So good to see you all here for a Wednesday night service find your seats
please take a hymn they'll go to hymn 162 we'll begin tonight hymn number 162
to God be the glory hymn number 162 great things he has done. Let's watch the glory tonight.
Hymn number 162. Stick it out now.
Hymn number 124. Take care of you. Hymn number 124.
So if you need one please raise your hand. We'll have an usher bring you one as soon as possible if you
have your bulletin go ahead and open it up. Left-hand corner is a service times.
Right below that is our soul winning times. At the very bottom is a salvation
and baptism for the year. Once again happy birthday and happy
anniversary to everyone that had a birthday and an anniversary for this
month. And on the back the bulletin the tea party is over with and we do have a
Father's Day weekend hike that is going to be on June 13th. It's going to be in
Flagstaff in the afternoon and on Saturday June 14th you know they're
going to hike to the top of Mount Humphreys and a church van will provide
transportation at the first come first serve. The church will provide lodging
for those who fully participate in the soul winning. The hike to the top of the
mountain in Mount Humphreys is pretty difficult. It's like an eight-hour hike
so once again if you don't think you can make it you can go and just do some of
it. You don't have to do the entire thing. Talk to Brother Reggie I believe.
Who's the one in charge of that? Is it Brother Reggie or who's genius is that? I
know pastors going so either pastor Brother Reggie. Reggie's been on it
before. Alright if not you can talk to Brother Ramon. Brother Ramon's trying to
redeem himself because he didn't make it all the way last time. Right Brother Ramon?
Alright so if you wonder how hard it is talk to Brother Ramon. If you want to
get a little bit of info talk to Brother Reggie. If you want the real scoop talk
to pastor when he comes back. In any case people weren't or aren't sure where
he's at. Obviously he's on a missions trip. We know that because he's obviously
our pastor and we know pretty much where he goes. But for people on the internet
yes he is on a missions trip. So today you will be listening to me and so I
got a quick verse for you. Anybody that turns their ear from hearing the law
their prayers will be an abomination amen. So therefore anybody who starts
turning the channel after I just said that go ahead and do so if you despise
prophesying go ahead and do so and your prayer will be an abomination at this
point on. But other than that we got those upcoming events so take a look at
those when you get a chance. Other than that let's go over the soul winning for
the week. So if you got somebody saved on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday get ready to
raise your hand. We'll start with Monday on my left side. Any salvations at all?
Going down the middle. Any salvations for Monday? Two? Alright I see a two over
there. Any other salvations for Monday, Tuesday? Five? Alright. Any salvations for
what day was it gonna say? Tuesday it is. One right? Alright we got one for Tuesday?
One? One? Anybody else? Two? Amen. Any other salvations? Is that one? Alright
that's one right there. Any other salvations? And today? Here give me a
second. Three? Alright. What is that? One? So I think that's it for
announcements. Am I forgetting anything? I think we're good. Alright what's up with the
next song? Alright you should find the answer in front of your hymnal with Psalm
150. If you don't have an answer please raise your hand. One of the ushers will
hand you one. We'll sing it on that verse. Praise thee the Lord Jesus. Hymn number
311. Psalm, please turn your Bibles to Psalm chapter number four, the reading of God's
Word. Psalm chapter four the Bible reads, "Hear me when I call, O God of my
righteousness. Thou has enlarged me when I was in distress. Have mercy upon me and
hear my prayer. O ye sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame?
How long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing, see law? But know that the
Lord hath set him apart that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call
unto him. Stand in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon your bed
and be still, see law. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your
trust in the Lord. There be many that say, "Who will show us any good?" Lord, lift
thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou has put gladness in my heart,
more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. I will both lay
me down in peace and sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.
Thank you, Father, for our 5th World Baptist Church and King James Bible.
Thank you for the souls who were one this week. I see you, Phil, Brother Sigour, with
your Holy Spirit. Open our hearts and our ears to receive your perfect word.
I pray this in Jesus' Holy name, Amen. Amen. If you're right there in Psalms 4,
the verse that I want to focus on is verse number 3 that says, "But know that
the Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself." And I love this part, "The
Lord will hear when I call unto him." And that's a statement with confidence. And
what I want you to do is if you can go to Luke, go to Luke chapter 11, Luke
chapter 11, tonight the thought of my sermon is, "The Lord will hear when I
call." The Lord will hear when I call. And I want you guys to be the exact same way.
