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We're going to do this acapella. So the piano's going to stop, and I want everybody to sing as loud as they possibly can. After verse three, when we get to the coda, we're going to sing this acapella. I want everybody to sing this out as loud as they can, all right? On the first, oh what a wonderful, wonderful day. Oh what a wonderful, wonderful day, day I will never forget. Ever I wandered in darkness away, Jesus my Savior I met. Oh what a tender, compassionate friend, he met the need of my heart. Shadows dispelling with joy I am telling, he made all the darkness depart. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. When at the cross my Savior made me whole. My sins were washed away and my night was turned to day. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Born of the Spirit with life from above into God's family divine. Justified fully through Christ's love, oh what a standing in mine. And the transaction so quickly was made when as a sinner I came. Took up the offer of grace he did proffer, saved me of praise his dear name. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. When at the cross my Savior made me whole. My sins were washed away and my night was turned to day. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Now I've hope that will surely endure after the passing of time. I have a future in heaven for sure there in those time and sublime. And it's because of that wonderful day when at the cross I believe. Rich is eternal and blessing supernal hit precious in hand I receive. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. When at the cross the Savior made me whole. My sins were washed away and my night was turned to day. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. All right, lift up your voices. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. There we go. Close the prayer. Lord God, we thank you for giving us a church to come to and worship you. We ask that you just let the singing be pleasing unto your ears, Father God. We thank you for the salvation that we saw today, Lord. We thank you for the Sunday that we received, Lord. It was delicious. We ask that you just bless Pastor Shelley, Lord, tonight. Get us all home safely. Bless the rest of this week. We love you. We thank you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. All right, if you would, turn to page 44. Will work to Jesus come? That's page 44. Will work to Jesus comes? O land of rest for thee I sigh. O land of rest for thee I sigh. When will the moment come when I shall lay my armor by and dwell in peace at home? Lift up your voices. Will work till Jesus come. Will work till Jesus come. Will work till Jesus come and we'll be gathered whole. To Jesus' cry I fled for rest. He bade me cease to roam and lean for succor on his breast. Till he conduct me whole. Will work till Jesus come. Will work till Jesus come. Will work till Jesus come and we'll be gathered whole. I saw that once my Savior saw no more. My steps shall roam with him. I'll brave death, quilting time and reach my heavenly home. Will work till Jesus come. Will work till Jesus come. Will work till Jesus comes and we'll be gathered whole. Good evening, thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you did not already get a bulletin and you would like one, lift up your hand nice and high, one of our ushers will get you a bulletin. On the front we have our Bible memory passage, we also have our service times, our soul winning times, and our church stats. Is there any soul winning to report that you didn't get to your soul winning captain, that we need to just get tallied or anything like that? Did y'all have, y'all, it was just you, your family? Was that today I'm guessing? Okay. Was it, who would you go with? Okay. All right, what about you and Tony? You and Veronica and John? Oh, you and, okay. Did you say you had one as well? Okay. Who'd you go with brother, your wife? Okay. All right, anything else? Y'all had two. Brother, who'd you go with? Taylor? Okay. Just, did you go with anybody? Okay. All right, anything else? All right, and thank you those who participated today in our Sunday Sundays. I think it went really well. I got a request for chocolate gummy bears. I didn't even know that existed. I still not sure, but we're going to look into it, all right? And then, but it was a lot of fun. We really enjoyed it and thanks for those who participated. I'm looking forward to doing that again next Sunday. And then as we get colder, I don't know. I don't know if we'll still do ice cream or not. Maybe chili with no beans. No, I'm just kidding. So we'll keep something going and thanks for you that did participate. We have our list of expecting ladies. Continue to pray for all of them. Also our prayer list. And then we have our upcoming event, the Shreveport, Louisiana Sloanie Marathon. I think that's pretty much all I have for announcements at this time. We'll go ahead and go to our third song for the evening. I think we changed. I thought you'll be able to read it this week. All right, that's 274, Come Unto Me. 274, Come Unto Me. Here the blessed Savior calling the oppressed. O ye heavy laden, come to me and rest. Come no longer tarry, I your Lord will bear. Bring me every burden, bring me every care. Come unto me. I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you. Hear me and be blessed, I am meek and lowly. Come and trust my might, come my yoke is easy. And my burden's light, are you disappointed? Wandering here and there, dragging chains of doubt and loaded down with care. Do unholy feelings, struggle in your breast, bring your case to Jesus. He will give you rest, come unto me. I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you. Hear me and be blessed, I am meek and lowly. Come and trust my might, come my yoke is easy. And my burden's light, stumbling on the mountain, dark with sin and shame. Stumbling toward the pit of health consuming flame. By the power of sin, deluded and oppressed. Hear the tender shepherd come to me and rest. Come unto me. I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you. Hear me and be blessed, I am meek and lowly. Come and trust my might, come my yoke is easy. And my burden's light, have you by temptation of the conquered been? Has a sense of weakness brought distress within? Christ will sanctify you if you'll claim his best. In the Holy Spirit, he will give you rest, come unto me. I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you. Hear me and be blessed, I am meek and lowly. Come and trust my might, come my yoke is easy. And my burden's light. As the offering plates are passed around, please turn your Bibles to Mark chapter 16. Mark chapter 16. If you do not have a Bible, one of the ushers can bring one to you. We're in Mark chapter 16. That's Mark chapter 16. The Bible reads, and when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome had bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came onto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away for it was very great. And entering into the sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment, and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, be not affrighted. Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. But go your way. Tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you in the Galilee. There shall you see him as he said unto you. And they went out quickly and fled from the sepulcher for they trembled and were amazed. Neither said they anything to any man, for they were afraid. Now, when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with him as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that he was alive and had been seen of her, believe not. After that, he appeared in another form unto two of them as they walked and went into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue, neither believe they them. Afterward, he appeared unto eleven as they sat ameat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs, following. Amen. Let us bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for this opportunity to be in your house today, and to sing praises unto you in your son's name. Thank you so much for all the souls that were won this weekend. And we're so very thankful for pastor and his family. I pray that you'll fill in with your Holy Spirit. Lay on his heart the message that he's prepared for us. Help him to articulate what he wants to deliver to us. Help us to receive it. Help us to take correction if needed, and apply it to our lives. And we love you, Jesus, and we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Sorry, I didn't unmute it. We're here in Mark, chapter 16. I want to read the beginning of this chapter again. The Bible says, And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome had bought sweet spices that might come and anoint him. Very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun, and they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher? And as I was listening to the Bible and thinking about some of the things, this question really just stuck out to me a few weeks ago, and I was kind of thinking about it, but I really like this question. And what I like about this question is the fact that it did not deter them, did not deter these ladies from going to the sepulcher. But what this question does is it kind of highlights a few things for us. Now, what happens is they end up going, and it says in verse 4, And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, for it was very great. If you put yourself in their shoes, they're going to anoint the Lord Jesus Christ's body. Now, the reason why they're coming at this point in time is Jesus