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🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 Church, if you could please find your seats and grab your songbooks. We're going to be singing, to start off here, 198 Joy Unspeakable. 198 Joy Unspeakable. 198 Joy Unspeakable. 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 Great singing. Let's open up in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening. Thank you for Steadfast Baptist Church, and thank you for the unspeakable gift that you've given us. Let us pray that you would fill us with the Holy Spirit as we sing out to you. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. Let's go to 355. What a friend we have in Jesus. 355. What a friend we have in Jesus. Song 355. What a friend we have in Jesus. 🎵 🎵 What a friend we have in Jesus. 🎵 🎵 All our sins and griefs to bear. 🎵 🎵 What a privilege to carry. 🎵 🎵 Everything to God in prayer. 🎵 🎵 Oh, what peace we often forfeit. 🎵 🎵 Oh, what peace just made me bear. 🎵 All because we do not carry. 🎵 🎵 Everything to God in prayer. 🎵 🎵 Have we trials and temptations? 🎵 🎵 Is there trouble anywhere? 🎵 🎵 We should never be discouraged. 🎵 Take it to the Lord in prayer. 🎵 🎵 Can we find a friend so faithful? 🎵 🎵 Who will all our sorrows share? 🎵 🎵 Jesus knows our every weakness. 🎵 🎵 Take it to the Lord in prayer. 🎵 🎵 Our living and heavy laden. 🎵 🎵 Covered with a load of care. 🎵 🎵 Precious seekers till our nephews. 🎵 🎵 Take it to the Lord in prayer. 🎵 🎵 Do thy friends despise for sickening? 🎵 🎵 Take it to the Lord in prayer. 🎵 🎵 In his arms we'll take and shield thee. 🎵 🎵 Now we'll find a smallest pair. 🎵 Good evening. Thanks for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you didn't already get a bulletin, you'd like one. Our ushers are going to come by. Just lift up your hand real quick and they'll get you guys a bulletin on the front. We have our grace week for our Bible memory passage, Psalm 58, and anybody that can quote this can get a prize. So you basically have until Saturday when the clock strikes midnight, it's over, all right? So if you can get it done by then, just quote it to a non-family member at the church and we'd love for you to work on that. There is going to be prizes for those who are able to complete that challenge. Any kids that can quote the entire chapter tonight can get ice cream, all right? So it's a tall task, but it's out there for you, all right? You zealous kiddos. Also on the inside we have our service, soul winning times, and then our church stats. Please make sure that you're submitting that information into your soul winning captains and lieutenants on the right. We have a list of several ladies who are expecting. Please, please be in prayer for our expecting ladies. As well as we have a prayer list. We usually go over this on Wednesdays. We've been praying for Ms. Lucy, her mother. We've been praying for Brother Cameron still for his leg. We've been praying for Ms. Haley. We've been praying for Ms. Karen's stepdad. We've been praying for Brother Oz, his family member. We've been praying for Ms. Naeem's grandmother. And we've also been praying about a missions trip to the Dominican Republic. And we'll pray that they can speak quickly when they go there. Because I know they speak Muy Rapido. Also, Brother Nate was asking for prayer for a job. And then we were also praying for Brother Wallach's niece who has brain cancer, unfortunately. So I think they had been diagnosing or testing and they found out it's brain cancer. And so they're doing treatment for her. So we'll be in prayer about that as well. That's pretty much all I have as far as our prayer requests. Let's go ahead and just say a quick word of prayer to the church family this evening. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for our expecting ladies and all of these pregnancies. I pray that you be with them. Please help these children to develop and to have a timely birth. And I pray that you would please also be with our church family that is struggling with these chronic issues. Please be also with their family members that are also with severe illnesses and severe diseases. I pray, if possible, that you could give them healing, recovery. And for those who do not get the recovery, I pray that you would at least give them peace and comfort during their tribulation. I pray that you would help give us opportunities to minister the gospel and to comfort those who are struggling and going through difficulty. I pray that you would also give favor to our church members that are needing jobs, that are needing help with just their daily lives. I pray that you would also help the missions trip that are going over to the Dominican Republic and that you would help to just soften hearts over there, to allow the trip to go smoothly. And I pray that you would just continue to use our church for your honor and glory. I pray that you would help us with our upcoming events, that we would be safe and that we could see many people saved and we could see many people make changes and decisions in their lives to serve you better. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. On the back, we have the baby shower for the Zeminos. It is going to be on the 30th. It is something you can RSVP please to Ms. Milstead about. And if you'd like to bring a dish or dessert, please let us know. Also if you'd like to get them a gift, they are registered on Amazon. It is a nursing's only preferred event, so you guys help watch the kiddos if you can. We have a fall swap and that is this Saturday. If you brought stuff or you bring it early, you can put it in that fellowship area. I had a couple things that I already put in there too. And that's going to be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. So if you'd like to participate, all you have to do is show up. You don't have to buy tickets or call me or email me or text me or anything. So you can just show up and of course to donate and or to just have things. And don't feel shy. If you say I'm not donating anything, you can still come. Just like the gospel. You didn't have to donate anything. It was a free gift. And so that's the same with the fall swap. And I've heard there's a lot of cool stuff sometimes at these events. So if you'd like to just show up, fellowship, get a few free things, then this is your event. Also the October 1st, we have the little flyers. They're over here on our soul winning cabinet for a cookout that we're going to have right after the evening service. We're going to be having hamburgers and hot dogs. And we'll just have it kind of in our backyard area and everything like that. We've been inviting just anybody out soul winning. So please continue to do that. Hopefully we'll have some visitors and we can make sure that they're saved. And if they're saved already, just encourage them to get the right Bible. Decide to try and get plugged into church. And so it's just my idea of just being able to do that. It's just my idea of just trying to have an opportunity that people will get saved or have a kind of a reason to come to church. Because I think without knowing somebody or an event, it's hard for people who want to come to a church for the first time. Also, I don't know what to expect. It may be zero visitors. It may be a million, right? But if we do have some visitors, please just try to say hi. Try to be friendly. Try to talk to them. Of course I want you to hang out with your friends. Also try your hardest to mingle with some new people. Strike up some new conversations. Try to be friendly and try to make some new friends. It would be a great opportunity to do that. And of course, eat lots of burgers, alright? Texas Chili Cook-Off, the 31st. As we get a little bit closer, I'll put the details about that. Our FBBF conference is going to be the 12th to the 15th. And I'm really looking forward to this. There's going to be activities all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. So we have all kinds of stuff. You can participate in as much as you would like. I do think we're going to have a lot of visitors. Because I've talked to a lot of people that are planning on coming. And so if they take your chair that you normally sit in, be nice. And of course if they take your parking spot, be nice. And just try to be nice to people that are coming and visiting. I'm sure a lot of them, you probably even know them, you might be friends. But of course we just want to be a really hospitable church. We want to be a church that is very welcoming and that people have a really good experience. And so I really hope that you'll do so. Also please thank all of our guest preachers. We have some really great preachers coming in here. And it's definitely difficult for them to take time off their schedule. And so we want to be appreciative of them coming to the Promised Land to preach to us. And so you can remind them of how wonderful it is here. But make sure to be nice to them as well. Also Abilene, Texas. It's the only marathon November 4th. And that's pretty much it. I went and visited Oklahoma City this last weekend and I was preaching for them. And everything was great. Everything is going really well up in Oklahoma City. The city of Angeles Fur is doing a really good job up there. And honestly it's funny because they have a pretty small church in just relation to other churches in the world I guess. They probably run about 40-50 people on a Sunday morning maybe. But they have a lot of talent there. And so I've asked if also Brother Salvador Alvarez would preach a lot more for them. Just because he's such a talented guy. He really articulates himself well. He's not from America originally but he speaks English and Spanish fluently. Great preacher, great zeal, great soul winner, great family. And so I just want to keep using as much talent as we've got. And so he's going to be preaching up there a little bit more regularly too. And so it's cool to see how that church, even though it might be small in number, it's mighty in spirit and zeal and faith. And it's great to see a lot of people up there. So if you ever get a chance to go to Oklahoma City, you've got to visit our church plant up there. A lot of fun. And of course the only real reason to go is the church. So it's Oklahoma folks, alright? But with that, let's go to our third song, Psalm 148. Psalm 148. We're going to sing our Psalm of the Week. Alright, Psalm 148. Psalm 148. Praise him, sun and moon. Praise him, all you stars of life. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens. Any waters that lead above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord. For he commanded and they were created. He hath also established them forever and ever. He hath made a decree which shall not pass. Praise the Lord from the earth. He, dragons and all thieves. Fire and hail, snow and vapor. Stormy wind, fulfilling his word. Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees. And all cedars, beasts. And all cattle, creeping kings and flying fowl. Kings of the earth and all people. Princes and all judges of the earth. Both young men and maidens, home men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord. For his name alone is excellent. His glory is above the earth. And heaven, he also exalted the horn. Of his people, the praise of all his saints. He from the children of Israel. Our people will hear unto him. Praise he the Lord. As the offering plate is being passed around, please turn your Bibles to Romans 15. Romans chapter 15. Pomp and Circumstance Romans 15, the Bible reads, We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good edification. For even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another recording to Christ Jesus. That you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy as it is written, For this cause will I confess to thee among the Gentiles and sing unto thy name. And again he saith, Rejoice ye Gentiles with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and laud him, all ye people. And again, Isaiah saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort as putting you in mine, because of the grace that is given to me of God, that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. I have therefore, whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, through the mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem, and round about into Illicrium, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation. But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of they shall see, and they that have not heard shall understand. For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you. But now, having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you, whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to see you. For I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company. But now I go into Jerusalem, to minister unto the saints. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaea, to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them verily, and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things. When therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain, and I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints, that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for Romans chapter 15 and for our Bible study tonight. I pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit, and just be with him, Lord, as he explains this chapter to us. Give him clarity of mind, Lord. And I pray also that you just help us to pay close attention, and, Lord, that we would walk away having been edified by the Bible study tonight. We love you, and in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. So we're here in Romans chapter 15, and in chapter 14 we kind of just discussed the context of doubtful disputations, essentially just different situations you might find yourself in where there's a disagreement over preferences and personal convictions of the brethren. And as we kind of get into chapter 15, I think that the first verse still kind of ties together with that thought a little bit in the sense that, you know, it talked about someone being a weaker brother, weaker in the faith. And so in verse number one it says, We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification, for even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that are approached thee fell on me. So the Bible gives this idea of caring about other people more than yourself. And, you know, the Bible uses this language in other passages and other epistles. It talks about thinking on the things of others and not thinking on your own things. And, of course, it kind of gives us this example of Christ, how Christ didn't come to this earth to please himself, but rather it was for our benefit. And in many ways it was to bear all of our infirmities, bear all of our sicknesses, and ultimately bear all of our sins. And that's the type of attitude that we should have as Christians, is not looking at what we can get out of Christianity, but rather what we can do for Christ and how we can help others and how can we better other people. It's a very sacrificial religion. That's why very few people want to practice true Christianity is because it is a sacrificial religion. It is not a selfish religion. There's a lot of churches today that are preaching a very selfish message, a better yourself message, a get rich for yourself message. It's a message of basically trying to make you good and focused on yourself, whereas the Bible really is trying to say, what can you do to help other people, even at many times to your own detriment? Meaning you helping other people might cost you financially. It may cost you mentally. It may cost you physically. We see people who are willing to hazard their own lives for the gospel and for other people, and they're often getting beaten. I mean, the apostles have to go through physical turmoil, especially the apostle Paul, and that was why, so that other people could get saved for the benefit of others, for the churches that are there that he cares about. And so real Christianity is one that is of sacrifice and bearing other people's problems. Now it uses this word infirmities. Infirmities, I don't really feel like I ever hear this word being used outside of the Bible. I don't feel like I've heard this really very often in our society, but in times past, it has been a little bit more common of a word. I think certain hospitals would be called the infirmary, and so it's kind of that same root word. An infirmity is essentially just a weakness, physical or mental. So just someone's got a problem physically or they've got a problem mentally, they're weak physically, they're weak mentally. This could be for a multitude of reasons. It's not necessarily saying why, right? This could be as a result of being sick. It could be a result of just being born with an infirmity. You could possibly get injured, and that would cause you to have some kind of an infirmity. You could go through a difficult situation, and that could cause you to have a mental infirmity. In our society today, they have a lot of talk about mental health, and they talk a lot about this mental health crisis that we are experiencing in the world today. But to some degree, that's true because the Bible does talk about infirmities, and sometimes people do have legitimately mental health issues, and they are suffering from depression. They're suffering from anxiety. They're suffering from worry and woe and stress and all the different emotional turmoil that can happen in a life. Frankly speaking, when it comes to how much adultery, infidelity, fornication, bastard children, all of the things associated with that, that's got to cause an emotional stress on a lot of people. I mean, adultery alone has got to be one of the most heart-aching things to ever experience, but because of the way our society is built, some people just go on a perpetual streak of hurting their spouse's heart just over and over and over and over, where they never even get any relief in this context. Some men in our society, their wives leave them for another man, divorce them, take all their money, take their kids away, and then they're with another dude. I mean, that's got to be the worst mental stress you could put on a dude is where he's happened to pay for some other guy to be with his wife and kids and alimony and she's with some other man. I mean, I've always said it, and it's hard for me to not believe it, but it's just like if my wife and another dude's in the mix, someone's going to die. It's not like I'm going to survive and my wife could be with another man. The only way she can be with another man is if I'm dead. Now, if I'm dead, have fun, right? But if she's a widow, then okay, right? But someone's going to be a widow before that happens. You know what I mean? So the reality is there's so much stress and pressure and anxiety going on in this world. And what gives people relief is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Getting saved will give you joy and peace that pass with understanding. But beyond that, God's word and following his commandments gives you peace in your life because you could be saved and still go through hell on earth. I mean, think about some people in the Bible like Job. It's not like he was unsaved. This guy went through some serious issues mentally, some serious issues physically. Jonah, because of his rebellion and attitude towards God, went through some serious suffering. It's literally the metaphor of hell on earth by being in the well's belly. And so you have a lot of different scenarios where people could have some mental anguish. They could be going through some mental difficulty. And what the Bible is saying is if you don't have that, maybe you're in a season of life where you're really strong or you're doing really well or you're really happy or you're really successful, that you should be willing to bear the infirmities of the weak. Meaning when you're at a high point, you can come alongside your brother that's going through a low point and you can help them. Also, I feel like this sometimes helps us because we live in a world that's so narcissistic that every problem we have, people like to pretend like they're the biggest victim on the planet. And when you actually talk with other people and know they're going through some real issues, it helps to just minimize yours and cause you to be like, you know what, I don't actually have real problems. They're the ones having real problems. And by just helping other people, it helps get your mind off of your selfishness, off of your issues, off of your problems. You think, well, we're poor, but there's always someone poorer. It's