["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Just trust in you and that we have that free gift.
Lord, I just pray that these songs that we sing
that we would really take to heart the doctrine
and the truths that we're singing out unto you.
Lord, for the service today,
I pray that everything would be done decently and in order.
I pray that you'd open our ears to Brother Ah's message
and that you would just incline your ear to us
as we sing praises out to you for the rest of this day.
These things we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
All right, for our second hymn,
turn, if you would, to 261, 261.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
261.
We'll sing there starting on the first.
Oh, so are you, weary and truckerel,
No light in the darkness you see.
There's life for a look at the Savior
And life for a content and free.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dear
In the light of His glory and grace.
Through heaven to life everlasting
He passed and we followed Him there.
Over us sin no more hath dominion
For over then conquers we are.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dear
In the light of His glory and grace.
His words shall not fail you, we promise.
Believe Him and all will be well.
Then go to a world that is dying.
His perfect salvation to tell.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dear
In the light of His glory and grace.
If you don't have a bulletin, raise your hand and the usher can bring you one.
On the front is our Bible memory passage of the week, Hebrews 6, verse 12.
Keep up the work on memorizing this chapter.
If you can quote this to an adult non-family member at the end of this chapter by memory, you'll receive a prize and you'll have a couple different options.
We'll be coming in in a couple of weeks, so I'm really excited for that.
On the inside, if you look at our service times, they're listed.
Sunday morning at 10 30 a.m., Sunday evening at 4 30 p.m.
And our Wednesday evening Bible study through the book of 1 Samuel at 7 o'clock p.m.
We also have all of our soul winning times listed there.
And all of those meet here at the church building.
Just make special note there of our Saturday soul winning rally.
We meet up and not only do we have soul winning, but we have a song to get us fired up and filled with the Spirit.
We have a short soul winning challenge and then we go out and it's been pretty receptive.
Yesterday we had three salvations in Yukon with just two soul winning groups, so that was a great job.
And then also our nursing home ministry schedule is listed there.
You might just have to notice that I did miss that one week there.
So just pay attention to the October 27th date on that and I'll make sure to update that for Wednesday for next week.
Also we do have our steadfast OKC stats listed there for salvations and baptisms.
And make sure if you do have any salvations to please let the soul winning leader know.
Or if you get a salvation throughout the week you can always email the church and I'd be happy to add that for you.
Please be in prayer for Miss Whitney Reed, our expecting lady of the church there.
Our upcoming events, we do have this upcoming Friday, October 31st.
It is Friday right? I think so, October 31st.
Is it Thursday? Let me double check real fast. Well either way it's the 31st.
Yeah it's Thursday, my mistake.
This Thursday we do have our chili cook off, really looking forward to that.
We have our judges in place, so I do have the prizes for that as well.
Hope everyone can come and participate, it should be a great time.
November 6th through the 10th is the Faith Forward Baptist Church missions conference coming up very soon.
Looking forward to going out there and preaching about Germany, should be a good time.
And then on November 24th we are going to be transitioning from Steadfast OKC to Anchor Baptist Church, Lord willing.
And so far what I have confirmed is about 105ish people coming in this little room.
So that should be a lot of fun, looking forward to that.
I think Pastor Shelley was going to say that if you're wanting your kids to come up to the stage that might help with seating.
But it should be awesome. Don't be scared away because it's going to be crowded.
If anything, invite more people, let's pack this place out, should be a great time, really excited for that.
And also we do have online giving set up, and again I want to remind you that is for the new church.
So if you scan that code, you will see at the top of the page it will say Anchor Baptist Church.
That still is our congregation here, but we're just getting things in place so that it's basically ready to transition the day that Pastor Shelley cuts ties basically with our church.
So we're working on making a website, we've got online giving, we're working on designing signs and invitations and all that stuff.
But a lot of progress has been made and we're really looking forward to that day.
On the back there is our prayer list, make sure to keep everyone in prayer.
And if you have any requests please email that to the church and I'd be happy to add you to that.
That's going to be it for announcements this morning, let's go ahead and go to our third song.
Alright for our third hymn this morning, number 275, Almost Persuaded.
Two hundred seventy-five, two seven five.
Two hundred seventy-five there on the first.
Almost Persuaded, how to believe.
Almost Persuaded, Christ to receive.
Seems now some soul to say, no spirit go thy way.
Some more convenient day on Thee of all.
Almost Persuaded, come come today.
Almost Persuaded, turn God away.
Jesus advised you here, angels are lingering near.
Prayers rise from hearts so dear, O water come.
Almost Persuaded, harvest is past.
Almost Persuaded, doom comes at last.
Almost cannot avail, almost is fun to feel.
Sad sad that bitter will, almost but lost.
Amen. As the offering plates are being passed, turn if you would to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.
2 Thessalonians 2.
3 Thessalonians 2.
4 Thessalonians 2.
5 Thessalonians 2.
2 Thessalonians 2.
Now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto Him that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled,
nor by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition,
who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Remember ye not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time, for the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he that now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way.
And then shall that wickedness be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming,
even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness,
and them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth,
but have pleasure in unrighteousness.
But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth.
Whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle.
Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.
Let's pray.
Amen. All right. Well, we are in 2 Thessalonians chapter number 2. Let's start reading in verse 1.
The Bible says, Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him,
that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition,
who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
And so in this passage, we learned that before the day of Christ comes, there has to be a couple of things that happen first.
You know, a lot of churches will teach that Jesus can come at any moment. He can come during this sermon.
But the Bible actually says there's a couple things that have to happen first. One of those is a great falling away.
And sometimes, you know, pre-tribbers will really just, it's a really silly idea, but they'll think that the great falling away is somehow the rapture itself.
But obviously, the rapture is someone going up, so it makes no sense to call this, you know, the rapture when we're falling away.
But the Bible says there has to be a great falling away first, and the man of sin has to be revealed, and of course, we know that's the antichrist.
Now, the great falling away, for those that don't hold to the doctrine that it's talking about the rapture, it's usually understood as a great falling away from truth in general and from Christianity.
And I agree with that. I think that the great falling away that's being referred to in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 is basically just a worldwide, massive falling away from the truth.
Falling away from believing the gospel or believing in Christianity.
And, you know, if we look at our world and the day and age that we're living in, you know, it may not be that we're living in the great falling away, but we are certainly living in a falling away.
Because we definitely do see in our society, in our time and age, a lot of people just, you know, leaving Christianity, leaving the doctrines of the Bible, believing all sorts of weird stuff, and people are definitely falling away from the truth.
And I think a movement that kind of encapsulates this that's happening is something called Christian deconstructionism.
Who's ever heard of deconstructing Christianity? Or, you know, people will call themselves like a recovering evangelism or, sorry, evangelical, or they'll call them a recovering fundamentalist.
And basically, they believe in this movement of deconstructing Christianity.
This is actually a pretty big movement. And let me read to you the Wikipedia article on faith deconstruction.
It says, faith deconstruction, also known as deconstructing faith, religious deconstruction, or simply deconstruction is a process during which religious believers re-examine and question their beliefs.
It originated in American evangelicalism, where it may be called evangelical deconstruction.
