Now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shud depart from the
faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy,
having their conscience seared with a hot iron.
Now the first thing I want to show you here, and I think the important point of verse one,
is that when we think about false doctrine, we need to understand where it comes from.
A lot of people, when they think about false doctrine, they think maybe somebody's just,
oh, they're just a little bit off, or whoops, I made a little mistake, I thought you could
lose your salvation, or oh, I just didn't understand something.
No.
False doctrine comes from Satan, okay?
He is the father of lies, the Bible says.
He's a liar and the father of it.
And we see here that these doctrines are of devils, that's the source.
And he says they're seducing spirits, unclean spirits, devils, the devil himself is transformed
into an angel of light, and the Bible says that his ministers are transformed into ministers
of light, and so therefore the devil and his crowd of demons and unclean spirits are in
the business of false doctrine and false religion.
Now according to the book of Revelation, there are at least 102 million angels, because there's
a part in the book of Revelation where it talks about all of the angels, all of them,
being gathered around God's throne at one time in chapter 5, and when they're all gathered
around God's throne, it says the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000, and thousands
of thousands.
That is 100 million, and then the thousands of thousands would be a few more million.
So somewhere in that neighborhood, he's trying to give us a number for a reason, a little
over 100 million, at least 102 million.
And so if there are 102 million angels, and if the devil took the third part of the angels,
according to Revelation 12, and basically rebelled with them and fought against the
Lord Jesus Christ and Michael in chapter 12, then that tells us that there are about how
many?
34 million devils or more?
Have you ever thought about that?
I answer a lot.
And so Satan has a lot of people working for him, and that's why he has so much false religion
out there, there's so much heresy and doctrines of devils, and so he's warning us, he says,
look, the Spirit speaketh expressly.
And by the way, that's how the Spirit speaks.
I thank God that the Bible is so clear and straightforward in its teaching.
The Holy Spirit speaking through God's word is always very clear.
It says the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times, which is anywhere from
the time of the resurrection of Jesus Christ until now, as known as the latter times, he
said, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of
devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron.
What does it mean to speak lies and hypocrisy?
It means you're purposely lying, you're pretending to be something that you're not, you're pretending
to be a believer in Jesus Christ, but it's all just a show, you're an actor, it's a facade,
and you're speaking lies and hypocrisy, basically you're a wolf in sheep's clothing.
And he says, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created
to be received with thanksgiving of that which believeth and know the truth.
Now what false religions right away come to mind when you think about false doctrine
that forbids to marry and commands to abstain from meat?
Well the first thing I would say to the Roman Catholic Church right away, because of the
fact that the Roman Catholic Church is the one who tells people that they're more holy
and more righteous and more spiritual if they remain unmarried, which is why every priest
and every bishop and every archbishop and the pope himself are not allowed to get married.
They are forbidden to marry right away.
He said, well what about commanding to abstain from meats?
Well the Catholic Church changes every couple of months it seems like, but they used to
have a thing called Meatless Friday where they commanded that it was a sin to eat meat
on Friday.
Who's ever heard of Meatless Friday?
It used to be big, I don't know if they do it anymore, but even to this day if you go
to Subway and they have the Daily Special, I'm getting on Subway now, but the Daily Special
is a tuna sandwich on Friday and a lot of places you'll go.
You go to Black Angus and the only day you can get clam chowder is Friday and pretty
much any steak house has clam chowder on Friday.
That's a throwback to the Roman Catholic Church's Meatless Friday because of their delusion
that Jesus was crucified on Friday when he was actually crucified on Wednesday night
according to the bible.
But this commanding to abstain from meats, which God has created to be received with
thanksgiving of those who believe in the truth, they're not the only religion though.
Another one would be Judaism because here he's making a distinction saying here that
every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused as to be received with thanksgiving
for it is sanctified by the word of God of prayer.
But false doctrine will teach that certain meats are off limits, such as poor meat.
And we're going to explain that, I'm going to explain to you right now why that is utterly
unscriptural.
But Judaism, Seventh-day Adventists also fall in that area.
Somebody think of another one that is going by these kind of dietary restrictions of Buddhism,
but we're talking about apostate Christianity, Hinduism, I mean they're totally mysterious.
And it does apply, but specifically here we're talking about departing from the faith, kind
of like an apostate Christianity is more what we're talking about.
But really you could apply this also to Hinduism, to Buddhism, to those types of religions that
command to abstain from meats.
For every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving
for it is sanctified by the word of God of prayer.
Let's prove this from the bible.
Go back to Genesis chapter 9.
First book in the bible of Genesis, we're going to prove why this is a false doctrine
to command to abstain from meats.
Genesis chapter 9 is where we'll start.
And in Genesis 9 verse number 1 it says this, this is Noah who just got off the ark and
God is speaking to Noah and it says, And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them,
Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and the fear of you and the dread of
you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, and upon all
that moveth upon the earth.
Now notice how specific God is being here when he calls out what creatures he's talking
about.
He's making sure you understand that he's talking about everything.
I mean he lists all these different categories.
Everything that moveth upon the earth is pretty specific, isn't it?
And upon all the fishes of the sea, into your hand are they delivered.
Verse 3, Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you.
Did you get that?
I mean he's being very specific.
Even as the green herb have I given you all things, but flesh with the life thereof, which
is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
Okay, so that's a pretty clear passage, isn't it?
Now go to Hebrews chapter 9.
We're in Genesis 9.
Go to Hebrews 9 at the end of the New Testament.
So in the Garden of Eden, mankind was a vegetarian.
He was eating of the fruits of the garden, he was eating the herb yielding seed after
his kind.
So he was eating only a vegetarian diet in the Garden of Eden, okay?
Then later on, God is basically telling him to eat meat and that he can eat every living
thing that moveth.
All animals are for meat just like the green herb.
That's the progression here.
Now from that time until the time of Moses, okay?
Now let's just do a quick count here.
From creation to Abraham is about...
I'm just doing it off the top of my head, but I want to say 2008 years approximately.
Remember when we went through this as a church?
2008 years to Abraham, 200 and some years until they went down into Egypt, 490 years
down into Egypt, and then Moses comes on the scene.
So we're looking at roughly, just a rough number, 2,700 years into this world.
Has everybody got that?
About 2,700 years into things, 2,700 years after God created this world, Moses comes
on the scene and God takes Moses up into Mount Sinai and delivers unto him the laws of God
as in the first five books in the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
It's 2,700 years into things, okay?