like, well, we're grieving. There's usually people that are grieving worse. Well, I'm in pain. Well, there's usually people that are in more pain. There's almost always people that are suffering worse than you. And sometimes when you're suffering, by just ministering to other people, it'll help you get through your difficulty. It'll help you get through your problem. You know, Job, if you read the end of that book, he has to pray for his friends before the Lord ends up recovering him. So it's like he has to minister unto his friends one more time. Like he's already gone through so much evil and so much pain and so much sorrow, and then he has friends talk all this junk about him, and then he has to pray for his friends. It's like that's like not fun, right? That's not fun when your friends are in the wrong and they've just been lying about you and misrepresenting you, and then you have to go and pray for them. But it's like as soon as he prays for his friends, the Bible says then the Lord basically recovered Job, and then Job was brought back to whole. And so maybe sometimes when you're going through difficulty or problem, or even if you're just not, you're doing great, we just need to be able to still bear one another's infirmities, bear one another's burdens, help the weaker brother, be with them when they're going through physical issue, go with them when they have mental issue. Of course, some of the obvious examples of this would just be the elderly, and we know we're all going to die one day. I'd love it for the fact that we wouldn't have to, but death is an enemy. Death is a reality. We're all going to die one day. There's not a great way to die. I think most people want to die in their sleep or raptured or something like that, but for the most part, 99% of the time, it's going to suck when you die. There's not this really cool, awesome way to die. That's why being a martyr isn't that bad sounding, because you're going to have to die somehow, right? And the beheading one is pretty mild considering some of the things you read in Fox's Book of Martyrs. I'm sure all the martyrs up in heaven, looking down at that, they're like, come on, this is nothing. Psalm asunder or something, can you kick him at least? But the reality is we're all going to die, we're all going to go through suffering, and those that are closer to death, let's love on them. Let's be patient with them. Let's be kind to them. Some of our churches have done nursing home ministries or things like that, and that's just a great way to just love other people, bear their infirmities, help them and assist them. If you have elderly parents, help them, assist them. It's not fun. My mother passed away from breast cancer, and she didn't really tell any of us that that was happening for a really long time. So by the time she finally told us, it was pretty much just terminal. It was very serious. She'd gotten to a point where she couldn't really take care of herself at all. And so just to give my dad a break, us kids, we kind of lived by my parents. We would just take turns on nights just helping with my mom, and he would go and work or do something else, and so we'd be there with her. And I love my mom. It was great. But because she was sick and ill, we couldn't really do much. It was more just kind of like being there and taking care of her. And it seemed like a burden because it was. I mean, it just was a burden. Now, of course, it was precious time, and I wish I could spend another day with my mom, but I can't. But it wasn't like I was excited to go over there. It was not fun. But at the same time, you know, that's what God wants us to do is just to be around people when they're going through that difficulty, going through that suffering, helping them. And eventually, you know, they pass and you move on. But you're never going to regret spending time with them. You know, right today, I'm not thinking like, man, I wish I had skipped some of those nights hanging out with my mom. No, it's usually the hindsight you like. I wish I could spend another night. Right. I wish I could have had more conversations with her or I wish I had asked her about this. It's usually not the opposite. And so we need to make sure that when we have opportunities to bear others, infirmities, weaknesses, issues that were there to help them. That's true Christianity. True Christianity is there when it hurts, not when it's going great. Everybody is a friend to him that giveth gifts. OK, everybody loves the guy that's rich. Everybody likes the guy that's successful. Everybody likes the guy that has the pool party. OK. And look, there's nothing wrong with that guy. I like that guy, too. You like him and I like him. Right. We all like him. It's just at the end of the day, we shouldn't only like those people. We should also like the people that have no money and are sick and struggling and a burden. You know, we don't want our church to just be like, hey, we don't like burden people because they're a burden. No, we should embrace people and help them and love them. And that's what he's trying to say here is they're supposed to receive them. And just like Christ received the worst of society when Christ came into a town. Who are the people that are brought to him? The paraplegics, the sick, those that have issue, the blind, the lame, the poor. Those are the people, the harlots. They're the ones that are coming to Jesus. And you know what? Jesus bear their infirmities. He bear their sicknesses. Jesus hung out with the worst people of society, the lepers and all the people that no one wanted to hang out with. Nobody wanted to spend time with Jesus. They're comforting them, loving them, assisting them, helping them, being kind unto them. And that is what Christ wants us to do. Also in verse three, it's a pretty cool verse, but it says, but as it is written, there are approaches of them that are approached. The fell on me. It's a lot of pronouns here, but think about what it's saying. It's saying there are approaches of them. Who's the them? That's us. That's the world. That's the world. The reproaches of the world. And then it says, fell. There are approaches of them that reproach thee. I'm sorry. There are approaches of them, so there are approaches of the world that reproach thee. Who's the thee? That's God. That's the Father. And it's saying, fell on me. Who's the me? Jesus. So it's saying there are approaches of the world that reproach God, fell on Jesus. And so we see that perfect mediator, the man Christ Jesus, that is the intercessor that comes between God and man, and he took all of their approaches that we had done against God, and he had to fall on him. That's where the sins of the whole world were put upon Jesus Christ, and he died for the sins of every person. Calvinists can't believe this verse, because the Bible's clear that all their approaches fell on Jesus Christ. He really did pay every single sin, every single reproach, just like when he went into the tribes of Israel. Every single sickness and illness, he healed. But not everybody got saved. Not everybody believed on Jesus Christ. Not everybody got eternal life, but he healed all of them physically as a miracle, and as a representation of the fact that he was going to take all the sin of the entire world as well. And so we have this great example of Christ. If he's willing to take all their approaches of the entire world, those who believe and those who don't believe, can't you take just one person's issue one day? Think about it. Think how insignificant it is for us to help somebody one day, one time, when Christ took every single reproach from every single person from all time. They all fell on him. That is our example, and so we should be more than willing to bear some burdens in this life, help people. Church is not for us. It is to further the gospel. It's for Christ, and it's for us to bear one another's burdens. Look at verse four. If whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. I love this verse, and keep your finger here. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 for a moment. I want to show you another verse that's similar to this. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Now, why this verse is special to me or why I've been thinking about it is I went and talked to some college kids recently, and I'll tell you what. One of the most common themes you hear when you bring up the Bible or you talk to people about what the Bible says, they'll say, Well, you have to understand back in those days or that's for them back then or well, you know, that used to work back then. You know, the Bible says is that the scripture was written for us. Like what they wrote down wasn't for them back then. It was written for me right now. So then you know why I know it works? Because it was written for today. It was written for 2023 America. The Old Testament is written for us and for you and for me. Now, 1 Corinthians chapter 10 is a similar verse. Look at verse 11. Now, all these things happen unto them for in samples, and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world have come. So notice it's similarly worded verse here where it's talking about, hey, the things that are written in the Bible were not for them. They're written for us because I don't know if you realize this, but the events that you read out in the Bible, they didn't have that verse to read while they were going through the experience. Like the children of Israel weren't reading about crossing the Red Sea in their Bible while they were crossing the Red Sea. They crossed the Red Sea by faith. And then later it got written down that they crossed the Red Sea. You know, David didn't have this convenient story about, hey, I'm going to hit him in the head and then get his sword and cut his head off. Sweet. I'm going to run straight at him. You know, he ran by faith. OK, it would be a little bit easier if Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are like, sweet, Jesus is going to show up. I knew it, you know, right. It's been a little easier for Daniel knowing that, hey, the angel is going to take this lion's mouth and it's going to close it up and it's not going to eat me. Right. But that would kind of change the whole Bible if they're reading about what they're going to do while they're doing it, wouldn't it? So you have to realize the stories