Yes, sir.
This church is 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 hath done.
Let's worship Lord tonight.
Hymn number 162.
before you tonight we give you the thanks for giving us the opportunity to be
in church this Wednesday night. Thank you for the safety of a lot of us to have
this week so that we're able to be here. We just ask Lord that you meet with us
and bless us as we come before you and worship you and sing together and just
fill us with your spirit as we do that and help us focus on the words of these
hymns tonight. And also Lord that you'd prepare our hearts for the preaching of
your word. Philpastor or Brother Chris, take care of it with your Holy Spirit.
to receive the message tonight, and that all that said and done would give you the honor
and the glory that you deserve for it, and we'll thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen.
Hymn number 124124. God will take care of you. Hymn number 124124.
Bulletin, so if you need one, please raise your hand.
We'll have a nusher bringing 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 right bottom is the salvation
and baptisms 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 of the bulletin,
the Tea Party is over with,
and we do have a Father Day weekend hike.
that is going to be on June 13th,
that'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 Pastor's going,
so either Pastor or Brother Reggie,
Reggie's been on it before?
All right, 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?
All right, so if you want to how hard it is talk to brother Ramon if you want to get a little bit info talk to brother
Reggie if you want the real scoop talk to pastor when he comes back and in 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 have been 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 in abomination at this point on.
But other than that, we've got those upcoming events.
So take a look at those when you get a chance.
Other than that, let's go over to so many for the week.
So if you've got somebody saved on Monday,
Tuesday, and a 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?
All right, I see a two over there.
Any other salvations for Monday, Tuesday?
Five?
All right.
Any salvations for what day was it going to say?
All right.
Tuesday it is.
One, right?
All right, we got one for Tuesday?
Cool.
One, one.
Anybody else?
Two?
Amen.
Any other salvations?
Is that one?
All right, that's one right there.
And the other salvations.
And today, I hear, we'll give him a second.
Three, all right.
Where's the, okay, I better hurt him.
What is that?
One, all right.
So, I think that's it for announcements.
Am I forgetting anything?
I think we're good.
All right, help us up with the next song.
All right, 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 ashes will hand you home. We'll sing it on that first
crazy the Lord
Now turn to hymn number 311 hymn number 311 all for Jesus hymn number 311
All for Jesus all my needs
Thank you for watching!
to Psalm 4. Go ahead and please turn your Bibles to Psalm chapter number 4 for the reading
of God's Word.
Psalm chapter 4 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 ye turn my glory into shame? How long will ye love vanity and seek after
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, Silah.
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 hast put gladness in my heart,
more than in the time that they're 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 faith who are about this church in the King James Bible. Thank you for
the souls who were won this week. As you fill, Brother Sigur 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
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 to be confident is 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 it was joking around early in the introduction with Papa's 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 that 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.
despised, 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,
hey, 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? It's I'm backsliding,
and I can't handle the preaching anymore, so I'm about to make something up so people don't
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 back slidding.
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?
Guess what's going to happen to 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 forsaken the assembly 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, the remanence 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?
If I'm just kidding.
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.
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 Akinocho 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
Well, if that's you, you need to fix yourself because guess what, your prayer is in abomination
because the truth is, it ain't me, brother, I can no longer have a problem with, it's
that you just don't want to hear God's word that night.
That's really what's happening.
Listen, a lot of people pray and they don't get their prayers answered and they wonder
what's going on.
They 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 Winstonite soldier, so guess what?
You're not prophesying or you're not hating prophesying, so your prayers might not abomination
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 to 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.
praying in a certain place. When he sees one of the disciples set out to him, Lord, teach
us to pray as John also taught his disciples. So John was teaching his disciples to pray.
And he said out to them, when you pray, say our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be that name,
that kingdom come that will be done as in heaven so on 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 ye 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 is in his journey,
his come to me, and I have nothing to say before him.
And he from within shall answer and say,
trust 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 him,
because he is his friend,
yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give.
him as many as he needed.
And I say to you, asking it shall be given you,
seeking shall find, knocking it shall be opened unto you,
for everyone to ask him receiving,
he the seeker findeth, and to him the knocking
it shall be opened, and if his son,
as bread of any of you that is a father,
will he give him a stone?
