there, but in 1 Kings 15 verse 14 it says, But the high places were not removed, nevertheless
Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days.
So what this is saying is that King Asa had a shortcoming or a failure in his leadership
where he did not remove the high places.
He allowed the high places to exist.
He cleaned up a lot of other things about the kingdom, he did a lot of right things,
but one area where he came short was that he didn't get rid of the high places.
But God still looked at him and said, Nevertheless, his heart was perfect with the Lord all his
days.
So God was willing to overlook that shortcoming on his part.
Now in a perfect world, obviously, he would have done that right too.
But God looked at that and said, hey, it's not as big of a deal.
Now there were other sins that different kings committed that were a deal breaker as it were.
It just made them a bad king in his sight.
Now first of all, I want to talk about when it comes to a church.
There is no perfect church.
If you're out looking for a church, there are always going to be shortcomings and imperfections
in a church.
So you have to ask yourself, what is it that is a deal breaker about a church where we
should just not go to church there?
And what is it that is something maybe wrong with the church but that we could just overlook
and still think, hey, this is still a good church, this is still a viable church that
I could attend?
Well, first of all, the number one deal breaker when it comes to church is having the wrong
gospel and that's in Galatians chapter one here because it says in verse six, I marvel
that you're so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another
gospel which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the
gospel of Christ.
So what the Bible is saying here is that the other gospel, it's not a completely different
gospel.
It's just a twisting and a perversion of the true gospel.
And he says, but though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than
that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than
that ye have received, let him be accursed.
Obviously we don't want to have anything to do with a curse.
We don't want to participate in a church.
So if a church is preaching another gospel, that is a deal breaker.
We should have nothing to do with that church.
We should not go to that church, should not attend that church.
Now there's no secret about what that other gospel is because if we read the book of Galatians,
it's really clear in virtually every chapter what that false gospel is.
We could just look at a few examples, look at chapter two, just to look at a few highlights.
It would really take us reading the whole book of Galatians to see this really driven
in very strongly, but look at Galatians 2 16 just for a sample.
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus
Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ, not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Look over to chapter three, verse one, oh foolish Galatians who have bewitched you
that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ had been evidently
set forth, crucified among you.
This only what I learn of you received you the spirit by the works of the law or by the
hearing of faith.
Are you so foolish having begun in the spirit?
Are you now made perfect by the flesh?
So again, in every chapter, he's driving in the point that salvation is by faith and not
by works.
The other gospel that had crept in was salvation by works or a combination of faith plus works
where well, it starts with faith, but it's made perfect by works.
He says, no, that's foolishness.
And if you get into chapters four, five and six, you'll see the same thing over and over
again.
He's saying to those that want to be justified by the law instead of being justified by faith,
that Christ is of no effect unto them.
And he goes on and on, it's what the whole book is about.
It is probably the best book in the Bible to defeat works salvation.
If you just read chapters one through six, the book of Galatians is the most powerful
book in the Bible, in my opinion, against works salvation because that's what the subject
of the whole book is.
That's a wrong gospel and that is a deal breaker.
When you have a church that is mixing works in with the salvation, then that is not something
that can be overlooked and you could say, well, it's a good church, they do a lot of
good things, they preach a lot of good things, but if they're preaching works salvation,
let them be accursed.
Not something that we can overlook.
That is a deal breaker.
But number two, go to Revelation 22.
Another deal breaker when it comes to what church we should attend is the wrong Bible.
The wrong Bible is a deal breaker.
I mean, if the word of God is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice, well
then if you've got the wrong Bible, you're going to have all kinds of things wrong.
And what I mean by the wrong Bible is these so-called versions of the Bible, these new
versions that are supposedly improved and easier to understand, but that take out entire
curses, remove entire phrases, add phrases in, change key doctrines, that is a deal breaker
because look at Revelation 22 verse 18, one of the sternest curses in the entire Bible.
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if
any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written
in this book.
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take
away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which
are written in this book.
Now with that strong of a curse placed upon anyone who would tamper with God's word, we
should not want to touch these false perversions of the Bible with a 10-foot pole.
Once we know that they're false and that they've removed, that they've added, we should realize
that this curse is upon these versions and the curse is upon those who preach these versions
and we need to be very, very careful to stay away from false versions of the Bible.
Wrong Bible is a deal breaker.
I've heard people say this, well this church has everything right, they have all the right
doctrine but it's just they're not using the King James Bible.
I don't believe that for one second.
It's impossible to have everything right if you're not reading the King James because
these other versions are going to lead you into false doctrine and lead you into heresy
because they change all kinds of key doctrines and so no, and look, even if theoretically
they did have everything else right, I still would have nothing to do with it because the
wrong Bible is a deal breaker in and of itself.
Look at Deuteronomy chapter 22.
Deuteronomy chapter 22 is a passage where we get a symbolic teaching on biblical separation.
This is one that's not explicit here but it's symbolic and it talks about in Deuteronomy
chapter 22 verse 9, thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with diverse seeds, lest the fruit
of thy seed which thou hast sown and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled.
So if we were to take the literal interpretation of this, he's saying no GMOs, you know, don't
plant it with a bunch of Monsanto Roundup Ready corn, okay?
Don't use the GMO.
But if we were to take a symbolic look at this and he's saying hey, don't sow the vineyard
with diverse seeds, different types of seeds.
Don't plow verse 10 with an ox and an ass together, thou shalt not wear a garment of
diverse sorts as of woolen and linen together.
You know, if we look at the separation that he's teaching here, the seed is the word of
God.
Paul says that we are born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the word of
God which liveth and abideth forever.
The sower sows the word.
The seed is the word of God.
And if we are not to sow the field with mingled seeds, that means we shouldn't be in a church
where we're sowing all different.
We're sowing the King James seed over here and sowing the NIV over here.
You know, it's the King James from the pulpit and it's the NIV and the youth group and the
Sunday school.
Hey, let's not sow the field with diverse seeds.
Let's make sure that we've all got the same seed in our seed bag.
