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2 Corinthians 10:1,6 -Spiritual Warfare- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2025-05-11
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Second Corinthians chapter 10 verses one through six, and would you please stand with me as we read God's holy word together? And again, happy Mother's Day. Where would we be without mothers? Right? I don't know. They make us in a test tube, I guess. I don't know. Alright. Now I, Paul, myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ to in presence and base among you, but being absent and bold toward you. But I beseech you that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. Father, again, we thank you for your holy word. We ask that you'd our teacher today. We ask that, Lord, you'd help us to war a good warfare, that we would be engaged, that we would be on the offensive, that the enemy would fear when they hear us coming, Lord, that they'd be on their heels backpedaling. And Lord, we pray that we'd go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit with the glorious good news of your coming kingdom, and Lord, that the principalities, the powers, none of them be able to stop us, Lord. Knowing Lord, that since you're for us, who can be against us? Greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world. And Lord, you've already won. You spoiled all principalities and powers. You triumphed over all of them, Lord. So Lord, help us to be bold in these last days as we bring forth the truth of your word and not cower in fear or compromise in neutrality, but be bold. Help us, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Would you please be seated? As Christians, we're engaged in a a spiritual warfare, And we're watching the world become more and more antagonistic toward us as Christians as throughout history, different periods of time where the world can just switch real quick and we can be favorable to him for a time, like with Constantine. And then and then it can switch real quick, and you can be the enemy of the state and all. As in the first two centuries, 10 waves of Roman emperors wiped out 6,000,000 Christians simply because they believed in Jesus Christ. Our belief of sanctity of life, can get us in trouble if we're out out in front of a an abortion clinic nowadays. You're just out there praying silently in in The UK and other places, and you're not even moving your lips. And the police come up and, you know, the thought police, and they wanna know what what you're thinking, you know. And if you're thinking a prayer, if you divulge your thinking a prayer or have any kind of, signs or whatever, you can be hauled away, you know, for a hate crime and such. We, see a myriad of beliefs inconsistent, with the bible. We see that people are confused about genders, they're confused about marriage, they're confused in so many different ways, and they want to jam down our throats their, you know, secular worldview. We're watching as parents. We're losing authority in some circles, to guard our kids against, you know, same transgenderism and things like that where they wanna take our kids and change their without our knowledge, without our whatever, because, you know and you're not allowed in some places to try and reach the gays and the lesbians with the gospel. So many different freedom of speech censorship that's coming, eroding our freedom of speech in our country and and turning us into those that, you know, that are against Jews, against Muslims, against, you know, everybody, the secular world and all. In Israel, recently, there's an article, you could look it up, that they wrote an article about the secret rapture, and that we as Christians that believe in the pre trib rapture, that somehow that belief is antisemitic. So we can watch that and see if these so called noetic laws are gonna increase, and there's gonna be increasing pressure, so called antisemitism if we don't fall in line with the globalist agenda for, the nation of Israel. But this is nothing to be surprised about. Jesus told in Luke twenty one twelve, they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering up to the synagogues and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. Ye shall be betrayed by both parents and brethren and kinsfolks and friends, and some of you shall they cause to be put to death, and they you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake, for his name's sake, for the sake of Jesus' name, you're gonna be hated. So a line is being drawn in the sand of which side you're on. This place of neutrality that we've enjoyed, a peaceful coexistence with the world is waning. The the time has come that, you know, people are gonna have to take the mark of the beast eventually, and they're gonna have to say, you know, that they believe in the Antichrist just as Nero, just as the Caesars demanded for people to say Caesar is Lord. That's all they had to do is pinch incense and say Caesar is Lord, and all they have to do during the tribulation period is take the mark of the beast, the right hand of the forehead, and worship the image of the beast. But, we know there's a line in the sand even presently. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. And so we refuse to compromise with the world. We're in the world, but not of the world. And we have no desire here at Calvary Chapel to try and grow a church that's a neutral church. There's no place of neutrality. Pontius Pilate tried to wash his hands of Jesus. There's no washing your hands of Jesus. There's no taking 2% of Jesus and denying the 98% and thinking that you're for Jesus, you know. You're all for him or you're not for him at all. And so you're either gathering with him or you're scattering abroad. You're either saint or inane. Nobody's almost pregnant. You know? So you and I, need to count the cost, denying ourselves, taking our cross daily, and following him, and we're constantly going to be met with decisions that is is is is pressure, the tribulation Jesus spoke of, this pressure that's upon us of conformity to the world. So Paul tells us in Romans 12, be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove as a good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The battle is in the mind. The devil is a liar and a murder from the beginning, and he uses lies. There was a time where Hillary Clinton said, we're losing the information war. And so what happens is the media, the propaganda machine, the schools, the indoctrination rather than education, seeks to erode the Judeo Christian belief system that we've had in this country. And and the churches, because they're not teaching the bible, the people have become more and more susceptible to being deceived. Jesus said, be not deceived. So Paul told Timothy to war a good warfare. He said in second Timothy two verse three, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Paul said, I fought a good fight. I finished my course, you know. I kept the faith. There's a pressure to lose the faith to to, capitulate and give in to the world, to doubt. And, Jesus said, when the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Jesus told Peter, Satan desires you, Peter, that he may sift you as wheat. Sifting as wheat is to beat you. He wants to beat on you, Peter, and when you get beaten upon, we're gonna find out what you're about. And, and Peter, he's he's wanting to beat upon you, and, but Peter, I'm praying for you that your faith fail not. So when we're going through these trials, when we're being hated, when things turn sideways, that's when we find out, just how much more we need Jesus, find out if we're willing to give in and compromise and take the easy way out, or if we're willing to stand strong and maybe even stand strong alone. You remember the story of David at Ziklag? He was alone. The the Amalekites and Amalekites told him that at Ziklag there, all the men, women, and children were taken away by the Amalekites, and and David and his men wept till they couldn't weep anymore when they came back to Ziklag. And and it says that his men were ready to stone him, these mighty men. He had 600 mighty men. And and he and it says that he went and encouraged himself alone with his God. And then the Lord ministered unto David and said, David, you're you're gonna get everything back. And so it's just so strange how in a time of crisis, how all of a sudden people can turn on you, people that are your mighty men, people that are so close to you. You know? They're wanting to take Moses out and stone him. They're wanting to take the apostle Paul out and stone him, you know? They stoned Stephen. And it's just it's just bizarre how quick people can listen to the shouting of crucify him, crucify him, let his blood be upon us and upon our children. The the gang mentality, the mob mentality, how quickly people can move in that direction against Christians. And so Christianity, as Warren Wiersbe said, is a battleground, not a playground. And we we don't like that idea of it being a battleground. We don't wanna go to a church that's a battleground church. We wanna go to a church that's, especially on Mother's Day, where we're gonna feel good and get flowers and goosebumps and so on, you know? Nobody wants to fight