 Hey man, so Acts chapter 19, we're going to finish the chapter this evening. So in Acts chapter 19, Paul's been on his, what most people call, his third missionary journey. I don't have it really mapped out because as you can see in Acts chapter 19, he kind of just goes all over the place. It kind of gives a lot of reference to, he's spending a lot of time in Asia here which is modern day Turkey if you remember from the second missionary journey. He's about to go across over to Greece again or Macedonia again. But in Acts chapter 19, he's kind of going around Asia and he's spending a lot of time in Ephesus and that's where this last incident takes place. We're going to start out in Acts chapter 19 and verse number 21 this evening and look at this last incident that Paul and his companions get into here in Ephesus. Look at verse number 21 and let's just get started this evening. The Bible says after these things were ended, Paul purposed in spirit that he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem. That when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem saying after I've been there I must also see Rome. That's just kind of showing your projection of where Paul wants to go in the future and we see him come to pass. Paul ends his ministry in Rome. Look at verse 22. It says so he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Tumotheus and Erastus. But he himself stayed in Asia for a season. So he sent Tumotheus and Erastus across the sea and he stayed in Asia, this modern-day Turkey area and he's going around there and at the same time there arose no small stirrer about that way. So he's still having trouble throughout the ministry and then we see a very specific thing that comes up here in verse number 24. It says, for a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith which made silver shrines for Diana brought no small gain unto the craftsmen whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation and said, Sirs, you know that by this craft we have our wealth. Verse 26, moreover you see in here that not alone at Ephesus but almost all throughout Asia, meaning Paul is just going all over Asia preaching the Gospel, says this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people saying that they be no gods which are made with him. So here's a silversmith and he actually makes idols and shrines to this idol, that's his living. And he's going out and he's got a problem with Paul because Paul turned to Habakkuk chapter two. Here's what Paul is saying. Paul is kind of teaching what Habakkuk chapter two, Habakkuk is towards the minor profits towards the end of the Old Testament right before the book of Zephaniah. You'll hit those Z books at the end of the Old Testament, Habakkuk is right before, it's a small book right before Zephaniah. But in Habakkuk chapter two, this is what Paul was preaching that upset the silversmith Demetrius. Look at verse number 18 of Habakkuk chapter two, Habakkuk chapter two. Bible says what profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it? So it's saying what profit does the graven image that the maker makes have? It says the molten image and a teacher of lies that the maker of his work trusted therein to make dumb idols. Now that means dumb, dumb meaning they're silent, they don't speak, they don't say anything, not dumb like, you know, foolish. It's saying dumb idols meaning they don't, they just, they're just there, they just don't say anything, they're just nothing. Okay? Look at verse 19. It says, wo unto him that saith to the wood, Awake to the dumb stone arise, it shall teach. Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. This is what Paul is preaching here. Paul is preaching that these idols are dumb, they're just, they're nothing. They're nothing. In Exodus chapter 20, verse number three, you know, the Bible says, you know, in the listing out of the Ten Commandments, you know, God says, you shall have no other gods before me. But when it says lowercase g, what it means is that no other idols you should not make gods, they're not real. There is no other gods. It's not like there's all these other gods, and God just is upset that he wants you to just worship him. He's like, they're not gods, they're dumb idols, they're, they're wood. That's what Habakkuk chapter two here is saying. It's saying, you're, you're foolish to say, wood, teach me. You know, gold, silver, teach me. It's a dumb idol. It says nothing, it does nothing. Look at verse number nine. Go back. Verse number nine of Habakkuk chapter two. It says woe unto them. So here it's saying in verse 18, it says, what prophet had the graven image? There's no prophet to that idol, to that dumb stone, dumb wood, dumb silver. There's no prophet to the people that have it. But there's prophet to the people that make it. Look at verse number nine. Woe to him that covet, coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high. So what the Bible here is saying is if you covet, if you make money and you covet making money over evil things, look, you're going to pay for this. It's an evil thing to do. And the Bible is saying in verse number 18, look, this is what Paul is teaching, that these are dumb idols, that this idol enshrined to Diana is nothing. It's a nothing burger. And then he goes and he preaches Jesus. But he's saying like, he's teaching the people in Asia that there's no prophet to them to buy this thing, or to have this thing, to worship this thing that is a dumb idol. Now it's just an interesting concept in itself right there. I mean, he's teaching these people, and so back in chapter two, verse number 18 says