Or if he ask him 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?
Being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children.
How much more so your heavenly Father,
give the Holy Spirit to them that as Him.
So he's telling them, hey, listen,
you need to pray for your provision,
you need to pray for your pardon,
you need to pray for protection.
And even though you're not perfect,
guess why God is still gonna 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 everybody saw, you know, in the first point,
that the spicing God's word is one of the ways
that we'll keep God from hearing you.
So if you're not listening to him, he's not going to listen to you.
So don't become that individual that finds himself not wanted 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 IFV 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 to?
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 didn't even
know about that point.
That point was brought up to me by the assistant pastor at my old church, and he said, hey,
listen, be careful getting bored of preaching, be careful despising prophesying, you can
look what it says right here, that your prayer will be in 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 to my mindset in the game or my mindset on something else.
Maybe your mindset's on something else right now, and you just see me say, yeah, you know,
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 1 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 us a nation.
And guess what?
That's the best you can 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 ascended to 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 into vanity,
nor sworn deceitfully.
First Peter 1-15 says this,
But as he which has called you as holy,
so be ye holy in all manner conversation,
because it is written,
Be ye holy for I am holy.
Psalm 99.5 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 sit 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 what 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, the first thing I do is I adore him.
He starts singing to him. He starts praising him, thanking him.
The 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.
Thank Him for whatever He possibly can, whether He has 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 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 6618, 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 ready 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 I 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 66-18, it says, if I regard
the iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.
So be careful with your iniquities.
Be careful with the spying prophesying.
And I'll just read from Psalm 51 if you can get there great.
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 the loving kindness, according to the multitude
of Thy tender mercies, blood on my transgression, this is how you should confess to God.
Look what David is saying.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity.
and cleansed 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 judgeest.
Behold, I will shape it in iniquity, and in sin, that my mother conceived me.
Behold, thou desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden parts, thou shalt make me
to know wisdom.
Purse me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me to hear joy and gladness that the boast
which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Hide thy 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.
Show not prosper, but whoso confesseth, and forsaken them, show 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, confess this 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 going to forgive me.
He promises He's going to forgive me, but do you forgive the second part?
Forsaking?
Even in the Bible, they started burning books of wishcraft, 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 going to hinder them from prospering,
and they knew that if they continue in their sin, God's not going to bless them, God's not going to hear them, they're not going to prosper.
But let's look at some iniquities that people may have in their life, 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.
Is it 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 here and get baptized.
But hey, don't wait.
It's what it comes down to.
Now, may is, that's all it takes if you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
That's all you need in order to give baptize.
So give baptize 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 give baptize, and I wasn't like in a hurry to give baptize.
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 going to do it, I'm going to get baptized,
amen.
because you're not disobeying the pastor when he says,
hey, you're saved, you need to be baptized.
Who you disobeying?
Met the 28th and Jesus came and spake onto them saying,
all power is 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, it's just refusing to go so many.
We don't really have that problem here, we got, what, 27 opportunities to go so many 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, so save how to have 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 have been count recently, but three times a day, Monday through Sunday.
Come on down.
It says right there in the bulletin, you can 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.
And 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 be 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, I'll wake to righteousness and say not, for some have not the knowledge of God.
First Corinthians 916, for though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for
necessity laid upon me, yea, want to 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 there's no big
deal to come in for an occasion.
But number two is 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 1 Corinthians or about fornication 1 Corinthians 6 18 flee fornication
Every sin that a man do it is without the body but he the committed fornication sinned against his own body
Hebrews 13 for marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled by homeowners and adulterers
God will judge
Ephesians 5 3 before indication all uncleanness or covetousness
Let let it not be once named among you as becoming saints
And so here's the thing, people may think it's not really something that happens, but it does happen.
She just got an email this week. Somebody said, hey, my daughter's coming in for an occasion with some dude.
He's part of this soul winning program. He's saying 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 at his place multiple times. We confronted her. She confessed it.
