Transcript for:
2 Corinthians 12:11,21 -Unappreciated- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2025-06-22

Second Corinthians chapter 12 verse 11 through 21. Second Corinthians 12 beginning with verse 11. I've become a fool in glory, and you have compelled me for I ought to have been commended of you. For in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles though I'd be nothing. Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience and signs and wonders and mighty deeds. For what is it wherein you were inferior to other churches except to be that I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong. Behold the third time I am ready to come to you and I will not be burdensome to you. For I seek not yours but you for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. But be it so, I did not burden you. Nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile. Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you? I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? Walk we not in the same spirit? Walk we not in the same steps? Again, thinking that we excuse ourselves unto you. We speak before God in Christ, but we do all things dearly beloved for your edifying. For I fear, lest when I come, I shall not find you as such I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not. Lest there be debates and enviance and wrath and strife and backbiting and whisperings and swellings and tomolts. Unless when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication lasciviousness which they have committed. Father, we thank you for your holy word and we ask that you be our teacher this morning. Just as Paul's objective was to edify those in Corinth, we pray that you'd edify us today, that you build us up and strengthen us. Lord, we pray for Sally that you'd help her blood pressure to get dialed in. We pray for Rob, Lord, that he'd pass that kidney stone and not get that, razor blade COVID throat that they're talking about. Help him, Lord. And, be with others. Be with Mike Goodson. Help him to gain weight, Lord. Help him to put on some, lean muscle mass and be that hoke he once was, Lord. And we just pray that you would, minister to each of us, our families, those who are hurting, those who are emotionally distressed today. We pray that by your spirit, Lord, you'd lift us up, strengthen us. The joy of the Lord be our strength. We pray that your hand be upon the nation of Israel, your hedge of protection about them. And Lord, we pray that you give our leaders wisdom in these last days. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Would you please be seated? How quickly, we forget about the blessings that are bestowed upon us, you know, by God. How ugly we have become as Americans and, God's intention has been to make us beautiful. And, we've become a a country of pedophilia, a country of predators preying upon the children and such, and people don't seem to care. You can't get the list of the Epstein people and all those that are preying upon these these kids and such. And and, we we like to talk the talk, but we don't wanna walk the walk. And the apostle Paul, he spent eighteen months in Corinth planting the church and helping them to, arrest themselves, to divest themselves from the bondage they were in with the the demons and the the sexual immorality and all the wickedness and evil that that they were in bondage unto. And he preached Christ, Jesus Christ and him crucified for their mission of sins. And many responded, Jesus told him in Acts 18, I have many people in this city where sin abound, grace does much more abound. And so this church plant of eighteen months, Paul's able to, you know, watch God do some great things there and know that he's in God's will. And then he leaves there and then the false prophets come in. And the false prophets begin to undermine the work that Paul was doing. And it's such so heartbreaking when, like, we talked about Samson last week when when he says, you know, you wouldn't have known this riddle unless you've been plowing with my heifer. You know. And so they went behind Samson's back and they began to, you know, undermine him. And so too with the Apostle Paul, they're infatuated. They're just so taken with these false prophets that are there that are undermining, not only the apostle Paul, but the gospel. And so Paul is like, what did I do wrong? Should I charge you? You know, these guys are charging you. I did it for free. I worked for eighteen months. And any of the guys that came with me, they too worked in all all. And so, the more I love you in verse 15, the less you love in return. And and you're thinking to yourself as a parent, boy, he must be talking about teenagers, you know. This is how teenagers act. And, you know, when they're little and all that, you're doing everything for them. And then all of a sudden, as teenagers, they don't think you know anything, you know. And, and they, you know, they blame you for all their problems and all. And then later, you stand back and you watch them maybe get married and have some kids and the pressures of life come and hit them. And if you're really fortunate, they might come back one day and say, mom, dad, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You know? Now I understand. Now I understand what you went through so that we could have the home life that we that we once had. You know? And so the apostle Paul, like Jesus, was at times unappreciated. You remember when Jesus healed the 10 lepers and only one returned to worship and thank him. Jesus said to his disciples, were there not 10 cleansed? You know, where are the other nine? There's this one guy that came back, a Samaritan, a hated Samaritan that came back to glorify the lord and to worship him. Now these other guys, they got their Happy Meals. They got their healing. They got the they got the cleaning of the leprosy. But what they didn't get is Jesus. They went away empty of salvation. But Jesus told this one Samaritan that came back to worship him, he said, you're gonna go away whole. Your sins are forgiven. You're you're you've been your faith has made you whole, which means you're not just healed, you're saved. You know? What good does it do to be, you know, healed of an infirmity, but to be eternally lost? And so, and he's and he's putting it in the face of the disciples and others in that this is a Samaritan. This isn't just anybody. This is a Samaritan that was that was a a hated person, a half breed, a foreigner, you know. And isn't it true that when we raise kids or you're raised in a Christian home, so often you don't appreciate your Christian upbringing? You don't appreciate all the times you've went to bible study and to church and and all that you gleaned and gained and all that your parents trying to, you know, keep you from evil. Kathy and I were not raised in a Christian home. We greatly, greatly, greatly appreciate being saved. I don't know where we'd be if the Lord didn't intervene when we were 20 years old and save us. So we have a contrast. We have a contrast to the first twenty years not knowing Jesus. So we know what it was like being raised in divorced alcoholic homes and such. And we don't need to go into all the stories or whatever. We know it. So when we became saved, it was unbelievable difference. Unbelievable. And, we had no idea. We never had a clue. And then we raise our daughters and, you know, it's like at times, you don't know if they appreciate it. You don't know if they understand, if they really appreciate being raised in a Christian home. It's kinda hard. You scratch your head when they're kinda enticed by the world. And the world's got an allurement toward them and all. And you're like, wait a minute. Wait. Danger. Danger. Danger. Don't go there. Your mom and dad have been there. That's a dead end. Don't go there. But somehow, it's like telling them don't touch the iron. It's hot. They gotta go over there and touch the iron, you know. And it just breaks your heart because all you're trying to do is keep them from the things that hurt you, you know. And, the more you try and protect them, the more it seems they wanna break free of of you and your instruction and all. They just gotta go out and trash their life to find out on their own, you know. And Britney and Jessica, they they yeah. I mean, raised in the same home and, both have their struggles. But, we're still praying that each of them you know, Britney, we're so proud of her and Wayne and the kids and all