He gives that law to Moses and in that law were certain things that were temporary, and
the Bible makes this clear in Hebrews 9.
Let's look at Hebrews 9.
I forgot to turn there myself, but in Hebrews 9, it says in verse number 8, the Holy Ghost
is signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as
the first tabernacle was yet staying.
The first tabernacle being the one that Moses built right after they left Egypt, the exact
tide period we're talking about, right around the time after he came down from Mount Sinai.
It says which was a figure, a figure is like a picture, for the time then present in which
were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect
as it pertained to the conscience which stood only in meats and drinks and divers' washings
and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of Reformation.
So you see here that these were temporarily imposed upon them, anything that had to do
with the meats, the drinks, the divers' washings, the carnal or fleshly ordinances, okay, that
had to do with the tabernacle and the priesthood of the Levitical priesthood and so forth,
was imposed on them until the time of Reformation, so it's temporary.
So when was the time of Reformation?
Well, the next verse makes that clear.
Verse 11, but Christ being come, an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more
perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by
the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
So basically, in the Old Testament, with the law of Moses, there were certain temporary
things.
Now does that mean that the whole thing was temporary?
No.
Only the part that had to do with the priesthood, the meats, the drinks, the carnal ordinances.
Obviously God's moral laws are eternal, they never change.
You know, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, anything that's a right and wrong
moral issue, but these ceremonial things and these symbolic things that specifically have
to do with this list here, food, drink, clothing, carnal ordinances, washings, those were temporary
until the coming of Jesus Christ, when the veil was rent in twain, he said, no, it's
not this tabernacle, your body's now the temple of the Holy Spirit, he brought in a whole
new covenant, a whole new testament.
You say, are you dispensation?
No.
People say, well you have to be dispensations, you know, because there's got to be dispensations.
No, not dispensations, testaments, and there's two of them, not seven, Old Testament, New
Testament.
You know, we're believing Bible doctrine here, not somebody's chart on the wall.
The Bible is saying here the first covenant was the tabernacle, the ordinances, the worldly
sanctuary, the second covenant was the covenant that Jesus Christ said, this cup is the New
Testament in my blood, this dude remembers from me, and so we have the two testaments,
Old Testament, New Testament.
Now, whatever was wrong in the Old Testament is wrong in the New Testament.
There are just certain changes to these ceremonial type things and these carnal ordinances, not
spiritual ordinances of what's right and what's wrong.
People have said this, they've said, only laws that are repeated in the New Testament,
those are the only ones we need to follow.
Okay, well I guess now it's okay to marry your mother-in-law, you know, because the
Bible says no to marrying my sister, but apparently I can marry my sister.
Now that's garbage, folks.
There are all kinds of laws in the Old Testament and they have to do with what's right and
wrong and when he explains to you that you shouldn't marry your mother-in-law, when he
says that you shouldn't commit sodomy with another man, when he basically says that men
should not wear women's clothing and women should not wear men's clothing, when he basically
says that you shouldn't steal, you shouldn't kill, you shouldn't love them.
Whether or not it's repeated in the New Testament, all the Scriptures and Proverbs and Psalms
where he's telling us what we should do and what we shouldn't do, we ought to live by
that stuff.
But are we going to go to the physical tabernacle?
Are we going to bathe our flesh in water and be unclean until the even?
Are we going to abstain from meat?
No.
And Peter was specifically given a vision where a sheet was let down in Acts chapter
10 and he was shown all manner of creeping things and God commanded him, arise Peter,
slay and eat.
And he said, not so my Lord.
He said, my whole life I've never eaten anything unclean.
And he said, well God cleansed that, that called out God commoner unclean.
Now you say, well he was showing an illustration about people of other nationalities.
Yes he was, but he was also showing the literal interpretation here that Paul would later
write to us in the book of Hebrews, in the book of 1 Timothy.
And look at 1 Timothy 4 where we were.
It says in verse 4, it says, for every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if
it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer.
But look at verse 6, if thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shall
be a good minister of Jesus Christ.
So a good minister of Jesus Christ is going to preach this.
Not shy away from it and avoid it and say, well I'm not going to preach on that topic,
it's a divisive topic.
No.
He says, if you want to be a good minister of Jesus Christ, you will put the brethren
in remembrance of these things, you will explain to them that false teachers are going
to be signified by the fact that they want you to abstain from certain kinds of meat,
whereas the good minister of Jesus Christ is going to tell you that every creature of
God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving.
And look, let's face it, those today who are teaching to abstain from certain kinds of
meat are false teachers.
Judaism is a false religion.
It teaches that Jesus is not the Christ and is therefore Antichrist.
Seventh-day Adventists believe in salvation by works, they believe that hell is not a
real place.
They think it's just annihilation, you're just gone when you die, that there's no hell.
These others, Roman Catholic Church, good night, where do we begin, we're here on Sunday
morning.
And so the bottom line is that we need to watch out, and that's why he's warning us
hearing God's word.
And he said, if I'm a good minister of Jesus Christ, this is what I'm going to preach.
And that's why every time I go to Chipotle I get carnitas on my burrito.
I get pork, okay?
Pork is the other white meat, okay?
And I like to eat pork because it just, you know, to me it's just part of rejoicing in
Christ Jesus and the New Testament and, you know, thank God for it.
So yes, I will eat pork, and I will eat all kinds of other meat as well.
I don't think that there's any meat on this earth that is a sin for you to eat of the
animal kingdom.
Okay.
Now, would I recommend eating dog or cat or mice or rabbits or any other carnivorous animal?
I would not recommend you eating a carnivorous animal, okay?
But in a pinch, you know what I mean?
Now, if it was a sin, if it were a sin against God, I wouldn't do it in a pinch, right?
I mean, if it were a sin and it was like, you know, either eat nothing and starve or
eat this which is ungodly, I would not eat it.
Meat that has been sacrificed unto idols is a sin, according to Revelation 2 and Revelation
3.
Very clear.
Very clear condemnation in Revelation chapter 2, both to the church at Pergamos and the
church at Thyatira.
But in a pinch, if it's dog versus nothing, you know, I'll make a corn dog if that's what
I mean.
I'll make a corn dog.
I'll dip it in ketchup, dip it in ketchup.
Corn dog, dip it in ketchup.
I mean, look, in a pinch, I'll do it.
Got to survive, right?
Here's a good survival tip.
You get a lot when you come to this church.
You don't just get the Bible, you get other things too.
If you're out in the desert and you need food, the best way to find nutritious food is just
turn over a rock.