I want you guys be confident that when you pray, when you call upon the Lord,
that he will hear you. And there's some things that I want to bring up that may
hinder you from the Lord being able to hear you when you pray. And even though
I was joking around early in the introduction with Proverbs 28, 9, I do
want to read it again. "He that turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his
prayer shall be abomination." Even his prayer should be abomination. That means
God doesn't like your prayers if you're that individual that's turning his ear
from hearing the law. In other words, one of the things that can cause God not to
listen to you when you pray is if you despise God's Word. If you despise God's
Word, let me just read from 1st Thessalonians 517, "Pray without ceasing
and everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. Quench not the spirit, despise not prophesied." And I believe one of the
reasons why church members end up backsliding is because they begin to
despise prophesied. I've heard this many times where somebody would say, "I used
to listen to Pastor Anderson, but I don't listen to him anymore. He's
changed." Who's heard that before? You know what they're basically saying is, "I'm
backsliding and I can't handle the preaching anymore, so I'm about to make
something up so people don't look down on me." That's really what they mean. They
want to say, "Well, I want the old Pastor Anderson. I want the old one from 2009
from 2010. Hey, he was preaching hard back then." That's the Pastor Anderson that I
want to listen to, but what they really want to say is, "I'm just backsliding. I
really can't handle it anymore, and you know what? I'm just going to say this so
you get off my back when people ask me, 'Hey, do you still listen to Pastor
Anderson?'" And I say, "No, that's really what's going on." And they can fool
themselves, but they're not going to fool us. And guess what? That individual, when
he prays, if he prays, guess what's going to happen in his prayer? It's not going to
be heard until he gets his heart right and he starts to listen to prophesying
again. And it doesn't have to be Pastor Anderson. It could be anybody, anybody at
all. Let me just read Hebrews 10-25. "Not forsaking the assembling of
yourselves of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one
another and so much the more as she did see the day approaching. For if we sin
willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remain
is no more sacrifices for sins." And one of the things that people tend to do is
they tend to pick their favorite pastor. And if their favorite pastor has beef
with another pastor, they stop listening to that other pastor that their pastor
has beef with. Let me say that three times fast, amen. But that's what
tends to happen is we start to favor certain pastors and we end up saying, you
know what, if this pastor has a problem with my pastor, I have a problem with that
individual, but that shouldn't be the case. God's Word is God's Word. Let me
just read really quickly from Ephesians 4:11, "And he gave some apostles, some
prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors, and teachers." So even if
somebody gets up here behind a pulpit, they may not be an evangelist, he may not
be a pastor, I know Brother Ekenosho preaches a lot behind this pulpit, but if
it's him, a layman, he will be considered a teacher. And for somebody to say, "Well,
I don't want to really listen to tonight's sermon because it's Brother
Ekenosho, and I don't really think he's that good." Well, if that's you, you need to
fix yourself, because guess what? Your prayer is an abomination, because the
truth is, it ain't Brother Ekenosho you have a problem with, is that you just don't want
to hear God's Word that night. That's really what's happening. And listen, a lot
of people pray and they don't get their prayers answered, and they wonder what's
going on. I wonder what the deal is. And they may not tell you about it because
they're embarrassed or whatever the case may be, but maybe you feel like that
right now where you feel like, "Man, I pray and I don't know what's going on. I
just feel like God isn't answering me." Well, you're a Wednesday night soldier, so
guess what? You're not prophesying, or you're not hating prophesying, so your
prayers might not abomination for that reason. You know, but listen, we all need
to kind of be taught a little bit about prayer. We don't just automatically know
what's going on with it. I had you turn to Luke 11. Let's just remind ourselves
as to who wanted to learn how to pray because it's not super
automatic when it comes to prayer. You would think it would be easy, but it's
not. Let's just read Luke 11. One, it says that it came to pass that as he was
praying in a certain place when he ceased, one of the disciples said unto him,
"Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples." So John was
teaching his disciples to pray. And he said unto them, "When ye pray, say, 'Our
Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be
done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive
us our sins, for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us, and lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil." And he said unto them, "Which of you
shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, 'Friend,
let me three loaves.' For a friend of mine, as in his journey, has come to me, and I
have nothing to say before him. And he from within shall answer and say, 'Trouble
me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise
and give thee.' I say unto you, though, he will not rise and give them, because he
is his friend, yet because of his opportunity, he will rise and give him as
many as he needeth. And I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and
ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that ask
and receive it, and he that seek and find it, and to him that knock, and it shall be
opened. And if the Son ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a
stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he, for a fish, give him a serpent? Or if he shall
ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? And if ye, what's it say right there, be
an evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall
your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? So he's
telling them, hey listen, need to pray for your provision, need to pray for your
pardon, need to pray for protection, and even though you're not perfect, guess why
God is still going to come and answer your prayer if you do it with the right
spirit, and if you do it with the requirements that he has for us. So as
you already saw, you know, in the first point, that despising God's Word is one
of the ways that will keep God from hearing you. So if you're not listening
to him, he's not gonna listen to you. So don't become that individual that finds
himself not wanting to hear preaching. And it says that he gave us teachers, so
guess what? It's okay to listen to other preachers. You don't just have to listen
to Pastor Anderson. I recommend you listen to Pastor Jimenez. I recommend you
listen to Pastor Mejia. I recommend you listen to people that are soul winners,
that you know personally. They have something good, and guess what? Pastor
Anderson can only preach so much, so they're there to help us out, and it'll
build you up. So start listening to other preachers. I think it'll benefit
you. I do my best to listen to as many as I possibly can, and always learn
something. Even in my old IFB church, yes I left because the preacher was going
downhill. Praise the Lord, I was able to come to Faithful Word back in 2009, but
even then, every time I went, I didn't care who was preaching. And every time I
went, I went with an open mind, wanted to learn something, and maybe yes 99% of the
sermon was boring, but there was always that 1% that made up for the difference.