that there's people that profit by making things that you will buy that you profit zero from. So you're like, why in the world would anyone buy something like that? You should go through your bank statements this next month, and you should go through a line item of every single thing you spent money on, and just start highlighting things that said, okay, what did I buy that has literally zero profit, that is no profit to me? All right, just think of all the things that people purchase in their life that have zero profit, nothing, right? Like a bag of Cheetos. I mean, there's no profit there, right? I mean just silly things, just worthless things up to, you know, sin and bad things. Like alcohol, look how much money people spend on alcohol and drugs and all these sinful things that literally have no profit to them. As a matter of fact, not only do they not have profit to them, but they harm them. But guess what, somebody profited by making those things and selling them to people that buy them, right? Think about all the industrial complexes that I've preached about. All, you know what these things are? They're peddling things to you. They're peddling things that are harmful things. They're peddling godless philosophies, that people that, you know, they'll teach your kids and teach young adults in this country that have no profit to you, but they sell them for a lot of money. You know, they peddle all this death and destruction. These industrial complexes that have no profit to the world, but they're profit to the people that sell them. So look, there's a lot of things in our lives. We just think about that. This is a side note of the sermon. Think about the things that you purchase or that you see that people sell to you, sell to people that you know, sell to the world or whatever that have zero profit. And you wonder, what's that all about, right? So look, this is what Paul's teaching. He's teaching that these are dumb idols. They're not gods. They're not gods other than God. They're nothing. They're wood. They're stone. That's it. They don't speak. They don't have anything. You say, well, you know, a lot of people accuse God of being a silent God, of being an invisible God. But do we have a silent God? Do we have a silent? We do not have a silent God. What's unfortunate is people that think that we have a dumb, meaning silent God that, you know, is this magic man in the sky or whatever, but look, God actually has a lot to say to us. It's just people today, there's never been a time in our country's history where people know less about what God has to say. You go out so many, you'll see that. People literally know nothing about the Bible. If you have four Bible verses memorized, you know more Bible than 99.9% of the people in the United States right now. It's pitiful. But we don't have a dumb God. We don't have a silent God. And guess what? We also don't have a God that is not profitable to us. You know, these dumb idols, these people paid all this money for these idols. There's no profit. They sit there and they say, teach me, rock, teach me, stone, teach me, silver and gold and all these things and there's nothing. That's what Habakkuk chapter 2 and what Paul is teaching. However, our God, look, salvation's pretty profitable. We didn't pay for it. We didn't even have to buy it. But it's really profitable to us. Not only salvation, but guess what? Salvation and then you listen to all the other things that the Bible has to say other than salvation and guess what? You will be profitable to other people. There is profit everywhere in what God has to say. Not only salvation, but just everywhere in his word there is profit. This is an infinitely profitable book. There's a reason we read the New Testament. Why in the world? I've read the New Testament before. Why would I read it again every January? Because this is the only book that you will ever read that every time you read it you will get more from it. You will read it again and again and again and that will never stop being true. Until you are 99 years old and you die of old age, you will keep reading the Bible and you will keep just garnering new things from it. It happens every time you read it. It's the only infinite book out there. So look, God's word, God is not silent. God has plenty to say to us and it's infinite what God has to say to us. Go back to Acts chapter 19, look at verse number 27. So you know this silversmith, he's not too happy about this so he's getting all the other craftsmen that are in this trade together. Look at verse number 27. The Bible says, this is Demetrius speaking, he says, so that not only this our craft is in danger, to be said it not, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised and her magnificence should be destroyed whom all Asia in the world worship it. I mean that's a little bit of a stretch. Look at verse number 18 or verse 28. And he said when they heard these sayings they were full of wrath and cried out saying great is Diana of the Ephesians and the whole city was filled with confusion and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theater. So we're going to talk a little bit more about some of Paul's companions in chapter number 20 but Aristarchus actually comes up a few times in the Bible, he comes up in the book of Philemon, he comes up in Colossians chapter 4 is actually being in prison with Aristarchus and Paul had a lot of loyal companions just to all that to say that. Look at verse 30, when Paul would have entered into the temple the disciples suffered him not. So these two guys get caught and grabbed by this mob after Demetrius tips them up into