Speaker 1: I'm going to start off just by praying, because it helps me get started, so y'all can direct your faith this way.
Speaker 1: And, heavenly Father, I thank you for your Word.
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, I thank you.
Speaker 1: You dwell on the inside of me and when I open my mouth, your words come out.
Speaker 1: Lord, I thank you that whoever hears this will hear exactly what they need to hear and nothing different, and that the result of this word going forward will accomplish what you want, what you will, and it does not return void, that it encourages and edifies and exhorts and builds up everyone here, every hearer of this.
Speaker 1: It builds them up on their most holy faith, and faith is increasing and your Word is growing and your church is prevailing In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1: Well, not too terribly long ago, I taught a message on Jesus, our commanding officer, and I started that message with a list of names that Jesus was known by, because there's a lot of names, a lot of titles for Jesus written in the Old Testament, new Testament, all throughout God's Word.
Speaker 1: And so I scroll down that list again and we got another name that we're going to talk about tonight, and that is Jesus the Rock.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of names.
Speaker 1: He's Christ, he's the Redeemer, the Savior, the Messiah.
Speaker 1: He's the Son of David, son of man, son of God, the Lamb, the Lamb of God.
Speaker 1: He's the Prince of Peace, king of Kings, lord of Lords, the Holy, one of God, the Lion of Judah, the Good Shepherd.
Speaker 1: He's the head of the church, he's the way, the truth and the life, the bread of life, the true vine.
Speaker 1: You know, we went through Christmas time.
Speaker 1: We know Him as a wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of Peace.
Speaker 1: But he's also a rock, and so we're going to go through some scriptures tonight and see how Jesus is a rock and as we go through these, both old and new, you know the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the New Testament is written in Greek, so each one of the words for rock has some meanings behind it and there's various two or three different words that are used for the word rock and some different applications.
Speaker 1: And so all through here we're going to see some various applications for how Jesus is the rock, and sometimes he's a rock that's good to somebody and sometimes he's a rock that causes harm, seeming harm, to somebody.
Speaker 1: So some of the you know remember David used rocks to kill Goliath, and so a rock can be a weapon.
Speaker 1: It can also be something that is stable and strong and immovable.
Speaker 1: A shelter, a refuge, strong tower is built out of rocks.
Speaker 1: It's unshakable, a strategic position.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the rocks are dangerous places that they're hard to walk on.
Speaker 1: They're sharp.
Speaker 1: They could be a rock, could be a high cliff or a boulder, something you can't get past or something you could fall off of, or an obstruction like a mountain.
Speaker 1: It can also be a grinding and crushing millstone.
Speaker 1: It's also a building material.
Speaker 1: And so just think about those things.
Speaker 1: As we're reading some of these scriptures and all through here, there's a choice or a decision that can be made to be on the right side of things and have a rock that is beneficial to you, or on the wrong side of things and feel the pressure, the grinding pressure, of a millstone maybe.
Speaker 1: And so we'll just read through some of these scriptures here we're going to.
Speaker 1: You know David the Psalmist.
Speaker 1: He wrote about all kinds of things in Psalms, and he would write from a perspective of his being discouraged, and then he would build himself up and be encouraged.
Speaker 1: And so the first one here is in Psalm 62, verse 1, truly, my soul silently waits for God.
Speaker 1: From him comes my salvation.
Speaker 1: He only is my rock and my salvation.
Speaker 1: He is my defense.
Speaker 1: I shall not be greatly moved, and so you know some Psalms.
Speaker 1: Again, he was discouraged, but here's one where he was encouraged, and he used that example of a rock as encouragement.
Speaker 1: I'm going to go to Isaiah, chapter 8.
Speaker 1: Isaiah 8, and in verse 11.
Speaker 1: So, leading up to this, there was trouble for Judah and there were rumors of an impending attack, and so we'll pick up in verse 11, and Isaiah is writing here he said for the Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people saying do not say a conspiracy concerning all that this people call a conspiracy.
Speaker 1: Do not be afraid of their threats nor trouble.
Speaker 1: Another way to say that is don't fear what they fear and don't take on other people's worries.
Speaker 1: Verse 13,.
Speaker 1: The Lord of hosts, him you shall hallow.
