Transcript for:
2 Corinthians 6:1,10 -The Day Of Salvation- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2025-03-09
Found the transcript but need the audio? View Episode
Second Corinthians chapter six verses one through 10. We then as workers together with him beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I secured thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation, giving no offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed. But in all things, approving ourselves as the ministers of God, and much patience, and afflictions, and necessities, in distresses, in stripes, and imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, and fastings, by pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true, as unknown and yet well known, as dying and behold, we live as chastened and not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things. Father, we thank you for your holy word. Lord, we thank you that we can glean from Paul's experience. The false prophets were preaching a different narrative. The false prophets were refuting, undermining, slandering the apostle Paul, and he's being treated the same way Jesus was treated, the same way the other apostles were treated. So why do we think it's strange, Lord, in the last days that people don't wanna hear the truth, and that, Lord, the enemy has so many wolves and and trying to undermine the truth and and tear down the messengers and all. And, Lord, we expect it. We anticipate opposition. And Lord, thank you that we can study this morning and undergird and and be strengthened and be wise as serpent gentle as doves, Lord, that we could speak the truth of love, that we would that we would garner, that we would ask for the power of the spirit and the wisdom and the discernment to be able to withstand, Lord, in this evil day. To not be sucked in and and drawn into the flesh and getting ugly, but Lord, to be able to to to just wipe the dust off our feet and walk away if if necessary, or to stand and and fight. Fight hard and contend for the truth. But give us wisdom, Lord, because we're definitely in a battle. And so thank you for this this section of scripture. We ask that you'd be our teacher today. In Jesus' name. Amen. Would you please be seated? I don't know if you guys are under any pressure with the truths that you're bringing forth to people. A whole lot of people wanna drink the hopium, drink the Kool Aid, and think that, hey, everything's gonna be great. And then you come in, and you're the one that lets them know that, hey, do you know there's gonna be a one world economic system? Well, what's that mean to my retirement? You know? I need time to write a Doge and let them know the five things that I did this week. You know? Do you like that scrutiny? Do you like Doge asking you at work what you've been doing? Do you like justifying your position, your job? Are you afraid you might lose your job? You're afraid they might move you out 25% of the government employees to be to be removed, you know? It's no fun, isn't it? It's not. But as a pastor, every single week, I go through an evaluation. Every single week, I've got people evaluating if I'm doing good or doing bad, if I'm saying a good word, a bad word, whatever. And you guys, now you've got Elon Musk. You know? Who's Elon Musk? Who's Doge? Now he wants to know what you've know what you've been doing. He wants to know if there's any waste in the shipyard. Is there any waste in the shipyard? You know? Who's watching? Who's watching? They've been watching me every day, every move I've made. No matter what I do, I'm watched. Criticized, whatever, slandered. You know? You notice in the bulletin, Kathy, in the right hand column has verses on slander. Right? And and that's because people just can't keep their mouth shut, and they they've got to jump in and have an opinion. And in many cases, these opinions are simply just that, their opinions. And, you know, and I I it's not gonna change me. I've got a hanky, and I'll offer him a hanky. That's what I'm gonna do. And so you you don't like it? Then here's the hanky. Wipe your nose. Because that's the world we're living in. People are everyone's got an opinion. Everybody's an expert. Everybody thinks they know. And I just wanna try and train our minds and train us to simply follow the scripture. Follow the word of God. Don't be duped. Don't be deceived. Don't drink the Kool Aid. Don't fall into a false hope. You know? Keep your eyes on Jesus. He's coming again. That's the real hope. And so Paul is still vindicating his apostleship. Why does Paul have to vindicate his apostleship? After all he's done, why is he being attacked by false prophets and having to the church of Corinth, which he's planted? For eighteen months, he's laboring to plant that church, and now the Corinthians are being seduced and influenced by false prophets. So Paul's in a place where they're not respecting him. They're trying to undermine him. They they're saying he doesn't have credentials. They're saying he doesn't have commendation, you know, from the big boys in Jerusalem and all. So Paul is vindicating his apostleship and ministry. The Corinthians have been bought into the slander, and the Greek word is diablos. It's the devil that's behind the slander. You know, in Revelation 12, the devil is the accuser of the brethren. He's the one that's always finding fault with you and with me. And if you wanna find out who your friends are, just speak the truth. Speak something contrary to the mores and the flow of society. So if I take you to Romans 12, be not conformed to this world. That word conformed, don't allow the world to force you into its pattern. So speak something contrary to that pattern, the the mainstream media or whatever it is. Speak something contrary to that to pop their bubble, tell the truth, and you'll find out how quickly people bite and devour and and, you know, wanna demonize you. And that's what they're doing with the apostle Paul. They're slandering of the Judaizers. The Judaizers are the Jews that hate Christianity, that hate Jesus, and they're trying to come in and they're trying to infiltrate the Christianity and undermine these Christians in the grace of God that they're enjoying and let them know they need to be circumcised and keep the 613 precepts of the Old Testament law. And so they're they're they're quenches. They're they're killjoys. You know? What a blessing to know that Jesus fulfilled the law, and that there's now therefore no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. What a great blessing to know that I can't keep the law. And if I try to keep the law, according to James, and I miss on one point, I'm guilty of it all. It's not a performance. It's a trusting in Jesus and and dependence upon his finished work. It's a finished work. And so they're coming in trying to steal these people's joy, steal the grace of God that they were introduced to, and take it from them to undermine Paul's ministry. So Paul's reminding the Corinthians of God's work of reconciliation, his plan of salvation, and their opportunity to become, as we saw last week, ambassadors of this grace. He's asking them to respond to God's grace. And so today is the day of salvation. Are you responding to God's grace? Question. Notice first of all, the appeal of his grace. Verse one. We then as workers together with him beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain. So we hear grace grace grace grace grace grace card grace card grace card grace card. You can't judge me. I'm under grace. I'm under grace. Right? And people take the grace of God, and they turn it into lasciviousness according to Jude. So on the one hand, you have an anti anomianism where people are anti law, anti rules, anti hey, sloppy agape, anything goes. And then the the other side of it is a legalism, a people that would adhere to a close, rigid, walking relationship with the Lord, you know, according to the letter of the law, not the spirit. And so we want to be those that are led by the Holy Spirit, led by love, that the desire of obedience under the Lord is that I love him, and my desire is to please him, and that I know that I fall, I know that I sin, but in that relationship with him, I can confess that sin, and he's faithful and just to forgive me of my sin and to cleanse me of all unrighteousness. And so the receiving the grace of God in vain might be going back into legalism, going back into being a trying to live like a Jew. Or receiving the grace of God might be, I exercise a life of, you know, licentiousness, where anything goes. I can I can make up the rules that I want? You're trying to find somebody to marry, somebody to date or whatever, and you wanna try them out in your bed. And so you're gonna you're gonna go on christian.com and and try to find the right man, the right woman to you're tired of being lonely. And guess what? You're gonna make up your own roles. You're you're gonna sleep with them. You're gonna sleep with her. And you wanna do it covertly. You don't want anybody to find out, but, you know, oh, hell break loose if anybody questions what you're doing because, you know what, you're an adult. Right? Where'd that come from? Or how about this? I'm gonna sleep with her, and we're married in the eyes of God. Oh, yeah. The teenagers do that one. Right? How about this? How about she got pregnant, but we didn't have sex? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The immaculate conception. Yeah. The lies, the the the lies that we tell ourselves and everybody be damned if they ever question somebody in their licentious lifestyle. We wanna Christianize our immorality. So you've received the grace of God in vain. You think grace is a card, is a pass go and collect $200 that you can do whatever you please. No reconciliation with God. You're still at war with God. You're in rebellion to God, and no repentance. The evidence there of no repentance. Or you know what? I think, I think God made the made the herb, and I'm gonna continue the reefer madness till he comes. You know? I'm gonna I'm gonna be with Cheech and Chong and up in smoke, and I'm gonna pass the bong and smoke the joint till Jesus comes, because after all, it's just an herb. Well, the book of Revelation, it's sorcery, pharmakia, that leads many of the people astray, and they're seduced and hypnotized and drawn into an occultic kind of a kind of a relationship with the devil. And I say relationship because he's a counterfeit. We're called a relationship with Jesus. Well, the devil wants these people to know him. The devil wants these people during the tribulation period to worship him. And, you know, he's probably gonna pass out free everything. You know? No rules. He's the lawless one. So there are no there are no rules except the rules that they make up, you know, that you gotta gotta live in these fifteen minute cities or or whatever. So as his ambassadors, we beseech you, we appeal to your reasoning faculties. Since God, in chapter five verse 21, for he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So isn't it reasonable? Isn't it a reasonable assumption that you would respond to his grace? What is your response to his grace? His unmerited favor toward you by surrendering your life to him and become his ambassador. Wouldn't wouldn't that be a great thing? Wouldn't it be a great thing that that he cast demons out of you? And now wouldn't it be reasonable to think that you might wanna serve him? That you've been tormented by demons, you're Mary Magdalene, you've been tormented by seven demons, and they've been just just making you crazy, bipolar, schizophrenic, all these different things. And now you're you're you're in your right mind. And you've never ever ever experienced any man loving you the way Jesus loves you. First time ever. What's your response? The woman at Simon the Pharisee's house, her response was to break the alabaster box, to wash Jesus' feet with her tears, to dry his feet with her hair. Because their sins were many, you know, they were forgiven. Those that who are forgiven much, they love much. It should be love. It should be just a just a a a an appreciation, a thankfulness that, Lord, how can I serve you? How can I give back to you? Lord, who can I pray for? Lord, do want me to follow you? What do you want me to do, Lord? And, you know, in the case of the woman in John four, he told her to go back into the city. Go back into the city and tell people what it just did for you. You know? And she says, come see a man who told me everything, you know, about me. And in many cases, the Lord wants you to go back to your families and explain to your families the change that's taken place in your life. And let them observe the changes, changes, plural, that are taking place in your life. You're once a drunk. You got no desire for alcohol anymore. And they're like, what's happened to you? What's up? How'd you do that? Jesus changed my heart. He changed the desires of my heart. I didn't do it. He did it. And he's continuing to change me from glory to glory. There's other things I'm struggling with, but as I rely upon him, I get victory. Some days I don't get victory because I'm not relying upon him. Cause I think I've arrived. I think I'm a good guy, then boom, I fall. And I'm humbled. And then I cry out, Lord, oh, wretched man that I am. Who's gonna deliver me from this body of death? And then I learned to rely upon the spirit, to walk by faith, to respond to God's grace, his unmerited favor. It's not a legal relationship. If you have rejected his offer of peace and reconciliation, you've received the grace of God in vain. His sacrificial offering, his son will profit you nothing. You're still at war with God. Titus two eleven says, the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, everybody, the grace of God. Christmas time, Easter, the grace of God, God giving his son has appeared to all men. Everybody knows. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should we should should be our response. We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. So again, retire the bond. Get rid of the bond. Get rid of the paraphernalia. Get rid of the the alcohol and the stuff that's causing you to stumble and be a drunk in front of people that you profess to be a Christian onto. Don't tell people you're a Christian if you're still drunk. Don't tell people that you're a Christian, gave your heart to Jesus, and going to heaven if you're still addicted to pornography and womanizing, manizing, whatever it may be. If there's no repentance, just keep your mouth shut. Wait till you're really saved. Wait till there's a transformation and a change in your life. If you fall, that's different. We all fall. If you're struggling and you fall, that's okay. That's the Christian life. We struggle, we fall. We get up seven times. And the Lord restores us. He helps us. He transforms and changes. And it's very humiliating to be a human being because God remembers. It's not a surprise to him. He remembers that he fashioned us from the dust of the ground. You're just dirt. You're dirt filled with the spirit, and without the help of the holy spirit, we all fail. So that's no surprise. But where's your heart? Do you want to do good? Do you want to do right? Do you want to live a life that's pleasing to God? Or have you just taken the Christian card and use it, you know, when it's advantageous to you? Rather than simply there being a being some sort of proof, some sort of Jesus said, you'll know them by their fruit. What's the fruit of your life? Where's the love? Where's the desire of obedience? Have you ever received God's grace in vain? Charles Hodge is quoted as saying, we cannot accept reconciliation. Remember we studied last week, we're at war with God. God's God's inviting us to be reconciled unto him. The terms of reconciliation are surrender, complete surrender. And when we surrender unto him, he gives us his peace. We have peace with God, and then we experience, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the peace of God, a quality of life that the world cannot experience. We could go through terrible, terrible trials and difficulty and be unhappy. We could win the lottery and be very happy. That's called happenstance. But the Christian the Christian can go through adverse things, terrible things, and have the joy of the Lord. A Christian could be in a prison cell in Philip Philippi, Paul and Silas, be beaten, and be singing praises unto the Lord. Only a Christian has the capacity to do that because joy is the fruit of the spirit. It's the holy spirit in us that transforms and changes us and gives us the capacity that our characters changed from being so incredibly selfish to focus upon God, to get our eyes upon him and begin to worship him. We don't know why we just got beat. We were obeying the Lord, but we got beat. Well, Lord, I thought if I obey you, you're gonna bless my life and give me the best life now. Every time I obey you, I get beat. That's the Christian life in some cases, some parts of the world. It isn't always a, you know, plus and minuses. Well, I did all these good things, and now he's gonna do me good. Well, maybe the good things you did just drew the attention of the wicked one, and he wants to snuff you out. If you really wanna be successful, then just blend in. Go back to sleep. Go to a church that's asleep, that doesn't offend anybody. The cross is offensive. You can offend people if you preach the truth. You know? They don't wanna know the truth. You don't wanna know the truth. Right? So we cannot accept reconciliation with God and live in sin because the renunciation of sin is the acceptance of the reconciliation. You're surrendering to God. You're saying, yeah. I'm I'm tired of warring with you, fighting with you. I repent. I've turned from this. I will surrender to you, to your lordship in my life. I will yield to the holy spirit. So repentance is the evidence of salvation. That word is not used in the churches today. Sin is not used in the churches today. It's the Rick Warren area. You don't wanna offend. You wanna fill the pew, the seats with unbelievers, as many people as you can, nickels and noses. You wanna teach