Thank you Scott. Appreciate that. Hey if you're ready to run can you say man and run by faith. The Bible says help me out a little bit. The Bible says it is impossible to please God without without faith. You know what these last six months have made us have to take some steps of faith. I'm telling you that we're in a church tonight and that we're meeting on a Thursday night and that we're having revival services is a step of faith. Every one of you came by a step of faith and praise the Lord for that. That's the only way to please the Lord. I want to share this with you. You ought to thank God. for an under-shepherd that is taking steps of faith, that you have a Christian school that's running right now, that you're having revival services right now, comes from the leadership. And I wanna tell you something, you oughta thank God that you have a pastor that's willing to take steps of faith during this time, because it's the only way to please God. So Pastor Pittman, I know that my schedule is a mess. And I know, and you know what? The reason why it was a mess, obviously COVID, but the reason why it was a mess is because of Steps of Faith. We took, in Los Angeles County, the most locked down county in California, and one of the top three locked down counties in America right now, we took Steps of Faith to start college. By the way, those college kids are there by faith. We have all of our classes outside. We have chapel outside. First of all, we've got beautiful weather, so that's a really nice thing. But I'm telling you something, these young people have come from all over the world, 46 states, and they're taking steps of faith. And I really admire that and have appreciated that. We changed our whole way we do college instead of a semester base. We went to a term base. So we're in term A because we didn't know if we were going to get shut down. We wanted our students to get as much of their education before they would have to go back online again. So we changed that whole structure. Now what all that meant was I teach fewer classes but I teach them longer. So to miss a class now is a big deal. And I miss my Thursday classes today and I'm going to miss my Friday classes. But had I come from Sunday to Wednesday I would have missed my Monday and Wednesday classes twice and that was just too big a deal. I mean here these students have come out there to get an education live. They need to make sure they get an education live. And so but we worked it out for today and tomorrow with our students. It's going to work out great. But thank you for your flexibility because your flexibility is catering to young people that are taking a step of faith. I will tell you this, I love Temple Baptist, and it is an absolute thrill to be back here. I'm gonna start with a way I've never started in any church, any place, and we're gonna start with you. And here's what I'd like to have you do. There was no prep for this, so I have no idea what's gonna happen. And some of you are going, you know what, I've known Brother Sheltner for a while, this could be interesting. Well, you know what, it's pretty simple. And it's really only one word that you have to say but I would like to for about three minutes maybe four have people stand and testify of the characteristic of God. of the attribute of God that you have appreciated the most during COVID, that you would say, for these last six months, I'll tell you what I've appreciated about my God. Now, it's okay to have the same one that somebody else said. It is absolutely, oh, they said it already, so I'm not gonna say. No, you know what? This is your chance. to stand and thank God for who he is. Now we're going to deal with one of his attributes tonight and I'm not worried. It doesn't matter if nobody says the attribute we're going to study tonight. This would be the characteristic of God. And Scott you know what this is. So you're the one that you can stand to give whatever you want to give. Okay, but Scott and I prayed beforehand, and when I prayed, I prayed what I was gonna preach tonight. So Scott knows what the characteristic is that we're gonna look at tonight, but it doesn't matter. If nobody says it, it's like, oh, whoa. No, no, no, this is the characteristic that has meant the most to me during this period of time that I have been so thankful for. And I'm gonna tell you mine at the end, because that's what we're gonna look at. I don't care if you're a child, I don't care if you're adult, I don't care if you're single, I don't care who you are, I don't care if you're a male or a female, I don't care. All those that have breath, praise the Lord, who will be the first tonight to stand and thank God for his blank, for his blank? Yes, ma'am. His, what did you say? Scott, Scott, what is the one we're gonna study tonight? Faithfulness. What's your name? Debbie, for me, in the last six months, there has been no character trait that I have appreciated more about my God than that he has been faithful. Boy, everything in this world has changed, but there is one who has not changed. And I thank God for his faithfulness. That's the first one. That's the one we're gonna preach on. But I, you know what? To you it may be another characteristic of God that you have seen. By the way there's been a lot of other things about God I've appreciated but there may be something that in your life is amazing. That was the first one that was said. Who's next. Who's next. Go ahead. Just stand and shout out what God has meant to you in these last six months. He knows it all. He does. Yes. You know what? He knows what's going to happen after November 3rd. He knows what's going to happen. He knew this was coming and his omniscience. Aren't you thankful for the omniscience of God that he knows everything? Has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God? He is absolutely omniscient. Praise the Lord for that one. Who's next? Who's next? People should be standing and jumping and... His protection. Praise the Lord for