Speaker 1: Let him be your fear, let him be your dread.
Speaker 1: He will be as a sanctuary.
Speaker 1: And so again, a sanctuary is a building constructed out of stones.
Speaker 1: And so there's another example of a rock.
Speaker 1: He will be a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense two different Hebrew words written there.
Speaker 1: One was a building stone that they literally tripped over.
Speaker 1: So it was a cut stone that they tripped on, a stone of stumbling or a rock of offense, which was a sharp rock that caused harm, or a cliff or a boulder, and so to one.
Speaker 1: When we fear him, when we fear God, when we let him be our dread and not people, or not rumors and not conspiracies, we let God be the one that we fear.
Speaker 1: Fear God, not man.
Speaker 1: When we fear God, he will be our sanctuary.
Speaker 1: When we fear what man fears, it'll become a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
Speaker 1: And it says to and now this is talking to both houses of Israel.
Speaker 1: It says it's a both the house of Israel as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and many among them shall stumble and they shall fall and be broken and be snared and be taken.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because they didn't fear God, they feared man.
Speaker 1: And so fearing God and not man means that we have a strong tower, a sanctuary, a safe place, something that is not shaken.
Speaker 1: Now I'm going to go over to the New Testament.
Speaker 1: Everything else that I've got here is New Testament stuff.
Speaker 1: So in Luke, chapter six, verse 46, jesus is talking to his disciples.
Speaker 1: Let me flip over there in my Bible and give a little context.
Speaker 1: So in Luke 6, 46, preceding this, jesus has appointed His twelve apostles out of the disciples and he's given His famous sermon the Beatitudes Blessed Are the Poor for Years of the Kingdom of Heaven, and so on.
Speaker 1: And so he's got this big sermon all the way through here, and this is the last part of what he finishes up with.
Speaker 1: And so in verse 46, he said but why do you call me Lord, lord, and do not the things that I say?
Speaker 1: Whoever comes to me and hears my sayings and does them, I will show you who he is like.
Speaker 1: So he's given a whole bunch of good advice.
Speaker 1: He's given a great sermon, all the sayings that people are fond of quoting and some parables in here.
Speaker 1: And he says why do you call me Lord, lord?
Speaker 1: And then you don't do what I say.
Speaker 1: I will show you what he is like.
Speaker 1: He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock, and when the flood arose and the stream beat vehemently against the house and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.
Speaker 1: But he who heard and did nothing is like the man who built his house on the sand or the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently and immediately it fell and the ruin of that house was great.
Speaker 1: And so you know the Scripture unless the Lord built a house, they labor in vain.
Speaker 1: That built it.
Speaker 1: Pastor talked a little bit about that this morning.
Speaker 1: It's not that men can't build stuff.
Speaker 1: We can build stuff.
Speaker 1: But we labor in vain when we do it on our own, if we're not doing things for God's purpose, it's all in vain.
Speaker 1: And then if we do things that are not built on God's principles, then the ruin of that is great.
Speaker 1: You'll build a house but it's not going to last, and you'll put all kinds of effort into it but it is coming down.
Speaker 1: The ruin of that will be great.
Speaker 1: But so the one who hears the Word of God and is a doer of the Word of God has got his house built on the rock and it is stable and it cannot be shaken.
Speaker 1: And so you know, pastor sometimes says this that unless he is Lord of all, he's not Lord at all in your personal life.
Speaker 1: And so we've got to make him Lord of everything in our life.
Speaker 1: And so there we run into a choice Every time we come up against God's Word.
Speaker 1: Do we follow or not?
Speaker 1: Do we do this on our own, or do we do this with the help of the Holy Spirit?
Speaker 1: Is it what I'm doing, built on the principles and foundations of God's Word, or is it not?
Speaker 1: If it's built on man's philosophy, there is great ruin.
Speaker 1: That Colossians, chapter 2, verse 8, gives a very strong warning about man's philosophy, and I'm going to read this in the New Living Translation.
Speaker 1: Paul writes Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of the world rather than Christ, and so people will be taken.
Speaker 1: In fact, you see, people are taken in today's time, right here and now, in the present, all kinds of philosophies.
Speaker 1: The God of this age is actively working and has blinded the minds of so many people, and you hear philosophies that are contrary to God's Word, and they're spoken as if they're just complete truth and they're nonsense.