on Mother's Day, you know? And, Christians are soldiers, not politicians. A lot of pastors think they're politicians. There was a time where I was frustrated because the pastors wouldn't engage in the culture and expose the politics and expose the lies, and you were told there's a separation of church and state, and that you couldn't cross that line, but that wasn't true. That was a lie. We have to engage the culture in every facet of the school boards, the city council meetings, every single place, and especially in Kitsap County is where you start. You actually start in your home. And in your home, it spreads to the school, spreads to the county. You don't go all the way to the top to president Trump. It's gonna take a while to fix all that. You you don't allow them to permeate your churches and permeate your community with all of their, you know, globalist agendas, the smart cities, the whole thing. And, so we need to be wise and have people in office, people in places to hold to the constitution as we did during COVID. We had our we had our sheriffs holding to the constitution for us. That's what we need. And, we don't need, mandates from Fauci and mandates from people putting fear in us and lying to us and getting us to, you know, give up our freedom for so called security. I think we, in this church, passed that test pretty well. But a lot of a lot of churches and a lot of Christians did not pass that test. And a friend of mine came up to me the other day and said, you know, hey, I'm in a lot of trials right now. A lot of trials, really brutal trials. And I said, well, now we'll find out if your house is built on sand or built on the rock. That's gonna be the test moving forward. We're gonna find out what you believe. Because in a time of pleasure, in a time of prosperity, everybody gets away with relativism, with existential humanism, with a secularism that's permeated the church. You get away with it. But at a time of crisis, it doesn't lend toward faith. Only faith will get you through the trials that are up ahead. And that faith comes by hearing the word of God. That faith comes to you and I through trials. We're forged. We're we're purified, and it's like a muscle, and it grows. Otherwise, you negate the process, and you run toward the pleasure where you don't wanna hear about prophecy, where you don't wanna hear doom and gloom. You don't wanna hear anything about it. Tell me smooth things. And that's the majority of the churches today in America and around the world. The world is not ready. The church is not ready for what's coming. Not ready. So we wanna be ready. We wanna be soldiers. We don't wanna retreat. We don't wanna go AWOL. We don't we don't wanna try and find a place to hide a what who's where's it neutral in Europe? Switzerland? Sweden? You know, are we gonna find a place like that? Can Pontius Pilate just wash his hands of all this? No, you can't. As Weirsby said, Christianity is a battleground, not a playground. Look at how aggressive the devil is toward your grandkids and your children. How aggressive. It's a battleground. You've gotta be vigilant. You've gotta be ready as a parent, as a mother, as a as a prayer warrior to try and counteract the the enormous amount of pressure upon you, as Christian families and all. And, so Paul the soldier doing the battle with those that are attacking him. The church of Corinth has many that have infiltrated, and they're attacking the apostle Paul. Next week, we'll see where he says, you know, they they say, well, his his letters are really weighty. They're really powerful in word. But when you see the guy, he's ugly. He's little. He's weak. He's contemptible. And Paul says, well, you know what? When I get there when I get there, do you want the apostolic authority that I have to come thumping upon you? I don't think you want that. And as you read in Acts chapter 13, there was a guy named Elimas, bar Jesus, a sorcerer. You know what Paul did to demonstrate his apostolic authority against Elimas the sorcerer? He caused blindness. A mist came down and caused him to become blind. Do you know if I had that power, how many people in Kitsap County be blind? I mean, it'd be unbelievable. So God's not gonna give me that sort of power and authority because I would abuse it like a 600 horsepower car, know. I would just be doing burnouts everywhere. So Paul has that authority, and, and he used it, you know. And God, the people feared thereafter. And so the soldier of Christ, number one, confronts. We don't like confrontation. We have to confront. We have to according to Matthew 18, we have to confront when someone sins privately. And then we take a witness. And then we bring bring it for the leadership of the church because we're not to take this to the courts we saw in first Corinthians chapter six of the world, but we're as a tribunal, as a church body, a little 11 a lump and so in first Corinthians five, we gotta deal with this man that took his father's wife, you know, in an incestuous relationship and all. We gotta deal with it. We gotta confront them. We gotta make sure that it doesn't permeate and affect the thinking of our children, our teenagers, our young people. Oh, I guess, illicit sexual activity is acceptable in the church because so and so's had committed adultery with so and so, and nobody seems to care about it. Know, everybody winks at it. Nobody cares. No. God cares. And so you have to you have to preserve the integrity of the church, the integrity of the body of Christ by having a strong immune system that deals with aberrant cells, deals with aberrant people, people that are in rebellion. Paul is dealing with some rebellious people. And he writes a letter to Timothy about Hymenaeus who was resisting, you know, the resurrection of the truth of the resurrection, saying it already passed. And Paul, you know, emphasized that, they were committing blasphemy. And he gave them over to Satan, you know. And first Corinthians five, give them over to Satan for the destruction of the body, for the saving of their soul. And so there's a a discipline that takes place. You have to confront what? You have to confront sin. You can't wink at sin. You can't be afraid of mentioning the word sin today or repentance, and that's what the churches do. They're afraid to mention sin, call sin sin. So again, two verses that most men know, most people know. One is wives, be in submission to your husband. Number two, judge not lest you be judged. So when you start to confront sin, people don't judge, man. Don't judge me. You're a hater. You're a bigot. Where's the love, man? So they're redefining terms to to suit their own, you know, taste, their own lust, if you will. And the letter of Jude, he said they turned the grace of God into lasciviousness. They used the grace card. They say grace is a merited favor. We can do whatever we want, and nobody can judge us. Well, Matthew seven deals with judgment, judging, we all judge. Sensurious judgment or hypocritical judgment. Get the beam out of your eye first, and then you can take the little speck out of your brother's eye. But he didn't say not to judge, judge not lest ye be judged, so with what measure you measure, be measured act back at you. So don't be a Pharisee. Don't be, you know, trying to find the smallest thing wrong with people. Let the Holy Spirit bring the conviction. But when it's over the top, right in your face, pride, the gay pride parade, you've gotta judge it. I try to avoid it as much as I can, but pretty soon it's stumbling somebody, and man, I gotta act. I can't I can't I can't wait for the person to be teachable. I've reasoned with them. I've begged them. I've pleaded with them. Paul's gonna do that with these guys. Please please please stop this, don't do this. And then pretty soon it becomes bigger and more public, and then you have to deal with it. And you have to let the chips fall where they may because the time in which we're living, people as I said, there's a moral relativism, and it's misconstrued as being unloving to confront sin, when in actuality, it's the most loving thing we can do. If you're a doctor and somebody has cancer, it's not love to say, well, I better not tell them that because, it might hurt their feelings, you know. No. As a doctor, you need to let them know that they have cancer, the reality of it, and that you're gonna do everything you can to try and alleviate, that sickness, you know. You're gonna do everything you can. So the soldier of Christ, number one, confronts sin. Verse one, now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness meekness and gentleness of Christ. So in the example that Jesus given us, in meekness, meek, and gentleness, Think of Jesus, he could have called down the fires of heaven. James and John, when they went through the area of Samaria, the people didn't greet Jesus. They said, hey, do you want us to call down fire like Elijah did? And Jesus said, you know not what spirit you're of. We're not here to barbecue people. You know? That's not who we are. So who in presence am base among you, but being absent and bold toward you. So the word on the street was that Paul wrote strong letters, but was a wimp in person. Unpolished in appearance, and a very poor orator. That's what