming in the name of the Lord. Now, as we keep reading, it says in verse 13, Notice that salvation is not of us, it's of the Lord. Salvation is not your testimony. Salvation is not what you've done. Salvation is not what you're willing to do. Salvation is of the Lord. We simply trust in His finished work on the cross and when we put our faith in Jesus Christ, He gives us salvation. It's not, I gave my life to Him, He gave His life for us. And we got saved by what He did for us, not what we will do for Him. He is the Savior, I'm not the Savior. I don't save myself, I don't give Him anything. I simply receive His salvation for free. Verse number 15, the voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord. Notice again, that palm tree is not going to die, it's going to live. Just like we, verse 18, the Lord hath chastened me sore, but He hath not given me over unto death. Here's the life of a Christian. When you sin, God will punish you, but He will chasten you, He will not destroy you. And this is why we see, you know, a lot of people are confused when we go out and preach the gospel, because they think, oh, you're saying that there's no consequence to sin. No, I'm not saying that at all. The Bible says, did you read what it said, in verse number 18, the Lord hath chastened me sore. It doesn't even say He chastened you. He says He's chastened you sore. Meaning, look, if you sin against God, He will punish you. He will chasten you sore. There is a severe punishment to breaking God's commandments, but He won't deliver you unto death, because once you're saved, you can't go to hell. That's why we see a lot of wicked people getting away with sin often, is because they're not being punished the way Christians are on earth. You can see all kinds of evil, satanic-type people living long lives, seemingly to get away with everything, because their punishment awaits them in hell. Whereas those of us that are saved, we could never go to hell, therefore our punishment is only in this life. It's only now. Just like a child, if you think about a child, once a child has grown and become an adult, whether they get married or not, and they leave home, doesn't the punishment kind of cease to exist at that point? You know, when you kind of pass off your child, you give them to marriage, or they move on, now there's no more chastening. There's no more punishment. They've moved on. And it's kind of similar to how when we get saved, once we die and go to heaven, there's no more punishment. We've reached that point of maturation. We're no longer going to receive that chastisement. So the chastisement is limited to while we're in the house. And in a sense, while we're on this earth, our chastening is kind of limited to that time period. So what a good parent will do is they will chasten their children. They'll punish their children while they have the opportunity, while they're on the earth, you know, in the house, in a sense, kind of this parallel, so that they can be a good child, so they'll do better. And, you know, a bad parent will not punish their children. A bad parent will not spank or discipline their child. But you know what? God is a loving parent, and He chastened and scourgeth every son in whom He receiveth. You know, we should not be weary in well-doing. We should not be weary at the correction of the Lord. For whom I love, I chasten, rebuke. You know, He's going to rebuke us, and we should be zealous and repent. The Bible is really clear that God will punish us, and we should receive that correction. But He won't deliver us unto death. He won't kill us. And you can even think, hey, the palm tree, in these strict conditions, is often also being chastened in a way. You know, trees will often grow based on their conditions. Wherever the sun's at, wherever the roots are, it can cause it to have slight bends or different shapes and everything like that. And it's just kind of going through its development process. And just like we are young trees, often we need God's Word to guide us, to prune us, and to cause us to become better, fruit-bearing trees at the end of our lives, because that's what God really wants us to be. And so we should receive the correction that God gives us, and realize, hey, if I serve God, there's going to be hard days. You know, if you come to church, you should expect some correction. You should not go to a church where you're just constantly just getting praised and encouraged only. We need encouragement in our lives, but we also need a lot of correction. We need to realize, hey, you're growing in a weird direction. Hey, you need to prune off some of these branches, some of these non-fruit-bearing areas of your life, and so we need to receive correction. We need to go to a church that's going to try and motivate us to be a better palm tree in this world, so that we can persevere through the harsh, strict conditions. And let me tell you something, you know, while church may sometimes pick on you a little bit, while the preacher may preach on something and cause you to feel uncomfortable, this world will not be as kind as the preacher. Satan will not be a gentle shepherd to this world. You know, words really can't hurt you that bad. The truth can't hurt you that bad. You know, we should be willing to go to a church that's going to step on our toes occasionally and to pressure us to be a little bit better, because when you go into the world and you just don't follow the Word of God, and you're making major mistakes, they can have lifelong lasting consequences. You see people get away from the things of God, you see them getting away from church and the Bible, boy, their lives can be destroyed and ruined very quickly. We need the things of God and we need a good church. And hey, sometimes you get chase and sore. Sometimes you come to church and the message just really pricks you in the heart. And that's why you can tell it's good preaching. You know, this is what I noticed. Tons of people are always like, oh, this sermon is about me. But if I asked like 50 people, they would all say it's about them. Like they'd say, this sermon was about me specifically. And again, it's kind of this self-absorbed attitude that we live in in our world today. Today everybody thinks everything's about them. Everybody like wants to believe they're in the Truman Show or something like that. And it's kind of this funny, silly thing. But it's just the Word of God is just so relevant. The Word of God is so relevant to our lives. It's so relevant to all the things that we're experiencing. People are just constantly thinking just everything's about them when it's not really about them entirely. But at the same time, it is always about them. Because the Word of God just applies to our lives so much. And if you just get lots of Bible and a sermon, I guarantee tons of it's going to apply to you. Tons of it's going to be relevant. I guarantee if you've been reading your own Bible, the Holy Ghost has been working on you, convicting you of things. And then you just hear someone else say it and, boy, it just resonates. But we should take those opportunities to get better and say, hey, I enjoyed the chastening of God's Word because He won't kill me. God's Word will not kill you. God's Word will cause you to persevere and He won't deliver you unto death. But He wants you to be better. And we need to take the Word of God and apply it to our lives and become better. Say, hey, He chastened me sore. But what will He not do? He has not given me over unto death. Praise God, He will not deliver us unto death. Verse 19, open to me the gates of righteousness. I will go into them