them to be a Catholic. You wanna teach them to go do good deeds, but live like hell all week long. How many of you were raised that way? Christian backgrounds. Anything goes during the week, but you better be at church on Sunday. You better be at mass. Kathy grew up in a Christian neighborhood. They were no different. There was no difference between them and us, us unbelievers. They smoked the same pot and party and did everything. You'd see the priest walking around there smoking, you know, with their robes on and stuff. I don't know what else they were doing. They were no different. But then you go and you meet people who are born againers. I'm born again. I got born again in 1980. It transformed and changed my life. No longer body and soul, body, soul, and spirit. I had no desire for God. I wasn't looking for God, and my life was good. I had stretchy pants. I had it all. But he slapped me upside the head. He he invaded my partydom. I didn't even know I needed him. But once he revealed himself, it would have driven me to insanity to try and continue the way I once I I was once going. I could have resisted him. I could have said, no. I like my partying too much, but I'd have gone insane because I tasted, and I could see that he's good. And he changed my heart immediately, and he continues to change my heart, changing me into his image from glory to glory. I got a long way to go, but I have a confidence that this work that he's begun, he's gonna complete it. And one day when I see him face to face, that work's gonna be complete. And that's my hope. I don't want to continue to be a wretched human being, and I thank him for the new nature, the nature of the spirit, being born of the spirit that helps me to overcome that old fallen, endemic nature that's so antithetical to who God is in rebellion to God. In first John one six, he says, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. These are the professors. They profess that they know God, but in works, they deny him. It's not a working. It's the fruit of their life. Their life doesn't measure up to what it means to be a Christian. Yeah. I'm a Christian adulterer. I'm a Christian drug dealer. I'm a Christian politician. You know? How's that work? That's an oxymoron. If their lips are moving, they're lying. We know it to be true. Coming to church does not make you a Christian, just as going to a donut shop does not make you a cop. You know the cops, how they got that belt of truth on there? And they've got the handcuffs in the back and on the side for their weapon? Many of them have a hook there for a donut right there on the belt. You ever seen that? Their cortisol levels pop up, and they need that sugar, that coffee, that caffeine to keep going. Right? People think, hey. Yeah. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm a cop. I went to the donut shop. Hey. I'm a pastor. I'm a pastor teacher. I watched YouTube. I got a YouTube video. I put a YouTube video up. There is no millennium. There is no rapture. Well, prove it. Take the Bible and prove what you're putting out there. Take the verses of the Bible and prove your point. Let there be a synergy. Let there be a flow of scriptures that prove your point. Don't just take something one verse out of context and try and build, you know, your eisegesis upon it. It's expositional. It's gotta emanate from the word. The laws of hermeneutics, we take the Bible to teach the Bible. The Bible teaches the Bible. But, oh, I'm an expert. I'm a YouTube expert. Then I gotta deal with all the idiocy, the craziness that's creeping into the church today, the heresy, the false prophets. Jesus said, be not deceived. He said there'd be many false prophets. We can't identify them anymore. They're all experts. And that's what Paul's dealing with. He's dealing with the frauds. He's dealing with the false prophets, and they're slandering him. They're undermining him. And he's pointing out, no. Don't buy into that or you're you've taken the grace of God in vain if you go back into the law on those things. You're gonna you're gonna be shipwrecked in your faith. Second Timothy three seven, never learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. You know about him, you know facts about him, but you don't know him. You don't know the truth. You're deceived. You receive the grace of God in vain, always saying tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. When are gonna diet? Tomorrow. How's that New Year's resolution working? Where where are we at? We're we're in we're in March. Probably quit the gym by now. Right? Got on the treadmill and cut your carbs, and we're doing real good the first week of January. Right? And by now, we're pounding sugar again. Right? We're just pounding comfort food. Some say no. Guy came up to me yesterday, and he said, I'm on the carnivore diet. I lost 15 pounds. Praise the lord. You didn't have 15 pounds to lose, bro. But his inflammation's gone. He feels healthier. All of us have a different composition of muscle and and fat and everything else. You know? Some of us, we we do just fine carrying a little bit more, but others, it's the inflammation that kills you. It's the inflammation that leads to the disease and all, and so we understand that. We're learning to understand that. I was fasting yesterday and didn't eat at the thing and all that, and I have this really super hard time if it's 10:30 and if Kathy's eating cheese sitting next to me in bed watching the Waltons. And it just kills me, man. It kills me. And I'm like, well, I fasted for twenty four hours now. I can I can eat? I don't need to and if you can get to sleep, man, you can get an extra eight hours of fasting. That's the beauty of it. You gotta get to sleep, though. It's so hard to go all day. And then but I got this vile, filthy habit of I love to go to bed with food in my belly. It's not a good thing, but I I just love it. I love comfort food at night in bed. I can do good all day. And I don't always do it for diet diet purposes. I like to fast on Saturdays to get my to get all the fog out of my brain and get all the inflammation and all the bad stuff that's, you know, I wanna be I wanna be on my game on Sunday morning. I wanna be have clarity and be clear, and that's one of the benefits of fasting and spending time in prayer and the word and being with the guys. You're focused on the things of the Lord. It's a good thing. But man, those diets, there's it's so difficult. Our will so often, you know, can't do it. And so for many Christians, they've heard the gospel, and they say, oh, tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'll respond. I'll respond in the tribulation period. You know? I wanna party now with my friends, but in the tribulation period, dad, I won't take the mark of the beast. Oh, really? Are you sure? In in fact, I don't even think there is a tribulation period. I don't think there's a rapture. I don't I don't even think that there's a hell. You know? Then you start going that direction, lying to yourself. It's appointed on all men once to die, and then the judgment, the bible says. He says verse two, for he saith I've heard the heard thee in a time accepted, and the day of salvation have I helped thee or secured thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. You sense the urgency? You hear the urgency? These guys are playing games. Paul's saying, you heard the grace of God in vain? Don't take the grace of God in vain. Listen to the appeal of God's grace saying today, today, today's the day of salvation. If you die today, tomorrow's too late for you. There's no second chance. There's no purgatory to be prayed out of. No such thing. Erroneous Catholic doctrine where they made merchandise of people. You could pay the priest money, and they would pray your dead loved ones out of hell. We see in Luke 16, that's not true. We see the rich man and Lazarus, you know, separated, the double compartment in Abraham's bosom. Jesus told the thief, this day you'll be with me in paradise. And the rich man was a place of grievous torment, and Lazarus was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. And Jesus in Ephesians four, before he ascended, he descended the lower parts of the earth, and he emptied out paradise. He emptied out Abraham's bosom, but the wicked dead are still there in hell awaiting the second resurrection, which is the resurrection of the wicked dead in Revelation chapter 20. They're gonna stand before God at the great white Throne judgment, and they're give gonna give an account, an accounting of what they did while they're in their body, whether good or bad. You're never gonna face that kind of a judgment. You're gonna face the Doge judgment, but not that judgment. Amen. Hallelujah. Doge might cancel you, cut back, take from you, or Doge might give you $5 this year. You might get $5. Praise the Lord. I want the $5, but not at the expense of taking the digital ID. I'm aware of their tactics. Hey. This money's waiting there for you. You just need to get your digital ID, your digital wallet, your digital bank account. We're gonna do away with with all of your pensions and everything. We're gonna digitize them. And if you want access to them, you're gonna have to have a digital ID. Well, in hell, there's no negotiating. You and I are never gonna have to negotiate in that way, and, our sins have already been judged upon Jesus. Jesus, he that knew no sin became sin. The father poured out his wrath upon Jesus. You don't need to justify why you should be in heaven. You've been justified just as if you've never sinned. There's no fearful looking to have judgment for you. That's why you should just enjoy the grace of God because it's unmerited favor. You don't deserve to be saved. You can't work your way to be saved. You can't work your way to be a superstar Christian. It's all of God's grace. What do you have but that which has already been given you? There's no boasting in anything of you. Not even in your salvation, even the faith you have is a gift of God. Only boasting we see in Jeremiah nine is that we know God, and we know him because he loved us first. He drew us. Initiated. We responded. He's quoting Isaiah forty nine eight in the Septuagint. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. No guarantees of tomorrow. There's no guarantees of tomorrow. Don't put it off. Something that important, don't put off. Turn to first Timothy first Thessalonians chapter five. Now as a pastor, I'm really, really trying my hardest to get you ready, and I think most of you are ready. First Thessalonians chapter five. Now grammatically, pay close attention to the change in pronouns. Okay? Two groups of people here that he's alluding to. I want you and I to know that we know that we know that we're children of light, and that that day is not gonna overtake us by surprise, that day of judgment, that day of Jesus' return. He says, but of the times and the seasons, brethren, you need not that I write unto you, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord Now the day of the Lord is not the rapture. The day of the Lord is the tribulation period, The second coming of Jesus. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. So that's not the rapture. It's the day of the Lord. His coming is gonna surprise the earth dwellers who live in darkness. The tribulation period's gonna surprise. The tribulation period, the return of the Lord is a campaign. A campaign during a seven year period of time of events that are taking place of the unveiling, the apocalypse of Jesus. The unveiling of Jesus Christ. They're gonna meet him. Every knee's gonna bow, every tongue gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. There's gonna be angels flying overhead, an angel flying overhead with everlasting gospel. There's going to be a 144,000 Jews sharing the glorious good news of his coming kingdom. There's gonna be people willing to refuse the mark of the beast on their right hand of their forehead proclaiming the good news to people before their head is chopped off according to Revelation 20 verse four. There's gonna be two witnesses in Revelation chapter 11 proclaiming the good news for three and a half years, and he's gonna they're gonna torment. And I know who they are. I know who they are, and I'll let you know later. But for when they shall say notice the pronoun, they. For when they shall say peace and safety, so they're thinking, hey, everything's great. Golden age. Golden age, baby. He's gonna do it. For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. Hey, the water's gonna break. That baby's coming out. Nobody's gonna stop it. The birthing of the tribulation period, the birthing of the day of the Lord is gonna come out as a as a shock to people after these peace peace where there is no peace guys are running around letting everybody know, hey, peace and safety, peace and security. You give up your freedom in having a dollar. You give up your freedom with your retirement, social security, and all of it. You be in control of it. It's yours. You earned it. You give that up, and you give it to BlackRock. You give it to the globalists, and, we'll give you a token. We'll tokenize all your assets. We'll digitize them. And if you do what we say, then, the world will be a safer place. Nobody would be able to steal from you and fraud you and and go on the Internet and and take everything away from you. You know, it's those bad guys. Who are they gonna blame that takes everything? And then they have the solution. Peace and security. Peace and safety is how they sell it. Yep. Hand in your guns. Peace and safety. It'd be a safer world if everybody gets the digital ID and hands in their guns. Sudden destruction comes upon them as travail upon a woman and child, and they shall not escape. But ye notice the transition. But ye, brethren, Christians, you're awake. You're the children of light. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. Can you see the beast system coming? Can you see the one world governmental system wanting to take shape? I read an article where after World War two, the British Empire collapsed, was broken, and the world transitioned. It was a time for a reset, and it transitioned to where America would be the dominant global empire. And the dollar would be the de facto global currency. Now what's happening is we're going to downsize America. We're not gonna be involved in NATO anymore. We're gonna shut down many of our military bases. We're gonna reduce our government employees by at least 25%. Doge, backwards is EGOD. Right? EGOD reduced Twitter by 80% when he purchased Twitter. Right? And now X wants to be the app for everybody, the universal app for everything. Technocracy. But when they shall say peace and safety and then sudden destruction comes upon them, so the utopian golden age one day is gonna collapse. When when the seal judgments begin to open, oh, hell's gonna break loose. And people gave up their freedom. Catherine Austin Fitts says a digital economic system is a concentration camp without walls. Can you see it? Can you see the tyranny? You're gonna give up your peace and security, but they've gotta make a crisis. They gotta make you afraid. They make you afraid first so that you'll opt to give up your freedom. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. I want no part of the beast system, but I'm watching it because Jesus said when you see these things begin to come to pass, then look up for your redemption draws nigh. He's gonna rescue you. He's gonna rapture you before the tribulation period, but you gotta be a child of light. Today is the day of salvation. You can't put this off. And once the light goes on in you, you should be able to discern and see and be a student of prophecy and see what's happening. You should be able to see a one world digital currency coming according to revelation thirteen sixteen through 18. It's not me. It's the bible. Nothing's gonna stop it. Now how it gets to that point, the mark in your forehead or your right hand, there's gonna be definitely a transition there. Be your phone first, a card. Eventually, it's gonna be an implant or a tattoo. They have a radiological tattoo they can use. But you, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. You are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep. Today's the day of salvation. Tell somebody about the return of Jesus. They're either gonna hate you or love you. Some are gonna slander you. They're gonna make names for you because you just poke fun at their plans. They've got plans. They wanna tear down their barns and build bigger barns. They wanna get rich from Bitcoin. You're a killjoy. You're popping my bubble. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. You're not a child of darkness anymore. But let us, that's us, who are of the day be sober putting on the breastplate of faith and of love and the helmet of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us. Whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another even as also you do. It's a comforting hope. It's the blessed hope. Why would we wanna hide it? Why would we wanna take that light and hide it under a bushel and act like there's no prophecy? There's no rapture. There's no rescue from that day of darkness that's gonna overtake many as a thief in the night. Today is the day of salvation, giving no offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed. So is your life an offense to the cross? Have you received the grace of God in vain? Repent and do your first works. Believe. So my life would be an offense to the cross if I, what? If I did like so many pastors, so many leaders, if I were to be unfaithful to my wife, my life is an offense to the cross. It's a violation of my duty. It's a violation of honor, a violation of my profession of faith. Does it happen? Happens way more than we like to admit. Is there restoration thereafter? Certainly. But as Nathan the prophet pointed to David, David, you've given great occasion for the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme God's name. All these people we've been witnessing to, all these people we've been telling Jesus about, now they can say, hey. Did you hear what pastor Rick