Speaker 1: And yet people are captured by these empty philosophies, and if you build your life on those philosophies, the ruin of whatever you build on that will be great, and so we'll give an example of that the Episcopal Church.
Speaker 1: The Episcopal Church has just gone through a big church split here recently and they had a big vote and some voted to.
Speaker 1: They wanted to have homosexual priests in there.
Speaker 1: And the church part of the church split away and say no, that's contrary to God's Word, and they split.
Speaker 1: And so the Episcopal Church came out of the Anglican Church.
Speaker 1: The Anglican Church was a broke away from the church of Rome or the Roman Catholic Church.
Speaker 1: King Henry VIII split away from the Roman Catholic Church when he could not get the pope to annul his marriage and so he said well, I'll just create my own.
Speaker 1: And so then you have the church of England, which is where the Episcopal Church came from here in the United States, the Episcopal Church with its very close ties to England.
Speaker 1: You know we went through an entire war and broke away from England and so people here were not favorable of England and so the Episcopal Church here had to kind of sever ties with England and you end up with the Episcopal Church that we have now.
Speaker 1: But I want you to know that I looked up, I pulled up on their website, the Episcopal Church website, under what we believe.
Speaker 1: So this is their official position on what we believe.
Speaker 1: And it says we believe the following we believe in following the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: That sounds good, except that they have no personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: They stopped right there and said we believe in following the teachings of Jesus Christ, and then they don't say what those are.
Speaker 1: But there is a twisting of what those teachings are, because they have twisted that.
Speaker 1: They have twisted the love of Christ to mean inclusion and accepting of all, and so they're getting off there.
Speaker 1: But they label them the teachings of Christ and we follow those.
Speaker 1: So we'll go on here.
Speaker 1: It says we have a legacy again from their website.
Speaker 1: We have a legacy of inclusion.
Speaker 1: Inclusion you know how long has that word been used in our society?
Speaker 1: Well, that comes from a philosophy of man to be inclusive of people and not a hater.
Speaker 1: If you don't agree with their lifestyle, then you're a hater and a bigot and that's how you get labeled.
Speaker 1: And so they chose to have a legacy of inclusion, aspiring to tell and exemplify God's love for every human being.
Speaker 1: It is true, god loves every human being and we love people, but you've got to love people enough to tell them the truth.
Speaker 1: It's not love to let them go on in a pathway where they'll end up in hell.
Speaker 1: And so they say women and men serve as bishops, priests and deacons in our church.
Speaker 1: Lay people and clergy cooperate as leaders at all levels of our church.
Speaker 1: Leadership is a gift from God.
Speaker 1: I'm going to disagree with that, because there are lots of gifts mentioned in God's Word, but leadership is not one of those.
Speaker 1: Leadership is something that we are to be, but it is not a gift from God.
Speaker 1: As a disciple, a follower of Christ, we're to grow up in the things of God's Word and be leaders, but it is not a gift from God, but whatever.
Speaker 1: That's semantics.
Speaker 1: So leadership is a gift from God and can be expressed by all people in our church, regardless of sexual identity or orientation.
Speaker 1: Uh-oh.
Speaker 1: So there you have man's philosophies, and the end result of that, the ruin of that, will be great.
Speaker 1: That is something that is not built on God's Word, and so you already see the split and the falling away, and really that's a judgment that we have in the end times.
Speaker 1: People are being brought to a point of decision.
Speaker 1: That is our job as a believer to bring people to a point of decision to choose good or evil, life or death.
Speaker 1: You know, in Deuteronomy, god said today I set before you blessing and cursing life and death.
Speaker 1: Therefore, choose life that you and your descendants may live.
Speaker 1: And so he is lobbying you to make a good choice.
Speaker 1: But not everybody will make a good choice, and so some people end up on the wrong side of things.
Speaker 1: You know, when we talk about the language of the left, they use a language and this is again the philosophies of men but they use a language that's appealing, that sounds good, that sounds nice.
Speaker 1: It just doesn't fit with God's Word.
Speaker 1: And then they'll take things that mean one thing and then apply new definitions to it, and so we're always playing whack-a-mole trying to figure out what the definition of any word is at any given time.