You know, if you're going to go forth weeping, bearing precious seed, it better be the real
true word of God in the English line.
What about people that don't speak English?
Shut up.
We're talking about people that speak English tonight.
What about people that, look, obviously we're not telling people who don't speak English
to use an English Bible.
Avoid foolish questions, the Bible says.
That is a foolish question.
This is America.
We speak English.
We use the King James Bible.
If we're in another country, speaking another language, then we'll talk about that.
We'll talk about which Spanish Bible to use.
We'll talk about which Bible to use in Portuguese or which Bible to use in German or French.
But it's just a foolish question of someone who can't see the blaring, obvious difference
between a King James and an NIV, between a King James and an ESV.
One of them is calling Joseph Jesus' father.
One of them teaches that it's just God the father, is the only father that Jesus had.
You know, one of them is teaching that Jesus is eternally preexistent from everlasting.
The other says that Jesus had an origin.
One of them is teaching that salvation is a narrow way and few are saved.
Another one is teaching that it's hard to get saved, which implies work salvation.
One of them teaches that you're already saved, the King James Bible.
Another one teaches that you're being saved, the New King James, the NIV, the ESV, etc.
There's a colossal difference and yet people will ask foolish questions like, are you saying
everybody in the world needs to learn English?
No, I'm saying English speakers need to learn English.
You know, I'm saying that people who speak English should read a King James Bible.
You know, people who speak other languages should have the Bible in their own language
in the tongue wherein they're born.
But we should not sow the field with diverse seeds just using the version of the month,
whatever the flavor of the month is, because they literally come out with a new version
of the Bible every month.
And because of copyright law, they all have to be at least 4% different from one another.
So you do the math when you got 400 and some versions and they're all 4% different from
one another.
God is not the author of confusion, but it breeds confusion.
So the wrong Bible is a deal breaker.
He also says in verse 11, thou shalt now wear a garment of diverse sorts as of woolen and
linen together.
Now, what's the difference between woolen and linen?
Well, woolen is an animal-based garment.
Woolen is from sheep and linen is a plant-based textile.
Linen is plant-based from flax.
Now there's nothing wrong with wool and there's nothing wrong with linen.
God's telling him, hey, don't mix wool and linen.
Why did he not want them to mix that?
Well, because again, it's symbolic.
Because wool represents the lamb, Jesus.
And if you remember, when Adam and Eve sinned, they tried to cover their own sin with a plant-based
garment, an apron of fig leaves, right?
And God replaced that with coats of skins, the animal-based garment, okay?
And that pictured salvation through Jesus, putting on that robe of righteousness, being
cloaked in his righteousness, the righteousness of the lamb versus that which is man-made.
And then again, when we look at Cain, Cain brings an offering of the fruits of the ground,
plant-based, okay?
And then Abel brings the firstlings of the flock and the fat thereof, animal-based.
What is it picturing?
Again, Abel's reliance on the lamb, Jesus, as his salvation, Abel relying on the produce
of his own works.
And so when the Bible's saying here, don't wear a garment of woolen and linen together,
he's saying the robe of righteousness that gets you saved, that wedding garment without
which you will be cast into outer darkness is not a mixed garment of wool and linen.
It's not a mixture of faith and works.
It's not a mixture of Jesus plus what you've produced.
No, it's all Jesus.
Now, look, there's nothing wrong with wool and there's nothing wrong with linen.
Don't mix them.
See, faith is great.
Faith is what saves you.
Works are great.
Works are a great way to please the Lord, but don't mix them because they're two different
things.
They both have a place.
The Bible teaches that linen is a good garment, that wool is a good garment, but he says don't
mix the two.
Don't mix faith and works.
Don't mix that which saves you and then the Christian life that you live after you're
saved because a lot of people, when we say, hey, you don't have to do works to be saved,
they'll say, oh, you're against doing works.
No, we're not against works.
We're saying works don't save you.
And works are a part of the Christian life and pleasing God and loving God, but they're
not part of salvation.
You say, hey, you don't have to repent of your sins to be saved.
You're against repentance.
You don't preach repenting of your sins.
Yes, we do preach repenting of your sins for saved people to do every day.
We all need to repent of sin throughout our lives, but when you try to mix that with grace
and try to mix that with salvation, that's where you have a problem.
And so what's the Bible teaching here?
Don't mix the true seed, the incorruptible seed with the corruptible seed of false, twisted
versions of the Bible.
Don't mix salvation by faith with salvation by works.
So these are the two first deal breakers in a church.
Number one deal breaker is the wrong gospel because we're not going to mix wool and linen
together.
God says, you know, second deal breaker, wrong Bible.
Don't sow diverse seeds.
Accursed be he who adds to or takes from God's word.
Accursed be he that preached another gospel, but go to Revelation chapter two for another
deal breaker.
Revelation chapter two, I believe another deal breaker in a church is no soul winning.
No soul winning is a deal breaker.
Now I will say this, if you go to a church that has no soul winning or if the only good
church in your area, the only thing that you can find that's King James and preach in the
gospel is a non-soul winning church, then one thing that you could do is you could attempt
to start soul winning in that church.
Because if you look at Revelation two, this church has quit the soul winning because it
says in verse five, remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the
first works.
They're not doing the first works.
And again, I'm not going to spend all the time to preach this and prove this.
I've done it in other sermons.
The first works is evangelizing.
Just giving the gospel to every creature.
And this church had forgotten that and had gotten away from that and had failed to do
that.
He says, repent and do the first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will
remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent.
So if you were in an area where the only church that you could go to was one that didn't have
soul winning, you could attempt to start soul winning and fix this before that candlestick
is removed and try to remedy that.
But if you go to the church and there's no soul winning and you try to start up soul
winning and attempt to get a soul winning program going and they are not interested,
well, you know, you need to find a different church because of the fact that, you know,
that's just a deal breaker.
I mean, what's the point?
And if God says I'll remove your candlestick, and a lot of people don't understand, you
know, what does it mean to remove the candlestick?
Revelation 1 defined the candlesticks as the seven churches.