Amen. But besides that, another thing that can harm your prayers when you come
to God is your iniquities, is your iniquities. Go ahead and go to Isaiah
59.2. Don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on the clock. We're seven minutes and 35
seconds in. Amen. My goal is always 30 minutes, but you know I always go past
that. But let's talk about our iniquities right now. And the reason I have to bring
up the first point is because honestly, I don't even know about that point. That
point was brought up to me by the assistant pastor of my old church, and
he said, "Hey listen, be careful getting bored of preaching. Be careful this
spicing prophesy, because look what it says right here, that your prayer will be
an abomination." I was like, "Whoa! You know what? I do end up having some times
where I don't want to come to church. I do end up having some times where I'm
sitting in the pew and I really don't want to pay attention and my mind's on
the game or my mind's on something else." Maybe your mind's on something else
right now and you just see me say, "Yeah, you know, that's all you see right now." But
that's okay, because the second point that I want to bring up is be careful
with your iniquities. That could be something that can hinder your prayers.
I'll just read from 1st Timothy 2.8. It says, "I was there for the men pray
everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting." So God wants us to
have holy hands when we come together in prayer. He wants us to have holy hands
and not have wrath or doubting. He wants us to be people of faith. He doesn't want
us to be people that are striving against each other, fighting one another
for whatever reason. Hebrews 12-14 says this, "Follow peace with all men in
holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." God wants his people to be
holy. We do our best to keep this church holy. Keep yourself holy as much as you
can. It benefits everyone. The Bible says righteousness exalts the nation, and guess
what? That's the best you could do for a nation is live a righteous life. Nobody's
gonna thank you, but God will reward you. Amen? Psalms 24-3 says this, "Who shall
ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? He that has
clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully." 1st Peter 1-15 says this, "But as he which has called you is
holy, so be ye holy, and all men are conversation, because it is written, 'Be
ye holy, for I am holy.'" Psalm 995 says this, "Exalt ye the Lord our God, and
worship at his footstool, for he is holy." You can clearly see that God wants us to
be holy, come to him holy, come to him as clean as we possibly can. No one's
perfect in this room, we all sin every day, but if we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us, to make you holy.
Amen? So what is iniquity? See, iniquity is worse than just making a mistake. It
means that you're choosing sin, you're sinning willfully, you're doing evil
knowingly, and you have a sinful heart. Isaiah 59 2 tells you of the dangers of
having iniquity. Bottom line, it's known sin. It's knowing that I have to get
something right, but I don't want to for whatever reason. You're too weak, you're
too sinful, you're too backslidden, whatever the case may be. Let's look at
Isaiah 59 2 that says this, "But your iniquities have separated between you and
your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will what? Not hear." And
I don't know about you, but when I pray, I want God to hear. That's one of the
first things you should do, is confess. You know, confess your sins when you come
to God. I was taught the acronym ACT, C-A-C-T-S, by my pastor back in my old
church. He said, "Listen, when I come to God, first thing I do is I adore Him." He
starts singing to Him. He starts praising Him, thanking Him. Second thing he does,
he confesses his sins. He says, "I'm sorry for whatever it is that he needs to
confess." The third thing, he starts thanking God again, thanking Him for
whatever he possibly can, whether he has five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes,
you name it. And the last thing is supplication. Then he starts praying for
whatever he believes he needs, or he prays for his people. But that's a good
acronym, I think. So whenever we come to God, just think of that. Adore Him, confess
to Him, thank Him, and start asking Him for things. Amen? Psalm 66, 18. I love
bringing this one up, especially when I'm showing people about baptism, because I
like telling people about baptism every time I get them saved. Not always the
case. Sometimes I take too long. Sometimes I'm already 45 minutes into giving the
gospel, get the person saved, and I'm too tired to keep going, so I may not talk
about baptism. But when I do talk about baptism, I ask the individual after a
show them what the Bible says about it, whether it's a good thing or a bad thing,
and 99.9% of the time people say it's a good thing. And I tell them, well listen,
don't let it become a bad thing, and here's how it can become a bad thing if
you refuse to get baptized. Because guess what that is? That's sin, that's
disobedience. And if you have sin in your heart, it says right there in Psalm 6 and 6
and 18, it says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." So be
careful with your iniquities. Be careful with this fine prophecy. And I'll just
read from Psalm 51, if you can get there, great. If not, you can go ahead and go to
Acts 8. I'll just quickly read from Psalm 51, probably blow through it before you
even get to it. Somebody says that I speak too fast. I'm trying my best, amen.
Don't worry, I'm gonna get older as time goes on. You know, by the time I'm 80, I'll
sound like Pastor Anderson, amen. Psalm 51, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to
Thy loving-kindness, according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies. Blot out
my transgression." This is how you should confess to God. Look what David is saying,
"Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin, for I
acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee
only have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight." See what David is saying?
"Forgive my iniquity, forgive this evil that I have done in Thy sight. That Thou
mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judges. Behold, I
was shaped in an iniquity, and in sin that my mother conceived me. Behold, Thou
decided truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden parts, Thou shall make me
know to no wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be cleaned. Wash me, and I
should be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones
which Thou has broken may rejoice. Hide that face from my sins, and blot out all
mine iniquities. And it's important that we come to God this way. Why? Proverbs
28-13, he that covereth his sins, that's somebody that knows that they're doing
wrong. Shall not prosper, shall not prosper. But who so confesseth and forsaken them
shall have mercy. And that's what I want for everyone here. Forgot to hear your
prayer, and guess what? Crying your little face off, saying God I'm sorry for X, Y,
and Z, it's not good enough in God's eyes. There was a guy who did that in the
Bible, his name was Saul. He cried his little face off for all the sins he
committed, but guess what? He wasn't really repenting. And if all you say is
sorry God, please forgive me, but you're still going to continue to do whatever
you're going to continue to do, it doesn't count in God's eyes. Hate to break
it to you, but it clearly says confesses and what? Forsakes it. Turns from it. So
you may think, well you know what, as long as I get things right with God, as long as I
say I'm sorry, you know what? God's gonna forgive me. He promises he's gonna forgive
me, but did you forget the second part? Forsaking. Even in the Bible they started
burning books of witchcraft. They started getting rid of the sin. They
weren't just saying sorry, they were forsaking it. They were getting rid of it.