Fast forward a week later, there are brothers and girls, my parents emailed you, they're
deceiving you just to let you know, hey, I'm no longer in communication, 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 care what some multiple adulterer has to say, no, I don't want that
meeting.
It's like, and you know what the Bible says, rubbing it in my face, now we have to stay
together.
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
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.
Week later, where's the girl? Just to let you know, we're married now.
How could you be so dumb? Well, when you're good in this side, God gives you what? Where's my kid's 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's it say right here? When you're good in his side, 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 side, 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 gonna tell you which kid it was
But he's one of my best ones now. All right, have to humble them
It 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 his 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? Refuse in the tithe
You're like why won't God 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 a when you come to church is about this church
You know it's Christian. He's like oh, I can never be a Christian 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
You're 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 mula
For reals no way. How do you know tithe means tense? Well, let me show you in Spanish. Yes
If you probably don't believe it in English, you'll definitely believe it in Spanish because it uses the word 10
Tithe in English, yeah, who usually says tithe besides Christian people.
But in Spanish, you can't get away with it.
Uno, dos, tres, cuantos, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez!
I'm looking it up in Spanish, diezmo, really?
Ten percent of my money, what in the world?
And it took me a while to tithe.
I didn't want to tithe.
It just sounded crazy.
I'm like, does God really want me to tithe?
And you want to know when it started tithing?
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 numbers, whatever, biggest bass rap music, I didn't know until the pastor
is yelling behind the pulpit, next time somebody comes through my parking lot playing some
rap music, I'm going to rip your stereo at 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 had one.
I wake up, and all I hear is beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
I'm like, what is that?
Is that my key chain?
Send the garage open it up grab my keychain to my truck. I look at it, and it's an LCD screen show me a broken window
I'm like no way I peeked through the garage window, and I see my smashed window all my playstations gone
All my TV's gone my stereo is out everything stolen they try to steal the truck, but it had good and like that thing man
But after that you better believe I tied and I knew I had to do with the time
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 tithing the Bible and I rebelled against it and didn't want to do it and
If you have an equid in your heart the Lord will what?
Not hear you
And in case you're thinking are they preaching because we 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.
Well, amen.
Rob God.
Yet you have robbed me, but you say, where in have we robbed thee in tithes and offerings?
You're cursed with a curse.
Do you want to be cursed with a curse?
Let me ask you this, if you're Rob 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're a curse with a curse where you have robbed me even this whole nation bringing all the tithes into the storehouses
That there may be me in my house and prove me now here with say the Lord of hosts
If I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing
There should not be room enough to receive it and I will rebuke the divide for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits
Of your ground and I'll show you buying castle fruit before the time
Say it 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 inherit 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 any one, period.
John 9-31, now we know that God here is not sinners, but if any man be a worshiper of God and do it his will
Him he hear it. And do you think his 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 you 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
I'll 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 greats given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of itself
more highly than they 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 on the sort of 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.
God, I thank thee that I am not as other men or extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even
not this publican.
I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess, and the publican staying
far 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 are a prideful individual.
This guy ties, God makes it clear that he ties, got through 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.
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 have 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. Dicken 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 got 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 it's a prideful look. It's an abomination out to him
And do you think that God looks down on you and wants to answer your prayer when you're smug?
When you 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 lion tongue, most prideful people just lie their little faces off.
To win an argument, to hurt others, you name it.
Hands of shit, innocent blood.
What kind of a person would do that?
A prideful person.
A heart that divides the wicked imaginations.
What kind of a person does that?
A prideful person.
Feed that beast swift and run it to mischief.
What kind of a person does that?
A prideful person.
A false witness that speak the lies.
Why would he do that?
Because of pride.
And he that sowed discord among brethren.
These are all bad things.
What's the root 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 their list has to do with pride, only by pride coming contention.
And he that sowed 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,
Guess what? If you're a prideful person, you better be careful because those things are in the
abomination unto God. And in case you think it's not that big of a deal, they're 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 what I'm talking about.