Speaker 1: But inclusion is to make room for people of an alternative lifestyle.
Speaker 1: It is to compromise what is right so that you don't have to confront what is wrong.
Speaker 1: The left is all about social engineering and they use the word diversity, and diversity is seemingly a good thing.
Speaker 1: But diversity on that side says that we need to change so that we can attract more of a particular culture or a particular race or group, and that we need to implement affirmative actions or changes to improve the races.
Speaker 1: And so they're always looking for.
Speaker 1: Do we have enough of this race or group and do we need to add more?
Speaker 1: Do we need to suppress this group so that we can have more of this one?
Speaker 1: That's all social engineering.
Speaker 1: And they've got this word.
Speaker 1: That sounds good.
Speaker 1: It's good to be diverse.
Speaker 1: I mean, I look around this room and this is a room full of diverse people.
Speaker 1: Heaven is a diverse place, but when you force diversity on something for the sake of having diversity, it's a violation of God's word, because we are not to relate to each other based on anything else other than Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Galatians 3.28 says there's no Jew, no Greek, there's no slave, no free, there's no male nor female.
Speaker 1: And I'll add, there's no any color brown, black, white, green, blue, purple and there is none of that, for you are one in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1: We are to relate to each other based on who we are in Christ and nothing else matters.
Speaker 1: And so to the world, diversity matters.
Speaker 1: The color of your skin, the group that you come from, your background, all of that matters.
Speaker 1: We have to celebrate these things, but it's a violation of God's word.
Speaker 1: We are to celebrate Jesus Christ and nothing else.
Speaker 1: And these people are lost, that are on the wrong side of this stuff.
Speaker 1: They're lost, they're called the precious fruit of the earth, the ones that are perpetuating this philosophy of man, these lies.
Speaker 1: The God of this age has blinded their minds and they do things with the best of intentions, but they're still wrong and they're still speaking lies.
Speaker 1: And the truth isn't any less true just because the majority of people don't believe it.
Speaker 1: You can be one person speaking the truth and nobody will agree with you.
Speaker 1: And what you spoke is truth.
Speaker 1: And it's not any less true because they don't agree with you.
Speaker 1: And so we've got to help people know and love the truth.
Speaker 1: But we will never do that if we compromise, if we become tolerant, if we give in and make a little room for the devil.
Speaker 1: And Jesus never did that.
Speaker 1: He never did.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to reintroduce a word that I've mentioned before, the word of syncretism.
Speaker 1: It is the attempted reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles or practices or parties, as in philosophy or religion.
Speaker 1: A simple way to put that is diluting truth for unity's sake so that we can all get along.
Speaker 1: That's syncretism.
Speaker 1: But that's what the world wants us to do.
Speaker 1: They want to dilute truth, especially the truth that comes from God's word.
Speaker 1: There is no truth, there's just whatever you believe is truth.
Speaker 1: That's the world's philosophy and it's a violation to God's word.
Speaker 1: But I want you to know that God did not change.
Speaker 1: He said I am the Lord, god, I change not.
Speaker 1: He's the same yesterday, today and forever.
Speaker 1: He said I am the one who was and is and is to come.
Speaker 1: He was not tolerant of sin, but he loved sinners and they always like to bring up that point that he hung out with sinners.
Speaker 1: Well, no, he didn't hang out with sinners, he ministered to them.
Speaker 1: But what was his message to them?
Speaker 1: Repent and sin no more.
Speaker 1: And so, and he didn't compromise on that and he offended a lot of people.
Speaker 1: And Jesus was not well liked amongst everyone.
Speaker 1: And you're not going to be well liked amongst everyone, especially when you say things that's hard for others to hear.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about another use of the word rock in Matthew, chapter 16.
Speaker 1: I'm going to go through verses 13 through 19.
Speaker 1: So this is when Jesus is sitting with his disciples and he said who do men say that I the Son of man am?
Speaker 1: And so they said well, some said John the Baptist, or Elijah or Jeremiah, or maybe one of the prophets.
Speaker 1: And he said yeah, but who do you say that I am?
Speaker 1: And Simon Peter answered and said you are Christ, the Son of the living God.
Speaker 1: And Jesus responded to him and said blessed are you, simon Barjona, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father, who is in heaven.