did? Did you hear that's a scandalous thing. That's an offense to the cross. But if people hate me on Facebook for telling the truth, that's not an offense to the cross. For telling the truth, they're offended by me? Get in line. The cross is offensive to prideful people. The truth is offensive. And I'm not gonna acquiesce and give in to the pressure of being liked. I'm gonna give them a hanky. Here, blow your nose. I don't care. There's no way I'm gonna acquiesce and give in to the lies of our culture and the pressure to be liked. I'm gonna pop your bubble. You're drinking the Kool Aid. I want you to be ready. Don't be asleep. Today's the day of salvation. What if Jesus were to come today? Would you be left behind? Did I move do my job to prepare you for the soon return of Jesus? It's a risk. I know. If you keep your mouth shut, they'll like you. Who's gonna speak up? Who's gonna tell them the gospel? Who's willing to go to prison? Who's willing to go to jail? Who's willing to be beaten for the proclamation of the gospel? The proclamation of the truth. Are you willing to expose false prophets? Are you willing to expose heretical teaching? They're hypnotized. They're seduced. You can't change their mind, and they're angry. But you might rescue somebody that's listening, somebody else that hasn't been drawn all the way in by the heretical doctrine. It's a risk though. Don't wanna lose my friends. Have you received the grace of God in vain? Repent and do your first works, which means to believe, church of Ephesus, you left your first love. Jesus has given a a progress report to the church of Ephesus. He tells them they did a lot of the good things. But one thing I have against you, you've left your first love. You're more in love with this world. You're more in love with this world system and all that they're promising you than you are me. I counsel you to do your go back to your first works, which is what? Believe. In John six, this is the work. Believe. Believe in Jesus. Come back to putting him first. All your little gods of this world, all your idols and stuff are gonna gonna perish. Don't Christianize the world. And the things of the world, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, all that's in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of the flesh, not of the father, but of the world. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. The problem is the love of the world. The church is in love with the world. And the devil presents a guy that's promising to give you the world, and you're getting sucked in. You can't handle life as it's coming at you. You gotta smoke the reefer to cope. Your anxiety levels, I can't take it that pastor, he makes me shake, man. Can't wait to get to the car and spark it up, man. We know. But we can legitimize it by turning it into gummies. Right? Get rid of the THC, have a beer, whatever. Life's tough. Life there's a lot of pressure. It's getting tougher. The people in the tribulation period are gonna reach a place of perplexity where there's no way out. No human solution to the problems they're gonna face. Men's hearts failing them for fear. People are gonna have heart attacks from the anxiety and the pressure of the things that are coming upon the earth in the time when God pours out his wrath. But you, there's no fearful looking to of judgment for you. There's no wrath to fear for you. You're the bride of Christ. He's gonna come rescue you. He's gonna save you from the hour that's coming. And you should be awake and ready and looking up and knowing as a child of light that his coming is near. And it should just just fill your heart, flood your heart with expectancy as a bride waiting for her groom. The appeal of his grace. Secondly, the approving of his grace. But in all things, approving ourselves as the ministers of God. Approving means to exhibit, display, to introduce, or a demonstration. So how do you prove you're a Christian? How do you prove you're a pastor? How do you prove how do you prove you're legitimate, real, genuine? How do we know you're not a false Christian, a false prophet, a false teacher? Paul has an interesting way of showing his credentials, his credibility. He, rather than boasting about the churches he's planted how many churches have you planted? How many people have you shared Christ with this week? How many people have come to Christ by you preaching the gospel this week, this year, in your Christian experience? How many? Got let me see your belt. You got marks on your belt? You counting them? And yet these pretenders, they've never preached a sermon. They don't know what it is to study the Bible and and begin to put together a sermon to benefit the hearer. They just watch a YouTube video, regurgitate the YouTube video, and they're they're a spiritual man. It's mindless. It's idiocy. But the people love to have it so. Oh, I got a tickling. I got a tickling. I found a new thing or I heard a new thing. Pastor Rick just keeps harping on the same old thing. Jesus is coming again. He's coming again. I'm tired of hearing that. I got plans, man. Can't he wait a little bit? So you have to keep saying that? Makes me so nervous. Makes me so nervous. The end of America, the end of things. How about make things great? That makes me feel good. So how does he do it? He says, demonstrating that he was a true minister. His credibility came by relying upon the grace of God in the midst of trials. That's how I know you're a real Christian. You go through trials, you go through sickness, you go through horrific circumstance that God allows in your life, and from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. You're a teabag. You're just a teabag, man. And we don't know what flavor you are until you're put in hot water. And when you're in hot water, when slander and bitterness and anger and rancor and backbiting comes out, we're we have to question whether you're really a Christian or not. Because a real Christian, love flows from their heart. It's love. So when we see you beaten, as Jesus is on the cross and he rails not back at him, but he says stuff like, father, forgive them for they know not what they do. We see his seven statements upon the cross, and none of his father send down fire to barbecue these people. From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks at crunch time in the crucible of the trial. He's trying to protect his disciples. We're looking for Jesus of Nazareth. I am, and these guys fall back. He doesn't want them to take the other disciples. When Judas betrays him for 30 pieces of silver, Jesus said, friend? You're still my friend, Judas? Betrays the son of man with a kiss? Really? You're gonna backstab me? You're gonna pince me with a kiss? And so we don't know until you're in hot water. And in many cases, we we marvel. We're amazed at the level that the the you know, we say, hey. What's what's your pain on a scale of one to 10? And we're looking at you and, like, we're wincing. It's like, it's gotta be a 10. That's the most horrific thing I've always feared that might happen to me. And they're going through it, and they're still singing. They're still faithful. Their marriage is still working. Wow. I think they're a real one. I think that's a real Christian. They're glorifying the Lord going through that trial. And then for others, it's just this rancor, this anger, this slander, this craziness. You know? They want everyone else to feel as bad as they feel. I'm gonna bring everybody else down to my level because I'm suffering. I'm gonna make them all suffer. Well, that's not Christ like. That's not what Jesus did. You know? He gave up his life. And Paul, man, he's he's sacrificing. Those false prophets won't sacrifice. They want it easy. The heart's revealed. He says second Corinthians ten eighteen, not that he commended himself as approved, but whom the Lord commended. It doesn't matter how you boast, what commendation you self promote. Promotion comes from the Lord. He sets down one and raises up another. Your self promotion means nothing. We wanna see the proof in the pudding. Show us what you got. If I took the people that were my detractors over the years, And I said, you know what? And I used to do this a little bit to try and humble him a little bit. And I was also trying to help him, to bless them. But we'd have these concerts, and we'd have these bands and these crazy kids and everybody out there. And I had some guys that were giving me trouble, and I had other guys who were really helping me a lot, helped me a lot. So I come alongside them, and I'm trying to help them in their walk with the Lord. One of the scariest things in the world for people is to speak in front of people. They can mouth you all they want behind your back, But when you say, hey. This Saturday night, we're having a concert. Why don't you share the gospel? Show me what you got. You've been mouthing off behind my back. Get up there, and let's see your anointing. Let's see you lead people to Christ like I do every single week or at least try. And for some, it's a glorious opportunity for them. They've been waiting