Because if you turn over a rock underneath, even in a dry desert, it looks like there's
no life, you turn over that rock, there will be bugs and worms and creeping thing, everything
that moveth, remember?
If it's moving, now if it's not moving, don't put it in your mouth.
If it moveth, you know, okay, give it a little taste test, maybe just bite half it off, chew
it up a little bit, and if you're okay, keep going.
Because insects are actually very high in a lot of nutrient, protein, nutrients.
I mean, John the Baptist was living off of locusts and wild honey.
You know, hopefully it was heavy on the honey.
But it does list the locusts first, you know, so that was the staple right there.
But somebody tried to say, well, the locust wasn't really a locust.
It was this, you know, if you go back to the Greek, it was actually, you know, this fruit
that he was eating, you know, whatever.
They're trying to make him into some little sissy.
You know, next they're going to tell us that he wasn't clothed in camel hair.
You know what I mean?
That would be the next step.
That he didn't wear a leather belt.
He wore a leather belt, he wore camel hair, and he ate locusts, okay?
And so I believe God.
But it says here, you know, you'll be a good minister of Jesus Christ,
nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine.
We're on 2,000 pain.
So good doctrine is opposed to doctrines of devils, okay?
And so the biggest thing I want you to get out of verses one through six,
I mean, we talked about the meat and that was an important discussion,
but the biggest thing I want you to comprehend from this passage
is that bad doctrine comes from the devil.
It's not just by accident, it's not just different people's opinions.
No, the devil, he is out to corrupt and pervert the true doctrines of God's Word.
That's his goal.
He'll attack the Bible.
He'll try to get you to use one of these new modern perversions of the Bible
because that'll get you away from the true Word of God
and it'll get you confused on your doctrine.
And if you can't do that, he'll just try to confuse you about what this book means.
You see, there are a lot of King James only Baptists.
The devil has failed to replace their Bible, hasn't he?
But what he'll do then is just get you to question it like,
well, go to this other language and it says something totally different,
some language that you...
Have you ever heard the expression, it's all Greek to me?
Have you ever heard that expression?
Okay, there's a reason for that.
Because the average person doesn't know anything about Greek.
And so it's easy to be deceived by somebody saying,
well, that's what the Greek says.
But you don't know what that says.
And if you can't do that, if you can't get you to go into a foreign language,
he'll just tell you that the words in the Bible just change what they mean.
So that you just don't...
Well, believe, it actually means to obey.
That's what believe means.
No, that's not what believe means.
That's why you've got to let the Bible define itself
and get your doctrine from reading the whole Bible in context.
But let's keep going.
He says in verse 7,
But refuse profane and old wives' fables.
So first he finished telling us, look, don't refuse meat.
If somebody is serving meat, eat it.
You know, don't be foolish.
But he says what you ought to be refusing is a bunch of profane and old wives' fables
and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
Now, the word fables is brought up again.
Keep your finger here in 1 Timothy.
Go to Titus, a few pages to the right in your Bible.
Go to Titus.
And we're going to look at another mention of fables.
He says in verse number 14 of Titus 1,
Not giving heed to what fables?
Jewish fables.
And commandments of men that turn from the truth.
Unto the pure all things are pure.
But unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure.
But even their mind and conscience is defiled.
Now, can you see the similarity there between 1 Timothy 4 and Titus 1?
He's explained to them that everything is pure, to the pure.
He's talking about basically the same type of subject
where they're calling things unclean, like certain meats and so forth.
They are unbelievers. That's the problem.
He says, but even their mind and conscience are defiled.
They profess that they know God.
There's the hypocrisy, right?
Speaking lies hypocrisy.
But in works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient,
and unto every good work reprobate,
but speak thou the things which become sound doctrine.
So go back to 1 Timothy 4.
It matches up perfectly.
The Jewish fables, and of course the Jews are the ones teaching
to abstain from these meats because they don't believe Jesus came.
They don't believe the time of reformation to come.
They don't believe that Christ has come.
So that's why they want to bring you back under that Jewish system
that was nailed to the cross according to Colossians 2.
And so we see the consistency here.
You study Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 4 side by side.
We're talking about the same crowd here, the same people.
And we can have a broader application, of course.
But he says, but refuse profane and old wives' fables,
and exercise thyself rather unto God this.
You see, meat does not command us to God.
That's not what makes you righteous or holy.
He says in verse 8, but for bodily exercise profiteth little,
but godliness is profitable unto all things,
having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
Now, bodily exercise.
You think of exercising.
You think of working out, lifting weights, jumping rope,
running, whatever the case may be.
Now, is there any profit in exercising?
Yes, there is.
But that profit is very small compared to exercising yourself unto Godliness.
Does everybody understand?
He's not saying don't exercise.
It's a waste of time.
Bodily exercise does profit little.
Should this be the emphasis of your life?
No.
Exercise thyself rather.
He's saying it's more important.
Preferably, you're exercising yourself unto Godliness.
Don't spend more time on your physical body and appearance
than you do on the inside,
because what you do on the inside has promise of the life that now is
and of that which is to come,
but your body that you work on is only for this life
because you're not going to take this flesh and bone with you.
And so, therefore, the spiritual is what matters most.
Now, the best thing you can do is combine the two.
If you want to get some good exercise, go soul-winning.
Now, I've learned something.
I've been out soul-winning every day for the last few weeks,
and I've been out in the heat all day long and knocking a lot of doors.
And let me tell you what I've learned.
These really big boy preachers, they're not soul-winning.
I'm just being honest with you.
They're not doing much soul-winning.
I don't know if they have a lot of paperwork or what's going on,
but they must not be doing a lot of soul-winning,
because let me tell you something.
Being out soul-winning all day long is a lot of work,
and it's a lot of exercise.
I mean, it'll get you in shape.
I mean, when you're out there walking,
I mean, think about how many miles you walk if you go soul-winning.
And you're not going all day.
You've got a different job than I do,
but you know what?
What about on the small-town marathons?
How do you feel at the end of that day?
It's a workout, isn't it?
And then we get in those apartment complexes,
and you're going up the stairs, down the stairs like a Stairmaster for hours.
You go up the stairs, down the stairs.
You're going up and down the street.
You're working.
Hey, it'll keep you in shape.
You know, instead of the treadmill, go soul-winning.
Just go to where...
And you say, well, no, because I'm talking to you.
Just go to one of these really unreceptive areas in South Tempe.
Go to Ahwatukee.