the false prophets with the degrees. They had letters, and they come and try to build on another man's foundation because Paul's the one that planted this church in the space of eighteen months. But the false prophets come when Paul leaves to go to Ephesus for three years. They come in and they try to take control and, you know, infiltrate just as he told the Ephesian elders, the wolves are gonna come from within and from without. And so they're they're trying to attack the apostle Paul and undermine his authority and what he's been doing. Says verse two, but I beseech, so I beseech you. He's begging him. I beseech you that I may not be bold when I am present. I don't wanna be bold. I don't wanna bring the stick. I don't wanna bring be the heavy. You guys are looking at the outward, but I've got a spiritual authority that God's given me. And, yeah, I would have followed up and said, I can cause a mist to make you blind if you want, you know. Do you want that? Do you wanna watch Ananias and Sapphira drop dead for telling lies, you know? Do you really want that in the church? How far do you wanna go with that? I mean, if God were to smite us for being liars, we'd all be dead this morning, you know? I mean, that's a heavy heavy thing. I mean, every man's a liar. Paul said every man's a liar. But God was demonstrating at that time that, the importance of holiness, the importance of a holy church, and that he wasn't gonna let Ananias and Sapphira get away with, their lying to the holy spirit. And then after that, there was a fear that came upon the church and thousands were saved. People took God seriously. And, God's long suffering presently, not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. So he pleading, he's pleading through you and I with God's love through our hearts, ministering to people saying, God, God doesn't want you to go to hell. He didn't make hell for you. He made hell for Lucifer, the devil, and the fallen angels, the one third that fell with him. He wants you, he's prepared you for heaven, and Jesus died for your sins, all the sins, especially for those who believe. Do you believe? It's a love relationship. He's waiting for you to choose. He's not gonna force you to love him, to reciprocate with love in return. So they were undermining the authority of the apostle Paul, and they've infiltrated the church, these false prophets, these enemies of the cross. And Jesus said in Matthew chapter seven, beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Let me ask you, public. Who's Paula White? What's her doctrine? What does she espouse? Is she a Christian or is she a false prophetess? Why is she an adviser to our president? Where does she come from? What is the seven mountain mandate? What is the golden age? What are these doctrines that are being espoused that are moving upon evangelicals? Can you prove it biblically? If you can't prove it biblically, then you got a whole lot of biblically alert people who are following a false prophetess. Anybody gonna speak up? You shall know them by their fruit. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and every corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire, wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. So Paul confronted in the meekness and gentleness of Christ. He did not react in the flesh. It's gotta be so careful that your pride doesn't get lifted. I think of Moses, man, the meekest man on the planet. What he had to deal with. And then they're crying out for water. Previously, the Lord told Moses to smite the rock and the water would come out, and they all drank of that smitten rock. And Jesus is that rock that followed them in the wilderness. So the type there, Christ is smitten once in Hebrews. Right? Well, now they don't have water again, and the Lord instructed Moses to instruct the people to speak to the rock. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow torrents of living water. Jesus doesn't need to go be crucified again for you at mass. He's crucified once. Now you have access. You speak. You come through prayer, and you ask God to fill that emptiness, the woman in John four. I've got water you can drink of, you'll never thirst again. And Moses, in the flesh, he smites the rock a second time in anger. And he says, you rebels, must we bring water once again? You know? And God said, here come here, Moe. Come here, Moe. We gotta have a talk. Let's go to the woodshed. You know what, Moe? You're not gonna go into the promised land. You're gonna be on top of Mount Nebo looking over in Joshua type of Christ. The the law can't bring them into the promised land. But the Christ, Joshua, he's gonna bring him in. And so Moses, I don't feel so bad for him because I saw him on the Mount Of Transfiguration. He's doing pretty good. Doesn't have to be with those whiny people anymore. You know? He was elevated, you know, but but that that anger is a is a reminder to each of us who are in place of leadership as a husband, a father, a mother, pastor, whatever place, that we we do a lot of destructive things when we get into the flesh, when we're filled with pride. Pride was the fall of Lucifer, his being puffed up. Now when I was in school of ministry, pastor Chuck had a had a way to remind himself when people were provoking him. The devil will provoke you. The devil knows your buttons, and you'll be provoked by family members. You'll be provoked by coworkers, people that are studying you, and the devil's studying you, wanting to get you out of the spirit into the flesh. So one of your enemies is the devil. The other enemy is the flesh. The third enemy is the world. So if we walk in the spirit, we don't fulfill the lust of the flesh. So we gotta keep walking in the spirit. We gotta remain in Romans eight. The wretched man that I am in Romans seven, things I do wanna do, don't do. Things I don't wanna do, I do. And man, I'm just frustrated. And we don't wanna live in that frustration of trying to do God's work in the arm of the flesh, the sweating that takes place. We wanna do it in the power and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And so very important to not be drawn into that. Pastor Chuck would do this. He'd tap his arm. So one time in school, one one of the guys was provoking him about the Greek language, and Chuck began to do this right here, you know, reminding himself, don't don't go off. Don't go off, you know. And so people told me what he was doing, and I thought, you know, that is so important because sometimes you can be so dog tired. Oh, just so tired, and that's when they provoke you. And oh, you're weak. You're weak. You know, you're in a weakened condition, and you say things, and you might say the correct things, but you might say them in a in a rude or an unloving or you know, a sarcastic. Have you ever met a pastor that's sarcastic? You know? That gets me in a lot of trouble. So he wasn't allowed to rage. You ever seen a pastor rage? Jesus, I saw him angry in Matthew 23. He cursed his enemies. You brood of vipers, but he's holy. The wrath of man works not the righteous of God, James tells us. If I try to go wrathful, I overdo it and I do it wrong and a whole lot of hurting going on. But Jesus, when he rebukes somebody, they've earned it. Right? They've earned it big time. Right? And so he's rebuking Matthew 23, the Pharisees, laying into them, and calling them brood of vipers. Who who's gonna save you from the fires of hell? That's pretty strong language. And the people today would say, god, that's not very loving. No. It's very loving because Jesus is identifying. He's exposing them as ungodly men who are posturing themselves as religious leaders. So many times the sheep don't understand. It takes a shepherd to expose the wolves so that the sheep can extricate themselves from their influence and all. And so very important, but not allowed to rage. Paul knew his enemies, the Korah, the Dathan, the Byrams that came against Moses. And God said, alright, I'll show you his authority. The ground's gonna open up and swallow you and your whole family, you know. The Jezebels, you're gonna fall from the from the wall and the dogs are gonna lick your blood, woman. And Judas Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed our Lord. And recognizable to Jesus, but not recognizable to the other disciples till later when they understood the scriptures. So the sheep are simply confused. There's a great deal of confusion today. It's it's hard right now to connect the dots prophetically of what's happening. There's so much misinformation with the truth circulating. And we gotta kinda wait and be careful because there's so much happening. On the one hand, there's a lot of good happening. On the other hand, a whole lot of weird things happening like, is the dollar gonna go down? Are they really gonna take the dollar down? Do I need to worry that I can't buy 30 dolls for my grandkids, you know? Do I need to get used to like Marie Antoinette, you know, give them cake? You know, is that the attitude of the bankers and the politicians, the billionaires that, yeah, we're gonna it's gonna be rough on you. It's gonna be hard going through this reset. Well, it's not a whole lot of conversation about that, but it's happening in real time. But there's