Last Days, Last Call: God’s Instructions to the Church

Scorecard

Summary

Locke walks through 1 Thess 5:14–28 as a 'New Testament laundry list' of commands for believers to flourish in 'evil days' before Christ's return. The actual exhortation is largely benign and occasionally self-corrective (don't retaliate online, don't repay evil for evil, don't chase Washington). But it is framed by hard dispensational pessimism ('it's going to get worse and worse'), leans into Word-of-Faith / positive-confession language ('death and life are in the power of the tongue… I'm not going to speak death over stuff'), and builds a Billy-Graham-rule gender-segregation framework on the KJV mistranslation 'appearance of evil' (the Greek eidos = form/kind, not appearance). Several confidently-delivered historical and textual claims (Noah Webster as polymath 'biologist/mathematician/scientist'; Webster's supposed 'God lives in my body' quote; 'only four times' God says 'this is my will' in the Bible) are asserted without sources and do not hold up to basic checking.

Timeline

Each marker = a flagged finding. Click to jump to the finding; hover for the title. Color indicates severity.

Findings (7)

Whole-Bible Engagement (3)

For each major framing in the sermon, the pastor's claim is placed side-by-side with what Jesus said in the Gospels and what the wider Bible says (OT + NT non-Gospel). Surfaces cherry-picking, omitted counter-voices, and places where the canon itself contains tension the pastor did not acknowledge.

Factual Claims & Evidence Check (6)

Empirical claims the pastor made during the sermon, with a verdict on whether independent evidence supports them. Verdict scale: Supported · Partially supported · Contested · Misleading · Unsupported · False. “Evidence the pastor cited” records whether any source was named in the sermon itself.

Tenets affirmed

• Strong exposition of 1 Thess 5:15 — 'do not render evil for evil' — applied concretely to online retaliation, with public self-correction ('I've done it from the pulpit and I've had to publicly repent').
• Explicit de-centering of partisan politics: 'It doesn't matter if a Republican's in there. It doesn't matter if a Democrat's in there… I'm not looking to the White House. I'm looking to God's house.' [00:03:30]
• Nehemiah 8:10 ('the joy of the Lord is your strength') and Matt 7:7–8 ('ask and it shall be given') are cited accurately and in context.
• Pastoral care for 'the weak' and 'the feeble-minded' is framed as active support, not exclusion: 'Comfort people that are weak-minded and weak in body.' [00:07:00]
• Repeated instruction that lost people are not the enemy: 'Lost people do not need me punching back at them. They need the love and the patience and the clarity of the gospel.' [00:11:00]

Counter-signals

• Non-partisan political framing, rare for this preacher
• Self-disclosed repentance for previous pulpit retaliation
• Explicit command to love enemies and not return evil for evil
• No named political party, candidate, or ethnic group targeted in this sermon
• No civil-religion (flag, pledge) imagery
• Care for the poor/impoverished explicitly commanded
• Watchman/warning framework tempered by 'that's on them, not you' — no threats of divine retribution directed at opponents

Christian Nationalism marker rubric (Whitehead/Perry, Du Mez, Alberta)

Other Axis-2 sub-rubrics

• Anti-Muslim framing: Not present in this sermon
• Anti-LGBTQ framing: Not present in this sermon
• Misogynistic framing: Present — low-moderate — The Billy Graham rule section treats adult women as default-suspect counseling/ride partners; see Finding 1.1. No explicit teaching on women's roles in marriage or church office is given.
• Anti-Jewish framing: Not present in this sermon

Full transcript

Highlighted paragraphs contain flagged content (color = severity). Click any timestamp to jump to that moment on YouTube.

[00:00:00]Give the Lord some praise in the house. Amen. Thank you so much team for being here and thanks to everybody that's watching online. I know we have all of our folks sitting in their PJs and buddy slippers watching us right now and but I appreciate all the folks that's been able to be with us today for worship and uh thank you brother Caleb for praying for Paul Koy [music] and the situation with Jaden and his family. But we're honored to have each and every one of you here today. I want you to open your Bibles. I'm going to teach for a little bit out of 1 Thessalonians chapter 5

[00:00:30]today. And I'm going to preach, I know it's on the live stream mainly, except for those of us here in the building, but I'm going to preach like the building's full. Amen. Because I believe the word of the Lord is going to change people's hearts and change people's lives. And I want people to be watching this now as well as share this broadcast and then go back and watch it just a little bit later. But, uh, we've prayed a lot already this morning, so we're going to dive right in. 1 Thessalonians chapter number five is where I want to go. And now let me kind of set the pace

[00:01:00]for you if I can as far as the context of what's happening. Now you have five chapters in First Thessalonians and you have only but three chapters in 2 Thessalonians. But if you combine all eight of these chapters, they all have the same continuity, right? They all have the same Bible flow and they all have the same New Testament context. and that is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the idea behind the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is not when he's going to come, not how he's going to come, but the fact that he is going

[00:01:30]to come. And so, what he's dealing with in these eight chapters is not to solidify the fact that he's coming. He's to solidify the fact that we need to be ready for his coming. And so he explains in eight chapters the craziness that's going to transpire before the Lord Jesus Christ returns to the earth. So again, this is not a theological message on when and how and what that looks like. This is an idea to secure in your heart and mind that the church needs to be→ Eschatological certainty: 'it's going to get worse and worse'