The term rose in popularity in connection with the evangelical movement, which began in 2016.
It is sometimes called the deconstruction movement.
Subsequently, the term religious deconstruction has been applied to other religions as well.
During deconstruction, a person, this is the important part, doubts their beliefs, identity, and practices.
They may struggle and experience anxiety. Some eventually modify their beliefs into something more satisfactory to the believer.
This results in a rejection of religion, for some, and a revised or renewed faith for others.
Now, with that in mind, go to 2 Timothy, chapter number 4.
So, what is religious deconstructionism?
It's basically people looking at the Bible, looking at the doctrines that have been preached for thousands of years, and trying to reconsider or reinvent Christianity.
And it causes some people to either walk away from the faith, or it causes people to basically revise Christianity into a Christianity that's more suitable for them.
And that's why you know that this movement is of the devil, because Christianity is not about molding Jesus to our image.
It's about molding our image to Jesus' image. That's what real religion is. That's what real Christianity is.
But look at 2 Timothy 4. It says,
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears.
So, the Bible says that there's going to come a time where people are not going to want to put up with, or endure, or listen to sound doctrine.
What's sound doctrine? Things coming from the Scripture. Things coming from the Bible.
And the Bible says there's coming a day when people aren't going to want to do that. What they're going to want to do is they're going to want to heap to themselves teachers having itching ears.
Meaning what they're going to want to do is they're going to want to go to a church or listen to a preacher that conforms with their preconceived ideas, rather than going to church wanting to change, wanting to hear the truth, wanting to hear what the Bible says.
Look at verse 4. It says,
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
And that is exactly what Christian deconstruction is. It's people turning away their ears from the truth, from the King James Bible, and making up some sort of fable in their mind about what the Bible teaches and about who Jesus is.
And usually when I see someone that describes themselves as a Christian deconstructionist, usually what they've done is they've either just deconstructed all the way to becoming an atheist,
where they say like, Oh, I'm a former Christian. I no longer describe myself as a Christian. Or they've perverted Christianity so much to where it is no longer Christianity.
It's now a complete false religion. And there's many churches today in America that describe themselves as Christian. But when you go in, there's nothing Christian about it.
There's no Christian doctrine being preached there. There's a lot of social doctrine being preached there. There's a lot of man's made ideology, but there's very little Bible in churches like this that deconstruct.
You know, these guys are usually pretty popular on Twitter. You know, these Twitter pastors are usually deconstructionist. And when you look at their posts, what are they deconstructing? Like the doctrine of hell.
You know, there's a growing movement in America today of pastors saying, you know what, with the Bible saying about hell, it's all an allegory. Hell actually isn't a real place of burning fire that lasts for all of eternity.
You know, it's just an allegory for us. Or they'll deconstruct the authority of scripture, right? Like Andy Stanley, who got up and said that the Bible is not our final authority, that Jesus is our final authority, trying to conflate the two, not realizing that Jesus is the word of God.
And so if Jesus is our final authority, then the Bible is our final authority. But what is he doing? He's trying to deconstruct Christianity so he could say, you know, don't listen to the Bible, listen to Jesus.
And what he's going to do is present you a Jesus that he just makes up. He's going to present you a Jesus that has the ideas and beliefs and characteristics of Andy Stanley that he just wants to make up on his own.
You know, they like to deconstruct the deity of Jesus Christ. Well, they'll say, you know, Jesus Christ was just a good man. He had some good teachings.
But a lot of these Christian deconstructionists will deconstruct the fact that he is God in the flesh, that he is alive today. You know, a lot of people just look at him as just a good teacher, and they'll call themselves Christians.
Not only that, they usually always have the most extreme liberal views on every social issue. You know, not only do they just corrupt doctrine and corrupt what the Bible teaches about really important things like salvation, hell, the deity of Christ, every single social issue as well, they're always on the most extreme liberal side of that.
You know, these type of churches, they're always pro-abortion, they're pro-LGBT, they're pro-divorce, they're pro-drinking alcohol. I mean, the pastors in these churches will drink alcohol.
They will preach about drinking alcohol. They will openly drink it. They'll post pictures of themselves on the internet drinking alcohol. You know, that is what this movement is.
It's deconstructing away from Christianity. It's turning away their ears from the truth and heaping to themselves teachers having itching ears.
And when I think of, okay, well, what's a pastor that completely just embodies this movement of Christian deconstructionism? It is Andy Stanley.
Like Andy Stanley to me is like the leader in the evangelical movement of deconstructing Christianity.
And really it started with Rick Warren back in the 70s. He wanted to create this seeker-sensitive church where he sent out mailers into all the neighborhoods in California.
And he had a questionnaire saying, hey, what kind of music do you like here in California? What kind of preaching do you like? What do you want the preacher to dress like?
What do you want the aesthetics of the church to look like? And Rick Warren built a megachurch basically by modeling himself after the world.
You know, he heaped to himself this huge following, not by preaching the Bible, not by getting anyone saved, by simply just playing to the lusts of a bunch of unsaved people and getting them into church.
And he celebrated it as some great thing that he caused all these unsaved people to come to church, but it's like they're still going to hell though.
It doesn't mean anything to pack your building full of people that are going to hell.
And Andy Stanley has kind of taken the torch of Rick Warren and he is the guy right now that is leading this Christian deconstruction movement today.
Let me read a quote from him. He said this, he says, I understand why you threw baby Jesus out with the bathwater.
So he's saying when people when people quit Christianity, when they walk away from the faith, he's saying, I understand why you would do that.
That's a wicked thing to say. Being a pastor, being a preacher, he said, I understand why you threw baby Jesus out with the bathwater.
Because your church tradition you were handed and your church experience made it impossible for you to distinguish between the two.
That happens all the time. But a lot of people don't leave the faith. They just leave the church. They deconstruct.
They deconstruct their faith. And this may be you as well. And again, this isn't necessarily a bad thing.
So Andy Stanley is getting up at church and saying, hey, people are throwing out Jesus with the with the bathwater and I totally understand why they're doing that.
And, you know, you may be deconstructing their faith. And, you know, that's not even a bad thing. It's like, tell me you're a devil without telling me you're a devil.
You're standing up from the pulpit and you're acknowledging that people are deconstructing Christianity. And he says, that's not even a bad thing.
No, you know what? That is a terrible thing. That is a terrible thing when our nation is leaving the principles of the Bible.
It's a terrible thing when our nation is leaving the doctrines of the faith that made our country great to begin with.
No, it's not okay that people are deconstructing Christianity. But you know what?
It's not surprising to me that Andy Stanley is okay with this when he got up and he had a conference called the Unconditional Conference that was dedicated to parents of LGBTQ kids.
So he's using his church to talk about these social issues. And of course, he's not preaching what the Bible says.
He has literal sodomites get up and preach behind his pulpit at this conference. He gets up and says that, you know, the Word of God isn't the final authority.
We can have facts preached behind the pulpit. Let's deconstruct from Christianity. You know, this is Andy Stanley who's influencing millions of people in America.
And so I want to preach a sermon this morning called Why Americans are Deconstructing from the Faith. Why Americans are Deconstructing.