a whole lot of other wars and rumors of wars and famine and tariffs and China, you know, not bringing goods here anymore. So when it finally hits, gonna be able to say, oh, this is that which was spoken by. We're gonna we're gonna see clearly what's happening. So a whole lot of confusion. God's not the author of confusion. It's Satan that brings that confusion in. And that's the whole Hegelian dialect, the crisis reaction solution. They've gotta develop, the devil wants to develop crises, false flag events, blame it on groups and stuff, get civil war going, get things going on. Then the reaction of the people. I mean, this week I was I was a little scared when I was reading that we might be calling out National Guard all over the country. Does that mean we're going to martial law? Does that mean these these invaders that came in through the Biden administration had set big of a crisis that we gotta we gotta buckle down and and no habeas corpus and that sort of thing. It's kind of a, you know, what's happening to our constitution? What's happening to our freedoms? Are we gonna take the bait? Are we gonna move in the direction of tyranny with a self righteous attitude toward, you know, we're gonna have the golden age, we're gonna take control, we're gonna get rid of all these bad guys? We gotta be careful. Hitler did the same thing. He set fire to the Reichstag Building, blamed it on the communists, got the constitution changed, and gained control over the country, became a tyrant. Gotta be careful. They can trick you. Did you did you read recently where the JFK assassination papers revealed that it wasn't a lone gunman? Do you know that the Warren Commission lied, but they're actually releasing the information that LBJ and the CIA, including Bush senior, were involved in the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy? And they give the reasons why, because he was gonna rescind the Federal Reserve, and because he was gonna stop the Gulf Of Tonkin escalation to Vietnam War. And Lady Bird Johnson was involved with Halliburton, what is today, and she was they stood to make as Eisenhower warned the industrial military industrial complex, they stood to make a lot of money off of war. A war that nobody would win. But more importantly, the bankers. You don't mess with the bankers. You don't take away their Aldrich amendment of 1913, where they have control over your currency. Nelson, Aldrich, Rockefeller, during Christmas time. And it continues today for a hundred years, where they control the world's finances. And Kennedy was going to rescind that. He signed it, and Lyndon Maynes Johnson rescinded it. Now isn't that a good example of being deceived? A good example of Walter Cronkite getting on the television convincing everybody of a bold faced lie? I mean, we are so susceptible to being lied to. And where was the discernment in the church? We're afraid to say anything about it. We better just take the official story and move forward because we're patriots. Our country wouldn't do that. You know? Our government wouldn't do that. And so you're setting yourself up for deception. The sheep, they they just go along with it. Ephesians five eleven tells us to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. That's your job as a soldier. Simply use the truth of the bible to expose the lie. They hate it. They hate They they wanna censor you. They don't want you exposing the lie. Hillary Clinton, as I said, she said, we're losing the information war. There's too many people awake. There's too much alternative news media that are catching us in our lives. We used to control the media, the major media stations. Now we've got so many alternative sites, and and and and again, that can get so convoluted. So faithful are the wounds of her friend that kisses an enemy are deceitful. Verse two, Paul begged them to reconsider. In Galatians six one, he's approaching it as, if any man be overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual restore such one a spirit of meekness, lest you also be tempted. So he's coming in meekness. He's not coming all pompous and proud, you know, like a pharisee condemning them. This woman was caught in the very act of adultery. The law says she should be stoned. What do you say Jesus? He wasn't coming that way. He was coming in meekness. Where are thine accusers? No where Lord, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. For the son of man, he didn't come to condemn the world, but the world through him might be saved. That's the intention. To save these people. To get them right. To to reason with them. To see if they're teachable. Are you teachable? Can we get you back on course? You really wanna persist in this coup and take over the authority of that church? Don't do that. And don't draw others into your coup, into your rebellion. The soldier of Christ confronts sin. Secondly, combat Satan. A combat soldier, you can enter into combat. There's a war taking place. You're soldiers. It's a battleground. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. We're in a spiritual battle, spiritual war. And if you wanna find out how great that is, all they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. The way to avoid the persecution is don't live godly. Live like a worldling. Compromise. Give into the world. Just take Jesus for what you can get from him, which is salvation. And then live like the world, and everyone will leave you alone. The devil will leave you alone. But if you have the audacity to challenge the lies and to speak forth the truth and to not back down, no matter what levers, no matter what threats they bring, then you're gonna be a targeted. You and your family, and if they can't get at you or your wife, they're gonna go after your children. I mean, the demons, the demonic forces, the that wanna break you down, wanna take you out, are gonna come against you. So Paul says, for though we walk in the flesh, we don't war after the flesh. So the enemy loves to get us in the flesh. Paul was aware of his enemy and his strategies. In Ephesians six, he told the church, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God. So he's chained to a soldier, Roman soldier, and he's looking at the Roman soldier with all of his armament. And Paul has taken that armament, the physical, and he's now he's using an analogous to the spiritual battle that we're in and the armor that we need to be armed with if we're gonna be effective in this spiritual battle that we're in. There isn't anything for your backside for retreat. You're vulnerable if you try to retreat. It's offensive. You're moving forward. And the devil fears you if you have that boldness and that confidence in Jesus leading the way. I've never ever ever been afraid of the darkness of Bremerton. Everybody warned me how dark it is. Dark. Kitsap County is a pastor's graveyard. Oh, it's dark. The Dungeons and Dragons games across the street, the gays and lesbians in their art studios, the all the crazy stuff, whatever. And apparently, they're gonna have the you're gonna have to help me with this word, but the crampers? Are the are the clampets going to Downtown Bremerton? Are they the ones that were up in Leavenworth with the with the whole demonic stuff? Are they coming to Bremerton? What do they call them? Crampers? Crackheads? Oh. Apparently, there are demonic groups that's invited to Bremerton. Okay? And some of the churches and people are like, oh, oh, oh, yeah, you know. And I've always tried to tell people, just turn the light switch on. That's all you gotta do. Just turn the light on. Let darkness fleece. You don't need to fear them. They fear you. That's why they can't handle you when you refute their evolutionary theory or their philosophy, whatever they are. They they they wanna have a monopoly on information, and they're targeting your children. In their vulnerable formative years in the public school system to indoctrinate them with an ungodly Darwinian evolutionary theory that there is no God. Or they might not be a boy, they might not be a girl, that there's no reason for a family. You shouldn't eat meat. That's the one that really gets me. You shouldn't eat meat. That's that's diabolical. So be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles. That word wiles is strategies of the devil. So I don't wanna be half armed. When Kathy and I go bike riding, we refuse to wear a helmet. And last year, a friend of ours fell and bumped her head. And the fire department guys came and the paramedics and all, were you wearing a helmet? No. And so I'm standing there, oh, that hurts. I got a brand new helmet. Oh, man. And then some other people came by and the police were there, and I looked at a woman and I said, hey, where's your helmet? She's like so I was making a joke of this. It's no joke if you fall, you know? Your cranium, your head, you you you fall. Those electric bikes, they go 30 miles an hour, 25 an hour, whatever. But, you know, that that helmet, it's cumbersome. You know, I might sweat. You know, I might get I gotta look good while I'm riding, you know. I want the sun. So stand against the wiles of the devil, the strategies of the devil. He's strategizing. And remember, he's a liar. That's his greatest weapon. He's a liar. It's a battle for truth. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, so it's not the physical part of it, but against principalities. So these these grids, different grids of demons. So if you look at Daniel 10, Daniel was praying for twenty one days and Michael the archangel came and said, Daniel, beloved of God, you know, from the very first moment you began to pray to the present, you know, your prayers are are coming up to heaven and all, but, I've been in battle with the prince of Persia. There's a battle of the fallen angels, the ungodly angels, with the with the good angels. So we have these principalities and powers and somehow our prayers enter into this battle. Maybe the Lord dispatching holy angels to come into these areas where we need help. So against principalities, against powers, so these powers can be governmental powers because the devil is the little g god of this world. All the governments work for the devil, and yet God is sovereign. God's in control, completely in control, but he does allow a latitude of authority to the devil and the the ungodly leaders around the world, the principalities and the powers. Against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. In second Corinthians two eleven, he says, lest Satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices. So maybe you're a student of Sun Tzu and you wanna know your enemy. We're not ignorant of his devices. We're aware of how he tries to divide a church. We're aware of how he tries to divide a community. How he tries to destroy a family. We're aware of this. It's through corruption. It's through lies, deceit. It's through giving into lust, giving into the flesh, but mostly lies. We know our enemy's strategy of warfare. John ten ten, Jesus said, I've come that you might have life, that you might have it more abundantly, but the thief comes not but to steal, to kill, and to destroy. What's the thief, what's the devil want to steal from you? Your faith, your testimony, your marriage, your kids, your church. He wants to steal your whole nation. He wants to bring you into communism, bring you into tyranny. He doesn't want you to have freedom, religious freedom. He doesn't want the constitution to be there to protect you, to chain your government. He doesn't want you to be aware of your bill of rights, which are not privileges, rights. God given it inalienable rights from your creator, don't want you to know that. Once you think in terms of, I can trust these guys and they'll divvy out these these privileges, you know, under me. Well, if it's a privilege, they can take it away. So it's freedom. It's freedom the devil fears. We know our enemy's strategy of warfare, to steal, to kill, and to destroy. He says, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal carnal is Greek word sarcakos, meaning fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. I thought we were taking ground in Bremerton. I thought we were kicking butt and taking names. Unbeknownst to me, the devil was just waiting for his his moment. The the danger was we didn't pray and intercede. We didn't labor in the power of the Holy Spirit. We underestimated the lies, the deception, the division, the gossip, the slander, all the things that happen to churches that come under attack. It is a tough place to minister, but I'm still convinced greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world. Since God's for us, who can be against us? But if we're stupid enough to let our country be divided over whatever, ethnic group, nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, man, we give into the devil's hand, don't we? I got nothing against any color of skin or even the homosexuals, the lesbians, all them. I mean, I got nothing against them. There's some at the gym. Some at the gym I go to and I'm very polite to them. Nice to them. I don't I don't hate them. And they're nice guys. Not so nice I'm gonna get to know them better, but I mean, But I don't fear them. I I want them to come to Christ. I don't want them teaching my kids or grandkids. I don't want them, you know, being pedophiles somewhere or laws enacted that that they can be pedophiles and there's no prosecution, but I'm not saying that's who they are. I'm saying they've gone astray and they can be saved just as you and I as adulterers and fornicators and liars and thieves and the one I hate the most is slanderers. Slander is the Greek word diabolos, diabolical, like the devil. His tongue, the tongue's an unruly fire. It's like a rudder in a ship. So we sit there and pontificate and get angry at gays and lesbians when it's our own tongue that destroys. From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And that's the devil's strategy. You've seen it in churches. I've seen it. And we gotta be we we gotta be careful, identify who the real enemy is. These people aren't my enemy. They're not your enemy. They need the cross. They need Jesus. Now they try to enact laws and legislation that gives them privileges. Yeah. We stand against that. But as people, we don't take them out and beat them and kill them and that sort of thing. I I just or who is it? What what kind of group of people makes you angry? Why are you better than anybody? We all have the same blood in us, know. For God so loved the world, he loved us all. But we don't take love and redefine it as Obama did and said love wins and inaugurate, legislate same sex marriage. No, that's an abomination unto God. We stand against that. But we seek to save the sinners, but we don't compromise the truth for the sake of in the name of love, you know. And but many of the churches did when the whole Black Lives Matter scam came out, pastors began to put black people on the stage. You got hooked. You got hoodwinked. George Floyd hoodwinked. It was a sign up. You got tricked. Why would you do that? What? Now you want state of Washington, you wanna pay reparations for your great great great great grandfather? I don't even know who you're talking about. Irish people were made slaves. We've got more slaves right now with human trafficking of children than any time in history, you know. How about you address that instead of, you know, oh, we're gonna give a 120,000 to people of color so that they can buy a house. Says who? You're gonna go broke. How are gonna pay for that? You're not gonna get me a part of part of a purpose driven or a promise keepers and try to get me to say I'm sorry about something somebody else did hundreds of years ago. I'm not responsible for that and the bible tells me I'm not responsible for that. I'm responsible for my own sin. And yet so many people got caught up in that lie, that whole thing, and and, it's just a lie from the pit of hell. And so we engage the enemy, but with truth, we love, we seek to seeking to save those that are lost. We gird our loins about with truth. You got on the belt of truth. Satan's a liar. You got the breastplate of righteousness because Satan tries to condemn you. Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Satan wants to shut you up and put make you politically correct and wants you to go AWOL biblically. You take the shield of faith, where with you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, so he wants to steal your faith. You take the helmet of salvation, knowing that Jesus won, where he said Matthew sixteen eighteen, upon this rock I'll build my church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. And the one that I like, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And prayer dependence upon God. The word is living and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, dividing us under soul and spirit and joint marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. But prayer speaks of our dependence upon God. It's not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. So the demon drones come in, and they're buzzing. They're swarming. And what are we gonna do with these drones? What what are we gonna do? I mean, we're we're they're just everywhere. Whole swarms of drones coming at us. A whole different type of warfare approaching the world. A beta tested in in Ukraine. What do you do in in Yemen? You give it an EMP blast. And I saw a guy advertising a portable little EMP. Like you buy a generator, you can buy this portable EMP that identifies through AI which kind of drone there is, and then it shows them falling to the ground. Well, we call upon the Lord, and he sends angels, takes them out. One angel killed a 185,000 of the Assyrians that were coming against Hezekiah. This one angel. We prayer bomb him. We get the saints praying, interceding, praying, like Daniel did for twenty one days. It's not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. And you know, Jesus said, this kind cometh not out by fasting. The disciples couldn't cast some demons out, and they were they they were frustrated. And Jesus said, this kind cometh not out, but through prayer and fasting. That's another weapon, prayer and fasting. When Queen Esther, when she was under threat, and Haman was wanting to destroy and genocide all the Jews, Mordecai said, hey, honey, you, don't think that you're gonna escape this. How do you know that you've been haven't been called for such a time as this? And you know