[00:02:00]ready because days are not going to get better and better. As my grandfather used to say, it's not going to get goodter and goodter. It's going to get worse and worse. It's going to get so bad, in fact, that the Bible says it's going to get so evil and wicked that the only way to change things is for Jesus to return. Now, I know a lot of people are like, "Well, you know, where are the signs of his coming? Y'all been saying for 2,000 years, yada yada yada." You understand prophetically that it was nearly 4,000 years predicted before his→ Eschatological certainty: 'it's going to get worse and worse'

[00:02:30]first coming. And so, it's only been 2,000 years. We're closer now than they were when it was written in the New Testament. But here's what I want to focus on today. How do we live in evil days? How can we secure the blessing of God in the evil days? I mean, he's talking for eight chapters about the Antichrist, whoever that is. He's talking about the evils that are going to come upon the earth. Even in chapter 5, I mean, notice this in verse one, he even says, "Of the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you." He's like, "Look, you know,

[00:03:00]things are bad. He I don't have to tell you." He says, "How bad it is and how much worse it's going to get. How many more things are going to prophetically transpire? So, you we could talk about AI and we could talk about what's in the news and we could talk about literally Minneapolis and and the ice shootings and all of these things and crimes and wars and rumors of wars and what's happening in Iran and addiction at an all-time high. We could talk about all of those things, but the Bible tells us in the middle of craziness how we can still live under the spout where the→ End-times sign-reading vs. Jesus's 'no one knows'

[00:03:30]glory comes out. We can still secure the blessing of God. Because here's what I refuse to do. All right? I'm almost 50 years old. I refuse to live the rest of my life negative every day because things are crazy in the world. Obviously, things are going to get bad financially. The bottom's going to fall out. I'm not looking to the White House. I'm looking to God's house. It doesn't matter if a Republicans in there. It doesn't matter if a Democrat's in there. It doesn't matter if anybody's in there. At the end of the day, I'm going to sleep well at night because God is on the throne. I'm not going to fret. I'm→ End-times sign-reading vs. Jesus's 'no one knows'

[00:04:00]not going to worry. I'm not going to walk around chewing my fingernails of the quick basketballized ulcers. So what am I going to do? The Bible tells me what to do. The Bible tells me how in the evil days to live righteous, how to have a prosperous marriage, how to have a prosperous life, how to live healthy, how to have the abundance and the blessing of God in my life. He tells me how to do that. So I want you to look, if you would please, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. With that backdrop, he's spending all of these chapters. It's going to get bad. It's going to get bad.

[00:04:30]But here's how you can still flow in the goodness of God. All right, so if you're ready, shout ready. >> All right, everybody in the living room, shout ready. Here we go. All right, first Thessalonians chapter 5, look at verse 14. That's where we'll begin. He says, "Now we exhort." The word exhort is uh kind of halfway encourage, sometimes rebuke. Right? It's what the word means. He's like, I'm going to teach you something that's important and vital that you pay attention. We exhort you, brethren. He's not talking to the world. He's not talking to the lost

[00:05:00]people. He's talking to the church. I exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly. He says, "Because, and I'm not going to stay here long, but because days are getting short, warn the unruly people. And if they won't listen, Daniel and Revelation says this, when Jesus is about to return to the earth. If people want to live wicked and you've warned them, you know what God says to do? Let them live wicked. Ignore them. Let the unruly remain unruly. Let the wicked→ 'Let the unruly remain unruly… ignore them' — tension with Matt 18

[00:05:30]remain wicked. But then he says, "Let the righteous remain righteous." So we can live righteous in the midst of an unrighteous culture. And so he says, "I want you to warn the people that are unruly." Now, let me say this. I I think this is important. Somebody needs to hear this. In Ezekiel chapter 3 and Ezekiel chapter 33, God says that we're to be watchmen on the wall. Here's what a watchman does. A watchman warns. A watchman says, "The trouble is coming." Now, here's what God says about the watchmen. If you warn people and they→ 'Let the unruly remain unruly… ignore them' — tension with Matt 18

[00:06:00]don't listen, that's on them, not you. But if you see the destruction coming and you don't warn them and they're taken in the judgment, that's on you, not them. So, we need to live our life in such a way that people's bloods not on our hands. We're warning them, but we can't change them. You can't change your husband. You can't change your wife. You can't change people. Only Jesus and the Holy Ghost can change people's hearts. And so he says, "Warn people that are

[00:06:30]unruly." Then he says this, "Comfort the feeble-minded." Comfort the feeble-minded. Now, let me kind of pastor you and teach you something about that word feeble-minded. It's very interesting word. It is the only time this word in the original is used at all anywhere in the entire Bible. Feebleminded. It doesn't mean just weak-minded people. When he says feeble-minded, it's people that are in need of encouragement because their lack of courage has literally caused their

[00:07:00]body to be weak. They're not just weak-minded, their body's weak. They have no courage. Uh they're discouraged. They can't sleep well at night. And the Bible says to comfort those kind of people, not to look down upon them. Uh not not to ostracize them, not to kick them out of the fellowship. No, God says, "Comfort people that are weak-minded and weak in body." And I believe the reason he says this, and and I've got somewhere I've got to go, so I've quickly got to get past this because the rest of the text is what encourages me. But I believe the reason

[00:07:30]he says this is because the closer we get to the coming of Christ, the more feeble-minded people we're going to see. People have no courage. And God says, "Comfort the people that need encouragement." Now, here's what I want to be for the rest of my life. I want to be a prophet of encouragement. Right? There's a lot of doom and gloom. Sometimes we got to preach rebuke. We got to mark the unruly. We got to warn people. We got to preach repentance. But I want people to get around me and be encouraged. I don't want people to be like, "Man, I wish I could get out of