He said the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
So when he says I'll remove thy candlestick out of his place, I believe that that means
that God will cease to view that church as a legitimate church in his sight.
They might continue to meet and be in a building together but he's going to look at that and
say, you know, this is no longer legitimate.
The candlestick has been removed and I've often used the illustration about the kernel
coming down.
You know, where there was the KFC that had deviated from Kentucky Fried Chicken's rules
and so a big crane had to come and remove the kernel's head because they were no longer
worthy of having the image of Colonel Sanders because they were no longer KFC.
They had lost the franchise.
And there are a lot of churches today that have lost the franchise because they have
the wrong Bible, because they have the wrong gospel, because they don't have soul winning.
And you know what?
Don't go to that church and bring your tithe to that church.
But it's not going to the Lord because God doesn't even see that as a biblical church.
You know, it'd be like if I said, hey, can you deposit this money into my bank account?
I bank at Wells Fargo and then you took it down to Chase Bank and said, well Pastor Sanders,
I put it in your account.
I took it to Chase Bank and I don't bank at Chase Bank.
And God's looking down saying, hey, I don't bank at that church that's preaching out of
another version that's not the Bible.
You know, I don't bank at that church that has a different gospel.
That church was given a chance to start soul winning and to do the first works and repent
of that.
And they've continued not to be an evangelizing, soul winning church.
You know, I don't bank there.
The Colonel has been removed.
They've lost the franchise.
They've lost the candlestick.
They are no longer seen as a biblical church in my sight.
So if you were in a position where all you had was a church that preaches the King James
and is right on salvation but doesn't have any soul winning, you know, the best thing
to do would be to try to help them fix that by starting up soul winning.
I've known people who've done that where they approached the pastor and said, hey, I'd like
to start up a soul winning program.
And they were able to get that going and they were able to start that program up.
And that's a blessing and they can have a great influence by doing that.
But here are some things that are not deal breakers.
I don't think biblically these things are deal breakers.
These are not things that would make me rule out a church or that I would just separate
from people over these things.
First of all, being wrong on the pre-trib rapture or Bible prophecy issues, that's not
a deal breaker for me.
Having a different interpretation of Bible prophecy, you know, I don't think that that
is something where I would just say, hey, I just can't go to this church.
I just never go to that church.
Because honestly, that is not the most important doctrine in the Bible.
Now again, I'm not saying, I'm not excusing people for having these foolish views based
on Hollywood films and based on the Scofield reference Bible and man's tradition and man's
teaching.
Don't get me wrong.
I don't think God was condoning the high places.
You think God condoned of them worshiping in high places?
No.
But he said, hey, even though they have a high places, he still did that which was right
in the sight of the Lord.
And I think this falls into that same category where people can have goofed up views of Bible
prophecy and wrong views on the rapture.
I don't think that's a deal breaker.
I don't think you could point to scripture where, hey, that's a deal breaker.
You know, and the Bible says, let no man deceive you.
But that means that you shouldn't fall for it or believe in it yourself, okay?
Now, another thing that I don't think is a deal breaker is a church that has the wrong
music.
And again, don't get me wrong.
You know, people are like, what in the world, you know?
Like I'm just condoning, pastor, I'm just so permissive.
But I'm not saying, hey, these things are fine, these things are great.
Look, they're not going to be allowed to creep into our church.
We're not going to have a feminine, sissy, queer, contemporary music up here.
We're not going to have, you know, the pre-trib rapture taught here.
You know, another thing I don't think is a deal breaker is altar calls and invitations.
You know, I'm against them, but it's not a deal breaker.
You know, a church that's pro-Israel, that's not a deal breaker.
You're wrong, but it's not a deal breaker.
You know, being real patriotic and flag-waving and murka, you know, that's not a deal breaker
for me.
You know, the church has a Christian school.
I don't believe in that, but it's not a deal breaker, okay?
The church has a nursery and children's church, not a deal breaker.
Now, if they're trying to force me to put my kid in there, then I'm not going to.
But I don't think it's a deal breaker.
And you say, well, why bring all this stuff up, Pastor Anderson?
Because so many people don't go to church and they use this excuse, well, there's no
good church in my area, but here's what they're looking for, the perfect church.
They're looking for the unicorn church, the magical rainbow unicorn four-leaf clover church,
and they need to understand that you're not always going to be able to find a perfect
church.
You need to find the best church in your area and, you know, certain things are deal breakers
and certain things aren't.
You know, I don't think that God is putting a major curse on those who have the wrong
music, altar calls, or whatever, okay?
But there is a major curse on those who preach a false gospel.
There is a major curse on those who are adding to and removing from God's Word.
There is the curse of losing the candlestick on those who don't do the first works and
don't have the first love.
So you have to decide for yourself if you don't agree with me, whatever, but, you know,
study the Bible and decide for yourself what's a deal breaker and what isn't.
But I will tell you this, God commands us to go to church.
He says not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another and so much the more as we see the day approaching.
And you say, why are you preaching this?
We're all here, Pastor Anderson, we're all in Faithful Word.
Yeah, but the people I'm preaching to right now, a lot of them will eventually live in
another area.
People will move away from here, people will live somewhere else, and I don't know what
life is going to bring any of us and we all need to get it settled in our mind that we
go to church, period.
And we find the best church in our area and we seek for churches that don't have these
major things wrong and then we overlook the things that are smaller issues that are not
as big of a deal.
And again, not condoning these things, but I'm saying that they are not an excuse not
to go to church and that we shouldn't just consider them a deal breaker.
That's what I'm saying tonight.
Because there are a lot of people out there that are not going to church because of just
little things that are wrong with the church in their area.
And look, if you know people, if you know anybody who's looking for a church and struggling
to find a church, I know people are constantly asking me to help them find a church in their
area and maybe you have people ask you the same thing, I don't know.
You know, there are great resources online to help find church and usually when people
contact me and say there's no good church in my area, I can usually always find them
a list of churches to try that have the three deal breakers right.
Almost always.