I want to give you five reasons this morning why I believe this is happening. That way we can make sure we're not making these mistakes.
We can look at our church and make sure that we do the opposite of what these churches are doing that are causing this issue.
Go to Deuteronomy chapter number six, Deuteronomy chapter six.
Number one, the first reason why I think this is happening in our country is because parents have forfeited the responsibility of raising children.
Parents have forfeited their responsibility of raising children. You know, people that are my age, oftentimes kids that are my age that grew up in this public school system.
You know, they grew up in the public school. They grew up in daycare. They grew up with both parents working and they were raised by pretty much everyone but their parents.
Now, thankfully, that wasn't the case for me. My mom stayed home for most of my life. But, you know, a lot of my peers were not even raised by their parents.
And look what the Bible says in Deuteronomy six, verse one,
Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord your God commanded to teach you that you might do them in the land whether ye go to possess it.
That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God and keep all his statutes and his commandments which I commanded thee thou and thy son and my son's son all the days of thy life and that thy days may be prolonged.
Here, therefore, O Israel, and observe it, that it may be well with thee and that ye may increase mightily as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
So if you notice, there's a blessing for keeping God's word. And haven't we seen in America since the founding of our nation? Our nation has been very blessed.
Our nation has been the land that flows with milk and honey. You know, our nation has been one of the safest in the entire world.
When's the last time we've been invaded? I mean, 1814, right? I think it was the last time that our nation was invaded, unless you count the border invasion right now is one.
But, you know, we don't really have a bunch of wars in our lands. We have a lot of wealth and prosperity. You know, you can walk around the streets here and you're likely not going to get killed or hurt.
It's a very safe land. It's been a land that's been very blessed by God. And you want to know why? It's because this nation started out fearing God.
No, not everyone who founded this nation was saved. But you know what? Our nation as a whole was definitely at least culturally Christian.
And at least everyone paid lip service to the word of God and said that they believed it. And I'm excited to preach a sermon coming up soon when we do.
Lord willing, we're going to do a documentary pretty soon about American history. I'm really excited to share some of the things I've learned about that.
But let me tell you what, our nation absolutely did start fearing the word of God, believing the King James Bible. It was very Christian in a lot of senses.
And that's why we see our nation has been so blessed. But we see today our nation getting worse and worse, right?
Things aren't getting better. They're getting worse. Why? Because people are turning away from the Bible. People are turning away from the truth.
Not like we used to. Look at verse four. It says,
Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might.
And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart.
And notice, And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
So notice the Bible is saying, thou, singular, speaking to the individual, it's your job to teach your children the Bible diligently.
You know, God gave you children for you to raise. I know that's a wild concept in our modern culture.
But today, Americans think that God gave us children for us to give those children to the government to raise.
To spend eight hours a day in a public school for someone else to teach them.
And then for them to get off school and maybe have a sports practice and they're raised by the coach for a while.
And then they go to daycare until mom gets off work and basically they have a couple hours at night with their parents and that's it.
That's all that they're getting interaction with their parents.
It's like, is it any wonder that so many people are deconstructing from the faith when they're not around faith?
I mean, when are children being taught the Bible today in America?
It's not in the public schools, you know, at least since the 1960s, it hasn't been, you know, at least before the 1960s.
Yeah, you know, I'm still against public school even then.
But, you know, at least they had the Bible there.
At least they're praying there.
You know, thank God that Oklahoma is leading America right now, making changes with this in the state of Oklahoma Education Department.
Because recently this year, the director of the Education Department of Oklahoma directed every single public school in the state of Oklahoma to teach the King James Bible.
That is awesome.
I never would have thought that would have happened in my lifetime.
But, you know, there's been a couple things that have just shocked me the last couple years.
Roe v. Wade being overturned, never would have thought that would have ever happened.
Now you got some dude in Oklahoma Department of Education saying like, you will teach the Bible.
Hey, talk about strong leadership, right?
That's the type of leadership we need right there.
He's a guy to just get up and say, you're teaching the Bible now.
And earlier this month, the Education Department of Oklahoma actually opened up bids to receive 55,000 King James Bibles for public schools in Oklahoma.
That is fantastic.
And in his stipulations, he said like, it has to be a King James Bible.
It has to have a copy of the Declaration of Independence.
It has to have the U.S. Constitution.
It has to have the Bill of Rights.
It has to be a leather-bound Bible.
That's amazing.
You know, praise God for Oklahoma leading the way on that.
But look, you know, maybe it's just gotten so bad that some of these leaders in Oklahoma are saying like, man, our state is deconstructing.
People are leaving the faith.
People are no longer Christian.
You know, we got to do something about this.
Where does it start?
It starts with teaching children.
And while I'm happy for Oklahoma doing that, I think that's great.
Don't forget, though, that the Bible says, thou shalt teach them diligently.
It is our job as parents to teach our children the Word of God and not just shirk our responsibility and hand our kids off to someone else and just trust that they're going to do a good job.
Because I'll tell you this, even if Oklahoma starts teaching the Bible in schools, I'm still not going to trust a public school teacher to teach my kids the Bible.
Because, you know, this is in the news right now.
A lot of people are really upset.
A lot of teachers are really angry about this.
You think they're going to faithfully teach your children the Bible?
No, absolutely not.
So even if this is happening, while that's good, while we should celebrate that, I'm still going to teach my children the Bible.
And you should, too.
Look at, let's go to verse number eight.
It says this, and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on thy gates.
And it shall be when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildest not, and houses full of all good things, which thou fillest not, and wells dig, which thou digest not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantest not, when thou shalt have eaten and be full, then beware, lest thou forget the Lord.
You know, the Bible is admonishing us, you need to teach your children the Bible, you need to write God's Word on your house, on the posts, we need to get the Bible out everywhere, lest you forget the Lord.
And have we not seen in this time, in this generation, right now in America, an entire generation of people that have forgotten the Lord?
We have.
We see so many young people today are completely biblically illiterate.
They didn't grow up by their parents teaching them the Word of God.
They went to Andy Stanley's church.
They didn't learn any doctrine.
They didn't learn the Word of God.
They're not reading it themselves.
And so now we have a whole generation that has forgotten the Lord.
You know, what's cool is when we went to the Bahamas last year, their nation was like this, where you go to the school and there's just King James Bible verses on the walls.
And they're teaching the Bible in their schools and parents are teaching their kids the Bible.
And you know what?
In the Bahamas, though many of them were not saved, they definitely did not forget the Lord.
I mean, it was easy to get those people saved because they already knew doctrine.
They already knew the verses.
They just needed a spiritual soul winner to show up and explain to them that it's not by works.
That was pretty much it.
Just explaining to them that salvation is not by works, that you can't lose your salvation, and they were just ready to believe.
Why?
Because their whole nation, from the time they were born, every day in school, every day at home, they're being taught the King James Bible.
Whereas here in America, you know, you go to a lot of young people, and it's not as easy to get them saved as it is in the Bahamas.
Because they have not grown up with the Word of God in their hearts.
That seed has not, that ground has not been watered whatsoever.
