Transcript for:
2 Corinthians 1:12,24 -A Clear Conscience- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2025-01-05

2nd Corinthians chapter 1, beginning with verse 12. For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world and more abundantly to your word. For we write none other things unto you, than what we read or acknowledge, and I trust you shall acknowledge even to the end. As also, you have acknowledged us, in part that we are your rejoicing even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus. And in this confidence, I was mindful to come unto you before, that you might have a second benefit. And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and out out of you to be brought on my way toward Judea. When I therefore was thus minded, did I use likeness? Or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh? That with me there should be yay, yay, and nay, nay? But as God is true and our word toward you was not yay and nay, for the son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in him are ye in him, amen, under the glory of God by us. Now he which established us with you in Christ and has anointed us as God, who has also sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts. Moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you, I came not as yet unto Corinth. Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy, for by faith ye stand. So father, we thank you for your holy word. We are so excited to be here on this 1st Sunday of 2025, as Calvary Chapel Bremerton was first met in a park and the 1st Sunday of June 1999, lord. And so, we just thank you that we're still going, that we're still have a heartbeat, and, you're still moving and working among us, lord. We ask that this would be a fruitful time, that as you pour out your holy spirit, as we abide in you, that our lives would bear much fruit for your kingdom and glory. We pray that you give us great boldness, lord, that we not be neutered, that we not be silenced, that we not be fearful, but that we proclaim, that we shout from the rooftops the authority of who you are, the authority of your coming soon as creator, as redeemer, and as king of kings and lord of lords as you set up your kingdom. So bless now, lord. Be our teacher, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. The apostle Paul, the great apostle Paul, had to deal with unjust criticism from some of the people in Corinth. So what happens? He he, goes there in Acts chapter 18, and he plants a church, spent, 18 months there, and a year and a half. And, then he leaves, and, he's dealing with other churches in Ephesus and such, in Macedonia. He's, they're receiving a, an offering that they're wanting to get together, that they're gonna take to the church in Jerusalem pretty soon. And he hears reports. He gives first the first epistle, written to them all different types of trouble they're having and all. And, and on into chapter in the second letter, the occasion of it is these people are turning on him. The false prophets are coming in. The people are getting weird. And they're criticizing Paul because, they're accusing him of being insincere. He'd said he was gonna come visit him them and he hadn't visited yet. And, that he had ulterior motives, that he lacked integrity, that he subsequently, couldn't be trusted, is what they're saying. So all the gossip, the slandering. And you remember how carnal the church of Corinth was. You remember in 1st Corinthians how, you know, Paul says, I wanna I wanna give you meat, but you're babes. You're babes in Christ. Am I not a Paul, of Apollos, of Cephas, you know, in chapter, 3 of 1st Corinthians? And, and it frustrated him because he wanted them to grow. And, they were condoning and tolerating a man taking his father's wife in an illicit sexual relationship, and it didn't seem to bother anybody. In chapter 6, they're suing each other. They're taking them to court, and he lets them know that one day, they're gonna judge angels. You and I are gonna judge angels one day, fallen angels, for what they've done. And, they're gonna be incarcerated in the lake of fire, but we get to be there at the judgment of these fallen angels. So Paul's saying, why are you going to the outside courts? You know, we can have a tribunal among ourselves so we can settle differences, you know, that we have in that way. And, then there's idolatry. There's problems in marriage. There's problems in the exercise of the gifts. There's a lack of love. There's a lack of order in chapter 14. Do everything decently in order? There's problems with the gospel. Some are saying the resurrection has passed already. You know? And so he uses chapter 15 to bring out the glorious gospel. You know? And, in chapter 16, he tells them, I'm gonna come visit you. And he hasn't he hasn't visited as of yet, so now they're dogging him. They're they're talking him down. And so his character was being judged, criticized, and slandered. The word slandered comes from the Greek diabolos, diablo. And so it's the devil using them to slander the apostle Paul, to break down his character, to backbite, before the entire community. And so his apostolic authority was being challenged. And what's his response? His heart is being broken. His heart is breaking. He loves these people. He truly loved those who were antagonistic toward him. Now should Paul quit? Should he quit here because his feelings are hurt? Should he should he leave because someone sent him a bad book, or pigs fly, or demon possessed, or whatever they might do, over 30 years of time? No. He's not he's not he's not there to win friends and influence people. At the end of his ministry, nobody's gonna be there to stand with him. And he's gonna say, but the Lord stood with me. Right? And so he tells the church in Colossi that whatsoever you do, do it heartily as under the lord and not under men. Why? Because men are fickle. They're fickle. They come. They go. They like you. They don't like you. And when they leave, it hurts. You love them. Your kids love them. Your wife loves them. And many times when they leave, it's over the stupidest little things. That's what they're doing to Paul here. They're whining because he hadn't come yet. He hadn't visited them yet. And now they're building a case that he's a liar. Oh, he must be a liar. He didn't come yet. Well, maybe there's some circumstances you don't know about. Maybe there's things happening behind the scenes you're unaware of. Paul could not quit. He would not succumb to the pressure of the opinion polls, tabloids, nor the gossip and and rumor mill. You can't do that. You're not a politician. You gotta do what God's called you to do, whether people like you or they don't like you. There was a time I've told you many times about David at Ziklag, and his mighty men were plotting to stone him, to kill him. There's a time where Moses was they were plotting to, you know, kill Moses and raise up somebody else and head back to Egypt. You know, people are fickle. People can be swayed by, you know, some unbelievers that infiltrate their way in and and begin to tear down. But Paul's conscience was clear. The Lord wasn't guilting him. The Lord wasn't saying, you know, you really owe these guys an apology. You're really dogging them, Paul. His conscience is clear. And it was an asset and essential for effective ministry. You know, you you have to pray. You have to examine what people are saying or doing. There may be some truth to Rick Beaudry's angry. Well, I need to get a handle on it. There was a time where everybody was saying, he's a pretty good teacher, but he's so unloving. Well, we have to define what does that mean, he's so unloving. And then you find out it means they didn't get their way. It was a power play. And if they can't win in the power play, if they can't win the debate, now they've gotta attack the messenger. They've got to destroy his character in the community. That's how it works. That's how the devil works. But you gotta weather it. You just gotta weather it, man. So his conscience was clear because he lived, number 1, excited about the lord's return. Are you living excited about the lord's return? Yeah. Does it matter what people are talking about you and saying about you when you focus upon the lord will soon be here? As we've said over and over again, pastor Barry Stegner, he's the one that coined this phrase. I don't know where he got it. But is there any problem that you're facing today, this 1st Sunday of January 2025 that the rapture won't solve? Problem seems small now, doesn't it? The lord's gonna come for us. Right? It doesn't seem very big. Oh, they don't like me. They don't like me. Well, Paul's ministry was one where the lord told him, show him what things he must suffer for my name's sake. Let me give you the secret of being liked. Compromise. Be a compromiser and people like you. Stand for truth. Stand for Jesus and you're gonna have some healthy enemies. But you're also gonna have some really cool friends that they too love Jesus. They love the truth, and you can actually have a biblical conversation with them. Isn't that fun? When you meet somebody that's read their bible, that can biblically move through the pages of the bible and communicate in such a way that you