Now, the exception to this is sometimes people in foreign countries, you know, okay, that's
an exception to this because sometimes there really is no church in their area for them
to go to.
But anybody who's living in the United States, as long as you're not living in Podunk Haller,
we're probably going to be able to find you a church.
And here's what I do.
Just a quick way, I try to, I get so many emails, I can't answer them all, but when
I do get an email and I do happen to open it and read it and I see that somebody's looking
for a church, here's what I, I go to a website that's called Military Get Saved.
And I don't know why it's called that, but that's what it's called.
I just Google Military Get Saved and I go to the church directory and it has like 6,000
independent fundamental King James Baptist churches on the site.
In America, 6,000.
I mean, that's a lot.
And I go on there and here's what I search.
I use the control F feature on the keyboard because it just lists all these churches for
a state.
You know, Arizona, it'll list like 80 of them.
And then it has other churches in red that are not King James.
Disregard the red stuff.
That stuff's red for a reason.
But anyway, you know, the blue, you know, Arizona, it lists like 80 or something.
Other states, it lists 100.
And here's what I search for.
I search for the word soul, S-O-U-L.
Because that'll take me straight to all the soul winning churches in that state because
on this particular website, most churches that have soul winning put the word soul winning.
So it's just real easy, takes seconds to go there and just search the word soul.
And if you live in a decent sized city, there'll be several churches that have soul winning
listed.
And let me tell you something, usually churches that have soul winning and use the term soul
winning are usually right on the gospel and are usually King James.
That's why I just go straight for that criteria at that particular, or you can just sit around
and say, oh, there's no good churches, so I'm just going to sit at home and eat chips
off my chest and watch, you know, sermons on the internet.
But take some initiative and find a church.
And you know what, here's the thing.
If you're traveling and you're out of town, I would encourage you to find a church in
your area.
If you're working out of town, I was just talking to somebody before the service who's
going to be working out of town over the next few weeks and he was asking me about
churches in the area that he's going to be working.
Look, that's another chance to go on that website or a different website and find a
church that meets the basic criteria and get yourself to church and fellowship with God's
people.
It's important.
But number two, when we talk about deal breakers, we talked first of all about deal breakers
in regard to a church.
What about deal breakers in regard to a spouse?
Who are you going to marry?
You know, you're a single young man, you're a single young lady.
What are the deal breakers?
What are the things that no matter how much you like this person, you need to not marry
this person if they have these deal breakers?
Well number one, obviously, if they're not saved.
That's a deal breaker.
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6, 14, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers,
for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
And what communion hath light with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial?
Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
That tells me anyway that we shouldn't have a lot in common with unsaved people anyway.
If we're living a godly and separated life, we shouldn't have so much in common with unsaved
people in the first place.
But even if we think that we do, God says be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
And so therefore, that is a deal breaker.
And if you're not going to marry an unbeliever, you should not even date an unbeliever.
Should not get romantically involved in any way, shape, or form with an unbeliever because
you are playing with fire.
And if there's an unbeliever that you think you would like to get to know and date, then
what you can do is you can give that person the gospel and try to get them saved.
And if they get saved, great, get them in church and maybe they can grow and be a viable
person to get married to.
But you should not at all date that person until they are saved.
That is a deal breaker.
That should be obvious.
That should go without saying.
But number two, go to 1 Corinthians 16, 22.
I think another deal breaker is just that if the person that you're dating or want to
get married to does not love the Lord.
You know, you need to marry somebody who's not just saved but that actually loves the
Lord.
I mean, what does the Bible say in 1 Corinthians chapter 16 verse 22?
It says in 1 Corinthians 16, 22, if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be
anathema, maranatha.
What is the Bible saying here?
Let him be anathema if he doesn't love the Lord.
He didn't say go marry them if they don't love the Lord.
And we should choose a person that loves God.
That's why the Bible says favor is deceitful and beauty is vain.
But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
And that's in the context of looking for a wife.
So if you're looking for a wife, looking for a husband, it should be a deal breaker when
they don't love God.
Now sometimes you're going to meet somebody and they don't have all their ducks in a row.
They're not perfect.
Nobody is.
But do they love God?
Do they have a heart for God?
Do they want to grow?
Do they love preaching?
Do they love reading the Word of God?
You know, is there potential there?
Are they going in the right direction or are they a person who just doesn't really care
that much about the things of God?
Is it really that interested in church?
Is it really that interested in reading the Bible?
Gets offended by hard preaching?
You know, that's a bad sign.
And that's a deal breaker when they don't love God.
I remember when I was a teenager and I was trying to find a woman to get married to,
I would, you know, often the first date was I would bring them to church with me and say,
hey, I'll take you to church and then we'll go to eat afterward.
You know, and my motto was if you know like church, I know like you.
That was my motto.
You know, you have to you because if they didn't like Pastor Nichols preaching, you
know, that was a deal breaker for me because I love my church.
I love the preaching.
And if they couldn't handle it, you know, and he'd get up sometimes I'd bring these
girls and he'd get up and rip face and they'd just be like, what is his problem?
What is it?
Why does he hate Ellen DeGeneres?
You know, why is he?
Why does he want all the homos to be, you know, put on an island with no food?
I don't understand.
What's he talking about?
You know?
And I'm just like, oh, all right, yeah, let's let's get you home.
But then, you know, other girls you bring and they're like, yeah, this is cool.
This is great.
I love this church.
You know, it's like, OK, well, there's potential here.
You have to like church.
You have to love the Lord.
You have to like God's people, you know, in order to be a candidate, in my opinion.
And then thirdly, here's another major deal breaker.
If the person that you're dating is divorced, deal breaker, because the Bible says in Luke
16, verse 18, whosoever putteth away his wife and marrieth another committed adultery and
whoso marrieth her that is put away from her husband committed adultery.
Matthew five thirty two.
But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife saving for the cause of fornication
causeth her to commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committed
adultery.
So this is something that is a deal breaker.
And by the way, it's a deal breaker for me to perform your wedding, too.
I've had people ask me all the time, hey, can you perform my wedding?