are written past when they actually went through those events. You say, well, why were they written down then? For us, not for them, for us. It was written down. And you know what? They're examples of how our lives are and of the people, the experiences they had are similar to the people that we're going to encounter today. We're going to encounter people like Pharaoh. We're going to encounter people that are like Nadab and Abihu and Kor and Balaam and you name it. You start living Christian life. You're going to find all the stories come into life. You're going to find the Shimei eyes and the Gehazi eyes and just anything and everything in between. OK, so don't get discouraged by thinking like, I don't know what happened 2000 years ago in Rome. It doesn't matter. Well, I don't know what happened 4000 years ago. I don't know what the culture was like. I don't know what the Judaic customs were. No one cares because you know what? The things that you needed were written down and the things that you don't need weren't written down. But you know what? You can trust this Bible. You can trust the King James Bible. And this book is written for us. It is instructions for us today. And nothing is more relevant than this book right here. The Jewish press is not relevant today. OK, you said the Jewish press. What are you talking about? ABC, NBC, the Associated Press. It's all just the Jewish press. OK, folks. And, you know, if they would just label it correctly, I wonder how many people would care anymore. Right. I mean, what if what if someone came out with a new channel and it said the Buddhist press. Right. It's all the news from from from Buddhism is like no one wants. No one cares. Here's Islam press. You know, here's the atheist press. It's like, well, we don't care. The same is with our culture today. It's the Jewish press. They just don't label it that way. But that's what it really is. And, you know, I don't care what propaganda they want to feed me today. You know what? This is more relevant. These are the scriptures that are going to change your life and help you know what to do on every single day. Don't just get sucked into all the stories and all the propaganda and all the things that they want you to feel and think. This is what you're supposed to feel and think today. I remember when covid happened and, you know, it's kind of dark in our society at times, especially when they just like closed everything. Like everything was closed. You go to stores. People are trying to get you put the stupid mask on. Like I hated all of it. And I just remember like there'd be days when I'd walk out and it was beautiful and sunny and the birds are chirping. And I'm thinking like this is a great day. But just man is trying to make me have a terrible day. You know what? They're not in control. I could still have a good day. I guess they'll just decide like nuts to you guys. You guys don't even know what you're talking about. You know, and with the scripture, what you can do is you can wake up in the morning and not fret what the morning newspapers are going to say and just read what the Bible says and be like, OK. You can get joy and peace and comfort. And then when you're really mentally strong, you can help bear the infirmities of the week. The people that did read the newspaper and they're like, oh, and you're like, don't worry. OK, just go to church. Let's just focus on the things of God. And look, I'm not somebody that puts my head in the sand. I pay attention to what's going on around the world today. You know, I'm not going to let them dictate my emotion. We want to let the Bible dictate our emotion and our feelings and our attitudes. And if you want to know how it's going to work out. Just read the Bible. You say, well, I don't know what's going to happen. It seems like we're going down a dark road. OK, well, what happened when the children of Israel went down a dark road? What happened? God delivered them every single time, didn't he? You know, and so you like, well, that sounds like that sounds like false hope. No, it's not false hope because I have a God that lives, but it is hope. And, you know, that's the whole point. What did it say in verse four for what sort of things are written before time were written for our learning that we threw patience and comfort of the scriptures? What does this might have hope? Let me tell you something. Our world is dark. If you're paying any kind of attention, you know, it's Bill of Rights are under attack right now. All of them. The First Amendment, the Second Amendment, the Third Amendment. How about just unreasonable search and seizures? How much is our government tapping into people's phones and searching through all their bank records and all kinds of things without a warrant? I guarantee that's being trampled on every single second. The First Amendment is virtually gone. The Second Amendment has been diminished so much across this country. I mean, I should be able to have a bazooka up here on the stage if I wanted. OK, a 50 cal could be attached to the top of this building. All right. But of course, you know, now we're limited down to peashooters and some states they limit how many rounds you can have in a mag. That's wicked. That is a violation of the Constitution, folks. OK, and we live in a society that's going downhill, skyrocketing inflation. Our government's totally been infiltrated with corrupt foreign agents. I mean, it's it's super evil what's going on right now. Nothing seems real. None of the leaders in our country have I have zero hope in the leaders of our country. None of them are moral. None of them are Christian. None of them are advocating for solutions that are biblical. You know, and most of the leaders in our country are either being arrested, indicted, put in jail, lied about, canceled. Who what do you want to say? I mean, pretty much anybody that's speaking up right now is being in prison, tracked, taken taken down. I mean, we're really headed in a dark direction. And I don't want to lie to you and say, like, we're not headed in a really, really scary dark direction. But wait a minute. What does the Bible say? The Bible says I can have comfort of the scriptures and might have hope. There's still hope no matter how dark it gets. And many times from a human reasoning perspective, God's people were in a situation where there was no hope carnally. Like there was you just looked at the situation. It's like all I see is a sea. Right. I'm trapped against an ocean and there's an army marching towards me. And none of us are in that situation yet. Right. We don't have Biden's armed forces just marching us down and we're trapped up against a wall. You know, at that point it starts getting really dicey. But what happens? God always ends up delivering his people. And even if he doesn't, you know, like I said, there's there's worse ways to die anyways. Right. But what does the Bible say? He didn't say, hey, I gave you comfort of the scriptures so that you would have no hope, so that you might have hope. Meaning that no matter how dark it gets, God could always deliver us. He may choose not to, but he always can. Being thrown in the fiery furnace. There's no hope there, carnally speaking. But you know what? They did have a little bit of hope, didn't they? They said that God is able to deliver us. They said, hey, we don't know if he's going to do it or not. Hey, if I have to burn in that fiery furnace, I'll do it. But I know he can deliver me and I think he will. Right. But you know, that's how we should live our lives. Right. Hey, if I'm going to be killed, so be it. But you know what? I know he can deliver me, too. Because I've read it in the Bible so many times and I know that it's the same God and he's still powerful and he's still seated on the throne and he still loves us. And that's why I love reading the Bible, is it just keeps giving me more hope for the future, no matter how dark it gets. And you know what? What an honor to live in a day where God might actually have to do a miracle to save you. Like, you know, you read about in the Bible, it's like, and then they had peace 40 years. You know, I think there's a lot of Christians today that are like, I want to live in those 40 years. But, you know, that's not the stories we read about. We read about the stories where they're actually going through a really rough time and then God showed up big. And, you know, what a privilege to be in that time, to be in a day where you could actually make a big difference, actually have your faith tested. It's not that hard to serve God when it's like, and then they had rest for 40 years. That was pretty easy. OK, it's when you actually have to go through some difficulty, some adversity, and it makes us better anyways. Look at verse five. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one toward another. According to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So he wants us to have the same mindset so that when we glorify God, it's in the same way. He doesn't want us to have a different view on how to glorify God. He wants us to all be rallied around the same way to glorify God. And, you know, this could be just through how we have, you know, certain ministries that are elevated in our church like soul winning. You know, we pretty much at this church, we're all like minded around soul winning. So when we get someone saved, when someone comes back and says, hey, I got somebody saved, the whole church can all rally around that person and all praise God for that one soul being saved. Because we all see the importance of soul winning. Whereas you could go to some churches today and they don't not everybody in there even believes in soul winning. Like you go up and say, hey, we knocked on this door. We gave this person the gospel. They prayed with us and they got saved. And they'll say, well, where are they? Did they come to church? Did they get baptized? Did they repent of all their sins? It's like, well, no, because salvation is a free gift reminder. Right? And it's like now they're not even glorifying God for a soul that got saved because they don't even have the same doctrine. They don't even have the same attitude. They don't have the same spirit. And, you know, that's why it's important that we as a church that we're rallied together with the same ideology, the same kind of unity. So that when