[00:08:00]this conversation." I want people to come to my house and feel peace. I want them to walk in this house and feel peace. So, we are to comfort people that are weak in their faith. But then, watch this. Support the weak. Not just in their mind. support those that are poor, those that are impoverished, those that are hurting. Now, it's strange that God's telling me to do all of this in the last days. But if he's having to tell the church to do this, logically, that would tell me they're not doing this, right? They're not supporting the

[00:08:30]weak. They're not blessing the homeless. They're not taking care of people that are in need of a stronger marriage. They're not blessing those that are without. So God says, "In the last days, do that." Then he says, "Be patient to all men." Hello. That doesn't sound like an end time message, does it? Be patient unto all men. Patience is one of the most difficult things we will ever have to walk in. But it is a result of the joy and the fruits and the power of the Holy Spirit that lives in our life. Now,

[00:09:00]here's what's interesting. You know, it's never called the fruit of the Christian. It's called the fruit of the spirit. You know why it's not called the fruit of the Christian? Because it's not natural for any of us to bear those fruits. You have to have the power of God's Holy Spirit in order to produce the fruits of the spirit. Does that make sense? And so if we're going to have patience with people, we're going to have to in the last days walk in the spirit. Verse 15, see that you do not render evil for evil unto any man. Now,

[00:09:30]what's he saying? God says, "Vengeance is mine. I will repay, sayeth the Lord." Quit trying to fix problems in your life. You know what I found out? When I try to fix problems with people, I make the problems worse. Just don't address them. Just ignore them. My grandfather used to say the five greatest ways to get through adversity and criticism. He said there are five ways that you handle people that come against you with division. You know how it is. Ignore them. Ignore them. Ignore them. Ignore them. Ignore them. Right? You just

[00:10:00]ignore it. You walk away from it. You you don't become part of the process or the problem. And the Bible says, "Don't render evil for evil." Well, they did me wrong. Don't do wrong back. They posted something about me I didn't like. Don't Don't Don't post back because when you post back, you are poking back. I've had to stop doing that. I've done it from the pull pit and I've had to publicly repent. Don't give the enemy any more credibility than he's already got in your life. Ignore it. Don't return evil

[00:10:30]for evil. I'm going to get them back. No, you're not. Let God take care of it. God is better at getting them back than you are. Okay? He's better at that. So, he says, "Look, don't render evil for evil." Now, just by virtue of the fact that he tells me that, he's showing me that we're going to have opportunities to do it, but we shouldn't. The devil is going to make sure we get an opportunity for vengeance. And God says, "Don't take the bait. Don't render evil to other people, but follow that which is good."

[00:11:00]both watch this among yourselves. What's that mean? Within the church, believers, the body of Christ, and to all men. Now, let that help you for a moment. Here's what God says. God says, "Don't repay evil to Christians, but don't repay evil to non-Christians either." Okay? Lost people do not need me punching back at them. They need the love and the patience and the clarity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God says,

[00:11:30]"Walk righteously. Don't retaliate." Whether it be a church member or whether it be the world's member, do not retaliate. Now, if that makes sense, say amen. >> Now, we're going to get into the real meat of the message. Watch this. Verse number 16. He's now going to give us a a list, like a New Testament biblical laundry list. It's not the Ten Commandments, but it is some New Testament commandments. And they're just as much commandments as the Ten Commandments themselves. This is the

[00:12:00]word of God. This is just as inspired as John 3:16. And so he says, "In the last days, here is how you position yourself to walk in the blessings of God." Notice this first one that flows out of his mouth. Rejoice ever more. That means in every situation that you face, in every situation that I face, you don't grumble. You don't judge. You don't complain. You don't gripe. You don't cuss. You don't fuss. You plant your feet. You stand your ground. You

[00:12:30]throw your shoulders back. And you just choose the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, in the book of Nehemiah, you have people that's trying to build, you know, supernaturally walls in 52 days. It it should have took them 52 years to do what they did. And they supernaturally did it in 52 days. But Nehemiah came to the people. He saw that they were discouraged. He saw that their enemies, Sandballad and Tobaya and and Gisham the Arabian came against them. And you know what Nehemiah did? Nehemiah

[00:13:00]8:10. Jot that down. He says, "Neither be sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." He He didn't say that your good workout program will be your strength. Waking up early will be your strength. Drinking barley green and protein shakes will be your strength. Those might bring about some strength, but God told me, "Here's your strength. The joy of the Lord." So, IF YOU'RE ALWAYS DISCOURAGED, NO WONDER YOU'RE WEAK. No wonder you can't sleep at night. No wonder your marriage is rocking and reeling like a toothpick in a bathtub. The Bible says when we choose

[00:13:30]joy, when we choose to rejoice, what happens? It brings strength into our bodies. And so, look, it's it's horrible outside. Rejoice evermore. That's right. >> We rejoice when the sun shines. We rejoice when it's slushy. We rejoice when the building's full. And we rejoice when only the frozen chosen can show up. Amen. We just rejoice. We rejoice when all the bills are paid and we rejoice when there's far more many bills than there is money to pay the bills at the end of the month. Just rejoice ever→ Caricature of protesters: 'mad and don't even know why'