And my first question is always this.
Have either of you ever been married before?
And if they say yes, they've been married before, you know, unless obviously if their
spouse has died, if they're a widow or a widower.
But if they've been married and divorced, I say I'm not going to be able to perform
this wedding.
I don't participate in remarriages because the Bible says that if you marry a woman that's
divorced, you're committing adultery.
I can't have anything to do with that.
You know, I still love you.
God bless you.
But I'm not going to perform the ceremony.
And usually I just never see that person again.
But that's fine with me because I have integrity at the end of the day.
That's what matters to me is that I do what the Bible told me to do.
And that's what that's all I can do.
That is a deal breaker.
Here are some things that are not a deal breaker when looking for a spouse.
You know what?
If she's not just drop dead gorgeous, that's not a deal breaker.
You know, but Pastor Harrison, she's not the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen in my life.
That's not a deal breaker, okay?
Because of the fact that the Bible says favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman
that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
And you know, we could say the same thing, you know, if he doesn't, if he's not tall,
dark, and handsome, you know, that's not a deal breaker either.
Here's the thing about that though, is that, you know, women honestly don't usually put
as much emphasis on the outward appearance as men do.
Just by nature, women don't really care that much about the way you, and that's great news
for some of you guys.
You know, that's the best news, that's the best news that you've heard all night because,
you know, here you are thinking that you were real limited in your prospects.
But I'm telling you the truth tonight, you have a chance.
And I'm preaching to a lot of you tonight, because honestly, you do, honestly, women
don't care what you look like.
You just have to be a man, and you just have to have confidence and boldness, and you have
to have, you know, and all the women are thinking in their heart that I'm telling the truth
because they know what I'm saying.
You know, it's honestly, with men, it's about what's inside, you know.
And a lot of men, a lot of men though, foolishly, they foolishly will just write off a lot of
eligible single girls just because it's not the supermodel that they were looking for.
And honestly, you know, a lot of it is not even just because of what they think but they're
worried about what other people think or something, you know, instead of just realizing, hey,
God wants me to find a virtuous woman, a godly woman, a righteous woman.
Now I will say this, obviously, you have to like the way that your wife looks or you
have to like the way that your husband looks.
You know, you don't want to marry somebody that you just are not attracted to at all.
But that should not be the main focus or the main criteria that you're looking for and
that shouldn't be a deal breaker if she just doesn't look perfect in every way, you know,
because beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
And I'll tell you this, I've been around people who, you know, outwardly are attractive but
when you get to know them, when you get to know them, they begin to become ugly to you
just because you know what they're like.
And then conversely, people who the world would not look at as attractive, as you get
to know them and you get to know their personality and the inner beauty, then actually their
outward appearance begins to grow on you.
So you need to keep an open mind and understand these things and not get so hung up as men,
especially this point is for the men because women don't really have as much of a problem
in this area.
But as men, you need to get less hung up on your own outward appearance and realize she
doesn't care what I look like.
And then you have to also get this attitude out of your mind that just says, oh well it's
just all about finding the most beautiful possible woman that I can and understanding
that God says, you know, that's vain, that's deceitful.
You need to look for a woman that fears the Lord.
She shall be praised.
You know, along the same lines, another thing that should not be a deal breaker is if he
or she is not in perfect physical shape.
You know, that shouldn't be a deal breaker, that's not the most important thing in our
lives is being in shape because the Bible says bodily exercise profited little but godliness
is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which
is to come.
Okay, and a lot of you that are totally out of shape, this is your life verse.
You know, you have this, you actually have this written, you know, you have it written
on the wall like bodily exercise profited little, you know, right above your broken
down treadmill or whatever, you know, you have that verse inscribed upon the wall right
next to the verse that says, you know, he that is strong in the faith eateth all things
and you know, it's all sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
You know, you think that prayer is going to fix McDonald's, you know, you can somehow
pray the GMO is to, to realign into the way God created them or whatever.
But anyway, I'm just kidding.
But the bottom line is God does say that bodily exercise profited little, it's the exercise
unto godliness that is profitable unto all things.
So someone who's just not in perfect physical shape, that shouldn't be a deal breaker either.
That shouldn't be the emphasis of what you're looking for in a husband or wife.
You know, there are other things that I don't think are a deal breaker, like for example,
a lot of a lot of a man and I guess I'm mainly preaching to men on this point is that they
expect to find just the perfect girl.
That's the finished product.
Okay.
And they don't understand that, you know, part of being a husband is being a leader,
you know, and part of it is actually teaching your wife and guiding your wife and being
a leader and leading her to greater spiritual heights.
That's part of our job as a husband is to be the spiritual role model and the spiritual
leader.
So to just sit there and think, well if she's just not spiritually dialed in perfectly,
well then I just don't want anything to do with her.
Well, but see, you have to lead there.
Okay.
Like a lot of, for example, you know, I strongly believe that women should stay home, marry
bare children, guide the house.
You know, I believe in women being a homemaker, you know, a stay at home wife, stay at home
mother.
That's what I believe in.
Okay.
That's what I've always preached.
That's what I've taught.
And that the husband's job is the provider and the wife should be a keeper at home, etcetera.
But a lot of times guys will just completely rule out a girl just because she has a job
or is going to college or something like that.
And you just have to understand, this is the culture that we live in.
I mean, girls are going to have jobs and go to college and whatever.
But the question is, does she love the Lord?
Is she saved?
Does she love God?
And is she willing to follow?
Is she willing to understand that, you know, it's her job to submit unto her husband and
let him be the leader when push comes to shove?
But I would recommend this, young men.
If you are going to marry a girl, and I've preached this, and I just did a whole sermon
on it if you're saying, what in the world is Pastor Anderson talking about?
Well, you probably missed my sermon a few weeks ago where I biblically taught this in
my sermon on women working in light of the Bible about a month ago, okay, where we taught
this.
You know, I would highly recommend that if you are dating a girl and you talk, you know,
first of all, when you're dating, you should talk about what your values are and make sure
that you're both going the same direction and that you both want to live the same type
of lifestyle.