that. And we're praying for Germ and Jessica, but they somehow choose to take it the hard way. You know, Jessica, I could've saved you a lot of lot of difficulty here. I could've told you what the world was like, but, honey, you just you just, why do you choose the hard way? You know? And Rob was telling me about his brother Vince, choosing the hard way, raising a Christian home. But but just resisting the Holy Spirit, always pushing against the Holy Spirit. It's just, I don't I say, uncle, uncle. I don't wanna learn that way. I wanna avoid the problems. I wanna keep my head down and humble myself. And I'm so appreciative of pastor Chuck in Calvary Costa Mesa. I'm so appreciative of the bible studies and the instruction in God's word. And I'm so appreciative that every time a a different wind and wave of doctrine would come through the church, Chuck wouldn't bite. He wouldn't take it. He wouldn't go that way. No matter how popular it may have made him, for a moment, he didn't do it. He just stayed steady, Freddie, consistently, expositionally teaching the bible from Genesis to Revelation, which is so rare today. But I'm so thankful that that's how I grew up. That's how I was edified in the faith. And I don't care about all these empty seats. I'm thankful for those that are here. And if this is it, then I'm gonna stand before the Lord and I wanna hear him say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. The people hated you. They didn't like you. They didn't appreciate what you were doing. But there were those there that did. And that's why, you know, that that's all that matters is whatsoever you do, do it heartily unto the lord and not unto men. If you're looking for the attaboys of men, they're so fickle. You know, we we were given everything you could possibly give to this community. And as soon as we have a, you know, a first sign of trouble, they bail. If you could feed them, keep feeding them and keep your credit go further and get more money and get everything, they might stay a little longer. But at first sign of trouble, boom, they're gone. And they're going into the apostate churches, easy churches, you know. And, and so what are we to do? We to leave town? No. The Lord said, I want you to stay. I want you to be a light. I want you to be consistent in the teaching of the word as a as a standard, as a as a reflection of who I am. And, and so basically what happens is you become a means of like Jeremiah. You become a means of judgment on judgment day where people cannot say, well, I I just I never heard the truth. Well, yes, you did. You rejected the truth. You chose your own way. You chose psychology. You chose the easy believism. You chose the prosperity doctrine. You chose all the aberrant teaching. You didn't appreciate a pastor Chuck teaching God's word. You moved toward a Rick Warren in his purpose driven life. You should have stayed and and, supported pastor Chuck in the latter years as many of them left. And he told us guys, you guys just keep teaching the word. Don't matter how many people, you know, are sucked away or seduced and moving away to this purpose driven thing, you know. And, at one point he said, Rick Warren's a heretic. And then the heavies around him, the other, you know, like Greg Lorries and these guys, I don't know who, but, they they tell you we need Rick Warren because when we do our harvest crusades, we need the Catholics, we need everybody to fill those stadiums, you know. And, so then later, pastor Chuck introduced Rick Warren at the at the Harvest Crusade, which is going on right now. And here's my friend, Rick Warren. And so the pressure on even big name pastors of other ministries and things that that put this pressure on you. And, what can they do to me that they already haven't done? You know? It's just it's just I'm unafraid. It doesn't matter. We're gonna just go with the truth here. And that's that's the way we do it. So as far as being appreciated, Jesus said, woe unto you when all men speak well of you. If if they hate me, they're gonna hate you. Kathy told me this morning that, I've gotta be the most hated person in Kitsap County. I said, well, probably not. But but she goes, well, you're in the top 10. And, well, I made the top 10 list. Well, that's a good place to be if the reason you're hated is because you you speak the truth. And, people that don't wanna hear the truth, they're gonna look for lies. They're gonna try and hide with their lies. They're gonna be in denial. And, that's just not the way that we that we roll. So Jesus, when he came home, when he came to Nazareth, he said, a prophet is not without honor except among his own family, his own city. You know? They said, is not this the carpenter's son? Aren't his brothers and sisters here with us? You know, they did even though he would heal the sick and cleanse the lepers and do all these miracles, his own people, even his own family, his brothers didn't believe in him until after the resurrection. So he wasn't doing his ministry to be appreciated. He was doing his ministry. Why? He said, because I do always those things that please my father. There you go. You have a you have a ministry of one. Just seek to please one person, your father, your heavenly father. And let the chips fall wherever they may because each and every person is judged by how they receive Jesus, reject Jesus, how they receive his word or reject his word. You're just a messenger. You can't convert anybody. You can't make them hear or make them listen or make them do. You can simply bring forth the truth as best you can and allow the holy spirit to bring the conviction. And it's their decision whether they're to yield to the Holy Spirit or to be a selective here and say, that's not what I signed up for. And so he miraculously feeds the people. The 5,000 are fed. You know, women and children, people abandon him, and, they follow Barabbas instead of Jesus. You know? They're offered Barabbas, the son of the father, but not God the father, the son of the devil. You know? And, why? Because because the Pharisees offered them free cell phones and big screen TVs and free health care and abortions on demand and education and housing with no commitment. You can get a $140,000 if your skin's dark, you know. Yeah. Just because of of, Juneteenth and somebody was mistreated years ago. I mean, everybody's mistreated. This world, this life, who's more mistreated than Jesus? There's nothing there's no such thing as fair or just in this life. No such thing. Not until we get to heaven are things gonna be just and fair. Man, if manna gets a upper hand on you, you know, no telling what they're gonna do when they get this beast system in place. So who needs God? The president's gonna take care of me. It's utopian. It's the golden age. Everyone's gonna get wealthy. Open your pockets. Peace. Peace. Peace. I want the Nobel Peace Prize. Well, Netanyahu wants it. Zelensky wants the peace Putin wants the peace prize. When when China attacks Taiwan, their leader want the Nobel Peace Prize. Are you listening? Do you hear what these guys are saying? They're gonna achieve peace through war. Global war. To get the beast system in place, to get the economic system in place, America's gotta go down as a superpower. People are talking about presently about a a a pending false flag. What's that mean? It means that The US Nimitz is in the region. And people are speculating. On social media, they believe that Nimitz could possibly be sacrificed in the name of World War three. You've got family and friends on the USS Nimitz. You want that Nimitz to come home for those daddies to be with their babies. Why are we so crazy gonna go into another war? Because the globalists need a war and they need a financial collapse to implement their new system. That's what this is about. That's what it's always been about. It's what the devil wants. But you talk like that and you're the wackadoodle. Paul, like Jesus, was unappreciated, always having to prove himself. Notice number one, the proof of his apostleship. They doubted him being an apostle. He says, I am become a fool in Glorian. You have compelled me. I didn't even wanna do this, but I'm gonna have to. For I ought to have been commended of you. I should have been appreciated. You guys should have gave me the Nobel Peace Prize. Jesus should have received the Nobel Peace Prize. He's the prince of peace. He's the one doing all the healing, raising the dead and all. And what's he get? He gets a