someone goes out and gets a soul saved, we can all praise God together with one mouth, with one mind, one attitude, one spirit. And we're not divided on, well, I don't know if I really like that. And look, I've been a part of churches where they have ministries, they have programs that I had mixed feelings about. Right? Or the church is kind of divided on and they don't really necessarily all agree. And that's not ideal. What would be ideal is that the whole church is in agreement on the ministries and the activities and the events and the church services, all the things that we're doing. So we can all get excited and we can all with one mouth and with one mind glorify God together. You know, what about churches that sing songs and in the lyrics it literally says, I repented of my sins and won the victory. It's like that's we don't want to have that's not gonna have one mouth. Right. Some people are going to say, like, I believe in Jesus Christ and I won the victory. Or they just won't even sing because they're like, I just don't want to say something that's not true. So isn't it important that when we sing hymns that we all agree and we all have the same doctrine on that hymn? You know, there's hymns in here that say my sovereign did die for me. But I've heard weirdos say that God can't die in the sense that Jesus isn't God or didn't die on the cross or something weird. This is like, get out, you know, go join some Jehovah's Witness church or something. We want to have the right unity because then we can all glorify God together. We can all be rallied around together. You know, how about just having the same Bible? I mean, how are we going to have the same mind when we don't have the same scripture? When we're literally looking at different verses or, you know, different phrases. There's all kinds of weird stuff when you get these modern Bibles. Verses will say the exact opposite and then people don't have the same mind. I grew up in a non-denominational environment and they have these things called life groups, which some people call cell groups or home groups. Basically what it is, instead of having Wednesday night service like we're having tonight, we would all just go to each other's houses. Right. And there's all these different leaders. And then when we're all in the house, everybody gets to talk. You know, all the women, all the men, everybody just gets out their little, you know, amplified version or NLT or whatever. And we just they all get to just share what they think the Bible says. There was zero unity. Like people were just saying weird stuff. I remember me and my wife would always joke because there's this one guy. It almost seemed like he was just saying stuff wrong on purpose. It was so bad. And I would always joke because the leader would never want to say that he was wrong. You know, he would just say off the wall, weird stuff. And but one time he was just so extreme, like it was so bad that the leader was just like, no. And I was like, finally, someone just say like, it's not true. Because almost every time you go to these groups and they just agree with everything. Right. People say contradictory things. They're like, this is my opinion. This is what I think is how I feel. And they're just like, oh, yeah, that's your truth, babe. You know, it's like, no, there's one truth. There's one mindset we're supposed to have. And we're supposed to, you know, conform our understanding to his word, not what we want to hear us say. OK. And so it's really important that when we come to the church, that we all have the same Bible. We have the same doctrine that doctrine is being taught. You know, we're not shifting that responsibility to the Bible college because I've heard from other people. They say, hey, you go to the church service and it's seeker sensitive. What does that mean? What that means is they they want the church environment to be welcoming to the UT students. Right. The atheists and the Hindu and the Buddhists, like, come on in. We don't want to say anything that's going to offend anybody. We just want you just kind of seeking the Lord. We just want to be that vessel for you to just come in and feel cool. We'll just make the music sound like you're used to. And we'll make it really short sermon. And it'll be really light on Bible because you get you get offended by the Bible and we don't want to offend anybody. And we'll just kind of try and we'll try to love them to Christ, you know. But if you want to learn doctrine, you've got to go to the college. You've got to go to the classes. You've got to go to these different institutions. But then what you have is you have a church with no common mindset, no common doctrine, no common unity. And you can't really glorify God together. That's why I believe every doctrine that the Bible has should be taught in church. I do not believe that you should take any doctrine and say, well, this is a little bit too advanced. That's for the advanced course. That's for the Bible college. That's for the fancy institute. No, I think we should get as deep as the Bible goes in church. And, you know, I try not to hold back. I try to go as deep as I possibly can sometimes and not even just on the Wednesday night or Sunday night. I'll bring it out a month on Sunday morning because I also don't want my Sunday morning crowd to becoming a shallow. Let's have fun party group. Usually I try to take the hottest sermons. I bring them Sunday morning just so people, you know, the nicer sermons are later. Right. It's like if you can handle the Sunday morning, you can handle it all right. But again, I just I think what the Bible wants us to do is to have the same mindset. What if I only preach nice sermons in the morning on Sunday mornings? Then we wouldn't all have the same unity either. Right. Then when it's like, oh, Psalm of the week, Psalm 139, some people are like, what is this? What are you all singing? And, you know, you've seen it. You sometimes you have visitors and we flip to Psalm 139 and it's like, dude, there's all these little kids. Right. Do not I hate them. They're like, what in the world? Where did I come? You know, it's like, dude, it's in the Bible, you know. Right. But isn't it nice that we all believe the same doctrine so that we can all sing that song with conviction? How many other churches could sing one Psalm 139 as the whole congregation? You know, there'd be tons of people that are like, I'm not singing that. It's like that's it's literally verses in the Bible. Like there's not we didn't add a verse. We didn't take away. It was just like literally verse in the Bible. But how many people be triggered by that just because they don't know that doctrine? Right. They've never seen those verses in the Bible before and it would scare them or something. But that's why it's important to teach the whole Bible all the doctrines. And we can all just with one mind and one mouth glorify God, specifically God the Father. And that's why we're here. We're here. We're here tonight to glorify God. Not you, not me, not our church. We're here to glorify our Father and Jesus Christ. Verse seven, wherefore receive one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God. So, again, that's kind of that admonition coming from the first few verses about, hey, we want to love the people that have burdens. And we're all here to just rally around together and glorify God. And we're here to celebrate God. And we want everyone to participate in that verse eight. Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made in the fathers and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written for this cause, I will confess to thee among the Gentiles and sing unto thy name. And again, he saith, Rejoice you Gentiles with his people. And again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles and laud him, all you people. And again, Isaiah saith, There shall be a root of Jesse and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles in him shall the Gentiles trust. This is a pretty cool little passage of scripture because the apostle Paul through obviously the Holy Spirit is just dropping all kinds of references. Now, for sake of time, this is a lengthy chapter. I'm not going to go to him. But just to give you a sample, he's quoting from Second Samuel 22, Psalm 18, Deuteronomy 32, Psalm 117 and Isaiah Chapter 11. Just bam, just another reference, another reference, another reference. What's cool about that is it shows the internal evidence of the scripture itself, right? Scripture confirming scripture and pointing back. Another thing you have to understand is the New Testament is hand in glove with the Old Testament, right? The New Testament is often just taking all of the Old Testament highlights and bringing them together and providing the context and why all those verses made sense. So it's almost impossible to say I believe the New Testament and not the old or I believe the old and not the new because they really are ketchup and french fries. They really are hand in glove. They really are just they go together perfectly with one and another that there's the separation just becomes kind of silly. If you believe the old, you have to believe the new. If you believe the new, you have to believe the old because they're saying the same thing. OK, and I really like a lot of these verses, but what's the essence? It's just the fact that the Gentiles are going to get saved. The Gentiles are going to be the ones who trust in Christ. And this was always foreshadowed, pictured and prophesied of. But we've now had the full culmination of it where he's literally writing. This is a Hebrew. This is an Israelite writing a letter to a bunch of Gentiles about, hey, all those verses are now come to pass. You are those people. You are those Gentiles. This prophecy was about you. Those things that were written before time are written about us and written about the Gentiles and written about this situation specifically. Verse 13. Now, the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. So the apostle Paul wants them to be filled with everything. They want to be filled with joy, filled with peace, filled with faith and abounding in hope, and that they have the power of the Holy Ghost upon them. He wants them to be filled with all knowledge so that why that they could admonish one another. You don't want just the