Now, in 2 Timothy, chapter number 4, we have the famous passage where Paul is speaking
unto the young preacher, his protégé in the ministry, Timothy. And this is the last
of 10 chapters that he has written unto Timothy, and he's giving him advice for being a preacher.
He's giving advice for being a pastor. And in verse number 2, he says,
Preach the word. Be instant, in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all
longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,
but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears,
and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. But
watch thou in all things. Endure afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist. Make full proof
of thy ministry, for I am now ready to be offered in the time of my departure's end.
I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith.
And so in this passage we see that Paul is warning Timothy that there's going to come
a day when people will not want to hear sound doctrine, and when they will turn away their
ears from hearing the truth. And what he's expressing to Timothy is the importance that
even when that time comes in Timothy's life, or even when that time comes in a nation or
in a society, it is important that he continue to preach the word whether it be in season
or out of season, whether it's popular or not, whether it's what they want to hear or
don't want to hear. He says keep bringing the doctrine, keep bringing the reproof. The
reproof is to basically tell someone that they're wrong. Keep bringing what they need
to hear, not necessarily what they want to hear. And what I want to talk about this morning
is that there's a movement today away from this type of preaching and this type of church.
The church that you're sitting in right now, Faithful Word Baptist Church, is not the type
of church that most Christians are sitting in this morning. It just simply isn't. The
vast majority of Christians today are sitting in churches that would be classified as a
new evangelical church or the mega church movement, what I like to call the fun center,
the fun church. And basically there's a movement today getting away from the old paths, getting
away from old fashioned preaching, getting away from an old fashioned Bible believing
church and it's this modern, new church, new fangled, rock and roll, NIV party fun type
of a church and it's not a biblical church. I'm going to explain to you what's wrong with
that movement because not only is the church that you're sitting in not that type of church,
but Faithful Word Baptist Church does not even want to begin to resemble this type of
church movement in any way, shape or form. You say, why don't you do things a little
more like, you know, Cornerstone down in Chandler. Can't believe you just named the name. Because
I've seen their billboards, they put up a sign that said church for people who don't
like church. Well that's not me, I love church. I love the Bible. I love the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm not looking for a church that's geared toward people who don't like church. And then
I'm going to add another one up that said religion, and I'm going to tone it down for
you, religion stinks. It said something worse than that but I'm just going to give you my
tone down version. It said religion stinks. No it doesn't. No it doesn't stink. Religion
is a good thing and I'm going to preach to you biblically speaking why that whole movement
is misguided and why we are not changing and why we are not going to change with the times.
We're not going to become a contemporary type church. We are going to stay a traditional
old fashioned Bible believing, Bible preaching church until doomsday. Now if you would go
to Ephesians chapter 4. Let me show you the first thing that is philosophically wrong
with that movement. And you say well Pastor Anderson I'm not sure you really know what
you're talking about about this movement. Well let me tell you this, when I was 12 years
old the church that my parents and I went to went bad. There were some problems and
we ended up leaving that church. Well we strove to find a good church and my parents couldn't
really find a good Bible believing church and so they finally just threw up their hands.
I'm not saying they should have done this but this is just what they did. They threw
up their hands and said you know what, maybe we're wrong. We can't find any fundamentalist
Baptist churches. Maybe we're just a little too strict or maybe we're just a little bit
too fundamental. I don't know. So they decided to start taking us to these types of churches
that were more the new evangelical modernistic type. And we actually went to churches like
that from the time I was 12 to the time I was 16 years old. So I have a lot of experiences.
I spent about 5 years going to the type of church that I'm talking about this morning
that's an NIV type church, a rock and roll church, a church with no soul winning, a church
with no hard preaching, a church where literally the word hell never came out of the pastor's
mouth for the whole many years that we went there. And I asked my dad, I said Dad I've
been reading my Bible lately and the Bible talks a lot about hell. Why has our pastor
never even used the word hell once from the pulpit or even mentioned hell? It's like it
doesn't exist. And he said son that's a great question. I'm going to ask him because you're
right he doesn't mention it. And he went and asked the pastor, he said why do you never
mention hell? Why do you never bring up the fact that hell is real and that hell exists?