You know, just go to the Mormon part of Mesa,
and you'll hardly have to miss a beat
between getting the door slammed in your face.
But you know what?
Every couple hours, you'll get somebody saved,
and that means something for the life to come.
You know, we've got to be careful we don't get too into,
you know, staring at ourselves in the mirror,
lifting weights or walking...
And you know, I lift weights.
You know, I enjoy exercise and so forth.
But you know, where I get my aerobic exercise,
through preaching and through towing.
Even preaching will wear you out sometimes,
you know, if you really start yelling and, you know, whatever.
So anyway, I'm just saying here,
be sure that you don't get off balance
and get too into your physical body.
Don't worship and serve the creature more than the Creator
who is blessed for every man.
Don't get too into exercise and fitness.
You know, in the old days,
fitness wasn't really a big thing,
because people worked.
You know, your fitness was like bailing hay
or shoveling something or whatever.
I mean, that'll get you fit.
You know, if you have a sedentary job,
you know, it might not be a bad idea to lift some weights.
It might not be a bad idea to keep your body in good shape.
But you want some aerobic activity, my friend.
You know, don't power walk around the stupid mall
at 8 o'clock in the morning.
Go out-to-opening with me.
All right?
And so, Bible says here,
bodily exercise profiteth little,
but godliness is profitable unto all things,
having promise of the life that now is
and that which is to come.
Now hold on a second.
Bodily exercise profiteth little,
but godliness is profitable unto all things.
See, God's saying godliness
will get you some bodily exercise,
because part of being godly is serving God,
which is work.
So he's saying your godliness
can take care of your exercise as well.
You know, but if you're not soul winning
or not believing in God, then not really.
But he says in verse number 9,
this is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation,
for therefore we both labor...
Now what's the word labor mean?
I mean, it means work,
but doesn't it apply hard work?
When you think of a laborer,
do you think of a guy pushing a pencil across the paper?
It's really, oh man, he's laboring.
Now, some of you guys,
I sent you down to this place,
the day labor place,
and they put you guys to work.
It's great.
They've got jobs now, and they're working,
because of going to that day labor place
that I was telling them about.
And hey, is that,
are you guys pushing the papers around or what?
You guys making coffee and watching the printer print?
No, they're out working hard.
I mean, they are laboring.
It's called day labor, and they make them labor.
I mean, they're working hard.
And hopefully those will turn into
some good permanent jobs for you guys.
But the point is that God says,
when we're serving God,
he uses the word labor.
He uses the word work in other places,
but he specifically uses the word labor.
Think about a woman in labor.
Is that a walk in the park giving birth?
That's hard work.
That's painful.
That's suffering.
And so that's the word he uses
to describe our work for God.
We need to be laborers for God,
not paper pushers for God,
you know, not sitting back
and all just supervise, you know,
and all just kind of run, think,
no, let's get out there and roll up our sleeves
and get hot and work by the sweat of our face
for the kingdom of God.
Let's do it.
He says, therefore, we both labor and suffer.
Reproach.
Because we trust in the living God
who is the savior of all men,
especially of those that believe.
What does it mean to suffer reproach?
Reproach is basically shame.
It's basically people mocking you,
criticizing you, ridiculing you,
shooting out the lip of you as they did to Jesus.
Basically, you go to the door,
and how many times I've come to the door
and somebody just bursts out laughing at me
like I'm a fool.
Have you ever had that?
It's just...
But you know what?
The joke's on me.
I mean, it's sad.
I just get sad.
I mean, for some reason,
it was really weird.
This one street was like the laughing street
earlier this week.
I knocked on the door,
and this teenage girl just laughed,
laughed, laughed.
Next person laughed.
We're talking about heaven and hell,
just laughed, laughed, laughed.
You know what?
I was just thinking, man, this isn't funny.
I mean, that's like a joke.
One time, was it Isaac?
Isaac, were you the one that was with me?
We knocked on this door
over by Spa Park over here,
and this guy came to the door
and just didn't say anything.
He says, hi, from Faithmore Baptist Church.
He's like...
Was that you, Isaac, or was it Solomon?
It was definitely.
You guys don't even remember this.
I mean, the guy just literally made
about six different guttural noises.
He says, what in the hootie do you think you are?
And Isaac's like...
And then five steps to the door.
And I've never been so what he says.
So what?
You know, when somebody laughs at you
and makes fun of you,
it's really the joke's on them.
And it's a sad thing when you think about it.
You know, people sometimes want to show you
how cool they are when you knock on their door
and just stop.
I asked the guy today,
just not even, what,
less than two hours ago,
I asked the guy,
do you know for sure if he died?
I don't even care.
You know what?
Some day, that's going to be brought back.
Every idle word that men shall speak,
they shall get the count there
on the day of judgment,
for by thy words thou shalt be justified
and by thy words thou shalt be...
Thank God we're justified from all things
through the blood of Jesus Christ
and we're not going to speed judge fireworks
and our sins, that is.
But let me tell you something.
The unbeliever will give the count for every word.
You said you didn't care.
He's giving judgment, begging God.
You know, oh God, I'm sorry.
You didn't care.
This guy was out in a hundred and some degree,
a hundred and fifteen,
sweat pouring out of his face,
just trying to bring to you the gospel at random,
trying to get you saved.
I guided that guy to your door
and you didn't even care you laughed
and you called him names.
I bet you wouldn't call me names.
Curse me out, make fun of me.
You know, I've been mocked and ridiculed.
I mean, just Google me on the internet.
See if anybody's ridiculed.
You know what I mean?
Maybe you shouldn't Google me.
But you know, I guarantee you
there's going to be people making fun of you.
You know, I'm making a flood.
You say, is that bothering you?
No way.
Hey, I trust in the living God
who's the savior of all men.
I'm not worried about somebody reproach me
because they reproach Jesus Christ.
And anybody who serves Jesus Christ
is going to suffer reproach.
And you remember that the disciples
counted it a blessing to suffer reproach
for the name of Christ in the book of Acts.
And so we ought to have the same attitude.
But why do we, labor?
Why do we suffer reproach?
Because we know that the life to come is there.
That was mentioned up in verse number eight.
That's what he's referring back to.
And he says, because we trust in the living God.
Because we trust in the living God
who is the savior of all men.
Who is the savior of all men?
Who's the savior of all men according to this verse?
The living God, right?
And who's our savior, Jesus Christ?
And doesn't the Bible say that there is one savior?
He said, I am he.
He said, I'm the Lord and beside me there's no savior.