Why? Because they knew it was gonna hinder them from prospering and they
knew that if they continue in their sin, God's not gonna bless them, God's not
gonna hear them, they're not gonna prosper. But let's look at some
iniquities that people may have in their lives. Some big, some small, but the first
one I mentioned, I already mentioned earlier, is refusing to be baptized.
Refusing to be baptized. I don't think we have that problem in this church, but I
know we have that problem. We do have this problem with some people that are
listeners because they've emailed our church saying, "Hey, you know what? I want
to get baptized by Pastor Anderson. Every pastor in my area is bad. I want to get
baptized by him. Is he going to be ready in July?" That's not how it works, my
friend. You know, you get baptized immediately unless you somehow actually
cannot. If you live, who knows, in the middle of nowhere and you can't drive
hours to any church that believes like you, then maybe fly out of here and get
baptized. But, hey, don't wait. It's what it comes down to.
Philip said, "If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest." That's it, thou
mayest. That's all it takes if you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
That's all you need in order to get baptized. So get baptized as soon as
possible or risk God not hearing your prayers. It ain't worth it, but it's
happened. This is one of the reasons I got baptized. Once I realized God wants
me to get baptized, hey, I wasn't like in a hurry to get baptized. It took a minute
and that was a big mistake because I can kind of feel that God's not hearing me,
things weren't going well. And I'd say, "You know what? I got to get this over
with." And finally decided to get baptized because I knew it was sin, but I was too
embarrassed. I'm too embarrassed to get baptized. But then I realized, you know
what? I really want God to hear me. I really want God to bless me. I got to
stop being disobedient. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna get baptized. Amen? Because
you're not disobeying the pastor when he says, "Hey, you're saved. You need to get
baptized." Who are you disobeying? Matthew 28. And Jesus came and spake unto them,
saying, "All powers given unto me in heaven and earth, go ye therefore and
teach all nations, baptizing them." So guess what? You're not disobeying the
pastor, you're disobeying God. That's Son of God, Jesus Christ Himself. But another
thing that can become iniquity in people's hearts is just refusing to go
soul winning. We don't really have that problem here. We got, what, 27
opportunities to go soul winning throughout the week? I just took everyone's
excuse to lose, amen? When you're dead and gone, don't you dare try to tell God, "I
would have got more soul save had I had more opportunities." What do you want? 30
opportunities? I mean, if you count them right now, they're over 20, maybe not 27,
but definitely over 22. I haven't count recently, but three times a day, Monday
through Sunday, come on down. It says right there in the bulletin, you can't
make the time, then call the church, schedule a time, and we'll be like a soul
winning Uber for you, and we'll come to your house, and you get in the van, and
we'll go knock your neighborhood out, in case you don't know. It's right in here.
Hey, please speak to any of the staff or ushers before the service if you would
like to get baptized, and guess what? The soul winning is no different. Talk to any
of us, me or Ramon. I don't care if you're 45 minutes an hour away, you're part of
this church, I'll come to you if you can't come to me, amen? We'll handle that.
But of course, it's a commandment. First Corinthians 15, "Awake to righteousness
and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your
shame." First Corinthians 9 16, "For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing
of glory of, for necessity laid upon me, yea, woe unto me, if I preach not the
gospel." Not optional, amen. But another thing that Christians struggle with that
will definitely mess up your prayer life and bring the curse of God upon you is
that Christians think that it's no big deal to commit fornication. They don't
think it's a big deal to commit fornication. But number two, it's
iniquities. Your iniquities will hinder your prayer life. If I have iniquity in
my heart, the Lord will not what? Hear me. Just a quick reminder about First
Corinthians or about fornication. 1st Corinthians 6 18, "Flee fornication every
sin that a man doeth without the body, but he that committed fornication sinned
against his own body." Hebrews 13 4, "Marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled,
but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." Ephesians 5 3, "But fornication
all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as
becomeeth saints." And so here's the thing, people may think it's not really
something that happens, but it does happen. Just got an email this week.
Somebody said, "Hey, my daughter's committing fornication with some dude.
He's part of this soul winning program." He's saying that, "Hey, they're part of
your movement." I'm like, "I don't even know the guy." He's like, "Hey, my daughter's
been in this place multiple times. We confronted her. She confessed it." Fast
forward a week later, "There brother or girl, my parents, you know, emailed you.
They're deceiving you just to let you know, 'Hey, I'm no longer committing
fornication. I actually married this guy who's divorced twice, and we know that
we've sinned, but let us explain." I'm sorry, but I don't, I don't care what some
multiple adulterer has to say. No, I don't want that meeting. It's like, "Can you know
what the Bible says?" Rubbing it in my face. Now we have to stay together. We also
know what the Bible says, that if you marry her, which is divorced, hey, guess
what? You commit adultery. And like it says in Romans, in case I mess up, "So then
if, while her husband live it, she be married to another man, she shall be
called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she is free from the law, so
that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man." And you wonder
like, how could she be so stupid? Because of iniquity. That's why. Because when you
have iniquity in your heart and she's praying, "God, I don't know what to do
with the situation. I really love this guy. Yes, I know he's been divorced twice
and I know he has four kids, but I believe that we should be together, Lord.