I've never even heard you say the word hell. And he said you know what, I know I should
but I just don't like to. I just don't want to. It's just too negative. You know that's
the day that we're living in where pastors are getting up and deciding oh I'm not going
to preach that because I don't feel like it. Instead of just preaching the word whether
it's in season or out of season. Now the first thing that is wrong with this movement, whatever
you want to call it, some people call it the mega church movement, some people call it
the neo-evangelical movement, some people call it contemporary churches or seeker sensitive
churches. Am I missing any terms? Help me out if I'm missing any. You know whatever
you want to call this movement. And when I say the mega church movement, the size of
these churches is not the problem. Because there's nothing wrong in the world with a
church being big. And I fully expect our church to be big someday. I mean our church grows
every single year. Nothing in the world wrong with a big church. But when you're big at
the expense of telling the truth, that's a problem. But let's look at the first thing
that is wrong with that movement biblically. Go to Ephesians chapter 4 verse 10. Actually
let's start in verse 11. It says he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists
and some pastors and teachers. What is the purpose here? Why did God give us a pastor
and a teacher? Why do we even come to church and listen to preaching? The Bible says in
verse 12, For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge
of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness
of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro and carried about
with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they
lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things
which is the head, even Christ. The first thing I want to point out that's wrong with
this movement is that it is a church that is geared toward unsaved people as opposed
to being geared toward saved people. Now here the Bible tells us that the reason why we
have pastors and teachers is for the perfecting of the saints. Do you see that in verse 12?
It says it's for the edifying of the body of Christ. And you see on paper we all understand
that a church is supposed to be an assembly of born again baptized believers and so if
the church is an assembly of born again baptized believers and God said hey the purpose of
pastors, the purpose of teachers is to perfect the body of Christ, to build them up, to edify
them, to teach them so that they can learn the doctrines that they need to learn so that
they will not be easily deceived, then why do we have a philosophy out there now that
gears church toward the unsaved? And they believe that a church service is supposed
to be geared toward unsaved people, that they will feel comfortable, that they will enjoy
it, that it will be what they want to find in a church. And that is what's wrong. And
they say well you know we want to reach as many people as possible and we want to bring
in as many unsaved people into our church as we possibly can that we might win them
to Christ, but that is not what the Bible teaches. It sounds great. I mean I have to
admit it sounds great and I was sucked into it for a long time in my teenage years. Yeah
we got to make church geared toward the lost and geared toward the unsaved, but wait a
minute the Bible tells us to go out and win the lost. See the Bible says go ye therefore
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The Bible says go out into
the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled. And the
Bible when it talks about preaching the gospel in regard to the whole armor of God, he uses
the feet to represent preaching the gospel. The Bible says having your feet shod with
the preparation of the gospel of peace. He said how beautiful are the feet of them that
preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings and good things. Why? Because your
feet denote that you're going somewhere. He could have used the mouth, could have used
the hands, but he used the feet because in order to get people saved you must go out
and get them saved, not try to bring them in and invite them in to come in and get saved.
And you say well if you would just tone down your preaching a little bit, if you would
just mellow out the preaching, if you would just make the music a little bit more like
the rock and roll music, you know, make the music a little bit more like the current hip
hop music, then when unsaved people walk in they'll feel more comfortable because it'll
feel more like the music that they're used to, it'll feel more like the kind of motivational
speaking that they're used to, not this kind of hard-edged biblical preaching and they
think you know what, then you'll reach more people. But you know how you'll really reach
more people is by just going out and telling people about the gospel like Jesus actually
told us to do, you know, going out two by two and you'll notice that when Jesus preached,
when he stood up and preached his great sermons like the Sermon on the Mount or the Olivet
Discourse, when Jesus preached those sermons they were not geared toward the unsaved, it's
always geared toward the saved. Why is that? Because he sent out his disciples two by two,
they went out and preached the gospel, they went out and won people to Christ, they went
out and baptized the converts and then they brought the people in already saved and then
Jesus could teach them how to live their lives, Jesus could teach them about end times
Bible prophecy or whatever it was that he was preaching in that particular sermon. But
we've been misguided when we want to gear church toward the unsaved. We should first
and foremost gear church toward what is, how does God want it to be? What kind of preaching
is God looking for? What kind of singing is God looking for? And then secondly we should
gear it toward, you know, what's going to build up God's people the most? What's going
to edify them the most? What do they need to hear the most? Now let me ask you this,
is the plan of salvation what saved people need to hear the most on Sunday morning? Who
in here, let me just ask you this, who in here believes on the Lord Jesus Christ as
your Savior? You're saved and you know you're going to heaven. Okay, look around everybody.