So a lot of times, you know, it's harder to get those people saved.
Of course, we're still going to try, and of course, we do get young people saved all the time.
But it's definitely not like places like the Bahamas.
Why? Because our nation has been walking away from the things of God.
Go to Proverbs chapter number 4.
What are we talking about? It's parents' jobs to teach their children the Bible.
Proverbs 4, verse 4,
Hear ye, children, the instruction of a father, not of a schoolteacher, not of a daycare worker, of your father, your dad, and attend to no understanding.
For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.
For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.
He taught me also and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words, keep my commandments, and live.
Get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not.
Neither decline from the words of my mouth, forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee.
Love her, and she shall keep thee.
So notice the Bible is describing in Proverbs 4 a godly father commanding his children to observe the Bible's, you know, the commandments.
Commanding his children to learn the Bible, to get wisdom, to get understanding, to keep those things, to not walk away from those things.
And, you know, I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands, but if I did, if I asked you, you know, how many people in this room was taught the King James Bible by their dad, there'd probably be very few hands in the room.
And that is a big reason today why people are deconstructing from Christianity.
But you know what? We need to change that in our generation so that when our kids are grown, they can say like, Oh yeah, my dad definitely taught me the Bible.
My mom absolutely taught the Bible. And, you know, I hope people homeschool. That's what I recommend people do. I think that's great.
It's something that my wife and I definitely are learning. We have a lot to learn. We're navigating that process. We just started this year.
But one thing that my wife does every day that I think is the most important part of our kids' education is the Bible.
Studying the Bible is more important than math and reading. Well, reading is reading the Bible. That's important.
It's more important than math. It's more important than science. And look, if you know me, I love to learn.
I love to read. I love to learn about all sorts of stuff. And I hope you do learn as much as you can about everything.
But the most important thing to teach our children is the Bible, is the Word of God. That needs to be the primary focus of our kids' education.
Go to Proverbs 22. Flip a couple pages. Proverbs 22. Proverbs 22 verse 6 says,
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Now, of course, we know that children absolutely still have free will when it comes to getting saved. The child has to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You can't force someone to do that. You know, to follow Christ is a decision that someone has to make to willingly do that.
But what Proverbs is explaining here is that it's just abundantly more likely that if your child grows up in a Christian home, that that child is going to be saved.
I mean, who's more likely to get saved? Kids growing up in my house or kids growing up in homes in India? It's obvious, right?
Who's more likely to grow up and actually follow God and keep his commandments and live a godly life?
Kids growing up in our homes or kids growing up in China? Obviously, it's our homes, right?
So when we train up children in the way that they should go, it's infinitely more likely that they will follow those things.
But what you have to do is actually train them. And that's what, you know, parents of previous generations have failed to do.
Is train their children and now we're seeing a big movement of deconstructing away from Christianity.
Go to 2 Peter chapter number 2. 2 Peter chapter number 2.
So number 1, why are people deconstructing? Well, people are deconstructing because parents have forfeited their responsibility of raising their kids.
They've given it to other people. Number 2, why people are deconstructing is because there's been an explosion of false prophets in America.
Look at 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 1. It says,
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
So what's happening is a lot of people are going into all these churches and they're hearing some pastor who they think is a man of God, they think is saved, they think is righteous or godly, but is actually a false prophet.
And what this false prophet is doing is they're privily bringing in damnable heresies.
And so what's happening is they're being taught all these lies, all these false doctrines that are hurting them, harming them spiritually.
Not only is it damning their soul to hell, believing things like repentance for salvation as far as works go or teaching you could lose your salvation, but also you think they're being taught good things about marriage?
You think they're being taught good things about raising their kids or how to live life or just how we should have a Christian outlook on this life? No.
They're being taught all this trash that's harming them, and then what they're doing is they're noticing, wow, my life is terrible, wow, the Bible's not working, and they blame God for it.
They blame the Bible for it, not realizing that it's actually the false prophet that's been lying to them who's actually the one to blame.
It's not Christianity that's the problem, it's Andy Stanley that's the problem.
You know, it's not Christianity that's the problem, it's Joel Osteen that's the problem.
But today, people obviously, if they're unsaved, they're blind, they can't differentiate that. They connect them and they look at it as one and the same thing.
Look at verse number two. It says,
And many shall follow their pernicious ways.
Pernicious just means harmful.
Notice this, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
Why is it that people would speak evil of the Bible, of church, of Christianity, it's because of false prophets.
And people love to say, oh, you know, you guys are mean when you preach that sermon against the Sodomites and that's why people hate Christianity.
Well, not according to the Bible, because if what was preached against the Sodomites is in the Bible, that's the way of truth.
But the way of truth is evil spoken against when false prophets bring in their pernicious ways, their harmful ways.
People today are going to church today, they think they're going to be blessed by God, to be blessed spiritually, but every time they go they're actually being harmed.
They're being harmed spiritually and sometimes people are being harmed physically too.
Look at verse number three.
And through covetousness, so they love money, shall they with fainted words, that's fake words, make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
And you know, this is something that is just so obvious to us that are saved and to read the Bible, but people don't realize, average unsaved Joe do not realize that there's churches where they don't care about you.
They don't love God.
They don't love the Bible whatsoever.
They are just covetous.
They just love money and so what they want to do is through fainted words, through fake words, through lying, they want to make merchandise of the congregation.
See, people today are very naive.
They think church good, preacher good, automatically just no problem, someone's standing up with the word of God, that means they're a good person.
No, absolutely not.
There are false prophets in this world that are trying to make merchandise of you through their covetousness and this is why you have mega churches today doing just the wildest and craziest things to fill their congregations so they can make money.
Okay, let me give you some examples.
You have Transformation Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, led by Pastor Michael Todd, where he literally had a bunch of singers come in and do gospel versions of Beyonce songs at church.
You have all these whores on stage, half naked, you got flames, you got, you know, a circus going on and they're singing Beyonce songs with some Jesus lyrics and it's like, why is Pastor Todd doing that?
Because he loves money.
Because guess what, it's so easy to fill your church with people when you have people singing Beyonce songs.
Because guess what, Beyonce concerts are full of people.
But you know what, a lot of people don't want to go to church to hear them screamed at by a preacher what the Bible actually says.
People don't want to go to church where they hear the old King James Bible that's going to rebuke them, that's going to tell them that they have to change, that's going to tell them the truth.
People just want to heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, people just want to show up to a church and just be entertained.
Why? Because Michael Todd doesn't care about God and the people that go to his church don't care about God either.
And guess what, the natural man does not care about God.
There's none that seeketh after God, the Bible says.
To seek after God, you got to get saved.
You have to have the Holy Spirit of God.
You know, just filling your church with unsaved people, none of those people are going to actually desire the things of God.
That's just not how it works.
Look at verse, actually let me give you a couple more examples.
So you also had James River Church, has anyone heard of James River Church?
There was recently a big conference there regarding men, it was like a men's conference and Mark Driscoll preached there and he ended up rebuking the pastor of James River Church.
Which Mark Driscoll is a sermon for another day, I don't like him, I think he's a false prophet too.