The living God is our savior.
And our savior is Jesus Christ
because Jesus Christ was God manifested in the flesh.
And him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
the Bible says in Colossians one.
So he says here, we trust in the living God
who is the savior of all men,
but all doesn't really mean all.
Because our Calvinist friend in Phoenix,
Dr. James White, will tell us
that all doesn't really mean all, all of the time.
Now, here's my question.
If all doesn't really mean all, all the time,
does he really mean all, all three times in that sentence?
Because if I say sentence, all doesn't mean all, all the time.
That's three alls in one sentence.
Do all of those alls mean all?
Or do you mean that all doesn't mean all some of the time?
Or maybe all doesn't mean some most of the time.
Or maybe most doesn't mean some a little bit of the time.
Because if all doesn't mean all,
then we'd really be sure that all doesn't mean all, all the time.
I don't know.
So the point is here,
Calvinists, our Calvinist heretic locally here,
and then all of his other heretic Presbyterian Calvinists,
and all the other Calvinists.
Who are Calvin?
You've got the hard shell Baptist,
or primitive Baptist as they're known.
Reformed Baptist is this new popular John Piper,
and John MacArthur, and Paul Washer, and all these guys.
So you've got the reformed Baptist,
the hard shell Baptist, the primitive Baptist,
and then you've got the Presbyterians.
They are all Calvinists.
And let me tell you, they'll say,
when the Bible says all, it just means all of the elect.
Isn't that what they say?
It's just all of the saved.
It's not really all men, it's just all of the saved men.
Well here's the problem.
Let's keep reading.
He's the savior of all men,
especially of those that believe.
Now hold on a second.
That means that he's the savior of those who don't believe,
which are not the elect, which are not the saved,
which are not going to heaven.
He's the savior of all men,
because he gave himself a perpetuation for all.
He's the perpetuation for our sins,
and not for ours only,
but also for the sins of the whole world.
The Bible says that he, by the grace of God,
should taste death for every man.
So here I can't just be talking about those that believe,
because he says, no, it's just especially,
we would put an E in front of that in 2010 and say,
especially of those that believe.
He says here that he's the savior of all men,
especially of those that believe.
We could go so many places,
I don't want to spend the night on this,
but you know, we could go to 2 Peter 2,
where he talks about false prophets who are damned,
according to the Bible,
so they're on their way to hell,
and he says that they deny the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said they deny the Lord that bought them.
Did you hear that?
People who are unsaved, on their way to hell,
you can read the chapter in your own time, 2 Peter 2,
that are bringing in damnable heresies
that are evil false prophets who are going to hell,
who are defiling the flesh in the same way as Sodom and Jomorrah,
and it says they deny the Lord that bought them,
because Jesus' blood paid for the sins of the world.
If you don't believe, the Bible says this,
unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them,
but the word preached did not profit them,
not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
So the blood was shed for all, but it's only efficient,
it's only going to save those who believe,
and that's a choice that we have to make,
to believe on Jesus Christ.
I made that choice when I was six years old,
and everyone has to make that choice at some point,
a decision to put your faith upon Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Let's keep reading, he says,
these things command and teach.
Command and teach what?
That he's the Savior of all men.
Teach what?
To eat all meat.
To teach what?
To teach that God is the Savior.
To teach that bodily exercise is not what life's about,
it's not about the fitness center,
it's about soul winning.
It's about reading the Bible.
It's about memorizing the Bible.
And hey, if you can memorize the Bible
while you're working out, then great,
but you know what, work out while you memorize the Bible.
Don't memorize the Bible while you work out.
Just get the priority right in your life.
Just have the emphasis beyond the spiritual.
Does that make sense?
Because that's way more important.
Let's keep going.
He says, let no man despise thy youth,
but be thou an example of the believers,
in word, in conversation, in charity,
in spirit, in faith, in purity.
I think this is an often misunderstood verse.
Let me explain to you why.
A lot of people will just take the first part of this verse,
let no man despise thy youth,
and just take it and just say,
don't ever let anybody treat you bad because you're young.
But that's not what this verse is saying at all.
He's talking to a young man.
He's not saying, don't let people give you a bad job for being young.
That's not what he's saying.
He's saying, if you're not an example of the believers in word,
in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity,
you will cause people to despise your youth.
He said, if you do not set yourself as an example of these things,
word, conversation, charity, spirit, faith, purity,
you're opening yourself up to criticism for being young.
Does that make sense?
That's what he's saying.
Because the but there is a conjunction.
These aren't two independent thoughts.
He says, let no man despise thy youth.
Okay, God, how am I going to make sure that no man despise thy youth?
By being an example of the believers.
Instead of just saying,
I'm never going to let anybody give me a bad time again.
No, why don't you grow up
and then people won't give you a bad time because you're young.
How's that sound?
If you don't want to be treated like a kid,
then quit acting like a little kid.
That's what he's saying to Timothy.
Now, I don't think Timothy had a problem in this area.
I think Timothy was a great man of God.
I think he was a very grown up man,
but he just needed a little bit of a refresher on this
or just in case he ever had a problem with this,
in case he decided to go through a midlife crisis or something.
But he's just explaining to him, look,
you're a young man, Timothy,
and it's great that you're serving God.
But Timothy, because you're young,
you're going to have to be extra careful to be extra sober,
to be extra righteous,
to be extra careful what you do
and to be an extra example of the believers.
Look at Titus again.
A lot of things are the same in Titus and Timothy,
a couple of phases to the writing about it,
because of the fact that Titus and Timothy
are both written to young preachers,
young proteges of Paul in the ministry.
Look at Titus chapter 2.
Let's get the advice for young men.
God gives advice in chapter 2 of Titus to old men,
to old women, to young women and young men.
He only gives the young men one piece of advice here in verse 6,
just one verse, one succinct verse.
Young men, likewise, it's your to be sober minded.
That's the main thing he's trying to get across
to the young people in this chapter.
And then he says in verse 7,
in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works,
because Titus himself was a young man,
so he could be that pattern that they could follow.
This is exactly what he told Timothy.
Be the example, Timothy.
Here he says, Titus, be the pattern.
Be a pattern of good works
in doctrines showing uncorruptness.
He's saying, look, make sure your doctrine
is not corrupt and fluid.
But what's the next word?
Gravity, that means seriousness.
Sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned,
because he knows that there's more criticism
aimed at you when you're young.
Oh, his joke went for Snapper.
You know he doesn't know what he's talking about.