a frenzy and Paul wants to go in there but the disciples you know they convinced Paul not to go. Look at verse 31, and a certain of the chief of Asia which were his friends sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theater. They knew that there was trouble there. Some therefore cried one thing and some another for the assembly was confused and more part knew wherefore they were come together and the more part knew not wherefore they came together. So I mean verse 32 is kind of telling. I mean this is just basically chaos at this point. They're in this theater, they have these two men caught, it's chaos, the mob's all whipped up into a frenzy and look people are pretty easy to whip up when you look at this story. And this is like mob mentality right here in the Bible is what we're seeing. These people are all upset, they're all freaking out and they're all just like they want to just like get somebody and they don't even know why. In verse 32 it says the more part meaning most of them is what it's saying didn't even know why they were mad. They were all just in this frenzy just ready to tear these two guys apart and they didn't even know. They're just like yeah get them. Everyone's like yeah you know they just chose you how you know mobs work right here. All right. I mean they're just feeding on each others. This is why evil people want to get more people with them by the way. Evil people want to get more people with them and then they get them all whipped up and people pretty soon you know the people that the evil people got then that those people got some people and those people got some people pretty soon they're everybody's all whipped up and they don't even know why. They don't even know what they're upset about. You know don't get caught up and stuff like this but I mean it's just a snowball effect. The more people are whipped up the more people you know just get more people whipped up. It's kind of a snowball effect. Look at verse 33. And they drew Alexander out of the multitude. The Jews putting him forward and Alexander beckoned with the hand and would have made his defense under the people. Now this is Alexander. You don't hear too much about him in the Bible. There's an Alexander the Coppersmith that is probably this same guy I'm thinking. But you know he was kind of a troublemaker to Paul. But he doesn't really come into play in this story because look at verse 34. It says when they knew he was a Jew all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, great is Diana of the Ephesians. So they didn't want to listen to him anyway. But this is what's interesting right here in verse number 35. And verse number 35 is where the story really gets interesting. Now look at this guy. And when the town clerk had appeased the people he said ye men of Ephesus what men is there that knoweth not how the city of the Ephesians is a worshiper of the great goddess Diana and of the image which fell down from Jupiter. So here's this low level politician stands up and kind of takes over the conversation here and he does something that you don't see too many politicians do. He actually tries to defuse the situation. Look at verse number 36. Seeing then he still keeps speaking. He says seeing that these things cannot be spoken against. He's like everybody knows that Ephesus they worship this Diana. He says seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against you ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly. If you've been brought you've brought hither these men which are neither robbers of churches nor yet blasphemers of your goddess. Boy this guy is really good here. This isn't this is no Christian talking here. But what he does is what does he do? He kind of placates the crowd. He's like everybody knows that this whole town worships Diana. And then he throws in a defense right after that for these two men, Gaius and Aristarchus. I mean it's a brilliant strategy that he has here to kind of defuse the situation. He said you brought hither these men. He's like they're neither robbers of churches nor blasphemers of your goddess. He's like they've said nothing against. I don't know whether that was true or not because maybe they have. I don't know. But he's basically trying to get this mob calm down. He's like these people aren't thieves. They're not blaspheming Diana. Look at verse 38. Says wherefore if Demetrius and the craftsmen which are with him have a matter against any man, the law is open. And there are deputies. Let them impede one another. So he kind of does that. If you ever heard of the Oreo cookie method of criticism here, this is what he does. He kind of gives them a compliment saying everybody knows that Diana is the goddess of this town. And then he throws in a quick defense of the two disciples that were caught. And then he throws in another. Hey, if Demetrius has a problem, so he kind of sandwiches two compliments with you should let these guys go is what he does. It's a brilliant little strategy here. He's like, hey, go to the law. There are deputies, let them impede one another. He's saying, just don't do this vigilante justice. He's saying, quit, calm the mob down. We don't need a lynch mob here. He's like, just take it to the law. If there's a problem, take it to the proper channels. Look at verse 39. But if you inquire anything concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly. For we are in danger to be called in question for this day's uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give account of this discourse. And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly. So he succeeds here. He