The Sword of the Spirit Podcast
Why the Hatred?
[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] This podcast is hosted on Podhome.fm, an intelligent podcasting platform that you can use to host and unlimited shows and episodes and have unlimited downloads. Podhome comes with many intelligent features like Podhome AI, which automatically creates transcripts, chapters, suggests titles, show notes, detects people and creates clips. You can use Podhome AI unlimited for all your episodes and all your shows. Go check it out and start your free seven day trial at podhome.fm. [MUSIC] Bringing the gospel to the four corners of the earth, this is the sword of the spirit podcast, with your host and Bible teacher, Joseph Rusiello. Take your Bible, sit back, and join us as we open and study the word of God. And now, here's your host. [MUSIC] Well, hey there folks, this is Jerusalem and it is great to be with you once again, as we open up and study the precious word of God, your King James Bible. And you know folks, as always, whenever and wherever you find yourself listening to us, it's always my prayer that you also find yourself in the grace and in the mercy of our Lord and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome to the sword of the spirit podcast. [APPLAUSE] All right, all right, and we are alive once again from the Asylum Studios, broadcasting from the beautiful city of Eagle Pass. And folks, it is a balmy 79 degrees here in Eagle Pass today. The sun is shining, white billowy clouds above. Folks, it's a beautiful, beautiful day for a podcast. And for those of you who are listening on audio and wondering what I'm laughing at, the folks on the video got to see me hit the little lever on the bottom of the chair with my leg and the chair dropped. So that's kind of embarrassing, but right now on the video, my face is like a beet red. So those of you on audio, head over to rumble, rumble.com/sotspodcast and check out, you can watch it later on. Looking at the monitor right now, yeah, I'm still pretty red. So, but hey, you know what, that's OK. That's all right. Because like I always say, it wouldn't be the sort of the spirit podcast without something happening during the course of the show. You figure after doing this for over two years, and what is this? Episode number 203, you figure that we would get these little kinks worked out and things would run a little bit more smooth than what they do. But nevertheless, bloopers aside, we are here with you today on a beautiful, beautiful Sunday afternoon. And I hope you made it out to church this morning. And I really do hope that your pastor, your preacher, brought you a message that just set a fire in your heart for the Word of God that set a fire in your heart for the Lord Jesus Christ. And, of course, you know, excuse me, renewed that burden, refreshed that burden that you and I should feel and need to work -- oh, what's the word I wanted to use? I had it -- in run-through, I had it nailed, you see, again, again, sort of the spirit podcast, top-notch quality for you, folk. I just prayed that, you know, that it just refreshed that burden that you and I should have for the loss and the dying of this world, that we come across every single day in our walk. And as we sojourn as pilgrims through this world that we find ourselves in, you know, and it is incredibly important. It really is important that we have that burden for the loss. Because, again, and I sound like a broken record, I know, but it's -- this is -- these are the last days of the last days, folks. And, you know what, the Lord's standing at the door. He's ready to come through. And, Lord, I pray every day, Lord, come, come quickly, you know. Get us out of here, man. Get us out of here. This place is going to hell in a hand basket really, really, really quick. But on that happy note, I do hope, though, that you had a great weekend. I hope it was relaxing for you, and I hope that, you know, you got a lot of -- I hope you got to spend some time with your family. I think that's the most important thing, to be able to spend time with your family with your kids, with your grandkids. You know, in my case, you know, my kids live up in New York and in Pennsylvania, and, you know, I don't get to see them very often. But, you know, I have -- I have been, and I have Chuck. You know, I've got a chance to spend some time together this weekend, and it was a blessing to do that. But I hope you got a chance to do that with your family as well. And, you know, and I hope that the week has been good for you, and I hope that you had an opportunity to talk to some folks about the Lord Jesus Christ during the course of this week. And, you know, maybe you got to see some folks get saved. And if that's the case, why don't you let me know, shoot me an email, info@sourthespiritpodcast.com. I would love to be able to talk about that on the show. So, yeah, let me know. That would be absolutely awesome. So, a lot of things going on in the world today. A lot of things going on in the election season is kicking up. And I know this isn't a political podcast. But, you know, just -- while I was in preparation for this show today, and going over my material and my notes, and, you know, trying to piece this message here together, you know, I noticed something. Ever since the -- ever since the -- the Kackling Kami from California was installed as the Democratic Party's nominee for the presidency. And by the way, folks, you know, if you're a Democrat and you're listening to this, aren't you upset by that? I mean, really, think about -- aren't you upset by that? Because if you stop and think about it for just a minute, how many of you actually cast a vote for the Kackling Kami? How many of you actually cast a vote for her? If I'm not mistaken, the walk in corpse was the nominee. And that's who you cast your vote for. But after he dropped out somehow, some way, even though not a vote was cast for her, she was installed as your representative, as your nominee for the office of the presidency. And I don't know about you folks. I mean, this is the party that talks about defending democracy and, you know, trying to save and preserve our democracy, democracy, democracy, which, by the way, we're not a democracy. This is a constitutional republic, very, very big difference. And I think that we need to start using that term and that phrase more frequently in our discussions. This is not a democracy. Democracy is mob rule. We are ruled by law. That's a republic. So a representative republic or a constitutional republic. But I'm getting off on a tangent here. I'm not going to spend too much time on it. But one of the things that I noticed, though, is, you know, prior to the installation of the Cackling Commie, you had all of these protests that were getting all this major news coverage. And everywhere you looked, you saw stories about these college campuses. Or is it Campi or campuses? I don't know. But all these college campuses, all right, with all of these protests going on. And I mean, you have to be aware of all this stuff, you know? And I'm sure that you're all aware of all these protests. But did you notice how the coverage on that has kind of stopped or at least diminished? They're not focusing on that too much anymore. Because I personally think, and I don't know for sure, but I personally think that that was something that they were doing to get rid of Joe Biden. But that's neither here nor there at this point. But my point is that if you have any awareness at all of these recent events in the news, you're definitely aware of the protests that took place on these college campuses and how radical a lot of these protests actually were becoming. Some of them, you know, ignorantly, to be fair, ignorantly were actually advocating for the extermination of an entire race of people, you know, the Jewish people, the Jewish race, you know, and these are the folks that call themselves, you know, people of diversity, people of equity, people of acceptance, people of inclusion, you know, and I just find that so incredibly, incredibly hypocritical. When you would turn around and you would say that we wish that every Jew on this planet was murdered, killed, or exterminated, and folks, don't think for a second that this wave of anti-Semitism continues to grow, it'll only be a matter of time before you're going to start hearing louder and louder voices being raised against what we would call evangelical Christians. So my question is for you today is, why the hatred? What's the cause? What's the root cause of this hatred? What's behind the hatred? And that's something that we're going to examine today on the Sword of the Spirit podcast. Now, before we get into today's message, I want you to head over to our website, sortofthespiritpodcast.com, and when you get over there, head over to our contact section, open up that web form, and why don't you send us over a message? Let us know, whatever's on your heart, whatever's on your mind, any questions, comments, cares, concerns that you might have. And also, don't forget to send over your prayer requests. We really do pray over those prayer requests as they come in, and as long as you give us the permission and you consent to allowing us to mention it on the air, we do. So send those over as well. Now, if you don't want to use the web form, totally cool with me, just send it over to us by email at info@sordofthespiritpodcast.com. And then, of course, also, while you're on the website, if you would, please look for the support button on the home page, and remember that this is a modern value for value podcast, okay? And all that basically means that is if this podcast, these vidcasts, the live shows, or listening to it later on, if you've received a blessing from this in any way, if you've received anything of value from all of us, if you've received anything of value from what we're doing here, would you please consider a donation, and it could be your time, your talent, or your treasure? You have to remember, though, we don't run paid ads. So when you hear me do a read for, like, we read for War Tribe and Armory 1 and Contra Radio Network, they're friends, and I'm doing that as a courtesy for them, and I support what they're doing, and each one of them has their own little thing that really appeals to me, so I do that as a