have a biblical conversation. Isn't that glorious? I love it. I love I love talking to many of you where you're tracking, you understand, you one person says, hey. Rick's angry. And then I say, well, I'm gonna I'm gonna ask a couple people that were there Sunday. Hey. Do you think I was angry? What? They didn't hear it that way. And then they proceed to tell me how the lord ministered to them. I can't I can't minister to every single person. You know, the lord has to do it. And a lot of it comes with your heart and your ears, your preparation to receive from the Lord. Maybe you've got a bitterness in your heart or an angst or something else. And your ears are are shut off. I I can't I can't go over there and turn your ears on. You gotta prepare your own heart. And hopefully, during the time of worship, as we worship the lord, the lord's speaking to us even there and getting us ready to, you know, hear his word. And many people have selective hearing. They're not hearing what they want to hear. So they remain in what's called denial. And in denial, they have a false sense of they're in control. No. You're not in control. The truth is the truth is the truth is the truth. It's gonna happen. But you can run away in denial thinking you're in control and you're not gonna let that happen. It's still gonna happen. But you haven't prepared your heart for reality. And when reality strikes, when the dollar crashes, you better be ready. You better be ready by faith to go through, because we don't have a preemptive plan. We think we know. We're hoping we know. Should we do Bitcoin? Should we do gold? Should we do silver? Should we, you know, store up food? Should we have chickens? You know, we're doing the best we can to sort through this, but this is something we've never ever experienced before. And many of us will say, oh, it'll never happen. It'll never happen. We're gonna continue, you know, years years to come. We're gonna have a greater, stronger economy. Nothing to worry about. And yet, I'm excited about the lord's return. I told you the reason I told pastor Kevin the other day, the reason I voted for Donald Trump was because I believed it would facilitate, accelerate the development of the beast system. The development of the beast system means that Jesus is coming sooner. I want Jesus to come soon. And so when I see a one world government developing, a one world monetary system developing, with Elon Musk and all the meta and all the globalists around him, you know, and and a one world religious system where Bill Gates met with the pope, a Jesuit, and they're gonna use AI to rewrite the bible. And that bible is gonna be rebuilt in such a way that the modus operandi, the the theme, the the thrust is philanthropy, which means to be a good Catholic, you gotta be a good person. So the whole world's may thrust into a new religious system where the objective is to be a good person, to have a good social credit score. How do you get a good social credit score? Eat bugs, shut your lights off, Do what you're told. Only buy so much of so this, that, or the other. There you get your philanthropy. You're a good person. You're a climate, you know, preserver. You've got a good carbon footprint and all. And so when I see these things begin to come to pass, I look up knowing my redemption draws nigh. I know that the beast system is being put in place and that it's ordained of God that this happens. And what stands in the way? America. Superpower. America's gotta come down. The world's gotta merge into 10 regions, a global government, a global economic system. The dollar was too strong. How are we gonna defeat the dollar? We're gonna crash the dollar by what? By just spending into oblivion oblivion. We're gonna we're gonna spend $36,000,000,000,000 in debt, and we're gonna give money to every country in the world. We're just gonna give them money during COVID. In every other instance, we're gonna just flood the world with dollars to the point we're gonna hyperinflate it, and we're gonna wean people off the dollar system. We're gonna wean them off. We're gonna roll in the new system. And so when I see that happening, for me, it's it's not doom and gloom like, oh, bummer. America, yeah, I'd like to go back to the seventies. I'd like to go back to the eighties. We had it made. But we're in 2025, and the Lord's coming. I almost didn't get married in 1980 because the Lord was coming so soon. That's what they told me. The books told me it was coming in 1981. I had a year to get married. Kathy was like, should we even get married or not? I mean, they were really saying 81. I mean, it was hardcore. Like, woah. I don't even need to work anymore. No. I just surf all day, you know. No. We worked hard, but but we, we didn't go up on a mountain with white gowns on and all. But, but it's exciting. All these years, we've been storing away in our heart, pondering like Mary, the prophecies, the things that are said about Jesus. And it's glorious. It's very, very exciting, looking for a soon return. For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation. That word conversation means your manner of life, the way that we've lived, in the world, and are more abundantly to your word. So Paul could rejoice in having a clear conscience, which means that word conscience means moral perception. It bears witness to the law of god. It approves when you do what is right, and it accuses you when you do what is wrong. It's the window that lets the light in. So even a person in Romans 1 that has never heard the gospel, simply by looking at creation, the God of creation, if that person takes and makes a, a statue out of wood or stone and bows down and calls it God and worships it, his conscience is violated. He knows that's wrong. Nobody needs to tell him idolatry is wrong. Because God has put within his heart that the true living God is the God of creation. So when you suppress that revelation, God gives you over to a greater life of lies. And so your conscience can be violated in that you know line's wrong. You didn't even go to church. You never saw the 10 commandments. But you know within your heart that line's wrong. You know that murder's wrong. You know that stealing's wrong. But you can so violate your conscience, because, hey, I didn't get judged yet. I didn't get put in jail. If I get away with it, look. I have more stuff. And, and so you begin to cauterize. You begin to cause your conscience to be severed, to be hit with a hot iron, so it's past feeling. So it becomes easier and easier and easier for you to sin because you're past feeling. You don't feel bad about it anymore. You've gone too far. And so we have words. We have psychological words. Oh, they're psychopaths. They're, you know, the bible calls them reprobates. They're past feeling. And so Jesus said in Matthew 622, the light of the body is the eye. If therefore the eye be single, the whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore that light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? So you can reach a place of darkness. You can reach a place where you don't have discernment, because you violated your conscience. And you that proclaim to be Christians, you have more than your conscience. You have the Holy Spirit helping you. And you have the word of God helping you. So in order to sin, you have to violate, number 1, your conscience. Number 2, you have to violate the Holy Spirit. Number 3, you have to violate the word of God. So you've gotta go a long way to justify or play the blame game that you're righteous in your sin. So then what happens is your pride blinds you, and you continue to sin. Your past feeling doesn't bother you anymore. And you you you think you're getting away with it. And now you reach a place where you're doing some real silly things around people. And you're walking around so self righteous and puffed up as you're committing adultery, as you're committing fornication, as you're doing things you know you shouldn't do. But, hey, everyone's doing it. No one's holding me accountable. Must be God. We're in love. It feels good. You violated your conscience. You've gone so far away. You're clueless. You're self deceived. And yet, when the when your conscience is activated, a good conscience activated in your children, you know, they might tell a lie. They might steal something from the store. And then they come home, they can't sleep. Their conscience is so active. And then they come to your room or they come out into the living room after you put them to bed. Mommy, I can't sleep. What's wrong, honey? Well, we're at the store today. I took this. They they they they can't sleep. That's a good thing. Their conscience is activated. Or, mommy, I told a lie. You know, when you asked me this, I lied. That's a good thing. You don't ever want them to lose that. You want that to be active, you know, in their life. And then you use it as a teaching moment. And, you let them know, well, honey, what's what's, guilt? This guilt you have, what are we gonna do with this guilt? And so mom and daddy's gonna gonna spank you, punish you, do something. You know? We're gonna take it back to the store. You're gonna teach him how to how to reach a place of forgiveness. Restitution of forgiveness. They might not