Speaker 1: And I also say to you, peter and this right here, is where Catholicism was born Right here I also say to you Peter, which means Petra, which means little rock or a rock that's broken away from a big rock.
Speaker 1: I also say to you, peter, little rock, on this rock I will build my church.
Speaker 1: Two different word rock, peter is Petra or Petros.
Speaker 1: And when Jesus said, on this rock is Petra, it's the big rock, it's the big foundation, it's the big thing.
Speaker 1: So he kind of called them a chip off the old block.
Speaker 1: But I say to you, peter, you're little stone and on this big stone I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it and I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
Speaker 1: And whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Speaker 1: And so the Catholics saw Peter as being the rock.
Speaker 1: And Jesus said on this rock, peter, I'm going to build my church.
Speaker 1: So he's the first pope.
Speaker 1: And they built the whole Catholicism religion around that, and the philosophies of men are all through that.
Speaker 1: The traditions of men render the word of God to no effect, and you'll find all through the culture of Catholicism, things have changed over the years and they do some stuff for a while and then they stop doing that and they modify it.
Speaker 1: And well, when did God change?
Speaker 1: When did His word change?
Speaker 1: When did we?
Speaker 1: When did God say we had purgatory, and then we don't have purgatory?
Speaker 1: When did we stop selling indulgences?
Speaker 1: When do we?
Speaker 1: It's just built on something that is not God's word, and so the ruin of that will be great.
Speaker 1: So what is the rock that we're talking about here?
Speaker 1: Jesus was talking about?
Speaker 1: Well, peter just had a huge moment.
Speaker 1: Jesus is saying who am I?
Speaker 1: And well, you're one of the prophets.
Speaker 1: No, but who do you say that I am?
Speaker 1: And Peter answered you are Christ, the Son of God.
Speaker 1: That's not that you, simon, because flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you, but my father, who is in heaven.
Speaker 1: And so it was on the revelation, knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah.
Speaker 1: He is the Savior.
Speaker 1: It was on that revelation knowledge that I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
Speaker 1: And when you know who you are in Christ, I'm going to give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
Speaker 1: I'm going to show you how to operate this thing.
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you my authority and my Holy Spirit to be with you, and when you start binding stuff, things are going to get bound, and when you start loosing things, things are going to start to get loosed.
Speaker 1: You have my authority here on earth and this is how we're going to operate.
Speaker 1: And so that was the beginning of the church and the beginning of the authority that Jesus won back, and he was just waking up to that in that moment.
Speaker 1: And so there's another good use of the word rock right there.
Speaker 1: The revelation knowledge is the large rock.
Speaker 1: It's unmovable and unshakable, it is stable, it never changes, and so that's another good rock right there.
Speaker 1: You know Jesus also said of religion religion comes to steal, to kill and to destroy, but Jesus came to bring life, and I know his messages were not always popular.
Speaker 1: He was rejected, but think about the people that he was rejected by.
Speaker 1: He was rejected by the religious leaders and the political leaders of that day, but the people who were hungry you know, we've got a God-shaped hole on the inside of us.
Speaker 1: They had the same hole then, and so when they heard truth, they were hungry for truth and they came to Jesus because they were hearing things that they'd never heard before, and people need to hear what you know.
Speaker 1: There are people out there who have never heard before and they need to hear.
Speaker 1: When you start speaking these things and ministering God's word this way, just like Jesus did, they're going to be drawn to you the same way and you're going to be offensive to a lot of religious people and political type people.
Speaker 1: You're going to become offensive to them because what they're built on is not God's word and you're undermining what they've built up, and the ruin of what they've built up will be great.
Speaker 1: But what you're building on is immovable, unshakable.
Speaker 1: So in Matthew 21, here's another use of the word stones or rock or something close to that.
Speaker 1: In verse 42, jesus said to them and so he's been preaching here and the religious leaders are questioning him and challenging him on the word, and so Jesus answers them and he said have you never read the scriptures?
Speaker 1: And so, of course they've read the scriptures.
Speaker 1: They're supposed to be all knowing of the scriptures.
Speaker 1: These are the scripture experts.
Speaker 1: But Jesus said have you never read the scriptures?