But basically the reason why he rebuked the church that he was preaching at is because this church had an ex-male stripper get up on the stage, rip his shirt off, dance on a pole, and then swallow a sword.
That's church today, in Missouri, in the Bible Belt.
It's like, hey, idiots going to that church, your pastor doesn't love God.
Your pastor is through covetousness making merchandise of you.
That pastor is thinking, how can I make money? Well, let's just make church a complete circus.
And that's what's happening today and this is why people are deconstructing.
People are not deconstructing because of Pastor Shelley or Pastor Anderson or me.
People are deconstructing because they go to church and they have to watch a male stripper.
Yeah, I'd be deconstructing too.
You know what's funny is I went to church very few times as a child, very few times, maybe like five times my entire childhood.
But it was always one of these evangelical churches and I hated it.
I hated it because it was like a bunch of faggoty, effeminate dudes wearing just unseemly clothing, swinging and swaying, and squeaking on the stage.
And the pastor's crying every service and he's got a glass pulpit and, you know, what is going on? Why is this church?
And it's like I want to know part of that, you know, but I did love the truth because when I came across the truth, I believed it.
And when I heard a documentary called New World Order Bible Versions and I saw the truth of God's word, I was like, this is awesome.
And then I saw the gospel at the end and I believed it and I called upon the name of the Lord.
And I heard guys like Pastor Anderson and Pastor Jimenez preaching and I was like, that's a man.
That's good preaching. That's what the Bible says. That's a church I can go to.
But I'm not going to go watch some dude swallow a sword.
I mean, I wouldn't even, I wouldn't want to see that anywhere, not to mention church.
What kind of bizarre world are we living in right now?
This is why you have churches that go out and they promise you faith healing.
They promise miracles. They have billboards that says miracles done here.
Why? Because they're empty. They're fake. They're liars. They just want to make money of you. That's it.
And they will fill their churches by any means necessary.
Look at 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 14 says, having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin.
Beguiling unstable souls and heart they have exercised with covetous practices, cursed children.
So notice what we're talking about. People are deconstructing because of false prophets.
And one of the attributes of a false prophet is having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin.
And people are getting mad at Christianity because they find out their pastor is a perverted person, right?
They're getting mad at Christianity because their pastor got arrested for molesting children.
They're getting mad at Christianity because their pastor was caught in adultery or picking up prostitutes or something gross like that.
And you know, let me just talk about Mark Driscoll for a minute.
You know, he gets up and I heard this out of his own mouth in his sermons saying that when he's counseling people or when he's preaching sermons that God puts movie-like crystal images into his mind.
And he says he was counseling someone and he said to the wife, well, I know what's wrong with your marriage is you didn't tell your husband about that six foot three blonde dude that you committed adultery with.
And then he goes on to graphically describe that. And he says that God, the Holy Spirit, is putting images of that happening into his brain.
He says that while he's preaching, he's getting these images into his brain of just sick stuff.
And it's like, you're a false prophet having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin.
And you know, people are getting mad at Christianity because they hear idiots like Mark Driscoll getting up.
And they're saying like, this is a pastor? This is God's church? You know, and then they end up getting burned by that and they end up just walking away from Christianity.
Hey, it's not the Bible that's turning them away. It's the false prophet that's turning them away.
And you know these guys that commit these grievous, disgusting sins like molesting a child? The Bible says that they should be put to death.
So your problem isn't with the Bible. Your problem is not with God. Your problem is with the false prophet.
Your pastor goes out and commits adultery? Well, the Bible says he's supposed to be put to death.
Your problem isn't with the Bible. It's with that false prophet.
And so today, people are angry at Christianity over, you know, hypocritical preachers.
And guess what? It's the false prophet's fault. It's not God's fault.
Go to 1 John chapter number 2. 1 John chapter number 2.
The third reason why I think people are deconstructing from Christianity in America is that there's been a decline in soul winning in America.
There's been a big decline in soul winning in America. I want to read for you 2 Corinthians 4.
The Bible says, Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty,
not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
The Bible teaches that God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. It's our responsibility, this treasure that we have in earthen vessels to go out, to preach the gospel, to get people saved.
And that's important because until someone's saved, the Bible says that they're blinded. The God of this world has blinded the eyes of them that believe not.
So when someone is unsaved, they can't understand scripture, they can't understand the spiritual things of the Bible, they're blind.
So what's happening is they're going to all these churches, and they're not even saved to begin with, and then they're, quote, walking away from Christianity.
But you want to know why they're walking away from Christianity? It's because a lot of them were not even saved to begin with.
And so, you know, you have someone that's saved and that has the Spirit of God, and where did I tell you to go to 1 John 2? Look what it says in verse 19.
It says, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us.
But they went out that they might be manifest that they were not all of us.
So the Bible teaches, you know, when someone says that they're of us, they're with us, but they go out from us.
And that doesn't mean they go to a different church that's a good church. It means that they deconstruct.
They say, I'm walking away from Christianity. I'm walking away from the faith. It just shows that they were never of us to begin with.
And so you got people saying like, oh, I used to be a Christian, but now I'm an atheist. It's like, you were never saved to begin with.
Because the Bible teaches that we have the Holy Spirit bearing witness of the truth in our heart, and the Holy Spirit is never going to bear witness to atheism, because that's a lie.
You're never going to go from being saved to being a Mormon. If you go out from us, you say, I'm a Mormon now, you were never saved to begin with.
Oh, I was saved. I was an independent fundamental Baptist. Now I'm a Catholic that believes you have to do works for salvation and confess your sins to the priest.
You were never saved to begin with. You went out from us so that it could be made manifest, it could be made obvious that you were never of us to begin with.
Look at verse number 20.
But ye, those of us that are saved, we have an unction, that's an anointing from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
See, we have the Holy Spirit, we have the anointing of God, we have the truth, we know what's right, and none of us in here are ever going to be convinced that Jesus Christ is not God.
Right? Just like, now that you know Santa Claus isn't real, I could try to convince you for hours you're never going to be convinced that Santa Claus is real.
You're never going to be convinced that the tooth fairy is real.
Why? Because you know the truth.
And once you know the truth, you're not going to back off from that.
Yea, you can get backslidden, you can live a worldly life, you can be far from God, but you're never going to lose your salvation, you're never going to walk away from the faith.
Go to John chapter number 10, John chapter number 10.
So here's the problem.
These people are quote, deconstructing from Christianity, but guess what, they were never saved to begin with.
So if you want to stop this deconstruction movement of people leaving the faith, why don't we get them saved so that they have the Holy Spirit inside of them, bearing witness to all truth, and then they're not going to deconstruct from the faith.
And so really, the reason why so many mega churches are filled with all these unsaved people is because real churches have dropped the ball on soul winning.
Soul winning is, you know, it's something we take for granted, it's something that our church does, and other like-minded churches really emphasize.
But if you go to other churches, it's a rare thing to find a church that's out soul winning.
It's a rare thing to find a church that goes out, confronts people with the gospel, asks them directly if they're 100% sure they're going to heaven, and actually presents them a clear, direct gospel presentation.
That is hard to find, okay?