courtesy to them. So, and as far as the Contra Radio Network goes, we're part of the Contra Radio Network. Our show is broadcast through their podcast. So, it's reciprocal, you know? So we're not getting paid for any of that stuff. We don't run the paid ads. We're not monetized anywhere. We are absolutely, totally 100% dependent upon you as our listeners, our family, to support us and to help us keep all of this stuff going. You know, it's not cheap to do. A lot of this stuff, you know, we have a lot of paid services that we use, and as I'm looking over the donations that have been coming in, yes, we've been getting donations, you know, that's fine, but we're not getting enough to sustain it all, and we really do need your help. So if you're on the fence about this, or if you're considering it, pray about it. And if the Lord leads you to do it, click that donation button, click that support button, send over donation in any amount, any amount helps, and we would really, really be thankful to receive that. All right, now, if you have your Bible, if you would, why don't you turn it over to the book of John, the Gospel of John, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and John, we're gonna go to the 15th chapter of the book of John. And while you're getting there, I'm gonna get myself organized here. I don't have everything up and running, just the way I want it, so let me do that while you guys are getting over there, and let's see. All right, let me get my notes up here. Sometimes, you know, when you're fidgeting around, getting your notes and everything situated here, that kind of indicates that you got a long sermon on the way. So, you know, get yourself comfortable here, all right? We're gonna get started. Now, in John and chapter 15, John chapter 15, and we'll begin in verse number 18, John 15, verse 18. If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love his own, but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore, the world hated you. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, and if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things, will they do unto you for my namesake, because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin, but now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hated me, hated my father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin, but now they have both seen and hated both me and my father. But this come at the past that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law. They hated me without a cause. But when the comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the father, even the spirit of truth which preceded from the father, he shall testify of me. And you shall also bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. Our father, would you add, I do pray, your blessings, your grandest blessings, your greatest blessings upon the reading and the study of your word. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. So Lord, in a very, very real way, we cannot separate what we have just read from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself because they are His words. Bless them, I do pray. In Jesus precious name we do pray, amen. All right, now I suppose, I suppose, if you have, again, as we said at the very beginning of the show, if you have any awareness at all, really, of more recent news in America, you're aware of all these protests that were taking place on the college campuses. And these protests are getting fairly radical in these young skulls full of mush, basically. And some of them, ignorantly, are actually advocating for the extermination of the Jewish race. And these are folks that call themselves people of diversity, and equity, and acceptance. And again, to me, it is just absolutely hypocritical that you would turn around and say that we wish that every Jew on the planet was murdered, every Jew on the planet was killed or exterminated. I heard a comedian say something, a conservative comedian, and he said, how can they say, how can they possibly say that we're not a people of diversity? I mean, look at us, we've had a black president, we've had an orange president, and now we have a senile president. And then he said, how much more diverse can you get than that? You know, I said, you know, I said amen to that, I did. I said amen. That's, you know, that really is, that's pretty diverse. Jesus, in this text, is speaking to two groups of people at the same time. Now, you can find similar words and similar admonitions that he rendered specifically to the Jewish people over in the book of Matthew. Well, Matthew is, and if you were with us when we were studying dispensational truth, we talked about this briefly. Matthew is a transitional book, transitioning from the Old Testament to the New Testament. But the deep concerns of Matthew are directed toward the Jewish people, instructing them what would be required for them to get their kingdom back, the kingdom that they lost through their disobedience and their sin. And then by the time we get to John, the message has been broadened, not only to the Jewish people, but to the Gentile believers alike. And so, you know, we can take this to heart as much as any Jew can take it to heart. Now, historically, you know, as you look back over the last 2,000 years, if a people in a particular country were going to be persecuted almost inevitably, there was a Jewish population there, and they would be first. And as you look over a couple of the inquisitions, you know, the medieval inquisition, the Spanish inquisition, and other persecutions that have arisen over the last 2,000 years, as soon as they were done with the Jews, they started picking on Bible-believing Christians. That's just the inevitability of the whole thing, and you'll see that as you search out history. And so, you know, as this wave of anti-Semitism continues to grow, I expect that it'll only be a matter of time before you hear those louder and louder voices raised up against what we would normally call evangelical Christians. And so, you can expect it, you can expect it. Now, by the word world, and Jesus talks about the world hating believers, right? Well, what does he mean? What does he mean when he says world, the world? Well, he's simply referring to, you know, the whole system of society that's opposed to Christ and to the Father. And it's made up of organizations and philosophies and purposes that are anti-Christian. This world has a prince, okay? And that prince is none other than Satan himself. And just as in the previous chapter, and, you know, we'll look, well, you know what? You're in John 15, right? So, just go back to John 14 and verse 30. John 14 and verse 30, and before we do that, I'm gonna grab a sip of my blackout coffee here. Oh, it's getting colder already. Wow. Let me go to break, I'm gonna have to get a fresh cup. Wow. So, John chapter 14, I'm sorry, John chapter 14 and verse 30. Hereafter, I will not talk much with you for the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me. All right, well, on another occasion, he's called the prince of the power of the air, okay? And you find that over in the book of Ephesians. And there's no question, there's no question about who God is talking about. He's talking about the devil himself, who's the arch enemy of Christ. Now, since he's the, you know, the mover and the shaker in the world system, you would expect that these entities to be opposed to believers, and in fact, they are. Now, over in 1 John and chapter three, 1 John chapter three and verse 13, John said this, "Marvel not my brethren, if the world hates you." So, in other words, you know, don't be surprised. Don't be surprised, it's to be fully expected. So, the question then remains. The question remains. Why does the world hate us? Why the hate? Now, I don't want you to get paranoid now, all right? So, you know, just hang on a minute. That doesn't mean that every unsaved individual hates you, okay, that's not what the Lord intended. This doesn't mean that everybody that's walking down the street has a hatred for every believer, all right? But the system does, all right? The system does. That's the reference that's there, you see? All right, so there is a system that's out there organized by the God of this world, the small G, God of this world, the devil himself, that hates everyone that identifies with the Lord Jesus Christ, because he is the ultimate source of hatred, all right? Now, back in pre-World War II Germany, and I'm sure most of you are somewhat familiar with that history, it all began with a party called the Nazis, all right? And so, one by one, different groups of people were targeted. And of course, you know, we understand how that systematically different groups of people were eliminated, or at least they attempted to eliminate them. There was a very prominent Lutheran pastor back in those days, and actually he was born in 1892, and in World War I, he was a Submariner on German U-boats, and when the Nazis, when the Nazi state first came into power, he actually voted for them, he actually voted for them. But then as time went on, he began to take a deeper look into the whole thing, and he realized, he realized that, you know, this is wrong, there is absolutely nothing right about this. His name was Martin Niemüller, Niemüller. And that's a German name, and I'm probably not pronouncing it right, so if you're a German and you're listening, please don't get offended, all right? But after the war, here's what Niemüller said. And he said, now, there were several interpretations of what I'm about to read to you, and the reason for that is that after the war, this Lutheran pastor went, you know, first of all, all around Germany, giving lectures, and he spoke primarily extemporaneously. And so every time he said this, he may have said it a little bit differently, all right? And the quote that I'm gonna read to you now is just the quote that I first quote that I found, and I pulled it up, but this is what he said. First, they came for the socialist. I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionist. I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews. I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics. I did not speak out because I was not a Catholic. And then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me. Well, and that's