Now tell me why again I'm supposed to preach on the plan of salvation this morning. Look
at all the hands. And yet today, even in independent fundamental Baptist churches now, you show
up on Sunday morning and nine times out of ten the sermon is on the plan of salvation.
The sermon is on getting saved. The sermon is on, look, you're not feeding the people
when you do that. And people have criticized me, they said I came to church on Sunday morning
and I didn't hear you preach the gospel at all. Or, you know, I didn't even hear you
cover the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is because my goal is
to preach the entire Bible, not to keep telling the plan of salvation to people who've already
been saved for years. Because I'm not gearing my sermon toward an unsaved person, I'm gearing
my sermon toward a saved person. You see, there are lots of people here this morning.
The whole room is filled with people who are already saved, but they need to learn doctrine.
They need to learn the rest of the Bible. They need to learn how to live their lives.
They need to learn how to run their marriage. They need to learn how to raise their kids.
They need to learn how to do well on the job. They need to learn to read their Bibles and
pray. And they need to learn to go soul winning and how to witness to people and preach the
gospel to every creature. They need to learn all the commandments of God so that they can
love him and keep his commandments. They don't need to just hear the plan of salvation over
and over and over again. And you say, well I just like to hear it. Okay, well then come
out soul winning with me. Let's knock some doors and you can hear it all day long. You
can hear the plan of salvation ten times. Just show up for soul winning today and you'll
hear the plan of salvation all day long. But in church we need to gear it toward the saved.
What is the music for the saved? What is the preaching for the saved? That's what we ought
to do because the Bible teaches that the church is for the saved, not the unsaved. Now do
unsaved people sometimes come to church? Absolutely. And the Bible talks about in 1 Corinthians
14, if one that believeth not enterth in. And he acts like it's the exception. He acts
like it's the anomaly because most of the people there are going to be saved. And they
say, well you need to tone things down because the most important thing is getting people
saved and we need to bring in more people. But we don't have to bring in people to get
them saved. That's what we need to get out of our mind. We don't need to bring people
to church to get them saved. We can go out and get them saved. And you say, well but
I just want you to do it for me. Well that's great, but I'll get all the rewards in heaven.
I want you to go out and get people saved. You get the rewards, okay? But number two,
go to 2 Timothy 4 where we were. So first of all, the problem philosophically and biblically
with that movement is that it gears church toward the unsaved instead of the saved. There
is nothing in the Bible that teaches that church is an evangelistic tool. That church
is meant so that, okay here's how we're going to get people saved. We're going to bring
everybody to church and then preach them down the aisle. That is not a biblical concept.
That's not the way they did it in the Bible. You notice that the apostles in the New Testament,
they were always going out on Saturdays and they'd go to the synagogues and preach to
the unsaved Jews in the synagogues. Paul went down to the river where all the women were
washing their clothes and doing the laundry and he figured, oh they're probably bored
in the laundromat and so he went down there and he preached them the gospel while they
did the laundry. He was always going out and then when you notice when Sunday rolled around,
they're breaking bread with the believers. They're breaking bread with the apostles.
They're breaking bread with the disciples of Christ. They're not having an evangelistic
service. But if you would, look at 2 Timothy chapter 4. We'll see the next thing that's
wrong with this movement. It says in verse 2, preach the word, be instant in season,
out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. Now that says
right there, all doctrine. Does it not? Because when it says all longsuffering and doctrine,
the all is referring to both the longsuffering and the doctrine. He's saying preach all doctrine.