So he says you've got to be extra careful
to have sound speech that cannot be condemned,
that even as of the contrary part may be ashamed
of having no evil thing to say of you.
Back to verse 10 of chapter 4.
You see, the bottom line is that young men
who are in the ministry need to be extra careful
not to open themselves up to criticism for being not sober,
for being immature, childish, juvenile, and foolish,
the opposite of these qualities that are listed here.
Now, has anybody ever noticed something
about the way that I dress?
Somebody help me out here.
Somebody, we're going to get interactive here for a minute.
Somebody tell me, what are some of the things
you've noticed about the way I dress?
Let's start with just how I dress when I'm in church.
Wear a tie.
Always.
What else?
Always wear a tie.
What else do I always wear?
A suit, always.
And what else do I wear?
A white shirt.
Now look, is it wrong to wear a colored shirt?
No.
Is it wrong to not wear a suit?
No.
Is it wrong to not wear a tie?
No.
But why do I wear a white shirt every time?
Tie, suit, dress shoes.
Why am I so careful to dress this way every time?
Because of the fact that I know that the tendency
among young people, myself included,
is to be casual, sloppy, lackadaisical,
not serious, not sober.
This is a very sober way to dress.
I don't have an orange baseball cap turned sideways.
You know what I mean?
I'm not dressed like somebody.
I mean, look, do I look like I'm dressed for something serious
or do I look like I'm a joke right now?
It's serious, the way I'm dressed right now.
Because people are automatically going to look at me, aren't they,
and say, oh, young guy doesn't know what he's talking about.
But hold on a second.
I want to be an example in word.
If you're a young preacher, listen up.
If you're planning on starting a church when you're young
or preaching when you're young,
you had better make sure that you are a cut above
and you better make sure that you know what you're talking about.
Because you know what?
People are automatically going to think,
you don't know what you're talking about.
And that's why I try to doubly make sure
that I always know what I'm talking about.
You know, that's why I need to study my Bible twice as much.
That's why I have half the New Testament memorized
that I can quote to you right now,
half the chapters of the New Testament.
Because to me, it's important to make sure
that nobody despises my youth
because that's going to hinder the cause of Christ.
If people despise my youth and don't go to church here
because I'm a young, ignorant, inexperienced guy,
and God says, he doesn't want that to happen.
He says, look, Titus, Timothy, you're preaching the right thing.
You better make sure that nobody despises your youth
because you're foolish, because you're not serious,
because you're not sober, because you're not great,
and therefore I'm dressed in a way that's great.
You see, I want to be extra serious.
And by the way, I don't care if I was 80 years old,
I'd be dressed this way
because I don't believe in coming to church
and wearing a stinking Hawaiian shirt.
Now look, am I against Hawaiian shirts?
Hey, I don't own an Hawaiian shirt,
but if I owned one, I'd wear it surfing.
You know, and I think surfing's pretty cool.
You know what I mean?
And there's a time and a place for everything.
There's a time to go surfing, isn't there?
You know, and you wear a Hawaiian shirt when you go surfing.
And I'm not against that at all.
I'm not against a Hawaiian shirt.
I'm not against wearing a knee-length pair of shorts
and going swimming and going surfing
and going scuba diving in a wetsuit or going rafting.
Look, I'm not against wearing coveralls to work on the car.
I'm not against any of that.
But see, when I come to church,
I don't want to put out a vibe that says,
hey man, dude, what's up?
The service starts around 10.30.
I mean, literally churches today
are advertising a service that starts at 10.37.
A church started up out in Gilbert.
The service begins at 10.37 because they know, ha ha,
everybody shows up seven minutes late.
Anyway, we're going to start the service at 10.37.
When I started the church in my house four and a half years ago,
we didn't sit around on the couch or on the coffee table
and have a little share session.
We had chairs set up like they're set up right now.
We were serious.
We had an order of service.
We sang the hymns.
And when I preached, there were only been two services
in the history of our church where it was just my family.
You know, in those really early days.
But let me tell you something.
I preached as if I was preaching to thousands.
In the days when there were 10 in this church,
I preached like I was preaching to thousands.
And really, in reality, I was preaching to thousands
because thousands have gone back and listened to the sermon.
But the point is, it didn't matter.
I preached like I was preaching to thousands
because it was that important.
I mean, look, Amanda's here tonight.
How many people has Amanda won to Christ?
How much has Amanda grown in the Lord?
And the thing is, Amanda was many cases.
It was my family plus Amanda those first few weeks.
Many times.
Oh, man, what's the big deal?
We should have just sat around and just hung out with Amanda.
No.
We gave Amanda a bona fide church service
because we thought that Amanda was important enough
to get a bona fide preaching and church service
and a well-prepared sermon
and a sermon that had been worked at and prayed over
and studied and preached with boldness and power
because she was important.
But you know what?
Even when it was just my family,
I felt like my wife was important.
I mean, aren't my children real people too?
And here they are in church, here my wife is in church,
serving God, growing in the Lord.
Look, take what you do seriously.
And when you go and preach at that nursing home,
take it seriously.
Oh, I'm only preaching to a couple people.
That's two people.
That's five people.
That's ten people.
Whatever it is, even if it's a small crowd over there,
take it seriously.
And if you get up behind this pulpit, take it seriously.
And when you get up here to lead the singing,
take it seriously.
And especially if you're young, take it doubly seriously
because you need to be an example.
You need to be serious and care about what you do.
This is not just a casual thing that we do
when we show up at church.
We don't show up in our jammies
because of the fact that we think this is important.
And the tendency is because we come here Sunday morning,
Sunday night, and Wednesday night,
we start thinking, oh, not that important.
We know everybody.
Let our hair down.
But the bottom line is we need to take every service seriously.
Every Sunday should be treated like it's the last Sunday
that you're ever going to attend this church.
I'm serious.
Every Sunday should be treated like,
hey, this is important.
This is what it's about.
I mean, here we are.
We're going to hear God's word preached.
We're going to go out soul-witting.
Take it seriously.
It should be important to you.
It should be important Sunday morning.
It should be important Sunday night.
It should be important Wednesday night,
not just the last thing on the agenda.
If there's nothing else to do, we'll fall into church
and whatever and finishing dinner in the service.
You know what I mean?
Look, there are churches like that.
It's called Calvary Chapel,
where everything's real casual.
Come as you are.
Come as you are or stay educated.
And look, are we not come as you are?
Of course we are.
You can dress how you want, but guess what?
Dress your best.
Now, if you come straight from work,
then come straight from work,
and we're glad to have you and wear work clothes.