and I will praise the Lord. For the gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter. Hey, I'm glad I'm in church where you know who gets to enter? The righteous. Who is church for? The saved. And, you know, we're not righteous in here because we're better than other people. We're righteous in here because of the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. But let me tell you something. This church is not for the unsaved. This church is not for the, quote, sick. This church is for the righteous. And we're supposed to come together as the righteous. And we're supposed to praise the Lord Jesus Christ which made us righteous. And we're praising Him for what He's done unto us. And He's given us of the salvation. And we're giving the honor and glory unto Him. We're also not here to celebrate with those that are backslidden and causing all kinds of just evil to be said in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're a wicked, backslidden Christian, well, you need to get out of here because we're here to praise God. And we're here to be better versions of ourselves. We're not come as you are and stay as you are. We are, hey, you better try to get right with God and then get even better. We don't just accept anything. It's so funny that Walmart doesn't just accept everything. I mean, isn't there restaurants in places that say, no shoes, no service? And that's not even a Christian church. Isn't there places in this, like even a gas station, it'll say no consumption of alcohol here. Like you can't even consume alcohol on these premises. You go to a restaurant and they have all kinds of rules and regulations on people coming in. Dress codes. Hey, you go to a golf course. You go to a, not a, like a lame golf course. You go to a nice golf course. You can't just wear whatever you want. They'll throw you out. You have to actually dress nice to show up at the golf course. Would to God people would dress nice enough to go to the golf course when they go to church and not show up in their pajamas, not just show up just lazily dressed. And they say, oh, man, you're a cult. Well, is the country club a cult now that they actually have some standards for dress? You know, church should have some standards. Church, we should come to church dressed, you know, to please the Lord and to take church seriously and to look serious and act serious because the things of God are serious. And we're coming here to celebrate the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not coming here for myself. I'm not showing up for what I can get out of this. I'm showing up to bless the Lord and to praise God and to rejoice in the salvation that he's given me and to rejoice in the righteousness that he's given me. What does it say in verse 19 again? Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will go into them and I will praise the Lord. Hey, I want to be able to be accepted in a church so that I can praise God. Church is a privilege. Church is a privilege. It is not something that's just automatically granted. It is a privilege to those who want to get saved and they actually want to serve God and meet certain standards of the things of God. And he's asking permission. I want to be a part of the congregation of the Lord. I want to come in with the righteous. Why? So that I can praise God because I want to worship God. Just like in the Old Testament, it was a privilege to be able to go into the nation of Israel. It was a privilege to be in the city of Jerusalem. It was a privilege to come under the tabernacle. It was a privilege to be able to go in and serve God and worship God with the people of God. That was a privilege, not just open invitation to everyone. The things of God are a privilege and we should look at them as a privilege and not just think like, church, meh. No, no, it's a privilege to be here. It's a privilege to be around God's people. It's a privilege to be around the righteous and it's a privilege to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because then he gives us the opportunity to persevere in this life. Let's keep reading. It says here in verse number 22, The stone which the builders refused has become the headstone of the corner. That's of course talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and how the church is founded on the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's that cornerstone. Who rejected him? The Jews. It says in verse 23, This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. There's a line that you know. I mean that's a song that we even sing today. There's popular songs all with that lyric right there. This is where it's coming from. And if we keep reading, notice it says, Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord. O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. There's where you get that lyric that's imported into John chapter number 12 that they were singing and they were praising God because they recognized, hey, this is that chief cornerstone. This is the salvation that's coming unto us. This is the Lord God that's coming unto us that's going to rescue us and deliver us and save us. Now many Jews, I believe that they were probably mixed up on salvation. They thought that Jesus Christ was coming in to save them from the Romans and to save them and bring them in a physical kingdom. And that's why they were all excited and they got disappointed at the fact that Jesus Christ was there to save them from their sins and to save them from false doctrine and to save them from believing that they had to work their way to get into heaven. And they were offended at the cross. They were excited about the salvation of God in the sense that they thought they were going to defeat their enemies carnally speaking, not spiritually in that timeline. And so this is why you see the change. Isn't it kind of confusing? All the Jews are excited about Jesus on this Sunday and then in just four days, or three and a half, they're going to be saying, crucify him, crucify him, his blood be on us and on our children. That's the satanic religion of Judaism right there. The anti-Christ spirit, why did they turn on him? Because he didn't want to give them a carnal kingdom. But someone will come in his own name and the guy that comes in his own name, they will receive because he wants to give them what? A carnal kingdom. That's the anti-Christ that's coming, not in the name of the Lord, but in his own name. We need to be people that are coming in the name of this book, coming in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, coming in the name of our God. That's the person that we rejoice with, who's not coming to give us a carnal salvation in this world, but rather going to give us a spiritual salvation that lasts forever. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. God is the Lord, which hath showed us light. Bind the sacrifice with cords, even in the horns of the altar. Thou art my God, and I will praise thee. Thou art my God, I will exalt thee. O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. What a great psalm that we see, and we see that the salvation and the blessing and the victory, everything comes from the name of the Lord. It comes from God. He is the source of all of these items. Just like a palm tree being planted in good soil, we get planted in the things of God, and he's going to cause us to what? Persevere through difficulty. Persevere through hard times. Go to Psalm 92 now. Go to Psalm 92. We're going to see this point being illustrated in Psalm 92. Look at verse 1. It is good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name. O most high, to show forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night. Upon the instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery, upon the harp with a solemn sound, for thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work, I will triumph in the works of thy hands. This has nothing to do with the sermon, but I just want to point out, did you see in verse 3, upon the harp with a solemn sound? You know, not every song needs to be upbeat, energetic, and positive. And some of the psalms that we even sing don't even have that kind of sound at all. Psalm 15 is not like a super uplifting sounding song. It's kind of a little bit dark. It has a little bit of a negative feel to it. It's a solemn sound. And hey, Psalm 58, it doesn't have that upbeat, cheery type sound. It kind of has a more dark theme to it. And, you know, someone came to our church recently, they were just visiting, and they're saying like, oh, the songs, they seem a little bit, they didn't use this word, but they're trying to describe melancholy. Or they said monotone. That's the wrong word. I don't think they understand what that word means. But that's kind of what they were trying to describe, is that it was just a little bit more subdued, kind of melancholy type sound. They were talking about, they want Hillsong. You know, they want it to be happy and dancing and cheery. And look, there are psalms like that. There's music like that. We sing songs like that. And sometimes we have a real cheery attitude. You know, sometimes we need to come and sing a solemn song. Sometimes we need to take in the seriousness of the things of God, the seriousness and the soberness of the fact that Jesus Christ was crucified for our sins, the seriousness of our sins. Sometimes we need to come and be convicted about our lives and where we're headed in our direction and take the things of God seriously. What does it say in verse 4 again? For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work. I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works, and thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not, neither doth a fool understand this. Brutish is someone in our modern vernacular that we would call stupid. A fool is also synonymous with being stupid or an idiot. And often people will get mad at me when I preach because I'll use the word stupid or idiot. But the Bible says fool dozens if not hundreds of times in the Bible. Brings up the brutish man. And it's just we don't use those words in our modern vernacular as much so they don't have as much of a sting. So I try to use words that sting a little bit more. And why? Because we really need to resonate that point. Because the fool and the brutish man, in my mind, if you understood what these mean, they're actually harsher words than stupid or idiot, in fact. And so the brutish man is a strong insult. We just don't often hear it, so it's kind of meaningless to us. Just like if you go to a foreign country, the words that they use as insults are just really kind of meaningless to us. They don't have much sting. It kind of doesn't even bother us. Like the word bugger, if someone said bugger, it's kind of like meaningless to me. I don't even feel weird. It would just be kind of like, I don't know what he's saying, like I'm a bug? Or what does this kind of mean? But you know, in English, in American English, sorry, not British English, in American English, the word's faggot. Now that word, people will just freak out if you say it out loud. And it has a sting to it. I'm not going to get up and say bugger. I'm going to say a word that has a sting to it that you actually feel and you understand what the word of God is trying to communicate. Just like the word idiot or stupid has a strong connotation with it. But you know, those people just won't understand the things of God. There are idiots in this world that will just never understand the fear of God. And why are they an idiot? Because they're going to destroy themselves for not fearing God. Just like, hey, we see all kinds of vegetation being destroyed in the deserts of this world because they don't want to be like the palm tree and plug themselves in the things of God. And they won't persevere, and that's what makes them brutish. That's what makes them fools. That's what makes them stupid. That's what makes them idiots. Verse 7, when the wicked spring as the grass and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed forever. But thou, Lord, art most high forever. So the Bible contrasts two things. The wicked are like grass. The righteous are like a palm tree. The thing about grass is grass comes and goes. Grass is often wilting, dying. You just have one grass one season. Then it gets all cut down, chopped, dies, replaced. You constantly have to put new sod in. I lived in Phoenix. Boy, it's hot. And let me tell you something. It is hard, hard to grow grass in Phoenix. And I had a nice yard. In fact, I had more sprinklers than square inches of yard. I mean, it would just pour water, and I could not keep that grass alive. It would just die. And one, I had this idea. I was like, should I put artificial grass? Or should I put real grass? I put new sod down. And I'm just watering water. It just keeps dying. You just couldn't keep that thing alive. But you know, you just see the palm trees in Phoenix or these desert areas. They're just happy as a clam. They're just sitting there just prospering and having no problem. And the grass is just constantly coming and going, coming and going, coming and going. And you know what? That's what we're going to see as a church. Is you're going to have all this grass afflicting us, and then it's going to die and all perish. And then a new set of grass is going to come in. And then just a new set of grass is going to come in. And then there's a new grass. But the palm tree is the same tree. And it's just year one, year two, year three. It just keeps getting bigger and more mature and producing more fruit and getting better and better and better. Whereas the grass just keeps coming and going, coming and going, coming and going. And is it any coincidence that when you go into the desert, no grass. But the palm tree is still there. The palm tree is still there. And this is what it's like in the end times. When we get past everything, all the grass will be thrown in the lake of fire, and only the palm trees will survive. Those of us have persevered through our faith in Jesus Christ. Because he gave us salvation and we can't lose it for any reason. Now he says here in verse number nine, For lo, thine enemies, O Lord, for lo, thine enemies shall perish. All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered, but my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of a unicorn. I shall be anointed with fresh oil. Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies. And mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me. The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Notice the wicked are constantly being destroyed. The wicked are going to perish. The wicked are going to be scattered. But you know what the righteous are like? The righteous are like the palm tree. Why? Not because of what we're like, but because of the Lord Jesus Christ coming in the name of the Lord. Him giving us that perseverance through his word. Through the word of God, causing us to persevere. And not just persevere, flourish. Hey, when you serve God, you will not just persevere, you will flourish. You can see all kinds of palm trees. They're not just surviving, they're thriving. They look healthy in desert conditions. You know what they have? Green. Greenery. You look at the palm tree and it has green branches, bright green branches. What does green imply? Health, thriving. Green is kind of a symbolism or picture of prosperity, life, healthy, being something that's good. And we see the palm tree just having these green branches in the midst of a desert. It's all just brown and just yellow and just looks dead and death and nothing. And then you just see the palm tree. You just see the palm branches, that life, that flourishing. And you know what? In this world, this world just looks like a desert. Just sand, no life, nothing. And then you just see that steadfast Christian and he's just green branches. He just got that health and he's got that life. And you're just saying like, wow, how is this guy flourishing? Well, because he's like the palm tree because he's righteous and because he's coming in the name of the Lord. That's what gives us that flourishing. Notice how we get this verse 13. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. So what causes the flourish? Being planted in church. Let me tell you something. Don't be someone that comes to church once a year. You get planted into the house of God and you'll flourish. Don't be like the grass that's coming and going, coming and going. No, no, get like a palm tree and just get planted into a good church. We need people to get planted in the house of the Lord. And let me tell you something, your life will be better by getting planted into church. I see it. You see it. We all see it. We see people that say, hey, you know what? I'm going to start going to church three times a week. And then five years from now, their life is so much better. They look better. They sound better. Their family looks better. Their finances look better. Everything about them is better. Their doctrine is better. Their beliefs are better. They're not as weird. Let me tell you something. Some people, five years ago, before they got plugged into church, they were a little rough looking. They were a little rough sounding. They had some rough beliefs. But boy, they get planted in a church and you can just see a life change. I have seen radical change in many people's lives because of hard preaching. I've seen people come into church just kind of depressed, sad, just kind of not really caring about life, just having all kinds of issues. But then they get planted in a church and things change. Now, they don't change overnight. It's not a microwave. Let me tell you something. Just like a tree is not a microwave. You can't just plant a tree and then tomorrow it's great. Trees need time to grow and then eventually, hey, they're going to flourish in their season. They're going to come to maturation. They're going to start producing fruit. Not only will they persevere, they'll end up producing fruit and they will flourish. We need to get planted. What is planted? Rooted, grounded. How about this? Steadfast, unmovable. When you plant a tree, it doesn't go somewhere else. It's right there. You don't plant trees and then they move around the yard. Wherever you plant that tree, it's there. And let me tell you something. You need to just plant yourself in a church. And it doesn't matter if the building's moving, you move with it, okay? But I'm saying you're stuck in that yard, okay? You're on basically the RV, okay? You're planted on the RV. Wherever the RV goes, but you're stuck on that RV, okay? And you know, being steadfast, people make fun of us like, oh, you moved. It's not about where our church is meeting in a physical location. It's that people are still steadfast. Hey, people were still planted when we were going to hotel church. And isn't it funny? This is what's so funny to me. When we were in hotel church, we were having baptisms like crazy. We were having visitors. We were growing. We were thriving. Because you know what? We were planted in a church. Our church was unrooted in a sense from its physical location. Yet because we were planted in the things of God, we just kept flourishing. It's like that potted plant. We were like a potted palm tree where the pot can move wherever. But you know what? It's not moving from its roots. It's not moving from the soil that it's been planted in. And it's going to flourish where it's at. And even if you did move away and you couldn't go to like this church or another good church in this area, you know, you make sure you get planted in another good church. Hey, you could technically take a tree, dig it up, and then plant it in another good soil and it could continue. But you know, that transition is a little bit dangerous, isn't it? When you take a tree out of its roots, if you don't get it into another soil quickly, if you don't put a lot of water back on it, it will just die in that transition. And let me tell you something. We need the house of God because we'll die without it. We will perish. We will not persevere. We will not produce the fruit that God wants us. You know what? You need to just get plugged into a good church and not go anywhere. There's a lot of grass that is just going to die in the desert, but the palm tree will survive. It will survive harsh conditions. And you know what? Let steadfast be a testimony that even through great tribulation, even through all kinds of harsh conditions, many people here have thrived. We've gone through a lot of hardships. We've gone through a lot of stress. We've gone through a lot of drama. But you know what? Our church has thrived in a lot of ways. We persevered in a lot of ways. Just like in the desert, you can see this with the palm tree. And a good church is going to be like good soil and watering and you will grow to be better. Soil that doesn't look the best is not the most important thing. You want soil that's going to cause you to grow the best. It's not about the outward appearance. You could look at some piece of ground and think like this ground doesn't look as good as another. But you know the most important thing when you're planting a tree is that that soil is rich in nutrients and you're going to get good watering. And when you're looking for a church, you shouldn't be looking for a church that looks the best. You should be looking for a church that's going to give you the most nutrients and the most watering so that you'll grow the best. And this is how you should evaluate a church. You should constantly think about this. Am I growing? What is the point of the palm tree? It's to grow. What is the point of church? Growing. And you should ask yourself, what church am I growing the most at? What church am I making the best changes in my life? That's the type of church you want to get planted into. You know, I don't want to go to a church where I just feel so good, but I don't grow in any way. You know, I want a church where I'm challenged to do more soul winning, more Bible reading, get more sin out of my life, be challenged to give more, to sacrifice more, to pray more, to love more, to be the best version of myself. And often what you'll see is people, when they get out of a good church and they go to another one, they're not growing anymore. I've seen people say, you know, I don't like the harsh preaching and I don't like the yelling and I don't like all the demands of your type of a church. But you look at their life and you say, okay, well, let's go back. You spent 40 years in one style of church. You weren't soul winning. You didn't know how to give the gospel. You didn't, you were screwed up on a lot of doctrine. And frankly speaking, you had more sin in your life. Then you got an R style church. You got more sin out of your life. You learned how to