Christ, he was crucified and killed on Thursday, and it happened about 9 a.m. to about 3 p.m., okay? And from 3 p.m. to about 6 p.m., there was this short window that Christ's body could be dealt with before the Sabbath. At about 6 p.m., and I'm just throwing numbers out there, whenever the sun goes down, it changes the next day. I'm just saying 6 p.m. It could be 601, okay? Someone out there is going to be like, it was actually 603, you know, whatever. Okay, approximately Christ died around 3 p.m., between 3 and 4 p.m., they had a very quick amount of time, they had to take the body off the cross, put it in the tomb, and they didn't necessarily embalm it all the ways they wanted to. But they bought spices that afternoon, they went and saw where the body is, they figured out what all they needed, they bought it, and then they had to rest. Now, they had to rest from Thursday evening all the way until Friday evening, because the 15th day of the month on the Passover is considered a special holy Sabbath day. But here's the problem, Friday evening to Saturday evening, they also have to, because that's the Sabbath. Okay, so they have to rest on the Sabbath day. So they're coming basically in the morning on Sunday morning, it's kind of their first real opportunity to go and to anoint the body of Jesus Christ. You say, well, why did they do it Saturday night? Well, we have flashlights and all kinds of modern inventions today that assist, we have street lights, but at night, where there's a tomb out in the graveyard, it would be pitch black, okay, let alone be able to get in there, see anything, be able to do anything. You couldn't do things during the night as you could today in today's context, in today's world. It was much more difficult to do things at night, they didn't have as many opportunities, inventions, so they're coming right when the sun is rising, they're coming really early, they're to anoint Jesus Christ. So this is their first opportunity to go, but there's a giant problem. They are incapable of rolling this stone away. They don't have an option here. Like they're not physically, I know that you like to think that women are really strong or whatever, but not in this context, okay? And as they're going, they're like, we got to anoint the body of Jesus. They're going, but they don't know how that's going to necessarily happen. They're just going because they want to do this for the Lord. It's important to them. And I believe it's because of their faith. It's their faith that the Lord wants them to do this, they're going, and when they show up, they realize that the stone's already rolled away. Well, I feel like there's a spiritual picture here that we can kind of draw from, and I kind of have three points that I want to kind of draw through this sermon, but number one is they realize they weren't capable, but they had the faith to do it anyways, and then God rolled away the stone. Now, to me, the most obvious picture of what this kind of symbolizes is salvation, because you have to realize that you're incapable of rolling away the stone of sin in your life. You're incapable of saving yourself, and then you have to have the faith that someone else is going to do that, and then specifically we realize it's God that rolled away the stone for us, so that we can get that salvation. Just like God is the one that rose Jesus from the dead, we couldn't do that. He did it for us, right? Go over to Genesis chapter 29. Go backwards to Genesis 29. The title of the sermon is Who Shall Roll the Stone? And we have another interesting story in the Bible of a particular man who ends up rolling a stone away. Look at Genesis chapter 29 and verse 1. The Bible says, Then Jacob went on his journey and came into the land of the people of the east, and they looked, and behold, a well in the field. And lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it, for out of that well they watered the flocks, and a great stone was upon the well's mouth. And there there were all the flocks gathered, and they rolled a stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well's mouth in his place. And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, Of Haran are we? And he said unto them, Know ye Laban, the son of Naor? And they said, We know him. And he said unto them, Is he well? Isn't it annoying when you ask people questions and they're just short answered? Hey, do you know this guy? Yep. Is everything good? Like, do you like the guy? Any more information? You know, is he well? And they said, He is well. So they're not really forthcoming with a lot of information, are they? And behold, Rachel, his daughter, cometh with the sheep. And he said, Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together. Water ye the sheep, and go and feed them. And they said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, until they roll the stone from the well's mouth, then we water the sheep. So here in the story, we have a picture of this stone on the well, which is going to give water, and it takes a great multitude in order to roll the stone away to where one man can't. And I think where you have to draw from symbols and pictures and different things like that in the Bible is you kind of have to put the story in context and then get the right application. From a singular individual's perspective, you cannot roll this stone away. Like, if that's the message that they're communicating, like, Hey, how do you get water? You can't. Okay. Now, obviously, we have this multitude, but that's not part of the parallel. But here's what's interesting is Jacob can. You can't. But Jacob can. And when Rachel comes, he ends up, you know, basically just moving himself. Look at verse nine. And while he had spake with him, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she kept them. And it came to pass when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob went in here and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother. So it's like, Hey, we can't do this. And Jacob's like, I can. And who does Jacob represent? He represents the Lord Jesus Christ in the sense that only he can roll away the stone. And if we think about it, what did the stone represent in our first picture here in Mark Chapter 16? It pictured resurrection. It pictured the coming back from the dead. There's only one that can do that is Jesus Christ. Only one has been risen again from the dead. And God did that work. But they had the faith to go and to see the Lord, to see Jesus Christ. And we get to benefit from that resurrection because of what Jesus did for us. And the same with the well. Rachel gets to benefit from Jacob rolling away the stone and watering the flock. And Rachel is often a picture of God's people. Now, go to Titus, chapter number 3. Go to Titus, chapter number 3 in your Bible. So one really important lesson from these chapters and from these pictures of who shall roll away the stone is you have to realize there are stones in your life you cannot roll. You are not capable. In fact, this is the most important point to salvation itself. You must realize you cannot save yourself. You are incapable of saving yourself just as much as a giant stone that you can't move, you can't budge. That is the same obstacle you have with your sin. You cannot get to heaven based on how good you are. It doesn't matter how much effort you try to put in pushing that stone and moving that stone. You will never push that stone away. You will never open that hatch. You will never get into salvation. And in fact, you have no part to play in moving that stone. Zero. Nada. But this is what the world believes. The world believes that salvation is through good works. And the problem is they just don't realize that that stone is too heavy. So you will see all kinds of people trying to push on it. And so this is basically, since they realize no one can actually do it, they will just say, we have to try. It's like, okay, well, trying to move the stone still didn't move it. You know, you can get up there and just be like, but you're not going to move it. Well, you just got to be willing. It's not about willing. The stone has to move. Your sin has to be dealt with. Your sin has to be punished. Your sin has to be considered reconciled before God some way. So it's not you just trying. It's not you just being willing. That stone has to move. So in order for you to realize that this problem cannot be solved, you have to also realize you can't do it. Now, look at Titus chapter three, verse number three. For we ourselves also are sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers less than pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that, the kindness and love of God, our savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have done. But according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our savior, that being justified by his grace, we should have made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So notice he's saying, hey, yeah, we were sinful. But then the love of God appeared to us. And what is the love of God? It's not based on anything that we do. You know, it's funny when people suggest that God loves people regardless of what they do. And they'll use verses in the Bible about talk about the love of God. But what they don't realize is that the love of God has nothing to do with you. It has everything to do with what Jesus did for you. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. It doesn't say for God so loved the world that they went to the bar, that they committed fornication, that they lied, that they stole, that they had a cute little nose. The way they smiled, the way they did their hair, the way that they loved. No, no, the love of God is because of Jesus. It's all about the Lord Jesus Christ. And the love of God appeared unto us. How? Not by him accepting our sin, not by him liking our lifestyle, not by liking anything we've done, not by works of righteousness, which we have done. But according to his mercy, said, meaning what? What appeared to us was Jesus. What appeared to us was Jesus dying. What appeared to us was Jesus being buried. What appeared to us was Jesus being resurrected. And what appeared to us was that if God was willing to do that to his son, then he must care about us a lot. And you say, well, what is it about me that he cared about so much? I didn't say that he cared about anything you did, not by works of righteousness, which we have done. It's nothing. It's like, well, how much effort? How much did you move the stone? Zero. None. Not by works of right. You cannot get your safe. Nothing you do get you saved, can get you saved. You are incapable. And in fact, in God's sight, you're kind of ugly. I'm going to prove that. Go to Isaiah chapter 64 or go to Isaiah 64. Sin is ugly. And in fact, God doesn't like the flesh. God doesn't want to dwell with flesh. The flesh is enmity with God, as the Bible describes it. God has to make us new in order to even be around us. And if we were to look at the works that we have in the flesh, according to the Bible, they're all junk. They're all scum. Look at Isaiah 64 verse 6. But we are all as an unclean thing and all, maybe you should just circle that word in your Bible, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And we all do fate as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Hey, let me tell you something. All of your works of righteousness are like filthy rags. No one wants that. You know what you do with filthy rags? You throw them away. You don't keep them around. Sometimes your kids, the baby will have a blowout, and you're like, trash. You're not even like, we're going to save this one. We're going to keep this one. Sometimes it's too big of an accident. It's like too much of a catalyst. You're just like, trash. You're not trying to save that, preserve that, keep that. That is what God is looking at. The greatest thing you've ever done in the flesh, God's like, trash. Why? Just like a little toddler trying to move a giant boulder. You can't do it. It's not capable. Our works have no impact on us being saved, getting saved, anything like that. Go to Galatians, chapter number two. We have to realize our salvation is not repenting of your sins. It's not getting baptized. It's not going to church. It's not feeding people on Thanksgiving. It's not giving gifts to poor kids on Christmas Day. It's not joining some do-gooder's club. It's not giving up drinking, giving up smoking. It's not committing fornication. It's not by telling the truth. It's not by any works of righteousness which you have done. It's only by His mercy. That's why I love these ladies' attitude when they're going to the stone and saying, who shall roll away the stone for us? It's like, we can't do it. And you know, when you look at your sin, you get a real humble attitude of, I cannot save myself. I am incapable of salvation. I need someone else to roll this away. We have to have faith like a child. The faith of a child depends on their parents for everything. Just like these women are dependent on strong men to get a job done for them. It's funny, this feminist movement, they still want all those benefits of strong men doing things for them. It's funny to me when I look at, I just go to the store and you walk in and I just look at all the people walking around and I'm just thinking like, all of you are so dependent on strong men from you being invaded because you guys would be taken over like that. Every guy just looks like an effeminate little queer little sissy and these ladies walking around with their latte and I'm thinking like, you don't even understand what Islam would do to you. In some of these countries where they've let them invade, I mean, women are just being massacred in some of these countries and Europe and some of these other places where the laws are getting lax and they don't have a bunch of strong men to kind of protect them and guard them. It's just funny what our country is trying to do to itself. You know, we need to be strong and be strapped and be spiritual. Okay, there's another sermon for another day. All right, you preacher boys. Strong, strapped, and spiritual, all right? Hey, I write my sermons as I go. No, I'm just kidding. Galatians chapter number two, look at verse 16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. We also have to realize that just as that poor little docile creature at the grocery store that's incapable of defending itself, we too are incapable of saving ourselves, sustaining ourselves, having, doing anything. It's all God, folks. You know, the horse was prepared against the day of battle, the safeties of the Lord. And let me tell you something, salvation's of the Lord too. My salvation started with Jesus Christ and ended with Jesus Christ. It's all about Him. It's not my testimony. I'm not going to get up and give you my testimony. And even if someone did, you know what? It should sound the exact same as every other saved person. Hey, let me tell you my testimony. Jesus Christ died on the cross for all my sins, was buried and rose again and I trusted in Him. Let's bring the next person up. Hey, my testimony is that Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried and rose again and I trusted in Him. Oh, next person. You know, that's what it would sound like. That's so funny when they have people like, let's have testimony night. It's like, just go soul winning. And you know, if I went soul winning with somebody and they're like, Hey, I want to let you know something, buddy. I used to be a drunkard, but then I gave that up and then I got saved. And then I believe I'm going to be like, get out of here bozo. That doesn't get anybody saved. That's not the testimony of Jesus Christ. I love to tell the story, the old, old story of Jesus and His love, right? Notice verse 16, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of law. Well, it's kind of controversial what the Bible says. How can we really know what saves someone? No, no, no. Wait a minute. Knowing, knowing that must be manifested. The Bible is saying you can know that a man is not justified by the works of the law. Let's just establish something. You cannot be saved by works, period. And well, are you sure? I know that just like a thousand ton rock. I know I can't move. It's like, well, what if you pushed really hard? No. What if you're willing? No, I can't do it. And I also know this. I cannot be justified by doing good. It's impossible. Okay. Now that doesn't necessarily prescribe how I get saved. It just prescribes that I'm doomed in the context, right? I've lied. I mean, all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth the fire and brimstone, which is the second death. That doesn't sound good. That's why we try to explain this to people when we go out slowing, right? He says, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we, I believe in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Zero. But if we, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For I build again the things which I destroyed. I make myself a transgressor. For I, through the law, am dead to the law that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I. But Christ liveth in me in the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. If I could move the stone away from the mouth, why would I even ask the question of who shall roll away the stone for us? Right? Why even bring that up if I'm going to do it? The whole reason it's brought up is because they cannot do it, and they know they can't do it. And look, this is why it's also important to try and get people saved to explain to them why they need to be saved. Right? I've heard somebody say this, and I think it's kind of true. They're like, you have to first get people lost before you can get them saved. You have to help people realize they're condemned before the fact that they need to be justified, reconciled, saved. You know, being saved implies something. You're doomed otherwise. You've got a problem going, okay? They have a problem. They can't roll away the stone. We have a problem sin that separates us from a holy God, and the only, only way to be saved is by the faith of Jesus Christ, not by any works of righteous we've done. Now, he explains in verses 17 through 20 that once you get saved, it's not to say that you should just continue living in the flesh. He's saying, hey, now I've got a new man inside of me, and I'm trying to walk in that guy as much as possible, but here's a fact. You can walk in the old man up to your dying breath and still go to heaven if you believe in Jesus Christ. You know, you could technically believe in Jesus Christ and then die the split second after and have never done anything good in your entire life, and you go to heaven, and you could get saved and live your whole life not walking in the Spirit, not walking the life that Christ has for you, and you still get to heaven because what saved you initially was no works. Who's going to argue with me and say I did a bunch of good works before I got saved? Well, then why would you think you deserved a salvation at that point in time? You didn't deserve it when you got saved. You didn't deserve it a day after you got saved, and you didn't deserve it the last day of your life. You never deserved it. That's why it's called grace, and that's why it was never of works, and that's why we know that a man is not justified by