pastor to be smart. You don't want just the leadership to know the Bible. You want every single person in the church to know the Bible super well so they can also be soul winners, so they can minister, so they can help people. I don't have time for everybody in our church, and our church isn't even that big in the context of how many big churches. I mean, there's churches in this area that are running thousands. But even just running hundreds, you know, I don't have time to talk to every single person and minister to every single person. So it's beneficial when all of you, too, can answer questions and help people and assist with their growth and assist with their learning. You know, that's what God wants us to do, and that's what the Apostle Paul wants for these people. What is the context? The Apostle Paul hasn't been to Rome before. He's never even met these people. But he wants them to also be filled with all of this knowledge and joy, and he's kind of writing this to them from afar. That's what he's kind of bringing up in these next few verses. He says, Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind because of the grace that is given to me of God, that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable to being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. So he's saying, the whole reason I'm writing to you guys is because God has kind of given me a ministry, and my ministry is to the Gentiles. So, because think about this. There's a bunch of people that are saved in Rome, and I don't know how many people. But obviously this is written to whoever's saved in Rome. Someone's already beaten Paul to this area, or perhaps maybe some of the Jews that got saved at Pentecost went back home, and they're the ones that have been getting some people saved in Rome. But it's kind of like a church plant that's never really been started entirely by the Apostle Paul. We don't know. Maybe another apostle went there already, but he himself hasn't. So he's writing this authoritative letter to all these people he's never even met. That could seem kind of weird, right? What if we were meeting and having a church service, and then all of a sudden we're just getting this random letter from somebody named Paul, and it's like, hey, I just want to tell you how to run your church and how to live a Christian life. Like, he's kind of trying to say, hey, I wrote pretty boldly unto you guys. But the whole reason is because God kind of gave me the ministry of the Gentiles. He's kind of handed that off to me, and I'm kind of the guy that's gotten a lot of these people saved. It probably makes sense, actually, if you think about it, why God wanted to just have like one point man. Like the Apostle Paul, even, I mean, think about the task, the Gentiles. It's like, this is just like 95% of the world, right? But think about it this way. If you have like 40 or 50 guys doing this, well, then how do all these people know they're authoritative or legit or where it's coming from? Since it's like Paul, it's like everybody's heard of Paul. The message of Paul is going everywhere, right? It's preceding him. His reputation precedes him in many cases. And so by him being kind of this point man, it helps that he can even write to a far places like the Romans, and they're like, well, if this is coming from Paul, that's who we want to hear from, right? This is the guy that we want to listen to. In some ways, I would almost liken a little bit what's happened in our world today with how Pastor Anderson got super viral on YouTube, because he kind of got really viral on YouTube, and he got a lot of people saved personally, like just through his online ministry, people he's never met in his entire life, right? And so a lot of people, after they're getting saved, they kind of look to his leadership like, hey, where should I go to church or how should I get plugged in or whatever? And that makes sense that he could potentially write to those people or talk to those people and give them some instruction. They might listen to it, because it's like, look at what he's done. He kind of helped get this kick started. He's kind of helped minister to these people. And so it makes sense that he's going to provide some leadership to them. It's not weird that a guy that's reached into the gospel and means like that would be someone to look to for leadership. And these local churches that people end up going to as a result of this, they get all offended and jealous. But you know, it's kind of biblical. Think about it. There's probably a little bit of leadership on the ground there, but should they get all mad that the Apostle Paul's writing to these people? Like, who's the Apostle Paul to write unto us Romans? It's like, it's the Apostle Paul. It's literally the Holy Ghost. It's the Bible. OK, why are you getting so offended at the Apostle Paul giving you instruction? Because, frankly speaking, if the Apostle Paul isn't appealing to scripture, then who cares? But notice in this chapter alone, and I didn't show you all the places, but he was just like scripture, scripture, scripture, scripture, scripture. So it's like, why would you not want to listen to this guy when he's just telling you what the Bible says, when he's just giving you these clear instructions? And it's like, if we're all on the same team, it doesn't matter. If you came up to me and said, hey, I want to let you know I called this other pastor and he gave me all these verses and the situation, and I think I'm going to follow his advice because it's what the Bible says, I'm going to be like, great. How dare you get advice from another pastor? You know, that seems a little bit pedantic, doesn't it? And the Apostle Paul exercising some authority here. It makes sense. It's not weird. It fits in the purview of his ministry. He's letting them know that Jesus Christ gave him this special calling to be a minister under the Gentiles. Verse 17. I have, therefore, whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God, for I will dare not to speak of any of those things which Christ had not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed through mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and roundabout unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. He's basically just saying, you know, I kind of am in charge of the Gentiles, but I'm not going to necessarily talk about things that have nothing to do with me. OK. And he says in verse 20. Yea, so I have strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation. But as it is written, to whom he was not spoken of, they shall see. And they that have not heard shall understand. For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming unto you. So the apostle Paul is saying, my primary goal is to reach the unreached, like find people that don't even have the gospel or have never even heard anything or perhaps haven't learned much from the Bible and basically be a genesis to them of Christianity, a genesis of getting saved, you know, not building upon another man's foundation, but rather simply coming to people that have never even heard the gospel and getting them saved. Now, in our world today, there's very few people in America that have zero foundation. I mean, almost everybody that you come across has had some exposure to the gospel or Jesus or the Bible. And so in many cases, we are laboring on top of other men's labors. But generally speaking, you know, there is going to be people that you do meet that are kind of unreached or not saved or coming from a really weird background. And what the apostle Paul is trying to say is that was his main goal. I think that what's important about this is to think about the apostle Paul is kind of an evangelist. He's the apostle, OK? But he's kind of like a model of evangelism. And I think that evangelism needs to be focused on reaching the unreached. Otherwise, it's not really evangelism. You know, evangelism is the idea of converting people that are not already converted. And so I think a lot of people use evangelists for different reasons. And there's nothing wrong with an evangelist preaching to churches and doing that kind of stuff. But it seems like the main goal of an evangelist is not so much to build upon another man's foundation as is to win people over to the foundation to start with. Right. Getting them onto Jesus Christ. That's why it's also kind of funny to me. It's like, again, we talk about Pastor Anderson. Most of the people that he's reached are people that have just never been reached. And then they get plugged into an IFB church for the first time in their life and then people get offended. And it's like, why are you getting offended at all these people getting reached that weren't even they were Catholic and atheist and Hindu and Buddhist and all kinds of weird versions of Christian. And, you know, it's like that's great. You know, if someone comes in and say, hey, I got saved by Pastor Jack ado, you know, it's like, well, praise God. Right. Who cares about Pastor Jack ado or whatever? You know, I don't even know who that is, but it doesn't even matter. Right. If someone walked in and says like, hey, I was like a Buddhist, but then I found this guy in line. I heard the gospel. I got saved. I want to know if I can get baptized. It's like, praise God. I want to be like, well, did you get saved by me, though? You know, it's like, who cares? Right. And the apostle Paul has this mentality of where he's not trying to affect other people that have already been reached. But, you know, he's going to do it sometimes. It's not like only people that have never been reached get reached. I'm sure that he's double dipping a little bit, too. Right. Is that really a problem? No. And we as God's people, you know, if we run into people out there and they're already going to another church, you know, if they're going to a bad church, I have no problem snatching them. Like some people used to say this. I've been out so many. They say, like, we don't want to take you from a good church. And they just said they went to St. Mary's. What what do you mean you don't want to take him from a good church? It's like, yeah, I you know, I go to the Jehovah's Witnesses, you know, meetings. We don't take you from their meetings. It's like, no, we do like I would rather you say the exact opposite. Just say, like, never go there