But yet today this megachurch neo-evangelical movement downplays doctrine and says, oh man,
we need to not worry so much about doctrine and let's just focus on the heart. You know,
let's just focus on Christ. Let's just focus on the gospel. You know, let's not worry about
all this doctrine. But yet the Bible 51 times mentions doctrine by that exact word and here
he says preach all doctrine. Let me ask you this, is there any doctrine that's found in
the Bible that I should not be preaching? No, because he's telling a young preacher
preach all doctrine. And I'm supposed to preach the whole book cover to cover all doctrine.
Go back just one page there to 2 Timothy 3 at the end. It says in verse 16, all scripture
is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished
unto all good works. Now, when the Bible used the word perfect, it means complete or
entire. It does not mean sinless. No one is sinless. But it means that he is complete
or entire. It means he's not lacking anything or leaving anything out. Now, stop and think
about this verse for a minute. He says all scripture is profitable for doctrine and he
says that the purpose of it in verse 17 is that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly
furnished unto all good works. Isn't that saying that if I'm lacking a part of the scripture
or if I'm not preaching a part of the scripture, I'm not perfect? I'm missing something? I'm
not really thoroughly furnished unto all good works? What does furnished mean? It could
mean basically outfitted, would be the word I would use, or equipped. You know, you get
furnished for a certain maybe hiking trip or maybe you're going to battle and you put
on the gear. He's saying, throughly furnished unto all good works. We need to preach every
doctrine in the Bible and many people will say about a fundamental Baptist church, you
know, you guys want to major on the minors. Have you ever heard that statement before?
You want to major on the minors. You're making too much of a big deal about little things,
but you know what? I want to make a big deal about everything. I don't think there are
any little things in here. I think anything that God said or that Jesus said, you know,
is important. It is doctrine that needs to be preached. And Jesus said, whosoever therefore
shall break one of these least commandments, did you hear that? And shall teach men so,
the same shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whosoever shall do and teach
them the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. According to the Bible,
if I find the least commandment and teach it and preach it and live it, then I will
be called great in the kingdom of heaven. That shows how God feels about the so-called
minors, majoring on the minors. He says, just a few verses earlier in 2 Timothy 3.10,
But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity,
patience. Isn't it great that Paul was able to say to Timothy, you've fully known my doctrine.
Not, well, you knew a lot of my doctrine, but there was a lot of my doctrine that I
couldn't really preach because it would have offended people. He said, no, you fully knew
my doctrine. Why? Because I preached all of it. Because I preached all doctrine. Because
I preached all scripture, and that is what we should strive for as preachers. Go back
if you would to 1 Timothy chapter 4, just a few pages to the left in your Bible. And
here's what's interesting, the word doctrine is used 51 times in the Bible, but one third
of those mentions, one out of three of those mentions, 16 mentions are in 1 Timothy and
Titus. Just these three short books. Why? Because they're books that are written toward
preachers. And so the so-called pastoral epistles, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, contain one third
of the references to doctrine of all the mentions of that word in the entire Bible. 1 Timothy
4.16, it says this, take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. Is he saying, hey,
don't worry about doctrine. Don't split hairs over doctrine. Don't separate over doctrine.
No, he says, take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing
this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. Look at 1 Timothy 5.17. And
when the Bible uses the word elder, it's referring to a pastor. It uses the word elder, bishop,
and pastor interchangeably. It says in 1 Timothy 5.17, let the elders that rule well be counted
worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. So what is
the most honorable thing for a pastor to be laboring in? Doctrine. So any movement
that downplays doctrine, any time you hear the word doctrine coming out of someone's
mouth in a negative way, you say, oh man, all this doctrine. Oh, you talk so much about
your doctrine. Oh, doctrinal. You know what? That person is in violation of what the Bible
is saying. I mean, their philosophy is totally contrary to God's word. So not only does it
gear church toward the unsaved, go to James chapter 1, not only is it geared toward the
unsaved, not only is it downplaying of biblical doctrine, and by the way, those two things
go hand in hand. Because if you're gearing church toward the unsaved, you don't want
to teach all doctrine. You just want to keep talking about how Jesus died on the cross
and Jesus loved everybody and died for everybody and was buried and rose again. That's all
you're going to talk about, because you're gearing it toward the unsaved. And look, by
the way, that's all the unsaved need to hear. I mean, when I go out knocking doors and I
go out soul winning, I don't show up at their doorstep and start preaching to them all the
doctrines of the Bible. I don't show up and start giving them a dissertation on all the
commandments of the Old Testament. I don't knock on their door and give them a dissertation
about the book of Leviticus. I don't show up and knock on their door and start talking
to them about how they should be clothed and how they should be dressed. I don't show up
and knock on their door and start talking to them about the importance of reading your
Bible every day and praying. I don't talk about any of those things, because as Paul
said when he showed up among the Corinthians, he said, I determined not to know anything
among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. You see, people that are unsaved, all they
need to hear is the gospel. They need to hear the plan of salvation. They need to hear that
they're a sinner. They need to hear how Jesus Christ died on the cross for all their sins,
was buried and rose again the third day according to scriptures. They need to hear about heaven.