what she asked for? She asked for Mordecai and the saints there to fast and pray for three days. That's a weapon. And guess what happened? Circumstances began to go favorable for her, and that the king allowed her in, and she's able to, explain what was happening, and and the gallows that Haman had erected for Mordecai, he wound up hanging from. God turned it all around. But she didn't wanna go in there naked. She wanted to go in there bathe in prayer and people praying and interceding on her behalf, fasting in prayer that she'd find the favor of God. Verse five, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. So Satan tries to use his experts. He tries to, ridicule the Corinthians and say, hey, these false prophets have letters. They have degrees. They've been to Harvard. They've been to Yale. They've been to the upper echelons of learning the seminaries and so on. What's Paul have? The disciples went away from the religious leaders as ignorant and unlearned men, but they'd been with Jesus. I'd rather be with Jesus for three and a half years than to be studying the word of God, the Old Testament, the very letter of the law in a dry seminary setting without the spirit. Without the spirit, there's no life, doesn't understand. Paul was raised at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the greatest tutors, greatest teachers there was, and yet he's a persecutor of the church. He didn't see Jesus. Then he's in the schools of Tarsus. He's brilliant, a brilliant man, possibly one of a member of the Sanhedrin. But Stephen, a lowly Greek Hebrew deacon, shreds these guys scripturally. He, in chapter six and seven, he shreds them with the scripture. They couldn't answer him. They they couldn't refute the wisdom with which he spoke under under the unction, the empowering of the holy spirit. All they could do is stone him to death. So frustrated. And they laid the coats there at the feet of one called Saul of Tarsus, and he was tormented. And that's where the Lord rescued him on the road to Damascus. So he tries to use his experts. We need to be aware of the AI, the artificial intelligence that the devil's gonna be using. To infiltrate the bible, to rewrite the bible, to rewrite different skits and movies and things and information that we get. Kathy said that she was searching for something that she searched for before on Google or one of the search engines, and it's not there anymore. Everything's rehashed and rearranged by AI now. Things that were so readily available, she knows it's there. She knows it's it was there before. It's not there anymore. So you're gonna get a whole different picture of their filtration of removing the truth and re applying it. And then the psychologist, who where did the Lord ever say I want you to bring in psychology into the into the church? Where's they ever asked for that? A rudimentary form of human understanding. Why not stick with the word of God or the scientists? What's science? What what the scopes trials? Darwinian evolution? The church is gonna gonna capitulate and feel weak and and begin to bring forth a a doctrine of of a theistic evolution that God started it, but now it evolved? You make yourself look foolish. Stand your ground six days. Stand your ground six twenty four days. The science will catch up with you. The philosophers, those loving wisdom at Mars Hill to disseminate their lies, always searching for some truth, never able to come the knowledge of truth. That's why Pilate said, what is truth? He'd heard the philosophers. And Jesus, he doesn't come with philosophy. He says, I'm the way. And none of the philosophers can do that. They speak of a way, but Jesus said, I am the way. Destroy this temple three days, I'll raise it up. There's a man of authority. The imaginations, the fables, so many people on YouTube. Aberrant teaching, aberrant ideas, heretical ideas. Where do they get these ideas from? These fables, these doctrines of demons. So many people today saying, the Lord told me. What? I'm supposed to follow you because the Lord told you? What if I did that to you? What if I said, hey, got a dream. I got a vision. Lord gave me a vision. Kitsap County. Man, it's just crazy. I mean, these guys are America's gonna this. America's gonna that. And then the time frame goes by and it didn't happen. But everybody lets him get away with it. Well, he's supposed to be taken out and stoned. Quit speaking for the Lord in that way. It undermines the authority of God's word and people's confidence in God's word. Because now all of a sudden, you're an apostle. You're a prophet. The fables, the theories, the belief systems that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. That's where Satan's at. How do you think? Are you a biblical thinking people? In the fifties, when my dad was growing up, the secularists, the people that didn't know Jesus that maybe were in a Catholic church but weren't born again, there was a very strong moral fiber in the fifties in America. The 10 commandments were in the schools, on the walls, and and right and wrong were clear, absolute truth, right and wrong, black and white. Adultery was wrong. It was always wrong. Wasn't an affair. Fornication was wrong. Pedophilia is wrong. In fact, pedophilia, homosexuality was actually listed as a mental illness, the same way pedophilia would be. But then the homosexuals infiltrate the psychological and the the institutions of of medicine and such, and they work toward changing that that it's not a mental illness. Now you know they go so far as to say, it's good for children. Oprah said if you do it right, it's good for them. Who are you talking about? What are you talking about? Who would allow that that kind of thinking? And yet she's out there as this sorceress, you know, speaking to everybody, changing information, the way people think. The sexual revolution of the sixties undermine the morale the morality of America. Everybody doing that which is right in their own eyes, an existential humanistic philosophy. And yet my dad in the sixties when he's raising me, taught me right and wrong. When I went to school, I was taught right and wrong. If I did something wrong, mister Beasley took me into the office and Barbara watched and he spanked me. Big paddle. Couple times. That's the way they rolled. They didn't come in with the police department and arrest me for a felony and haul me away with shackles on me, ruin my life. It's just a fight. It's just a playground fight. I'm not a bully. He attacked me. I'm defending myself. That's how that's how people, you know, you you get in trouble for it, but you don't escalate it like you're a you're a terrorist. You've gone so far because you've you've stripped the authority from the teachers and the school and the parents, and now the kids have to be put in prison. They have to be governed by the authorities instead of the home. They're not allowed to spank. If you do spank, if you do give them a restriction, they're gonna call child protective services and turn you in these kids because they're taught by the schools to do that. Well, what am I supposed to do with this kid? He's smoking potties, drinking, he's watching pornies, and all these bad things, getting into fights, getting stealing and all that. What do I do with him? Well, you should have trained him in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And society should have supported you in disciplining and trying to train this child in the way they should go. You should try and reach him for Christ. The communist, the social engineers, the revolutionaries trying to transform society into a a satanic world view, a satanic belief system. They know that what you do to the communist, you get them all their children, Hitler's children, indoctrinate them. You start early with them. And we, on the flip side, should be able to be in charge of that. The first textbook for, the public school in America was the bible commissioned by our own government. That a bible would be in each school, each child would have the bible. You learn the 10 commandments. Alright. So missus Soboda, who watches and listens to us online out of Idaho, she sent me an article of the Barna Group. You're familiar with the Barna Group. Americans increasingly support relativism. So relativism isn't anything new, just repackaged, moral relativism. In the time of the judges, it says that every man was doing that which was right in his own eyes. So an absence of moral absolutes of things being right and wrong. There are some gray areas in life, but much of what's going on is, based upon the word of God would be a moral absolute. And so Americans increasingly support relativism. The newest American worldview inventory report from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University reveals a concerning stat. The spiritual health of our nation is on the decline. Christian affiliation is shrinking, the numbers of people with no faith are growing, and a moral relativism dominates. What is moral relativism? It's the belief that right and wrong are not absolute, but depends on individual preferences, political, leaning, cultural norms, or situational context, or situational as the ethics. If truth is situational, then it is not absolute, as the prophet writes in