Hey, give me the wisdom. Help me out. Help me to figure this whole thing out."
Then brothers and girls messaging, "Don't marry the guy. He's not God's will for you.
Don't be afraid to let go of something God never gave you."
A week later, brothers and girls, just to let you know we're married now.
How could you be so dumb? Well, when you're good in his sight, God gives you what?
Where's my kids at? What does God give you? Wisdom, joy, and a pound that in their hearts.
So when they become these ungrateful teenagers, I'm like, "Oh, you're tired? Oh, you're sad?
Well, let me show you a verse. What does it say right here? When you're good in his sight,
he gives you joy. Looks to me like it ain't me. Looks to me like it's you. When you're good in
his sight, he'll give you joy, wisdom, knowledge." That's my go-to card whenever they start blaming
their parents for their little sad life or whatever. They don't do it. They don't do it.
I did it just one time, all right? Not going to tell you which kid it was, but he's one of
my best ones now, all right? Have to humble him. He was starting to blame mom and dad for his life.
I'm like, "Oh, let me show you why you're sad. When a man is good in his sight, he gives him joy,
wisdom, and knowledge. But when a man is wicked in his sight, he's not going to give you wisdom,
he's not going to give you joy, and then you'll end up committing adultery and thinking it's
God's will. And then trying to justify it to somebody who knows better, it's not going to
happen. Amen? So what else besides fornication could be an iniquity in people's hearts? How
about this one? Refusing to tithe. You're like, "Well, I want God to answer my prayers. What do
you think I'm doing wrong? Hey, don't get mad at me if I ask you about tithing. You don't have to
answer, but I'm just throwing it out there, and I've heard a lot of preaching. I heard a lot of
preaching on getting your prayers answered. I've done it before, but I don't think anybody has
ever brought this up." You know what? The first time I ever heard about tithing, it wasn't even
from a Christian. It was from a Catholic, and he was my brother, and I was inviting him to church,
and I'm like, "Hey, why don't you come to church? It's a Baptist church. You know, it's Christian."
He's like, "Oh, I can never be a Christian." I'm like, "Why not? Because they require 10% of your
money." I'm like, "No way! That's a lie! Who told you that?" That's what I've heard. Crazy.
Not happening. I'm gonna go ask my pastor. So I did. And guess what he told me? "Yes,
your brother is right." What? What kind of a cult am I in? 10% of my moolah? For reals? No way.
How do you know "taif" means "tenth"? Well, let me show you in Spanish. "Dies"? If you probably
don't believe it in English, you'll definitely believe it in Spanish because it uses the word
"ten". "Tithe" in English. Yeah, who usually says "tithe" besides Christian people? But in Spanish,
you can't get away with it. "Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve." "Dies"?
I'm looking it up in Spanish. "Diesmo"? Really? Ten percent of my money in the world. And it took
me a while to tithe. I didn't want to tithe. It sounded crazy. I'm like, "Does God really want me
to tithe?" And you want to know when I started tithing? When God took to tithe. And let's just
say, I was worldly when I first started going to church. I had my big SUV, six TVs, two Playstations,
the fattest system I can think of, road to church, blasting the most whatever biggest bass rap music.
I didn't know until the pastor's yelling behind the pulpit, "Next time somebody comes through my
parking lot playing some rap music, I'm gonna rip your stereo out your car." And I'm thinking,
"My bad pastor, my bad." Well, one day I wake up and this is when these little key alarm things
were barely starting to come out. So everybody thought they were cool they have one. I wake up
and all I hear is beep. Like what is that? Is that my keychain? It's in the garage, opened it up,
grabbed my keychain to my truck. I look at it and it's an LCD screen showing me a broken window.
I'm like, "No way." I peek through the garage window and I see my smash window.
All my PlayStation's gone. All my TV's gone. My stereo's out. Everything's stolen. They tried
to steal the truck but it had good anti-theft. Amen. But after that, you better believe I tithed
and I knew it had to do with the tithe. Don't be that person. But you know what's worse than
losing my stereo is that God wasn't answering my prayers the entire time. Because at that point,
I knew it said, "Yes, Mo." I knew it said tithe in the Bible and I rebelled against it and didn't
want to do it. And if you have iniquity in your heart, the Lord will what? Not hear you. And in
case you're thinking, "Are they preaching because they need money?" No, that's not why I'm preaching.
I'm just thinking, "Hey, you know what? I want to preach on just being bold when you pray."
Because honestly, we're going to need it. The world's getting crazier and crazier, amen?
And if you think that we should tithe, well, Deuteronomy 14 22 says this, "Thou shalt truly
tithe." Do you need another verse? Okay, Malachi 3 8, "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me,
but ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee in tithes and offerings? Ye are cursed with a curse."