God. A lot of, we've all been protected. Amen. And you know what? Praise God for mask and praise God for hand sanitizers. You know what? You can prepare the horse for battle, but safety comes of the Lord. And thank God for his protection. That's a great one. All right, who's next? Yes. The God of peace. We have needed shalom. We have needed a God of, everything that is so chaotic in our spirit, we can still have peace. That God is a God of peace. These are excellent. What else we got, Temple? What attribute characteristic of God? Go ahead, what characteristic of God has meant a lot to you? His love. Amen. You know, through this all, He's loved us, hasn't He? He's cared about us. Nothing's going through His hand. All things work together for good to them that love God, because God loves us. Amen. That's good. Yes, sir. His what? His grace that grace is the enablement to make it day by day. And you know what we've had to take this thing day by day and every day God's grace has been sufficient. And by the way have you gone through a little bit of a weakness time. His grace is sufficient when we are weak. Thank God for a God of grace. Brandon what what has it been. Amen. Aren't you glad we haven't been social distanced from God. I mean seriously Brandon that's fabulous. Thank God for his presence when everyone else has seemed so far away. You know that a lot of people have been just struggling with loneliness that lack of meaningful contact. But God gives us his presence. Man these are great guys. Yes. Amen. You know, believe this or not, I'll tell you how great his omnipresence is. Believe this or not, he's in California, too. I know that. It's really hard to believe. And we have questioned the omnipresence of God in California, but he is omnipresent everywhere. Aren't you glad that he has been? All right. A couple more. Yes, sir. What? I did not hear it, but I All right, now this is really interesting. Did you say the word hope? He is a God of hope. Take your Bibles and turn to Hebrews chapter six. And I wanna give you one of my favorite passages of the last six months. Hebrews chapter six. What is your name? Zach? Zach. Zach, you couldn't have given a better. Did I miss somebody on an attribute? Did someone else wanna say one? I'm sorry. I'll tell you what though, the hope is where I wanted to go to. Aren't you God? God's been merciful in the midst of all these things. I stand here tonight and know that God's mercy has protected. You know, just the plane, I don't have time to get in our plane ride today, but I want to tell you something. God's mercy has been so appreciated. All right, that was good. We started with faithfulness, though, because that's what we are going to talk about tonight is the faithfulness of God. However, I have a passage of scripture for you that has meant a lot to me, that's going to lead us to his faithfulness and that he hasn't changed. Look with me, if you would, at Hebrews chapter six. And by the way, I gotta have these now, Resha, I gotta have these now. And it's only happened in about the last two, three weeks, where I just went like, you know what? I'm just gonna have to have reading glasses to read the scriptures. There was another solution, and I know some of you are thinking, well, why don't you just memorize the scriptures? And well, that would take care of it as well. But anyways, I'm gonna use my glasses tonight. Okay, here we go. Hebrews chapter six and verse 17. Let's stand for the reading of God's word here. I have really appreciated this passage. We're in God. willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath. that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, comfort, encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the, Zach, yell it out. Hope. Hope set before us. But here's been my verse, guys. Which hope we have as in Temple Baptist everyone together what's the next word. Wow. Everything's drifted. Everything's moving. Everything's out of place. There is no stability but there is an anchor. that hope that we have on who God is and his scriptures, which hope we have, I just wanna hear everyone say it again, which hope we have as in? Of the soul. both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. We have an anchor. And I want to revive you this week with the anchor of the Word of God and who God is. Make sure we pray. I just looked up the Job 33.9. What a great verse, that we are clean, that there's nothing between us and our Savior. So let's pray that God gives us a revival. We're together, we're practicing the Scriptures. By the way, we have an anchor, and the anchor's the promises of God's Word, the precepts of God's Word, and the principles of God's Word. And if we anchor our soul, we sang tonight, trust and obey, we sang tonight all of these songs, And if we anchor our soul to the promises, the precepts and the principles of God's word, there will be stability. And we're gonna anchor tonight to the faithfulness of God, that God is faithful. Let's go to the word to the Lord. Father, thank you for everyone that's out there. Thank you for those that are watching by live stream. Lord, if their reason for watching my live stream is to protect the temple of God that you've given them, that they could be susceptible, that they could be in danger with the temple that you've given them, give them great peace about their step of faith and staying home. If there are some watching by live stream that could be here, God, I pray they'll take their step of faith and be with us tomorrow night. But Father, I want to thank all of those that are here tonight. This is more than I expected, Father. This is a greater crowd than I thought we would see tonight. And I'm thankful for each one that's here. I pray you would encourage them. I pray father that all of us whether we're watching by live stream or we're in this auditorium we would respond to you who are absolutely faithful you're unchangeable. and we're thankful for the faithfulness that you give to us, that