succeeds. If you look at the very next verse in Acts chapter 20, the situation is diffused. I mean, this is a great example of de-escalation. It's fairly amazing because most politicians cave to the mob. Look at John chapter 19. Look at John chapter 19. Actually, most politicians either cave to the mob or they do something else. But look at John chapter 19. Pilate kind of started out like this guy. Pilate started out kind of in the same manner. However, he cave to the mob. Look at John chapter 19. Look at verse number eight. A very similar situation. You have this mob whipped up against Jesus saying, we want to execute this guy, crucify this guy. And Pilate, he's like he's done nothing wrong. He's innocent. He's like, you want to execute him, you execute him. He's like, I'm not going to do this. He's like, this guy hasn't done anything. Look at verse number eight of John chapter 19. It says, when Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was more afraid. So the only reason I read that for you is they're saying, oh, he claims to be the Son of God. He claims to be the Son of God. But this shows you verse number eight that Pilate was literally afraid of the mob. He was afraid of the Jews here. Look at verse number nine. And we went again into the judgment hall and sayeth unto Jesus, whence art thou? He's like basically saying, where did you come from? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then said Pilate unto him, speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, thou could have no power at all against me except that were given from above. Therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the what? Here's that all sin is equal thing again, right? This idea that all sin is equal in the eyes of God. No, Jesus here said, the people that brought me to you, they have the greater sin. He says here in John chapter 19 verse number 11, verse number 12. And then from thence forth Pilate sought to release him. So Pilate, I mean, you're reading the story to this point and you're like, Pilate's gonna let him go. Pilate doesn't see anything wrong. You know that he's got all these false accusations against him. Pilate could care less if he's violating or offending the Jews religion. The Romans didn't have any respect for the Jews. As a matter of fact, just a few years later, they're literally kicking the Jews out of Jerusalem and in 70 AD they destroyed the entire temple itself. Look at verse number 12. It says he sought to release him but the Jews cried out. Now remember verse eight where he says he was afraid of the mob. Saying if thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Uh-oh, there they threatened his political career. They threatened his position of power in the Roman Empire. Whosoever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Caesar. I mean, they took that pretty nice little spin there to try to threaten this Roman officer saying, oh, you're not gonna defend Caesar? And they made it about Pilate's boss. And he was already afraid of them and of course we know at this point he sends Jesus to be crucified. He caves in. That's why this town clerk in Acts chapter 19 is kind of a unique situation. He literally stands up, he defends these men and he de-escalates the situation and gets them out of it. And there's no indication that he was a Christian or that he was a believer. He was just some politician, some Gentile. He stood up, probably some Roman official and he defused the situation. So that's rare for a politician. That's why I bring that up. Another thing that politicians will do is they'll either cave into the mob or they'll promise the mob money. That's what politicians do, right? That's what politicians do. They promise the mob's money. That's what all politicians do in America. I don't care what party it is, what they do. It's just whoever, all they do to get elected is they get up and they just promise money. And then the other side gets up and promises more money. And the other side gets up and promises more money. That's what politicians do. You say, why? That's what I'm gonna explain to you tonight. You say, why do they do that? And here's why, because it works. Because it works. You say, why does it work? Why does it work for politicians to get up and just promise people money? I don't care, Republican, Democrat, whatever. Whatever other party you wanna, they're two wings and the same bird, folks. They all do the same thing in the end. You say, why do they do it? Because it works, why? Because Demetrius, that's why. So we're gonna look at Demetrius. There's a common political saying in the United States that's been ever since I was just a little kid to even understand politics. And they say, it's the economy, stupid. You ever heard that saying? And the reason that they say that, the reason that they say that about politicians to get elected is because people vote their own economies. People generally, when it comes down to actually who they vote for, they actually don't have any morals. They don't have any standards. They just vote for what's gonna make them the most money. And politicians today, and politicians back in Jesus' time, they've always known this. That's how politics works in general, all right? And it's always gonna work that way. Whoever can promise you more is correct. But is that true? Bullock, it's the same with Demetrius. Go back to verse number 25. Go back to verse number 25. How did Demetrius get everybody worked up here? What was his main thing that he came to all the people with? Did he say, hey, this Jesus, we don't believe that. Instead, it's Diana. What did he say? Look at verse number 