[00:14:00]more. I'm telling you, rejoicing brings the abundance of God. Rejoicing blesses your children. Rejoicing blesses the church. Listen, if people in America would learn to just rejoice, we wouldn't have all these riots in the streets. People are mad at America and don't even know why people are ticked off and don't even know what they're mad about. The Bible says, "Rejoice." So, how do we live in evil days if we want the blessing of God? We choose to ignore the nonsense and we just rejoice.→ Caricature of protesters: 'mad and don't even know why'

[00:14:30]We just rejoice ever more in every situation. Choose joy. Choose joy. Choose joy. The Bible says when Jesus came, he came to bring life and life more abundantly, >> not life more redundantly. People like, "Well, you know, I'm just I just got a dead-end job and a dead-end marriage and dead-end finances, and I'm always going to be sick." Yep. Because you're speaking that mess over your life. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. I'm not going to walk around, well, I'm just so unhealthy. I'm just so broke.→ Positive confession: 'don't speak death over your life'; Positive confession vs. biblical lament

[00:15:00]Oh, no. I'm an heir to the kingdom of God. I'm a son of God. I'm anointed. I'm a miracle in and of itself, and I flow and operate in miracles. I'm not going to, you know, speak death over stuff. I'm going to rejoice. I'm just going to rejoice. So he said, "Rejoice ever more." That means today, tomorrow, the next day, the next day. It means you don't have a choice. You You don't have any other choice. Choose to be excited for the glory of God. Now, let me let me say this before I go to the next verse.→ Positive confession: 'don't speak death over your life'; Positive confession vs. biblical lament

[00:15:30]I don't even know how far I can walk, so I won't walk too far. Praise God. To get out of the frame. But you know, in the book of Philippians, you have four chapters. Everybody shout four. >> So, not 44, just four. Four little chapters. So, so you do the math. In four chapters, you know what Paul says? 17 times, have joy. 17 times. In four chapters, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. Joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy. Which, by the way, joy and happiness are not the same. You know why

[00:16:00]it's called happiness? Because it's based on my happenings. If things are happening, I'm happy. If things aren't happening, I'm not happy. That's not joy. Joy is not based on what's going on around me. Joy is based on the God that lives within me. And if the whole world burns down, I can still rejoice that I'm not going to bust hail wide open. So we 17 times are told in four chapters to have joy. Do you know where Paul wrote that book from? Prison. He he wasn't sitting in the Hampton in you. He wasn't laying around, you know, with the air condition blowing up his

[00:16:30]pants leg and all kind of money and, you know, had a t-bone steak. This guy was in prison for like the fourth time. And he said, "Have joy. Have joy. Have joy. Rejoice in the Lord always." And again I say, "Rejoice. Choose to rejoice evermore." Amen, church. And then he goes on to verse 17 and says, "Now pray without ceasing." That makes people nervous. Pray without ceasing. What does that mean? Well, I believe it's a progression because I believe if you walk in joy that all

[00:17:00]throughout the day, even your thoughts are prayers to Almighty God. Even the things you are thinking, you can just be driving down the road, you can just start praying. I don't care if it's in English or in the spirit. You can just have joy that starts bubbling out of you and you're just praying without ceasing. And and I think what God's people I don't think I know what God's people need to get a hold of is we need to stop going to everybody else before we talk to God about decisions that we make. I don't care how big they are. I don't care how they're small that ministry,→ Transactional prayer: 'best business partner you've ever had'

[00:17:30]business, family, marriage, finances. If you will consult God first, he'll be the best business partner you've ever had. >> He'll be the best assistant you've ever had in the ministry. Right? And so many times we go to Facebook when what we ought to do is put our face in the book and just pray without ceasing. Ask and it shall be given. You seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be open unto you. For everyone that ask receives. To him that seeks finds. And→ Transactional prayer: 'best business partner you've ever had'

[00:18:00]to him that knockketh it shall be open. Matthew 7:78:9 God affirmatively, positively says, "If you will call unto me, I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not." Jeremiah 33:3. So I can promise you 100% of the prayers you don't pray will never be answered. 100% of the prayers you don't pray will never be answered. We are to rejoice evermore and to pray without ceasing every day, all the time. your car, your

[00:18:30]life, everywhere you go, your cubicle at work, everything you touch should be an altar for the presence of God. Pray without ceasing. Verse 18, in everything. Shout everything. >> That's not some things, the good things, the great things, the enjoyable things. No, no, no. In everything give thanks. In everything give thanks. And and then he adds something here that I don't want you to

[00:19:00]miss. For this, the this is referring to the giving of thanks. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Now, I don't know a whole lot about the Bible, but I want to learn more and more every day, but I've got enough hillbilly redneck sense to figure out that there's only a handful of times. I can only find like four in the whole Bible. Correct me if I'm wrong. I can only find four times in the whole Bible where God specifically said, "This is my will for

[00:19:30]your life." Everybody wants to know the will of God. It's the number one question I get as a shepherd. How can I know the will of God? Well, just a handful of times, this being one of them. God says, "Here's how you can know that you are right in my perfect will. Give thanks." That's the will of God. What am I supposed to do with my life, pastor? Give thanks. Because it's in the giving of thanks that God will pave the way when there is no way and show you where you're supposed to go. Gratitude opens doors that complaining will slam

[00:20:00]shut on you. I felt that. I'll say that again. Gratitude will open doors that complaining and grumbling will slam shut on you. He says in everything, give thanks. When your kids are godly, give thanks. When they're buck wild, give thanks. When the church is growing, give thanks. When the church is shrinking, give thanks. When America is on fire with revival, give thanks. When America's going to hell in a hand basket, give thanks for the revival that's on the way. Give thanks. When the offering buckets are packed, give thanks

[00:20:30]when they are lean. [screaming] Give thanks when it's sunshining. Give thanks when it's not. Give thanks. As I've said many times, you can always find a rainbow in an oil spill. You you you find an oil spill on the ground. You know what you'll see? You'll see a rainbow. You'll see color. You can always find the good in every situation. Now, here's what I have a difficulty with, but God help me. I want to learn to give thanks for the people in my life that I wish sometimes weren't in my life.