They need to hear about hell. They need to hear about the eternal life and eternal security
of the believer. But let me tell you something. At church, we need to preach all doctrine
and not just that plan of salvation message. And so when you have a church geared toward
the unsaved, you're going to stop talking about doctrine and every sermon is going to
be about Jesus and about his love and about him dying on the cross. I love those subjects,
but I'm not going to preach on them every day. Look, have you ever heard of too much
of a good thing? I don't think it's bad. Who thinks bananas are bad for you? I think bananas
are really good for you. I love bananas. And if you were to walk in here with a banana
in your hand and eat a banana, I would not say to you, you know what, you're doing an
unhealthy thing by eating that banana. Because a banana is a very healthy thing to eat. But
if you told me, Pastor Anderson, for the last year I've eaten nothing but bananas, I mean
I'm just, that's all I eat. For breakfast I have bananas, lunch bananas, dinner bananas.
Because I would tell you, you know what, that's dangerous. That's unhealthy. In fact, I'm
surprised you're even still alive after one year on nothing but bananas. And if you continue
this you will die. That doesn't mean I'm down on bananas. You know, we had a guy, I mean
this is kind of weird, but we had a guy who showed up at our house because we do raw milk
and so we get it from a dairy in town and this guy showed up and he's picking up raw
milk and he's telling my wife how he just drinks nothing but raw milk now. He does not
eat food. He does not cook any food. He just drinks or eats nothing except raw milk. Now
look, raw milk's very good for you. But if you're a grown adult man and you're just living
off of raw milk, you know, you're going to die. That's not going to work. That's not
healthy. And he'd only been on it, he'd only been doing it for a few weeks, you know, and
we're thinking to ourselves, well, yeah, you feel great. You're only a couple weeks into
this. In a couple months you're going to die. And so, not that I'm down on raw milk,
not that I'm down on bananas, and see, that's what it is. I mean, when you have this preaching
on the plan of salvation, preaching on the love of Jesus, and preaching on, you know,
the death, burial, and resurrection, those are very nutritious things for you to be hearing.
Those are very good sermons. But if that's all you're getting, you are severely lacking
nutrients that you must have in order to be a healthy Christian, in order to be a well-balanced,
well-nourished Christian. Go to James 1.26, it says,
If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth
his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and
the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep
himself unspotted from the world. And so here we see a positive reference to religion. And
what is religion defined as? Well, two things. Number one, he says religion is visiting the
fatherless and widows in their affliction. And secondly, he said religion is keeping
yourself unspotted from the world. Now this movement today always has something negative
to say about religion. And look, I know I was there for five years, and I even said
this before, you know, because you hear it so much, I even said, oh I don't have a religion,
you know, I have a relationship. You know, I've said that to people when I was a teenager,
and I'm embarrassed to say it, but I said that, I've used that. Why? Because you hear
it so many times, this negativity toward religion. And they say, oh Christianity's not a religion,
it's not a bunch of dos and don'ts, it's just a relationship. But yet the word relationship's
never found in the Bible, and the word religion is. Now why would this megachurch, new evangelical
movement downplay religion? Why? Because they don't want to keep themselves unspotted from
the world, that's why. That's why. Because they don't want to keep, so that's why they
say religion stinks and put it up on a billboard. That's why they tell you, oh I hate religion.