Lord, no matter what's going on, and no matter how much we fail, and no matter what's going on in our world, our God is faithful. May we respond to your faithfulness tonight. We pray these things in Jesus' name, and God's people said, amen. Isn't it just good to say amen together out loud? And God's people said, it's just great to be together. Have a seat, have a seat. Everything does seem like it's been changing. Politics, science, it's amazing. I always thought science was science. I always thought science doesn't change. Well, science has changed a lot in six months. The church, I wonder if the church will ever be the same in many areas. But we have an anchor, and that anchor is the word of God and what we know about our God. Now I personally believe that every characteristic of God, every attribute of God demands deserves and should be a desire to respond to. You all just said from omnipresence to omniscience to love. Every one of the characteristics of God demand a response from his creation. It deserves a response from his creation and there ought to be a desire for us to respond to the way God is. So when we come to the faithfulness of God We've got to, we have to respond to that faithfulness. Now, I know we need a definition, so I came up with one. I don't know, you can have your own definition of faithfulness, but let me give you a working definition that'll work tonight for us in thinking and saying and believing upon the faithfulness of God. Here's what I wrote down. Remaining consistent regardless of the circumstances, the cost, or the challenge. Remaining consistent. no matter, regardless, I like regardless better, regardless of the circumstances, the cost, or the challenge. One thing about our God, he remains consistent no matter what's going on, no matter how big a deal it is, the cost, or no matter how great the challenge it is as well, his faithfulness. So let us look Now everyone can have their own. OK. But I think when I go through these you're going to go like yeah that's true. Let me give you what I believe to be the four greatest promises in the Bible on the faithfulness of God and in each one of these promises. there is a condition of how we are to respond to these promises. Let's take our Bibles and turn to 1 John 1. 1 John 1, and tonight, this is gonna be our first promise of God's faithfulness, and then what is our response to it? And every time we come to the word faithful, I want you guys to kind of shout it out, all right? 1 John 1.9, the Bible says, If we confess our sins, He is, everyone together, faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I love that verse. I've told people, Pastor, there is no verse in the Bible that I live closer to on a daily basis than 1 John 1.9. By the way, if our theme is nothing between, you better be practicing 1 John 1 9. If we confess our sins, that's our response, that's our action, that's our condition. He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In other words, our God will be faithful. By the way, nobody mentioned a forgiving God tonight, but aren't you glad that God forgives our sins? Aren't you glad that he erases the sins? Now, in the passage that we're studying, we are not dealing with position of an individual. This verse is not for salvation. This verse is a verse on fellowship and relationship. This verse is to believers, not on believers. Romans chapter 10 verse 13, I don't know who's here tonight. Romans chapter 10 verse 13 says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. They can be saved from all of their sin and be forgiven. After you're forgiven of the penalty of sin, and you're on your way to heaven, you still do things that are wrong. Look at verse eight. If we say that we have no sin, we what, everyone, we what? We deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. So even though we have been saved from the penalty of sin, we still struggle with sin every day of our life. Now, I have three sons, Ben, Luke, and Drew. And when they were growing up, I know it's hard for you to believe this, they were preacher's kids, but once in a while, they did something wrong. They committed sin. They lied. Yeah, our boys lied. They got that from their mother. No, they got that damning nature from dad, okay? Once in a while, they showed a temper that they shouldn't have showed. Once in a while, they took something that wasn't theirs. They did things that were sinful. Now, when my boys sinned, they didn't stop being my sons. That's it, Ben. That's your ninth sin this week. You're no longer my child. Now, there were times that I didn't wanna, I have no idea whose kid that is. I was at Walmart or something like that. I have no idea whose kid that is, okay? But he was my son. My boys, when they sinned. broke fellowship with their dad, but they never stopped being children. They were always my children. But our fellowship at times wasn't so good. We had to get that taken care of. And when they would confess it, we would give some consequences for it. We would clean it out. Oh, that fellowship would come back between me and my boys. They were always my boys. But they didn't. Now listen about God's faithfulness. After you become a believer in Jesus Christ, if we confess our sins, I don't care what you've gotten into. I don't care what you have done. And I wanna say this real quickly. We are not talking about mistakes. God doesn't forgive mistakes. God forgives sins. And that little statement over there, nothing between. Mistakes isn't what separates us from God. Sins separate us from God. You say, but John, I'm not sure where you're headed with this. Okay, well, let me give you an illustration. I go out and play golf. I have a lot of shots that are mistakes. A lot of mistakes. But they're not sins. They're mistakes. That was a bad shot. That's not a sin, that's a mistake, but I'm telling. We have now started calling our sins, oh, you know, yeah, well, you know, we all make mistakes. No, no, no, no, no, no. We're not talking about