25 of Acts chapter 19. Look, it's the economy, stupid, just like politics say. That's all anyone cares about, and that's what Demetrius used. Look at verse 25. He said, when he called together the workmen of like occupation and said, sirs, you know that by this craft we have our wealth. He said, it is this trade making these things that we get all our money. That's how he sold this to all of these people. He didn't go up and say, hey, what is the truth? He didn't go up and say, Paul is saying this. Let's find the truth. He said, no, this guy is attacking our money. This guy is attacking our livelihood. He's, as far as the truth, who cares? You know, none of these people cared. He basically said, we are going to lose all of our money. And that's how he got this coalition that ended up in this theater with this huge mob. But guess what, folks? Everyone does this. Everyone does this. I mean, just examples. You know, the reason that politicians are successful at being politicians is because everyone thinks this way. If people didn't think this way, where they were only thinking about their own personal money and their own personal wealth, as Demetrius says here, these politicians wouldn't exist. Politicians that promised people money, it would be just like, people would be like, no, what's right? You'd be like, that's not moral. That's not moral that you wanna take all my money and give it to people that don't work. It's like, that's not moral that you wanna take money from even those people. Because don't you have these people that are like, I used to call them fiscal Republicans. They could care less about abortion and Christian topics, abortion and homosexuality and perversion. They could care less about all that stuff. They're just like, you know what, I want lower taxes. You know what, I don't want the government taking so much of my money. You know, they're just the fiscal, because what do people care about? All they care about is money. And that's the majority of people, which is why politicians that act this way exist in the first place. Look, here's another, here's a conspiracy guide for you or maybe a truth guide for you. Because, look, because people are this way. Because the majority of people on planet Earth are this way, that the first thing that they think about is their own personal economy, if you want to find truth in situations, just follow the money. That's how you can find truth in a lot of situations. You wanna find truth in why a war started? Follow the money. You wanna find truth on why a war is prolonged? Follow the money. You wanna find truth on assassinations? Look, and I'm not saying we can know truth on all these things. But I'm saying, you wanna get closer, you know, you wanna get closer to over the target, you follow, you find who stands to profit. And you'll get closer to the truth in almost everything. Why? Because this is how people operate, as we see Demetrius using this tool to get everyone together in Acts chapter 19. I mean, you wanna talk about false flag operations and any, you pick a conspiracy, follow the money and you get closer to the truth. That's all I'm saying. But here's a sad fact, and the point of the sermon tonight. Christians do this too. Christians do this too. Do what? They make decisions based on money. Pastor Jimenez said many times, and I think he's just a great saying, he said this many times, he said, if you are ever in your life making a decision solely based on money, that decision will be wrong. I wanna explain that to you tonight. But here's what Christians do. They make a decision based on money, and then they try to justify that decision many times using the Bible. Trying to justify that decision that they really made just based on money. Here's the thing, folks, turn to Ecclesiastes chapter three. Let's talk about money, all right? Money should be benign. Meaning money should be something that is just, it's neither here nor there, all right? It's neither, you know, it's something that we all have to deal with. It's something that you're gonna have. Sometimes you're not gonna have it. It's just, that is the way it's gonna be. It should never be a driver of decisions in your life. Look, we should be happy. We should be happy when we have it. We should be happy when we have it. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter three. There's nothing inherently wrong with money itself. There's nothing inherently wrong with having a few bucks. As a matter of fact, if you follow what the Bible says about stewardship of your finances and your blessings and things like this, you're probably gonna have a couple of nickels to rub together at some point. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter three in verse number 13. The Bible says, actually look at verse number 12. The Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse number 12. I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, he's talking about men. He's like talking about a man's life here. He's saying, I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice and to do good in his life. He's like, this is what a man should do. He's like, men aren't good, but what they should do is they should just be joyful and they should do good is what he is saying. And then look at verse number 13. And also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor. It is the gift of God. So first of all, it's his labor, okay? Meaning you work for your own stuff, okay? You work for your own things and God will bless you. Look, it's the gift of God. So if you go out and you work hard, you go out and you work hard every single day, you know, look, that