You know, sometimes you talk to people and they're like, well, I had no idea.
It's like, well, what did you talk about when you're dating?
You didn't run.
I mean, I remember when I was dating my wife, I mean, we were ironing these things out.
You know, we're talking about what we believe, what we're going to do with our lives, you
know, how we're going to raise the children, everything like that, you know, ironing those
things out before the wedding day.
But I would say this, it'd be a smart idea if this girl is working or in college or whatever
and you're telling her, hey, you know, I want you to be a stay-at-home wife and I want you
to be a stay-at-home mother, you know, after we get married, you know, it'd be a great
idea to make sure that she quits the job before the wedding day and that she, you know, or
quits school before the wedding day if that's the agreement, then to just be this thing
off in the distance and then you get married and she's like, oh, I changed my mind.
I want to keep on working and I want to keep doing my feminist thing and whatever, you
know, because then you can see what's really going on.
Might not be a bad idea just to make sure and, you know, that'd be a good test, who's
the boss or if she's actually going to do what you're telling her to do or whether she's
just going to, you know, do the bait and switch on you and be a deceiver, which would
be very wicked, but it's out there.
So that's just a tip for you guys.
You know, another thing, but another thing I want to point out on that point, though,
is that if the guy doesn't have a job, yeah, that is a deal breaker.
Okay, I mean, that's, I mean, the Bible says if a man provide not for his own, especially
for those of his own now, he denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.
And by the way, let me just insert at this point that I think that women should have
a higher standard for who they marry than men.
Because here's the thing, when you're the man, you're the leader.
So if you're going to be a good leader, you can actually guide and fix some of these problems.
But you know what?
If you're the woman, you're marrying a leader.
You're not the leader.
You can't say, oh, I'll teach him, I'll fix him, I'll straighten him out, I'll guide him
in the right way, in the right path.
No, no, no.
Then you're going to have things better.
So, you know, honestly, I don't feel bad for you single guys that are having trouble finding
a wife.
I don't feel bad for you at all.
Because the ball's in your court, buddy.
Your destiny is in your own hand.
You can go visit other independent fundamental Baptist churches, you can meet all kinds of
girls, or you could actually talk to the single girls who actually go to our church, you know,
for a chase, but anyway, and who visit our church frequently.
But you know, the ball's in your court.
You can talk to them and meet them and greet them.
And honestly, you can be a leader and you can do that.
Whereas the girls have it a little bit harder because they're waiting for a guy to approach
them that actually they want to follow and that they can actually look up to that's going
to be a leader.
So I do think that women should have a little bit higher standard even than the men in who
they marry.
And that, you know, if he doesn't have a job, that's a deal breaker.
He's lazy and not working and not providing, I mean, that's not going to work.
That's a bad situation.
So that is a deal breaker.
You know, another question that I've often been asked, you know, and I know this is a
really sensitive subject, so I want to just be careful how I deal with this.
But I've been asked this question many, many times, so I feel like I should just briefly
address it, is that some people will say, hey, you know, is it wrong for me to marry
someone who is not a virgin?
You know, I've been asked that question.
Well, here's what I believe about it from studying the Bible is that I don't believe
it's wrong.
But I will say this, though.
You know, first of all, if you're not a virgin, then for you to demand that, well, I'm only
going to marry a virgin, it's like, well, isn't that a little bit hypocritical on your
part?
If you're not even, if you have not kept yourself pure and then you're demanding, well, I'm
only going to marry someone who's, but the world kind of has that standard.
You know, a lot of Muslims kind of have that standard where the men will go out and commit
a bunch of fornication but demand that their wife be a virgin.
Well, you know, it's a two-way street with that.
You know, both men and women, we should all keep ourselves pure until our wedding day.
But let me say this, that if you are a virgin as a man, which you ought to be, then, you
know, if you decide in your heart, well, I only want to marry, there's nothing wrong
with you deciding, hey, I only want to marry a girl that's a virgin.
And you know what?
That's fine if that's your standard and that makes perfect sense.
But if you are and you decide that you're okay with marrying someone who's not, you
know what, that's something that you have to decide for yourself whether you can live
with that, whether you can forgive and forget and look past that and move on and, you know,
and it can be a tough thing.
But I just wanted to put that out there that, no, I do not believe it is a sin to marry
someone who is not, it is a sin to lose your own purity, of course, but to marry someone
who has made that mistake and repented and is now right with the Lord, I do not think
is sinful but it might be something that you can deal with and it might be something that
just bothers you too much and you just decide, hey, no, you know, if I, if I kept myself
pure then I'm going to marry someone who kept himself pure also.
I mean, that makes perfect sense.
So I think that this is a personal choice, bottom line, that it's up to you, it's a personal
choice what you want to do in that situation, whether you can handle that or not, you know,
if you can be okay with it or not.
But I will say this, there should be no deception before you're married.
I mean, you know, it would be very wrong for you to lie and say that you are when you're
not.
You know, you should be up front and tell the truth to whoever you're getting married
to.
Lastly, we talked about deal breakers when it comes to church, deal breakers when it
comes to a spouse, but what about deal breakers for a job?
You know, what's a deal breaker for what kind of a job you should work?
We talked about a church, we talked about your spouse, but what about your job?
Now there are so many points on this and so many questionable things, and again, this
is something that I get asked all the time, people constantly ask me, hey, do you think
it's wrong for me to do this job, or hey, is it wrong for me to do this job?
And here's the thing, we live in a sinful world, and God didn't want to remove us from
the world, but he said he wanted to keep us from the evil.
So we are to be in the world, but not of the world.
So I don't believe that we need to seclude ourselves from this world and isolate ourselves
from the world completely and say, hey, there was some sin at my job, I need to just run
screaming the other direction.
You know, we live in a sinful world, we're going to be around sin, and God has ordained
that we be in this world and around sin, but that we would keep ourselves pure and keep
ourselves from the evil.
We do not believe in isolating ourselves in a compound or going out and living in the
middle of nowhere.