Yea, you'll find churches, they'll go out and they'll put door hangers, they'll leave cards, you know, the card says Jesus loves you or whatever, but it's rare to find soul winners that actually will preach the gospel.
And that's why we have so many people filling churches that aren't saved, because not many people are preaching the gospel today.
But the good news obviously is that once we do get these people saved, they can never lose their salvation.
Look at verse 27, Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
You know, Jesus is teaching us this concept that once you're saved, you're always saved.
You're not going to go from believing in Jesus Christ, trusting in his death, burial, and resurrection to save you, you know, believing that you're sealed with the Holy Spirit, that you're in God's hand, that he'll never leave you nor forsake you, to all of a sudden just, well, I don't believe that anymore.
No, it doesn't work like that.
When Jesus says that, it just shows that they were never saved to begin with.
And so we need to do a better job as Christians going out, preaching the gospel, and getting people saved.
Go to Isaiah chapter number five, Isaiah chapter number five.
The fourth reason why I think American Christians are deconstructing is because preaching has become shallow.
Preaching in churches today has become very surface level, very just full of platitudes and meaningless statements, but not a lot of deep Bible, not a lot of theology, not a lot of conviction or hard preaching.
It's very shallow. Look at Isaiah five, verse five.
In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people and for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
But they also have erred through wine and through strong drink are out of the way.
The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink.
They are swallowed up of wine.
They are out of the way through strong drink.
They err in vision.
They stumble in judgment.
So the Bible is talking about this phenomenon that's going on at this time where people in the land in general are just erring from the truth and they're stumbling in judgment because of wine, because of strong drink, because of literal drunkenness.
So much so that it even says even the prophets and even the priests are erring through strong drink.
And today in America, like I mentioned earlier, there's many pastors that drink alcohol in our country.
There's many pastors that will talk about in their sermons, them drinking beer, them drinking alcohol.
They'll hang out with their pastor buddies and drink.
They think it's totally fine. They have no issue with it.
It's part of their culture literally.
But because of that, you see the result in their church is that they're preaching the err in judgments.
How can you sit here and preach what the Bible says?
When you're literally supposed to be thrown out of church for being a drunkard.
How can you get up and with authority preach any verse what the Bible says on alcohol when you're bragging about drinking with your pastor friends?
How can you ever get up and exercise church discipline when you yourself should not even be in church, much less be a pastor of the church?
And as a result, what do you see today? Shallow preaching.
Because if you actually preached the full word of God and you actually preached against sin the way that God describes it, these men would lose their church members.
Because if they actually showed God's standard and then the congregation saw what utter pieces of crap these pastors are,
the fact that they're running away with a secretary like Greg Locke committing adultery, the fact that they're drinking alcohol,
you know, like the guy just mentioned is having these perverted visions while he's preaching.
You know, they would run away from that church screaming.
But because they can't do that, they can't preach deep things because their people actually wake up and know the truth.
They have to preach the most shallow messages imaginable.
And every service is just a gospel presentation.
God loves you. God loves everyone.
Cold hell, good sin. Let's go home and pass the plate.
That's what churches have become. And because of that, people are spiritually malnourished.
People are not building a strong foundation on the word of God.
You know, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Why are people walking away from the faith? Why are people not having a strong faith?
It's because they're not having a lot of the word of God preached.
They're not reading a lot of the word of God. It's both of those things.
Verse 8 says, For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
You know, church should be a place that is spiritually clean.
You know, obviously we're all sinners, but can we not have a bunch of spiritual vomit and filth around here?
A bunch of adulterers, fornicators, drunkards, idolaters.
No, we don't need those people here.
But churches are filled with those people because pastors themselves are like that.
Go to 2 Timothy chapter number 4. 2 Timothy chapter number 4.
You know, the Bible does not teach that we should just preach these shallow, weak, surface level type sermons.
2 Timothy 4 verse 1 says, I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.
Preach the word! Be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
So if you notice, biblical preaching, when Paul is directing Timothy how to preach here, he's telling him you need to go rebuke people.
You need to go reprove them, and you need to exhort them with all longsuffering and doctrine.
And hard preaching is biblical, corrective, and specific.
And today when you go to churches, you don't hear that.
You're not really hearing specific sermons on sins when you go to these new evangelical churches or these mega churches.
And you're not hearing a lot of Bible. You know, you're hearing a lot of Andy Stanley's opinions tearing down the Bible.
But you're not really hearing the Bible, and if you are, it's definitely not a King James.
And you're not hearing any correction.
The only correction that these new evangelical preachers give is against fundamentalists.
This is the only correction that they do, is stop listening to guys that tell you that drinking alcohol is bad.
Stop going to churches that say that women should wear dresses.
Stop going to churches where the preacher wears a suit and tie.
You know, like the hardest preaching I've ever heard from new evangelicals is just talking crap about fundamentalists.
You know, you got Steven Crowder and his buddy Gerald, and they were asked during one show, hey, what kind of church should I look for?
And Gerald just said, any church that doesn't tell women to wear skirts and dresses.
And it's just like, wow, not who has the gospel, who has the King James Bible, who has the truth.
It's just like, stay away from preachers that say that.
That's where we're at in America.
Why? Because it's just shallow sermon after shallow sermon, shallow preaching that doesn't preach hard on sin.
Go to Luke chapter number three, Luke chapter number three.
You know, when you look at guys in the Bible, though, their preaching is not like these mega church preachers.
It's very different. Let's look at John the Baptist.
Let's see if this sermon was preached in a mega church today, how do you think people would react to this?
Verse seven, then said he to the multitude, that sounds like a big church, multitude, right?
That came forth to be baptized of him.
Oh, generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come.
That sounds negative, does it not?
Verse eight, bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance and begin not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father.
For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
You know, you got John the Baptist preaching against Zionism.
You got John the Baptist preaching against the Jews here.
How would that fly in big churches?
They would not like that.
Look at verse nine, and now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees.
Every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.
And the people asked him saying, what shall we do then?
He answerth and saith unto them, he that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none, and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.
So notice he's giving instruction in his preaching.
This is what you should do with your life.
This is how you should live your life.
What is that? Reprove, rebuke, exhort.
That's biblical preaching.
But you don't get that in modern churches today.
You don't get that in mega churches where you're being instructed how to live your life.
You're being corrected what you're doing wrong.
You're being yelled at, woe unto you.
You know, who's warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Look at verse number 11 or verse 12.
Then came also publicans to be baptized and said, master, what shall we do?
And he said unto them, exact no more than that which has appointed you.
And the soldiers likewise demanded of him saying, and what shall we do?
And he said unto them, do violence to no man.
Neither accuse any falsely and be content with your wages.
So notice John the Baptist is calling out these soldier sins here.
He's saying, look, you need to be content with your wages.
Don't be doing violence to people.
Don't be going above and beyond your call of duty as a soldier and just be violating people.
I mean, soldiers are known to do this, right?
They're raping and pillaging and looting.
John the Baptist is saying, don't do that.
He's correcting their behavior.
Verse 15, and the people, and as the people were in expectation
and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not,
John answered saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water
and one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose.
He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire
whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor
and will gather the wheat into his garner, but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.