the works of the law. It's impossible, just like me moving a thousand-ton stone. When I was five years old, I couldn't move it. When I'm 35 years old, I couldn't move it. If I worked out every day of my life, I still couldn't move it. Now, would I have been stronger? Sure. A little bit better? Yes, but it was still an impossible task for me, just like my Christian journey and my Christian life. Yeah, maybe if I've gotten a little better, maybe if I cleaned up some areas of my life, have I gotten a little bit stronger? I sure hope so, but you know what? I still am incapable of getting saved by works. It just doesn't work that way. It's an impassable, impossible task that cannot be done. Go to Romans chapter number three. Go to Romans chapter number three. Salvation is a free gift, and of course, a gift is not something you work for. Romans chapter number three, look at verse 19. Now, we know that what things serve the law sayeth it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. There's a good first step. Get people lost, right? Explain to them that you're guilty. Verse 20, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in the sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Now, I like verse 20 because he's actually explaining things. He is saying, if we take all of your good and all of your bad, you're just guilty. But what if I start doing good? Guilty. But what if I turn from my sins? Guilty. What if I start doing, I want to do better? Guilty. It doesn't matter. When God measures you and weighs you, all of your good and all of your bad, every work you've done, will do, all of it, when He puts it together, guilty is the verdict. That's why it's saying, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified, meaning God never will look at someone by their works and say, that was good enough. Never. Not one time. Verse number 21, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophet. So he's saying, hey, to actually be righteous with God is explained, and it has nothing to do with the law. Says in verse 22, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. Now, the reason why he's bringing up there's no difference is because he's saying, Jew or Gentile, it does not matter. Anybody is in this. Everyone is the same boat. We're all guilty. And no matter what good you've done, it's still you're on the guilty scale. You found wanting your incapable of moving that stone away. And the only true righteousness of God is a completely different option. Faith in Jesus Christ. And he clarifies the fact that, uh, there's no difference between all of us because for all of sin it comes short of the glory of God. That is a combined statement. He's saying the reason why this is the case is because no one is, it's not like the Gentiles need faith and the Jews are good. It's that all have sinned. It's also not that the Jews need faith and the Gentiles don't. No, for all have sinned. I mean, the context of Romans three is just saying we're all in the same bucket. We're all sinners. We all deserve hell. And the only way to be saved is by the faith in Jesus Christ, which verse 24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That is an epic verse. Think about all the things that said you're justified and then it's free, meaning it didn't cost anything. You didn't work for it by his grace, meaning you didn't earn it or deserve it. And it's redemption. And who's that redemption? It's in Christ Jesus. I mean, is that not an epic verse? Verse 25, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the aberrance of God. I also love when it just says to declare his righteousness. That's what we do when we preach the gospel is we declare his righteousness, not mine. I don't have any. Let me tell you about all my righteousness. I'm done already. I didn't have any. That was the shortest testimony ever. It's like start declaring righteousness over immediately because I have none. You have none. We're not righteous. And even if I did have something, it's a filthy ragging comparison, as the Bible declares. So we're not here to declare our righteousness. We declare his righteousness to declare, I say, at this time, notice this again, his righteousness. I know God just sits here and beats us up with the truth. He's just like, Hey, did I tell you that it's about Jesus righteousness already? Let me tell you again. And let me tell you again. And let me tell you again. That's why when we're in Galatians, he's like knowing that a man is not justified. It's like, how many times does God have to tell you something for you to believe it? Right. Isn't it funny that people supposedly are scholars of the Bible and they still think work save you? It's like, what part of the Bible did you read? They didn't. They read commentary. They read the Talmud or they're just an idiot, something. To declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him, which repents of his sins. Oh, wait, that's not in my Bible. Of which believeth in Jesus. Notice the only people that get justified are those that believe. No works, no good. Well, that doesn't make sense. Verse twenty seven, where is boasting then? It is excluded. It's like, well, then how can I brag about that? You can't. You cannot brag about being saved, because if you brag about being saved, it just proves you're not even saved anyways, because there's nothing to brag about. Personally, I can't brag about anything I did. I just, in the simplicity of my heart and mind, believe that Jesus paid all my sins and trusted his death, burn, resurrection, and that's what saved me. You say, oh, you're just one of these easy believers. Yeah, it was the easiest thing I've ever done, and it was the greatest thing I've ever done. It's the best thing you could ever do. Uh, you're just trying to make salvation so easy. Well, so is God. Oh, you're saying you're going to just show up and the stone's going to be rolled away? Yeah, I am. Well, how are you going to roll that stone? If you do that, people won't roll the stone away. They couldn't if they wanted to. Well, if you say that, people are still going to sin. I can get up and scream as loud as I want, and they're still going to sin. I get up and scream about not sinning every part of the Bible as best I can, and my church still sins. My church still disobeys and rebels against God. I still do it. Oh, you're giving people a license to sin. They didn't need one. The devil's handing them out, okay? And everybody's got tons of them already. This is such a silly idea to think that salvation has anything to do with us. By what law of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. I mean, the Bible couldn't be clearer. It couldn't articulate it better. It's over the top in explaining salvation by faith. I mean, people that believe in works just prove that they're not saved because it's not even a confusing thing. It's not even a questionable thing. I mean, the Bible's just hammering. You can't get yourself saved. Jesus did it all. Jesus paid it all. I mean, why do you think our pamphlet just says giant on the front? Jesus paid it all. Why do we sing songs? Jesus paid it all. Why do we sing songs? Look and live. Why do we sing all these great songs of the faith? Because it's all about Jesus Christ. It has nothing to do with us. Nothing. Go to Romans, chapter number eight. Go to Romans, chapter number eight. Who shall roll us away the stone? Jesus. That's who, right? So point one is this. You're incapable. You know, I think about this story of the stone being there. You're incapable. And of course, the greatest application is salvation itself. You're incapable. But you know what? Through faith, it can be moved. Through faith, it can be moved. Now look at Romans, chapter eight, verse one. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Now, why bring up this passage is I really like the wording in verse three, where the Bible just clearly says, for what the law could not do. Well, Pastor Shelley, it's repenting your sins. No, the law can't do that. Just like I can't move the stone, just like the ladies couldn't move the stone, just like Rachel couldn't move the stone, just like the people sitting around the well couldn't move the stone. You know what? The law cannot save you. For what the law could not do, there is no commandment I can show you in the Bible that gets you into heaven. It's not loving the Lord God with all thy heart. It's not loving thy neighbor as thyself. It's not thou shalt not kill. It's not thou shalt not steal. It's not thou shalt not covet. It's not any of those things. It's not thou shalt not have no other gods before me. None of those laws can give you salvation. The law is incapable of doing that for you. Why? Why is it incapable of doing that for me? Well, it's weak through the flesh. You just are not good enough. You're just not righteous enough. You're too weak. It's like, why can't I move the stone, Pastor Shelley? You're weak. You're like the girly man. You can't save yourself, okay? You just have to humble yourself and realize I'm weak. I can't do it, right? But then realize someone else can do it for you, and that's where the faith comes into play. So here's the thing. If I can't move the stone from the tomb, why even go? Because if they show up and they can't get in, all the spices that they're bringing with them benefit them nothing, and their journey would be in complete vein. It would have been just a waste of time. It would have been a frustrating exercise. Why do it anyways? Because they had the faith to know that it was going to happen. They believed it was going to happen, and it's like, why do you believe in Jesus Christ? Well, because I believe and I know that he's going to save me. And you're