preach the gospel. You got many people saved and you changed and have better doctrine now. And then they say, you know, but I don't like it. I'm going to go back to this other church. That doesn't make sense. Why don't you look at the growth in your life and say, hey, am I growing? And isn't it funny? I mean, a lot of people still admit this. They say, hey, I left this church because I wasn't growing. And hey, if you're not growing, that's a legitimate criticism to say, hey, I want to go to a church where I'm going to maximize my growth, where I'm going to be challenged to do the most soul winning. It's funny to me, people who will say, hey, when I was in steadfast, I was leading. I was leading soul winning times. I was preaching. I was doing all this work. And they use that as a criticism. And then I'm thinking, well, okay, what are you doing now? You're not leading soul winning times. You're not going three times a week. You're not plugged in. And now your life's better. Well, even if you thought it was better, you're headed down the wrong path and you won't persevere. You need to get planted into a good church that's going to cause you to grow. I saw a criticism online. It had nothing to do with our church. It was a long time ago where someone was saying, man, I don't like small churches. And they said, you know why I don't like small churches? They try to put you to work. And I'm thinking, like, that's not a bad criticism. That's a good criticism. If you're going to a church that's challenging you to do something, grow. I'm not going church to be served. I'm going to church to serve. You know, if anything, I would hope that people are discontent because they want to serve more than they're being offered to serve. Not the opposite. Not saying, man, they're just wanting me to serve more. You know, it's a privilege to serve at church. It's a privilege to be in any kind of position of leadership, of music ministry, of song leading, of ever getting to preach, of ever getting to lead, a soul winning time, of doing any of these things. This is a privilege. It is something that is not just granted to anybody. You should look at it like, wow, this is such a great blessing in my life. And we need to look at the things of God in the right light. Go to a church that's going to be soil that's going to cause you to grow. It says in verse 14, they shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing. To show that the Lord is upright, He is my rock and there's no unrighteousness in Him. Notice, if you plant yourself in the things of God, not only will you bring fruit in the process, even at the later stages in life, even in old age, you'll keep producing fruit. And if you think about it, trees, in many cases, may produce some of the best fruit at the ends of their life, at the later stages of their life, when they've reached a really long period of maturity. You know what, praise God for the people that are in our church that are older that are still producing fruit. There are people in this church that they've raised all of their children, now they're on the grandchildren, and yet they're producing great fruit in the house of God. It would be a wonderful testimony if 20, 30, 40 years from now, many of us are still here and producing fruit in our old age. Because we have a pretty young church, we have a lot of people that are young here, and a true testimony of being steadfast is not that you're here right now, that you're here in 30 years, that you're here in 40 years, that you're here in 50 years, and you know what, you're still producing fruit. And notice the goal is to continue producing fruit. You know, I don't want to go to a church that's taking away soul winning times, that's doing less soul winning, that's just now doing visitation, that's now just doing door hangers, that doesn't want to really confront people, that when they knock on the door, they don't want to ask this question, do you think you can lose your salvation? Hey, I've been to churches and I've seen other churches, they say, oh, we don't ask that question. We just say, are you saved, and if they say yes, we move on. Well, that would be everybody in Texas. Even the atheist thinks he's saved. Well, we ask them if they believe salvation is by faith. Every Catholic will say yes a lot of times to that question. If you ask it in a real generic way, you have to ask some intruding questions. You have to be confrontational. And hey, we're going to go out there and we're going to confront the loss because we want them to go to heaven. Why would I waste so much time to go out and to knock on all the doors and to finally get to talk to someone and then not spend the one minute to actually figure out if they're saved or not? I mean, I got so close to an opportunity, I don't want to waste the last 30 seconds not actually seeing if this person's really saved or not. Ask the intruding questions. Okay, but what do you believe? Are you sure? Some people get offended. They're like, I don't have time for this. I don't think you should be asking these kind of questions. Why not? What kind of questions are appropriate? What could be more important than making sure you're not going to die and go to hell? Please ask me every question you want. But notice that they're producing fruits. And number one, we see when you're like the palm tree, you're going to persevere, but number two, you're going to produce. Notice that they're producing fruit. Go to Psalm chapter one. Go to Psalm chapter number one. And I believe that you'll produce carnally and spiritually. And I see that. I see people that are great soul winners often also succeeding in the business world and making good money too. God doesn't want us to just suffer. God wants us to produce in every area of our life. And when you serve God and do right, He'll often bless you in every way. And the people that turn away from God, they'll usually fail in every way. Psalm one blesses the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and his law that he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Isn't this just one of the best Psalms in the Bible, just so iconic, so familiar? What is it talking about? It's talking about that tree that's planted by rivers of water. And it's like that little oasis in the midst of the desert. And you know what? The people of God are like a little oasis that no matter what conditions come, they just continue producing. They continue producing fruit, and they continue being blessed by God. And you know what? Even in the midst of great persecution and affliction, our church was still producing great numbers for salvation, baptisms, and producing fruit. In fact, the last eight months or so was a lot of confusion, spiritual drama, problems. Yet we just started producing fruit like crazy. And we continued producing fruit like crazy. And you know what? Those that get plugged into the things of God, they're going to be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that are going to bring forth His fruit in this season. Keep your finger in the Psalm. Come back to the Psalm. Go to John chapter 15 for a second. Go to John chapter number 15. Hey, we need to be like the palm tree that's by the rivers of water. What are the rivers of water? It's the Word of God. It's the King James Bible. Get planted into a good church and get planted into the things of God. Get planted in the King James Bible and read it every single day, and you'll constantly prosper. Don't let this world be your thoughts of the day. Let the King James Bible be your thoughts of the day. Don't go to the council of the ungodly. Don't sit in the seat of the