[00:21:00]I'm learning to give thanks for haters. You know why? Because haters help my direction better in life. I I'm going to start giving thanks for people online that say silly stuff because it helps me to realize in every criticism, there's some truth that I can learn and there's some way that I can humble myself and be better. We need to be thankful in every situation in which we find ourselves. You know, some of you, you know, in the room, but some of you watching right now or watching later, here's what you need to know. If you would just learn to rejoice and give thanks to God, your situation would

[00:21:30]change in a matter of 24 hours. If it even takes that long. I mean, we can grumble. We can complain. I see people all the time, you know, OH MY GOODNESS, MY FLIGHT GOT DELAYED. MY FLIGHT GOT CANCELLED. Blankety blank blank. I can't believe that. Maybe God's protecting you and you ought to just thank him in advance because the next flight you get on, you're going to meet somebody that you get to lead to Jesus Christ because they're discouraged and they see joy in you. We miss so many opportunities to minister to people because we grumble too much. We belly ache too much. We

[00:22:00]complain and God says, "No, what I want you to do is not only rejoice, but in every situation of your life, just give thanks." You know, we celebrate in America, thanksgiving. And we do that like one time a year, we think we've done God a favor. Let's break out the turkey and have Thanksgiving. No, no, no, no, no. We ought to have Thanksgiving today, tomorrow, the next day, the next day, the ne. Thank God for everything that we have. Even the stuff that perhaps we

[00:22:30]have never been thankful for, things that we wish that we did not have to have come into our life. God says, "Be thankful in every situation. Be thankful in every season." Why? It's the will of God. I want to know the will of God. I just told you the will of God. Be grateful. So, here's what I know. If you're not grateful, you're not in God's will. Oh. Huh? That one hit. If we are not grateful, thankful believers, because there's always something to be grateful for, we're not in the will of God. Because the Bible says the will of God

[00:23:00]is that in everything you I we give thanks. Amen. It's that simple. Some of you right now watching, just just begin to thank the Lord. Thank God for everything he has done and thank him for even some of the things he's not done that you thought he should have done. Now, he wasn't a great theologian, obviously, but remember that song growing up, sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayer. Well, I want you to know that sometimes you ought to thank God that he didn't give you what you

[00:23:30]wanted because it would have ruined you when you got it. It would have ruined you when you got it. In everything, give thanks for it's the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I thought this was going to feel weird this morning, but I'm feeling pretty good right now. Amen. I'm about getting in high gear. Look at verse 19. Quench not the spirit. >> Quench not the spirit. Now it's the same somewhat maybe a little bit more forceful of Ephesians 5:18. Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be

[00:24:00]filled with the spirit. And then he tells us in verse 30 to extinguish not grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Now why does he tell me not to grieve the spirit of God, not to quench the spirit of God? Because God is a person. The spirit of God is not an it. He's not an entity. I He's an actual person that has emotions. God characteristics. And the Bible says, "Do not quench God's

[00:24:30]spirit. Do not extinguish the flame." It would be like the fire of God's burning in us, but because of disobedience and complaining and whatever else, we take a fire extinguisher and we put out the fire of God. We wonder sometimes, HOW COME THE DEVIL HAS PUT OUT THE CHURCH'S FIRE? We've put out the church's fire because we quench the spirit of the living God that literally resides within us. You know, Webster that wrote Webster's dictionary, 1828, I

[00:25:00]believe it was, he was probably known as one of the greatest scientists, biologists, mathematicians, theologians. This guy was known for everything. I mean, there's not anything he could not do well. And a reporter came to Mr. Webster one day and said, "Mr. Webster, what is the greatest thought that's ever coursed its way through your brilliant mind?" And without hesitation, Webster said, "God lives in my body. Think about that. God lives in my body.

[00:25:30]And because he lives in my body, the Bible says, "Do not extinguish. Do not quench the spirit of God." And by the way, we all know when we've done it. You, you know, you should have said something to somebody, but you didn't. You should have, you know, loved on that person. You You should have went across over in In-N-Out or Hardies or, you know, wherever you are in some airport, some restaurant. And God says, "Go talk to that person." And you're like me. And you walk out. You know what you feel when you get in your car? Guilty as the

[00:26:00]day is long because you quenched the spirit. You knew you should have blessed that homeless person. You knew that single mom in Walmart couldn't pay for her groceries and God said, "Go swipe your card." And you're like, "Well, you know, maybe that wasn't you, Lord." God says, "No, you go do it." And then you get in your car and you're like, "Oh, I wished I would have done that." What did you do? You quench the spirit. Don't quench the spirit. Feed the spirit. PUT MORE FIRE. PUT MORE KINDLING in on the power of the Holy Spirit inside of you. Get fired up. Listen, people do not get