Good.
Praise God.
And hey, remember that one time I preached in work clothes?
I preached one time.
I was wearing dirty work clothes
because I got delayed on a flight,
and it was just more important just to be here.
And I got here a half hour late through no fault of my own.
I sat on a runway for several hours stuck on a plane.
I got here.
I walked in.
I preached.
Because if that's what you got,
then hold on a second.
Shouldn't we give it our best
when we come to church so we don't get serious about it,
especially if we're young people
and we want to be perceived as serious?
And I'm not saying that you have to dress a certain way,
but why don't you dress your best, you know,
instead of just being a slob?
You know, just being a slob.
And you know what?
Today we live in a generation of slobs,
and it rubs off in other areas of our life too.
Have you noticed that?
Have you noticed that the way people dress
actually has a bearing upon how they act?
You know, think about it.
Do you think a woman wearing pants versus skirts
sit the same way or walk the same way or act?
No, no.
There's a difference there.
And when people are wearing casual, you know,
pajama clothes, pajama bottoms to church or something,
they're going to act different than when they dress.
You say, why don't you dress up?
Because I just think church is important.
That's why.
I mean, you'd dress up if you were going to see
the President of the United States, wouldn't you?
You'd dress up if you were going to a wedding.
You'd dress up if you were going to a funeral.
You'd dress up if you were going to something
that you thought was good.
If you were going to a job interview, you'd dress up.
You know, and I just feel like church
is more important than all those things.
You say, oh, you're just preaching your opinion.
You're a legalist.
Look, I'm not trying to impose my opinions on anyone.
You dress how you want to dress.
I'm just giving you wisdom and advice here.
If you're a young person, if you're smart,
and look, come here in a tank top and whatever, that's fine.
But let me tell you something.
Come here in a white beater, guys, you know, okay?
But let me tell you something.
Let me tell you something, guys.
You say, am I sitting if I come dressed sloppy and casual?
No, you're not sitting.
But you know what you are doing?
You're just making sure that nobody takes you seriously
and you're causing people to despise your youth.
When they see you come in sloppy,
people will come in and say,
young people today don't respect church.
They don't think it's important.
They don't dress up for it.
I mean, to me, church is my biggest priority
in my whole life, honestly.
Any other appointment takes a backseat to me.
You know, there's nothing that I dress up for more than church.
I mean, this is what I dress up for.
I mean, this is the...
To me, I mean, can somebody help me out
with what's more important than church?
God's house?
The pillar and ground of the cheater of truth?
Can somebody help me out?
What other thing is more important
where you should dress nicer and groom yourself more for?
You know?
Tell me.
Can somebody help me out?
I can't think of anything more important.
And, you know, this is not a casual church.
And what I don't understand sometimes
is how sometimes people don't figure this out.
It's like, I feel like what Jesus said to Philip,
like, have you been so long with me
and yet you've not known me?
You remember when he said that?
It's like, have you been at Faithful Word Baptist Church
for so long and you haven't figured out
that my name is not Steve, it's Pastor Anderson?
Have you not figured that out?
Have you not figured it out that it's not Calvary Chapel?
That I don't wear shorts in an Hawaiian church
and I'm just, Steve!
Hey, Stevie!
Hey, buddy, old pal.
And, you know, it's time for some people
to give honor under whom honor is due
and the pastor of the church is not just a little buddy
who comes in here and shorts in a T-shirt.
I take this place seriously
and I want you to take it seriously
and when you get behind this pulpit,
I want you to take it seriously.
If you get a chance to preach behind this pulpit,
it's a privilege, not a right.
And when you get a chance to preach behind this pulpit,
you ought to be serious about it
and take it seriously and prepare it.
It's not a joke, it's not your fun time
or your time to show off.
It's your time to preach God's Word
for the edification of somebody sitting in that chair right there.
And that's all it's for.
You know, I try to, you know,
when you go out soul winning,
you want to know why you don't have that many visitors
come to church when you go soul winning sometimes?
It's because you're dressed like a sloth.
Now, look, if that's all you've got to wear,
then praise God, come soul winning with me.
But you know what?
I'm not saying wear a suit and tie.
I'm not saying what to wear.
I'm just telling you something.
If you look sharp at that door,
you know, then people are going to listen to you
more than when you look like a sloth.
Period.
Because you're not on the floor of a 50 year old man
and you come to the door and you look like a teenage punk,
he's probably not going to listen to you.
Now, in the ghetto, everybody's going to listen to you.
Because in the ghetto, they all live like a sloth.
They don't go to work in the morning.
They don't tuck in their shirt when they go to work.
Because they don't have a job that tells them how to dress,
that tells them to wear clean clothes.
And so when you knock on that door in the ghetto,
nobody's going to care what you look like.
But guess what?
The people in the ghetto don't join the church.
Because when Jesus built the first church,
he didn't go to a ghetto.
He went and found people that were at work.
He found fishermen and carpenters and people who had jobs.
And he preached to every creature.
And what you need to understand is that when we go to the ghetto,
we're going there to get people saved.
And look, don't you tell me that I'm not reaching the poor.
Because I've knocked more poor doors than you can shake a stick at.
And let me tell you something.
Go look at that map out there.
Every poor area within a 20 minute radius of this church has been knocked.
And we have gone to the poor twice.
And doubly before we went to anywhere nicer.
But let me tell you something.
You're never going to get people who actually have a job to come to church
if you look like a sloth.
Because they're not going to respect you.
And you say, well that's not right.
They shouldn't look at the outward appearance.
But they do, don't they?
And when they look at you and they think,
wait a minute, I'm 50 years old.
This guy's a young teenage punk.
I can tell by the way he's dressed.
I can tell by the way he looks.
That he doesn't have the character to take care of himself.
Guess what they're going to think?
That you don't know anything.
And you know what?
They're wrong.
Because you know a lot.
You know the way to heaven.
You know the Gospel.
You know the answer to everything.
But they're not going to listen to it unless they respect you.
And they're not going to respect you if they're dressed nice
and you're dressed like a sloth.
And look, we're not talking about money here.
Because you know what's really cheap?
Soap and water is cheap.
There's nothing expensive about soap and water, right?
Anybody can be clean.
Anybody can wear clean clothes.
Anybody can tuck in their shirt or look nice or groom themselves
and look good and look sharp, okay?
And that's what people are going to respect.
They're not going to respect somebody who just lazily
and sloppily goes about the work of God.
You say, I don't agree with you on that.