mistakes, we're talking about sins. Is there something in your life right now, in attitude, well, it was a little mistake of what I said. No, it isn't a mistake of what you said, you lied. You embellished, you exaggerated. Well, it was a little mistake, I got a little angry and I should, no, no, no, no, no, no. You had an anger that you shouldn't have had. My friend, you can never have the forgiveness of God unless you've sinned. If we confess our mistakes, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our mistakes. No, we don't need that for mistakes, but we do need it for our sins. And if we're gonna see revival, there is a response to this verse. Look at what it says. If we confess our sins, Brother Shetlar, What is the response to the faithfulness that God will always forgive us and cleanses of our sin? What out of that faith, what a promise this is. One of the best promises in the Bible. If we confess our sins, he is faithful. and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness and we can move on. What is our condition? What is the thing that we have to respond to this promise? Number one, honesty. Honesty. I think that is the key to confession is honesty. Now as far as I could tell in the Bible there are only two things you can do with sin. I am not a scholar. I am not a theologian pastor. I've been a believer in Christ for 50 years and I'm 63 years old and I I don't know. If you guys got another one, please do tell me afterwards. And I'm not being facetious. Please do tell them. But as far as I can tell, there are only two responses to sin. Proverbs 28, 13, he that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth them and forsaketh them shall have mercy. As far as I can know, Temple Baptist, the only two responses to sin is you either cover your sin or you, everyone together, confess your sin. As far as I know, that is it. Oh, Brother Shetlard, now wait, whatever you're about to say, we've got a lot of ways to cover our sin. Don't get me wrong, but every one of them is a cover-up job. Some of us cover up our sin by comparing our sin to others. I am convinced that these really weird, I think they're all really weird, reality shows, why do people watch those? I mean, I may go through and I may stop for like 40 seconds and look and I say, that is just trash. Why do people watch these things? Well, I think they do. I think they watch these evil, terrible, wicked reality shows because they go, oh, I'm not as bad as them. And somehow that makes us feel better. Whoa. You know, we are good at comparing our sin with others. Okay, okay, okay. Okay, brother, this is sin. But when I compare this to my spouse, when I compare this to the people I work with, I'm not bad at all. That's called cover up. Compare. Number two is confuse. Although, you know, you're saying this is sin, but you know there's another word for it. Yeah. Is it a Bible word or is it a word that makes you feel better. Because I want to tell you something. We confuse the issue. That goes back to the mistake and sin thing. And I'll tell you a third thing. We compromise. We compromise the sin and weaken it and go like, well, you know, it's not that. We need to say there's nothing between us and the Lord. There is a response to God's faithfulness to cleanse us from all sin and forgive us of all sin and have the fellowship restored again. You know what our response is? Honesty. You get honest with yourself. I do not tell jokes, and I do not tell jokes well. And I even think I might have told this joke here before. But Jim Shetler has one joke that I tell publicly, okay? And I don't tell any private. This is my only joke, okay? My kids will tell you, Dad doesn't tell jokes, and he doesn't tell them well if he tries. But I have one joke, so you guys get to hear it. And I might have told it, but it's all right, because I like telling the story, all right? There was a man, there was a clown, that worked at a circus and this clown was working at the circus but the circus wasn't doing well. The circus was just doing terrible and the manager nobody was coming and the owner and the manager of the circus is we got to start cutting jobs. We got to start laying people off and we're going to start with some of the clowns. So the clown comes in. And the guy says, the owner of the circus says, hey, I gotta tell you, our attendance is terrible, nobody's coming, we're cutting people, we're laying people off, we gotta get rid of you. Oh, I can't, I gotta have this job, I got a wife and kids, I gotta keep the job, I'll do anything. I'll clean up the animals, I'll do anything. We're getting rid of the animals too, I'm telling you, we're cutting back, we can't, we gotta find, no, please, please. And the owner said, well, I gotta tell you what, We had to get rid of our gorilla because it was eating too much and it cost too much. But we have a gorilla outfit. If you wear the gorilla outfit, and you become a good gorilla, and people really think you're a real gorilla, and you do well, you'll be cheaper than the gorilla, I'll keep you. The guy says, I'll be the greatest gorilla ever. Well, sure enough, the guy gets the gorilla outfit on, and this is one good gorilla. I mean, what he does, and he's starting to do all these tricks, and people are going like, this is the coolest thing in the world, and they're telling their friends, and the circus is starting, this guy's doing a great job as a gorilla. One night as a gorilla he's going to really go. He's going to walk a tightrope as the gorilla. And I mean the people are yelling and screaming they've never seen anything like look at that gorilla up there he's walking a tightrope. And that gorilla is walking this tightrope. And as he's walking this tightrope he falls. And he falls right into the lion's den. And there's four huge lions. And this gorilla falls right down. There's no net. He falls right into the lion's pit. And when he does, the lions start roaring and they start raising their paws. And this guy in the gorilla