Do you want to be cursed with a curse? Let me ask you this, have you robbed God and you talk about
tithing? Do you think he's going to answer your prayer when you're cursed with a curse? If you
think so, I don't know what Bible you're reading, but you need a different one. "You are cursed with
a curse, for ye have robbed me even this whole nation, bringing you all the tithes into the
storehouses, that there may be meat in my house, and prove me not herewith. Sayeth the Lord of hosts,
if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be
room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the diviner for your sakes, and he shall not destroy
the fruits of your ground, nor shall you buy and cast a fruit before the time. Sayeth the Lord of
hosts." And this is what I don't want. I don't want God to be far from you people, from us.
Proverbs 15-21, "The Lord is far from the wicked, but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.
For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto the prayers.
But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil." And I don't want the face of the Lord to be
against any of us here, or anyone, period. John 9-31, now we know that God heareth not sinners,
but if any man be a worshiper of God and doeth his will, him he heareth. And do you think it's God's
will for you to tithe? Yes or no? Absolutely. So if your tires end up missing one day, hey don't
get mad at me if I ask you if you're tithing, amen. So one of the things that we need to be careful
if we want God to answer our prayers is not despising God's word. We need to be careful
having iniquity in our heart. We need to be careful even with our pride. If you got your Bible,
go to Luke 18. Go to Luke 18. I'm 28 minutes and 41 seconds into it. Try to wrap it up in the next
20 minutes. I know it's Wednesday night. You guys should be tired. Everybody should be ready to go
to sleep. Wake up and work hard. Romans 12-3. You guys go to Luke 18. Romans 12-3. I think this is
a great verse to teach someone what the heck does pride mean. It says, "For I say to the grace given
unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of itself more highly than he ought to think."
And I think that's a great definition of pride. Thinking more highly of yourself than you ought
to think. Thinking that you're better than you really are. And that's why God's word, you know,
humbles you, because it'll show you that you're not. And this is the person you don't want to be,
the one in Luke 18. And this is Jesus giving a parable, teaching about pride. And we shouldn't
be this individual. We shouldn't be this Pharisee. It says, "And he spake this parable and asserted
them which trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and despised others." Don't be this
person. "Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a Republican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus within himself, 'To God I thank thee that I am not his other man,
or extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even of this publican. I fast twice in the week,
I give tithes of all that I possess, and the publican staying afar off will not lift up so
much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner.'"
And see, tithing is not going to save you if you're a prideful individual. This guy tithes,
God makes it clear that he tithes, God threw it in there for a reason, and sure enough,
they're both going to pray, but one is getting his prayers heard and the other one is not.
What's the difference? The difference is pride. Proverbs 6 16 says this, "These six things do
the Lord hate; yea, seven are abomination unto him." Verse 17, a proud look. Even your look,
and I can't even imagine what would that even look like. I don't even want to begin. Does anybody
want to come up here and try to give me an example of what that looks like? Anybody? Anybody? You?
No, that's the opposite of pride, bro. We're having a good time over here. I mean, what would
that look like? Would that look like this? What would that look like? Would that look like this?
What would that look like? Would that look like this? What is a proudful look? Mrs. Dickon,
you want to come up here and help me out? Like, what is this proudful look? I don't know, but I
think that's kind of God telling us, "Hey, just to be safe, you better smile more." If you're that
individual that's constantly being told, "Smile, bro. Who shot your dog?" You might be the one that
needs to smile a little bit more. But God says a prideful look is an abomination unto Him.
And do you think that God looks down on you and wants to answer your prayer when you're smug,
when you're just walking around with this high look, thinking more highly of yourself than you
ought to? Let's just be careful with that, amen? And let's just keep reading. I'm sure you're
somewhere else. I don't know where I told you to go, but just go to 2 Chronicles 7:14. That's
always a popular one when it comes to talking about praying and having the right attitude
and getting right with God before you pray. But I'll just finish up Proverbs 16,
famous chapter. All these things in my opinion have to do with pride in one way or another.
A proud look definitely has to do with pride. A lying tongue, most prideful people just lie
their little faces off to win an argument, to hurt others, you name it. Hands that shed innocent
blood. What kind of a person would do that? A prideful person. A heart that divides their
wicked imaginations. What kind of a person does that? A prideful person. Feet that be swift and
run into mischief. What kind of a person does that? A prideful person. A false witness that
speak lies. Why would they do that? Because of pride. And he that sowed discord among brethren.
These are all bad things. What's the real reason? Pride. How do we know? Because all these tend to
be issues that people have with others. Lying, being swift to run into mischief, having wicked
imaginations. And here's the verse that makes me believe that everything on that list has to do
with pride. Only by pride comes contention. And he that soweth discord among brethren, what is he
doing? He's having contention. So we need to be careful with our pride because even though you
may be tithing, going to church, going soul winning, guess what? If you're a prideful person,
you better be careful because those things are an abomination unto God. And in case you think it's
not that big of a deal, be like, "Yeah, I have a big head. I got a big ego. I know. I'm an alpha male.
I'm the best of the best. I'm a really smart person." Yeah, you got me, bro. You know who
I'm talking about. Robert Alcantara, the self-professed smart man. We know all about him,
the bona fide liar that likes to sow discord among brethren, that loves to speak lies,
and something tells me that if he could, he will kill us because we're faithful wolves, Baptist
Church. Now we're a cult, but I like how they try to get out of it. Pastor understands he's saved,
but everybody else reprobates. My pastor isn't. Why? Because he's scared of the masses.
He's scared of the backlash. He knows that he came for everyone, and this is his issue, his pride.
