 Good afternoon, Pastor David. Hi, John. Welcome everybody to Unfiltered, a random moment with Pastor David. You know, Pastor, in your message this last week, you mentioned something very interesting that caught my attention. And I wanted to get your feedback, especially as we see the church quote-unquote in our last days, as we know the next prophetic event that's to take place is the rapture of the church. And as we're now living in times that we've never lived in before, as a pastor, in all the years that you've been ministering in our church, Pastor, not so much our church, but the church in general. Would you say that the church is losing its strength in these last days? Losing its strength. I don't think it's possible that the church ever could lose its strength because the Holy Spirit empowers the church. And so there's never going to be a time when the Holy Spirit is not empowering the church. Honor. And so, no, I don't believe that the church in and of itself, the true church, the body of Christ, is losing its strength. I believe that the church by and large doesn't avail ourselves of the strength that has been provided for us by the power of the Holy Spirit. So if there's a problem within the church today, it may be part of that problem. It may be that we are not taking advantage of that, which God has already supplied, by quenching the Holy Spirit, by not walking in the fullness of the Spirit, by not even being baptized by the power of the Holy Spirit, by simply not availing ourselves. I do think that the church by and large will say the name that the group of people called the church today. I do believe that that many of those who profess to know Christ have never really opened themselves up to what God wants to do. I believe that there's an awful lot of people who are running around at the time who are very much caught up with fulfilling the desires of their own hearts and minds and the idea of having a walk that actually impacts for the kingdom. I think for many people is a foreign thought, John. In the last days, Jesus gives a series of parables that I think gives us information about these last days. In the last days, there will be false teachers. There will be many even amongst ourselves who arise up who draw disciples after themselves. There will be well-known individuals that will steer the church in the wrong direction. There will be spiritual deception that is rampant in the church and things of that nature. So in these last days, I believe that God is doing a purifying in the body of Christ. And the way that happens isn't who I elect as president. The way that happens isn't whether or not I'm in favor of certain things that will protect this nation. I think that as salt and light obviously we're aware of the things that are taking place. But our hope is not in man and our hope is not in man's kingdoms. Our hope is in the Lord who directs our footsteps because in the end, the hearts of men are within the purview of God's spirit. The king's heart is in the Lord's hands like rivers of water. He turns it with us whoever he wills. And so even as Nebuchadnezzar said, God is the one who raises up the leaders. He gives the kingdom to whomever he wills. If we would understand that and do the work of an evangelist and preach the gospel and encourage people to know Jesus Christ, to vote their conscience or whatever, we might see some transformations taking place. But again, if the church is distracted by current events or things that have taken them away from living for Christ and sharing the message and serving God and supporting ministry and we get caught up with fighting vaccines or fighting whatever, not to say again, these aren't things that the church should be involved in. Of course we should, but sometimes they're distracting. And so I think that we have not availed ourselves of the power of the spirit, of the real direction of the word, of the power of fellowship. I think that's really what's showing right now. We were talking the other day, and I was mentioning to you, you might remember John, how that people say, you know, though they can attend life services, they choose not to, they stay at home, they can if they want to, but they stay at home. I was sharing with you that they're saying, because we hear this, oh, it's the same thing, you know, it's the same thing, we're getting the same message, but you're not receiving the sacraments, you know, you're not being baptized or you're not receiving communion, you're not serving, you're not in fellowship, you're not in corporate prayer, you're not in corporate worship. No, what you're doing is watching other people who are, and it would be like you saying, well, I've been to Hawaii, when in fact you've never have, you just simply watch travel shows, and there is a difference between watching a show on Maui or actually being on the shore at Maui yourself. And I think what people have done, John, is they have taken that backseat to real life in the spirit and have allowed themselves to think that they can be watchers of other people who are walking for Christ and with Christ and all, and that's been a danger. So getting back to your original question, do I believe that the church is becoming diminished, I think, is being purified? One of the things you mentioned in that distraction and the purification process as well, do you feel that some