is a gift of God that you are profitable from that. You say, well, no, that was me that worked. No, it's by God's grace that you were able to go work. Everything good comes from God. That is clear in the Bible. Don't ever forget that. But God is saying here, the Bible is saying, hey, if you go out and you have good labor, first of all, it's good labor, all right? You're not going out and doing, you know, immoral things. It's saying a man should do good, first of all. So you go out and you do good. You have labor that is moral, hardworking labor. The Bible says working with your hands by the sweat of your face, just an honest living, you know, dirty hands clean money. That's what we're talking about here, all right? The Bible is saying, look, enjoy those things. Enjoy the fruits of that labor. It's the gift of God. God wants you to have that. That's what the Bible is saying. So look, money should not be a driver of decisions. You should be happy when you have it. It's a gift of God, all right? Look, you're going to have some blessings in your life. You're going to have, I mean, I hope you have blessings in your life. But here's the point that I'm trying to make tonight. Being a Christian, you should not be like these people that follow Demetrius, that their only, their only decider of right and wrong was whether or not they would lose or gain money. And Christians should have nothing to do with that because guess what? Being a Christian may require making decisions in your life. No, being a Christian will at some point require decisions that cost you money. Require decisions that, you know what? That will not be good for the bottom line, for your economy. You say, what do you mean? First of all, I mean, what if you got into a job that was an immoral job? You know, there's plenty of jobs that are not just ways to make money. There are plenty of jobs out there that are immoral jobs. What if you got into a job and you thought it was a good job and then all of a sudden they're asking you to do illegal things? This is not good labor as the Bible would say. Look, many jobs that pay a lot of money are just not moral jobs. They take advantage of people, they steal money from other people, maybe even in legal ways, who knows? But the point is, you know, you could be doing unethical things that could make you a lot of money. But this is not what the Christian should do. Money should never be the driver, but what people will do is, well, I have to support my family, 1 Timothy 5-8. No, there's good ways to support your family. There is moral ways that are pleasing to God. Look, you can't go and do bad things to accomplish what the Bible says you're supposed to do. God cannot contradict himself. God would never condone of this. Turn to 2 Chronicles, chapter 25, and I'll show you an example of this. God would never contradict himself. God would never want you going out and committing sin so you could support your family. So you could, you know, take care of your own. I'll get 2 Chronicles, chapter 25. We see a story of Amaziah here. Amaziah in verse number two of 2 Chronicles, chapter 25, Amaziah was a king of the lower kingdom of Judah. So the lower kingdom of Judah was much more godly and followed the Lord much more closely. They slipped up along the way. But according to the Bible, they followed the Lord. They followed the Lord, even though their kings messed up here and there. But in verse number two, it says, Amaziah did that what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Or in the sight of the Lord. Now look at verse number five of 2 Chronicles, chapter 25. Amaziah is getting ready, he's putting an army together. The Bible says moreover, Amaziah, this good king of Judah, gathered Judah together. Now of course, Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel, they went off 100 years before this. As soon as Jeroboam took over when the kingdom split, he immediately started worshiping false gods and just taking these people the wrong direction. And God was angry with them from the start. Look at verse number five. Moreover, Amaziah gathered Judah together and made them captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, according to the houses of their fathers and throughout all Judah and Benjamin. And he numbered them from 20 years old and above and found them 300,000 choice men able to go forth the war that could handle spear and shield. He's putting, he's organizing his army. Now look at verse number six. He hired, now he's going to get some mercenaries here. He hired also 100,000 mighty men of valor out of Israel. So he went and he got 100,000 mercenaries from the northern kingdom for 100 talents of silver. But there came a man of God to him saying, oh king, let not the army of Israel go with thee. For the Lord is not with Israel to wit with all the children of Ephraim. And so God has mercy on Amaziah and he sends a messenger to him saying, don't do that. God does not want these wicked people fighting in your army. It also shows us like who we should be, you know, yoked up with here. This is a great example of separation. God wanted his people separated from these wicked people that had gone the other way. Look at verse number eight. Look, he's saying God won't be with you. Look at verse number eight. He says, but if thou wilt go, do it. So he's saying, if you're not going to listen to me, just go ahead and do it and go to battle with these 100,000 mercenaries. He says, but be strong for the battle. God shall make thee fall before the enemy. For God have power to help and to cast down. This is just, there's so many lessons here it's hard to