outfit gets scared as anything. And he says, man, I'm gonna get killed by these lions. Somebody, somebody help me! Help me! And at that, one of the lions says, shut up or we're gonna all lose our jobs. Brother Scheller, keep it to the one joke. But you know what, Temple Baptist? Sometimes we all come to church with our little outfits on. You know what? It's time to get honest. If we will see revival in the next four days, some of us are going to have to take some mask off. And we're going to have to get honest with God and we're going to have to say if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I believe. But when you say confess what do you mean. See it like God sees it. Say it specifically and simply believe in the faithfulness of God. See it like God, God, this is the wrong attitude. These were the wrong words. Lord, they might have done this wrong, and they might have done this wrong at work, but God, I did do this wrong, and I did not handle this right. God, it wasn't a mistake I did, it was sin that I committed. And God, I see it like you see it. I wanna say specifically, this is exactly what I did wrong, and dear God, I simply believe in your faithfulness that if I confess it you're faithful and just to forgive it and move on and cleanse me and I can experience revival. Brother Schapler I'm here tonight but I got to tell you and I'm a believer in Christ but I got stuff in my life that I just don't know anymore. Yeah let me tell you God is faithful. and just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. I don't care what's happened in your life and I don't care what you've done. My God is faithful to forgive you but. You gotta do the condition. And I think the condition is honesty. And you get honest with God, and you confess your sin. Let's go to promise number two really quickly. Promise number two. I truly believe 1 John 1, 9, one of the greatest promises in the Bible, and I think maybe the greatest promise on his faithfulness. If we confess our sins, he is faithful. He'll be consistent regardless no matter what the sin is to forgive us. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Now this is my favorite verse in the entire Bible on temptation. And I believe every Christian ought to memorize 1 Corinthians chapter 10. And pastor, I'll tell you what 1 Corinthians 10 has done for me. If I get tempted with something, maybe it's lust, maybe it's to say the wrong thing, maybe it's to bring back some unforgiveness that I felt that I got to take care of, and I get tempted with something. Well, I gotta tell you, 1 Corinthians 10, 13 has helped me so much. Therefore there is no temptation taking you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. And I've learned this. By the time I'm done quoting the verse, I can't remember what the temptation is. It's a great verse. Every Christian ought to memorize. First Corinthians 10, 13. But what a promise on his faithfulness. Let's go over this. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is everyone together. faithful, who will not suffer you, allow you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." I think the response to 1 John 1, 9 is honesty. I think the response to 1 Corinthians 10, 13 is humility. Look, if you would, very quickly at the verse before it, verse 12. Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. You know the first humble thing you gotta do is admit, excuse the English, Ain't no difference between you and anybody else friend. Now you hear this. You're not going through any trial or any temptation that no other human being has ever gone through before. Now I understand that we're all individuals and I understand we live in 2020 and we don't live 3000 years ago. I understand all the differences but I'm telling you something. There is no temptation taking you. There is no trial that you're going through. Oh, this COVID thing is so hard on me. Well, I gotta tell you, it's hard on some other people too. Boy, this thing that we're going through financially right now. You know, one of the great things that Satan tries to do is to try to isolate you and think you're the only one. And gang, I wanna tell you something. You need to humble yourself and don't think that you're any greater and don't think that you're, what I'm going through, nobody has ever gone through before. That's just not true. And we need to humble ourself and say that there's no difference. Let me tell you something else you need to humble. Admit that you cannot defeat this on your own. Whatever the trial is, you need to cry out to God for help. There hath no temptation taken you. You're taken by this trial, by this temptation. But such is His common demand. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation. Micah, I think it goes back to the grace here. He'll give you the grace also to make a way to escape. There is a humility of admit, I can't defeat this trial. I can't make it through this trial. Have you ever wondered how are people getting through everything? without the Lord. You guys got the Lord. We humble ourselves and say you know what there's no difference between what I'm going through and other people have gone through. There's no. Yeah but I'll tell you right now our world is like it's never been before. You know what I think we ought to study history a little bit more. And I don't think there's anything happening in our world right now. That's any different. Hey the world has no pestilence before. The world has known disease with a much higher mortality rate than what we are experiencing right now. There have been times in our we are not going. Oh this is we live in. Nothing like this has ever happened before yet is. And I think we need to study maybe our history. We're not different than anyone else. And I got to tell you you need to admit that you can't defeat it. And then third you need to ask for the escape route. You need to ask God for help. I love Psalm 34 3. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him all of all his troubles and listen to me. If you're going through a trial right now, Temple Baptist, if you're going through something in your marriage, in your home, in your family, in your business, if you're going through something personally, you need to cry out to God for the way to escape. God, show me the escape route. God, I cry out to you and I need help. I think the response to 1 Corinthians 10, 13 is a response of humility. And we say, dear God, I can't do this. Number three. Number three. First Thessalonians chapter five. Would you take your Bibles there? First Thessalonians chapter five. Isn't it interesting? Some of these incredible promises are hooked up to the faithfulness of God. If we confess our sins, he is faithful. There is no temptation taking you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that you're able. And I just gotta tell you, Pastor, 1 Thessalonians chapter five and verse 22 has gotten me through so many things in my, verse 24, excuse me, in my life. 1 Thessalonians chapter five and verse 24, faithful. is he that calleth you who also will do it. Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. If you're here tonight and you are a female, you are the gender of a female of a woman, would you raise your hand? We live in a culture that your femininity is being absolutely destroyed. But can I tell you this? If he called you to be a woman, he will do it. And God will help you. How many in here tonight are husbands? You are a husband, would you raise your hand? Okay. Faithful is he who called you to be a husband, who also will do it. How many of you in here are a parent? Would you raise your hand? You're a parent. Okay. Faithful is he who calleth you to be a parent. He will do it. He will do it. How many of you believe God's called you to the job? the ministry that you have. How many people believe you know I really believe. Well you know Brother Shetler there's a difference between a calling and a leading. Oh I am so glad you said that. OK. Eric right. Brian, I can't, that's right, I always get, Brian, get ready, get ready, Brian, oh, you're all ready, this is good, I'm putting my mask on, because you're coming up. Brian, come to the platform. Okay, everyone together, what did I just do with Brian, what did I just do, I just, I just called him, okay, go ahead. I just called Brian to the platform and he came. Now watch this, everyone watch this. I am so tired of seeing this in Christianity. I don't want to be a cab tech too long. Okay, everyone together, what did I just do with Brian? I just led him. And I ask you, what's the difference? Well, well, well, you, you, you call, he's called. He came. Well, you, you, you, you, you, you led him. I led him. Where is he? Same place. Thank you. Brother Sheller, this is stupid. What are you talking about? I'm gonna tell you what I'm talking about. I have heard this so often in Christianity. Well, I think some people are led and some people are called. And you know, calling's a little different. No, it's not. Guys, you need to understand your calling. God has called every one of you with gender. Be the man God called you to be. Yeah, I'm not sure it's hard to be a man. No, no, faithful is he who calleth you who also will do it. Hey, listen, God's called, man, it's hard to parent in these days. Faithful is he who called you to be a parent. You have a divine calling of God. Well, Brother Shetler, when we think of calling, we think of preaching. Okay, hold on. I do believe that I have a call to preach, I do. Well, I'll tell you what, for three months, I didn't get to preach, longest time in 42 years of ministry, and man, I'm dying. And I do believe I have a calling to preach, but I want to tell you something. Some of you have a calling to be a plumber. Some of you have a calling to be a mechanic. Some of you have a calling to be a mother. Some of you have a calling to work at your job as a secretary. And I want to tell you something. You just say, Brother Shetler, I don't know if I can do it. You can do it if God called you. Because faithful is he who called you who also will do it. Okay, Brother Shetler, I'm right with you. I can take this off now, can't I? Whoa, what was I digging? I'm called to get rid of this, I'll tell you that. First John 1.9, what is our response? Well, I think our response is honesty to that faithfulness that he'll forgive us. Our response to 1 Corinthians 10.13 is humility. God, I'm not going through anything different than other people haven't, but I cannot make it through this on my own. And I ask God that you will show me the way to escape in this trial in my heart. And when I'm going, I think you gotta get humble. But brother shuttler what is the response to first Thessalonians 522. Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. Got to be honest. First John 1 9. Got to be humble. First Corinthians 10 13. And Zach give me my third point. You got to have what. You gotta have hope and I think it is the hope that we have and that is a step as much as humility and honesty is. You've got to decide I am going to hope in a time when there's everyone is so hopeless. You've gotta have hope. And now you say, Brother Scheller, these are three great promises, but are you gonna get to the greatest passage in the Bible on faithfulness? Sure I am, right now as I close. Take your Bibles and turn to Lamentations. Lamentations chapter three. This is the greatest passage in the entire Bible on the faithfulness of God. And we're gonna see honesty, we're gonna see humility, and we're gonna see hope all in the same passage. Now, You say, Brother Schaller, what kind of hope can you get out of a book that says lamenting? Lamentations, by the way, you are right with that. Pick any verse you want. If you're turning over to Lamentations, except for chapter three, verses 20 through 20, I'll say 30, outside of that, find anything in Lamentations. Go to chapter one and pick out a verse, okay? Go to chapter two, pick out a verse. Go to chapter