exactly the way it went. So the Nazis then took pastor Niemüller, Niemüller, and he spent the next seven years in a concentration camp. And he was freed by the Allied Forces when he was just at the point of utter starvation. Well, what he was saying, or what he said, then it's important for people to speak out. It's important for people to speak out. Now, believe it or not, there are a lot of pastors and preachers in this country of ours. And as a matter of fact, I heard a very prominent, preacher say about two weeks ago, maybe three weeks ago, he said that politics have no place in the church. Well, you know something, folks, if that's true, if that's true, then we might as well, they might as well rip up about 80% of the Bible. They might as well just throw it in the trash because you know something every time I turn around, I am reading something politically oriented in my Bible. You know, the greatest sociological political textbook on the planet is your Bible. And I just realized I don't have it here with me. So, I can't point it out to you, but I'll use this one. Okay, I have plenty. Your Bible is the greatest, the greatest sociological political textbook on the planet because you know what it does? Do you know what it does? It reveals the motives of the wicked human heart, the motives of the wicked human heart. And they always, always seem to find their way into the political structures of the world. Well, the question that remains before us then is, why the hatred? Why the hatred? And folks, there's no question about it. There's no question about it. Why the hatred? First of all, toward the Jewish people. I mean, it's incredible, you know? It's really, it's absolutely incredible. You know, the last I knew, the last I know, there were maybe about seven, possibly eight million Jews in Israel, all right? And they're surrounded by hundreds of millions of adversaries in all the adjacent countries. All right, so why is that hatred even there? And why would these college students on these Ivy League campuses walk around shouting and screaming hate speech against a tiny minority of people that they, in reality, really know nothing about. They know nothing about their history. They know nothing about their many persecutions over the years. They know nothing about Zionism and what Zionism really is or how it began. They know nothing about how the land that the present day Jews occupy and live on was gained by them and occupied in the first place. They utterly and utterly and absolutely ignorant of the real issues. But you see, they've been easily molded into an adversarial voice against this tiny minority of people. Well, how is that possible? How is that possible? Unless there was someone far smarter than they are orchestrating these events and that's exactly the case. Because again, the prince of the power of the air, the God small G of this world is the real puppet master behind the scenes. So why the hatred? Why the hatred? Well, go back to John chapter 10 with me and let's examine this just a little bit. John chapter 10 and verse 28. Yeah, it's good. Even though it's getting cold, it's still pretty good. John chapter 10 verse 28, it says, well, you know what? Let's do verse 27. In verse 27, he's speaking of a sheep. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father, which gave them to me, is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. Now, based upon these verses, you know, along with something we read over in first John chapter five, you know, he says in first John chapter five, I think it's verse 13, he says, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know you have eternal life, gives you the authority as a Bible believer to sit down and say, listen, I can show you from the word of God how that you can have eternal life. Now, think about this. I want you to think about this. Name one system, name one system in this world that can give you that guarantee. Name one, just one. Can you name a system in the world that can tell you that you can have eternal life? Can Harvard tell you? Can Columbia, can Stanford tell you that? Can they give you any assurance or guarantee that you have eternal life? I don't think so. I don't think so. Education can't give you that. Can science guarantee you that? I mean, with all of the advances and all the accolades that are heaped upon science and the wonderful things, you know, in some arenas that they've actually accomplished, they have, there's still one thing, one thing that totally, utterly eludes them, eternal life. They cannot give it to you. Can psychology give you eternal life? Or the best they can do is say, you know, well, how do you feel about that, right? Can philosophy and all of the great philosophers of the past, you know, can Aristotle and Socrates and Plato and all of the other great philosophers? I mean, great, right, great that have been lifted up and are still the mindset for studies and universities around the world. Can they give you that guarantee? None of them can. None of them can. Not one system in this world can give us any assurance of life after this life. And then Jesus comes along and says, hey, it's mine to give, and I can give it, and I'm willing to give it. And all you have to do is receive it in my name and put your full faith, trust and confidence in what I'm telling you. Well, you know something, folks, strangely up that, that conjures up a great deal of animosity and a great deal of hatred because Jesus, you know, the lonely prophet from Galilee comes along and says, I can do what no system in the world can do. Well, you know, everyone that's locked up into that system, everyone that thinks they need that system, you know, maybe it provides them with an income or perhaps it gives them what they consider to be, you know, emotional support. They hate those words, hate them. So in other words, in the plainest words possible, good news is deemed inappropriate. Good news is deemed inappropriate. Isn't that insane? Is it? I mean, it's insane. No, maybe that's why every time you turn on the evening news, it's about 95% bad news because that's where the world lives. They live in the middle of bad news. You know, folks, keep listening to the sort of the spirit podcast. We'll give you some good news, amen. Amen. But you know what the gospel means? The word gospel, the word gospel means the good news. And that's exactly what it is. Well, why is it then that the world hates us? Well, first of all, because it hated Christ and we belong to him. Now, look over in John chapter 17, John in chapter 17. What I'm trying to do is I'm trying to make it as easy as possible on you today. I'm keeping you in John as much as I can. In John chapter 17 and verse 14, John 17, 14, I have given them thy word and the world have hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. All right, here's the deal. The reason why God's people ultimately are hated. Another reason is because we no longer belong to the world. Amen, amen. You know, you know, for many years, for many years, you know, I've been amused by these, and I've mentioned this many times already, but I've always been amused by these little bumper stickers that you'll occasionally see on someone's car or truck or van, whatever. And that has the picture of the earth. And then it'll say something like, you know, protect your mother or take care of your mother and all that kind of business, you know. My mother isn't here, all right? My mother is not of this world. My mother is not this world. I mean, you know what God's gonna do to this world someday? God has so little regard for this world, he's gonna extinguish it in an explosion of fire and brimstone. Peter talks about it and he says, basically he says it's just gonna be incinerated. We are no longer, we no longer belong to the world. And so because it's really you as a believer, that's the alien. And as an alien, you're to be feared. As an alien, you're to be suspected. As an alien, you're dangerous. Amen? All right, secondly, go to chapter 15 again, where we just left. Chapter 15 and verse 20. Chapter 15 and verse 20. I'm trying to drink the coffee fast before it gets so cold that I can't. Chapter 15 and verse 20. Remember the word that I said unto you? The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. All right, another reason why the world hates the believer is because the world has rejected the word of God. That very thing that you have received and received to yourself, that you cling to, that you build your life upon, that you build, that forms your philosophies, that forms your ideas and your morals and your values, they have rejected that book that you've accepted and therefore, therefore, that's a cause for some of them or some of the hatred that comes toward the believer. And then in chapter 16, chapter 16 and verse one. These things have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues. Yay, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that they do with God's service. And these things will they do unto you because they have not known the father nor me. Now, you know, some of the very epitaphs that have been uttered on these college campuses are in reality, in reality, very closely associated with what we just read. Now, you might be scratching your head saying, I don't understand it. Well, what they're saying is if we can kill the Jews, we're doing God a service. It's insane, it's insane. But we see how that historically and biblically, it always spills over, not just from the Jewish thing, but a believer thing. And then finally, in 15 and verse 24, chapter 15, 24. If I had not done among them the works, which none other man did, they had not had sin. But now they have both sin and hated both me and my father. Now, as I studied that particular verse and I thought about that verse, I said, Lord, I get the meaning, I understand it, but the phraseology is puzzling to me. All right, now look at it again. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin. Well, what does that mean, had sin? Well, I mean, I would understand it more clearly if it would say, sin had not been revealed to them, but then the more I pondered it, I don't, look, I don't have the liberty to change the book, right? If I don't understand something, you know what I have, what I do have the liberty to do? I do have the liberty to pray and ask God to help me understand it, to admit to God, hey, Lord, I'm a dummy, I'm a dummy, I need your help. And then all of a sudden, it occurred to me, they had not had sin. The idea of things very clear when you really stop and think about it. With the advent of Jesus Christ and his physical and a spiritual presence in their midst, it wasn't just that sin was being revealed to them through his righteousness and gave early, it was, but it's as if he just painted with his righteous brush, sin, all over them. And now they had sin. In other words, it was evident, it was real, it was observable, you could see it, they could see it, they could understand it. So now they had to confess in the moments of truth, if they had any truth at all, that they too had sin. So in other words, it was an accusation against them and their sinfulness. So the world's sin is revealed by the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, now having said all that and having come to somewhat of a realization as to why the world hates the believer, what do we need to do? What do we need to do? Well, number one, recognizing the threat. The more we're sucked into the world, the less effective we are as witnessing Christians. And Satan knows that, and he has plenty of carrots to hang in front of every believer. So an appearance of acceptance is one of the tricks of his toolbox. Now long ago, a man by the name of William Law warned that the world is now a greater enemy to Christians than it was in apostolic times. Say what? Wait a minute, apostolic times, you're talking about the days of Nero, the days of the Caesars. That's in the days when they were feeding Christians to the lions, you know, and they were burning them alive at the stake, and they were using Christians as lamp posts. They were doing all kinds of unspeakable things against God's people, and this guy comes along and he says, we live in a more dangerous time now than they did. What? How is that possible? And he went on to say, it's a greater enemy because it has greater power over Christians by its favors, its riches, honors, rewards, and protections that it had by the fire and the fury of its persecutors. It's a more dangerous enemy by having lost its appearance of entity. Its outward profession to Christianity makes it no longer considered as an enemy, and therefore the people are easily persuaded to resign themselves up to be governed by it and directed by it. So in other words, we're all friends, and that's a trap, and that's a trap that some of God's people get sucked into. Well, you know, when in Rome, do as the Romans do? No, when in Rome, run the other way, get out of town. All right, now this is an illustration. It's a funny one, but I like it, and I think it fits. A new pastor was invited by the local Kiwanis to join their club. The membership secretary reminded him, however, that it was the rule of the club to have only one representative from each profession, and that they already had, but they already had the one category of pastor filled. The only profession not represented at the moment was one of a hog caller, and she asked, you know, would the pastor mind? Well, was the Reverend Gentleman's reply, where I come from, I was known as the Shepherd. But of course, you know your group best. All right, now I know some of you have to think about that for a second, so I'll give it to you. All right, did you get it? All right, well, if you didn't get it, you're hopeless, but you'll get it eventually, just keep pondering it. Go back and listen to it again. All right, now, and I know you've all heard this illustration, but it's so incredibly applicable to what we're talking about here. And it's the illustration of about, you know, if you want to boil a frog, you don't throw him into a pot of boiling water because he'll just jump right out. So instead, you put him in a pot of warm water that feels, you know, so nice and so cozy and comfortable, and then you turn the heat up. And by the time it gets to the point where he says, man, you know, this is uncomfortable, I'm leaving, he can't. He can't because he lost his capability to leap out. And, you know, that's a trick that Satan has used over and over and over again. Christians usually become worldly by accepting worldly attitudes and worldly ideas and behavior and so on. Not all at once, but by degrees. That's what happened to a fellow by the name of Lot down in Sodom and Gomorrah, remember that? And the Bible tells us that the worldliness and the sinfulness of Sodom vexed his spirit, okay? It vexed the spirit. Well, then why didn't he leave? Why didn't he just, you know, pack up and say, you know, I'm out of here, man, I can't take this anymore. Well, he didn't, he stayed. And by staying, he slowly, slowly was sucked into that swamp. Now, fortunately and finally, only because of God's warning of utter destruction, did it motivate him to leave. That's why in James 4-4, James 4-4 talks about friendship with the world and first John chapter two, you know, we read about love for the world. And then in Romans chapter two, you know, we finally read about conformity to the world, be not conformed to this world. Be not conformed to this world, so we need to be aware of the threat because the devil knows that once you're saved, once you know the Lord Jesus Christ, he can't get your soul back. He can't, he can't do that, but there's one thing he can attempt to do and that is to mitigate or destroy your testimony. And so by destroying your testimony, you're no longer a threat to his kingdom and to his people. You see what I'm saying? Now, the bigger the world is to us, the more weight it bogs us down. You know, Hebrews chapter 12 talks about a besetting weight that just weighs believers down. You know, if the world is all around us, if that's all we're involved in, if that's all we think about, we're victimized by the very weight that we've allowed to pursue us. Well, you know, revelation brings responsibility. All right, back in John chapter 15. John chapter 15 and verse 22, if I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin, but now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth me, hateth my father also. If I had not done among them the works, which none other man did, they had not had sin. But now they have now, but now have they both seen and hated both me and my father. Jesus words and works reveal the sinfulness of mankind so that none are with excuse, none are without excuse, I should say. The Jews and the Gentiles both participated in his death. The Jews demanded it. The Gentiles obliged that demand. The Romans obliged that demand. Remember, we're dealing with the hatred as we read without a cause. And of course, Jesus said that his life was just fulfilling that very thing. Well, you know, that comes from Psalm 69 and verse four, hated without a cause. Those imaginations are instilled by a higher power. And again, that higher power is well described for us. Now, keep your finger here and go to second Corinthians and chapter 10. I want you to see this in big bold letters for yourself. Second Corinthians, chapter 10 and verse three. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down imaginations in every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of the flesh, and the people of the flesh. On imaginations in every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity, every thought to the obedience of Christ. So in other words, there's one out there in our atmosphere who has the ability to install these wicked imaginations in the minds of young skulls full of mush. And the only power that's a period of that to overcome these imaginations is the power of Jesus Christ. He's the only one, the only one that truly has that kind of power. So it's not the 10 commandments, that's the problem. It's the author of the 10 commandments. That's the real problem right there. The one who not only reveals sin to them, but paints them all over with sin so much that they cannot dispute his words. So then we have back in John chapter 15 and verse 26, John 15, 26. But when the comforter has come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the spirit of truth which proceeded from the Father, he shall testify of me. So the work of the comforter is what? To reveal truth, which introduces a time of self-examination. You see, that's the problem with this Bible. Every time I read it, it's like reading a mirror, I'm looking at me. It's a description of me, that's the problem. And so, as the Holy Spirit who indwells us as believers, urges us to get into the book, it requires some time of self-examination. Someone wrote, I wasn't smart enough to write this, but I was smart enough to read it, all right? And I thought, man, this is pretty good. Which disturbs you the most? Well, before I read it though, here's an epigram of worldliness, all right? Now, I know a lot of religious settings, worldliness is assigned to a particular form of behavior, all right? Worldliness was back when was, if you played cards, you were considered worldly. If you danced, you were worldly. If you went to movies, you were worldly. If you watched television, you were worldly. Well, none of those things is absolutely true, all right? I think John Wesley said it best, and he said, anything that cools my love for Christ is of the world, all right? So, if it cools your love for the Lord Jesus, then it becomes a problem, amen? Then it's a problem. So, which disturbs you the most, all right? A soul lost in hell or a scratch on your new car? That's a tough one, right? Isn't it? That's a tough one. I mean, that's getting right down to where the cow didn't get the cabbage, right? Which disturbs you the most? You're missing the worship service or missing a day's work. A sermon 10 minutes too long or a lunch hour, half an hour late, whoa, right? There we go, Joe, you've done quit preaching and gone to Medellin now, right? A church not growing or your garden not growing. Your Bible unopened or your newspaper unread. The church work being neglected or housework neglected. Missing a good Bible study or your favorite TV program. The millions who do not know Christ or your inability to keep up with the neighbors. What disturbs you the most? The cry for the multitude for bread or your desire for another piece of German chocolate cake, which by the way is my favorite. You're giving