[00:26:30]to regulate my power of the Holy Spirit. People like, "Well, you know, I got to come to church and get revved up." I come to church revved up. I don't have to have a drum roll to get me excited. I don't have to have somebody else worshiping to make me want to worship. You ain't got to wave a flag to make me want to wave when I come to church ready to go. Listen, I grew up preaching to Billy Goats in a barn at a children's home. So, I don't care if the whole place is

[00:27:00]empty. I'm going to preach like it's a Billy Graham crusade. Quench not the spirit. Let the fire burn. I heard an oldtimer say one time, "When the church catches fire, just let her burn. Just let her burn." [clears throat] Now, watch this verse 20. This is a very uh interesting verse because I grew up taking it completely out of its context because and I'm I'm not bismerching this denomination, but because I grew up so Baptist, they they would change the word. But I want to

[00:27:30]prove to you that they were wrong. Look at this verse 20. Despise not, watch this next word, prophesyings. I used to say, well, you know, the Bible says don't despise preaching. It says despise not prophesying. The word for prophesy and the word for preach are two entirely different Greek words. You can run on chat GPT and grock right now while I'm talking just to get in there. Say, is it the same word? Is preacher line? It'll come back and say pastor Lock's right because the Bible's right. It does not say despise not

[00:28:00]preachings. Now, you should love preaching, especially if it's coming out of the Bible. Now, if the guy's just, you know, up there saying nonsense and not preaching the word of God, you don't have to love it, right? You you can despise that because if somebody's a heretic, but that's not what this means. And I used to say, well, the Bible says that you should love preaching. Don't despise preaching. That's not what it says. It says, "Despise not prophecy. >> Preaching and prophesying are two very different things." Matter of fact, the Bible says in the book of First Corinthians, when it talks about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it says, you know, you should want to prophesy

[00:28:30]to give a word, by the way, that doesn't contradict God's word. If somebody says, "Well, I know what the Bible says, but". I'm like, "Oh, no, no. You keep your butt out of it. I know what the word of God says." Right? So don't tell me something that contradicts the scriptures. But if you have a word that's going to lift me up, maybe even rebuke me and make me better and encourage me. If the Bible says, don't despise that. God gives people prophetic utterances. And by the way, it doesn't mean that they have to walk in the office of a prophet. You may just be some simple single mom

[00:29:00]and one day the Lord gives you a word of knowledge and you walk up to the altar and say, "Can I tell you something the Lord told me to tell you?" Bam. And you can be just as accurate as Paul was. despise not prophesyings because there are times that to go along with the word of God. The word of God's enough. Okay, say amen. I get that. The word of God's enough. But in the body, WE BUILD EACH OTHER UP. NOT ALWAYS BY BEATING EACH OTHER WITH THE BIBLE. We build each OTHER UP BECAUSE WE GOT SO MUCH BIBLE. WE HAVE A word from heaven

[00:29:30]that helps people walk in the Bible a little bit better. And so we have to despise not prophesying. Now you'll know, test the spirits. You'll know if somebody comes up and starts saying stupid stuff, right? And everybody sometimes in church wants to say stupid stuff. But if somebody has a legitimate word from God, you know, Paul said in these last days, don't despise it because it's interesting that he only says this in context of the coming of Christ in the theological context of the last days. Why? Because the closer we get to the coming of Jesus Christ, the

[00:30:00]more we need to speak life into each other. And we don't need to despise that. We need to appreciate and grab a hold of the people in our life that have enough Holy Ghost discernment to tell us go left, go right, stay straight, don't back up. Make sure you get some people around you that aren't just yes people, but they're willing to prophesy into your life and say this is what the spirit of God revealed to me. Don't despise that. Verse 21, prove all things

[00:30:30]means to test. And I think that's interesting that it comes right after he's talking about a prophetic utterance, a word of knowledge. He's like, "Okay, you don't have to just accept it. Prove it. Test it." Then he says this. Once you've proved it, hold fast that which is good. In lockology, here's what he says. You test it, you find it to be right, don't compromise. Don't back down. Stay bold in the faith. My goodness, if

[00:31:00]there was ever a day in which people needed a baptism of boldness and courage, it's this day. I mean, I've never seen so many wishy-washy pastors, wishy-washy people, wishy-washy churches, wishy-washy marriages. I mean, people up one day, down the next, just lick their finger, stick it in the wind. Oh, let's just see which way the culturees blowing. Listen, I'm not a cultural Christian. I'm a Bible Christian. Because the Bible and the culture are on a collision course. You are one or the other, but you are not both at the same time. WE HAVE TO HOLD→ Jeremiad: 'the Bible and the culture are on a collision course'

[00:31:30]FAST what we know to be good, what we know to be righteous. Even when the world hates it, even when the internet can't stand you, even when people get mad, even when people leave, even when people in your family like, "We can't have them over for Thanksgiving because they're just too controversial." Hold fast. When you know something's right, don't let hell itself knock you off point. Hold fast. And by the way, the reason he's saying this in the context of the last days, the evil days, is because the closer we get to the coming→ Jeremiad: 'the Bible and the culture are on a collision course'

[00:32:00]of Christ, the more opportunities for compromise we're going to have to be comfortable. Well, you know, I just I don't want to be looked like look like a Jesus freak. Oh, I'm counting on it. Oh, I'm absolutely counting on it. I don't care what people think about me. I'm over that. I am too old to play their elementary games. No bully on the playground is going to get my lunch, right? God gave it to me and I ain't giving it up. I'm going to hold fast what I know to be good and what I know to be right because I am not in a popularity contest. I am not trying to