And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people.
So what does he, in John the Baptist's little sermon here, what do you got?
You got replacement theology.
You got preaching against sin.
You got, you know, instructing people to change their life and you have warnings of hell.
Now is that what Joel Osteen's sermons are like today?
Is that what Andy Stanley's sermons are like today?
He wouldn't touch any of those topics.
The only time these preachers get upset is at fundamentalists actually preaching the Bible.
That's the only time you see them get mad.
Number five, if you would, go to Romans chapter number 10, Romans 5.
Why is it that people are deconstructing from Christianity?
Number five is because people are distracted from the Word of God.
We live in a society today that is the most distracted society that has ever existed in human history.
That is a fact.
That's a big claim, but that is an absolute fact.
We live in a time and age where people wake up.
They open social media.
They doom scroll all day.
They spend all day at work on social media.
They come home.
They watch Netflix all night.
They go to the movie theater.
They play video games.
They watch TV.
This is what Americans' lives are like.
Just constantly distracted, okay?
Now look at verse number 17 of Romans 10.
So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
Why is it that people are walking away from the faith?
Because in order to have faith, you have to be hearing the Word of God.
And in order to have a strong faith, a lasting faith, a faith that's going to make you steadfast and unmovable, you're going to need a lot of Bible.
But you know what? Christians aren't getting a lot of Bible today because they're too distracted with the stupid football game.
Too many Christians today, they're not getting the Bible today because they're not going to church.
They're watching NFL football.
Or they're watching the World Series.
And they're skipping reading their Bible.
They're skipping going to church.
They're not hearing the Word of God.
And is it any wonder why they have such a weak, movable faith?
Because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
Go to 2 Timothy, chapter number 4.
In 2 Timothy 4, the Apostle Paul is giving instructions to Timothy.
But I think this applies to us too.
Look at 2 Timothy 4, 13.
Paul said, till I come, give attendance to reading.
What does it mean to give attendance something?
It's to do something purposely.
To put effort into doing something.
And Paul is saying, hey, Timothy, until I come, I want you to put a lot of attendance.
I want you to put a lot of care, effort, and energy into reading the Word of God.
And though this is Paul talking to Timothy, I think this is also Jesus talking to us too.
That God, that Jesus Christ, is telling us, hey, until I come, give attendance to reading.
And you know, the difference between Christians that serve God their whole lives, Christians that stay in church, they stay faithful to their families, they read the Word of God, they go soul winning.
The difference between people that are actually steadfast and those that deconstruct is one thing.
People that read the Bible every day and people that don't.
The biggest difference between whether or not you will be in Christianity for the long haul as a disciple of Jesus Christ is are you going to get up every day and read the Bible every day?
Because if you don't, your faith will weaken.
It will atrophy.
Just like physical exercise.
If you just sit down on the couch all day and do nothing, your body will become weak.
You'll get fat and you'll get weak.
It's the same thing spiritually.
If you do not exercise the Word of God coming into your heart, the Word of God coming into your eyes and ears, you will start to get weak spiritually.
You'll start to have a faith that is wavering.
Go to Hosea, chapter number four, Hosea, chapter number four.
But today, in America, what are people doing?
They're spending all day watching the news.
They're spending all day listening to worldly podcasts.
They're spending all day filling their heart with the world's music, with the world's philosophy, with video games, with movies, with TV, with social media.
Everything but the Bible.
And is it any wonder why we have a whole generation that has such a weak faith, with weak doctrines, and they think like, wow, fundamental Baptists are crazy.
It's like, no, you've been watching Jewish-produced movies all day.
You've been watching faggot actors kissing in TV shows all day.
And so you think we're crazy, you're crazy.
You need to renew your mind.
You need to read the Bible.
Look at Hosea 4.1.
Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel.
For the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there's no truth, no mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
Boy, does that sound like our country right now.
Where is truth going today?
Why is it that pastors are standing up and saying that the Bible is not our final authority?
Why are pastors standing up today and having homosexuals preach behind their pulpit?
Because there's no truth today.
There's no mercy today.
There's no knowledge of God in our land today because people aren't reading the Bible.
Look at verse 2.
By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break out and blood toucheth blood.
Therefore shall the land mourn and everyone that dwelleth therein shall languish with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven.
Yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
Yet let no man strive nor approve another for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.
What is he saying?
He's saying you people are so stiff necked and just, you know, rebellious that you're like people that argue with the preacher.
You're like people that argue with the word of God, the man of God.
That's the only question today why people think that fundamental Baptist preachers are so crazy and they want to strive with the preacher.
They want to strive with the pastor.
It's like because you're not reading the word of God.
That's why.
So you hear actual real doctrine coming out of someone's mouth and you're shocked and horrified because you've spent all day listening to Joe Rogan.
You've spent all day watching Netflix and listening to the news and then you hear the Bible being preached.
You think that's insane.
What?
Women have to wear skirts.
Are you the Taliban?
Are you an abuser?
What's wrong with you?
Spanking your kids.
I mean, do we need to call 911?
You spank your children.
It's like, wow, you've never read the book of Proverbs.
It's like you're crazy, man.
Look at your children.
They're like demons.
Why are they walking on the walls?
How is that even possible?
You spank your kids.
Look at verse number five.
The prophet shall fall in the day and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night and I will destroy my mother.
Verse six.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee and thou shalt be no priest to me, seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God.
Notice this.
I will also forget thy children.
Is there any wonder why the young generation today is so far from God and is deconstructing from the faith?
Maybe it's because the generations before us forgot the word of God.
Maybe it's because they stopped preaching it.
Maybe it's because they stopped teaching their children and now God is angry at our nation.
Why? Because truth has fallen.
There's no mercy. There's no knowledge of God.
We have blood touching blood.
We have lying, killing, stealing, adultery, even in the house of God, even behind pulpits.
Is it any wonder why God is upset today?
Is it any wonder why people are deconstructing because they're not reading the Bible?
Today, Christians, they don't know Bible verses.
All they know is slogans that they've heard at their megachurch.
Tell me if you've heard some of these.
Love wins.
We've heard that one a lot, haven't we?
When a Christian says love wins, I'm just like, oh, you've never read the Bible.
Because Romans 12 says love is the fulfilling of the law.
Okay, the Bible teaches that love is the filling of the law.
Then people are like, wow, you guys are preaching the law.
That's pretty unloving. It's like, wow, you don't know what love is.
You don't know what love is.
Let go and let God.
Said no Bible verse ever.
God helps those who help themselves.
Love the sinner and hate the sin.
Don't judge.
Did you see, where was that in the Bible?
Don't judge.
Oh, yeah, one portion of Matthew chapter seven, verse one that you don't read the whole thing of.
Only God can judge.
I don't know why people say this because I don't think you want to be judged by God.
Okay, God just said in Hosea, I will forget your children.
I don't want to be judged by God.
When God closes the door, he opens a window.
God works in mysterious ways.
This is what Christians know today.
They know meaningless slogans and platitudes that they heard from their fake preacher,
their fake pastor that doesn't love them, that doesn't love God, that loves money.
And let me tell you, you go to a church, and I'll tell you this.