again. They're a cult. I ran into a lady today and she said she was LDS and she beat me to the punch. But I was kind of like, I didn't really say my feelings yet, but she's like, I kind of think they're a cult. I was like, hey, that's exactly what I feel. I wasn't like, hey, we don't want to take you from a from a good church here. You know, the latter day, Satan's. No, it's like don't ever go there again. Now, look, if they're going to another fundamental Baptist church or whatever and they're really plugged in. Praise God. I just say, well, if you ever miss a service you'd like to visit sometime, you know, you're welcome to visit our church. But at the same time, you know, I'm not trying to sheep steal or, you know, some people get all mad. They're like, oh, there's all the new IPs, all these sheep stealers. And it's like, well, you know, frankly speaking, almost everybody here was not going to independent Baptist church in the Dallas Fort Worth area before the church. I would love that. Let's just get a sample real quick. Who lived in the DFW area before coming to steadfast? And they were actively members of another IFB church before coming here. Zero. OK. Oh, wait. No, there was one. I'm sorry. We got a hand. There's one person that saved in the building, right? No, it's good. It's like, come on. I mean, are we really just sheep stealing like crazy? I mean, it's like we're reaching a lot of the unreached here. OK. And, you know, why? Why are people mad when you're reaching the unreached? It makes sense. And that's what the apostle Paul's goal was. Now, what does he say in verse number twenty three? But now having no more place in these parts and having a great desire these many years to come on to you, whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you. For I trust to see you in my journey and to be brought on my way. The other word by you. If first I'd be somewhat filled with your company. But now I go under Jerusalem to minister under the saints, for it has pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It has pleased them verily and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister under them and carnal things. When therefore I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain. Now, this is kind of interesting. I agree with everything that the apostle Paul is saying here. So I want to make that clear. You know, if the Gentile churches have been so greatly blessed with the gospel and getting saved and learning the truth and changing their lives, they should be willing to give money at the bare minimum to Jerusalem. So Jerusalem is kind of getting a lot of money funneled to them from these Gentile churches. I don't know why economically, but just for whatever reason, those in Jerusalem are poor or have financial issues. Maybe it's just Jerusalem is an expensive city to live in. I don't know. I don't really care. But the point is, if this church is doling out all these spiritual blessings to foreign lands, it makes perfect sense that that foreign area would potentially give them money. They give it this way. What if we start a church plant somewhere and we're sending them soul winners and planting the church and doing all this stuff for them? You know, at the very least, they could pay some of our bills or pay for some of the expenses that we have for that particular situation. Now, in many cases, we're having to pay the bill on top of it, right? Our church is having to fund the church plant, too. But if the church plan had a surplus of income, there'd be nothing wrong with the church plant giving us money, right? Or let's say this way, what if us being sent out of faith for a Baptist church and we have this great church is a huge blessing that we have this today? What if they needed money? There'd be nothing wrong with us giving them a gift or giving them some contribution because they've ministered to us all these spiritual things. We should be willing to minister unto them these carnal things. All of that, I believe, is totally true and legitimate. Here's the thing, though, that I think we can draw out of this text that's kind of interesting is the Apostle Paul made it abundantly clear in this chapter what his ministry was. What was his ministry? His ministry was to the Gentiles. So then why in the world is he going to Jerusalem to give them money? Like, does that really fit with his calling? Is that really fit with what God actually wanted him to do? And I would argue no. Now, keep your finger. Go to Acts chapter 21. Go to Acts chapter 21 for a moment. And I want to show you another verse here on this on this particular issue. Look at Acts chapter 21 and look at verse one. But it came to pass that after we were gotten from them and had launched, we came with a straight course on the Coos and the day following on the roads and from thence on the Patara. And finding a ship sailing over to Phoenicia, we went abroad and set forth. Now, when we discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand and sailed in Assyria and landed at Tyre. For there the ship was to unload her burden and find the disciples. We tarried there seven days, who said to Paul through the spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem. And this is one place I'm just showing you. This one is clear. OK, what is the spirit saying to the apostle Paul? Don't go to Jerusalem. So is it right for the apostle Paul to take this bounty and carry it all the way into Jerusalem? I would argue no. Why? Because the spirit said no. But go back to Romans. Who wrote Romans chapter 15? Well, I mean, obviously, humanly speaking, it's, you know, the apostle Paul and his companion, but isn't the Holy Ghost too? So think about what's happening. This is kind of an interesting passage of scripture. The Holy Ghost is telling us that the apostle Paul is going to go to Jerusalem. But didn't he also say not to go? Think about what's transpiring in the text. The Holy Spirit is saying Paul is going to go, but at the same time, what is the Holy Spirit saying? Don't go. Are you catching what I'm saying? OK, so sometimes you have to understand that sometimes God, his perfect will is not accomplished in our life. But that does not mean that he's not with us every step that we take. What is it that he really wants the apostle Paul to do, though? He wants them to minister under the Gentiles. Why in the world then is he taking money to Jerusalem? Couldn't he send anybody else? Couldn't you think there was there was no way for money to be sent from the Gentiles to Jerusalem? Obviously, there could have been another way. He could have got another man. He could have someone else deliver this package. He didn't have to be the one to physically go. And the Holy Spirit didn't even want him to go. But he knew he was going to go at some point, I would argue. And I don't know the timing of this book exactly, but it's kind of a later epistle when you think about it, because think about what we already read here in verse number twenty three. But now having no more place in these parts and having a great desire these many years to come on, he's kind of saying, like I already exhausted all of the areas that I was going to. So that makes it pretty clear in the timeline, like he's already visited all these other places. And he's it's kind of like right before he's going into Jerusalem. So it seems to reason that this epistle is written very close to when that acts twenty one, you know, message would have been delivered by those other people. And, you know, maybe this was even written after I don't know 100 percent, but they're very close in timeline. But I think what is clear here is the apostle Paul saying in verse twenty four, whensoever I take my journey into Spain, if he had just obeyed what the spirit wanted, he could have just traveled to Spain and gone to Rome that way. But instead, he wants to go to Jerusalem. Now, again, read the book of Acts. But the whole rest of the book of Acts deals with him going to Jerusalem, getting captured, put in prison, happened to be in prison for years. But then what happens? God still orchestrates and brings him to Rome. OK, so I think what we can learn from this story is and kind of the end part of this chapter is that God's will is going to be accomplished no matter what. But sometimes he allows us to get there in a more painful way. And so that's why it's important to just do it God's way the first time. And I'll give you another example. How about Joan and the whale? Joan is told to go into Tarshish. Now, he doesn't want to. He literally runs in the opposite direction. But then he ends up showing up at Tarshish all of a sudden. Right. Why? Because he got thrown in the sea. A whale swallowed him. Then the whale travels. You know, you can basically go there on your own or you can have a whale take you there. But guess where you're going. You're going Tarshish. And it's like, hey, the apostle Paul, you can just travel in a cool way to Rome or we'll drag you there with the Roman army. But you're going there because you're the minister of the Gentiles. That's your calling. That's what God wants you to do. And the cool thing is, of course, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. You know, in the Bible talks about how he enlarges their steps and the Bible talks about we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose. We know that God is going to still orchestrate our events. But you know what? When you just go ahead and take the steps that God wants you to, it always ends up being smoother. And so it's important for us to align ourselves with God's will and do the things that he wants us to do. Now, look at verse twenty nine. And I am sure that. I don't know. Let's reverse twenty. I don't know if I read this one when therefore I perform this and have sealed to them this fruit. I will come by you into Spain. And I am sure that when I come unto you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love of the spirit that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea and that my service, which I have for Jerusalem, may be accepted of the saints, that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God and may with you be refreshed. Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. Again, this is just my personal opinion, but and maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you could show me some of the Bible that would change my opinion. But my initial thought is that this epistle is likely written or these last thoughts are kind of written after being admonished not to go to Rome. Because even in this passage, he's kind of like already hinting at the fact that he knows there's trouble waiting for him in Jerusalem. Have you kind of see that in the text where he's kind of like saying, Hey, pray that I may be delivered from them that do not believe. Why is he asking to be delivered if he doesn't even think there's going to be any trouble? It's like he pretty much already knows there's trouble awaiting him, but he's just already made up his mind. He's just like stubborn. And you know what? Some people, they just get really stubborn and they get really fixated on like, I have to do this thing or I want to be here or I want to go here or I want to do this thing. And God's kind of like, no. The Bible's saying no. God's just pointing you in the wrong direction. And we just need to submit to God's will because he'll get us where we want by hook or by crook. You know, when the Assyrian kings or the kings would come against the children of Israel, he's like, hey, go back home. And if they wouldn't, then he'd grab them by the nose and drag them back home. And God's people, where they're supposed to be, God will drag them back where they're supposed to be. And so we need to just make sure that we're always on the right plane that God has for us, that we're on the right path that he has for us. Because when we're not, God's going to put us back on that path. And sometimes it hurts to be put back on that path. You want to do it on your own power and by your own might and just aligning with his will. You say, what does this mean, Pastor Shelley? There's an infinite number of applications. You know, what about just women who don't want to raise their kids? And then eventually their kids end up just being like losers and they have to raise them when they're adults. And then they have to raise their grandkids. And it's like you didn't want to raise them, but now you have to raise them anyways because you know what? You just didn't do it right. So now you it's like if you just raised your kids, you would have been done because you didn't. Hey, you're still going to have to raise them again. You know, you're going to have to go through that process anyways. You know, or women that say like, oh, I don't want to have a family and I don't want to stay home and raise kids. But then they just end up having all these bastard kids and then they're forced to stay home and raise them anyways. It's like many times the things that you think you don't want to do or go down that path, God just makes you go down the path anyways. It's like you might have well done it his way than the other one because it could be much worse when you go down the path that you didn't pick. Like with the with Jonah. I mean, wow, I don't want to go down that road. I don't want to have to go and be swallowed by the whale. And, you know, serving God in this life, you know, obviously you could get to a point where God just finds no use for you. He just kills you or or does whatever. But even with Lot, think about Lot. Lot got drug out of Sodom and Gomorrah. He wasn't supposed to be there. God didn't want him there. It cost him his wife. His daughters got corrupted by it. His whole riot got, you know, ruined. You know what? God drug him out of there. You know what? Don't be Lot where you get drug out of Sodom and Gomorrah. Don't be the Christian that has to be drug around by God and constantly pushed in the right direction. You know, just walk where God wants you to go. Don't be the children of Israel that walk up to the promised land is like, I don't want to go in. So then they have just wanted the wilderness forever. And then he has to finally drag them, you know, over to the promised land and do everything. You know, God wants us to be willing vessels and to fulfill our calling. And, you know, whatever God's calling is on your life, you need to fulfill that calling. If you're a man, be a man. If you're a lady, be a lady. Hey, if you're a child, be a child right now. OK, if you are a soul winner, be a soul winner. You know, whatever God's role has for you, do it to the best of your ability because God wants us to fulfill his calling. And he has a calling for everybody in this room has a calling on their life. And of course, that calling is going to be different for all of us. But, you know, when you have a clear path given to you from scripture and circumstance, don't walk away from it. Don't abandon the calling that God has in your life. Don't say like, well, I know that God wants me to go to church and be a faithful Christian and go soul winning, but I just don't want to do it. That's the wrong move. God will drag you back into that life or you'll just be done with you. But I don't want either of those outcomes. I just want to be a will. I want to say, you know what, Lord, I'll just go ahead and do it. Yes, sir. But do you want me to do? Sure. Right. It's like, you know, be the pastor here. Sure. Right. And again, in some ways, I've already I've already answered that call. Right. So I've already answered the call. What if I just walk away? What if I just say, you know what, I'm done being pastor, said pass. You know, Ben, come on. You know, I'm just kidding. What if I just said, hey, someone else take, you know, take the reins by. I think God might just literally kill me. That would be dumb or my life is going to get ruined or destroyed if I have a really clear calling in my life. What if I just walk away with my wife? God might literally just kill me as a result of that. What if my wife just walked away? God might just kill her. Right. Because it's like, why in the world is God going to tolerate you just doing your own thing? You know, when you have a clear calling in your life to be a husband, to be a wife, to be a Christian, to be a Baptist, to be a preacher, to be a song leader, to be a soul winner, to be a soul winning captain, whatever it is that God has put on your life, do it. You know, there's been so many people that, you know, I put in positions of leadership through the last few years that just walk away. And you're just thinking like, OK, have fun with that life. And I'm just thinking like, you know, if you don't if you don't get to your calling and stay with your calling, you know what, God could do a lot of things to you that are negative. Now, look, we all make mistakes. He didn't kill Jonah. He put Jonah back where he needed to be and he preached the message that he needed to preach. He got the apostle Paul where he needed them to go. And it's not to say that the person that makes the mistake is doomed because almost every great man in the Bible made these mistakes. They struggled. They wanted to quit. They did quit. They gave up. But you know what? No matter where we find ourselves, we need to get back in the fight, back in the game, go full steam. And wherever you find yourself now, get all in. Say, well, I've already divorced my spouse. Well, you know what? Stick with the one you got. Well, I already screwed up. OK, well, stay on the path that you have. Well, my marriage is sucks. OK, well, you know what? Just be a good Christian then, because in heaven you won't even be married anymore. I know it's not more it's not Mormon doctrine. OK, you're not going to be eternally pregnant, ladies. Some of you ladies are thinking like, man, I have to have how many kids? You know, eventually you won't be able to have it anymore. OK, so you'll be like every other lady. And when we get to heaven, you know, the only thing that's going to matter is what we did for Christ. And God wants us to be fulfilling that calling that he has in our life. Let us not just walk away and do our own will. Let us submit to his will and allow him to guide us every single step that we take. Thank Heavenly Father so much for this chapter and the examples that you've given us of your son, his sacrifice and his willingness to bear burdens. I pray that we be willing to bear other people's burdens and we willing to be a living sacrifice that we'd not be conformed to this world, but rather be transformed by the renewing of our minds. I pray that you would help us to see the clear callings that we have in our lives and that we wouldn't walk away from them, but we would embrace them. And I pray that any of us that have struggled, made mistakes or stopped with those callings, that God would just help us to see the new vision for our lives and that we would walk according to that. I pray that you give us grace in the areas that we've screwed up and that we've made mistakes, but that you would also give us a sense of urgency to fulfill the new calling you have in our lives, to be greatly used of you, to take the service of God seriously, to not quit, to not give up, to be faithful unto death. And I pray that you would help use this church for your honor and your glory, that we could do a big work for you and that we could help this dark and dying world to come to Christ and that we could make a real difference in this world. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, for our final song, let's go to 419, Sound the Battle Cry. 419, Sound the Battle Cry. Song 419, Sound the Battle Cry. Sound the battle cry, see the flow is nigh. Raise the standard high for the Lord. Turn your armor on, stand firm everyone. Rest your cause upon His holy Word. Roused in soldiers, rally round the banner. Ready, steady, cast the word of God. Onward, forward, shout aloud from Santa. Christ is Captain of the mighty throng. Strong to meet the foe, marching on we go. While our cause we know must prevail. Shield and banner bright, gleaming in the light. Bathing for the right to care and fail. Roused in soldiers, rally round the banner. Ready, steady, cast the word of God. Onward, forward, shout aloud from Santa. Christ is Captain of the mighty throng. O thou God of all, hear us when we call. Help us one and all by thy grace. When the battle's done and the victor's won. May we wear the crown before thy face. Roused in soldiers, rally round the banner. Ready, steady, cast the word of God. Onward, forward, shout aloud from Santa. Christ is Captain of the mighty throng. Thank you all for coming. God bless. You are dismissed. Thank you.