cross. Things are turned upside down, I tell you. For nothing am I behind the very cheapest apostles. Alright. Who are they? James, the brother of Jesus. He's not an apostle but he's a leader in the church there in Jerusalem. Peter. I'm not behind Peter. I'm just as much in fact, Paul's at one point is like, I met them, but they really didn't do anything for me. They didn't add anything to me. And that's what it's like in many cases meeting pastors, as long as you're not a worshiper. You you get around them and you realize, hey, they're just they're just lug heads like the rest of us. You know? There's nothing really special about them. It's the word of God and the Holy Spirit that's special. They're just a donkey that the Lord speaks through. But when you exalt them like there's some superhero and all, you're setting yourself up to be deceived. You don't wanna go there. So Paul wasn't enamored with, oh, the heavies. I'm gonna go meet with the heavies in Jerusalem, though I'd be nothing. So someone should have defended and stood up for Paul Unappreciated. Oh, they'll stand up for the flat earthers. They'll fight to the death for the flat earthers. And then Ivan comes in with a shirt showing who he supports. Right? At the trial of Jesus, who stood with him? He's betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. Disciples, we're not leaving you. We're ready to die for you. Peter, this night before the cock crows, you're gonna deny that you even know me. Three times, you're gonna cuss and swear. You're gonna you're gonna deny me before a a a woman, a maiden whose your speech betrays you and I know not the man. And now you're cussing and swearing. Now you're just totally blown it, Peter. You're you're melting down. And the shepherd's smitten, all the sheep scatter. Everybody takes off. Only people that hang back are the women. The women won't leave a sign. Love it. 30 pieces of silver, the price of a gourd slave. That's all they they valued him at. And Judas, I betrayed innocent blood and throws it at the feet of the religious leaders. And what's that to us? And they buy the potter's field with it, you know? Because they're so righteous, they can't put it back into the treasury because it was the price of a hit, a conspiracy. You ever heard that term? Around 1967, the the CIA comes up with a way to stop people from investigating the JFK assassination. Now you're marginalized as conspiracy theorists. Now it's not a conspiracy, is it? They were conspiring to kill Jesus. The religious leaders conspired to kill Jesus after he raised Lazarus from the dead. Pilate or excuse me, Caiaphas said it's expedient that one should die for the nation. You know? And Pilate's going, why? What evil has he done? I find no fault in this man. And he knew for envy, Jesus was delivered because he was gaining attention. What are we gonna do? All the throngs of people, the crowds are all following him. We're gonna have to ace him. We're gonna have to get him out unless the Romans take our, you know, country from us and all. 30 pieces of silver denied by Peter. Pilate seeks to release them. He should have been worshiped. Instead, he spit upon. His beard's pulled out. He's nailed to a tree. He's taunted. You saved others. If you be the Christ, come down. Save yourself. Unappreciated. Unrecognized as the Messiah. When Stephen was stoned, it was Jesus who stood for him. It was Jesus seated at the right hand of his father that Stephen's looking up to heaven and his face is shining like that of an angel. And Saul of Tarsus is seeing this, Later to be Paul, tormented by that face of Stephen, shining bright like that of an angel looking up into heaven and describing Jesus standing. Yeah. Jesus stood for him. Jesus stands for the martyrs. He applauds the martyrs, those willing to die for him. And Jesus applauds you when you stand for truth, when you're willing to be hated, when you're willing to be unappreciated. Jesus stands for you. The apostle Paul said in second Timothy four sixteen at the end of his ministry, he's there but before the religious the Romans, Nero. And he's awaiting sentencing and execution. His crime? Turning the world upside down with the gospel. He's an enemy of the state. This guy's a dangerous man. We have to arrest him. He's standing out in front of an abortion clinic on the sidewalk. On a public sidewalk, he he's a danger. Maybe a woman's gonna save that baby, have that baby. We've gotta we've gotta reduce the population. We gotta get rid of these wackadoodle Christians who are concerned about the sanctity of life. Always preaching Jesus. Look what's happened to Europe without Jesus. When Jesus is kicked out. When Jesus is unappreciated. Look what's happening. Overwhelmed by Muslims. All over Europe. Overwhelmed by Muslims. That void, that vacuum. When you when you kick Jesus out, that void, that vacuum is filled with something, with a secular humanism, with a paganism, with false religious systems. Because they didn't appreciate what they had. They didn't appreciate Charles Spurgeon, and Joseph Parker, and the Wesley brothers, and George Mueller, and many, many others who dedicated their lives to edifying them and building them up in the faith, and sending the missionaries out all over the world. The sun never setting on the British Empire. Then as Great Britain turned their back upon Israel, Great Britain ceased to be a great nation, didn't they? God's gonna bless those that bless Israel and curse those that curse Israel. And the gospel quit going forth. The churches are empty. And yet, in Iran, the mosques are empty. A revival's taking place in an Islamic country. You can't get rid of Jesus. The people came to a place of hopelessness with the Islamic faith, the Islamic false religious system. And as I saw, just as in Tenderman Square when people were crushed by tanks, the Chinese with a fervor, many of the young began to approach Christ. They rejected. They became unbelievers concerning communism. And so too in Iran, they became atheistic toward Muhammad, toward Allah, toward the Islamic, the Quran, all of it. And the Lord began to reach them with visions and the, Coptic Christian of Egypt with the satellite system was able to sow the seeds there for many years. And, and watered with teaching that would come with the satellite system all across the region. And it was Obama that came in with this Arab spring that began to wipe all that out. He wiped out the churches. He wiped out the ability of many of these Christians in Egypt and priests and and all that were getting the word out concerning Jesus. He wiped it out. But yet, the word of God prevails. One man sows another waters. God brings the increase. Doesn't matter how unappreciated you might be, the word of God doesn't come back void. God sent you to to preach his word, to teach his word. Don't worry about those that don't like you, that reject you, that hate you. Move on. Wipe the dust off your feet. Move on to another region, area, whatever. Why haven't Kathy and I left this community? Only one reason. My grandkids are here. It's a joke. It's true though. It's because we know we're in God's will. And we know it's a greater witness to be mistreated, to be hated, and to stay faithful than it would be to have a church that serves us. What do I mean by that? Who would leave a church of a thousand people that serves you in your old age? Your retirement's there. Everything's there. It's all built up in there. Who would stay in a church in a place where all you have is this? After thirty years of labor. And yet there's names in the lamb's book of life. There's people that have come to faith that have believed in Jesus. There's others presently that are wanting to know Jesus. And the only way to know Jesus in truth is through the study of his word. So there's a uniqueness. There's a reason to be here in Bremerton and Kitsap County. Someone should have defended the apostle Paul. Someone should have stood. He said, at my first defense, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. Why? Guilt by association. We don't wanna be incarcerated too. We gotta get away from Paul. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Oh, you mean there's a day of reckoning? A day where they're gonna be held accountable at the Bemessie judgment? Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me. That's all you need. All you need is the Lord to stand with you. Boy, you can keep going. You can sure keep going. You can get so discouraged at times in ministry and then the Lord just saves one person. The Lord ministers. You get feedback that somebody's ministered to. And, and it just man, it just really lights you back up. You get going. I was at the gym, and a guy came up to me. He was moving to Florida. And I might already said this to you, but, he said to me, you know, those ten minute little talks we had here and there? Because you're not allowed to talk long at the gym, you know. You gotta keep working. And he would always approach me. It wasn't me approaching him because you don't do that. And, he goes, it brought me back to my faith. And I want you to know that. And God's using you where you work. God's using you as you share the gospel, as you share prophetically the times we're living in. People are wondering. God's using you. He's using you mightily. You may feel you're unappreciated. You're ostracized. You're the weirdo at work or in the family or wherever, but God is using you. You're his witness. You're his witness. He needs witnesses. He needs people that'll be faithful in the season of small things. And Paul says, notwithstanding the Lord stood with me. Jesus gives a standing ovation for his martyrs. Verse 12, truly the signs of an apostle wrought among among you and all patience and signs and wonders and mighty deeds. Paul says, truly, you saw the signs and the wonders that God wrought through my ministry. You saw what happened. The evidence is overwhelming. But who cares? Who cares about the truth? I want the government to take care of me. I want the Romans and the religious leaders to take care of me. I don't want to think. I don't want to think. I want to live my Christianity through somebody else. I want the government to take care of me from the womb to the tomb so I'm gonna believe the story. I'm gonna believe the lies. And I'm just gonna go along to get along. Do you know four years ago, we didn't even know what the term turbo cancers was? We didn't even know that term. There was no term turbo cancers. Till some of the doctors began to tell us three years from now, the immune systems are gonna be so bad that you're gonna see not just cancers, but cancers all through the body at turbo speed. The immune system unable to obey, to fight, to hold it back. It's irrefutable evidence. Irrefutable. But nobody wants to talk about it. Won't act like it never happened. Came in at warp speed, but wasn't his fault. It's a deep state. Now I'm gonna drool. Okay? That's how crazy it is. Nine eleven. Coming out that nine eleven was actually controlled demolition. Nobody cares. Donald Trump's a New Yorker. You think he knew about nine eleven being an inside job? Nobody cares. We're gonna make a utopia in the same way it drew us into war in The Middle East. We're being drawn into war once again. Nobody cares. Tell them peace peace. Keep telling them peace. Peace and safety. People are saved. They're healed. The dead are raised. Demons cast out. But what have you done for me lately? Unappreciated. John the Baptist, cousin of Jesus. Great ministry, great man of God. Jesus had the he's the greatest of all the Old Testament prophets, and he is at least in the kingdom of God is greater than John. Right? You you got the Holy Spirit living, dwelling within you. The Holy Spirit was in John from his mother's womb too. And John's got this big beard and long hair and locusts and camel and riding his Harley and all, and everybody loved him. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and radical. And he's got the audacity to tell Herod his his new plaything, Herodias, that is illicit. It's wrong. It's wrong of you to take your brother Philip's wife and make her your own. So for Salome to dance and a party favor, I want John the Baptist's head on a charger. Well, John's in prison. He's used to being out in the fresh air and along the Jordan and baptizing people and and confronting power with no fear. And now he's afraid. And he remembers saying, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He remembers baptizing Jesus and the Holy Spirit coming down like as as a dove upon him. He remembers him saying these things and he's thinking like the disciples that this is the Messiah. This is the Christ. This is anointed one. We're gonna get the kingdom. The kingdom's coming. And then he's in prison and he sends a couple of the disciples to Jesus and says, are you the one? Or should we look for another? Has your faith ever been like that? Real big faith, real big and bold, and all of a sudden God throws you a screwball and you never saw it coming. You couldn't hit it. And, oh, you wind up in a place. Where did this come from? This wasn't in my promise jar. This wasn't in my prayer time. How did this come into my life? This is for other people, not me. I'm John the Baptist. And then Jesus told him, go back and tell John what you've seen. The blind see. The lame are walking. The lepers are cleansed. The deaf hear. The dead are raised to life. And the poor have the gospel preached under them. You go tell John that. And blessed is he that's not offended in me. You continue to walk by faith. You walk by faith. No matter what happens, you walk by faith. A verse that blessed me all week long that I kept meditating on, helping me a lot because I tend to I tend to try and figure things out. I don't know if you do that. It really blessed me to meditate upon over and over again. The lord giveth. The lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the lord. I don't need to know. All I know is I was blessed. All I know is he took it away, And I all I know is he's worthy of worship. That's what he's called me to do, is to worship, to be a worshiper, to scribe worth unto him. And then you have that peace that surpasses all understanding. You allow God to be God and realize you're not. He doesn't answer to me. He doesn't have to say oops or I'm sorry or you know. I mean, I'm like a kid sometimes. I think, you know, Lord, just spank me. Whatever I did wrong to cause all this, just spank me super hard so that I can move on. You don't want restriction. Yeah. You're restricted the whole summer. You can't go out and play with your friends all summer. No. No. No. No. I'd rather get a whooping. Give me the whooping, man. I want to get out there. I don't want my summer going to the beach to be wasted. Right? Let's get it all. Let's quit wasting time. Just give me the whooping. I don't sense any condemnation though. It's like you run out of things to condemn yourself over. Now we're going now we're going into my character. Now we're going into every facet of who I've ever been. And if the Lord's gonna mark iniquities, who can stand? Nobody can stand up against that. There's no condemnation. God uses us in spite of our frailties, in spite of our you you know, the thing that we should be most concerned about is not sin in our life, but rebellion. At no point do I remember being rebellious against God. My whole objective was to please God. I still don't understand. But one day I will. And I won't be saying why. I'll still be saying why me? Why did you save me? Why did you save Cathy? Why did you give us the privilege of rolling into the Seventh day Adventist church on a Sunday and we get to teach Sunday school and teach the bible and worship and and be with the saints? What a privilege. What a blessing. Huge blessing. You let me do that, Lord? You let me be a part of what you're doing there? Are you the one or should we look for another, man? Be thankful. Be appreciative. Paul, like Jesus, was unappreciated, always having to prove himself. The proof of his apostleship. Secondly, the price of his apostleship. It cost the apostle Paul dearly to plant this church there. They spend and, you know, they they sacrifice greatly. The things that you give up, the things that you don't do so that you can continue with this ministry. Do you have any opportunities come along to save yourself that the devil brings? Save yourself. Come off of that cross, Rick and Kathy. Save yourselves. No. We're in God's will. We choose to humble ourselves. We choose to do without. We choose to sacrifice. You think we're idiots? You think we can't do something else? Don't answer that. The price of his apostleship. Verse 13. For what is it wherein you were inferior to other churches except that I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong. So he's being kind of sarcastic. I like sarcasm. Paul said, I worked. I worked during the daytime to minister to you in the nighttime. I