like, well, have you seen it? Have you seen hell, Pastor Shelley? Nope. Have you seen heaven? Nope. Someone that tells you they've seen heaven and hell, just stop listening to their preaching, okay? They say they're Jesus or any of these other weird things. Just leave immediately, okay? Don't even wait until the sermon's over, okay? Just leave. Well, how do you know? Have you been resurrected, Pastor Shelley? Nope. Have you seen Jesus? Nope. Did you see Jesus die on the cross? Nope. Did you see him go to the tomb? Nope. Did you see his soul descend into hell? Nope. Did you see him rise again from the dead? Nope. Did you see him, you know, show his hands and his feet to his disciples? Nope. Did you talk to the apostle Paul? Nope. Well, then why do you even enter a church with the King James Bible? I believe it by faith. Just like these ladies going to the tomb, it's like, well, did you just see the stone? Did you see someone roll it away? Do you know? I mean, it's like they just believe it's going to happen. They have faith that it's going to be rolled away, even though they can't do it. And here's the thing. I cannot be just before God. I can't reconcile anything, but I feel confident to stand before God because of my faith in Jesus. And that he's going to roll the stone away for me. In fact, I believe he's already done it from a theological position. Yes, obviously I'm already saved, but there's going to be a day when your salvation is like a real moment in time where we're going to literally stand before God and be considered just and righteous in his sight. And we're going to literally be resurrected. That's going to actually happen. Okay. And it hasn't happened for me yet. I'm still in this old filthy flesh. Okay. I have to be redeemed physically, not just spiritually, but you say, well, how do you know that's going to happen? I walk by faith, not by sight. And Romans chapter number eight is talking about those of us that are not walking after the flesh, but after the spirit. Right. And we're supposed to walk and exercise our faith. We're supposed to go to the tomb where stones are that we can't move in our lives, especially when it comes to salvation. Go to second Corinthians chapter number five, go to second Corinthians chapter number five. So point one is you're incapable. Point two is that all things are possible through faith in Jesus though, specifically our salvation. So point two is this. You have faith. You realize you're, you humble yourself. You realize you can't do it. Realize he can do it and have faith in him. And then number three, the main point is this is just that God's going to do it. I can't, I believe he can and he will. I can't, he can and he will. Okay. Second Corinthians chapter five, look at verse six. Therefore we are always confident knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and be present with the Lord. Notice the apostle Paul is bringing up this great little parenthetical statement. Hey, I'm not walking by the things I see. I'm walking by the things that I believe. You know, I don't base my life on what I see, hear, touch, taste, smell. I base my life on what this says. Period. He's like, well, what did, what did you base your salvation on Pastor Shelley? What did you see? Nothing. What did you feel? Nothing. What did you taste? Nothing. What was it? This. It was a, it was a hundred percent this. I heard the word of God and it germinated faith in my heart and I believed and that is what saved me. It was a spiritual transaction. It was not a physical transaction. I didn't, I wasn't sitting there and just like, oh, you know, it's not the Pentecostal. Oh, when the spirit comes, you're going to feel the spirit and you're going to be jumping and you're going to feel Jesus. It's like, I didn't feel any different. I, we got people saved this afternoon. Nothing weird happened to them. And if they did, let's not count that one. Okay. They were like, it's like, whoa, that guy got really saved. You know, it's, it's a spirit. It's something inside of you that's different. It wasn't a physical thing. Okay. So when we talk about walking by faith, we're not talking about walking by your emotions. We're not talking about things you see, taste, touch, smell. We're talking about things you believe inside your core, your faith. What do you believe about the scripture? Go to Romans chapter number four, go to Romans chapter number four. Why did they go to the tomb? Not based on anything they saw, not based on anything they heard, not based on anything they felt, not based on anything they tasted. It was based on the faith in their heart. Someone's going to open that stone for us because we need to see Jesus. I want to see Jesus. I want to be with the Lord. And you know what, if you seek, you should find where there's a will for God. There's a way God will allow a way for you to get to him and to accomplish his will. And here's the thing I wanted to be with Jesus. I wanted to be with God for the rest of my life. And so God carved away and it was Jesus Christ. It was the gospel of Jesus Christ that he made the way for me to get into heaven. And it wasn't based on anything I did or could do or will do. It was my faith in him. Romans chapter number four, look at verse 12, and the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. Now, when you realize that God does it all and when it comes to salvation, we realize our salvation is all of him. We have to realize that this extends beyond our salvation though, my friend. Yeah, that is the greatest application. That is the greatest stone that was rolled away. But our lives are supposed to live the gospel and we are supposed to take the steps of faith in our lives in every area. These ladies that went to the tomb were already saved. So we're talking about other experiences in their life where they said, you know what, I can't, but he can, and I believe in that. And I'm going to take a step towards that tomb, realizing I'm not going to be able to do it, but I believe he can and he will. You know, how do you go to the fiery furnace? Well, you realize you can't, definitely can't, but you know what, you believe he can and he will. You know, how do you do any of these things in the Bible? How do you go out to the promised land? You know, you can't. How do you cross the Red Sea? You can't. But guess what? I believe he can and you do because he'll do it for you. You know, Abraham took steps of faith in his life, and you know what, a Christian life is one of faith. What is faith again? It's not sight. So let me ask you this question. How many decisions are you making on a daily basis where you're challenged with what the Bible says, even though you can't see it physically? You know, there's a lot of things that we do that just make sense, that you already understand, that are just, even just sight. But there's a lot of parts of the Bible that sometimes you just can't see it, and you have to decide to make that decision based on the faith that God will do it. I can't. He can. I'm going to believe he's going to do it. Go to Proverbs chapter 19. Go to Proverbs chapter 19. Let me give you a couple applications, okay? Here's an application for me. How about getting married? Can you see for sure that your spouse is going to love you till death do you part? It's going to be a godly spouse. It's going to do good. I mean, isn't marriage a pretty daunting relationship commitment? I mean, this is an incredible commitment that you have to make in faith, but here's the thing. I still believe you should do that. I believe in marriage, and I want our children to believe in marriage, and I don't care what the world does. The world's wrong on marriage. The world is so terrified of marriage that they've invented all these different things to escape marriage. Wait until you're older. Live together first. Get a prenup agreement. Oh, well, we have no fault divorce, so even if you failed all of those, well, you can just trade up and get another one next year. Just get a new model. It's a lease, and instead of it being a marriage, it's a lease, right? They're on loan. You know, this is a bad mentality. You know it's a good mentality getting married young. Oh, I don't know about that. Well, look at Proverbs 19. House and riches are the inheritance of fathers, and a prudent wife is from the Lord. Don't be these men going their own way. Don't reject marriage. Embrace marriage. You say, well, can you see your spouse when she's 70 or 80 years old still being faithful to you and being the greatest wife ever? I can't see it, but I believe it. Who's going to roll that stone away? I'm not. You know, I have zero impact on if my wife obeys me or is a good spouse. I mean, I can try my best to influence her. I can try to lead her, but she has a complete free will. She could do anything she wants theoretically, and especially in America. I mean, in America, she could drop me like a bad habit, find a lawyer, sue me, take all my money, and go be with anybody that she wants. I mean, she could do whatever she wants. I mean, she'll get a lot of consequences for that. She'll destroy her family by doing that, but you know what? She could technically do that, and you say, well, Pastor Shelley, why would you ever get married with all those possible pitfalls? Because I believe that the Lord gave me a wife and that I'm entering in the contract of marriage because that's the right thing to do. You know, instead of just living a life of fornication, which is what people do when they forsake marriage, I'm going to live a life of marriage. And you say, well, I don't get it. Hey, the ladies went to open to go to the Jesus, and they didn't even realize who's going to roll the soul in for