for a chance, and they struggle, and they do a really good job. It's a good exercise. And for others, it's like, I never wanna do that again. I think I better quit talking about him. He's got a tough job. People will be in the audience, and they'll be flipping you off. They'll be saying, shut the f up. One guy, a a superstar from California came up and tried to preach in Bremerton on a Tuesday night, and he had to stop in mid sentence because we got people that interrupt. And there's these kids interrupting him, taking his train of thought away and all, and he jumped off the stage and had to deal with the kid up toward the front, you know, because the kid was heckling him. Dude, heckling in Bremerton is normal. Get over it. The devil's heckling all the time. But he was this superstar all, oh. And I had to set the stage for him to succeed. I had to spend a lot of money and get the local kids to come, and I I we'd spent like $10,000 to have a Saturday night concert with him, and had the Orange County Supertones, and and then his band, and and they had a great time. We had a great time. And then he says, well, let's do it again on Tuesday night. Tuesday in Bremerton, Tuesday night? From from Saturday to Tuesday, I gotta put that together? And I says, well, I'm gonna need a couple local bands to help us to let me let me call some local bands. And he's like, why don't you just trust the holy spirit? Oh, that sounds oh, wow. So I get a couple local bands to bring, like, seventy, eighty kids because nobody cares about a California superstar. They came for the super stones on Saturday night, not for him. I set the stage so he'd have a crowd. But now, let's rely on the holy spirit. You know? So alright. So I get a couple local bands, and they bring their following. They all have followings. There's seventy, eighty kids, and got that heckler there. And it was so funny to watch this guy lose it. Lose his component, the whole thing. You know? And then I hear him on the radio as he's leaving this tour, and he says, yeah. We went up in the Northwest, and they're defeated. They're discouraged. They're depressed. They're all the d words. All the d words. And I said, no. We're not. We're on the front lines fighting it out. It's a real battleground here. And you're off at the USO dancing with the women. You're not even in the fight. Get on the front lines, man. They go to the easiest places they can. So his credibility came by relying upon the grace of God in the midst of the trials. He prayed three times that God would remove a messenger of Satan that was buffeting him. You guys have headaches. You have all the aches and pains that the apostle Paul had. God allowed Satan to buffet him with huge migraines possibly. With ophthalmalia, his eyes oozing with pus and ruining his appearance and everybody making fun of his appearance and all. It it always it always cracks me up. Now I'm gonna say this tongue in cheek. Okay? I'm I'm I'm a be nice. It always cracks me up that if I'm eating too many cookies, somebody says, you know, you're gonna get fat eating those cookies. But the person telling me that's like four hundred pounds, you know. So but have you looked in the mirror? Have you really have you looked in the mirror? No. Hey, you need your haircut, you know. Your hair is, you know, I don't like the way you dress, and wait a minute. You just rolled in here with your depends on, and you're going bald, and you're very unattractive. Why don't you look in the mirror? How are you a critic for me? You know? But somehow, they get in their head that pastor's gotta look a certain way, and we're gonna criticize how he looks now, you know, and how his daughter looks and his kids look and all that. Just chill. You look in the mirror. You know? What what if I had a list of all my criticisms of you? There'd be no love in this church. Right? There'd be no love because I got a list too. But love doesn't keep score. Love doesn't make a list. Crazy. It's just crazy the way that we live. God allows suffering to demonstrate his grace in our lives. We gain credibility. People are watching you. Your family members are watching you. Man, they sure been through a lot of trials. They've been through a lot of difficulty, and they still love Jesus. Job, he, you know, he says, he knows the way that I take. When he's tried me, I'm gonna come forth as gold. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. We saw the credibility of Job. Satan tried to attack the credibility of Job and says, hey, you got a hedge of protection around him. Take away all this stuff, and he'll curse you to your face. And God says, alright, Satan. You're on a leash. You can take away his stuff, but can't touch his life. So his children are killed. His wealth, everything's taken. And he's he's there naked came I in the world, naked I'm gonna go, the Lord giveth, Lord take it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Worship comes out of his heart. Then Satan says, like a lot of you experience, a lot of us, skin for skin, all that a man has will he give for his life. Take away his health. Health is your greatest wealth, isn't it? You lose your health, you lose it all. You you can't sleep because you're in pain. And when you can't sleep because you're in pain, then you get delusional. You get sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation is a really tough thing. Now you're walking on three hours sleep. You got a job to do. You still gotta go to work, you know, but you can't sleep. And you're going through various meds and different procedures and things to try and make you normal again, you know, take away his health, skin for skin. All that a man has will he give for his life. And he takes away his health, and Job still is worshiping the Lord. Right? He's scraping himself with a pot shirt. All the puss and everything coming out from the boils from the crown of his head to the ground. I've had boils before. They aren't fun. And especially if you get them in some weird spots, they're really they're really uncomfortable, and he's scraping himself. And then his wife comes up to him and says, now is she a tool of Satan, or is she a blessing from God? She says, why don't you just, you know, kill yourself? And he says, well, you speak as a foolish woman speak. Shall we not receive good at the hand of the Lord, not evil? Job had a mature attitude toward, you know, I once had. I was abounding, as Paul says, and I know what it is to be abased. I've learned the secret of contentment. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And that's maturity. That's Christian maturity. And that's where the Lord wants to bring all of us. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him, so there's no quitting. Paul was approved. He says, notice, in much patience. So endurance beyond the point of breaking. In afflictions, plural, a crushing pressure, these afflictions. Second Timothy four verse five, Paul's talking to Timothy, a young pastor. You wanna go in the ministry? Whom shall I send? Here my Lord, send me. Are you sure? Have you counted the cost? He says, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of your ministry. How's he being proven? People can see the affliction, the heartache, the difficulty. Who would wanna keep doing this? Must be called. In necessities, you're lacking the necessities. I like to watch The Jungle Book with my grandkids, the bare necessities. Right? First Corinthians four eleven, even under this present hour, we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place. Foxes have holes, birds there have nests, but the son of man is nowhere and lays head. Some of you know what it is to be homeless. Some of you know what it is to live in your car, to live in a box. Some of you know what it is to lose your mind from drug addiction and be so incredibly lost. And the Lord rescues you. The Lord saves you, and you desire to serve him and rescue others that are caught in that predicament, but there's many people who serve the Lord who are impoverished. Evil men and seducers waxing worse and worse. In distresses, no seeming way out, in stripes. Man, have you ever been whipped? Has your little brother or sister or somebody ever had a horse whip or some sort of strap that, oh, got you in the back? Well, guys, to be holy, they could do 39 stripes, not 40 of the Jews. Now, Jesus being hit with a cat of nine tails, there's no limit because it's the Romans lictors that are striking him. He's beaten beyond the recognition of a man. But the Jews could take a strap, take a whip, and whip a person, and they would have to stop at 39. So notice what Paul says, five times received thy 40 stripes save one. Thrice, three times, I was beaten with rods. You ever been beat with a rod? Once I was stoned. No. Not with your bong. Stoned as in Lystra. Imprisonments. Paul lodged in the finest jails of his time, the jails of Philippi, of Caesarea, of Jerusalem, of Rome. Paul spent much time in jail, incarcerated. For what? Why? Did the false prophets go there? No. Only a true prophet of God would go there. Why? Because there's no compromise. He's