do it again later. And so, for you and I as Christians, the holy spirit comes and the holy spirit convicts us. The preacher's preaching and you're saying to yourself, how does he know that? There's times where I've been in 1st Corinthians 5 or 1st Corinthians 6 or wherever I'm at in the Bible, and I talk about fornication. Where I talk about in 1st Corinthians 6, be not deceived, know ye not, that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. And then you start going through a list of unrighteousness and people start putting their heads down. They don't wanna look at me. And I'm like, they're convicted. They're convicted. That's a good thing. So what do you do when you're convicted? You get the Christian's bar of soap. 1st John 1:9. If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and, cleanse us of all unrighteousness. You just confess to the Holy Spirit. You don't need to come to me and say, father, I have sinned. You don't need to do that, because I'm I'm no mediator for you. You go directly to the Lord, in the quietness of your heart, while you're being convicted. And you say, Lord, thank you for loving me enough to expose me within my heart. Thank you that my conscience is still working. Thank you that I still have ears to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying. And Lord, it's not condemnation, It's conviction. Because there is now, therefore, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. If you sense or hear condemnation from somebody, they're destroying your character in the community and slandering about you, saying he's going to hell. You know that's not from God. The Holy Spirit does not condemn you. For Christ came not on the world to condemn the world, but the world through him might be saved. So we differentiate between conviction and condemnation. The devil seeks to condemn you, to drive you away from the Lord. The Holy Spirit desires to draw you back to fellowship by convicting you, by, exposing your heart, and you and your honesty between you and God, when you agree that's what it means to confess is to agree. When you agree with the Holy Spirit, that's where the forgiveness comes in. That's where the ears open up. And now you're able to hear even greater revelation of who god is. In Mark 4, that light that shines, when you suppress that light, you develop an arrested state of development. You're not gonna grow. But if that light illuminates your heart and you apply these truths to your life, you're gonna get more revelation. God's gonna continue down that growth path to reveal himself more and more. Many of us in Christendom profess that we know God, but in works, we deny him. We're not really believers. I read a I watched a video this week where the pastor was saying one of the huge problems that we're gonna face in the days ahead is the apostasy, the great falling away. Or another word is departure from the truth. The rebellion that's taking place within the church against those in authority, against the word of God, against the Holy Spirit, are gonna create greater and greater chaos within the church. How are we going to deal with that chaos? How are we gonna deal with it? How how are we going to keep the peace, so to speak, when people blow up and go crazy and disagree and, you know, I'm gonna do it my way. The lay the sea in church is a people rule church, and they've kicked Jesus out in Revelation chapter 3. You wanna be a part of a church where Jesus is kicked out of the church, where Jesus says, you're lukewarm. You make me sick. I'm gonna spew you out of my mouth. I don't wanna be that church. I wanna be a part of that church. I don't wanna be deluded and think I'm rich and increased with goods and need of nothing with Jesus outside the church. With Jesus, I'm already rich. I have everything. Without Jesus, I have nothing. I don't wanna walk through the days ahead self deluded, confused, filled with fear, gripped with fear, controlled by fear. I enjoy the freedom of fellowship with the Lord. So if the eye window is clean, you will have an accurate perception concerning your conduct. If the window is dirty or even broken, you'll be oblivious to the truth of your actions. And what what blinds pride? Pride blinds. The Pharisee and the publican, the Pharisee prayed in Luke 18. I thank you, Lord, that I'm not like, you know, these other dirt bags. You know, I tithe twice in the week. I give of everything I have and I'm I'm not as wretched as this publican here next to me. And this publican, this tax collector, wouldn't even so much as lift up his eyes onto heaven, but smote his breast and said, god, be merciful to me a sinner. And Jesus said, that man went away justified just as if he never sinned. But the pride, God resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble. It'll blind people. And Jesus kept trying to awaken the Pharisees to their to their self righteousness and their blindness, their lack of love, and he couldn't get through them. Why? Because they're unbelievers. It's really difficult to get through to an unbeliever with spiritual truths. Very difficult. Almost impossible. One of the things Kathy's been telling me for 30 years as I struggle to try and connect and get through to people that I know that are that are having a hard time with me, she'll say, Rick, they're not saved. I say, oh, they've gotta be saved. No, Rick, they're not saved. They attend church, but they're they're not born again yet. Because it's really so simple a child could understand, Rick. But they're fighting at every step of the way. They're fighting against everything. And it's like, well, how can we get through them? 1st Timothy 4:1, now the spirit speaks expressly that in the latter time, some shall depart. There's your apostasy, your departure. The last days, we're living in. Some are gonna depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils on YouTube. Speaking lies and hypocrisy. Having their conscience seared with a hot iron. Cauterized. Unsensitive. Calloused. 2nd Timothy 1 verse 3. Paul says, I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with a pure conscience. Isn't it a wonderful thing to see your children in their innocence? Your grandchildren in their innocence with a pure conscience? They haven't become as professional as you and I, as liars. They make very bad liars. They make very bad hypocrites. They have a hard time hiding their their their thoughts. It's written all over them. You you gotta be skilled. You gotta grow up, become calloused and jaded and and all to throw that smile out when you come through the door. And you just got in the biggest fight of your life in the car, you know. It's humbling. It's humbling to be married. It's humbling to be a human being. God's not surprised at our human frailty that he fashioned us from the dust of the ground. All the Lord wants from you and I is honesty, humility, transparency. That's all he wants. He doesn't want us lying to ourselves or lying to him. God, be merciful to me a sinner. That man went away justified, just as if he'd There's no guilt in that man. There's no guilt. He doesn't need to go and tell his story to the psychiatrist and find somebody else to place that guilt upon. It's your mom. It's your The psychiatrist It's your mom's fault. It's your dad's fault. It's your ex wife's fault. It's ex husband's fault. It's your brother's fault. It's society's fault. And the bible says, look in the mirror. It's your fault. You're a sinner. That's why Jesus went to the cross to die for you. So he could take away the guilt and the shame of who we are as human beings. That he could wash us and cleanse us in his blood and make us white as snow. And there's no guilt. There's no fear in love. We walk in that love and that newness of life. There's now therefore no condemnation. But if we try to hide our sin, cover our sin, lie to ourselves, lie to God, lie to everybody else, then there's that duplicity, that hypocritical aspect where we act. We begin to act out. This is what a Christian is supposed to look like. I got it down. I'm gonna act I'm gonna be an actor today. He says, for we write none other things unto you, then what we read or acknowledge. And I trust you shall, acknowledge even to the end. So concerning the misunderstandings, we've been clear and truthful in our communication with you. What don't you understand about the word no? That's where That's the one word in the church today you can't say in As a leader, as a pastor, no. I don't think so. Let me pray about that. Pastor, you pray about yeah. No. We're not gonna do that. Then all hell breaks loose. All the Korah, Dathan, and Biram committees. Now we don't have anything to fight over here. But when we did, boy, it'd break out fighting, you know, positioning. How come he's the only one who makes that decision? Or go. What if what if you hear the word go? If Jesus said, go into all nations. Make disciples. You know, I've discovered when you're busy doing what God's called you to do, you don't have time to analyze and break down with every little nuance and critical spirit what might not be right about here or Paul or anybody else. You don't have time to criticize. You find out just how difficult it is out there. How much the rejection is there. I've been lately