us. He's like, how is marriage going to work? It is. Because I believe what the Bible says. Look at Proverbs chapter five. Go backwards a few chapters and go to Romans or Proverbs chapter number five. Don't give up on the institutions of God. Look, many of the things that God asked you to do, you cannot see. You have a long journey until you're going to get there and realize God did it. I'm going to have a long journey until we get to the end of our marriage. And you can never know. There's other things like that, but look at Proverbs chapter five, verse 15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad in rivers of waters in the streets. Let them be only thine own and not strangers with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Hey, the Bible encourages getting married young. It does not say bad or wrong. Now, of course, when we decide someone to marry, there are certain things we should think about that are found in the scripture, like they're saved. But here's the thing. If I am getting a wife that's in the boundaries of the word of God, I believe that wife is from the Lord. And you know what? I can't do it on my own. You know, I'm trusting in God to give me the right relationship that I need. And when you follow God's commandments, you can look at it and say, you know what? I can't do it, but I'm just trusting the Lord to do it. And I can't infect my wife. You know, only the Lord can do it. You know, there was times even in our marriage specifically where, you know, the beginning of our marriage, I was kind of like the black sheep of the marriage, okay, whatever you want to call it. Not the better partner, right? And I'm not saying that I changed. I'm just saying, like, it was real obvious, okay? I was really dragging behind. But then I started trying to make changes to be a better spouse. And I needed to make the biggest changes in my life, the more consequential changes. But there were some things that I wanted my spouse to change, too. And I remember just thinking about it like, I cannot force her to change. Like, it's impossible for me to infect my wife or cause her to change in this area that I want this to change in. And so you know what I did? I gave up. I said, I can't do it. But you know what I did do? I got on my knees every day, and I prayed that God would change her heart. And I just kept operating my life like that would happen, and then just someday it changed. And I was thinking, like, I remember one specific example. I remember finally she changed, and I'm thinking, like, what in the world? And I asked her, and she's just like, yeah, there was this verse that, you know, was bothering me, and I decided to change. And it was like, and it wasn't even a verse I showed her. It wasn't like, you know, Pastor Shelley to the rescue. Here's Pastor Shelley, you know, showing my wife this verse, whatever. Someone else at a different time, doing their thing, showing, and she just changes, and it was just like, wow. But you know, that was a tomb site I was walking towards saying, who shall roll away the stone? And I was like, I can't. But you know what? He can. And I'm just going to keep walking towards that, and it's just a glorious thing when you just see God doing things like this in your life, and you just walk by faith, and you say, well, why did you pray every single day? Because I knew that he could. Why would you even pray if you didn't believe God could do something? And I'll be honest, in the flesh, I didn't think, like, there's lots of times I prayed for things, and I thought, like, that never happened. Like, I don't think it's going to happen. I can't do it. There's no way. But then God can do it. God can do miracles. God can open the Red Sea, folks. Are you reading this Bible? I mean, God can shut the mouths of lions. God can cause men to go into the fiery furnace and come out, and they don't even smell like smoke. God can take a Catholic that was a Catholic his whole life and in 10 minutes make him a Christian. God can do all kinds of things. Have you ever seen birth? God can take the barren and give them children. God can do all kinds of miracles. Why would I stop praying and believing that God could do it? Well, but my marriage is bad. Well, why don't you pray that it gets better? Well, I can't find a spouse. Well, why don't you pray for a spouse? You say, well, I, you know, some of you guys in here, I'm looking at you can't do it. But you know what? He can. Hey, a prudent wife is from the Lord. Amen. I'm so glad that God gave me a wife I didn't deserve. You know, if I got a girl that I deserved, I'd be in the ditch dead or something. You know, my wife always lets me know. She's like, she saved me. She did. She's a way better person than me. You know, I didn't deserve my wife. I still don't deserve her. I never will. But you know what? I didn't deserve salvation either. I don't deserve anything good. You know what? God is good to me. God blesses me. I don't deserve the children I have. I don't deserve the church that I get to go to. I don't deserve a congregation that I have. I don't deserve any. I don't even deserve the truck I have. And it's falling apart, but I just don't deserve it. You know, my dad bought it for me and gave it to me a gift when I was a kid. I didn't deserve that. You know, I feel spoiled and blessed the life that I live. But let me tell you something. I don't want to stop walking by faith after salvation. I want to keep walking in faith every day of my life, folks. And there are stones that you might look at in your life and say, I don't know if I can roll that away. But you just, you just believe God can. Go to Malachi chapter number three. Go to Malachi chapter number three. There's another really clear example in the Bible of this that I thought we should at least look at. But you know, here's one. How about just having children? I mean, having children, I mean, that's a scary task. You know, raising all of them, loving all of them, paying for all of them, feeding all of them, teaching all of them, training. I mean, all of these things are just daunting tasks. Raising godly children is not something that you can see. That is something you have to take one step at a time. But you know what? All those steps can be done in faith. Hey, believe what the Bible says about disciplining your children. You say, I want to have godly, God-fearing, well-behaved children. Well, are you applying the rod of correction? Are you teaching and training them? Are you being consistent? And you say, well, I don't think it's working, Pastor Shelley, because I spanked them 27 times today and every day this week, and they're still disobedient. Yeah, but that's because the Bible says foolishness is bound on the heart of a child. Okay, don't take my number too literal, or I'm just using a high number. But there are days where your children seem to be not getting it, and then it's weeks, and then it's months, and then you're like, man, is it years? But I'm telling you, when you follow the Bible's commandments, when you get to the end, you'll be like, oh, wow, it made sense. You know, walking all the way to the tomb, it might have been at any point that you're just kind of like, I still don't think they're going to open the tomb door. I still don't know. I still don't know. I still don't know. I still don't know. And you're not going to know until you're there, and you see it, and you're like, it's rolled away. And it's like, sometimes with your kids, it might be like, five years old, I don't see it, 10 years old, I don't see it, 13, wow, it's getting worse, 14, 15, 16, you just keep. But then they become an adult, and you're just like, wow, it made sense. Say, Pastor Shelley, how do you know that you don't have good godly teenagers, you don't have adult children that are serving the Lord? You know what? I don't. I'm walking by faith. I am still walking to that tomb. But you know what? I'm going to walk the way the Bible tells me to walk, whether I've seen it or not. And I want to raise my children, dragging them to church, teaching them the hymns, making them read the Bible, not being of the world, disciplining them regularly, not dressing like the world, acting like the world. And you know what? I believe that God will give me godly children. Oh, but you have so many. What happy is the man that has his quiver full of them? You know, men that have lots of children, they never complain to me about having lots of children. They love it. Now, the wife, you know, she might be a little bit, uh, having a hard time. But you know what? When she's older, she'll thank you for every child you forced her to have. Oh, you snots on me! Look, they want to have children, okay, folks. But I'm telling you, the women that are old hags, the feminists of today, are going to be the old hags of the future, and they're going to be bitter and angry, and they're going to hate their lives when they're older, and they're going to wish they had children. Go to a nursing home. And you know what? These women that have, like, 10, 12 kids, they're probably not going to be in a nursing home because they have, like, 12 houses to go to when they're older. They're going to be passed around. They're going to go every, like, one month, they just stay with a different child or something, you know? And you say, like, well, I don't know if they can put up with me. But here's the thing. If you homeschool them and everything, they've lived with you for 18 years straight, at least. They're going to be used to it. They're going to watch you around. I mean, we suggest to our kids the idea of them being, going to public school, or we'll just kind of tell them what it's like. Oh, all the kids just dropped off early in