decreasing or your income decreasing. What bothers you most? Your children late for Sunday school and church or late for public school? What really disturbs you the most? No, a man once said to Dale Moody, who was a great evangelist, if you don't know. He said, "Mr. Moody, now that I'm converted, "must I give up the world?" And Dale Moody said, "No, you need not give up the world. "If you give a ringing testimony for the Son of God, "the world will give you up pretty quick. "They will not want you around." And when you stop and think about it and you really think about it, folks, all that the world allegedly offers, how can you possibly compare that to what God offers? Now some of you listening are probably old enough to remember the old days when Vince Lombardi, which by the way, just the point of useless trivia here, useless information, Vince Lombardi is actually a cousin to me. So this is family I'm talking about here, all right? Vince Lombardi, if you don't know, he was the coach of the Green Bay Packers, and as a matter of fact, Vince Lombardi brought the Green Bay Packers to Super Bowl I. And the trophy, the NFL trophy for winning the Super Bowl is the Vince Lombardi trophy. And this is back when football players didn't make a lot of money, or at least the kind of money they were making today, millions and millions of dollars. Back then, they didn't make a lot. But Vince Lombardi, cousin Vince, strictly enforced an 11 p.m. curfew during training camp. Well, the story goes that he caught Max McGee sneaking out one night, and in the team meeting the following day, he fined him $125 with the promise that the next time he snuck out, the fine would cost him $250. Well, Max was caught again, and he was warned that the price for the next infraction was gonna be $500. Now, Max was a shrewd Texan, and he loved life, and he did not scare easily. Inevitably, there was another meeting, and Vince was so angry, he was literally shaking. Max, he yelled, that's gonna cost you $500, and if you go again, it's gonna cost you a thousand. The room was quiet, totally quiet, hushed. Vince simmered down, and actually managed to smile a little bit. Wasn't big on smile, he has smiled a little bit. He said, Max, very softly, if you can find anything out there worth $1,000, call me and I'll go with you. Folks, the world doesn't have nearly to offer what you think it does. If whatever you do, and John Wesley had the best best definition ever came across. People say, well, this is worldly, or that's worldly, or that's worldly, that's worldly, folks, throw all that stuff out the window. Throw it all out the window, and just remember this. If it cools my love for Jesus Christ, then that's what I need to stay away from. It's really simple, it's really easy, it's really not complicated at all. Now, prayerfully, and hopefully, when you go to church, it intensifies your love for him, and that's something I mentioned always on Sundays, especially at the beginning of the show. That's one of the purposes of being in church. It helps your love grow. By necessity, someone else said, the ship must be in the water, but when the water gets in the ship, there's a problem. Wouldn't you agree? When the water gets in the ship, you got a problem. It's hard to criticize that which you've accepted. If you're willing to live with some of the water in the ship, and you say, oh, well, you know, we got pumps, it'll just keep pumping it out. It's hard to criticize the water if you've accepted it. So, whatever it is, the world would seek to suck us in, and we have to resist. You know, when I was a new Christian, I was attending an independent Baptist church up in New York City, and the pastor included this in the worship bulletin one Sunday, and I kept it, and as a matter of fact, I kept all of them, to be honest with you, I have a whole box full of these bulletins in the closet over here to my right. And, but you know, he included this in the bulletin and at a Sunday service, and this is something that was said about 60 years ago by a radio broadcaster by the name of Paul Harvey, and it's quite profound, actually, and I wanna read it to you, and this is what something he said to his audience of several million people, some 60 years ago, all right? Here's what he said. Quote, "If I were the devil, "if I were the prince of darkness, "I would want to engulf the whole earth in darkness. "I'd have a third of its real estate "and four-fifths of this population, "but I would not be happy "until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree. "So I should set about, however, "necessary to take over the United States. "I would begin with a campaign of whispers. "With the wisdom of a serpent, "I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve, "please, do as you please. "Man created God instead of the other way around. "I would confide that what is bad is good "and that what is good is square. "In the ears of the young married, "I would whisper that work is the basing, "that cocktail parties are good for you. "I would caution them not to be extreme in religion, "in patriotism, in moral conduct. "In the old, I would teach to pray to say after me, "our father, which art in Washington, "then I'd get organized. "I'd educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting "so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting. "I had threatened TV with dirtier movies and vice versa. "I'd infiltrate unions and urge more loafing, less work. "Idle hands usually work for me. "I peddled narcotics to whom I could. "I'd sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction, "and I'd tranquilize the rest with pills. "If I were the devil, "I would encourage schools to refine young intellects, "but neglect to discipline emotions. "Let them run wild." Well, that's what's going on on the campuses today, right? I designate an atheist to front for me before the highest courts, and I'd get preachers to say she's right. With flattery and promise of power, I would get the courts to vote against God, and in favor of pornography. Thus, I would evict God from the courthouse, then from the schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress. Then, in his own church, I'd substitute psychology for religion and deify science. If I were Satan, I'd make the symbol of Easter and egg, and the symbol of Christmas, a bottle. If I were the devil, I'd take from those who have and give to those who wanted until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. Then, my police state would force everyone back to work. Then, I would separate families, putting children in uniform, women in coal mines, and objectors to slave labor camps. If I were Satan, I'd just pretty well keep on doing what I'm doing, and the whole world go to hell as sure as the devil, if I were the devil. Now, this guy wrote that and said that about 60 years ago, and about 98% of what I just read, we've seen come to pass over the last 60 years. Folks, the world doesn't love you. The world doesn't love you. And the only love you need to have for them is a desire to see them come to Jesus Christ. The only thing that can change their minds and their opinions and their behavior is the power of Christ. And that's why we seek Him through every, that's why we seek through every means and avenue possible to win them to Him. Not only, not only will He give them eternal life, that no one else can promise, but Jesus said, I am come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly, more abundantly. You know what that, you know what? Really, it's not a hardship. It's not a difficulty to live for the Lord under the umbrella of His grace. It's really not. It's a blessing. It's an encouragement. I mean, you know, every time I have to make a major decision, I know, I know that I have a book that'll give me the proper instructions. Step by step. I don't have to guess. I don't have to wonder. I know that God has the correct information for me. Now, but you see, we live in a world where a lot of people don't admit that they're stupid. They think, they think they got the world by the tail and, you know, everything is just grand. Everything is just great. And then they'll get it all figured out. Except they don't. They don't figure it out. And they go to these extreme and sanities that were seeing all around us. The best protection you have against it is trust Jesus Christ as your Savior. Trust Him for His forgiveness. Trust Him for His guarantee of eternal life. You know, once again, education can't do that. Science can't do that. Philosophy can't do that. Psychology can't do that. Washington D.C. can't do that. But Jesus can't. Jesus can't. Heavenly Father, we thank You for the day. God, thank You for the preaching and the teaching of Your Holy Word. Thank You, Lord, for this opportunity to bring this message to all the folks that are listening. Thank You so much, Father. Thank You so much. Father, help us to understand that we fight against principalities and powers and the rules of darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places. But God, we have an advocate with the Father. We have the Lord Jesus Christ. We have His Word. And God will help us to assimilate it and apply it to our everyday life and every situation that we're in. And God, give us the wisdom that we need to face the challenges that this world brings to us. Help us to overcome the hate with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, we thank You so much for all that You do for us. We thank You for the love, the mercy, the grace that You pour out upon us. We thank You, Lord, for each and everyone that's listening today. And God, we just pray that if someone's listening, it's not saved. Lord, that You would bring conviction to their hearts and their minds and their souls. Lord, that they would call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. And Father, we'll thank You for it. In the precious name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, we do pray. Amen. And. Amen. All right, folks. We're going to take our break here. And when we come back from our break, I'll get some fresh coffee. When we come back from our break, we'll get on with our prayer list. We'll go down our salvation list, sick list, and general prayer list, a couple of announcements. And then we'll, you know, we'll start to wrap this whole thing up for today. All right, folks. So this is the Sword of the Spirit podcast. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share it with your friends, your family, and your followers. Don't forget that this is a live show every Sunday at 3 p.m. Central Time, 7 p.m. Central Time on Thursday evenings. And also, hey, look, we're on Rumble. Thank you so much to everybody watching on Rumble right now. Thank you so much. Appreciate you being here. And for all the listeners we have right now on the audio stream, hey, thank you so much for being there and spending your Sunday afternoon with us. God bless you for it. And we'll be back in just a few moments. And just a few moments. Again, folks, this is the Sword of the Spirit podcast. We'll be back. Stay with us. Hi, everyone. This is JJ, the co-founder of Good Pods. If you haven't heard of it yet, Good Pods is like Goodreads or Instagram, but for podcast. It's new, it's social, it's different, and it's growing really fast. There are more than two million podcasts, and we know that it is impossible to figure out what to listen to. On Good Pods, you follow your friends and podcasters to see what they like. That is the number one way to discover new shows and episodes. You can find Good Pods on the web or download the app. Happy listening. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ This is Jared Misha with the Modern Apocrypha Podcast and Author of the Book Bright Star. And you're listening to sort of the Spirit Podcast on sort of the spiritpodcast.com and podhome.fm. ♪♪♪ ♪ Every morning when I wake to see the sun ♪ ♪ I can't help but think about the Lord ♪ ♪ And all the things He's done ♪ ♪ He meets my every need ♪ ♪ You know He's been so good to meet ♪ ♪ And I can't help but praise the Lord ♪ ♪ For all He's done ♪ ♪ For all He's done ♪ ♪ I'm gonna lift my hands and praise Him ♪ ♪ For all He's done ♪ ♪ I'll try to live my life to please Him ♪ ♪ Even though I don't deserve to live ♪ ♪ My life has just begun ♪ ♪ And I can't help but praise the Lord ♪ ♪ For all He's done ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ There are many things that I could praise God for ♪ ♪ And if I started now until I died ♪ ♪ There'd still be many more ♪ ♪ If I could mention only one ♪ ♪ I'd have to thank Him for His Son ♪ ♪ And that's enough to praise the Lord ♪ ♪ For all He's done ♪ ♪ For all He's done ♪ ♪ I'm gonna lift my hands and praise Him ♪ ♪ For all He's done ♪ ♪ I'll try to live my life to please Him ♪ ♪ Even though I don't deserve to live ♪ ♪ My life has just begun ♪ ♪ And I can't help but praise the Lord ♪ ♪ For all He's done ♪ ♪ For all He's done ♪ ♪ I'm gonna lift my hands and praise Him ♪ ♪ For all He's done ♪ ♪ I'll try to live my life to please Him ♪ ♪ Even though I don't deserve to live ♪ ♪ My life has just begun ♪ ♪ And I can't help but praise the Lord ♪ ♪ For all He's done ♪ ♪ Even though I don't deserve to live ♪ ♪ My life has just begun ♪ ♪ And I can't help but praise the Lord ♪ ♪ For all He's done ♪ ♪ For all He's done ♪ ♪ For all He's done ♪ ♪ For all He's done ♪ ♪ For all He's done ♪ Amen, amen, amen. That's one of my favorites, you know? I love that song. The first time I heard that song was, oh, I wanna say, oh, I don't know, maybe, maybe two, three years ago, three, about three years ago, I heard it on Thanksgiving. And what a blessing it was when I heard it then. And it's still a blessing to hear it today. And, but I hope you enjoyed it. And I know the break was a little bit longer than we normally would take, but I needed to get some more coffee, which I have right here. And I'm very, very excited about that. And I probably shouldn't be drinking so much coffee. I tend to drink a lot. So, but oh my gosh, but I can't help it. It's just really good stuff. All right, hold on. See, I remember to mute this time instead of coughing in your face. All right, well folks, welcome back to the sort of a spirit podcast. This is Joe Rusiello and yeah, look at that. Just so, just saw myself on the monitor there coughing. So there's a little bit, a little bit of a delay. I got distracted, I apologize. But anyway, this is the sort of a spirit podcast. Welcome back. And folks, I really hope that that was a blessing of a message for you. It was a blessing for me to put it together and to study it. And I was really looking forward to preaching it today. And, and I hope there was a blessing to you. And if you have any questions or comments about it, you know, up there on rumble, you can drop a comment. In the live chat or you can drop a comment below. Just let me know what you think or don't forget to hit that like button. Helps us with the algorithm, helps folks find our show. And, you know, and I've said this before and I'll say it again. You know, when I say I want folks to find the show, it's, you know, I'm not looking to be popular. I'm not looking to make money. I'm not looking for any of that stuff. I want people to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want people to hear the good news about eternal life through the Son of God. So, you know, that's important to me. It should be important to all of us as believers. And, you know, so hit that like button. And if you're listening on any of the modern podcast apps, don't forget to send that boost or a comment. Let us know where you are, what you think. And any prayer requests. Speaking of prayer requests, it's about that time. We're gonna get down to our prayer list. Now, don't forget, you can always send us your prayer request by heading over to our website, sortofthespiritpodcast.com. And use the web form, send it over to us, or email it to us directly at info@sortofthespiritpodcast.com. That's info@sortofthespiritpodcast.com. I do need to grab my phone here really quick because I did get a prayer request before we went on the show. So, and I didn't have an opportunity to put it in my notes. So we have it right here in front of us. All right. And so, as always, what we do is we start off by praying for the folks that are in need of salvation. We have three folks that are on our prayer list for salvation. We have Micah, his sister Candy, and Eddie. We've been praying for them for quite a bit of time now. And we're gonna try to get some updates on this from the folks that added them to the list for us and let you know where they stand. But until we hear otherwise, we're gonna continue to pray for them for salvation. And again, folks, you know, it's so important today this, you know, for salvation because we are in the last days of the last days. And, you know, you can't emphasize it any more than that. You know, the Lord's gonna be returning very, very soon. I personally, my personal feeling is, and again, I would never, never set a date and never tell you, oh, I am dogmatically certain that on this day, date and time, the Lord's gonna return, and so on. Never would I do that, you know, the Lord to return before I finished the next sentence, he could return 30 years from now. I don't know specifically when he's gonna return, but I don't know, I am pretty sure, I am pretty sure of my heart that he's gonna be coming within the next couple of years, you know, and again, like I said, I wouldn't teach that as doctrine, I wouldn't specifically set a date for it, but, you know, the Lord's gonna return very, very soon, you know, very, very soon. So we need to be prepared for that. And the way you get prepared for that is by calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to get saved, because salvation, your decision for salvation has eternal consequences. All right, you could reject the Lord Jesus Christ and when you die, you will wake up in hell. And at that point, it is too late, there is no turning back from there. You will be in hell and in torments for eternity. And eternity is a very, very long time. I have an illustration in mind, I don't wanna mess it up, so I'll give it a shot. I didn't prepare for it, so it's just kinda popped in my mind. The Puritans had used an illustration to describe eternity as picture the earth full of sand. And once every million years, a little bird comes along, takes one grain of sand, flies away, and then comes back a million years later to take another one. Millions and millions of years later, the bird is barely picked up enough sand to cover the bottom of a glass or a cup. That's eternity, a very, very long time. Don't go to hell. Don't go to hell. It's within your abilities to stay out of hell. And when I say abilities, I don't mean your baptism. I don't mean your church membership. I don't mean your taking of sacraments or ordinances or praying to saints or praying to Mary. I'm not talking about your giving money or helping the poor. I'm not talking about anything like that. No work that you do will save you. No work that you do will get you into heaven. When I say your abilities, I'm talking about you have a free will. You can either accept the gift of salvation or you can reject the gift of salvation. And folks, if you reject it, you will end up in hell. If you accept it, you'll end up in heaven. How do you accept it? You call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. How do you reject it? You turn away from it. You let it go. You say, not now. I have other things to do. I have more important things to do. That's what I'm talking about. All right, so it's within your abilities as to whether or not you end up in heaven or hell. All right. When you get, if you die without Jesus Christ, you end up in hell. You have nobody to blame but yourself. God did not send you to hell. You sent yourself to hell. And I can say that emphatically because God gave you a way out of hell. And that's through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. All he wants you to do is put your full faith, trust and confidence in his shed blood in the finished work of the cross and his death, burial and resurrection and believe him and trust him. That's all he wants. That's all it is. That's all it takes. So what are you gonna do with it? Are you gonna call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and get saved or are you going to reject it? Balls in your court, it's up to you. Now the folks that are on our prayer list here, we have Micah, Candy and Eddie, all in need of salvation. And let's pray for them right now and then we'll move on to the rest of the prayer