We know all about him the bonafide liar that likes to sow discord among brethren
They love to speak lies and something tells me that if he could he would kill us
Because we're faithful wolves back this church
Now we're a cult
But I like how they try to get out of it pastor understand he saved but everybody else are reprobates
But pastor isn't why cuz he's scared of the masses
He's scared of the backlash.
He knows that he came for everyone.
And this is his issue.
It's pride.
Straight up.
He reprobated me this week.
That's why I'm a little upset.
Who's heard his stupid little voice note that he left?
I just came across.
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.
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 reprobating who's not
It's going 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.
Second Chronicles 714, 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 for my wicked ways, but I wanted to show you that the first thing on the list is humility
Humility why?
James 4-6, but he give us more grace
Wherefore he said God resisted 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 gonna read it and if I did say it. Oh, I forgot
The Lord will destroy the house of the proud
So once again the spicing God's word is going to keep your prayers from being heard your iniquities
It's going to keep your prayers from being heard your pride is going to keep your prayers from being heard and your hypocrisy
It's 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
1125
I'll just wrap it up
because I've got nine points so I'm just gonna blow through these I think the
main one I wanted to get across was iniquities we got to be careful having
sitting on heart we 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 free torf me is topped by the precept of men.
Even so, ye also outwardly appear righteous unto man,
but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
So we gotta be careful being hypocrites,
because that's one thing that God 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 out to 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 a wicked imaginations,
false witness speak lies, but another part of the Bible
that I'd like to go to to remind myself
to work on these things so I don't get too puffed up.
It is very clear in 1 Corinthians 13,
charity suffereth long, is that you?
And it's kind, is that what you're known for?
Charity envy, if 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, wanted not itself, is not puffed up,
does not behave itself unseemly.
Seek it not her own, is not easily provoked.
Think it no evil, rejoice it not iniquity,
but rejoice it in the truth.
First 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 y'all are 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.
Efficience 432, and be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even
as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.
Colossians 313, for bearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a
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 either coming to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder than to diligently seek Him
and let Him ask Him faith, nothing wavering.
And God is not a man that He shall lie. Another son of man that He shall repent.
And like it says in Romans 4.20, 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
with us with benefits.
Does anybody happen to know where that's at?
But that's part of the verse.
Blessed be the Lord who daily loaded with 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, Acts, because he wanted me to be thankful in the beginning,
wanted me to be thankful after I confessed my sins. Why? Because it's all over Scripture, Psalm 102 says this, serve the Lord with gladness, come before His presence with singing.
Now, I'll be honest with you.
I'm not the best singer.
You probably already know that, amen?
Well, I was 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 song
I know I know I know I cannot sing you know for sure oh Lord my God I know is
getting on 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 gives thanks.
And number nine, if you're like, I don't know,
I think I do all those things for us to grow out.
I don't despise the word.
Hey, I confess my iniquities.
I try to have a clean heart.
I try to wash 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 dog God.
I believe he can do anything, anything at all.
I just sometimes struggle with his will.
Okay, that's everybody.
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 can tell you is that, hey, you're probably not getting your prayers
answered because you quit too easy.
You quit too easy.
You do it once, you do it twice, and they'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
And the Bible says, pray without ceasing.
And to speak a parable unto them to this end,
Luke 18, one, that men ought to always pray
and not to faint.
Ephesians 6, 18, praying always
with all prayer and supplication in the spirit
and watching dare unto you with all perseverance
and supplications for all saints.
Romans 12, 12, rejoice and hope,
patient and tribulation, continuing instant in prayer.
Colossians 4, 2, and I'm done.
Continuing prayer and watching 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 Eamonis has recently preached a sermon on how to get your prayers answered.
He had a list of 12.
So I decided, you know what, let me see how much is out there.
He said, there might be more.
And I'm like, 40, really?
And I looked 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 person answered
by God ASAP.
As a new believer, I didn't know that getting a little tired
of preaching can't 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.
I still don't know what that looks like.
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 got to be careful with that lack of forgiveness got to be careful with that doubting God
Hey God, I believe but help my belief
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 got to make sure that you don't always just forget about how good God is
Daily Lord us with benefits every day. He loads us. He doesn't just gives 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 season, 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