scornful. Hey, you know what the scornful are? They're the bitter ex new IFB. Let me tell you what. Don't dwell in those waters. Dwell in the waters of the King James Bible. Dwell in the waters of the Word of God. Don't dwell in bitter waters. Bitter waters don't produce fruit. You know what produces fruit? The sweet waters of the Word of God. The pure rivers of water that are right here. Hey, don't be in the way of sinners. Don't be in the seat of the scornful. Don't go to the ungodly. You know what's the ungodly? Oh, the therapist. Oh, let's go to this woman and have this woman, this psychotherapist, that's what I call them. These psychotherapists tell you what a cult is. Look, it's so weird that people want to go to some psychiatrist to tell them the things of God or how to live in this world. They will destroy you. Just like their lives are destroyed. I saw someone share some stupid video of some woman, her name is like Dr. Rami or something, I don't know, it doesn't matter. She's worthless and like trash like the weeds of this field. Like grass that's going to wither and perish. But her life is a complete train wreck. She of course got divorced from her spouse because she's some nagging boss babe, which that's a quick way to get divorced. And then this nagging boss babe just has on and off relationships with all kinds of people. That's called adultery, folks. Jesus Christ said if you put away your wife and you're with someone else, it's adultery! Why do I want life advice from somebody getting divorced and committing all kinds of adultery on the things of God and what a church is like? And then this same woman blasphemes the things of God and says that eternal life is delusional. That's the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3.16, that you should not perish but have everlasting life. She's calling it delusional. And then Christians will share a video of a woman mocking eternal life. That is the seat of the scornful, my friend. And then you listen to this woman describing a cult and this is what she's saying. Oh, it's when people will cause you to move somewhere in a remote area where you don't live around anybody else. They'll take away all your phones, all of your laptops. They'll make you dress in weird costumes. They'll commit all kinds of fornication and adultery with you in private. And then they'll threaten you with physical violence if you try to leave. And they're like, sounds just like steadfast to me. What are you talking about? Good night. I'm getting up here screaming for you to leave. Where's the special costume? Is it the Usher jacket? I mean, is that now the special? I mean, what is it? Is it the fact that I asked guys to wear a shirt and tie behind the pulp? I mean, like, what is this? It's nonsense. It's nonsense, folks. And you know what? These people have stopped reading the Bible. They're not sharing a verse of the week. They're sharing scorn of the week, bitterness of the week. They're not like the palm tree that's planted by the rivers of water. And let me tell you something. You be careful. Because even if you like our church and you like the things of God, if you start just waking up every morning and just listening to the bitter waters, you might end up finding yourself scornful later down the road. You don't need to wake up and get the rivers of water right here. And then you'll just be like a little palm tree, just happy as a clam, and you'll watch all this grass just die and wither and destroy itself. But you know what? You'll be like that tree. Look at John chapter 15. I had you turn there. This is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse 1, I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch of me that beareth not fruity taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruity purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. There's that chastening we talked about. Now you're clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine. No more can ye except ye abide in me. Did you notice what the Bible said? You can't produce fruit unless you're abiding in the vine. So riddle me this. How are we as a church producing so much fruit if we're not abiding in the vine? How? Prove to me in the Bible people producing all kinds of fruit that are not abiding in the vine. Doesn't exist. Show me another example of this. It has nothing to do with us or another church like us. Show me that church is not abiding in the vine, that's producing tons of fruit. I don't know, Hillsong, the Catholic Church, Hindus, Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses. Where's all these churches not abiding in the vine producing fruit? Doesn't exist. You show me a church producing fruit and I'll show you a church that's abiding in the vine. Oh, you constantly point to your fruit. Yeah, that's how you identify a tree. Hey, have you ever gone up and down an orchard? Here's apples. You know what that must be? An apple tree. Hey, here's oranges. You know what that must be? An orange tree. Oh, you're just looking at the fruit and talking about a tree by its fruit. That's the name. We named the tree on its fruit. And let me tell you something. Hey, you can tell what a church is like by its fruit, folks. You say, hey, that must be an orange tree because of the oranges. Hey, here's a church getting all kinds of people saved and they're doing soul winning. It must be a soul winning tree. It must be a saved tree. Here's a tree with people that love God. It must be a loving tree. Here's a tree that has charity for its members. It must be a charity tree. Here's a tree. Here's a King James Bible tree. It must be the word of God tree. Hey, what is the fruit? Hey, here's a church that's producing all kinds of kids. It must be a fruitful church. Here's a church that's making new music and singing with melody and love and harmony in their hearts to the things of God. It must be a church that loves God in their hearts. I love when we sing the songs because it's our church coming to life in a sense. I put these things in music and they sound okay, but man, when we all sing them together and all the musicians playing it together, it's just incredible. There's nothing like being in the house of God singing the hymns and the songs. There's nothing like coming to the house of God and seeing dozens of people ready to go out and preach the gospel. There's nothing like us coming back and just hearing, a dozen saved, two dozen saved. Hey, this guy wanted to get baptized. This guy came in. This guy wants to get plugged into the things of God. This guy needs a Bible. We're constantly seeing fruit and reaching new people and we're seeing changed lives. We're seeing people say, hey, I got a new job. Hey, I got married. Hey, I'm now pregnant. Hey, here's my fifth kid, sixth kid, tenth kid. They're like, are you Mormon? No, we're the palm tree. We just keep producing fruit. The palm tree, if you study palm trees, they produce coconuts and some flavors. They also produce dates. And the date palm tree is a really important one because the dates are something that can be used whenever. They have a long shelf life in a sense. So they just sit there and they're just constantly providing all kinds of life no matter what seasons come. They're always in season in a sense of if you pluck it off, you can eat it in the winter, summer, whenever you're being sustained. Just like the things of God. They'll sustain you no matter what season of life you're in. This beautiful date, this beautiful coconut that we have here that can be tapped into when it's needed. Verse 5, I am the vine and you're the branches. He that abideth