churches have done a good job of becoming entertainment, which has become a distraction that doesn't allow the church to tap into the power of the spirit? Anytime the pastor becomes the center of everything that goes on, you have entertainment. Jesus Christ is the center of everything that goes on. But if you don't go to church because your favorite pastor isn't showing up there or he hasn't brought some special news for you, you've got to show up to here, then what you've done is you have elevated that man to a position he should not be in. He's to be the chief servant, not the celebrity. And so yes, I believe that the church has become celebrity oriented, most definitely. Well, I'll go to that church because I love their music. I'll go to that church because, oh, that pastor, he's got so much going for him. This isn't to say that we shouldn't respect or love those who minister. Of course, honor those who honor the Lord, you know, and render honor to them, even double honor for those who handle the word. But when we begin to celebrityize people, when we make them into the most important thing, and therefore I won't show up if he's not there, that's what we've done. And so, you know, some people are more gifted and more eloquent and more articulate in the things that they share. And some people can really are used by God to reach our hearts in certain ways. But if you don't walk out of that church loving Jesus Christ more, if you walk out of that church service and you have anything else on your mind other than I want to serve my master, I've learned something about Jesus. If you walk out saying we've got a march for this or do that or whatever, you've missed the point of because you're the salt that is being sent into the world. You're being taken out of the salt shaker to be the influencers for Christ's sake. And a lot of people have an easier time inviting friends to church than they do to invite them to know Jesus Christ. And Pastor, if Paul, the apostle Paul or even Jesus himself was sitting not so much in our church but in the church today, what would be their response? I think that if the way a pastor should teach should be that if Paul, we'll say Paul, using his epistle for example, Jesus obviously, but we'll use Paul, that Paul could be sitting in the front row saying that's exactly what the spirit inspired me to say. But so many times we add our own humor, as I am guilty of sometimes as you know, perhaps a story that really doesn't follow the point that is being made. And what happens is we actually undermine what Paul meant. And I think that that's just the weaknesses of our flesh. But some people seem to do that with almost every word they say. I mean that. And I don't mean that in a way that is condemnatory. It's just a fact. There are just too many people I've seen in my walk with God that if they were giving that message in front of Paul, Paul would scratch his head and say that has nothing to do with what I was inspired to write. You have not spent time studying my word, God's word. You have not studied that letter. You don't know what I'm talking about. I believe that in many churches on the Sunday morning you get that. I was about to tell you something I heard, John, that I won't. It was such a profane. And I mean it in a sexual way, profane thing that was said from the pulpit. It happened to be broadcast and I was looking at this guy preaching and I listened and it was a sexually profane thing for him to say. And you could hear people responding in a positive way and I thought, my goodness, that is not why someone goes to church on a Sunday. So I believe that what you ought to do is preach as if you know God is listening and preach as if the person who was inspired to write that, preach in such a way that they will at least know that you did your best to understand what he's saying by the power of the Spirit. Amen. Amen, Pastor. Thank you so much for sharing that with us because in a time where God's really pruning, it can appear to be that the church is losing strength, but as you pointed out that we can't lose strength in the power of the Lord. No, the church isn't losing strength. The church is being purified. We have the same power available to us that came to us on the day of Pentecost. We still have that power. It's still available. But I believe that because some of the pastors and the Christians have begun to to follow their own hearts, the aspirations of their own visions and their desires to have people in the pews, that they're becoming the clowns that are entertaining the goats. The spiritual made that clear and I think he was right. Pastor, thank you so much. Friends and family want to invite you to our Wednesday evening service as Pastor David's taking us through Daniel. Daniel chapter 12, we conclude tomorrow just to wrap it up. And then after that, we'll be looking at Titus. That's going to be exciting. Pastoral epistle. I think it is. And want to invite you guys to invite your friends and family to come join us. Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. We're still taking Sinus for our Israel trip. We will have all the information online regarding of what the requirements may be. But come out and join us and even come out on Sunday morning at 8 30 and 10 45 a.m. And Pastor again, thank you so much for sharing with us. God bless you guys and we'll see you next week.