the morning, they're there for hours by themselves. You want to do it? No. They hate that idea. Any time they go somewhere, they want us to go, right? But think about it. If you just drop your kids off at school and then give them the babysitter and then never spend any time with them, when they're old, they're going to think, I don't need to be around mom and dad. I don't like being around mom and dad. I don't want to be around them. You sit here and think that it's such a burden to be around your kids all day long, but let me tell you something. You're going to think it's a blessing when you're older. You're going to love being around those kids when you're older and them serving you hand and foot and thinking that you're the most wonderful person on the planet and appreciating all the godly wisdom and advice that you gave them. And you're going to think, I could use a couple more of these about now. Not sitting here thinking, this is such a burden to have 10 people that think I'm awesome and love me and always want to invite me over and cook me meals and take care of me when I'm old. You look at it now through the glass lens of it being difficult, but I'm telling you the blessings on the other side there, folks. They thought, who's going to roll away the stone? But when they got there, sweet. I don't know why we didn't come sooner. This is awesome. It's rolled away. You say, well, who did that? God did. I can't raise godly children, but God can. God's word can. I don't have enough wisdom to make my kids wise, but the Bible does. I don't have enough righteousness to teach my children righteousness, but the Bible does. It's not by works of righteousness which we have done. Our salvation, anything. Everything just needs to rely upon this. God can do it. God can give your children the wisdom, the knowledge, and the heart that they need to be the person they need to be. But you know what? You have to step out in faith. Some people don't believe that. Oh, my kids don't need my kids don't need to be these fuddy duddies like Pastor Shelley. My kids are going to be just fine. I'll take them to the public school and I'll let them get involved with all the friends, neighborhood friends. They go to the neighborhoods, friends, have fun. I don't care. Let them watch anything. Oh, that music's no problem. I listen to that music. Let's just let them listen to that music. I'll just let them do all these things. You know what? You're not walking by faith, my friend, and your faith is not found in the scripture, and we'll see. We already have seen what the world does to kids, what the world will do. Here's another area that's a difficult one to look at, but how about Malachi chapter number three? Look at verse number 10. Bring ye all those tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. You know, when it comes to the idea of tithing, I believe it's similar here in the context of you cannot see it, you just have to believe it. Like, no one can see how giving money to church or tithing is somehow going to make you more blessed financially, because it makes no sense, just like it makes no sense for a bunch of ladies to go show up at the tomb and think, like, who's going to roll away the stone? You can't. Okay, and here's the thing, I cannot fathom how tithing makes me a blessed man financially, but I just believe it, and I know that he can and that he does. You know, praise God, you know, even the bad churches, at least they're right on tithing, and they all preach tithing, okay? If there's one doctrine that all Christian churches seem to be in unison on, it's tithe, okay? They love that. I mean, sometimes they're a little overboard. I mean, I've had people say that you, well, I double tithe. You can't double tithe because it's 10%, okay? And only 10% is required. If you actually gave 20% of your income, you're tithing, and then you're giving a 10% offering, okay? It's impossible, because the tithe is the command. Everything else is just extra, okay? There's no commandment to tithe 20%, 30%, 50%. You know, there'll be, like, these independent Baptist churches, they're like, you need to tithe, and then you have to give to the faith-promised missions. And I'm like, I think that's stupid, okay? Because, number one, who said that the pastor or the church can't use tithe money for missions? Number one, okay? Now, yeah, I agree that giving money to a specific fund is not the same as tithing, but why couldn't the church just use the tithe money for the missions, right? Why couldn't you just say, y'all need to tithe? And then you could mention other programs and say, if you want to donate extra, you can, but I'm not going to put this extra stress on people, like, you better not be giving money to the faith-promised missions unless you're tithing underneath that. It's like, what are you talking about, okay? You know, the only pressure I want to put on people is to follow God's commandments. I believe that if you tithe and never gave a penny more to the church, you are still right with God. But also, people can give above that and get extra blessings. The Bible teaches that. We see examples of that. We see, even in the Book of Acts, people are selling great possessions and just giving it to the church. You know, the bad thing to do is lie about it. Obviously, you don't want to be Ananias and Sapphira. It's so funny to me. I've never heard other preachers, like these other fund centers and stuff, talking about how you could give a lot of money and then die because of it because you lied about it. Don't ever give money to the church and then lie about it, okay, folks? Keep your money. Don't lie about it, right? And I wouldn't even lie about tithing. I wouldn't even say, like, I tithe, and if you don't, because you don't want to lie. Lying and money and God, I don't want that triad of a situation, okay? You'd be better off just being honest about it. But, of course, isn't tithing a little bit of just you kind of step out and you just believe God's going to take care of your financial anyways, and you just do it? And, you know, like I said, I've been raised to believe that doctrine from the Bible, from the Scripture, and I've always exercised it, and I've always had enough. There's been times in my life where it's been more or less. There's been some times where it's been tight. I've had to have really strict budgets, but let me tell you something. I've always had enough, and I personally believe that I've been very financially blessed regularly through my life, and the only way I can attribute that is just that God has blessed me. But you know what? I'm never going to, it doesn't matter what bad happens to me. I'm still going to tithe. I have had some things happen. I've had really big losses due to theft or all kinds of stuff to me, but you know what I didn't do? I didn't stop tithing because of it. I just keep trusting the Lord, and you know what? When I get to the end of my life, I believe that God's going to still have blessed me because I'm trusting the Bible here. Is this not a verse in our Bible? He's saying He's going to open up the windows of heaven. I can't even receive all the blessing He wants to give to me just from following His commandments. And you know what? God wants to constantly bless you. Don't you think it was a blessing to get to walk all the way to the tomb and see Jesus not there? That was cool, but you would have never gotten there unless you hadn't walked by faith. You just stayed home and just thinking that there was a door shut there. And it's like, you know what? You can live a life without tithing, but you know what? You can have an even more blessed life by doing it. That's what the Bible says. We need to realize that we should step out in faith and do the things that God instructed us, whether we see it or not. You know, even starting a church is a pretty daunting task. It's a pretty intimidating task. And here's the thing. I realize I can't do it. You know, even this church, running this church, I know for a fact I can't do it by myself. It's not how strong I am or whatever, but I just believe that God wants this church to exist, and He's going to do it. And you know what? There's a lot of obstacles. There's been a lot of obstacles. But you know what? I am operating this church by faith, not by sight, because sometimes it doesn't make sense from the sight perspective. A lot of aspects don't. And there are some things that I'm looking at in the future for our church, and I'm honestly just sitting here saying, like, I can't do it. I don't know how it's going to get done, but I believe God can do it. Hey, God said for the children to visit, walk in the wilderness, and sometimes you walk up to the Red Sea, and you're just thinking, like, I'm not getting it. But you know what? I want to keep believing, and I want to say, all right, God, open the Red Sea, because I don't get it right now. I don't see it. But you know what? I'm going to take a page out of these ladies' book and say, I'm still walking to that sepulcher, and I'm realizing that the question of who's going to roll away the stone is God. And you know what? God gave us the church. He sent His Son to die on the cross and bled so that this church could exist. He said the gates of hell should not prevail against this church. And you know what? I believe those things by faith, and I'm going to keep operating by faith, not by sight. This church is soul winning. This church is services. This church, operation, the way that I preach. You know what? I've had so much shade thrown on me for the way I preach. Everyone in the woodwork coming and just, why do you have to preach like that? Why do you have to bring up this topic? Why do you have to bring