saying to people who are challenging me about flat earth or challenging me about pre trib rapture or, you know, they like to challenge these things today. I say, you know what? Rather than rather than debating that there is no pre trib rapture, why don't you write a sermon and prove to me and prove to everybody that the mid trib rapture's correct? You compile the scriptures, the reasoning, analysis of a mid trib rapture or post trib rapture or replacement theology of Israel. All these things you disagree with. Have you ever even written a sermon? Have you ever taught some children in Sunday school or had a home bible study or planted a church? No. You're just a critic. And you're using other men's arguments from YouTube and social media to try and discredit the pre trib rapture, but you can't explain an alternative. You can't explain a mid or a post trib. You don't have verses. That's like me saying, write a sermon on the earth is flat. Show me. You can't do it. You have to impose upon the text your ideas. And you think it would shut them up, but it doesn't shut them up. They they double down with their idiocy. I got off of Facebook this past week. I've had a week without Facebook. My my the feeling's coming back on my fingers now. I'm up. And and I started getting arthritis in my joints. I thought now I had a great time on Facebook because Vicky taught me it's her fault. And, and I reconnected with people that I hadn't seen in 40 some years. Friends. It was it was it was fun. And I've tried my best to post the sermons on there, and Vicky posts them. And and I've tried to post articles and use it as a platform to educate and build people up and prophecy items and things, And, and then connect with friends. And I always like to remind people that at the very best, they have the second cutest grandkids in the world that, you know, that when I post my kids on Rick Beaudry that, you know, they just oh and oh, oh, wow, oh, you know? I love to boast and brag about them. But, but I got off of it. Why? Because so much of it can be a time waster. And not only that, but you immerse yourself into what I would I've heard termed as an idiocracy. I'm tired of the idiocy of people that can't think, That that just Answer not a fool in their folly, the Bible says. You know? It's just like a time waster. It's just like, why am I even engaging in this this idiocy? You know? I I wanna reach people that can think, people that wanna grow, people that that, but people that think they already know everything. Mind boggling. And these same people are the people that think they're so smart, I'm just gonna get rid of my second wife and go on to my 3rd wife. As a Christian, I know some of you have been remarried and such, you know, before you're a Christian or something. You weren't strong in the Lord, you know, early on or whatever. But I'm talking about guys that think they're really strong in the Lord, And I'm just gonna get rid of her. And I'm gonna get this new one, and then I'm gonna go online and tell everybody what I think about the church and about the pre trib rapture. Who cares what you think? Why don't you work on your home first? I've been married 43 years. Try that. Again, a lack of authority. They don't respect the authority of exegetical teachers and teaching. Pastors and teachers. I praise the Lord for my pastor, Chuck, that took me through the bible consistently. Every week, consistently. But it's mind boggling. So I got off of there. I might I might venture back there someday. I'm not a messenger and nobody can find me. I'm gone. If somebody dies, call somebody that cares. Alright? I don't care anymore. Tongue in cheek now. Tongue in cheek. Vicky's got my number. Alright? I'm licensed to marry, bury them, and send them to hell if they're bad. Alright? Verse 14, as also he acknowledged us in part, that we are rejoicing even as he also are ours. Notice it says, in the day of the Lord Jesus. Paul brings it around. You know what? There's really only one judge and that's Jesus. What happens at the return of the Lord? The rapture of the church. When we're raptured, where do we go? Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again receive you under myself. That where I am, there you may be also. Right? It's called the Bema Seat Judgment. It's called when we get to heaven, when the Lord Jesus comes and takes us in the clouds, the dead in Christ arise first. We, as a live remain, should be caught up. Harpazo, Latin, raptured. Raptured in the Bible. You're lobotomized. Okay? You're lobotomized. So we're caught up. We're in heaven. The glorious Not the great white throne judgment of Revelation 20, of the wicked dead who are bodily resurrected, But the Bema Seat judgment is an award ceremony. It's where the Lord lavishes his love upon you and your unique gifts and calling and faithfulness as a mom, as a dad, as a coach, as a tutor, or somebody that's been given an enormous amount of suffering physically, your your handicap in a wheelchair, all those things you went through and became a prayer warrior, all those things don't none of it goes unnoticed by God. He's keeping great track of all of it. And he's gonna reward you for what? For your faithfulness. So why are you worried about Paul? Paul's saying, you don't need to worry about me. You're gonna receive your reward. God's gonna reward you for your faithfulness. So don't try and impede the work or ruin the work here in Corinth by bickering and fighting and slandering. You're just falling into the tactic, the strategy of the wicked one. For we fight not against flesh and blood, but against spirits and principalities of the air. And the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty of God to the pulling down of strongholds. So don't fall into that trap of the devil trying to divide the church. How many of you been in churches divided? It's horrible. How many have been in churches where people get sick, not physically, but spiritually? The church is sick. What's wrong with that church? They've quenched the Holy Spirit. They've grieved the Holy Spirit. How? By gossip and slander, backbiting, little clicks, little groups. By not loving one another. The greatest the greatest feature of any church should be the love. If we're not loving one another, we're totally blown it. The door should be open for people to come in who are hurting, who are broken, whom the world is beat up. And we're here as a hospital to allow the great physician, Jesus, to put their lives together. And we're here to love him and stop the bleeding and comfort and whatever we can to let him know how very, very much God loves them. Not the opposite. Not the condemning and fighting and back bitterness and all that. He says, in the day of the Lord Jesus, he's excited about the Lord's return. Everything will make sense at the rapture. Everything's gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be brought to light. Hearts are gonna be revealed. Motives sorted out. Everything judged by fire. Everything you hated about me or thought about me or whatever is gonna go through the fire. God's gonna cause every motive of why we did what we did. Everything that's wood, hay, and stubble is gonna be burned up. Only that which survives, the scrutiny of the fire is gonna be precious stone. Precious for the stones in your crowns. The crowns that you wear as martyrs. The crown of life. The crown of rejoicing. The crown of glory. The crown of righteousness. An incorruptible crown that faded not away. You're gonna have something to lay at the feet of the, of the Lord Jesus as you worship him in Revelation 4. As you cry out, worthy is the lamb to receive glory, honor, and power, for thou has created all things and for thy pleasure, they are and were created. It's always been about him. It's all never been about you or me, except from his standpoint. It's about you and that he loved you enough to go to the cross to die for you. For the joy that was set before me, endured the cross, despising the shame, is seated down at the right hand of the father. From his standpoint, it is about you. But for you and I, it isn't about us. It's about him. It's all about him. The volume of the book is written of him. And he's he's he's showing off in front of the angels. Because he can show off. He can he can glorify himself. Look at these guys. I fashioned them from the dust of the ground. They're not as powerful as you angels, but I'm gonna save them. I'm gonna exalt them above you angels one day. They're gonna judge the fallen angels, these guys. And the angels that left their first estate, there is no plan of redemption. There is no second chance. There is no heaven. There's only hell. Hell was made for the fallen angels. Hell was not made for mankind. You're the object of God's love, that he would save, that he'd pay for your sins with his precious blood. Why would he, halfway through, say, Nah. I'm gonna condemn them. Not so. There's no condemnation to those that are in. You gotta be in Christ Jesus. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. Everybody's sin has been paid for, especially for those who believe. If you don't believe, then you don't appropriate the free gift. Salvation's a free gift. And we're so excited that one day, we're gonna go to the Bema Seat. The rapture of the church gets me there, and the Lord's gonna pour out his love upon me, his blessings upon me, His gifts. In Revelation 19, his bride comes back with him. In the second coming, we come back with him. As Jude said, he comes back with 10000, thousands of his saints. And we don't have a blemished garment on. There's no sinful garment. There's no stain of sin or the stench or the smell of sin upon us. We have clean white garments, washed in the blood of the lamb. The picture of Revelation 1 verse 5, the the the washing in the blood of the lamb. His conscience was clear because he lived excited about the lord's return. I mean, that's that's like, ah, I made it. This work was hard. It was difficult. I made it. It's a great feeling to have a sense of the timing. The time you're living it. Oh, the Lord's coming soon. All this suffering, every tear's gonna be washed away, wiped away. And there's no regrets. I don't regret. Ask of the Lord to help me be faithful. Ask on the Lord to keep my conscience soft. Ask on the Lord to make me sensitive toward those who hate me, who don't like me. Who are my enemies? That it not hinder my walk in relationship with Jesus. As he said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. He's excited about the Lord's return. Secondly, he's eager to do God's will. Verse 15, And in this confidence, I was minded to come unto you before, that you might have a second benefit. So I I wanted to come unto you. It would be great to to be a blessing to you and you to me, verse 16. And to pass by you into Macedonia, after I come through Corinth, to head into Macedonia, the area of Philippi, and to come again out of Macedonia. So when I come back out of Macedonia, come see you again. And of you to be brought on my way toward Judea. Some of you go with me with the gift of Judea. Go with me if you want as we head toward Jerusalem. So Paul wanted to visit Corinth. He had every intention of including them in his itinerary. But is Paul in control? Are you in control? Can you, in 2025 here, make your New Year's resolutions and follow them to to the letter? I like going to the gym. I'm addicted to going to the gym. I'm addicted to studying God's word and being a preacher and serving the Lord too. I enjoy this more than anything. Cathy and I, when we get in the car on Sunday morning, we roll out. This is the most exciting part of our marriage, the serving the Lord. You'd say for, those 20 people in Bremerton? Yeah. I'm excited. Always excited. It's a privilege. Privilege to be here. Privilege to serve the Lord. A privilege that I don't have to retire yet. But one thing that happens at the gym, January February gets filled with new people with new resolutions. And come the end of February, they're gone. You can get on the treadmills again. It's so funny how that happens, but it's it's true. And so you have plans you wanna do. You set goals. You you have every intention of cutting out the sugar. And somebody at church gives you a box of seized candies and you're like, what am I gonna do with that? Let it set for a year? I can't let that set for a year. That needs to be eaten, you know? It it it would be it would be a sin to not eat that, you know. I need to show them that I'm grateful for that gift. And the problem is, once you open that door, you can't stop. You you got the the demon of chocolate. You need a deliverance ministry to deliver you from that demon of chocolate. Demon of gluttony. Demon of this. Demon of that. A demon under every rock. He says in 1st Corinthians 16 verse 7, I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit. Lord willing, I'll be there. Can I hold you to your word? Are you a man of your word? Hey, I'm gonna be there. I'll be there at 9 o'clock. Lord willing You better add in, Lord willing. Lord willing, I'll be there at 9 AM. You have no control over a flat tire. You have no control over crazy people the way they drive. It's always their fault. Wayne and the kids were in their new vehicle and they were they got this big old 12 passenger thing and it's awesome. Fit all them kids. You had room for more. And, I talked to a I talked to a couple at the gym, and she's pregnant with their second. And, I told her, yeah, my daughter just had her 7th and got this van that holds 12. And she says, oh, my grandma had 13. And, you know, my great grandma, they they they wound up getting a school bus. And I'm like, god, are you kidding me? I never thought of that one. I love my grandkids, but I sure fear for my daughter. How much longer can her body handle all that, you know? These Mormons keep pumping them out. Are you guys Mormon? No. We're not Mormon. We just love Jesus, you know. If the Lord wills, I'll be there. A man's heart devises his way, but the Lord directs his steps. So you got this intention. You got this desire to serve the Lord, to do, you know, whatever. And the Lord's gonna direct you. And it's easier for the Lord to direct a ship that's left port because your tendency, my tendency is, Lord, I wanna know the 10 next stops. And he says, no. That's not walking by faith. You push off from your comfort zone and you trust the wind to fill that sail. And I'll take you to the desired haven I have for you. And that's how we wind up in Bremerton. That's a true story. We set off from California with $1,000, and we wind up in Oregon. And from Oregon, we did some things there and and then the lord, moved us here to to Bremerton. And so it wasn't where I left California. I knew I was going to Bremerton. It was I had to take that step of faith. And as we took that step of faith, the lord began to narrow it down to where we're supposed to be. Lord willing, the cowfly or something like that. 1st Thessalonians 2 18, we would have come unto you, even I, Paul, once and again. But Satan hindered us. You ever faced opposition? You ever faced the opposition of evil? You had good intentions. You were obeying the Lord, you know, but you were hindered. The Lord didn't let you go into Asia Minor the first time you wanted to go. The door was shut. You couldn't get there. He had a different thing in mind. And some of you are just really bummed because well, you're actually grateful today. But at the time, when you were in high school and you fell in love and you thought that this was the one and you've been saving yourself from going to bible college and been a good kid, you know, really good. And and you fell so in love and it didn't work out. She liked somebody else. And then you go into college, a bible college, the bridal college, and you meet this other woman. And next thing you know, you're married. And then 20, 30 years later, you go to your high school reunion and you go away from there rejoicing that the Lord didn't give in to you and what you wanted when you're in high school. Lord, you knew better. You knew better. Father always knows best. But these guys weren't allowing the Apostle Paul the latitude, the freedom, the ability to wait upon the Lord's will. They were imposing a legalism upon him that you said you're gonna be here. You better be here. And then when he wasn't, they began to gossip and slander. He says, verse 17, when I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? So they said, you know, you can't trust him. His promises are just shallow. They're insincere. Or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh? Am I flesh motivated? If I'm willing to suffer for the commitment God has brought me into, isn't that sincere enough for you that I'm willing to suffer? That with me there should be yay, yay and nay, nay. That I'm not a man of my word. Let your yay be yay, your nay be nay. Don't be doing those those promises to God and then not keep them. But as God is true, our word toward you was not yay and nay. God is my witness. My conscience is clear. We want God's will to be done. There's no inconsistencies. There's no waffling with me. We preach Christ crucified. No sermonettes for Christianettes. No psychobabble for the love of self. No word faith, prosperity, preaching. We preach Christ crucified and death to self. No sex seminars for perverts. Pastors succumb to the pressure years ago to make church a place for sex education. It was embarrassing. Extremely embarrassing to watch them use the word s e x to sell to try and get the attention of people. And maybe some of you attended sermons like that. They were all given into it. And as I've said before, you know, why would you I don't even wanna go there. No Christian, hipster, cool kegger parties. How do I know we're gonna draw them with alcohol, with poker and cigars? We'll get it to grow. We'll get the men to start to come to church, because we can only, right now, get their wives to come. Then the wives are so thankful. Oh, thank you. My husband's going to church now because of the kegger parties. Yeah. Where's that lead to? Calvary kegger with your own your own Calvary mug, you know. Bring your own mug. No compromise. No compromise at all. We preach Christ crucified for the remission of sins. Every jot, every tittle. No self reformation. What's that mean? It means we're not gonna get you in here and try and teach you how to be a good person. We're not gonna try and deliver you from the demon of whatever you fill in the blank. The