me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye can do nothing. Hey, when you abide in Christ, you won't just bring forth fruit. Much fruit. Hey, you show me a church producing fruit, I'll show you one abiding in the vine. You show me a church producing much fruit, I'll show you one that's really abiding in the vine. This is a church that's really dedicated to the things of God and loves the things of God. Go back to Psalm, go to Psalm 5 for a second. So point one is this, the palm tree will cause you to persevere in harsh conditions. The palm tree produces in harsh conditions. And here's the third thing that a palm tree can do in harsh conditions is it can protect. And I know something about this. Because yesterday I had to coach three soccer teams yesterday. And I am burnt to a crisp folks, okay. And I actually can tan, but even I have limits, okay. And my face is hot, all right. My forehead looks hot. And, you know, if you're out in the desert, that sun is going to beat down on you hard. It's going to hit hard. And it's nice to find some shade in the midst of the desert to protect you from the sun, to protect you from the elements. And in the midst of the desert, there's oftentimes only one place for that protection. It's the palm tree. And the palm tree can provide that protection, can provide that shield from the harsh elements that are out there. And in the same way, the things of God will protect us from the harsh elements and be a shield unto us when we need it. Look at Psalm chapter 5. Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Hark unto the voice of my cry, my king and my God. For unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning. O Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee. And we'll look up. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure and wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. I thought God loved everybody no matter what. Wrong. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing. The Lord will pour the bloody and deceitful man. But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy, and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness. Because of mine enemies, make thy way straight before my face, for there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their inward part is very wickedness. Their throat is an open sepulcher. They flatter with their tongue. Destroy thou them, O God. Let them fall by their own counsels. Cast them out of the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against thee. But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them. Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee, for thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous with favor. Wilt thou compass him as with a shield? So we see this great affliction coming to the people of God, coming against the psalmist. But at the very end, the Bible says that God is a shield. He protects you. Let me tell you something. You get planted in the church of God, you will persevere. You get planted in the church of God, you will produce. You get planted in the church of God, he will protect you. He will be a shield unto you. Go to Deuteronomy 32, I just have a couple more verses I want to share with you this morning. Go to Deuteronomy 32 and we'll finish. We need to be like the palm tree. And hey, the palm tree can endure long sermons. I'm just getting you prepared for conferences. You know, you go to the conference and you're like, oh, it's just another Pastor Shelley sermon. Deuteronomy 32, look at verse 31. For their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. For their vine is the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asp. Is not this laid up in store with me and sealed up among my treasures? To me belongs vengeance and recompense. Their foot shall slide in due time, for the day of their calamities at hand and the things that shall come upon them make haste. For the Lord shall judge his people and repent himself for his servants. When you see it that their power is gone and there's none shut up or left. And he shall say, where are their gods? Their rock in whom they trusted, which did eat the fat of their sacrifices and drink the wine of their drink offerings. Let them rise up and help you and be your protection. He's contrasting the children of Israel making something else their god as opposed to him. And let me tell you something. When you get out of church, even though you may not be quote switching religions, you're changing your protection plan. And the people that just get out of church and don't do anything, they're just basically going without insurance in a sense. They're just unprotected. They're not covered. They're uninsured in a sense. And that's a dangerous place to be in because when something comes out of nowhere, who's going to be there to protect you? I don't really like insurance, but in some ways it's still a decent idea. It's nice to have a little bit of a safety net to feel like you invest all this money into a house if it were to burn down or something. You don't just have a complete loss. And the reality is when you get plugged into the things of God, he will protect you. But when you don't get to the church of God, you make something else your protection. Maybe your protection is the Dallas Cowboys. Boy, they'll let you down every season, won't they? They might start off okay in the fall and give you hope of the playoffs, and then they'll just totally fail you at the end. Just like the false gods, they give you that false sense of security, and then it's just ripped away from you. Where is your protection? Where is your safety? Where is your shield? You should make it the things of God. What does it say in verse number 39? See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no God with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. Neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. Hey, God is real. God is the judge of this earth. God is the one killing. God is the one wounding. He's also the one healing. He's also the one delivering. And we should recognize we need God's protection in this world. When you go and make someone else your protection, the Republican Party, Donald Trump, money, riches, fame, sports, pleasure, your spouse, your children, whatever, they'll all fail you. But God will deliver you. God will protect you. That's why we need to be in the house of God so we can be like the palm tree. Everything else fails. The palm tree survives because it's planted into the house of God. We need to be in church. We need church. Don't get away. People are just, I don't want church. Church is hypocrites. Church is bad. You know what? They are destroying their lives. We need the house of God. We need church. It is our shield. Go over to Psalm 33. Go to Psalm 33. Don't make something else your protection plan. Make church your protection plan. We need the Word of God. We need to read the Bible. Again, this is just the same thing. You always say, go to church. Read your Bible. Pray. Okay. Well, let's think about a tree. Oh, you just keep giving me water. Water on Monday. Water on Tuesday. Why don't you spice it up and give me some Mountain Dew? Why don't you spice it up and give me something else to drink? No, no. It just needs water. It just needs soil. Water and soil Monday. Water and soil Tuesday. Water and soil Wednesday. Yeah. Because that's what works. Just like, hey, what works? Church. Reading your Bible. Going soul winning. Praying. Man, you just keep hitting that same thing. The Bible does. We're here to read what this says. Not what you think. Not what the world will tell you. We need the same things over and over and over and over again. That's what causes us to flourish. Psalm 33 verse 18. Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. God will protect you in famines. Here's a famine. How about COVID? That was a famine. There could be all kinds of economic, you know, upheaval, turmoil, crazy things. Democrats get in office, it's just going downhill. Republicans get in office, it goes downhill slower. We see America not getting better, but it doesn't matter how harsh the conditions get. I'm a palm tree. We're celebrating Palm Sunday. Why would I put a palm tree in front of Jesus Christ? Because I'm recognizing He's the one that allows me to persevere. I'm recognizing that He's the one that causes me to produce. He's the one that helps protect me when the chips are down. And I want to put all of my chips in Him. I want to put all of my trust in Him. You say, hey, what's your plan to persevere in this life, church? What's your plan to produce the King James Bible? What's your plan to be protected, the things of God? That's what's causing me to do these. One last place, go to Romans chapter number 8 and we'll finish. Go to Romans chapter number 8. We can sing Hosanna, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord, blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. We're blessing Him because He's coming in the things of God. The things of God is what's the blessing. That's where we get the protection. That's where we get the perseverance. That's where we get the production for the things of God. We can't do it of ourselves. You know, I'm not some guru that came up with some unique strategy to succeed in this world. All I said is just do what the Bible says. And then people think, oh, that's a Sunday school answer. The Sunday school answer works, guys. And we don't even need Sunday school. We can just have it at church, the Sunday school answer. Church, Bible reading, prayer, just do the basics and you'll survive. Isn't that even, just think about the carnal world, the sports. They'll say go back to the fundamentals. Hey, you want to succeed in a sport, whether it be basketball or football. You know, they always talk about football, it's like blocking and tackling. It's like, how are we going to win? Do we need some trick play? Blocking and tackling. Just do the basics. Just do the fundamentals. We're a fundamental Baptist church. We're not some exotic way to reach new people, some unique thing, some unique teaching, some unique Bible. Hey, we just got a brand new Bible that came out, guys. No, no, we have the same Bible. We don't have some unique song. We have, hey, we have the Psalms and the Hymns, the timeless Psalms and the timeless Hymns that we can sing. And when we get plugged into the things of God, we cannot lose. We'll always be protected. Look what it says in Romans chapter 8 verse 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written for thy sake, we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. You know, it is possible for someone to die a martyr for Christ, but that is the minority. The majority of Christians will live long lives and they will flourish. They will be protected. They will persevere. They will produce even an old age. Hey, is it possible that someone in this room can get martyred for the things of God? Yeah, but all of us know. Those that stick with the things of God, they will survive. They will thrive. They will be protected. God will deliver them. God is not unfaithful. Who can deliver us into the hands of man other than the Lord? We need to just trust in God. And you know what? What can man do against us? Nothing. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creatures shall be able to separate us from the love of God who is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Look folks, once you get saved, you are saved forever. The love of God can never be taken from you. And God loves us so much, he wants us to thrive in this world. He wants us to be those happy little palm trees just sprouted out in the desert. Don't worry about the desert. Just say, hey, I'm planted in the things of God. The desert can come and I'll just shine even greater. I'll shine. No matter how dark this world gets, the light just gets brighter, doesn't it? And it might be fearful to think, oh man, what happens in the future? What's going to happen with our economy? What's going to happen with the terrace? What's going to happen with Israel? What's going to happen in the Middle East? What's happening with China? What's happening with Russia? What's happening with Ukraine? What's happening with the CIA? What's happening with face scanning technology? What's happening with AI? What does it matter? Because I'm a little palm tree and I'm plugged into the things of God. And you know what? Since I'm plugged into the things of God, I will persevere. I will produce and I will be protected. Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. Let's close in prayer. Thank you Heavenly Father so much for the word of God, for giving us the perseverance, the protection and the producing that comes from the word of God. I pray that you would help us to be steadfast in our lives, that you would help us to be like the palm tree, where the righteous are just flourishing, where we see just success in our lives. And I pray that we realize all the success comes from the word of God, it comes from being plugged into the church of God, which was purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ. I pray that in our hearts and our minds we would sing Hosanna with fervor and excitement and zeal, that we would decide to get even more rooted and planted in church. I pray that anybody in this room that's been going in the wrong way will decide to just be zealous and repent. They'll say, you know what, I'm going to get planted in a church. I'm going to start reading my Bible more. I'm going to get plugged into the things of God, because that is where I'm going to be safe. No matter what desert or what famine or what future storms come, we know that we'll continue to flourish if we're plugged into the things of God. Thank you for giving us that victory, and we pray that everything is done in the honor and glory of your Son's name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, for our last song, let's go to song number 42. Song number 42, My Latest Son is Sinking Fast. Song number 42. Let's all sing it together on the first. My latest son is sinking fast. My grace is nearly run. My strongest trials now are past. My triumph is begun. Oh, come, angel man. Come, hear, around me stand. Oh, bring me a weight of your stony feet. Bring my eternal love. Oh, bear the obey of your stony feet. To my eternal home. I know I'm near the holy grace of friends and kindred dear. For I hear your joys face. The crossing must be near. Oh, come, angel man. Come, hear, around me stand. Oh, bear the obey of your stony feet. To my eternal home. Oh, bear the obey of your stony feet. To my eternal home. I almost reach my heavenly home. My spirit loudly sings. Thy holy ones we hold they come. I hear the noise of grace. Oh, come, angel man. Come, hear, around me stand. Oh, bear the obey of your stony feet. To my eternal home. Oh, bear the obey of your stony feet. To my eternal home. Oh, bear my longing heart to fit. You've bled and died for me. Whose blood now cleanses from all sin. Faith gives me victory. Oh, come, angel man. Come, hear, around me stand. Oh, bear the obey of your stony feet. To my eternal home. Oh, bear the obey of your stony feet. To my eternal home. Great singing, everybody. You're all dismissed.