was never chargeable to any of you. But these false prophets, they charge you. They charge you $75 an hour to listen to your whining and complaining. They call it counseling, Christian counseling today. Well, if they were taught the word of God, then the Holy Spirit could do that and you could save the $75 an hour. But because the word of God is not taught, they don't have the Holy Spirit teaching through the word to minister unto them. The antidote, the solution is death to self. Quit chasing your tail. Put Jesus on the throne of your life. That's the answer. Forgive those that have wronged you. That's another answer. And seek to alleviate some of the suffering of those around you that that you see whom the Holy Spirit has brought you in contact with that are suffering the way that you've suffered. Now you realize the suffering wasn't for nothing. That God causes all things to work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. It's his purpose. Behold, the third time I'm ready to come to you. It's come twice already. I gotta get there again. This church is a church with a lot of problems. And I will not be burdensome to you. So I'm not gonna stay at your guys houses and you gotta feed me, you know, rib eyes every night. But you could, if you want. For I seek not yours, but you, for the children not not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. So as a parent, as a mature believer, I'm willing to sacrifice for you. I never put you to work. I never said, hey, let's get married. And I'm gonna stay at home and you go out and work, honey. No. He's willing to sacrifice his life so that his wife could not only be his wife, but a mother. And if need be, she's willing to work, but you're not gonna stay home and be daddy in the daytime, are you? Really? You really wanna be that guy? As you're going through college, you're going through okay. For a little while. But to me, it's like, if any man don't work, you don't eat. Get out there and work. Don't rely on your wife. Don't rely on other people. How you going to discover your gifts? How you going to have the dignity and the blessing of of sweating by your brow, of laboring, of going through the suffering of working, to have the enjoyment and the blessing of providing. So Paul's willing to spend and to be spent. He's not one of these irresponsible guys that just says, well, you know, let's The government will do it. Let's get our universal basic income. And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. You ever felt like that? Spoiled brats, unappreciative, immature, never satisfied. What you done for me lately? He says, but be it so, I did not burden you. Nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile. So not only are you unthankful, but now you're talking behind my back. Now you're gossiping and slandering. You're getting in the Korodathin and Abiram groups. It's a poison that's permeating. Churches can become very, very unhealthy. Churches can reach a place where they quench the Holy Spirit, where they grieve the Holy Spirit because of the tongue. The tongue is an unruly evil. The the greatest destruction of the church is our tongues. The heart's deceitfully wicked above all things and who can know it? God needs to change my heart. He's put love in my heart. I need to use the tongue for edifying, building up, strengthening, encouraging. I caught you with guile. You're unthankful. Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent to you? I desired Titus and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? Walk we not in the same spirit? Walk we not in the same steps? Did I backdoor you? Did I come in through the backdoor with a marketing program to build money out of you? More and more money? Did I sign you up? Did I get all of you to sign up for the electronic fund transfer that you're part of this church and it automatically comes out of your account? You're laughing, but churches are doing that like crazy. You're free to come. You're free to go. It's your decision. You're free to give, not give. We don't we don't care. And yet, the more we love, the less we're loved in return. The false prophets get it all. They never go bankrupt, the false prophets. They're always making merchandise of their customers. And we get talked about because the sermon lasts an hour. But you love it so. For we know that for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he is rich, yet for our sakes, he became poor, that we through his poverty that we might become rich. Second Corinthians eight verse nine. So Jesus left the splendor of heaven, the splendor of all the free exercise of his deity, and he takes on the form of a dog. He came as a dog, didn't he? No. He came as a man. Not an angel. Not someone above us. Treated like a dog. He says in Psalm 22, I'm a worm and no man treated like a worm. Disrespected. Unappreciated. But he did that knowing we were petulant, selfish, little baby, little teenagers that wouldn't even appreciate anything. He did it anyway out of love. Though he is rich, yet for our sakes, he became poor, emptied himself as a son of man. He suffered death, not just any kind of death, but even the death of the cross. He allowed the wrath of his father that we deserve to be poured out upon him. And it didn't matter whether you appreciated him or not. He was gonna do it anyway. He's a savior of the whole world, especially for those who believe. Knowing the majority of people would reject him. The majority of people wouldn't appreciate him. That narrow is the way that leads to life eternal and few there be that find it. He knows that narrow is narrow is narrow. Few is few is few. That broad is the way that leads to destruction and many go in there at. Very small percentage of people that he died for, that his blood paid for their sins are going to acknowledge their need of a savior, appreciate what he's done, repent of their sins, and cry out to God, God be merciful to me a sinner. Very few are gonna come to that place. But he did it anyway. Why? Because he's long suffering, not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance. And nobody at the Great White Throne judgment is gonna be able to say, I just didn't know. God's gonna only ask him one question. What did you do with my son, Jesus? Oh, well, all your philosophy, all your excuses, all your gonna be nothing at that moment. He's gonna play your life. He's gonna show the times that he sent Christians your way to share the glorious good news of Jesus. It's gonna be right on the screen. And all your excuses and all your reasons why not. Only way you get into hell is spending a lifetime rejecting God's love. That's the only way you can get into hell. A lifetime of rejecting Jesus. God's long suffering. Not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance. Do you appreciate what Jesus gave up to save you, to make you rich? Is the cross nothing to you? Isaiah 53 verse three says, he is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not, unappreciated, unthankful, unholy, and yet God still loves us. No matter what your kids do, no matter what my mom once did to me, had me handcuffed and hauled away to jail because I wouldn't give her my paycheck so she could go out drinking with it. So when I stopped her from getting into my room, as I put my hands on her shoulders, she called the police and I was arrested for assault. That's the last day I ever lived with my mom. But you know what? I got saved a few years later. And even before I got saved, it was really hard to be mad at her. It was really hard. But when I got saved, it was way easier to love. Even easier. But, I mean, it's hard. It takes a lot of work to hate. It takes a lot of work to blame and to stay there in that in that stew of bitterness. She took my car from me that I earned. Lost my job that I enjoy. But, you know, my my dad, Ralph, came down and got me. I only spent one night in jail. Handcuffed put in a police car. And my dad came and got me and brought me back to Orange County where I grew up. And that's the year that I met Kathy. All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. And I found it real easy to forgive my mom, to love her because I began to realize, if you don't know Jesus, how can you expect people to do what's right if they if they don't know Jesus? If they're addicted to alcohol, they've got all this stuff going on, my dad and her divorce, and all that pressure on her and everything, I should have given her that check. I should have helped her. I was just angry at the divorce and angry at blowing my life up again. But, you know, it's it's really nothing compared to what Jesus done for me. What he's forgiven and the love that God gives us and floods our hearts with. All I want is to see him saved. That's all I care about. Paul, like Jesus, was unappreciated always having to prove himself. The proof of his apostleship, the price of his apostleship, and thirdly, the purpose of his ministry. Verse 19. Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? We speak before God in Christ, but we do all things dearly beloved for your edifying. That word edifying is a construction term. Everything we do is designed to build you up, Not to get from you. We don't go to school and and learn how to market you. We don't get sales, scams, and schemes, the new ways to sell our vision to you. I could walk the stage here and take a hanky and, you know, get all emotional and start crying and get you because there's kids. Look at these kids that are crying, you know. And they manipulate every way, shape, and form to get money out of people. We're just here to build you up. You decide what you want to do with your money. We want to stay out of your pockets and your head and all that. That's up to you. That's between you and God. We're We're here to build you up in the faith, to take you through God's word. Let the Lord speak to you. There's no mediator. There's between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. You go through Jesus. You go directly to him. You ask him those questions. We came to build you up, not tear you down. In Ephesians four, he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. For what? For the perfecting of the saints. That word perfecting means to help you mature, to grow you up. How many Christians are in churches for thirty years? They never grow up. They're still babes in Christ. The pastor hasn't done his job. He hasn't fed them. Didn't feed them the word of God. There's no way to grow on psychology. There's no way for you to grow spiritually on a human system. It's a spiritual problem, has a spiritual solution. It's the person of Jesus Christ. You need to get to know him. And he's written you a love letter and it behooves us to study this love letter, to get to know him, to meditate upon his word and allow the allow this transformation, the renewing of your heart and mind as you meditate upon his word. God does want to fix you. He does want to alleviate that pain and that suffering you've gone through that your mom, your dad, whoever did to you. But he wants to change you from the inside. He wants to transform you. He doesn't wanna leave you in that arrested state as a babe where you're suffering unable to alleviate that pain, not understanding what happened, having to talk to people about it over and over and over again. They don't have answers for you. I wanna suggest to you that he can so incredibly minister to to to your inside, to the your inner self, the inner person you are, that that stuff doesn't matter anymore. It pales in comparison to get to know him, to fellowship in his sufferings. He doesn't always owe us an explanation of why these things have happened to us. It's faith. Our faith grows when we trust him. We have someone to lean upon, trust upon, depend upon, who will never fail us. What if all you went through was needed so you'd find him? For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but the world through him might be saved. The son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. If you're lost this morning, Jesus is here. He sent the hound of heaven, the holy spirit to hound you, to bring you here. Your wife that makes those sandwiches and puts those tracts in your lunch, the holy spirit's been prompting her to sow the word into your life each and every day that one day that seed would be watered and grow. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. They that are holding me not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's none righteous. No, not one. You and I all fit in there. All have sinned. All we like sheep have gone astray and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. There's none righteous. So if you're a Pharisee and you're thinking, oh, those drags, those wicked people. I can't be around those wicked people. Jesus letting you know, I came for the sick. You think you're whole. You don't think you have a need of me. You don't think you have a need of fixing. I'm the only one that can fix you. I'm the only one that can put you back together again. Then why was he crucified? Why was he so dangerous? Why is Jesus still so dangerous today that we can't have bibles in the schools and the children to to be taught the word of God in their formative years? And on through high school into college. What makes Jesus so dangerous? From a Jewish religious perspective, he claimed to be God. Well, that why is that a threat to them? To them, it's blasphemy. And yet he is God. Second person of the Trinity, the son of God. From Rome's perspective, he claimed to be a king. To them, this is treason. This is insurrection. Those are the charges that the religious leaders coached Pilate to make. They didn't care if he claimed to be God or what, but they accused Pilate of not being Caesar's friend. Knowing that as Jesus claimed to be a king, this was treason or insurrection against Rome. From the world's perspective, he claimed to be a prophet, a radical. Why? Because he exposed sin. Do you know how prophets are treated? They're hated. Why do people hate you so much? Because you have the courage to speak up and to expose sin. The world hates for its sin to be exposed. That's why John the Baptist lost his head. He had the audacity to speak to power and let them know that when you stand before God, you're gonna be judged. Sinners don't wanna hear that. From a sinner's perspective, my perspective as a sinner, he's a priest offering himself for my sins. He's the provision of my sins. From your perspective, did he come to harm you Or did he come to hold you? To help you? Is he a God you can worship? Is he a king you can serve? Is he a prophet you will obey? Is he a priest you will appreciate? Is his blood, his precious blood good enough for you? Is across nothing to you? Paul, like Jesus, was unappreciated always having to prove himself. The proof of his apostleship, the price of his apostleship, the purpose of his ministry, and fourthly and finally, the pain of his apostleship. How do you hurt? How do you how do you hurt a parent deeply? What's what's the most heinous thing that can happen to a parent? Who has access to that place in their heart like nobody else? Their children. It's their children when they turn on them. It hurts so deep. That child that you burnt, that child that you held, that child that you dedicated the Lord, the child that you fed and clothed and raised up with all the sacrifices, everything you did. And they go into a tirade. A tirade of vehement evil, hateful speech directed toward you to condemn you, tear you down, tell you what a worthless mother or father you are. Hurts. And Paul had people in Corinth that treated him in this manner. He says, for I fear, verse 20, lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as you would not, lest there be debates. This is what he's worried about. When I go over there, when I go over to his house, to her house, when we try and reconcile this, what I'm concerned about is there's no humility. There's no repentance. I'm concerned that with my letters, yet it hasn't calmed you down. It's emboldened you in your pride and you're still in your pride trying to condemn me. That there be debates. There be enviance. You're all jealous. One of the good things about Kathy and I not owning a house is I don't have to have people envy me anymore. People always going online to see what my house is worth or what improvements we're making. It's okay for you to have equity. It's okay for you to improve your station in life, to build decks and new roofs and cars and things like that. But boy, if the pastor and the pastor's wife do it, oh my god, they're stealing all the money. That envying. Who's gonna envy me now? And say, yeah, people still do. It's so funny. Must be because I'm so good looking. I got such a hot wife. I don't know. But wrath. People filled with wrath. I mean, the It's it's inexplicable how angry they can get. Greek thumos, it's just this over the top crazy anger. And what I've told