Isaiah. Woe to those that call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. So it's confusion. The devil's a confuser. Right now, the research says two thirds of Americans, 66%, are calling evil good. They deny the existence of absolute moral true. This includes even a majority of people within the church. For the people, the bible is no longer the default source of truth. Consider these disturbing stats. Three quarters of Americans, 74%, rely primarily on emotions. That's why I always make fun of it. I always say feelings because absolute truth, you can't teach people anymore. Oh, you're mean, you know. It's just an you know, another article I posted this week is the Sissified Church. The church has become feminine, feministic. Women are in charge. It's the feelings. Now I love courageous women. A whole lot of women in here could kick my butt and slap and kick me in the face with they could do it. So it's sissified women, sissified men, which means you have no courage. It means you're you're not trusting in the Lord. You're not holding to absolute truth. So a whole lot of kids were raised by moms that knew how to, take care of business, you know. But, if the men aren't gonna lead spiritually, then you got these sissified women, feministic women, who are trying to make everybody, I don't know what, sissified. But, you know, be courageous. Be courageous. Do the right thing. 67% of people non Christian face, deny absolute truth. 77% of people with no faith tradition deny absolute truth. 61% of Muslims or or excuse me, 61% of mainline protestants, that would be us, don't believe in absolute truth. 61%. Nearly half, 49% of born again Christians reject absolute truth. I guess that's us. So half, churches you're going to, born againers, half don't believe in absolute truth. Fewer than one in five adults, 18%, consistently turn to scripture for moral and spiritual guidance. Researcher George Barna describes it this way, two out of three adults believe truth is conditional, and more than four out of five Americans are comfortable drawing from multiple sources or basis of truth. Barnard explained even people who generally believe the bible, the god of the bible, are the most reliable sources of moral truth admit that it is common of them to make their moral choices based upon feelings, laws, traditions, peer pressure, social standards, science, or ease. Barna attributes much of the social inability and trouble turbulence Americans admit to feeling to the public's confusion over how to ascertain truth. There's little predictably to the moral choices people make because there is no, little consensus, so little consensus in conversations related to the basis of truth. The veteran researcher explained, make no mistake, the rejection of absolute truth is revealed in the Bible as rebellion against Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, Hebrews thirteen eight. Moral relativism reveals a global erosion of divine authority, and second Timothy three one through five talks about the apostasy. Paul says that this is a key sign of the end times. It will create a world ripe for the deception and false teachings, including moral ideologies that feel good, but contradict God's commands. This is the world in which the antichrist will easily rise to power. It is a world in which evil will no longer be restrained. One world is moving for further from God, which sets the stage for the unfolding of future prophecy. So that's the trend. That's where that's where we're at as a as a church, as a people, moving away from absolute truth. And so the devil the devil's got us on the run-in that regard. If we're to win this war, to reach the souls of men, we need to nurture children, you know, in in the word of God, the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. So we use the word of God as a filter. Every thought, every idea, there's an information war. Every idea, you take and you filter it through the word of God. If it's inconsistent with the word of God, you reject it. If it's consistent with the word of God, then it's truth. So we we're gonna go out today and celebrate Mother's Day and have a meal and then bring the kids home, and we're gonna watch a movie. And Mama Bear is going to filter what movie's acceptable. She's gonna make sure that there's nothing in that movie or whatever we do, game or whatever, that's filthy, that's going to undermine her children because she's raising them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. She's not gonna ask the school or society or Disney or anybody else what's wholesome and good for her children. That evaluation is hers because God has, given her, blessed her these children, and she's the authority. Her and her husband, they determine that Jesus is the head of that home, and we're gonna do things that are consistent with incarnate truth with Jesus. In second Thessalonians two verse nine, even him who was coming after the working Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteous and then that perish because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. So during the tribulation period, because people reject the truth, God's gonna give them over to a strong delusion that they would believe the lie. What's the lie that you can be as God? People are gonna believe, once again, as the devil in the garden that they can be as God. And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. So we're not to fight defensively, we're to fight offensively with the truth that we have, and move forward with the truth, and put the fear of God in in others. So they're gonna they're gonna try and undermine you. They're gonna try and liken you to, you know, Nazis burning books and removing pornography from the libraries and and that sort of thing. But you're they're able to infiltrate the schools and put all kinds of smut and junk, and I would just take my kids out of the public school today. That's what I would do. But if you have them in there and you're part of the parent teachers and the the school board and all, you know, you should be way inside there making sure that your kids aren't being introduced to filth and things that undermine their minds. Because when they graduate from your youth group and they go into college, as d James Kennedy used to say, if you send your kids to, you know, a public school, will they come back a Christian? Will they be a Christian by the time it's over? By the time they finish college, will they be following Jesus? You started them out. You had them in youth group. You read the bible to them. You lived it at home. Will they which which influence is more powerful? That of the world or that of God's word? So go and make disciples, Jesus said. Use prophecy to show the soon return of Jesus. So the soldier of Christ, he confronts sin, he combats Satan, and thirdly and finally, he corrects sinners. And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. So it's one thing to confront sin, but now we need to bring correction. So all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be equipped thoroughly furnished for every good work. So we use the scripture to identify wrong behavior, and we use the scripture to try and identify right behavior and teach. Now, are you teachable? Most people aren't teachable today. They've got their minds made up. So the ball's in your court. If we bring forth the word of God and you won't receive it, then you're part of the apostasy. You're part of the rebellion against God and against authority of his word. And there's nothing I can do. God's not gonna make you obey it, make you believe it, or make you follow it. All we can do is teach the word of God. He says, and having already is to avenge all disobedience with your obedience as fulfilled. So Paul's main concern is to bring restoration, to restore these people, healing, correction, to help the confused sheep. He suffered long. He's returning kindness for insult. He's loving unconditionally. That's his attitude. That's his will. That's that's how Paul is rolling. And he'll deal with the rebels after he's exhausted every means of correction for the teachable. And so we, in second Timothy chapter three, the apostle Paul says, this know also that in the latter days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful and holy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinence, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. From such turn away. For this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with diverse loves. I don't know what that means. Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannies and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was. But thou has fully known, speaking to Timothy. Watch this. You moms here, you dads. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long suffering charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra. What persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, but evil men's seducers shall wax worse and worse. Deceiving and being deceived. But in contrast to that, Timothy, continue thou in the things which thou has learned and has been assured of knowing of whom thou has learned them. Where did he learn them? Watch this. And that from a child, thou has known the holy scriptures. Ah, mama and grandma. His father was a Greek, his mother was a Jewess. And that from a child, thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All scriptures given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction, and righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Now, in first Timothy, or in chapter one, when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois. Praise the Lord for grandmothers on this Mother's Day, godly grandmothers. And your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded as in thee also. Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting it out of my hands. For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power of love and a sound mind. Timothy, be a soldier. Timothy, you have a great godly heritage. Your grandmother, your mother, they taught you the scriptures. Your faith was increased. Your faith is growing. Don't lose your faith. Don't quit. Don't quit now. And that's the exhortation to moms here today and grandmas, moms and dads. It's up to you. God gives the responsibility to you to raise them and nurture in admonition of the Lord, to pass your faith on to your children and grandchildren, and to teach them the scriptures. Teach them the word of God. Why would you go to a church that doesn't teach you the word of God? Why would you go to a church that doesn't teach your children in the Sunday school the word of God? How are they going to how are they going to evaluate life and determine what's good and what's evil? What's right and what's wrong? You have to equip them. You're gonna make them so incredibly vulnerable to the lies of the wicked one, if you're not careful. If you continue in my word, then are you to my disciples indeed, Jesus said. It's gonna be proven. And you'll know the truth, and the truth will make you free. The battle's for souls. God's not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance. He's long suffering. Be a good soldier. War a good warfare. Give him hell. And to some, give him heaven. We're winning. We've already won. Since God's force, who can be against us? Don't go AWOL. Absent while on leave. Without leave. Absent without leave. Trying to save yourself in a neutral, anemic, powerless, lukewarm church. That's where people flee to. Time of pressure. They don't wanna engage. They don't wanna fight. They just wanna laugh. They wanna feel good. We're to engage the enemy. We're to fight to our last breath. We're to never compromise with evil. Many have died trying to preserve the word of God. William Tyndale and others have died preserving the word of God, refusing to compromise with the king. Jesus said, whosoever shall confess me before men, I'm gonna confess before my father and the angels of heaven. Whosoever denies me before men, I'm gonna deny before my father and the angels of heaven. Are you confessing Jesus Christ? Are you professing Jesus Christ? Are you spreading the gospel, talking about the good news of his soon return? Endure hardness as a good soldier, Paul told Timothy in second Timothy two verse three of Jesus Christ. No man that wars entangles himself with the affairs of this world. You gotta live in one camp. You can't live both ways. You can't in the world and and be a soldier. You gotta recognize the enemy. You can't compromise with that enemy. But he lives to please him that chose him to be a soldier. Are you living to please Jesus who chose you to be a soldier? We're a military community. We must understand these truths. They must be they must be huge from a spiritual standpoint. From a from a military standpoint, you understand these things. But from a spiritual standpoint, do you get it? Do you get how the enemy wants to lie to you, your children, your family, your culture? To undermine absolute truth? To undermine what's right, what's wrong? So how did Rome fall? From an invading enemy? Did they not fall from corruption from within, first and foremost? Can't let it happen. You don't want your family to corrupt from within. You don't want your testimony to to be aborted because you've compromised with the enemy and believed his lies, a moral relativism? No. You're gonna stand upon the word of God. No matter how hard it gets, you're not gonna give in to the lies of the wicked one. They're gonna threaten take your house away. They're gonna threaten you're gonna lose your job. They've already tried that with you, and you said, no. I don't fear you. I'm gonna do what's right. Well, there's greater tests up ahead. So we gotta get it right in our heart. We gotta do it for our kids. They deserve what the secular kids had in the fifties because we proclaim to be Christians. So father, we come before you, and Lord, we thank you for those that have gone before us, that helped us find that narrow road, that straight and narrow path. And Lord, when we got in fights, when we did wrong, we got spanked. We got discipline. And Lord, you corrected us, whom the Lord loves, you chastened and scourged every son or daughter, but Lord, take knowledge of our frame, you take knowledge of our age and where we're at, and Lord, you you you treat it as training, training us up. I mean, Lord you use those in authority, our parents, to drive that selfishness from us, Lord. To teach us, Lord, that greater love has no man than this than a man lay down his life for his friend. And, Lord, as we mature, we we obey our dad because we love our dad. We obey our mom and her ruling of the home because we love her so very, much. We don't wanna disappoint. We don't wanna break her heart. And even when they're not watching, Lord, we we know that you're watching, and we don't wanna break your heart. So, Lord, we pray that you would establish the fear of the Lord in each of us, That love, that overflowing love that Joseph had where he said, how could I do this great evil against God? And I pray that you'd arm us, you'd make us warriors, Lord, in these last days. That we'd be those who stand for truth and and like Martin Luther, here I stand, I can do no other. We're not gonna back down. Lord, I praise that you'd raise up men and women as soldiers, as Christians, to take a stand in these last days, days of compromise, days of evil. Boldness, strengthen us, Lord. Help us. And heal Sally, heal my heal my dad, heal Mark's Mark's mom and others that are sick. Let us see you move and work by the power of your Holy Spirit. You're the same yesterday, today, and forever. We ask this in Jesus' name. If there's anybody here, your mom brought you to church because it's Mother's Day and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, this is your chance to make your mom proud. This is your chance to quit fighting the Holy Spirit. You know what she's taught you. You've heard the gospel over and over and over again, and for some reason, you haven't bowed your knee to Jesus. Today's your day. Today's your opportunity to live a life that's pleasing to Jesus. You're turning from your sins. You recognize the way that you've gone hasn't worked, and you're ready. The Lord has brought you to a place where you're ready to do what's right, to surrender your heart and life unto him, to confess your sins knowing he's faithful and just to forgive you of your sins, and to cleanse you of all unrighteousness. This would be your mom's best Mother's Day she's ever had. And if you're a prodigal and you're listening on Facebook or whatever, and you're estranged from your mother, raised in a Christian home, walked away from Jesus, you're breaking your mom's heart. You're breaking your dad's heart. Give them a call. Get right with the Lord. Get right with Jesus. Apply it. All that you learn, be a doer of the word, not a hearer only. Apply it to your life. And you moms, you dads that raise your kids in a Christian home, some of them choose to obey, some choose to not obey. The ball's in their court in adulthood, but it doesn't mean we stop praying, we stop interceding, we stop pleading with the Lord to send influences in their life to bring them to the end of themself and restore them to fellowship. So God, we just pray that you would do just that, that you would restore our prodigals to fellowship. God, you'd save now anybody that's here that doesn't know you. If you don't know the Lord and you wanted, just lift your hand up. We wanna pray with you, lead you in a prayer. As you receive Christ, as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. If you're believing on him, you're coming to him, and he's coming into your heart and life. Anyone here, just raise your hand up. Father, thank you. What a wonderful day we can have knowing that there's no condemnation. The peace that surpass all understanding, God, in our hearts and minds, and knowing, Lord, confidence that you're working in the lives of our children. Thank you for the mothers. Thank you for the grandmothers. Thank you for those that have been so stern and so strong in their beliefs, Lord. Praying and interceding. No matter what road we went down, Lord, they they they refuse to give in. They're gonna stand. They're gonna intercede. They're not gonna stop. We thank you, Lord, for that tenacity, that courage to do that battle in the spiritual realm. Make us victorious, In Jesus' name we pray. 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.