three, the first 19 verses, and pick out a verse and read it. You're in Lamentations, chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, pick any verse. Is it a good one? Pretty bad? Are you doing it? Is there like, oh, hey, this is gonna be my life verse. Whatever verse you're looking at, what am I looking at? I'm looking at, I'm looking at chapter one, verse 21 right now. They have heard that I sigh. There is none to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble. They are glad that thou has done it. Thou will bring the day that thou has called and they shall be like unto me. Yeah, there it is, there's your life verse. This is a terrible book. I mean this is this is like every verse you're looking at. It's a terrible verse. It does not matter what verse you pick. It's a terrible verse. But I want you to send your attention in the middle of this book and I want you to look at verse 20. My soul. have them still in remembrance and is humbled in me. There's the humility. By the way, you wanna know the honesty. He says that in verses 17 through 19. He says, this place is a mess. This is terror. He's being very honest about the condition of what Jerusalem is. In verse 20, he humbles, look at verse 21. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail. Now get ready folks, because I need you as we close. They are new every morning. Everyone together, finish verse 23 for me. They are new every morning and what? Great is thy faithfulness. Look at this. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him. Hey, I wanna tell you this. The characteristic of God that has meant more to me in the last six months is that my God is faithful. And you know what. I've committed some sins in the last six months. How about you. There's some things I thought said and done that I should have never done. I am so glad God has been faithful that every time I have confessed my sin to God God has been faithful to cleanse me and my relationship with him could be again. You might have come to revival and you got I've got a few mistakes. No you got some sins in your life. Be honest. Take the mask off and say, Dear God, I believe in your faithfulness and I confess my sin to you tonight. What I've been thinking, what I've been saying, what I've been doing. God is specific and I want to get it right. Some of you really are going through a trial and it's not even COVID, it's cancer or it's finances or it's relational. There's something going on in your life. There's a lack in your life right now. There is a valley that you say, you know, Brother Sheller, not everything's hooked up to COVID-19. I'm going through a trial right now. Well, listen, humble yourself. Know that what you're going through, others have gone through it, and God has a way out. There is an escape route. Accept Him, and then faithful is He that calleth you. He called you to be born and live during this time, guys. This is our time. This is our faith. The church is alive in 2020. This is our day. This is our time. This is our country. This is the time we live. Faithful is he that called you. He decided to have you live and be in your 40s in 2020 COVID. He's the one. I think about all the seniors that graduated from high school or didn't have a graduation. God called you to graduate this year in 2020. And yet you say, yeah, I just feel it. This is your calling. Faithful is he who calleth you, who also will do it. You need to have hope. And your hope needs to be in a God who will not change and a God who's faithful. And right now you watch a debate and you go like, oh man, it's hopeless. Really? I don't know what you've, I had turned it off. I just said, oh God. My hope cannot be in this. My hope has got to be in the Lord. My hope has got to be in God. Faithful is he who calleth you, who also will do it. Hey, I want to encourage you. Grab a hold of the faithfulness of God and respond to it. Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. So we're gonna have an interesting invitation tonight. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. How many would say tonight, I do not wanna embarrass anyone and I think this is a very private matter and you're gonna have that chance to confess your sin to the Lord. But I think you have an under shepherd who loves you, cares for you. And folks, I may not know your name, but God brought me from California to share that God is faithful for your sin. If you confess it, if you get it right, you tell God what it is. Hey, listen, we just had testimonies a minute ago. We're not gonna have people stand and testify of their sin. You and God get that thing taken. Now you may have to go to someone and get it right, but I would like to know this. How many tonight would say with an upraised hand, Brother Shetler, there is something I need to confess. I am a believer. I know Christ is my Savior. I know I'm on my way to heaven. But in the area of fellowship with my God, there is something between me and the Lord. And my God will be faithful that if I confess this tonight, and I am honest about it tonight, and I am specific with it tonight, I can claim the faithfulness of God that he will forgive me tonight and I can go out to my car, my truck, my vehicle, and I can be right with God. Brother Shetlar, there is an area tonight that I need to get clean. There is a sin in my life that I need to confess. God knows what it is. I'm not going to say it publicly tonight. Brother Shetler, Pastor Pittman, would you just pray for me? I do believe my fellowship is broken and there's something I need to get right. And I'm gonna confess it right now to the Lord, but I want God to know I mean business tonight. Hey, Pastor, Brother Shetler, would you pray for me? You don't know what it is, you'd never get past it, you'd never have an idea. but it's something I need to get right, and I want revival, and I confess it. If that's true, would you raise your hand all over the auditorium for a minute? Amen, good, good, appreciate that honesty. Appreciate that's