list. Our Heavenly Father, we wanna pray today for the folks that are on our salvation prayer list. God, I just pray that you would just through the power of the Holy Spirit, God just convict them of their sin, draw them into yourself and Lord that they would call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that they would see their need for salvation, that they would see that they are sinners on their way to hell. God, I pray that their spiritual eyes would be open to that and Lord that they would call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Father, we thank you so much for the gift of salvation. We thank you that it didn't cost us anything but it cost you everything. And Father, thank you, thank you so much for it. Thank you for giving us your Son, your precious, sinless, perfect Son to die on the cross for us. Thank you, God, thank you. And Father, we pray for these folks, we pray for Candy, we pray for Eddie, we pray for Micah. God, please, save them today and we'll thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, and going on down our sick list, we're gonna pray for Yasanya, who is dealing with cancer, we're praying for Maricella, who's having some trouble after a triple bypass. We're praying for Rosa with heart trouble, Lorena, who's fighting cancer, Emmanuelle, who's fighting for cancer, fighting with cancer. My sister Laura, healing from her surgery, we're praying for Ruth with some various health concerns that she has. And then we're also praying for Ashley, who is feeling sick these days, kind of a relapse from what she was dealing with last week. And then going on down our general prayer list, we are praying for Brother Henry. Now, Brother Henry had a great brother in Christ, I mean, really, truly is. And I look forward to hearing from him on a regular basis. And I think I told you guys last week that Henry and his wife had a baby girl. And so he texted me right before the show, we start over the show. And he asked us if we can continue to pray for his wife, that she would have a speedy recovery and for his little baby named Adele Grace. So we're gonna pray for them today. And we're also gonna pray for Henry as he is leading his family. We're gonna pray that the Lord will give him direction and clarity and that the Lord would hedge him about and protect him and his family as they serve. And then we'll pray for his wife and we'll pray for little Adele. All right, and we're also praying for Angela for direction and clarity in her walk. We're also praying for Ashley, for peace in her life and in her soul, praying for Larissa, for employment opportunities, praying for Claude, that the Lord to meet his family needs, praying for Eddie. That's the same Eddie that's on our Salvation Prayer List 'cause he is also battling addiction. So we're gonna pray for him. We're also praying for Ed for his health and wellbeing. We're also, and then we're also praying for Isabel, who is a single mom and she has some unspecified needs that she needed prayer for. All right, so let's go to the Lord in prayer for these folks on our sick list and our general prayer list. Our Heavenly Father, again, we come before the throne of Grace tonight and God, we ask you to, Lord, for those in our sick list, Father, I pray that you would just wrap your arms around them and Lord that you would put your healing hand upon them and Lord that you would give them wisdom and discernment as they approach and deal with the afflictions of which they are dealing with. God, I just pray that you would just touch each one of them and Lord that you would bring peace and comfort to their lives, Lord that you would show them mercy and Lord that you would bring healing. Father, we know that you are the great physician and Father, we just pray that you would bring this healing in the name of your precious son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we're also going down to our general prayer list. Lord, we lift up Brother Henry to you. Lord, we're thankful to you today that you brought his wife and his new daughter into this world safely. And Father, we pray, we're thankful that they're doing well. And Lord, we just pray that you would just bring a speedy recovery for Brother Henry's wife and Lord that they'll be able to get the baby home soon. And Lord, we just pray that your protection would be around them, Lord, we pray your blessings would be upon them, especially as they continue to serve in their church and in their other ministries that they're involved with. And God, I just pray that you would guide his steps as he leads his family and in his ministry. And Lord, that you would give him clarity and direction in his career and just put that hedge of protection about them, Lord, especially with the new baby girl. Father, we also want to pray for Angela for direction and clarity in her walk with you. And Father, we just pray that you would give her discernment as she makes the decisions that need to be made. Lord, we pray for Ashley, for peace in her life and in her soul. Lord, we lift up Larissa for employment opportunities. Lord, we pray for Claude for the particular family needs that he's expressed. And God, we pray for Eddie with his addiction. Lord, I pray that you would give him victory over this as well as saving him. Father, we also pray for Ed for his overall health and well-being. And we pray for Isabel, Lord, for whatever the particular needs are that she has. God, we just want to thank you so much for all that you do for us, for the answered prayer. God, we ask you also tonight to answer these prayers, according to your will, your perfect will for them, for their lives. And Father, we just thank you so much for all that you do for us. Father, we also pray and thank you for this podcast. We thank you for the opportunity to preach and to teach your holy word. God, we thank you for each person right now that's watching on Rumble and Lord, all those that are listening on the audio feed as well. Father, thank you so much. And God, I just pray for them. I pray for those that will be watching and listening later. God, if any of them are not saved, they would come to Jesus Christ for their Savior through this message today. Father, thank you again for all you do. And we ask you to bless the remainder of the show in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well, folks, that's our prayer list. Don't forget, if you have any prayer requests whatsoever, just head over to the website, open up the web form and send them on over to us or email us at info@sourthespiritpodcast.com. All right, how about we get to some announcements? (dramatic music) All right, well, folks, I just wanna tell you about our Thursday night Bible study. We started a new series two weeks ago on wisdom, wisdom. And last week we talked about last Thursday night, we talked about dealing with fear. So we're gonna be moving on this coming Thursday, Lord willing, so don't forget to tune in at 7 p.m. Central Time, 8 p.m. Eastern. You can hear the audio feed on our website at sourthespiritpodcast.com. Or if you have one of the modern podcast apps like Podcast Guru or fountain.fm, you can listen live through the apps. And you can watch the video on rumble at rumble.com/sourthespiritpodcast. Oh, I'm sorry, S-O-T-S podcast. You see, I still have to get used to promoting the video stuff. I don't do it very much, so forgive me for that. Also, our sermon Sunday broadcast every Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. Central Time, 4 p.m. Eastern. Same thing, you can hear it on the website, sourthespiritpodcast.com, any of the modern podcast apps, or on rumble. All right, now if you are in the Eagle Pass area and you're looking for a good King James Bible believing in Bible teaching church, why don't you consider paying us a visit over at first Baptist Church of Eagle Pass. We meet at 664 North Monroe. Our Sunday school hour starts at 10 a.m. Our worship service begins at 11. Our Sunday evening service is at 6. And our Wednesday night Bible study is at 7 p.m. Now, for more information, just head on over to the church's Facebook page. And all you need to do is just log into Facebook or open up the app on Facebook. Search for First Baptist Church of Eagle Pass. And once you get there, you're gonna find a lot of really helpful information, as well as information about the podcast. And I just, as always, just wanna tell you that this podcast is not a ministry of First Baptist Church. I'm just a member of the church. That happens to have a podcast. And the church allows us to use the Facebook page to distribute it. So when you get to the Facebook page, don't forget to like the page. And so you get all the updates as they come through. All right, now folks, a few are interested in prepping. I'd just like to tell you about the Contra Radio Network. The Contra Radio Network is a single podcast that houses nearly a dozen talented podcasts and vidcast hosts and artists from around the country who release content daily. The Contra Radio Network releases 15 to 20 shows a week. That's a lot, depending on current events. And there are no issues that are off limits to any of them. You wanna break down of current events, we got it. You wanna know more about preparedness and self-sufficiency? Got it. You wanna guy driving around, ranting like lunatic? Strangely enough, we got that too. If you wanna hear more politics, sports, camping, firearms, Bible studies, the Contra Radio Network has it all covered. You can find them on their website at ContraRadioNetwork.com. That's ContraRadioNetwork.com. Or you can listen in on all of your favorite podcast platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and many, many more. So check 'em out, check 'em out. Especially look, if you're planning on not getting saved, you're planning on trying to stick it out, going through the tribulation period. Or if you're a part of a church that teaches that you have to work your way for salvation and you can lose it and get it and lose it and get it chances are you're gonna probably end up going through the tribulation period. So it might be good to start learning about prepping now. So you're ready for it, all right? The whole idea of prepping anyway. All right, how about Armory One? Armory One provides Texas license to carry certification and averages over 30 years of military and law