demon of rage. The demon lying. The demon of chocolate. Whatever it may be. Alcohol, drugs. Demon on every shoulder, under every rock. I got a deliverance ministry. I gotta identify the demon. I gotta have the hocus pocus. Boom boom boom, you know, and then boom. Take that demon out. How about the word repentance? How about you stop doing what you're doing and become born again? Because if you're born again, then the Holy Spirit comes to live and dwell within your heart and life. And you can't have any demons, because Jesus said, a house divided against itself can't stand. So he's teaching in in Matthew 20, Matthew 12, and he delivers a guy of a demon. And the guy was dumb and blind. And I met that guy in Bremerton, dumb and blind, dumb and dumber. And now a guy can speak and and and talk and all that. I can talk. And, and so the Pharisees, the religious leader said, hey. He he cast out that demon through Beelzebub, the prince of the demons. And Jesus looks at that, and he says, that's like saying the earth is flat. That's so illogical. That's so unreasonable. How can Satan fight against Satan? A house divided against itself cannot stand. You have to first bind the strong man, Satan, before you can set that captive free. It's illogical. It's irrational. Your reasoning is irrational. Then he goes on to describe a man that, had a demon. And the demon, verse 43 of chapter 12. And the demon says, I'm gonna I'm gonna leave my house. I'm gonna go find a more restful place. This guy's crazy. And he goes out and he leaves the place, and he finds nowhere to make himself at home. And he comes back and the house is swept and garnished. It smells nice. It smells nice in here. The guy went through a time of self reformation. His new year's resolutions. He said, I'm gonna clean my life up. And there has to be effort on your part, but the effort has to be a yieldedness to the Holy Spirit. Because ultimately, that demon's stronger than you. And that demon goes out and finds 7 demons worse than you. And he comes back and the end condition is, now you got the voices of 8 demons in your head. And the doctors calling it a multi personality disorder. No. You're demon possessed. You need to be born again. And if you're born again, Nick, all those demons flee and they can never come back. And God will transform and change you. The power of the gospel is what God uses. And then he transforms you by the renewing of your mind. You're changed from glory to glory in the image of Christ. And yeah, you may have a certain problem in your character. You will till the day you die. That's the humility of being a human being. But your confidence is in him that the work that he's begun, that he's gonna complete it. And he's not condemning you. He's showing you day by day your need of him, your trust in him. Not in the psychobabble. Not in self reformation. Not in going away to some sort of a camp and look at your navel, you know. And I've got a beautiful navel. You wanna see it? I didn't think so. It isn't any. And this time of year, it goes really far in. I'm a try and get it to come out a bit. His conscience was clear because he lived. Number 1, excited about the Lord's return. Secondly, eager to do God's will. Thirdly, desire to exalt God, to glorify the Lord. Verse 19. For the son of God, Jesus Christ, who is preached among you by us, even by means, Sylvanus and Timotheus was not yay and nay, but in him was yay. Verse 20. For all the promises of God in him are yay and in him, amen, under the glory of God by us. To God be the glory. So we presented a God to you who keeps his promises. He cannot lie. We have confidently proclaimed his word. Jesus said, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. You can bank on it. You can take it to the bank that the prophecies are gonna continue to be fulfilled. I'm so excited about Babylon. I am seriously excited about Babylon. Never in my life have I seen the progression, the development, the redevelopment of Babylon. All my years of studying prophecy, all the prophecy guys, not all of them, but most of them, they said that New York is Babylon. It's the economic center of the world and so, figuratively, it's gonna fall. Or Rome is Babylon. It's gonna fall. And people that live prior to May 14, 1948, for many of them, when they studied Ezekiel 3637, who were bible students, they had a hard time wrapping their head around that Israel will one day be rebirth in the land of Israel. They kept saying it's a desert there. It's just a desert. There's nothing there. How could that ever happen? And then in one day, May 14, 1948, Israel's reborn. Well, in my lifetime, I'm watching Babylon. I'm watching God's promises be fulfilled. Now, you could write this down. A I f a w. A I f a w. Type that in, and you'll see the redevelopment of Babylon. 1,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000 of dollars that's coming through Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and literal Iraq or Babylon. There's a water port that's being built, the largest in the world, for the ships at the southern point of Iraq. It's already being built right now. And there's As as in the Suez Canal, they're building canals because, as one pastor told me, hey. Babylon's not on the seashore. It's on the Euphrates River. Well, they're making a canal there too. But they don't need just canals. They're building a train, a rail system. They're building a road system where all these goods from India, the whole region, can come and go through Babylon to Europe and all over. So then, the Antichrist comes and makes his economic and political headquarters in Babylon, literally. And the religious system springing forth of Revelation 17, Revelation 18 is coming together right now. But none of the pastors know about it. Very few. It's funny. It's strange. It's like under the radar. And yet, when you look at the pictures I just told you, and you look at the articles, you're gonna see huge aerial shots of enormous amount of construction going on, but nobody talking about it. The beast system is being built right before our eyes. Assad left Syria. Damascus might fall according to Isaiah 1712. From the North, Russia's gonna come with an alliance of nations, with Turkey, with Iran, with Sudan, with Germany, with Iran. And they're gonna come against the nation of Israel. They're gonna invade Israel. God's gonna put a hook in their job for the spoil. And the spoil is a 3 letter word. Oil, natural gas, energy for Europe. Why? Because this pansy, pansy, pansy, windmill, climate idiocy doesn't work. People need energy. And oil and natural gas is a source of energy for the entire world, except the nut jobs in America who are trying to keep the drilling, the oil in the ground or whatever. That's to bring America down and bring the other nations up economically. That's what that's about. Excited excited about God's word coming to fruition. Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words shall not pass away. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Isaiah 40 verse 8. Can you put your confidence in man? Can you put your confidence in the in the globalist presently? No. You can't. Is your conscience clear? Have you lived with integrity? Do your children question the faithfulness of God's word? They question the faithfulness of God's word because of your because of my hypocrisy. Do they see us trusting in God's word? Or do we play the hypocrite and they lose confidence in God's word? Do you live to glorify God, to exalt him? First Peter 315, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you of a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and with fear, having a good conscience. That whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. Pastor Chuck says, outlive your detractors. There's no way you and I, as Christians, can shield ourselves from criticism, slander, gossip, backbiting, whatever it is. The more you become effective in doing what God's called you to do, the greater opposition you're gonna receive from your children. One friend of mine wasn't able to see his his children over Christmas. His Christmas His his children who went to bible college are boycotting him. How tragic that is. How hurtful that is. It's unfair. So what you have to do is, you have to continue to be faithful. Continue to be faithful, what God's called you to do, and prove them wrong. Prove them wrong. They're saying, oh, he's evil. He's evil. Prove them wrong by being faithful to what God's called you to do. His conscience was clear, because he lived excited about the Lord's return, eager to do God's will, exalting God. And fourthly and finally, his conscience was clear because he lived established by God. Who has established you? Who's established you? Who made you a Christian? What kind of staying power do you have? Will you finish as a Christian? Verse 21. Now he which establishes us with you so he's including the detractors. He's including those that are giving them trouble. And he's showing how they too are established. Now, he which establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us us, it's not just Paul, the only one anointed, is God. That word establish means stability. It means to confirm. So Paul knew that God had established him, that God was