 Welcome everybody to Unfiltered. Pastor David, welcome as always. Thank you, John. This past Sunday we had an interesting thing take place here on campus where we had a couple of gentlemen that were... I don't call them gentlemen. Couple of people. Couple guys. Couple guys that were at our gates of our entrance coming into the church. Trying to antagonize the church, trying to get some reaction from the church because they want to monetize and make money off the church. And I've been thinking about that is why would people use the church to make money and why would they want to antagonize the people of our church who come to worship, who come to hear God's word, to come to kind of get away from everything. And then we have these guys that are here antagonizing for the sole purpose of making money. And it reminds me, correct me where it's at, I don't know where exactly, we're in acts. There was somebody who was wanting to use the Holy Spirit to monetize. And it reminded me a little bit about that. What I really appreciate is that you actually went out there and spoke to the person and as a true shepherd would. But what are your thoughts about people that want to use the church for their own financial gain? You know, there are already enough pastors who do that. So to be honest with you, the fact is that there have been people from the very beginning who have attempted to profit in some way or another from the work of the Holy Spirit, from the ministry. And so that's what was taking place, you know, in the book of Acts. You see this one who approaches the Apostle Peter and he had seen that by the laying on of hands that the Holy Spirit had been bestowed. And so he said, you know, I want to have this power. And that's when the Apostle Peter said, you're money perished with you because you sought to purchase the gift of the Spirit. And there's been people who have been attempting to monetize religion from the very beginning, John. You know that. I know that. And so that's what was taking place. These these two fellows who showed up this last Sunday had been here, you know, a couple of weeks before they are antagonizing. They they've gone to other locations in our area. And, you know, for for whatever purpose, they they antagonize the people and all. And then they post it so that they'll get hits. And then eventually, as they get their clicks, they they make a certain amount of money. And so why do they do that? Because religion is profitable. You know, the attitude that some people have is that religious people, you know, are greedy because I approach and what I mean by this by that is this. I did approach you. You were with me when I approached him. And I asked him, why are you doing this? And he began to make some gibberish sounds to try and mock me, which I, you know, I'm a I'm a man who has four children and I have grandchildren. So when you act like a child, it doesn't do anything to me. It doesn't it didn't bother me. You know, I just saw him as just a large child in in need of discipline. That's all he is. He he certainly isn't a man. He's he's more of a of a baby boy with a beard. So when he tried to make sounds to antagonize me and I seemed to remember, I don't remember the entire conversation. It was so quick, but I had asked him, why are you here? And he made noises and all. It just gave me an opportunity to share a little bit about the gospel, which is great opportunity. Apparently he has a number of followers. Why not share those things with him? So why did why do they do that? Well, there's a demonic spirit that is it's exposing itself today. It is is it seems to me and I've used this phrase. It's not something that I've coined, but Satan took his mask off. He's very open in his hatred for and his attempt to undermine, be a little and remove the credibility of the body of Christ. And that's what this guy is. He's under the under the influence of the God of this age. And and this is demonic. And because it's demonic, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. See, that's the problem I'm having overall is that people see things taking place in our culture and immediately they're trying to use carnal weapons, you know, to to to thwart the efforts of the enemy. John, just yesterday I was speaking to a local excuse me, councilman, who was sharing with me about some of the things related to the city that he he serves. And he I ran into him at the at one of the local pharmacies. And we had an interesting conversation, very interesting. But we began to discuss that. And he was sharing with me how he had been in a particular church. He says where the pastor has basically become, he said, a militant activist. And so he was talking about that. And I said, and we talked about how things could be changed. Now, this is a government official who's telling me that, you know, there are things that he is seen in the church. He once attended that we're disturbing to him. And I think that that's that happens in a lot of places throughout the nation because what we are doing is we're seeing bad and we're wanting to to cure the bad and that we need to we need to be aware. We need to do the things that are necessary, but we need to remember this. And this is what he and I talked about. And this is what I what I shared with him because he is a Christian. And so I told him, I said, listen, I said, yeah, we need we need to be aware. We need to do the things that are necessary. But we also need to remember that that we're in a spiritual war. And so that's what this is. This fellow just basically standing there to mock and to cause problems to people coming into church. I mean, this is supposed to be a refugee. This is supposed to be a place where they can have peace and they can be recharged because they're out there, you know, in battle every day in one form or another in churches, a place to equip the saints. And and and so for him to come and his friend, his compatriot, to to antagonize or make noises at to challenge people or to do whatever he's doing, it's demonic. And so the answer to that is what we did. I mean, some of the guys went and it was warm. So they were giving him water to drink and and ministering to him the way that Christians ought to. So I don't see him as my enemy. I don't see those kinds of people as my enemy necessarily. I know that they're they're held captive by the enemy. They're under the sway of the enemy. They're under the sway of the of the the period that we're living in the demonic times because Paul said, in the last days that people will give heed to deceiving spirits. He's speaking concerning in these last days, demonic things that are taking place. They give heed to these things and listening to these things. And that's what's happening, John. So the sway that he is the influence, the sway that is being exerted upon him is demonic. And his flesh yields to it. So he does those things. So, yeah, that's that's common. People make money off the church in one way or another. Including bad pastors, to be honest with you. I like what you you tie it in perfectly with your message on Sunday to be ready and to be prepared and to be always be ready in season out of season. And what a great practical application. Yeah, so I was able to. I appreciated that to see that in action. So I thank you, pastor. I just want to get your feedback on that. And and it's sad to see happen. But we pray for them and even offer them a drink of water in the name of Jesus and and give them the gospel and even directions to the church. Yeah, and the times of service. 30 and 10, 45 AM, you know, they're more than welcome to come. Amen. I'd love them to hear the message of the gospel. They they've broad brushed us. They've tried to make us seem like we're the enemy and we're not, you know, we're not. We want to help the society. We want to be salt. We want to be light. We want to care for people. That's what the church does. And, you know, any, you know, they posted it and there are people making comments about us, people who don't know me because these are just ignorant people. They they just are they're lost. They're in need of Christ and they don't have the courage to come and speak to people like me. They hide behind their little screens and furiously type their angry words. But in fact, they're just miserable, lost people who need the Lord. So rather than us getting angry at them, which is easy to do because this guy was mocking. He was making noises. He was not talking. And I let him know. I said, listen, I said, you know, apparently you don't want to answer any questions. You're asking, you know, who I ask, who are you, et cetera. And he makes noises and things. So if he has some mindless followers who think that that's entertainment, you know, those people need the Lord too. And that's why I invite him to church. And if you want, come and speak to me. And I'm more than willing to talk to you about your perceptions of us, our church, who I am. I have no problem with that. Pastor, thank you so much for sharing that in. And the message that you gave again, you know, right before that and then even right after that. And then again, showing a great practical application. You know, and that's the importance of being in God's word, coming to church, being part of a fellowship, being part of worship. And so this is a segue to invite our church family to our Wednesday evening service at 7 p.m. as you're taking us through the book of Romans. Yep, we're in chapter eight. Chapter eight. Oh, that's a good chapter. Invite your friends and family to come out and join us. And then again on Sunday morning, it's 8.30 and 10.45. Great opportunity to come worship and hear God's word and join in fellowship and be refreshed by God's word. So we invite you guys to come on out. Pastor David, thank you so much. Thank you for joining us. Thank you guys for tuning in and God bless you.