[00:32:30]please man. I'm trying to glorify my heavenly father. And then he says something in verse 22 that really should be extremely sobering to us. He said abstain remove yourself from all watch this appearance of evil. Now that's interesting. He didn't say remove yourself from evil. He said, "Remove yourself from even the appearance of evil." You know, sometimes people say, "Well, you know, a pastor needs to live their life above reproach." Yeah, I get it. But so should

[00:33:00]you. >> We should all live above reproach. People should not be able to say, "Hey, you know, uh, I saw so- and so going somewhere, right? Even if you have good intentions, the Bible says abstain from the appearance of evil." Not the evil itself, just the very appearance. Now, I know I know that you don't live in a glass house. Neither do I. It's very difficult to, you know, sometimes get people to to understand how you think and the motivation of your heart. And God knows your heart and man looks on the outward appearance. I get all of

[00:33:30]that. There always going to be whispers. There's always going to be gossip. There's always going to be people saying stupid things about stupid stuff. But to the best of your ability, live your life in a way that people cannot drag you to the ground because something is poor in your testimony. Not just the evil, but the appearance of evil. Now, I could give you 150 illustrations personally in my own life of some of the ways that I go about this. But for example, did you know

[00:34:00]there are people, believe it or not, in your life, but especially in mine when you're a public figure, everything's public. Do you know there are people that are waiting for my downfall? Matter of fact, they're like they're like begging God for it. They're looking for any opportunity they can find. So, WHAT I'VE GOT TO NOT do is give them that opportunity to appear as if I'm doing something evil. So, here's one of the things I do, and I'm not putting this on anybody. I'm not being a legalist. I'm just telling you here's how I live my life. And and my wife,→ 'Appearance of evil' → Billy Graham rule cast on all adult women; 'Appearance of evil' reads one KJV rendering as the whole Bible on gender boundaries

[00:34:30]who's watching right now from the comfort of of our room, is going to agree with this. I never ever shout never. I will never ride in a vehicle with a female by myself who's not my wife. >> I I just I don't. And get this, when I'm driving someone somewhere and maybe there's even other people in the car, the female is not going to sit up front because when I get to a red light, do you know one of my haters is going to be→ 'Appearance of evil' → Billy Graham rule cast on all adult women; 'Appearance of evil' reads one KJV rendering as the whole Bible on gender boundaries

[00:35:00]at that red light and they're going to be like, "Uh-huh. Look at old lock there in the TRX. He's got some chick in the front seat. I don't care who it is. I'm going to abstain from all appearance of evil. And to me, that that may seem very naive or simplistic, but it keeps me out of a lot of trouble. Somebody's like, "Oh, could you could you come to my house and counsel me?" Not if your husband ain't home. >> That's right. >> Somebody want to take a picture of me walking in your house when your husband ain't home. You kidding me? Let me let me go one step further. I know you gonna

[00:35:30]think I'm a real legalist now, but I'm not. I'm not. I like candy. I really do. I like sweets. I like sugar. It's of the Lord. I felt that, right? I love sugar. And uh you know, one of the things I'm careful about not doing is if I'm driving down the road, especially if it's like my windows are down or I'm sitting at the red light. I do not even have a sucker stick hanging out of my mouth when I'm driving around town. You know why? Cuz somebody wants to think I done got a

[00:36:00]Marbor cigarette hanging out of my mouth. I I did a video one time. I I I did a video one time and I was chewing on sunflower seeds. I It was just like a I was like, you know, spitting some sunflower seeds. I was doing some redneck thing in my truck. And I mean, THERE WAS A WHOLE POST OF CRAIG LOCK'S A COPENHAGEN ADDICT. And I'm like, okay. Uh I can't stand the stuff cuz when I was a child, my grandfather said, "You want some red man?" I said, "Yeah, cuz I'm a real man." He said, "Get you some of that red man." He said, "Take you a big swallow." I put that tobacco in my mouth about 8

[00:36:30]years old. I swallowed it down. Turned green as grass. And I ain't never touched that mess since. But I don't want anybody to think that I'm doing anything unbiblical, even driving down the road. So to you, that may not seem like a big deal, but to me, I'm going to guard my testimony and avoid the appearance of evil. Amen. The very appearance of evil. Now go to verse number 23. We about done. And the very God of watch this, peace.

[00:37:00]That's a beautiful word right there. You know why? Because this whole book's not about peace. It's about some judgment. It's about some craziness coming on the scene. The world just absolutely imploding and exploding in the last days. But he said there's a God of peace. And let that God sanctify you, set you apart. Holy. Now, let me stop and say this. You'll notice that word holy is not what we sang a moment ago. H O L Y. It's W H O L L Y. You know what that means? that the

[00:37:30]main goal that God has in your life is not you be healed, it's that you be whole. I know people that get healings that don't have wholeness. I know people that get deliverance from demons but don't have wholeness and peace. And the Bible says in these last days, the God of peace, he'll give you a sanctification and you will be whole in your spirit, whole in your body, whole in your marriage, whole in your finances. And I pray your whole spirit

[00:38:00]and soul and body, watch this, be preserved blameless. Blameless. Somebody says, "Are you telling me that I can be sinless?" No. But I'm telling you, you can sin less. Huh? Am I going to be sinless? No. No. No. But you can sin less because if I hide the word of GOD IN MY HEART, THE BIBLE SAYS I'll not sin against God. I'll not sin against God. He wants me to be blameless until when? Until the church gets better. until the nation turns around. No, watch this. Until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:38:30]How long am I to live out these principles? Until Jesus checks me out of here. The rest of my life I am to live under these blessings until God comes again. And then he says, "Faithful is he." Notice he doesn't say faithful is me. Faithful is he. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. You know, I learned a long time ago, anything good you see in me, God did it.