never gonna compromise the truth. He's never gonna shut up. You're never gonna stop him. No matter what threat you bring, he's gonna keep bringing it. And that's what happens. In tumults, riots everywhere. In Lystra, in Thessalonica, Corinth, and Ephesus, crazy crazy wickedness. He said in Bremerton, I fought with beasts. No. He said, in Ephesus, I fought with beasts. Beastly people. In labors, Paul was not a hireling. He would work to exhaustion to try and underwrite his ministry. In other times, he would receive gifts like from Philippi and all, and to underwrite his ministries. He says, and watchings, so many sleepless nights in prayer and watching, fasting and prayer. He denied his flesh and devotion to God. I failed last night. I ate that cheese. I'll tell you what. Are you responding to God's grace in this way? Are you willing to suffer for him, to rely upon him? Today is the day of salvation. Are you responding to God's grace? Number one, the appeal of his grace for you note takers. Secondly, the approving of his grace. Thirdly and finally, and you like that word finally, I know. The arsenal of his grace. How are we to serve? What are our resources? Silver and gold have I none. In the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk. Oh, I'd love for that power. The power to heal you. The power to heal somebody that's never walked in forty years. The power to cause a blind man to see, the lame to walk. That power is available to us, not a constant, not all the time. God might surprise you with that power of healing of the work of the spirit. Paul, if he had it all the time, he would've healed himself. Right? He prayed three times. The faith preacher say, well, you just didn't have enough faith. Oh, really? He raised, you know, Uticus from the dead, fallen from the mezzanine. You know? He did some pretty pretty amazing things, but it's it's a sovereign work of God's spirit. God determines. We're just the channel, but we need those resources. We need the holy spirit to do the work through us. He says, by pureness. So through purity, no compromise. When we are not pure, when we follow after wickedness and evil, it weakens us. We're weakened in our attempt in our ministry, in our attempt to try and minister. We're weakened. We're called what's what's called defiled. We've been defiled. And so if I try to watch a television show with Kathy at night, and there's very, very little that we can watch that doesn't defile us. So we are now watching the Waltons. You ever heard of the Waltons? We've been through the Waltons many times. They're all like new episodes to me, but she knows every little nuance of those Waltons. And we're introducing Brittany and the kids to the Waltons, and I can hear John Boy, John Boy, John Boy, John Boy. But I'm not defiled. I can watch that, and I can go to sleep and wake up in the morning, and it didn't defile me. And we we try to watch a movie or watch things, and and what's funny, like, let's say let's say there's guys out there, gals out there that like watching Reacher right now. And you girls are watching him because he's got this body, you know, and he's always showing you his body. And the guys are watching because he's strong and beating up bad people. Well, the first season normally doesn't have the lesbians and gays and all the nudity and all that. They suck us in. We're watching. But by the second or third season, now they're gonna introduce this vile, filthy stuff. We're kinda addicted to the show, so we're gonna tell ourselves, well, I'm gonna just fast forward that part. I'm gonna fast I'm fast forward the whole episode, you know? I just said, for heck with it. I don't want this stuff. I don't want this stuff in my eyes, my ears. I don't like the cussing. You know? I don't like any of that. That defiles me. Well, where can I go? What can I do? Pure flicks? What can I do? A lot of the pure flicks, some of them are good, but, I mean, it can be so cheesy, the Christian programming. It's so pure. It's so polyanic that I'm like, no. Punch that guy in the mouth. You know? It's like, be real. You know? Somebody kick that guy. Do something. And but, you know, false Christianity doesn't do me any good either. You know, this pie in the sky like never a problem in the world kind of a thing. And it starts out bad, but it always they fix it by the end of the programming on the PureFlex. No. It doesn't always work like that. Some people die. Some people are mistreated their whole life. You know? Don't don't tell me that. Eventually, yes. But some people live through hell in this life as Christians, and it doesn't get better. It gets worse in many cases. That's reality. And I wanna see them singing. I wanna see them under pressure what comes out. I wanna hear the songs that the Lord gives them in that dark hour. By pureness, so through purity, no compromise. By knowledge, we know Jesus, and we reject the frauds. We have discernment. That guy's a fraud. You'll know them by their fruit. I'm not following that guy. I know Jesus. I have a relationship with him. I recognize him. By long suffering, willing to wait for God's timing. That's a hard one. God might tell you, yes. I'm gonna do this for you. I wanna bless you in this way, but wait. What do you mean wait? I've been waiting ten years. Abraham and Sarah, twenty five years. Joseph, seventeen years. David, twelve years, ten or twelve. You gotta wait. You gotta be broken. You gotta be emptied. You're Moses. You gotta wait forty years. And then you gotta walk around with a bunch of murmurs for another forty years. What's such a job, man? Get somebody else. I can't speak. You will speak, Jeremiah. You will speak, Moses. By kindness. So you give a soft answer. By the holy ghost, you need the power of the holy ghost. By law by love unfeigned, so a genuine love. Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. The world is tired of pretenders. Be a real genuine Christian. Do not emulate the world. They will see through you. Don't Christianize the world. Be a Christian. Be different. Be that salmon that swims upstream against the current. Be the weirdo. Everybody knows I'm a weirdo. They applaud it. They know I'm a weirdo. I don't wanna be like anybody else. I don't wanna worship anybody else. I don't wanna lift anybody else up. Only Jesus. He's the only one that gets that place in my heart. Not gonna do it. I I don't understand the Christian celebrities. And and what I'm reading here, Paul, the biggest dude on the block, is getting his butt kicked every day. The Christian celebrities today, they don't even get pimples. You know? They they don't get nothing. Everything's laid out for them. That's that's not reality. I'm telling you. That's not reality. That's not the way Jesus was treated. There may be a period of time where you get away with that, but truly, if you open up, if you speak against evil, you will come under attack. The reason you're not under attack as a Christian celebrity is because you pick and choose what you'll talk about. You only want the talking points of what's popular. You won't say many things till after the fact, until Rick Baudry popped their heads and said it twenty twenty years ago or ten years ago or two years ago or six months ago. And then all of a sudden, after the fact where there's no risk, oh, yeah. You know, I I think COVID was bad. Well, why'd you shut down? I didn't shut down. Yes. You did. No. I didn't shut down. Nobody wants to admit they shut down, that they failed the test. Yeah. I received the PPE money all that. Yeah. Would you do it again? I don't know. I'd have to poll the people. I'd have to ask the people. I don't wanna lose any people. Last time I shut down, they all came back. I guess I'll shut down. I can do more golfing because the government will give me money. I'll get the PPE money. That's craziness to me. You're gonna shut down? What what kind of what kind of witness is that for Jesus? How's that glorify the Lord? You acquiescing, giving into lies. They just played you. But by the word of truth, truth sets men free by the power of God. The main verse that we'd hear at Calvary Chapel Conferences is Zechariah four six. It's not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. So it's not by your might or your natural power, but by my spirit. It's gotta be a work of God's spirit. That's who we need to do the work. Not the armor of the flesh. By the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, the sword of the spirit and the shield of faith. Verse eight, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report. God always wins. So we wanna be honorable, but there's people being dishonorable towards us. We're we're gonna still win. By evil report, they say evil stuff about us, we're gonna say a good report. God always wins. Today is the day of salvation. Are you responding to God's grace? The appeal of his grace, The approving of his grace? The arsenal of his grace? I lied when I said third and finally. Fourthly and finally. The abundance of his grace. So God's abundance illustrated with seven antithetical statements. Verse eight c, as deceivers and yet