No, you know why we live in the city?
Because we're here to win souls to Jesus Christ.
Because we want to be around people, be a testimony, let our light shine before man,
and give the gospel, and so on and so forth.
So what are some things that are deal breakers?
Well here's the thing, I can give you my opinion on these things, and I think I have the Spirit
of God, you know, I can give you biblical opinions here, but at the end of the day you
need to study the Bible and decide for yourself what is a deal breaker and what is not when
it comes to your job.
You know, I'll tell you some of my personal convictions when it comes to jobs that I wouldn't
work.
Any job that involves mixing drinks and serving alcohol, you know, I wouldn't do that job.
When you're sitting there and mixing up drinks and serving booze, you know, I wouldn't do
that job.
The Bible says, you know, not to even look at it.
Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth
itself aright, at the last it stingeth like an adder by it like a serpent.
I know I got that backwards, but what he's saying there, you know, we should stay away
from alcohol and I don't think that mixing drinks and serving alcohol is a right job
for a Christian.
You know, that's a deal breaker for me.
You know, and I was at a job, I worked at a restaurant that served alcohol, and I worked
in the kitchen and they wanted me to work up front and it involved serving alcohol,
and I, you know, I didn't take the tiny raise that they wanted to give me and put me up
front because I said, you know, I don't want to serve alcohol.
And so I just stayed in the kitchen, made a little less money, but honestly, you know,
that was my conviction.
I don't, it bothered me.
I didn't think it was right to handle, you know, serving beers and everything like that.
You know, I don't want to ruin my testimony, I don't want people to see me doing that,
I don't want to vex my own righteous soul, and at the end of the day the Bible says whatsoever
is not a faith is sin.
You know, if you don't feel right about what you're doing, you shouldn't be doing it, okay?
If it makes you feel guilty on a daily basis, that's your conscience, which is the candle
of the Lord, and that is sometimes God's Spirit showing you things.
But, you know, a job that keeps us out of church is a deal breaker.
I mean, sure, the Bible says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and
all these things, talking about food, clothing, finances, shall be added unto you.
A job that keeps you out of church is a deal breaker.
A job that forces you to lie or to be dishonest or to break God's commandments.
That's a deal breaker.
You can't do that.
Now, I'll say this, personally, and again, this is one that's open to interpretation,
but personally, working with closely with sodomites is a deal breaker for me.
Now, I'll tell you this, when I used to run my fire alarm business, I would go into businesses
like Bed Bath and Beyond, and let's face it, a lot of dudes that work at Bed Bath and Beyond
are not straight, okay?
Now, there are a lot of nice straight guys that work at Bed Bath and Beyond, and I would
not want to be offensive to them, but there are also some queers that work at Bed Bath
and Beyond, let's face it, and I would go into these stores a lot of the time, and it
was some filthy sodomite, you know, that was the manager or whatever, and I would just
try to seek out the assistant manager or whatever, you know, but honestly, sometimes I had to
deal with these perverts, but it was just a matter of, hey, I just need you to sign
here or whatever, you know, and then wash my hands and sanitize them and douse them
in hydrogen peroxide and then, you know, light them on fire for a second and, you know, shave
all the hair off my arms and bathe my flesh in water and be unclean until the even, you
know, but honestly, you know, for me, I can handle, I can handle just a brief interaction
of where's the fire alarm panel, you know, and just kind of hold my nose and get it signed
or whatever. You know, for me personally, just working side by side with sodomite, that's
a deal breaker for me. Oh, but you're discriminating. Yes, I am. I remember one time, you know,
my boss, he told me about, you know, and look, there was this company I worked for where
it was like a revolving door. I mean, we went through employees so fast. I mean, my boss
just couldn't keep employees and so he's just hiring new people like every week, every
week and one time he tells me, hey, I hired this guy and, you know, the only problem is
he's a homosexual, you know, but, you know, he was just acting like I'm just gonna have
to deal with that and I told him, I said, well, I have no problem with you hiring this
homo as long as I never have to see him, never have to talk to him, he never rides in my
car and I don't have anything to do with training him, then go ahead and hire him but if I have
anything to do with this guy where he's riding in my car and I'm training him and working
with him on a daily basis, then I'm gonna go start looking for a new job today. Oh,
no, no, it's fine, we'll find somebody else, no problem. I mean, I'm not gonna sit there
and work with some filthy pervert and vex my righteous soul from day to day. Is that
even legal? I don't care. I'm not gonna work with fags. I don't care if it's legal. Not
gonna happen. You know, make some law that some bakery has to bake a cake for these perverts
and then, you know, I mean, the media came to me and asked me, would you perform a wedding
for a couple of sodomites? That's the stupidest question in the world. Would you perform a
wedding? I said, well, I'll perform a wedding for them if they're gonna be executed like
Leviticus 2013 said. I don't mind if they get married before they get executed. That's
what the Bible says. You know, if a man lies with mankind as he lies with a woman, both
of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood
shall be upon them. So if the government's gonna execute them, you know, I'll say the
vows with them, you know, and then I'll cast the first stone, too, if you want. If it's
legal. I mean, I'm not a vigilante. I'm not gonna take it into my own hands, but if it
were legal, you know, if it were the law of the land like it used to be in Massachusetts
back before they became communists. And by the way, sodomy used to be illegal everywhere
in America until, like, 60 years ago. It was illegal in all the states. And by the way,
did you know that, I don't even like to say the word, you know, how am I sectioning out,
you know, queerness, sodomy. Did you know that it was illegal in America 50, 60 years
ago, but that it is actually today illegal in 79 countries? Did you know that? Just because
we in America are filled with perverts, it doesn't mean that the rest of the world puts
up with it. You know, the most populated country in the world is India, and it's illegal there
where they have 1.4 billion people. It's illegal in 78 other countries that still have a brain
in their head, that actually still have some semblance of morality and righteousness. Oh,
it's getting kind of quiet in here. Oh, I'm getting a little nervous. I'm not scared of
you. That's what the Bible says. But, I mean, for me, that's a deal breaker, just having
to just work closely with sodomites and perverts. Now, I'm not saying that you're wrong if you
go to your job and hold your nose and deal with it, whatever. That's between you and
the Lord, and it's getting worse and worse where they're everywhere. But, again, those
are deal breakers for me, okay? And then here are some things that I think are not deal
breakers. You know, my boss cussed me out. I've never had a job where my boss didn't
cuss me out. I mean, where are you working? Are they hiring? You know, because every single
time I've worked out, I've been cussed out by the boss. I was even doing a good job,
you know, and they still cuss you out, you know. And here's the thing. Obviously, you
got to make your own decisions. I'm not trying to impose my, you know, opinions on you here.