Straight up. He reprobated me this week. That's why I'm a little upset. Who's heard his stupid
little voicemail that he left? I just came to cry. I'm not out to hunt him down because honestly,
here's how I deal with these people. Here's how I deal with haters. I just block them. Block them.
I mark them and avoid them like the Bible says. And you know what? I don't know if he's saved or
not saved. So until I know otherwise, I'm leaning towards he's not saved. I mean, I'll be shocked
if he is, but until I'm 100% sure, I just got to bless him. That's what the Bible says. Bless those
that persecute you and curse not, you know. And after that, all I can do is just beat them. I'll
do them. You know, just keep doing what I'm doing. Just keep serving God and we'll see where they're
at in 10 years. And then he can see where I'm at in 10 years. And then we'll figure out who's the
real deal and who's not. We'll find out who's the reprobate and who's not. Because according to him,
me and Ramon, we've been reprobated, brother. He reprobated us this week. He said everybody on
the staff is reprobates and he's not the only one that says it. So apparently there's someone else
in this church that says it as well, according to Robert. Well, we'll find out. God knows if
that's true, but you need about 10 witnesses to believe anything that man says. 2 Chronicles 7
and 14, "If my people which are called by my name," look how important humility is, "show humble
themselves and pray and seek my face. Yes, we have to turn from our wicked ways, but I wanted to show
you that the first thing on the list is humility." Humility, why? James 4.6, "But he gives us more
grace. Wherefore he says, God resisteth the proud, but give us grace unto the humble." And once again,
pride is not a small thing to God because this is what the Bible says in Proverbs 15.25. I don't
think I said it, so I'm going to read it. And if I did say it, oh, I forgot. "The Lord will destroy
the house of the proud." So once again, despising God's word is going to keep your prayers from
being heard. Your iniquities is going to keep your prayers from being heard. Your pride is going to
keep your prayers from being heard. And your hypocrisy is going to keep your prayers from
being heard. And so we need to be careful with hypocrisy. I'll just read a few verses. You guys
can, I guess, go ahead and meet me in Mark 11.25. I'll just wrap it up because I've got nine points,
so I'm just going to blow through these. I think the main one I wanted to get across was
iniquities. We've got to be careful having sin in the heart. We've got to just confess it like David
did. Make no excuses for it because if you want God to listen to your prayers, you have to make
sure you have a pure heart, a clean heart. Because if you don't, He won't hear anything you have to
say. But really quick on hypocrisy. It says, "When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites
are." They love to pray standing in the synagogue and in the corners of the streets and then be seen
of men. I don't think we have that problem with anybody in this church. I don't think of anyone,
maybe outside of the church. People like to pray in the streets, mostly these repent of your sins
salvationists. Isaiah 29-13, "Wherefore the Lord say for as much as these people draw near me with
their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their
feet toward me is topped by the by the precept of men. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous
unto man, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." So we've got to be careful being
hypocrites because that's one thing that God will not will not just let go. And the Bible says very
clearly that if you're this individual with a prideful look, that's an abomination unto him,
and that's kind of a list to figure out whether or not you're somebody that needs to just check
themselves because the list is right there, lying tongue, hard to devise of wicked imaginations,
false witness speak of lies, but another part of the Bible that I like to go to to remind myself
to work on these things so I don't get too puffed up. It's very clear in 1st Corinthians 13, "Charity
suffereth long." Is that you? "And is kind." Is that what you're known for? "Charity envieth not."
Can you answer, "I'm not that individual." Yes, we all commit sin, but are you constantly envying
what other people have? Do you wish you had other things? You know, husbands, are you happy with
your wives or do you look for another? "Charity, vaunted not itself, is not puffed up, does not
behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not
in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth." 1 Peter 4, 8, "And above all things, have fervent charity
among yourself, for charity shall cover the multitude of sins." And I'll just go through
the other few. Lack of forgiveness, that's one thing we need to be careful. When you stand praying,
forgive if you ought against any, that your father also which is in heaven may forgive you your
trespasses. For you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you.
Ephesians 432, and be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ's sake has forgiven you. Colossians 313, forbearing one another and forgiving one another.
If any men have a core against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And so we need to make
sure with the type of individual that's easy, that quickly forgives and forgets. That'll help
you to move forward. And number six, doubting God. We need to be careful when we come to God doubting
him. But without faith it's impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that
he is and that he is a reward within that diligently seek him. And let him ask in faith,
nothing wavering. And God is not a man that he shall lie, nor the son of man that he shall repent.
And like it says in Romans 420, we need to be the type of person, like it says right here,
a person that doesn't stagger at the promises of God through unbelief, but is strong in faith,
giving glory to God and being fully persuaded that he has promised that he will do what he
has promised to do. And once again, when you come to God, just a few more things because I'm out of
time. We need to come to God with joyfulness. We need to remember the Lord and all the goodness
that he's done for us. Man, and I'm memorizing the verse, but right now I can't even think of it.
It's the verse that talks about God daily loaded us with benefits. Anybody happen to know where
that's at? But that's part of the verse. Blessed be the Lord who daily loaded us with benefits,
even the God of our salvation. Say la. And that's one of the things to always remember,
no matter how bad your day is, no matter how sad you get, no matter how depressed you are,
always do your best to remember how good God is. That's how he wants us to come to him.