Speaker 1: The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
Speaker 1: This was the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes.
Speaker 1: Well, that's an Old Testament scripture.
Speaker 1: But Jesus is quoting this to them and so they're going to recognize where this came from.
Speaker 1: He said, in case they didn't recognize it at this point, that the stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
Speaker 1: In case they didn't understand what he was saying, he went on to further explain.
Speaker 1: Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it, and whoever falls on this stone and this is a different stone right here, so it was the chief cornerstone, which was one that was cut and build and fashioned to support the building, and it was the primary stone that made the building perfect and square and straight and kept the building standing.
Speaker 1: So he became that was rejected by the religious crowd and has become Jesus, has become the chief cornerstone of this church, and he said you're fired.
Speaker 1: If Donald Trump were there, he would say you're fired.
Speaker 1: And whoever falls on this stone now he uses a different word for stone, which is a millstone, so millstones used for grinding and crushing, and whoever falls on this stone will be broken, but whoever it falls on will grind them into powder, and so, in other words, you better get on the right side of things or you're going to be crushed and ground into powder, but I'm here and you're fired and I'm the chief cornerstone and I'm fulfilling prophecy right here in front of you today.
Speaker 1: And so Jesus was announcing who he was to them Again, not very popular message of the day.
Speaker 1: And so I'm going to go back to our first scripture in Isaiah 11 and just kind of remind you real quick Don't fear what others fear.
Speaker 1: Fear God, not man.
Speaker 1: Let God be your fear and let him be your dread.
Speaker 1: It's not that we're dreading God and running away from and cowering from God, but our fear is to displease God, and our fear drives us to honor God, to do everything for His purpose and not our own.
Speaker 1: And he will be our sanctuary, he'll be our safe place, and so we've got choices here.
Speaker 1: We can have a safe sanctuary or we can have a stone of stumbling and a dangerous one, sharp, jagged stones that are tough to walk on.
Speaker 1: So which stone would you like Jesus to be for you?
Speaker 1: The sanctuary or the sharp, jagged stone, tough to walk on?
Speaker 1: You're not going to walk on Jesus, but he will be your sanctuary if you serve His purpose.
Speaker 1: And so we don't fear what others fear.
Speaker 1: We fear God, and let Him be our dread.
Speaker 1: So you know, jesus said I didn't come to bring peace.
Speaker 1: I came to bring a sword and people always talking about oh, jesus is love.
Speaker 1: That's true.
Speaker 1: He's the Prince of Peace, that's true.
Speaker 1: But we can have peace when we're serving in His kingdom, but you will have no peace at all serving in the devil's kingdom.
Speaker 1: And so you have a choice.
Speaker 1: All the way through here there's decision time.
Speaker 1: Do I want a sanctuary or do I want to be crushed by a millstone?
Speaker 1: Do I want a solid foundation or do I want sharp places to walk?
Speaker 1: And so which side of this are we going to get on?
Speaker 1: And this is the message that the world needs.
Speaker 1: I know, you know I'm preaching to the choir here tonight.
Speaker 1: I know you know some of this, but this is the message people need to hear out there and they need to get on the right side of things.
Speaker 1: And it can be a very unpopular ministry.
Speaker 1: People might call you names, people might throw stuff at you.
Speaker 1: It could be dangerous.
Speaker 1: Jeremiah going back to the Old Testament, he had a very unpopular ministry.
Speaker 1: He started out young and he said who am I?
Speaker 1: I don't have, I can't talk, I'm too young to do this.
Speaker 1: And God warned him about that and promised him that he was.
Speaker 1: That God was eager to perform the word you obey and you speak what I tell you to.
Speaker 1: But I'm going to perform it.
Speaker 1: And so in Jeremiah 20, in verse seven I'm going to flip over there because there's probably a little context to go over first.
Speaker 1: So Jeremiah right after Isaiah, verse 20.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, chapter 20.
Speaker 1: All right, so Jeremiah had a very unpopular message.
Speaker 1: He was a prophet and he had to go deliver this message to the priest who was also the chief governor of the house, and he had.
Speaker 1: Jeremiah had prophesied certain things.
Speaker 1: And Jeremiah ended up being put in stocks and then he was released and so he was being persecuted for the message that he brought.