where it is. Let's take the mask off, Temple Baptist. If we're gonna play, come and play games and say, you know what, we're gonna compare our sin to others. Hey, we look pretty good. Is there anyone else? Hey, there's something I need to confess tonight, I need to get taken care of. How many would say tonight that you're going through a trial and you've kind of felt almost isolated, it's only me. There's no temptation taking you but such as is common to man. Humble yourself. and say dear God I can't make it through this trial. Humble yourself and say God show me the escape route. God show me my step of faith that I need to take. Father I've got to trust you and I got to stop trusting me. I have been trying to get through this situation and I can't. There's no temptation, there's no trial taking you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful if you humble yourself. So I'm gonna ask this. How many of you right now, this is gonna take a little more humility. How many of you right now would say, brother Shetler, I'm going through a trial right now that I need God to open up the way. I cannot make it happen. It's not like I'm the only human being that's ever gone through it, but I'm gonna tell you something, I'm going through it. And I am absolutely ready and humble to ask God to show me the way that I need to go. And then I'm gonna take my steps, I'm gonna take my thumb out of my mouth, and I'm gonna humble myself And I'm going to follow what God has for me in this trial. And I'm asking God to help me. If you would be willing to humble yourself on that. And there's an area right now there's a trial that may not have anything to do with the illness or disease or the sickness or the pandemic. It may have everything to do with the pandemic. But you would say humbly, God, help me through this trial. Help me. If that's true, would you stand to your feet right now so we could pray for you? Is there anyone like that? Amen. Praise the Lord. That's good. That's good. Right now, Brother Scheller, I'm going through a trial and I need God's faithfulness to show me the way out. Amen. Father I take just a moment and pray for every one of these that are standing right now. Encourage their heart. Father I pray that they'll take their step of faith and that you'll be with them and we'll give you the praise and glory in Jesus name. Amen. You may have a seat. I have one more thing I want to ask. We've got to get an anchor Christians. The world has got to see that we're anchored. I saw some pictures of that Hurricane Sally huge ships up on shore because they weren't anchored properly. City I lived in Pensacola Florida in Escambia Bay. There was I think seven barges that got loose and they ran into bridges and they were absolutely they were just floating around. They were drifting huge heavy barges because they weren't anchored properly. How many tonight would say Brother Shetlar I need to anchor my hope to God and his word. I'm a drifter. I am being tossed and turned about. I watch the TV and I'm blown over to the shore. I go to work and I get blown over to the shore. I am not anchored and my anchor is my hope in the Lord. Brother Shuttler, tonight God spoke to me. I need to put my hope in his word, in his faithfulness. Faithful is he who calleth me, who will do it. I'm gonna make it through this. He called me. If he brought me to it, he's gonna see me through it. He's faithful. And I'm gonna hope and anchor my soul, not on my political preference, not on the country that I love, Not on my church. I'm going to anchor my soul to the promises of God's word and I am going to hope in my God and I'm going to be stable. I'm going to be OK. I'm not going to act like my neighbors are acting through this. I have a hope that anchors me and in the midst of a storm I don't have to drift away. God spoke to my heart tonight. I need to put my hope in him and his word. If that's your heart's prayer tonight, could you raise your hand all over the auditorium? Give me that hope, God. Anchor my hope. Pastor, I'm gonna give you the service. Thank you, by the way, for being here tonight, church. And I wanna give you a project. I don't know for sure, but I think I'm headed to preach on David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 on Sunday morning and Sunday at 1.30. It's going to be a two-part message. I know we all know the story of David and Goliath. But I think there's giants right now that we may be facing that God may help us. I'm going to encourage you to do something, Temple Baptist, if you're watching by live stream. I'm going to encourage you to read First Samuel 17 tonight and once every day coming into Sunday. And I believe even a story that we know so well, I really believe God's going to use it to help us. So how many would commit to do that. Today's Thursday, Friday, Saturday and maybe even Sunday morning. How many would commit to read first Samuel 17 four times from now until Sunday morning. If you'd make that commitment would you raise your hand. Yeah, that's great. I really believe it'll be a very special two-part message, and I think it's something we need right now. David slain Goliath. Really, it's the Lord who brought him down, and I appreciate that. Pastor, thank you so much for the opportunity tonight. Closed. I'm going to ask Brother Brandon to lead us in one song, one verse, Excuse me, I'm not gonna ask Brother Brendan to lead us, I'm gonna ask the pianist to play. Heads bowed, eyes closed. And if you raised your hand or you stood, I want you to confirm that with the Lord tonight. And we'll be dismissed. If you made a decision tonight, I want you to confirm that with the Lord tonight. Lord Jesus, help us to do what we ought to do. Lord, I pray that you'd help us to hope in you, to humble ourselves in you, I just pray that you'd help us to honor you with our decisions tonight as our great God, because you are faithful. In your name I pray. Help people to make the decision firm tonight with you in your name, amen.