anointing him, empowering him to fulfill the ministry God has called him onto. Paul had confidence, not in himself, but in God. He knew that God would sustain him. So Paul asked a question in 2nd Corinthians 2 verse 16. He asked a question, who is sufficient for these things? Are you sufficient as a father? When I was a young father, I thought, well, I'm gonna be a good father. I'm gonna be better than all the other fathers before me. They all made mistakes. They didn't do it right. The audacity. New Christian, idealistic. I'm not gonna let them have anything rated r. No alcohol, no drugs. I'm gonna take them to church. Gonna read to them. Gonna train them up in the things of the Lord. And, man, my girls are gonna they're gonna be used mightily for the Lord, you know. That's when they're young. Then they get a little bit older. They become teenagers. And you realize you're not in control. The devil can go right around you. The devil can do all sorts of things that you didn't even have a clue. I was ready to write a book on parenting and being dad of the year, and now I'm devastated. I'm devastated every day when I see a picture of my older daughter, Jessica. I'm devastated. It's devastating. I don't know if she's gonna make it. Where did I go wrong? What what happened? Who is sufficient for these things? It's a high calling to be a parent. Isn't there any slam dunk to it? Isn't there any absolutes to it? Can I can I do this, a formula, and she'll do that? Some people think so. Some of you, you have kids that ventured in the gay and lesbian lifestyle. It's an embarrassment to you. Others of you, they make lots of money. They're raised in a Christian home, but because they make money and have stuff. Well, it's not as embarrassing to you, but you know the real value. You know where the real portfolio needs to be. You know their name needs to be written in the lamb's book of life and you have question marks. You're not sure anymore. I wish there was a slam dunk. So what do you do? You have to continue to be faithful. Your sufficiency who is sufficient for these things? And Paul asked his own question answered his own question in 3 verse 5. 2nd Corinthians 3 verse 5, our sufficiency is of Christ. Even when we fail, he remains faithful. He won't deny himself. He's gonna complete that work that he's begun in our kids. But we're not gonna be able to gloat and boast about how great we are, or how well we did it, and all that. How do we get through? Our sufficiency is of Christ. We're gonna do the best we can. We're gonna rely upon his sufficiency. I'm inadequate, grossly inadequate, as a husband, a father, and as a pastor. It's no surprise to me that you can find fault with me. No surprise at all. If that's what you're looking for, you're gonna find it. But if you look past me to Jesus, and you recognize that all of us are being changed from glory to glory in the image of Christ, and that our sufficiency is of Christ, all of us realize, hey, this job's way too big for any man, any woman. We need God's help. And that's what it means to be a Christian is he finished the work. And now he's doing the work within us. It's an internal work. He's changing us from glory to glory in the image of his son. And beloved, it does not appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear that we shall be like him. And that he that has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we should be like him. And that hope we have of being transformed, this corruption putting on incorruption, this mortal putting on immortality, this new glorified body we're gonna get, this sinless perfect body that awaits us, that's what we're yearning for. And how do we get there? By faith. We walk by faith, not by sight. And our sufficiency is of God, because he's established us. He's anointed us. He's gonna enable us. His calling are his enablements. Paul knew that God would sustain him. The criticism and accusations could not stop him. God was in control. Who's in control? God's in control. Not your detractors. Paul includes his accusers. Now he which establishes us with you is Christ and has anointed us is God. God has a plan and a purpose for you, so don't try to undermine another man's calling. Since God's for us, who can be against us? Verse 22, who has also sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts. This word sealed means we're marked, we're branded. Ownership upon us. God's marked you. The devil looks at you. Can't get that guy's mark. He's been purchased. He's been marked. He's been sealed by the Holy Spirit. And the earnest speaks of the down payment, the engagement ring. He gives you that engagement ring that one day you're gonna be at the marriage ceremony in heaven. Then the marriage supper upon the earth entering into the millennium. But he hasn't left you without marking you and giving you the earnest of beginning up a portion of what more to come later. His intention, you gave the earnest down payment when you bought that house. You're coming back with the rest of it. You opened escrow with an earnest down payment. And in his redemption, he's coming back to take possession of that which he's already purchased. And he's given you a down payment, the holy spirit, as a reminder of the day that he's going to complete that transaction. Moreover, I called God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you, I came not as yet unto Corinth. So I purposely decided to delay my visit to give you time to what? To repent. Paul doesn't wanna go on the muscle. He doesn't wanna push so hard that people that are resisting him have emotional breakdowns. Do you wanna so win the fight that you cause a woman to have an emotional, psychological breakdown? I don't. There's no victory in that. My heart goes out to him. My heart goes out with compassion. Lord, please please bring them to that place of repentance that they not miss out on the best you have for them. Please awaken them. Please bring them to the end. Because, Lord, I don't wanna press any further. And that's what Paul's saying here. He's gonna later on go, do you want me to come back with a stick? Do you want me to come back with the apostolic authority as Ananias and Sapphira were smitten dead when Peter was interrogating them? Do you want that? Paul is saying, I don't want that. I wanna include you at the Bema Seat judgment. I wanna include you in the rewards and the blessings. And what I've discovered is, when you discover your gift and your unique place within the body that God has strategically placed you, you don't worry about me or anybody else. Ask the Lord, what are your gifts? Where you fit in within the body? Be content. Be be enjoy who he's made you. I don't sit around all day long, bummed out that I don't have a megachurch. I don't sit there and go, oh, man. If I was just in Southern California, you know how great a man I'd be? I'm exactly where the Lord placed me. This is where I belong. And I love it. I love yielding to the Lord. But if I spend all my time whining about what I don't have, then I don't get to enjoy this morning and what we do have. And I know people are gonna come and go, but man, I wanna do this till the Lord comes to take me home with the rapture. And I enjoy the time that you spend here. The time that you've labored and co labored with Kathy and I. And it's a blast. It's exciting. We don't have to be like any other church. We just be who God's made little Calvary Bremerton. This is one little flock of many flocks that he has. And he says, fear not little flock, for it's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So enjoy the ride. Enjoy the time that we get to spend serving the Lord. It's an exciting time. To the church of Thyatira, Revelation 2 verse 21, I gave her space to repent. God will always give you space to repent. The things that you and I do that are wrong, he doesn't just hammer us immediately, very seldom. He speaks to your conscience. He speaks to your heart. He speaks to you through your wife, through your husband, through those intimate with you that know your struggles. And if need be, a year later he'll send Nathan the prophet to put his finger in your face and say, David, you're the man. But he gives you a space to repent. And David wrote Psalm 32, Psalm 38, Psalm 51 in a description of repentance. Of being restored to fellowship with God. He says, I gave her space to repent of her fornication, which would be her idolatry, and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. Pre tribulation rapture? Not for this church. It's an apostate church, a church that's turned its back upon God. They're gonna be thrust into great tribulation, the great tribulation, if they don't repent of what they're doing. Grave consequences for disobedience, even to the point of being disqualified. Verse 24. Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy, for by faith you stand. So we can't force you. We don't lord over you. This isn't the shepherding movement. We don't take control of people's lives. We can't force anybody to do anything. For us, it's incumbent upon each of us to find the flow. What's the flow of Calvary Bremerton? What's the flow? What's the flow for me? Do I do I fit within this church? Can I can I flow with the Holy Spirit? What the Holy Spirit's doing in this church? If you can't flow with what God's doing in this church, find a church where you can fit within the flow. Don't try to change the church and be the blockage and No. No. You gotta do it my way. God doesn't have every church being the same. There's different churches where you fit. Some, you don't fit. Some of you, you want 30 minute sermons. Great. Find a church with 30 minute sermons. You want 45 minutes of music? They're they're out there. You want a big show? You want entertainment? They're out there. Do Do you know that right now there's a tsunami? And I use that word tsunami. Right now there's a tsunami, apparently. In Texas, among the Catholics, they're saying that men are coming out in droves to these parishes. Parishes. So tsunami of growth in the Catholic Church of men who will stand for 5 hours, because they're men. At a service, they'll take cold water plunges and they fast for 40 days. And these are men coming out of wimpy churches with white tennis shoe effeminate pastors just entertaining them. They saw the insipidness and the emptiness of these churches during COVID and all. And somehow these priests or whoever they are, Jesuits or whatever, are bringing forth a warrior, a warrior church. And it's interesting to me, they never mentioned Jesus, and they never mentioned being strong spiritually. The emphasis upon physical, mental It appeals to the pride of men. Well, we wanna be physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. We wanna grow and be as strong as the Lord will make us. But most importantly, spiritually. So we can't force you to go with the flow. If you wanna be a warrior, go to a 5 hour standing there. I don't know. They chant, woo yeah, or something. I don't know. Discover the joy of walking by faith in Jesus Christ. Don't miss out because of unbelief or because of fear. If this pandemic thing kicks in, it's a good test for us to walk by faith. To once again tell the folks that are paralyzed with fear, hey. It's gonna be okay. He got us through it last time. You're gonna get through it this time. It's gonna be okay. Don't don't check out. Don't quit your job. For by faith, you stand, he says. Hebrews 11:6, without faith, it's impossible to please God for they that come to him must believe that he is and that he's a reward of those who diligently seek him. Is your conscience clear? Sometimes, I think we underestimate the sin of unbelief, of limiting God, of saying God can't, I can't, we can't. Why not? How big is our God? God doesn't want us looking at the storm or the obstacle or how big it is. He wants us to keep our eyes on him and walk by faith. It's it's more difficult to pastor this church, a small church, than it is a megachurch. Do you understand that? It's far more difficult to be a Christian in Kitsap County than in Christian Disneyland, where every ride and attraction, everything's just given to you. I've been there, done that, enjoyed it. But that was in my infancy. That was when I was just a child. Kathy and I have grown so much because of the difficulty here. It's caused us to trust in the Lord more and rely on the Lord. So do you. This is an oppressive place. It's a difficult place. I mean, I'm lacking vitamin d 3 right now. And I've had too much sugar, and I'm about ready to get a swollen throat and and a cold again or something. You know? Gotta take a lot of supplements, man. But spiritually speaking, it'll psych you out if you're not in God's word. You gotta constantly be in God's word in prayer and worship and service. And as you're serving others, you know, it's it's funny how you don't notice, you know, the downside of your own life. Yesterday, you know what I did yesterday? I was in the soaking rain just like you were, and I had poopy duty. I'm 65 years old, and I have poopy duty. I've got to take these 35 gallon containers that hold the wastewater from our RV. And I gotta download them into the this thing there, 35 gallons. Pretty heavy. Got wheels. There's 3 of them there yesterday. And I gotta pull them uphill, 5 miles to school in the snow, and I gotta put them on a dolly. And you know what? Inevitably, what happens? The clamp at the bottom comes off. And I got poop going everywhere. Yesterday, it didn't come off because I was praying really hard. But one of them tumbled, and so you know what my thanksgiving to God is? Thank you, Lord. It didn't burst open and poop go everywhere, you know. Because that's a really bad thing when that happens. And Britney and Wayne and them, they don't like that. So I'm pulling those things over there, and I'm putting them into the RV waste dump over at the Sugar Shack next door and getting rid of all that waste, all that stuff. And I I I said to the Lord, you know what, I'm 65 years old. What's wrong with me? That at this age, I'm living in an RV, hauling my poop. People have houses, lord. They have houses. They have indoor plumbing. You know? What is it you're trying to communicate to me, lord? And, you know, and I I walk by faith. I don't let it get me down. And, you know, if you take it right, the day's a good day. The Saturday's a good day, and Cathy's over there a little bit later with meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans. That's a good meal. And a couple little things of pudding from Butcher Baker, you know? And man, I'm like, hey, I'm here with my sweetheart from high school. Lord, I never thought it would come to this, but thank you, Lord. Thank you where you have us. We're walking by faith, Lord. I don't even I can't even understand, not even one little bit. But, Lord, I thank you because this is really exciting. Still serving you. We're still going. We're still we're still hauling poop, Lord. We're still hauling poop for you. So quit complaining. Quit whining. Quit slandering. Quit gossiping. Quit you know, just quit complaining. I'm gonna have Judy, she's a seamstress. Anybody that has trouble with whining, complaining, because one of the most powerful deterrents against truth is crying. A person that's corrected, all scriptures given by inspiration when God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. When you use the word of God in that way and the person doesn't get their way, they start crying and they start calling you. And pretty soon it goes from 1 person to 3, 4, 5, 6. Pretty soon a whole bunch of people sympathetic because he mentioned Moses was a murderer. Oh. So we have a woman a year ago. I mentioned Moses was a murderer and she flipped out. And now I mentioned a year later and there's somebody in there that hears that, he's beating on her. I'm not beating on her. I'm just showing how crazy this world is in which we live. This is what we're dealing with. And if you're gonna cry over it, I'm gonna have Judy fashion a shirt for you with a hanky pocket. And you can come to church with a hanky and blow your stinking nose, and whine and cry and do all that stuff like I read earlier. You can't be angry. You can't correct. You can't do anything to everybody touchy feely, and I don't feel. Stop it. I'm hauling poop. Until you're hauling poop, I've got it worse than you. So quit the whining. John and At the end of John 21, Jesus lets Peter know that Peter, when you're young, you go where you want. When you're old, Peter, you're gonna be hauling poop. And they're gonna take you where you would not. And so, John says, Yeah. This is the death that that Peter's gonna die. He gives a commentary. Peter, you're gonna be crucified. And Peter's like, But what about John? And Jesus says, get your hanky, Peter. Get your hanky. If I will that John tarry till I come, what is that to you? Follow thou me. Each of us, just follow the Lord and what he's called you to do. Stop the whining. And you know what? We'll be so incredibly in love with each other that the Holy Spirit be so pleased. And this church would be a church that you look forward to coming to because we're loving one another. And that's what you want. That's what we want. What does god wants you to do? Keep your conscience clear. Jesus said, come on to me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me from meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest under your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Let Jesus carry the load. Let him do what only he can do. His shoulders are big and let you and I enjoy him in fellowship being yoked to him as we serve him. Amen? Father, thank you once again, Lord. Thank you. That's so simple. Lord, we do pray that our conscience be clear. That, Lord, we would come on a regular basis in our prayer time to allow you to examine our hearts, illumine our hearts and minds. And lord, that we confess anything that may be hindering sweet intimate fellowship with you. Lord, we pray that action, attitude, heart, all of it would come together, lord, yielded this unto you. A death to self, resurrected life, the newness of life of walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. Give us a great year, Lord. A great year of discovery, more and more prophecies being fulfilled, the excitement of knowing your soon return. And, Lord, let us never ever quench the Holy Spirit. Grieve the Holy Spirit. Lord, we pray that you'd be well pleased. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.