My opinion is, you know, being cussed out by the boss, people blasting worldly music,
or, you know, here's the thing. You're going to be around sinners if you work in a job.
You can't just expect to work at a job where everybody's a Bible-believing Christian and
everything is righteous and godly. You know, obviously, we're in the world. You're going
to work with sinful people, you know, and the Bible tells us to separate from Christians
that are sinful. But, you know, when it comes to the sinners of this world, he said if you
were to separate from the fornicators of this world, you'd have to get out of the world
because that's what the world is. I mean, the world's filled with sinners. And so I
don't think that we should just completely isolate ourselves from the sinners of this
world, the heathen of this world, because, you know, we need to be a testimony unto them.
So I don't think those are deal breakers. You know, you have to figure out where you
draw the line. And so all that to say this in this sermon. I hope this sermon just makes
you think about, you know, what is a deal breaker and what is not? Because you don't
want to throw out the baby with the bathwater and just completely just, if every, if a church
isn't perfect, I won't go there. And if this girl or this guy isn't perfect, then I'm not
going to date them or marry them. And if this job is not the perfect, saved, sanctified,
separated job, then I can't work there. Well, look, you're looking for unicorns at that
point and they don't exist. And you need to just understand that sometimes there are
things that are not deal breakers. And so I hope that you will think this through and
decide for yourself biblically what are deal breakers and what are not. I think I've proven
biblically when it comes to a church, wrong gospel, wrong Bible and lack of soul winning
are deal breakers. I think I've proven biblically that a, that a spouse that's unsaved doesn't
love the Lord or is a divorcee, that should be a deal breaker. And I think that some of
these other things, you can't really make the biblical case that they are deal breakers.
And when it comes to a job, we have to work somewhere. And again, we all have our own
different convictions and I'm not trying to impose my convictions upon you. You shouldn't
try to impose your convictions on me because of the fact that when the Bible doesn't spell
it out specifically, then we believe in liberty of the individual. Now when it comes to an
unsaved spouse, that's spelled out in the Bible. When it comes to, you know, uh, uh,
churches using a Bible that's taking things out, I mean, that is spelled out in the Bible.
But when it comes to some of these other issues that are not spelled out in the Bible, we
should all be left up to our own individual liberty. It's between us and God if there's
no clear scripture pointing us. You know, for example, when I was in the fire alarm
business, you know, I did fire alarms at CVS pharmacy. I mean, there's a lot of things
in CVS pharmacy that I don't agree with. Probably most of what they sell is junk. But I still
put in a fire alarm for them because I didn't think it was wrong for me to just run electrical
wires and install a fire alarm there. You know, I never had a problem with, you know,
even doing a fire alarm in, in churches that were apostate churches. Because, again, I'm
not doing it as a volunteer. I'm just there making money running wires, running electrical
wires. But, you know, there were times when I did draw the line, when I was told, hey,
you know, it's 9 o'clock at night. Go, go, uh, check the fire alarm in this bar or in
this strip club or something. You know, it's like, whoa, I don't want to go in that place
and be exposed to all that stuff that's going on. But that, that was just me where I had
a line that I drew and that I, I felt like was biblical of what I should be around and
what I should not be around. Where I could keep a pure mind and, and still love the Lord
with all my heart and where I would go in a place where the, the temptations would be
too great and the vexation would be too great and where I shouldn't be in that atmosphere.
You know, but, but to, but we need to decide what's a deal breaker and what is not. Because
honestly, you're not going to find a perfect, and then a lot of people, they're not providing
properly for their wife or kids because of the fact that just every job's too sinful.
It's like, well, you know, wait a minute, you need to get your butt to work and quit
just, you know, and a lot of times it doesn't even have to do with convictions. It's just
that being lazy. So let's just find excuses why every job is, is not legit. You know,
some people will even say, oh, my job wanted me to be dishonest. Really, it was just the
job wanted them to work hard. And then they just say like, oh, yeah, yeah, they wanted
me to be dishonest. No, they want you to work. Or, oh, you know, well, this church, they're
wrong on this. No, you just didn't want to go to church because you're lazy. Oh, well,
this girl, I didn't talk to her. No, you didn't have the guts to talk to her because you're
scared. There's nothing wrong with her. Well, you know, so they'll find something wrong
with the church, find something wrong with the girl, find something wrong with the job
because they're actually just being lazy. You know, so then they just talk about the
unicorn that they're looking for. So we need to decide what are the deal breakers in our
lives and what are not the deal breakers. You know, what is it that's, that's the high
place where, you know, it's not good but whatever. And then the things of, oh, you know, you're
worshiping idols, well, that's a deal breaker. You know, when we think of these Old Testament
kings and then once you decide what the deal breakers are, you need to stick with your
convictions and stick with those deal breakers and say, I will not compromise on these. And
then the things that are not deal breakers, you know, you can look past them, not saying
you're condoning them, not saying that they're right, but just realizing that we live in
an imperfect world. It's that simple. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father,
we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and we thank you for the fact that there are
a lot of churches out there that still preach the right gospel and use the King James Bible
and do soul winning, Lord. There are a lot of churches that are still doing these things.
And Lord, we thank you so much for our church, Faithful Word Baptist Church. And Lord, we
pray that you would just guide us all to the right church, the right spouse, and the right
job, Lord, because these are three major decisions in our life that are of critical importance.
And Jesus...