Speaker 1: But he's just the messenger.
Speaker 1: You know, god originated the message, but Jeremiah is just the messenger.
Speaker 1: And so in verse seven, jeremiah says oh Lord, you induced me and I was persuaded.
Speaker 1: You are stronger than I and have prevailed.
Speaker 1: I'm in derision daily.
Speaker 1: Everyone mocks me, for when I spoke, I cried out, I shouted violence and plunder, because the word of the Lord was made to me.
Speaker 1: I was approaching a derision daily and I said I will not make mention of him, god, nor speak any more of his name.
Speaker 1: But his word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones.
Speaker 1: I was weary of holding it back.
Speaker 1: I could not.
Speaker 1: What's on the inside of you?
Speaker 1: You know we can only keep quiet for so long, but what we have on the inside, it better be a fire on the inside, shut up in your bones.
Speaker 1: It better not be things that we're thinking of or ideas that we have, but when God's words on the inside of us, you're not going to be able to hold it back.
Speaker 1: I could not hold it back for I heard many mocking fear on every side.
Speaker 1: Report.
Speaker 1: They say and will report it All my acquaintances watch for my stumbling saying.
Speaker 1: Perhaps he can be induced, then we'll prevail against him.
Speaker 1: So they were baiting him and challenging him and trying to get him to say the wrong things and stumble so that they could persecute him some more In verse 11, and so don't forget who he is and that he's with you.
Speaker 1: And the message that you have to deliver to people may not be the popular message, it might not be what they want to hear, it might not be what your boss wants you talking about, but I cannot help but speak of the things that we have both seen and heard, peter and John.
Speaker 1: They were locked up and beaten and whipped and sternly warned not to speak of Jesus anymore, and their message back to those religious and political leaders of the day was that you know whether it's right for us to obey you versus God.
Speaker 1: You be the judge of that, but we cannot help but speak of the things that we have both seen and heard.
Speaker 1: We are witnesses with evidence.
Speaker 1: This fire is shut up in my bones and I cannot contain it.
Speaker 1: I will speak the truth, and so our message ought to be speaking the truth in love.
Speaker 1: But you got to know that he is with you as a mighty terrible one, and so we do not fear God, we fear man.
Speaker 1: We fear God, but not man.
Speaker 1: Pastor quoted Romans 1, 16 this morning.
Speaker 1: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation.
Speaker 1: I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
Speaker 1: You ought to wake up saying that every day.
Speaker 1: I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
Speaker 1: If I hold back the gospel of Christ, people out there are not going to hear it.
Speaker 1: I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
Speaker 1: I am not fear man.
Speaker 1: The Lord is with me.
Speaker 1: As a mighty terrible one.
Speaker 1: I am going to go to work today.
Speaker 1: I am going to be a sign and a wonder and a witness.
Speaker 1: I am a witness with evidence.
Speaker 1: I can't help but speak of the things that I have both seen and heard and just let that build up on the inside of you so that, wherever you go, wherever you are, you are a constant demonstration, a constant witness, so that people will be without excuse.
Speaker 1: The God of this world is blinding minds.
Speaker 1: There is a philosophy out there.
Speaker 1: It is built on the philosophy of the man and the end of that is great ruin and we have to help people build their lives on the rock.
Speaker 1: He is the rock of our salvation and I want to tell you, read to you, a little story here Carol and AjaNade.
Speaker 1: Hopefully, maybe AjaNade is prepped, maybe she is not Carol, maybe you can prep her real quick on the way up here.
Speaker 1: But how many remember the hymn?
Speaker 1: I have decided to follow Jesus.
Speaker 1: You know we are talking about the rock and the different rocks, but all the way through here there was a point of decision.
Speaker 1: At each one of these types of rocks it was either something that was good and stable or something that would be to your own hurt if you ended up on the wrong side of it, and so there was a point of decision all the way through there.
Speaker 1: About 150 years ago there was a revival in Wales, and as a result of this, many missionaries came to the northeast India area to spread the gospel.
Speaker 1: The region known as Assam was comprised of hundreds of tribes who were primitive and aggressive headhunters.
Speaker 1: Into these hostile and aggressive communities came a group of missionaries from the American Baptist missions spreading the message of love and peace and hope in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Usually they were not welcome.