enforcement experience and instructing students in the safe use and proper use of firearms. Armory One also offers numerous courses on self-defense with a handgun, active shooter preparedness, home defense, and so much more. For more information, just head over to armoryone.com and you can find out upcoming class schedules and so forth. And as soon as I get the information myself, I will pass that on to you as well. Carl happens to be a very good friend of mine and so he lets me in on all the classes and all the information. And so it's a lot of fun, the class is a great, Carl does a fantastic job, he has tons of experience in this and makes the classes really, really applicable to your life. So you should definitely check it out, especially if you're interested in getting your license to carry, which honestly, folks, you really should have, especially with today's day and age, especially here in Texas, with what's going on with the border, you need to be able to properly defend yourself and your family and your property. So you should definitely check it out and get your license but you should definitely, definitely consider that. All right, even though Texas is a constitutional carry state, having a license makes it just so much easier to navigate your way around through firearm sales and so on and so forth. All right, and plus you can also take it outside the state. All right, let's see. Don't forget to sign up for our programming announcements. Now, if you've been listening for a while, we've been talking about this, we have a text group that we send out text notifications on for the show times. We're going to be discontinuing that at the probably, I think Thursday will be the last text blast that we'll be sending out. So if you are listening and you are part of the text group, let me know your email address will get you on the mailing list because we're going to start sending out the emails instead of the text. All right, so it's important to be on the email list. It's the best way for us to reach everybody. And we're not going to spam you. We're not going to send you a bunch of stuff you don't want. We keep all of your information right here. We're not going to share it. We're not going to sell it. We're not going to do anything else with it. And again, we're not going to load you up with a bunch of stuff you don't want. All right, and the best part of the whole thing is it's free. Means it don't cost you nothing. So get yourself on the mailing list and stay in the know. All right, also, we're going to talk you a little bit about war tribe armory. The war tribe armory located right here in Eagle Pass, Texas, 3037 US57 right across from the pilot. So if you're in the area, you'll know what I'm talking about. All right, now war tribe armory. It's a veteran owned and operated business right here locally in Eagle Pass, Texas. And they offer services like CERECOT, engraven, cleaning, stippling, restoration, refinishing, repairs. They also do custom builds, gun sales, magazines, holsters, and trade-ins. They're also FFL license transfers, a location you can do that through. And you can check out all of their work on war tribe dot armory on Instagram, on Facebook, war tribe armory. Shoot them an email at war tribe armory1133@gmail.com. And we do have a couple of our listeners that have used their services for restorations and refurbishing old firearms. And they came out spectacular. They are beautiful pieces of work. Check them out, go to their Facebook, their Instagram, look at the pictures. They do incredible work. And I would highly, highly recommend you getting over there and seeing them. And when you do go, just let them know I sent you over there. All right. All right. Our socials, Twitter, TikTok, Getter, Instagram, and Truth Social, the usuals at the SOTS podcast. So we look forward to connecting with you on the social media apps. So that's always a lot of fun. All right. How about some shout outs? And let's see. We don't have any donations over or at the $16.11 mark that we can shout out. However, thank you to the four of you who have made donations below the $16.11 mark. Thank you very much for your contributions. Listen, folks, they really do help us out. And they really do help keep things going. And we really do appreciate it. We also have a number of folks that are streaming SOTS to us right now through the modern podcast apps, like Podcast Guru and Fountain.fm and Truefans.fm. Not only fans, Truefans, OK? I'm going to make sure we clarify that, all right? So you could very, very, very easily download one of those apps by going over to modernpodcastapps.com or podcastindex.org. And when you do that, you can set up your crypto wallet and listen, folks, don't be intimidated by a crypto wallet. It is so easy, all right? I set it up. I used GetAlbi. 1, 2, 3, it was done. And I'm connected on all the apps. And so if you do that, you can send us Sotoshis. You can send us little boosts. And all the Sotoshis is a micro payment of Bitcoin. It's like pennies, really, but still. It all helps. I was listening to another podcast, a podcast that our host platform owner puts out called About Podcasting. And he was interviewing one guy-- I try to remember the guy's name. I'm shooting from the cuff here. And he was able to actually, through donations of Sats, go out to some of these trade shows in the podcasting community and fund the whole thing through Sats. So yeah, they may be small donations, but they add up. So if you're streaming on these platforms, we would really appreciate you boosting us with those Sats. If you're going to be new to the platforms, hey, try them out. You have nothing to lose. They're free. They're great. And like I said, you could stream Sats to us as we do the show. So that's a real blessing for us. We appreciate that. All right, also, if you're listening to the show and you want to be a part of what we're doing here, part of the three teas is your time and your talent, you can easily record something for us and send it over as your donation. You could send over something like a bumper or a promo like you hear during the course of our breaks. We have one listener who notified me that she's working on a redesigned logo for the show. So I'm looking forward to seeing that. I'm excited about it. And I do appreciate that. And so folks, you can donate your time, your talent, or your treasure. And no matter what it is, it's greatly, greatly appreciated. All right. And then finally, before we start to head out here, as always, we want to say thank you to the Lord for, first of all, the gift of salvation that he's provided to us at a tremendous expense. And I still marvel at just how incredible. It floors me. I don't understand. And maybe in this life, I won't understand why the Lord wanted to save us, but he did. And maybe I'll understand it better in eternity. When I'm with the Lord, I'll ask him, and maybe he'll tell me. But remember, the Scripture says, what is man that thou art mindful of him? I mean, what are we? Well, he loves us. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And that life is in his Son. His Son is the Lord Jesus Christ. God manifest in the flesh. And when he died on the cross, he shed God's perfect blood. Acts, chapter 2028. An incredible gift. I am so incredibly thankful for it. So we always want to say thank you to the Lord for the gift of salvation. Also want to say thank you for the opportunity to do the podcast. And it's a blessing. I love doing this with you guys every week. I really do. It's really such a blessing for me. And I hope it's a blessing for you as well. And I hope you look forward to it as much as I do. And we look forward to many, many, many, many more to do. I also want to say thank you to those of you who have been supporting us by prayers. Thank you so very much for your prayers. God bless you for them. And please continue to pray for us. And the ministry, the show, our producer, our producers, I should say, also all of those folks that are on our prayer list continue to pray for them. And also pray for me as we move forward here with the show and new studies and to keep me focused on the really important things pertaining to the Word of God. So thank you for that. Thank you for praying for us. I really do appreciate it. Also, thank you to everybody who's been supporting us financially. Thank you so very much for it. And thank you also to the folks that have set up those recurring donations. Those are great. We really, really appreciate those. And we look forward to getting those. And I hope that more folks who take advantage of that option in their donations, it's great. It helps us really budget things out, knowing that those donations are coming. So thank you so very much for those. Also, thank you to all of you, every single one of you, for being so faithful to what we're doing here, for listening in, for watching, for downloading, and keeping us in the number one spot on Good Pods. I don't even know how long we've been in those number one spots, but we're in five spots still. And it's a blessing. It really is, and I'm not patting myself on the back here. I'm just saying that being on the charts and that high up on the charts, more people will see the show, they'll listen, they'll watch, and more chances of folks getting saved. That's the goal. That's the goal. Not looking for personal gain in all of this. I'm just looking for people to hear the gospel, to hear the truth, and get saved. That's the goal. That's what's important. All right. Well, folks, I think I could easily say at this point that we're done. So thank you again for taking the time to be with us on a beautiful Sunday afternoon here in Texas. Head on over to our website, sortofthespiritpodcast.com, click on the contact section, and send us over any questions, comments, cares, concerns, and prayer requests. Also, don't forget to look for the support button. And if you could help us out with a donation in any amount, we would greatly, greatly appreciate it. All right, folks, until we meet again on Thursday night, make Bible study great again. Go podcasting, keep a steady stride, and win the lost, no matter the cost. God bless you. Good night. Goodbye. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Well, that's about it, really. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [BLANK_AUDIO]