even say. But the point is, he's saying, look, you can go with 400,000 men. He's like, and God's gonna put you down. You're gonna lose. Or you can go with 300,000 and you can win. That's what he's saying. He's saying, because look, God's not, what was the difference? The difference wasn't the 100,000 men. The difference was God wouldn't be with them if they had the 100,000 men. So he's like, you take the 100,000 men, you're without God. Or you can have God without the 100,000 men. It shows you the strength of God right there. You need God with you. But even after this direction, think about this for a second. Even, this is how powerful this problem is amongst mankind. Amaziah is a good king that did right in the sight of the Lord. And this man of God just told him, get rid of these 100,000 people. Or God will not be with you. You'd think at that point, you'd just be like, okay, sorry, I didn't know. But look at verse number nine. And Amaziah said to the man of God, but what shall we do for the 100,000 talents, for the 100 talents which I gave, would I give into the army of Israel? He says to the man of God, the man of God just told him, if you bring these 100,000 people with you, you are going to die. You will lose the battle. And he's like, but what about the money? He says, because that's what we think about. He says, but what about the money? And the man of God answered, the Lord is able to give thee much more than this. He's like, forget about the money. He's like, God can give you much more than this. This is how we all need to, and look, he might not have been talking about money. He might not have been saying, God's gonna give you 200,000 or 200 pieces of silver. He might have just been like, hey, God's just gonna bless you in other ways. But he's saying, you know what he's saying? He's like, hey, have some faith in God. Quit putting your faith in money and have some faith in God is what he's saying. I mean, look, that's the way we need to be in our lives. That if we have some blessings right now, we should just appreciate that. It's a gift of God. Don't ever forget that it's a gift of God. But maybe something comes in where something goes awry. I mean, look, the vaccine mandate was a perfect example of this. And a lot of people quit their jobs. They're just like, no, I'm not going to do something that I feel goes against my conscience. And a lot of people quit their jobs. A lot of Christians quit their jobs. And look, that was them saying that the Lord is able to give me much more than this. That was those people saying that. And look, God blessed those people because they were just having faith in God and not faith in whatever money they made is what they were doing. Look, it's a sign. Look, the love of money is the root of all evil. And if you start making decisions based on money, that is a sign, as 1 Timothy 6 says, that you do love the money. And you definitely love it more than you love God. And the Bible says it's a root of all evil, meaning it's the beginning of all kinds of trouble for you. Jesus said you literally, in Matthew 6, Jesus says you literally can't serve both. Look, you have money, you use money. Money's like a tool. It's like a benign tool. You should appreciate you have the tools, but when you don't have the tool, you know, I mean, whatever. You don't serve the tool, though. And Jesus says you can't serve God and mammon. It's impossible. He's like, you love the one and you'll hate the other. You're like, no, I wanna love them both. It just doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way at all. But the point is, just like these people with Demetrius, Demetrius used this to get this mob together. Money can't drive you. Some people have asked me, over the course of being in the ministry, a few people have asked me. They've asked me, like, hey, I wanna go do this thing that's wrong, but I'm gonna make more money. And I'm just like, yeah, you know, I've even had people say to me, I wanna go do this thing that's wrong and it'll bring the church more money. And I'm just like, oh, I'm like, I'm like, what in the world? You know, look, and many people, they've already made the decision that they're gonna go and do the thing for the money. They just won't ask me because they know what I'm gonna say. But the point is money should, look, the Bible drives right and wrong. The Bible drives right and wrong. Money comes, appreciate it. Money goes though. And God can give us more than that. So look, here's the two things that you need to take away from this. Money, consideration, decision should never drive your moral right and wrong. That should come from the Bible. That's the first thing. Just try to, like, when you come into situations in your life, just try to remove money from the situation. Just try to remove, like, you know, you're thinking about a new job or you're thinking about moving. This is a huge one right here. You're thinking about moving somewhere. You're like, what do I move there? Am I moving there for spiritual reasons? Would I move there if, you know, I didn't have a good job there? You know, would I move there if, no, is this a spiritual move? You know, is this, how is this gonna affect, we're talking about leadership, how is this gonna affect my family moving to this other place? But people, what they'll do is they'll find a good job and, you know, they'll come up with justifications, like, okay, I'm gonna drive three and a half hours to this church and everything's gonna be fine. And what they'll do is they'll put money first and try to justify it through the Bible. So the first thing is, the Bible drives right and