[00:39:00]Anything rotten you see in me, Greg Lock did every bit of it. God had nothing to do with it, right? He is faithful. He calls me. He will do it. Then he says, "Brethren, pray for us. Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss." Now, there are limitations to that. Somebody say amen right there. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. Almost 2,000 years later, you know what we're doing? We're reading this epistle to the holy brethren right here at Global Vision

[00:39:30]Bible Church on a snowy day right in this room. That the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. And all of God's people said, "Amen." He said, "Amen. This is how you secure the blessing of God in the last days that are evil. You don't worry about the evil. You don't fret about the evil. You don't fuss and cuss about the evil. No. No. What you do is you confront the evil by the way that you live your life. This

[00:40:00]world will not steal my peace. >> The church world will not steal my peace. You know, people like the devil got this and the devil got that. If the devil has it, you gave it to him. If the devil has it, you gave it to him. Somebody took my peace, then stop giving it away. SOMEBODY TOOK MY JOY CUZ YOU GAVE IT to him. Take it back. Take it back. What's that song we sing? I I went to the enemy's camp and took back what he stole from me. We handed it to him.

[00:40:30]We gave him our inheritance. And God says, Greg Lock, Global Vision, whoever you are in the room, whoever you are watching this, he says, "What I want you to do is know how to secure my blessings. And here's how you do it. You get your nose out of the newspaper and you stick it in the Bible. And he said right here, verse after verse, "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks. Quench not the spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Test all things. Hold fast. Abstain from all appearance of evil. Do good to the people that hate you. Don't render evil

[00:41:00]for evil." Romans says, "Give good back to those that give you evil. Pray for those that persecute you and wrongfully accuse and criticize and judge you." That's how we live in the last days. So, we have a choice. We can live the way most so-called believers live and we can have anxiety and heaviness and depression and all these problems and we can't sleep at night and we're never happy. Or we can do what the Bible says. And the Bible tells me how to secure,

[00:41:30]not just hope so, think so, maybe so, where deacons are going to vote so, to secure the blessing of God in my life in the midst of days that are evil and ridiculous. And I don't know about any of you, and I don't know about you, but I want the blessing of God on my life. I want the hand and the power and the manifest presence of God to be on my life. And the only way I can do that is if my life is living itself as if I'm

[00:42:00]walking right out of the pages of scripture. Father, we love you today and we thank you for the privilege that that we've had just to study the Bible. It's just been red-hot Bible study today, Lord. Lord, we can complain that things are crazy. We can get all upset that things are wicked, but you said it was going to happen. You predicted, you prophesied in the Bible that in the last days, perilous, dangerous, ludicrous, crazy times were going to come. But you never ever told us to fret, to worry,

[00:42:30]to guess what's going to happen. No, no, no. You said, "Keep your lamp filled with the oil of the Holy Ghost. Be ready always to give an answer to every man that ask you of the hope in the Lord Jesus that lies within you." So Lord, I thank you for this room. I thank you for every room watching and those that will watch later. Lord, would you honor us as we honor you? Would you lift us up as we lift

[00:43:00]your word and hide it in our hearts that we might not sin against you? Wherewith all shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from your commandments, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things shall be added unto you. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according TO ALL THAT IS WRITTEN THEREIN. For then

[00:43:30]thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Lord, show us that no matter what is happening around us, let not your hearts be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. And Lord, no matter what we face, we face it with you beside us. Cuz you'll never leave us and you'll never forsake us. And we thank you, Lord, that yay, though we may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, just like Paul Koy's

[00:44:00]family is walking through right now, we'll fear no evil, for you are with us. Your rod and your staff comforts us. You prepare a table in the presence of our enemies. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I'll dwell in the house of the Lord forever. For the Lord has not given us the spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind. We thank you for the Bible. We thank you for the body of Christ. We thank you for this local house here at Global Vision. Would you

[00:44:30]bless every person here? Bless us with safety. Lord, we know it's supposed to refreeze and rera, but you're in control of all of it. Your rain comes upon the just and the unjust. protect us as we travel home. Bless every person that's watching this broadcast right now. May you invade them in their space right now in their home, in their living room, in their car, wherever they are watching this. I pray that the power of God would overtake them. Thank you that when we dwell in the presence of the Lord, we're under the shadow of the protective influence of the power of God's

[00:45:00]presence. Thank you for what you've taught us today. And may we walk in the secured blessing of God in these evil days in the name of Jesus. And all of God's people said, "Amen and amen." I want you to get up, get around. I know we got to get out of here. It's almost 12:10. I want you to hug some folks. I want you to love some people here in the room. Everybody that's been watching, thank you. [music] Thank you. Please share this broadcast and I know the Lord's going to use it in a mighty, mighty way. God bless you. We love you. We'll see you soon. Obviously, men, we're going to sleep in in the morning.

[00:45:30]We're not going to have Bible study because it's supposed to get a little bit more treacherous. But for now, we'll see you Wednesday night at 7 o'clock. We love you guys. God bless you.