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One of my brothers in this room, 
I don't want to out him, but he's asked for prayer. And the 
way that he's formulated his phrasing, I've adopted it. I've 
stolen it from him. I've co-opted it from him. Pray 
that we'll have buckets of wisdom, courage, and faith. That's a 
good prayer. Buckets is very suggestive. It's 
very, you know, profuse. There's an abundance of it. I 
don't want just a little glass. I want buckets of wisdom. I want 
buckets of faith. The church today wants buckets 
of courage. We're too afraid to publicly 
confess Jesus. We're too afraid to actually 
maintain God's Word relative to the Seventh Commandment. We're 
too afraid to ever appear to be those sort of brimstone and 
fire preachers. We can catch a lot more flies 
with honey. No, we catch flies with the word 
of the living God, trusting in the presence and the power of 
the Holy Spirit to make effectual that word, to draw sinners out 
of darkness into marvelous light. That's what we trust in. We're 
not supposed to capitulate. We're not supposed to be full 
of fear. We're not supposed to be, well, 
we can't say that in the public arena. We must say it in the 
public arena. We must maintain the word of 
the living and true God. Remember that scene where the 
apostle is standing before Festus, and Festus says to him, much 
learning is driving you mad, Paul. You sound like you're off 
the reservation. You sound like you've lost it. You sound like you're a lunatic. What's Paul's response? Well, 
I don't want to come across that way. I want to make sure you 
like me. I want to make sure you accept 
me. He says, I am not mad, most noble Festus, but I speak the 
words of truth and reason. What do you think that this chaotic 
world desperately needs right now? A capitulating church? A 
relevant church? A hip church? A cool church? She needs a church that's going 
to effectively communicate the word of the living and true God. 
A church that's going to preach law and gospel. Law so that sinners 
will see their need for the Savior, and gospel so they'll see that 
fountain open for sin and uncleanness. Brethren, there is in us today, 
within the churches of the Lord Jesus Christ, a lack of courage. We look like these rulers that 
are a bit too feeble and weak to ever announce or to ever confess 
that no, Jesus is our master, Jesus is our Lord, Jesus is our 
Savior, His words are truth and reason, and therefore, we're 
gonna launch our offensive and engage in our defense with reference 
to that word. We're not going to compromise. 
We're going to celebrate with the Apostle Paul that primary 
vehicle by which God extends the kingdom of Christ. Preach 
the word. Be ready in season and out of 
season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with 
all longsuffering and teaching. Notice, convince, rebuke, exhort. A feebly weak and effeminate 
church won't do that. I don't want to convict. I can't 
rebuke them. I can't exhort them. What might 
they think of me? They might get offended. They 
might get upset. They might frown. This is unacceptable 
behavior on the part of God's people in church. Now you know, 
I preached it last Sunday night, that I think that the Psalms 
and hymns and spiritual songs in Ephesians 519 refers to the 
Psalms of David. Brethren, I think, now just indulge 
me a minute here, that when the pulpit preaches Jesus as a self-help 
guru, then the church will treat him as a self-help guru. When the church sings Jesus is 
my boyfriend songs, then the church is going to treat Jesus 
as their boyfriend. The vision of the church ought 
to be Revelation 19. King of kings, Lord of lords. The sword of his mouth proceeding 
by which he makes war, he wages war. It is through His Word. His Word preached, His Word sung, 
His Word propagated, His Word confessed, His Word celebrated, 
and His Word, and I speak metaphorically, rammed down the throats of the 
God-hater. That's what the church needs 
to be about. We don't apologize for God. We're 
sorry we did this, God. No. We stand our ground on the 
word of God, understanding that everything else is sinking sand. These rulers, in their belief 
on Jesus, were too afraid of the Pharisees and too afraid 
of the consequences of being put out of the synagogue. Many 
in this room have suffered consequences for identifying