wrong. You gotta take money out of the equation. Look, there might be money there, there might not be. And the second thing you need to realize is this. Accept the fact that at some point in your Christian life, if you are following the spirit, you will make decisions that don't make you the most money. That's what you have to, look, you are going, you will come to a Y in the road where it is God and it is more money. And you will have to choose. This will, I guarantee you, this will happen to you. I mean, we moved, when we moved to California. And look, these are gonna, I'm telling you, these are gonna be what in the world moments? If you do take the God path, which I pray that you all do in those moments, these may be moments where you look at yourself and you question yourself and you say, what in the world am I doing? But you know what you're doing if you follow the right and wrong of the Bible and not money. But a proof, a proof of how everybody thinks this way is we moved to California for a church and people literally thought we were insane. Like people thought, people thought, people still do think that I have lost my ever-loving mind. People thought that as I walked away from a job, I walked away from these things, I walked away from everything. And there were some moments in the middle of the mover. I was like, what in the world? What am I doing? But the point is you will come to those crossroads in your life. And look, that's not been the only one in my life. And that's not gonna be the only one for you. There will be many of those times. And those are times when you just have to choose the Bible over personal profit. And look, the Lord is able to give you much more than this. You say, well, that's never happened to me. That's never happened to me, pastor. Well, here's the thing. If that's never happened to you, it's going to happen to you. You know, if you're living for the Lord, it's going to happen to you. And you're like, I've been living to the Lord for years, well, here's the thing. If you can't think of a time that that has happened and you made a decision that cost you money where you went with God instead of the money, you probably don't think it's happened because you've just gone with the money the whole time. So the point you have to realize is that's going to happen to you if you are living your life for the Lord. And look, it is a tool of Satan because everybody is concerned with it. Everybody is caught up with it in this world that we live in. Money is such a funny thing because you can't really be like, I don't care about money. You don't want to be that guy either. You don't want to be this guy who's just like, I don't care about money and you're just like broke all the time because you spend all your money on tacos and video games or something. I mean, I don't know. I'm sure there's people that do that. But the point is, you got to follow the Bible on debt, follow the Bible on savings, follow the Bible on being covetous, follow the Bible on just being responsible with this tool that God provides you, this gift that God provides you, but realize that it comes and it goes. And realize, look, and if you do love money as a Christian, God's probably gonna test you on it. You know, God's probably, if it's an idol to you, God is gonna come after that idol and you're gonna have to make some decisions like that. But it's the mature Christian folks. It's the mature Christian that will do this successfully. All right, it takes maturity. And look, here's the benefit of this lesson tonight from Demetrius and all of these people that followed him, just judging right and wrong on money only, on their welfare, on their salaries. This lesson will help you understand. It won't help you agree, but it will help you understand why the world operates the way it does. All right, when you see things like, when you see things like we're seeing today, where you're just like, none of this makes any sense. We're literally risking, killing tens of millions of people. None of this makes any sense. Well, I mean, we're risking World War III, all this stuff. And you're like, but oh, the root of all evil, it's money, that's all it is. That's all it is. This is how, and you say, how could all these leaders in all these different parts of the world be all making these same decisions that are imperiling so many tens of millions, billions of people? And you say, because this is how the devil controls the world. The devil, Satan, is the God of this world. And this is, it's his number one tool right here. Just as Demetrius controlled this, Demetrius was a nobody. He was a nobody that knew nothing. And he controlled this massive mob of people by threatening their livelihood, by telling them they're gonna lose all their money. It's how the devil controls the world towards his goals. And guess what? He's got pretty much everyone. But he shouldn't have us. We should make decisions in our lives where people look at us and they say, what in the world? You're gonna do what? What in the world? You're not taking that big thing that was put in front of you. Instead, you're, what in the world? And you know what they'll say? They'll say, that's peculiar. Because you know what? We're supposed to be a peculiar people. That's why. We're not supposed to act like everybody else. We are the minority. If you are saved and you are walking with the Lord Jesus Christ, you are what? You're one in 10,000. And look, you should stand out. And here's one way that you can stand out by not making decisions with your pocketbook, by making decisions according to the Bible. Let's bow our heads and have a word.