God loves money.
And let me tell you, you go to a church, and I just want to shake people.
It's like you're going to a church where someone's swallowing a sword and dancing on a pole.
What is wrong with you?
But what's wrong with you is that your mind has been corrupted and defiled
because you've spent your entire life drinking this world from a water hose, from a fire hose,
and you're getting a little thimble of Bible every week.
You're getting a little thimble of a verse from a false Bible version
and you're wondering why your mind is so far from the things of God.
It's because you're not reading the Bible.
You want to know why people are deconstructing?
Either they just weren't saved, so they're like, oh, I'm deconstructing.
It's like you were never saved to begin with.
That's why you're an atheist right now.
Or they're walking away from the faith because they had no foundation.
They weren't built on the rock.
They were built on the shifting sands of the NIV.
They were built on the shifting sands of Joel Osteen, of fake Christians,
of false Bible versions, of preacher's opinions and self-help books,
but they had little to no Bible in their heart.
And it's just like you will fail if you don't read the Bible.
Your faith will be weak if you do not read the Bible.
Look at verse number seven of Hosea 4.
It says, as they were increased, so they sinned against me.
Therefore, will I change their glory into shame?
And that is a sad verse because I feel like America right now
is being changed from glory to shame.
It's being changed from a glorious nation that was built on the King James Bible,
whose laws were built on the word of God and on the law of God,
to now we have a woman running for president that openly talks about
how she wants to have abortion in our land,
how she wants to be able to kill babies in our land, and you know what?
Our glory is being changed to shame.
I saw this video of this World War II veteran,
which World War II was a lie as well.
We shouldn't have been involved in it.
But a lot of those guys that fought in that war were seriously bad dudes.
That's for sure.
And I saw this World War II veteran, and he was crying,
and he was just saying like, this isn't what my boys died for,
when he was looking at our nation today and seeing the abortion
and the feminism and the sodomy and the fake churches and the liberalism
and just seeing what our nation's becoming.
And you got this guy that's just crying saying like,
this is not what my boys died for right here.
What I'm saying is our nation is being changed from glory to shame.
Look at verse number eight.
They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity,
and there shall be like people, like priests,
and I will punish them for their ways and reward them for their doings.
You want to know why, truthfully, why guys like Joel Osteen, Mark Driscoll,
all these false prophets are thriving?
It's because people allow them to thrive.
Like people, like priests.
You got a bunch of wicked people that don't want to hear the truth.
You got a bunch of wicked people that don't want to hear any preaching against sin.
They don't want their lives to be challenged.
They don't want to hear what God has to say.
They just want to heed to themselves, teachers having itching ears.
You know what? Those guys will be glad to oblige.
Supply and demand.
When the nation has a demand for false teaching, for lies,
then you see churches like this thriving today,
and you see churches today where the preacher actually gets mad
and preaches against sin.
Guess what? It's not as packed in here this morning as it is in Joel Osteen's church.
Am I right? Why?
Because we live in a nation that's being turned to shame.
We're living in a nation where it's like people, like priests,
and people often get the leaders that they deserve.
Verse 10,
For they shall eat and not have enough,
and shall commit whoredom and shall not increase,
because they have left off to take heed to the Lord.
Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.
And not only today are people just distracted with all the technology that we have in our world,
but you know what people are also distracted with in America today?
Whoredom, wine, and new wine.
Only fans, alcohol, and money.
That's what that verse is talking about right there.
And today, people care more about those things than they do about waking up and reading the King James Bible.
And as long as people are like that,
then we're going to continue to have people deconstructing from Christianity.
As long as people are like that,
we're going to continue to have megachurches with fake pastors that are perverts,
that hate God, thriving financially in our country,
as long as people are that stupid to prioritize those things over the Bible.
You know, we need to remind ourselves that reading the Bible is one of the most important things in our life.
It's something that we have to give attendance to.
I mean, you wake up every day and you go to work.
You give attendance to that.
You're like, I need to make money for my family.
I need to provide for my family.
You also need to give attendance to reading the Bible.
That is more important than your daily bread.
That's more important than your job.
That's more important than your family.
Reading the Bible.
And guess what? All those other areas of your life will be benefited by you reading the Bible.
It's not like you're going to be a worse husband by reading the Bible.
You're going to be a better husband.
You're not going to be a worse father by reading the Bible.
You'll be a better dad by reading the Bible.
And people today think, oh, you know,
people are deconstructing from the faith because Steadfast Baptist Church is so hateful.
It's like, no, let me tell you why people are deconstructing from the faith is you gave your child to the government to raise them.
You didn't love them.
You didn't teach them the Bible.
You brought them to a church with a false prophet as the pastor that didn't have the right gospel.
You didn't teach your kids to read the Bible.
You taught them to love sports and to love money and to love whores and to love wasting their time on nothing.
That's why people are deconstructing from Christianity today.
It's because Christianity in many ways has become very shallow.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 15.
1 Corinthians chapter number 15.
Let's end on this verse.
You know, it's been kind of a negative sermon this morning,
but you know the positive thing is that you can actually control all these things in your life.
You can actually decide to teach your kids the Bible.
You could decide to preach the gospel to your children and to preach the gospel to this world.
You could decide to bring them to a good church where there's not a false prophet as the leader,
where there's not shallow preaching,
and you could actually instruct your family to read the Bible.
Those are all things you can do yourself.
So, you know, while the world is deconstructing,
we need to reconstruct real Christianity, real biblical Christianity,
and once we do that, we need to remain steadfast in that Christianity.
Look at 1 Corinthians 15 verse 58.
We'll close on this verse.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord,
for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this day,
and thank you for our church.
I just pray, Lord, that we would be able to be a force for good change in this community in Oklahoma City,
that we'd be able to reach people with the gospel,
and that we would teach them to observe your commandments,
to read the word of God,
to give true love for God in their hearts,
that they would want to build their lives around the King James Bible,
around Jesus Christ, around a good church,
and that you would just help us never to be like people that are deconstructing,
but rather that we would just construct what you teach in our lives
and remain steadfast to that.
We love you, and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Alright, at this time, we'll go to our last hymn for the morning.
If you would grab a hymnal.
Turn to number 156. Jesus is the sweetest name I know.
Number 156156.
We'll sing there on the first.
There have been names that I have loved to hear,
but never has there been a name so dear
to this heart of mine as the name divine,
the precious, precious name of Jesus.
Jesus is the sweetest name I know,
and he's just the same as his lovely name,
and that's the reason why I love him so.
Oh, Jesus is the sweetest name I know.
There is no name in earth nor heaven above
that we should give such honor and such love
as the blessed name let us all acclaim
that wondrous, glorious name of Jesus.
Jesus is the sweetest name I know,
and he's just the same as his lovely name,
and that's the reason why I love him so.
Oh, Jesus is the sweetest name I know,
and someday I shall see him face to face
to thank and praise him for his wondrous praise
which he gave to me when he made me free.
The blessed son of God called Jesus.
Jesus is the sweetest name I know,
and he's just the same as his lovely name,
and that's the reason why I love him so.
Oh, Jesus is the sweetest name I know.