Speaker 1: One missionary succeeded in converting a man, his wife and two children.
Speaker 1: So in this one particular village, a man, his wife and two children were converted to Christianity, and the man's faith proved contagious, and so that other villagers were now also believing the gospel of Jesus Christ and accepting him.
Speaker 1: Some of the villagers became angry and the village chief was summoned.
Speaker 1: He then called for the family who was converted to renounce their faith in public or face execution.
Speaker 1: Moved by the Holy Spirit, the man said I've decided to follow Jesus.
Speaker 1: Enraged at the refusal, the chief ordered the archers to arrow down the children.
Speaker 1: As the boys lay twitching on the floor, the chief asked will you deny your faith, said you've lost both your children.
Speaker 1: Will you lose your wife too?
Speaker 1: And the man replied no one joins me.
Speaker 1: Still, I will follow.
Speaker 1: The chief was beside himself with fury and ordered the wife to be arrowed down too, and in a moment she joined the death of her kids.
Speaker 1: And now this man was alone.
Speaker 1: He said I'll give.
Speaker 1: The chief said I'll give you one more opportunity to deny your faith and live.
Speaker 1: And in the face of death, the man said the final lines the cross before me, the world behind me.
Speaker 1: And then he was shot dead.
Speaker 1: But with their deaths a miracle took place.
Speaker 1: The chief who had ordered the killings was so moved by the faith of the man.
Speaker 1: He wondered why should this man, his wife, two children die for a man who lived in a faraway country over 2,000 years ago?
Speaker 1: He thought there must be some remarkable power behind this man's faith and that of his family.
Speaker 1: And he said I too want a taste of that faith.
Speaker 1: And so, in spontaneous confession of faith, he declared I too belong to Jesus.
Speaker 1: And when the crowd heard that out of his mouth, the whole village accepted Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Now, the man who died didn't write this song because he was dead.
Speaker 1: But there was another villager there that was taking notes and watching what was happening and recording what was happening, and it was an Indian missionary named Sadoo Sundar Singh who penned those words down 150 years ago and put them to music there, and that song is still sung there and then sometime after that it made it into American hymnals here.
Speaker 1: But he's a rock, he's our refuge and our strong tower and we're part of his church and we stand on that revelation, knowledge of who he is.
Speaker 1: He's Christ, the Lord.
Speaker 1: There's no other name whereby a man can be saved, and all hell can come against us, but I will not be moved.
Speaker 1: You will not be moved if you're on that rock.
Speaker 1: So why don't we sing that song tonight?
Speaker 1: When we close out, y'all stand and let's worship Carol and Aja Nay can lead this.
Speaker 2: No turning back.
Speaker 2: I have decided to follow Jesus.
Speaker 2: No turning back.
Speaker 2: I'm still, I will follow.
Speaker 2: No, go with me.
Speaker 2: Still, I will follow.
Speaker 2: No turning back.
Speaker 2: The cross before me, the world behind me, the cross before me, the world behind me, the cross before me, the world behind me.
Speaker 2: No, turning back, no turning back.
Speaker 1: And we overcome by the blood of the Lamb, in the Word of our testimony, your overcomers, every one of you.
Speaker 1: You have a testimony, every one of you has a testimony.
Speaker 1: People need to hear it.
Speaker 1: They need what you got.
Speaker 1: We're not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
Speaker 1: It's the power of God and the salvation.
Speaker 1: Not everybody's going to like it, but we're not going to compromise on it.
Speaker 1: We're not inclusive the way the world is, and we're going to relate to each other as members of the body of Christ and nothing else, and be a demonstration to a lost and dying world.
Speaker 1: Last thing, and I'm going to close, you know some of you may have taken a concealed handgun class or a license to carry class, and one of those things that they teach you in there is don't wait until you get into a situation to decide whether or not you're going to pull your weapon and you're going to use it.
Speaker 1: But you decide that day when, where that threshold is, what condition you might use it.
Speaker 1: You decide that day in that class so that when you're met with those situations in real life and the pressures of real life happens, you don't have to make a decision because you've already decided and so it's.
Speaker 1: The same holds true right here, right now, each one of us, we've decided there's no turning back, there's no turning back, no turning back.