true. So your enemies are treating you as you're a deceiver. When Jesus was crucified and put into the tomb in Matthew twenty twenty, seven sixty three, the religious leaders came to Pontius Pilate and they described Jesus, and this deceiver said, in three days he'd raised himself from the dead. If they call Jesus a deceiver, they call the apostle Paul deceiver, people are gonna call you a deceiver. He's deceitful. He's deceitful. They're they're they're deceitful. You can't control what people say, and yet you gotta be true. So our enemies claim we're deceptive, and yet God manifests the truth. Pastor Chuck used to tell us outlive your detractors. Meaning, don't let them get you so discouraged you're gonna quit the ministry. Just continue to do what God's called you to do, and in time, the Lord will vindicate you. The Lord will will approve and show approval simply by you weathered you weathered the slander and the gossip and such. And so our enemies claim we're deceptive, yet God manifests the truth. God defends us by approving us, thus revealing the truth of our character. Verse nine, as unknown and yet well known. Well, he's a nobody, but man, everywhere Paul goes, he's a nobody. He's not he's not received in Athens, who is this babbler. And yet king Agrippa king Agrippa says, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. So you swing the pendulum. The the thinkers of the age, the Greek, you know, gods, the little g gods with all of their city holy given over to idolatry, they listen to you as you preach and and teach the gospel, the resurrection of Christ. And who is this babbler? You know? And Paul tries to quote some of their poets, the Epicurean philosophers and all, and he wants the a sermon of the unknown god, and he launches and all. They don't respect him as unknown. You're not you're not where's your credentials? Who are you? And yet the king, king Agrippa, says, I wanna hear Paul. And by the time Paul's done with him, you know, there's trembling in the room. Almost persuadest thou me to be a Christian. Well, not only almost, but altogether. As dying and behold, we live. So our outer man is perishing, our inward man is renewed day by day. Chastened and not killed, we're invincible until our time of departure. So he's beaten, but he's not killed. They they let him remain alive. He he got stoned at Lystra, they're surrounding him like he's dead. They walk away, and he stands back up and goes back into the city. As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, so heartbreaking for the lost, but rejoicing for the same. As poor, yet making many rich. So the material versus the spiritual. Paul could have been very, very wealthy, much like Moses. He could have been the the top of Judaism. He said concerning his contemporaries, he exceeded them all. The religious leaders were very wealthy, Caiaphas and Annas, and that that whole thing was a business, and Jesus turned over their money, you know, changers and their tables. Paul opted to be a very poor Christian, sacrificing so that others might become rich. And that's for many of us. We understand what that means. Poor, yet making many rich. The sacrifices that you make allow others to hear the gospel, to receive the gospel. It's not easy pastoring a small church. It's a very difficult gig. You give up your prime years of earning when you could be like everybody else, putting money away for retirement and cruises and everything else. So you live a life of sacrifice to make others rich spiritually. And ultimately, when we get to heaven, it's all worth it, isn't it? It's not because you're an idiot, although I am. It's a choice we make to be faithful to the calling God's placed upon our life, even though everybody's measured by how much money they have, how big their house is. It's a worldly mentality. Paul doesn't have a thing, nor did Jesus. So he opted out of the the eternal riches. He was willing to give up all that Judaism offered to receive Christ, and he followed Jesus' example in second Corinthians eight verse nine, where it says, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich So he's rich there, seated at the right hand of the father. Right? That though he was rich, yet for our sakes, he became poor. He left the splendor of heaven. He took on the form of the babe of Bethlehem. He was a child to Mary and Joseph who were very poor. He grew up in Nazareth as a as a carpenter. Though he was rich, yet for our sakes, he became poor that we, through his poverty, that we might become rich. You see that? And that's the example Paul says that the true prophets of God have, the apostles, the Christians. So our riches in Christ, the plutocrats, the true riches, as having nothing and yet possessing all things, the unsearchable riches of Christ. What's it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or what would a man give in exchange for his life? We have the unsearchable riches of Christ, and nobody can ever take them away from us. You know? So with Jesus, we have everything. Paul knew the grace of God. He knew the he deserved the fires of hell for all eternity. But according to Ephesians three eight, he says, unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. And that's how I feel. I feel it's like a huge privilege to be able to do what I get to do, that there's still some people showing up, and they'll stay here two hours to let me preach the gospel. Right? That's an amazing thing. Just amazing. Grace, an acronym for grace. What's grace mean? God's riches at Christ's expense. That's one way. Paul did not receive the grace of God in vain. He immediately responded, surrendering his life to Jesus, becoming his ambassador of grace and peace. Another definition of grace. Grace is love that pays a price. Jesus paid the price. Unmerited favor. God's offer of reconciliation is still on the table. God is long suffering, not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance. Today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow is always too late. Respond to God's love today. Don't receive his grace in vain. Believe. What must I do to be saved? The Philippian jailer. Believe. Today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow is always too late. Too big a gamble. Too big a gamble to put off to tomorrow what needs to be done today. Don't fall back asleep. Seize the urgency. Seize the moment. Yield to the holy spirit. God's tugging on your heart, those listening online on Facebook, those that are here, if anybody crept in here who doesn't know the Lord, surrender now. Stay humble. Stay stay surrendered. But right now is that that moment where you're reconciled to God, where you're turning from your sins, you're crying out to God, God, be merciful to me a sinner. And he hears that cry of your heart, and he's willing to give you the riches of Christ, you and your impoverished, bankrupt condition, helpless to to fix your problem of sin, and with his precious blood, he's gonna pay your debt that you could never pay. With his precious blood, he's gonna wash away all your sins by his blood. Let's pray. Father, we come before you, and Lord, we just lift up this moment. We pray for those who might be here that don't know you, those listening on Facebook or YouTube or Rumble or Telegram or wherever they are, Lord. Lord, we pray by the power of your Holy Spirit that you speak to their hearts, you give them ears to hear, and that, Lord, they respond to your love, not condemnation, but to your love, that you love them, you so love them that you sent your only begotten son. That though he was rich, yet for their sake he became poor, that we, through his poverty, that we might become rich. Let him know the riches that are ours in Christ Jesus, the unsearchable riches of being joint heirs with Jesus, being transformed from body and soul to body, soul, and spirit to be born again. If that's you, just just surrender your heart. Just lift your hand up here. Anyone here this morning? Anyone here? Father, thank you that I get to co labor with these folks as they sow seeds, as they water, as they spread the gospel at work, at home, in the community, as they minister to the hurting, they minister to those who are sick, as they deliver dinners, as they cut grass, as they write letters, as they give financially, as they encourage, as they have a cup of coffee and just listen. Lord, it's a privilege and a blessing to be a part of the body of Christ, to watch you as the head of the body direct each of us in that sphere of ministry that you've given to each of us. And Lord, we pray that we collectively would bear much fruit for your kingdom and your glory. And Lord, we we know that if they hated you, a certain segment's gonna hate us. If if, Lord, woe unto us when all men speak well of us. If everybody's speaking well of us, then we're doing something wrong. So, Lord, thank you that, at least for me, Lord, I have a healthy number of people who sing my praises anyway. In Jesus' name, amen.
About This Podcast
Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Sunday Service
Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