That's fine.
Then disagree with me and we'll see how your youth goes over
when you go to start a church.
And when you go to serve God and when you get up to preach,
we'll see how people take you seriously
when you get up to preach.
Because people take me seriously when I get up to preach
because I'm a serious person and they know I'm serious
and they know I mean business.
And when I show up at their door,
I look like somebody who means business.
I don't look like I just came from Calvary Chapel
and fun center Baptist.
I look like an independent fundamental Baptist, you know?
And again, I'm not preaching right and wrong
like it's a sin if you don't dress like me.
I'm telling you that people are going to despise your youth
if you don't dress sober
and if you don't look sober and act sober.
That's what I'm talking about.
And so, you know, this needs to be preached
and people need to get this through their head
and understand that this is not a liberal church.
This is not a stinking liberal church.
I'm sick of you.
Don't treat it like a liberal church.
Don't treat it like as anything goes Baptist because it's not.
This church has kicked people out and they're fornicating
and will do it again
because this is not anything goes Baptist.
We need to get serious about the work of God
and I'm sick of worldliness.
I'm sick of young people being worldly.
You know why people take me seriously?
You know why?
Because I'm not worldly.
Because I don't watch Hollywood movies.
Because I don't listen to rock and roll
and they take it seriously
because even though I'm young, I'll go fashion.
28 years old but I'm old-fashioned
and I don't go watch all these bunch of stinking perverted movies
like Twilight and whatever else is coming out.
I don't go watch that stuff.
And some of you guys, if you're going to be in the ministry someday,
you need to get rid of the worldliness.
Kick it to the curb, man.
This worldliness, you will never serve God with it.
You love all the Hollywood.
Hey, if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you.
We're moving on to a different subject here.
We're talking about slovenliness and sloppiness and laziness.
Now we're just getting on worldliness.
Worldliness.
This church is not just all about soul winning.
It's about soul winning and righteousness.
It's about soul winning and it's also about keeping yourself unspotted from the world.
It's about not filling your mind and body with filth.
It's about not getting into all the worldly pastimes
of rock and roll and worldliness and Hollywood and TV and all that stuff.
Look, if you want to do that stuff, that's fine, but you know what?
You're never going to be taken seriously as a preacher.
You're never going to be an example of the believers.
You better double it.
The younger you are, the more you need to read that verse and figure it out.
Pure.
Keep yourself pure.
Word, conversation, sobriety, gravity, seriousness.
These are the words that need to be applied to you.
Am I saying it's bad to have fun?
No.
I love having fun.
I love to have a good time.
But you know, soul winning's not my fun time.
And preaching's not my fun time.
And church is not my fun time.
This is serious time.
And so get serious.
But he says here in verse number 14,
Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy,
with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
This is referring to when they laid hands on them and blessed them and sent them out to preach.
God, when he calls a man into the ministry, he also enables him.
We saw that a few chapters ago.
It says, meditate upon these things, give thyself holy to them,
that thy profiting may appear to all.
Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine,
continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear it.
I'm out of time, but let me just quickly say this.
Meditate upon these things.
Meditate upon God's word.
It's like memorizing God's word, meditating upon it day and night,
thinking it over, having it in your mind.
Give thyself holy to them, that thy profiting may appear to all.
Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine, continue in them,
for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear it.
The best way to help someone else is to make sure that you're right, first of all.
You can't take the mode out of your brother's eye while you've got the beam in your own eye.
He's saying if you take heed unto yourself,
that's when you're going to be able to help someone else.
And so, you know, that's pretty much all I have to say about this chapter.
I'm a little bit out of time.
But you know what?
It's this whole casual thing that people get into, you know,
and then they treat the opposite gender casual, you know what I mean?
They get casual with people's wives and casual with the way that they treat...
You know, you need to just get serious and get mature
about the way that you treat everybody in this church.
You know, I'd hate to have somebody visit our church, you know,
through soul winning or through all the other things
that we work so hard to bring somebody in
and then have you treat that person poorly
and then them not come back to church.
I mean, wouldn't that be a tragedy that we work so...
I mean, it's pretty hard to get people into church, isn't it?
You'd hate to run them off by you treating them poorly.
Take every service seriously.
Almost every service has visitors.
Get serious. It's not fun.
Church, you know, you want to just get with your little clique
and talk to your buddies and stuff.
You know what you ought to be doing on Sunday morning?
You ought to be greeting the visitors before...
And you ought to just have a rule in your mind,
before I talk to my buddies, I'm going to go find a visitor first.
Not just beeline to my buddies and talk to my buddies for a while.
Get serious about this.
You know, if there's visitors here, you need to go greet them.
And you say, oh, they're already saved.
You know, there's more than just getting them saved.
Extend them the right hand fellowship.
You know, be a friend to them. Reach out to them.
You know, we need to get serious about every service,
Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night.
Reach out to them.
And then think about the way that you're acting in front of other people.
You know, you know me so well, so it's, hey, Steve, what's up?
And what does that tell the visitor?
That I'm just Steve.
And then guess what?
Then everybody just calls me Steve.
And you say, oh, you're just so puffed up and lifted up.
No, but guess what?
I am the pastor of this church.
Did you know that?
You know, I am the pastor of the church.
And did you know that you're not on the same level as me?
You don't run this church. I do.
You don't call the shots around here. I do.
Did you know that the pastor's called the ruler?
Did you ever read that verse?
And I don't even preach on this.
It's rare.
Everybody's silent right now because they're shocked that I'm even preaching this.
Because it's not something I preach.
But why didn't you read it in the Bible and understand
that there's a seriousness about our church that you need to figure out?
And you should have figured it out from other people's example.
How many times I've got up here and preached.
Look at the way that I treat my elders.
Look at the way I treat other men in the ministry.
Look at the way that I treat my boss at work.
Look at the way that I treat people and go down and do likewise.
Don't do like the world.
Do like somebody who's an example of being serious.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for our church, dear God.
And we thank you for the soul-winding zeal.
We thank you for the young people, dear God, that are an example.
There are many young people in our church that are definitely an example
to believers in these areas, dear God.
Help us all.
And I'm one of them.
I'm one of the young people because I'm in my late 20s.
But God, help me to be serious.
Help me to be an example.
Help me to not be accused of being unserious or unsober, dear God.
Help that never to be true of me or my ministry.
Help the young people in our church to realize that maturity is going to be necessary
if they're ever going to serve God or do anything for God.
And we love you and thank you so much for our church.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.