Kathy is because they can't punch God in the face, they wanna find the closest thing they can to it, you know. You represent God to us and I'm really angry at God. So I'm gonna take it out on you or your kids or your wife or whatever. It's it's irrational. It's just an irrational how do we go from being sweet friends and fellowship and all to being enemies in the church? We baptized you. We led you to Christ. You came to Christ at this church. You grew in the Lord. And then now, what's my crime? Define for me my crime that I could repent of it. No real specific thing. It's just you're just evil. I didn't get my way. You told me no. You can't tell me no. Do you know how much I've done for you? No. I thought you were doing it for Jesus. I I didn't think I owe you. I thought we're doing all this for the Lord. How do I owe you anything except to love one another? Backbitings, strifes, whisperings. People get on the boat. They whisper things. That'll tear a church down. If you've got people whispering to you, backbiting, using their tongue, don't tolerate it. You if you like this church, don't allow it. Be the immune system. Say, no. That's that's sin. Don't do that. Speak to edifying. Speak things that build up, not tear down. Swellings and tomos, fights, factions. Paul's got a lot of words there. A lot of negative things going on in the church of Corinth. Oh, the real problem. What's the real problem? Sin. Look in the mirror. The problem's not the church. The problem's not the pastor. The problem is you. The problem is me. We're sinners. How are we ever gonna get along? With the help of the Holy Spirit, Paul wasn't the problem. Look in the mirror. You're the problem. It's amazing to me how many people think that they do God's service by trying to destroy little Calvary, Bremerton. Over the years, it's just phenomenal. Or to restore my reputation, to destroy me and Kathy. What's our crime? What have we done? Well, we just told you you're wrong. We told you that's not the truth. We exposed the lies. We didn't want you to have a false sense of security. Made you angry. Didn't like it. You want me to go along with the present flow in the church today? Do you want me to implement implement the new apostolic reformation in this church? Do you want me to lie to you and tell you we're headed toward a golden age? Do you want me to lie to you and tell you that the best is yet to come in this life? Do you want me to tell you're all gonna get rich and healthy, wealthy and wise? That if we just follow these politicians and meld them with the religious groups, that man, we're gonna take over and get rid of all the evil, remove all the evil, and we're gonna experience the greatest peace the world has ever known. I want the Nobel Peace Prize, man. I'm gonna cure cancer. You want me to talk like that? You want me to to to help that help that phrase and get more people to believe that, move in that direction? Can I sell that? Can I flow? Make America great? Oh, I could Church could grow just from that. Let's all get our mega hats on. I can't do it. Nor would you want me to. But for many, that's it. We're leaving. He doesn't appreciate. He doesn't understand. We can't have Biden. Nobody said you have Biden. Do you understand that all the governments of the world, including the US government, is controlled by the little g god of this world? These guys are demonic. You can't trust them. So why would you want me to sell what they're saying? You don't. You want me to help you understand prophetically where we're going so that the real Prince of Peace will come in. Well, there's others that don't wanna hear that. They don't want Jesus to come back. They don't want the rapture. They don't want the millennium. They want heaven on earth now. I can't I can't sell that. Hell's coming. A time the world's never seen or will never see again. The tribulation period's coming. It's on the horizon. And that means the rapture is even sooner. If ye have bitter and envy and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. James three fourteen. James four one, for where come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lust, which war in your members? Ye lust and have not, ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain, ye fight and war. You think there's globalists wanting oil, wanting control of strategic minerals, wanting control of the assets of the world. And we're just pawns. We're just the people. I don't hate Iran. I don't care how much the media tries to get me to hate Iran so they can justify war. I don't hate Iran. I hate Islam. I hate the regime or anybody that would enslave people and hurt people, whether it be slavery in America. I hate the slave owners. I hate what they did. I hate that doctrine, that whole thing that took place in America. It is a blight. It's horrible. But I hate even more the present sex trafficking. The pedophilia that nobody seems to care about. I just can't go along if I can't get a bigger flat screen. Having Jesus isn't just good enough, just not good enough. I'm unthankful. I'm unholy. I'm unappreciative. What have you done for me lately, Jesus? Are you the one or should we look for another? When the AC comes along, should I follow his promises? His utopia? The spirit of the age? The spirit of Antichrist that's present in the world? That's speaking of a different future than that which the Bible do you know the Antichrist is in place of Jesus Christ? An imposter verse 21. Unless when I come again, my God will humble me among you and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness. So, it it goes beyond just the the talking and all that junk. That filthiness that shouldn't be in the church. Now it comes to the immorality side of it. Many of the people that are finding the envy and the fault and all that, they've got secret things they're doing. They're not operating in the power of the Holy Spirit. So they got to find fault with people around them. And then later you find out they're heavily addicted to porn. They're cheating on their husband, cheating on their wife. They finally get caught. Their sin finds them out. And it's like, I knew something was wrong. And all I kept trying to do is win them over. I tried to get them to cease and desist. Quit fighting. Quit fighting. We're not here to fight. They didn't repent of their uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed. So Paul's got a huge problem with the church of Corinth. The church of Corinth was as filthy as Sodom and Gomorrah. And where's the pain? Sin breaks God's heart. Sin breaks the parents heart. Sin breaks your heart. Paul's heart is broken. He's watching the degeneration of these people. The depravity, the degeneration of America, of Corinth. The sickening preying upon children by teachers, and priests, and coaches, politicians, and parents, people in leadership, people that should know better. Breaks God's heart. But no one seems to care about what God thinks. So the demonic forces continue to fill the voids and fill the emptiness and fill the churches, these demonic forces. And the people become increasingly more and more indifferent to the things of the spirit. They become increasingly more and more lukewarm and and just obsessed with material things. I'm rich and increased with goods and need of nothing. We don't even need Jesus. We're gonna kick Jesus out of the church now. We don't need to teach the bible. We don't need to teach his word. We can incorporate our ideas. We can rely upon AI, artificial intelligence, to tell us which way to go to problem solve. We can worship the image of the beast. The beast will tell us what to do. We don't have to think anymore. The beast gives us instructions. We can go outside, but only for fifteen minutes. And when we come home, we've got a huge flat screen TV that the beast is watching us through, listen to everything we do. And we eat the food that the beast tells us we can eat. And we stop eating when he tells us to stop. And our bank accounts only get money out of it if we say everything away the beast wants us to talk and say. If If we don't, we get penalized, then we can't can't have any meat that week. We gotta eat Bill Gates fake meat and and all the fake food and everything. And, but we got that universal basic income. If we if we follow along and not get married, not have kids, not be a family, and and that's the direction of the demonic beast system that's coming. But no one seems to care. The church has refused to teach the word of