And this is one of the reasons why the pastor shared his acronym, X. Because he wanted me to
be thankful in the beginning, wanted me to be thankful after I confess my sins. Why? Because
it's all over scripture. Psalm 102 says this, "Serve the Lord with gladness, come before his
presence with singing." With singing. Now I'll be honest with you, I'm not the best singer. You
probably already know that, amen? My wife's like, "That's for sure." My kids are like, "Duh, Dad,
we know." But hey, they know that when I start singing, I just make up the words. I can make
up the words to the same tune. And the first one that always comes to mind is, "How great thou art."
I'll just start singing it. Oh, Lord, my God, you're so amazing to me. I know you are the greatest
thing I have. Oh, Lord, my God, forgive me for my singing. I know it sucks, but Lord, I'm doing my
best. Then sings my soul. I know, I know, I know. I cannot sing. You know for sure. Lord, my God,
I know is getting odd. So I must stop. Lord, I must stop. Lord, forgive me for my bad singing.
Forgive me for not being able to get a tune down. But why do I do it? Because the Bible says to do
it. Serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with singing. Rejoice in the Lord
always. And again, I say rejoice. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving. And that's
my other point, number eight. Come to God with thanksgiving. It's part of how we come to God.
Bible says in Philippians 4.6, don't worry, I'm wrapping it up. Be careful for nothing but
in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your request, that's your prayer
request, be made known unto God. Continue prayer and watching the same with thanksgiving. Let us
come before his presence with thanksgiving. Make a joyful noise unto him with psalms and everything
give thanks. And number nine. If you're like, I don't know, I think I do all those things,
but I don't despise the word. Hey, I confess my iniquities. I try to have a clean heart.
I try to watch my pride. Hey, I try to make sure I don't think of myself more highly than I should.
Hey, I try not to be a hypocrite. I try to forgive everyone. I do my best not to doubt God.
I believe he can do anything, anything at all. I just sometimes struggle with his will. Okay,
that's everybody. Hey, I know that sometimes I don't come with God with the most joyful attitude,
but I do my best. I do my best to thank him every time I pray. Then the only thing I could tell you
is that, hey, you're probably not getting your prayer's answer because you quit too easy. You
quit too easy. You do it once, you do it twice, and then you're like, "Hey, God, you're not nice,"
and you quit. Maybe that's why God's not answering you, because God knows that you need to learn not
to quit, and maybe he'll get you back on track when he starts punishing you because you're not
asking for anything. And the Bible says, "Pray without ceasing." And they spake a parable unto
them to this end, Luke 18.1, that meant all to always pray and not to faint. In Ephesians 6.18,
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplications for all saints." Romans 12.12, "Rejoice in hope, patience in
tribulation, continue an instant in prayer." Colossians 4.2, "And I'm done, continue in prayer
and watch in the same with thanksgiving." So at the end of the day, these nine things, and there's
more, I googled how many requirements for prayer and like 40 came up. Pastor Jim Ennis just recently
preached a sermon on how to get your prayers answered. He had a list of 12. So I decided,
Noah, let me see how much is out there. He said there might be more. And I'm like, 40, really?
And I looked at them and I'm like, OK, they look pretty legit. But these are the ones that I'm glad
people brought up to me right away so that I can start getting my prayers answered by God ASAP.
As a new believer, hey, I didn't know that getting a little tired of preaching can hinder your prayer
life. I didn't know that if you don't do something about that sin, you don't repent, you don't
forsake that sin, that can hinder your prayer life. I didn't know that a prideful look.
Still don't know what that looks like. I'm doing my best to come up with the most prideful look
possible. Who thinks they can beat me? Raise your hand. Volunteers? I don't know. Watching my face
was something I didn't think I had to worry about, but we do. Your hypocrisy. Gotta be careful with
that. Lack of forgiveness. Gotta be careful with that. Doubting God. Hey God, I believe, but help
my unbelief. Sometimes I don't always believe, but if I don't, help me out. Have a verse pop in my
head to give me the faith that I need to succeed. Gotta make sure that you don't always just forget
about how good God is. Daily He loads us with benefits. Every day He loads us. He doesn't just
give us some benefits. Says that He loads us with benefits. You're like, like what? I don't know
your health, the ability to eat, safety. We cannot allow ourselves to become ungrateful. And how do
you do that? By remaining thankful. And even if God doesn't answer you from now until He returns,
so what? You still do it because there's a commandment. And God tells you over and over again,
pray without ceasing. Do not quit on prayer. Step it up. The world's getting crazier and it's only
going to get crazier. So let's make sure that we do our best to not just master soul winning,
not just master Bible reading, but become a master of prayer and teach it to others so they can learn
also how to pray. Amen? Let's pray. Dear Father in heaven, we thank you so much for all that you've
done. Thank you for this group of people, Lord. They are truly the best church on the planet.
And Father, I just thank you for the other great churches as well. And Lord, we just ask you to
just be able to help us, Lord, to be able to improve in whatever area you need us to improve,
and keep Pastor Anderson safe as he's witnessing Lord right now in another country. And of course,
they can always have issues, Lord, but I pray that you just be with them and let everything go
smoothly. And we ask you to do all this for your honor and glory in Jesus' precious name. Amen.
Amen. All right, ladies and gentlemen, take your hymnals, please. Go to hymn 131, hymn number 131.
Christ is all I need. Hymn number 131. We'll sing both verses here and be dismissed tonight.
So let's sing it out together. Christ is all I need. All I need. Hymn number 131.