up that sermon? Why do you have to say this? Why do you have to do it this way? Why do you have to be like, it's just everything, just constantly just like, and I'm just like, hey, I'm just still doing what the Bible said. Preach the word. Hey, show me, show me this and I'll change. It's everything else. Why do you have to go to pure words on Thursdays? Why, why do you have to preach against the sodomites so much? Why do you have to make a documentary about it? Why do you have to go soul winning all the time? Why do you have to meet in a building? You know, I don't know. I don't know someone said that. Maybe someone thought that. Why do you have to yell? I feel like you just yell the whole time. Why do you have to preach so long? Well, guess what? I'm walking by faith, buddy. Not by sight. I don't get it either. I listen to my preaching. I'm like, man, I just yelled for like an hour and a half. I was like, I don't know how people still come. You know, I can't preach enough people out the door. I'm like, this, it's tight in here. I'm trying to like get some more room. I just like more people keep showing up. I can't do it. But you know what? God can build the church. God can sustain the church. God can keep giving us blessings. You know what? God could keep changing people's hearts. I, you know, what frustrates me is apathy. Yeah. And people are always, you know, as preachers and pastors, you know, you're always talking about like how to fix apathy in it. And you know, I keep telling people like, I can't. I've thought about it. I've read the Bible a lot and I'm just like, how do you fix apathy? And I'm like, God can't. But you know what you can do is you can preach the Bible and hope that God will change their heart. You just be consistent and you keep preaching the Bible and you keep doing that, which is right. And you keep praying for people and eventually maybe God will just break down their hearts so much that they'll just change. You know, I want people to be zealous of good works. I want people to be zealous about church. I want people to be zealous about the truth. I want all of these things. And you know what? I don't know how to do it, but you know what I do know? I can, you know what I know I can do? Preach the Bible. Cause that's what God told me. It's like, I can't roll away the stone. I can't roll away the hard heart that you have in there. I can't roll away all the sin that you got going in there. I can't sit down with you and hold your hand through the Bible and show you every single verse and every single line. And I can't navigate all of your family drama and I can't navigate all your marital problems and I can't help you with all the issues that you have. But you know what I know I can do? I can preach you the Bible and I can believe by faith God can do miracles in your life. And you know, I just love the story of these women who are just going and as they're on their way, they have this realization, I can't do it, but I'm still walking. And you say, Hey, pastor Shelley, how do you know that you could endure to the end through the tribulation? I don't think I could. I look at that. I'm just like, how can you just, you know, go through all that brutal stuff in the Bible and like die for Christ and all that kind of stuff. I'm just thinking like, I don't think I can. But you know what? I think if I just walk every day with the faith of this Bible, even in the face of the worst persecution, God would help me get through it. I don't think any man of God just thinking like in a comfortable position is just like, you know what? I could totally walk through the fiery furnace. I could totally get in the lion's den. I could totally, you know, do all these things. You're just like, ah, no, but you know what? Somehow men did it. Somehow people do these things. You know, how can this church survive? You know, just even taking on this church, it's like, that's a pretty scary proposition. It's like this church is got a lot of issues coming in with a bad reputation with a pastor that did a lot of weird stuff. You know, it's just like a lot of people, you know, there wasn't a lot of people lining up to take the job one. Okay. Sorry. It was me. You got one option, right? But at the same time, you know, I was looking at and saying, you know what? If I follow the Bible and do that, which is right, you know, God can keep this church going. And I still believe that. I still believe if we do that, which is right, and we follow the Bible, God can roll away the stone. Whatever stones in our lives, God can roll them away. Didn't he say all things are possible? I believe that. I believe that anything is possible. You know, we need to stop limiting God in our lives and start just doing the Bible, even if it doesn't make sense. You know, and again, I'm not saying these things will happen, but I'm just even, you know, I think even myself included, sometimes we just give up on America even, or we give up on our state, or we give up on certain things. And it's like, you know what? I personally do think that America is doomed and it's not going to ever get fixed, but I don't want to walk my life like that. I want to walk in faith that God could do miracles. You know, and even if it's just Texas, let's just spare Texas, right? Why not? Let's take back Texas. And, you know, let's encourage men to be men again and to hate fags again. I mean, can we just, I mean, if we could just accomplish that, if we can just be, I mean, cause we all know if there was like 10 guys and they're all like, we hate fag, we hate fag, the 11th guy's gonna be like, I hate fags too. But you know, if there's just one and everybody else is kind of like, eh, then he's kind of, he's kind of like a closet fag hater. Okay. We need to unleash the fag haters in our world. And I'm telling you, there is a fag hater in the side of every red blooded man. Okay. It's somewhere down in there and we need to unleash him. And you say, well, I just think it's not popping. Have you seen the censorship online, pastor Shelley? Have you seen the flags everywhere? Have you seen all this? Hey, I'm walking my faith, buddy. We need to fight back and we need to not back down and we need to preach the word of God. And we need to say, Hey, who's going to roll away the stone? God is. God's going to roll away the stones of these areas. God's going to soften the hearts of men. God's going to get men saved. God's going to help us get people baptized. God's going to build this church. How are you going to defeat all your enemies? How are you going to defeat all the problems you have? I can't. God can. How are you going to keep going, pastor Shelley? I don't know, but God's going to keep me going. Let's keep having faith in the Lord and let's be like Mary who's just walking to the tomb and just like, I don't know how it's going to happen, but it's going to happen. I'm just going to keep walking. I don't care what they say. I don't care how many people say, you can't roll a stone away. What are you, how are you going to roll a stone? I don't, I don't know. Pay pastor Shelley. How are this going to things? I don't know. I'm just going to do what the Bible says and I'm going to have big faith in the Lord and I'm going to keep praying that God accomplishes all these things in our lives. Let's close in prayer. Thank you heavenly father so much for steadfast Baptist church and the men in this room. I pray that we'd have a giant faith in our lives that you would help increase our faith. You would help us to have a big vision. They'd help us to not have an apathetic view on life, but rather a can do attitude. One that says all things are possible. One that looks at the scriptures and says, God is capable of doing anything. I'm just going to start walking by faith and believe that God can do miracles in my life, in our church's life, in this state, in this nation, in this world, that we could see a great harvest of souls to Christ. We can see a great awakening of people getting baptized and turned to the Lord that we could renew people with the knowledge of the word of God. We live in such a dark time and I pray that you would help us to be the brightest shining light we could be for the glory of Jesus. We know it's not us. We know we're weak, but I pray that we would put so much more faith in you and you can just show yourself strong on our behalf. I pray that you would do miracles for our church that would never be attributed to us and could only be attributed to you that you could get all the honor and the glory and that we would just be faithful vessels. And in Jesus name, we pray. Amen. All right. In closing, if you would please grab your hymnals and turn to page 323, More About Jesus. That's page 323, More About Jesus. More about Jesus would I know, More of his grace to others show, More of his saving fullness see, More of his love who died for me, More, more about Jesus, More, more about Jesus, More of his saving fullness see, More of his love who died for me, More about Jesus let me learn, More of his holy will discern, Spirit of God my teacher be, Showing the things of Christ to me, More, more about Jesus, More, more about Jesus, More of his saving fullness see, More of his love who died for me, More about Jesus in his word, Holding communion with my Lord, Hearing his voice in every line, Making each faithful saying mine, More, more about Jesus, More, more about Jesus, More of his saving fullness see, More of his love who died for me, More about Jesus on his throne, Riches and glory all his own, More of his kingdom sure increase, More of his coming Prince of priests, More, more about Jesus, More, more about Jesus, More of his saving fullness see, More of his love who died for me.