God. Will we worship God? Will we ascribe worth unto him to the almighty? Will we repent? Will we have the fear of the Lord that brings us to the place where we actually respect God rather than be unappreciative or indifferent to who he is. We've been given so much. He's despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, unacquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from him. We esteemed him not. Didn't appreciate him. He should be the one that gets the Nobel Peace Prize. He's the Prince of Peace and yet he's rejected. Jesus said in John five forty three, I am coming my father's name and you receive me not. Another shall come in his own name and him you will receive. And then he asked him a question. How can you believe So he's talking to religious leaders. I've come in my father's name and you don't receive me. Another guy's gonna come to the nation of Israel. And him you're gonna receive. You're being set up for the Antichrist eventually. He's gonna sign a peace treaty with you and you're gonna believe that he's the Messiah. Your Messiah is right here in front of you. I come in my father's name. You reject my father. You reject me. But another's gonna come in his own name. And you're gonna receive him. And then he asked him a very important question in verse 44. He says, how can you believe you that receive honor from each other? And have no desire for the honor that comes only from God. You reject the honor that comes from God, but you want honor from each other. Being recognized by each other. In your little world, your little realm of religiosity. Your false religious system. Go to Moses. Moses represented me. He as he continues there in John five. He speaks about me. You think you have the religion of Moses? You know, being Jews, being Pharisees. Moses testifies of me. Search the scriptures. From them you think you have eternal life and there which testify of me. The volume of the book is written of me. Destroy this temple. In three days I'll raise it up to prove it to you. Who can do that? And yet, they can't wait to get rid of him. But the times and the seasons, brethren, Paul says in first Thessalonians five verse one. But of the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. For you know perfectly well that the day of the Lord what's the day of the Lord gang? The tribulation period. First Thessalonians five. But you know perfectly well that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. When they shall say peace and safety. What are we hearing right now? When they shall say peace and safety. They, the world, when they shall say peace. The these are they that honor among themselves, but they don't honor God. You see? When they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction's gonna come upon them as as travail of a woman with a child. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, change in pronouns, but ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you unaware. You appreciate Jesus. You're looking up. You're watching. You're ready. You got no time for church squabbles. It's way past all that. We're not playing church anymore. It's all about Jesus. It's not about the money, not about games and programs. Jesus is coming again and he's the prince of peace. And we're looking we have no confidence in man. We have no confidence in this world system. No confidence in all the different technologies, all the stuff they're trying to con us with. It's come down to the very root of why we were made is for fellowship with Jesus. He's coming again for us as bride. It's not a time to mess around. It's not a time to be deceived and waste time. We know the times and the seasons. We know. We don't even need to be warned of it, Paul's saying. You know the times and the seasons. And before that, in chapter four, he says, comfort yourself with these words concerning the rapture of the church. It should be a comfort, the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior. If we're indifferent, if we're unappreciative, then we're gonna miss it. We're gonna miss the blessed hope. We're gonna be the 10 virgins, the five that were unwise and weren't prepared with the Holy Spirit within our hearts and lives. Or we're gonna be like the Laodicean church, insipid, powerless. Do you wanna go to church, a powerless church? Do you wanna go where the sermons don't have the power to transform and change your life? Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. To the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the right God revealed. From faith to faith, the just shall live by faith. And it's not just receiving Christ one day in church. It's continuing to believe. Continuing to believe forty years later at the end of the age, where you're not caught off guard by the things of the world and falling back in love with the world. But you sense the urgency of the time that this is it. You're not ignorant of the times and the seasons you're living in. This isn't a time to be worshiping men and ascribing to them a worth that they don't deserve, that's reserved only for God. Jesus is coming again and he's gonna bring the peace. The Prince of Peace. Father, we thank you. We pray, Lord, that we not fall in that rut of so many carnal fleshly churches that Lord we would continue to walk by faith in the simplicity of our faith as children. Depending and trusting in you, not having arrived, not having figured it all out, but just simply moment by moment walking by faith. Keeping our eyes on you. Not being distracted or deceived by the things of the world. Not caught up in every wind of doctrine, the cunning slate of men to pull people into bondage. But Lord, out of love that we would be used of you to reach the lost, people that are perishing, people that are losing hope. Lord, we pray for the church in Iran. We're so excited what you're doing there. Lord, may it may it spread to America. May Americans just be so excited that their lives reduced to one thing and that one thing is Jesus. They've got Jesus in Iran. And we pray for Israel. Lord, there's no revival going on in Israel, but your word tells us why. Blindness apart has happened under Israel until the fullness of the gentiles become in. Lord, you love Iran. You love Egypt. You love Lebanon. You love Saudi Arabia. You love these nations. And many of these nations are gonna be in the millennium. And Lord, you love America. You love Great Britain. You love Ukraine. You love Russia. Lord, you love the people. So lord, we pray evermore that we would distinguish between the propaganda and the policies, and we look to you as almighty sovereign. We look at your government of what your will is. That, Lord, you love these people and you want them to be saved. Father, we pray that you'd use our lives, that we'd not be deceived and see ourselves as soldiers to be sent over to the Middle East to kill everybody. But Lord, we recognize that you're saving people. You're setting the captives free. So father, pour out your holy spirit. Let there be a a sweet precious harvesting of souls before the rapture, Lord. Even after the rapture. Save now, Lord. Let us be a part of what you're doing. In Jesus name, we pray. Anybody here this morning, you don't know Jesus as your Lord and savior. You've never surrendered your heart and life unto him. You've never confessed with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that he was crucified, buried, raised himself from the dead, ascended right hand of the father, and he's coming again. Let me simplify it. You haven't turned from your sins and cried out to God, God be merciful to me a sinner. The Bible says, whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's real simple. Are you ready to surrender your will, your life, your everything to Jesus? Just lift your hand up. We wanna pray with you. Anyone here this morning? Father, thank you. Thank you for the peace. There's no condemnation. Thank you for the comfort of your love. Thank you, Lord, that we we can sense your presence and and your smile upon us, Lord. We're so thankful that you saved us. We're so thankful that we haven't kicked you out of your church. And we're trying to fill the void and the emptiness with the things of the world. But Lord, the the preciousness of living the life of the spirit in close intimate fellowship with you day by day, looking for your soon return. Fill us afresh, Lord. Fill us the overflowing. Edify us. Build us up. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.