I saw a billboard like that, we hate religion. No, you hate keeping yourself unspotted from
the world because you want to pattern your music after ACDC, and you want to pattern
your music after all the rock and roll and hip hop, of course you don't want to keep
yourself unspotted from the world. You want to have women up there singing on the platform
in miniskirts when the Bible says that if you don't have your thighs covered that you're
exposing your nakedness according to Exodus 28, 42. But you're not going to hear that
preached in these churches because it's going to turn people away and we're going to reach
more people if we never talk about the fact that exposing your thighs is nakedness. We're
going to reach more people if we don't talk about that. And we're going to reach more
people if we don't preach on all the do's and don'ts. Let me tell you something, the
Bible is filled with do's and don'ts, from Genesis to Revelation, and Jesus said if you
love me keep my commandments. He didn't say if you love me keep my suggestions. He didn't
say if you love me just have a good relationship with me. He said if you love me keep my commandments.
And all the way through, whether you're in the epistles of Paul, whether you're in the
epistles of John, all the way to Revelation, God is emphasizing that He is the boss. You
know what He says over and over again? I am the Lord. I am the Lord. I think 61 times
He said I am the Lord, somewhere around that number. And what does Lord mean? The boss?
I'm the boss. I'm the boss. Obey my commandments. Obey my commandments. Do as I say. Listen
to what I'm saying. Follow the rules. And yet this movement today downplays that and
says hey, it's not about the do's and don'ts, it's just about your heart. No, the Bible
says that we should obey the commandments from our heart. Well, just as long as you
love God. Yeah, but the Bible says this is the love of God that we keep His commandments
and His commandments are not grievous. Go to John chapter 6. John chapter number 6.
I've got to hurry because there are so many things philosophically and biblically wrong
with this movement. I've got to hurry just to get to them all because we already saw
their hatred and disdain for the word religion and their disgust for all the do's and don'ts,
which the Bible defines as religion. We've already seen the fact that they're gearing
a church service toward the unsaved instead of the saved. We've already seen how they
downplay doctrine. And because they downplay doctrine, you know what the result of that
is? Different people in the church will believe completely different things. And like I said,
I've been there for five years. You show up at a small group Bible study, everybody believes
something different because there's no doctrine being taught. So you talk to one person and
they'll tell you, I mean, I sat at a Bible study and one person said, oh, if you're saved,
you die, you go straight to heaven. Another person said, oh, if you're saved, you die,
you lay in the ground and you wait to be resurrected hundreds of years or thousands of years later
and you're just asleep in the earth, your soul sleep. And then a third person said,
well, here's what I believe. I believe that when you die, it's just like you're automatically
time warped to the final judgment and you're just there. So we had three very distinctly
different views, but it was like that with every subject. Everybody's got a different
version of the Bible. You go around and read in a circle, you got the King James, you got
the NIV, you got the New King James, you got the New American Standard, and everybody believes
something different. One person says, oh, we don't do tongue speaking. Another person
says, oh, that's my prayer language. You know, another person says, oh, I believe it's alright
as long as there's an interpreter. And it's all in the same church. I mean, the doctrines
are just all over the place. I mean, everybody believes something. Some people believe that
salvation is eternal, other people believe you can lose it. Why? Because the doctrine's
not being preached from the pulpit so people don't know what the truth is. They don't know
what to believe. But not only that, this new megachurch movement seeks to maximize attendance
at all costs. I mean, their goal is let's bring in as many people as we can. Let's reach
as many people as we can. And again, nothing wrong with being big, but when you're doing
it at all costs, that's where it becomes big. Let's see if that was Jesus' attitude. Go
to John chapter 6 verse 66. This is where we can see Jesus' opinion on this subject.
It says in John 666, from that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more
with them. So Jesus just preached a sermon. He lost a lot of people. Look what it says
in verse 67. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, oh no, what did I say, what did I do wrong?
Look what Jesus said. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, will ye also go away? And will
there in the Bible means do you want to? Basically in our modern vernacular what he said is,
so do you guys want to leave too? Don't let the door hit you on your way out. That's basically
what he's saying there. So do you want to leave too? He didn't say, I better change
my message, I better rethink this. He preached the truth. And because the truth offended
people and made people leave, he looked at the twelve and said, so you want to leave
too? Go right ahead. The door swings both ways. This is Jesus' attitude toward the attendance.
It says in verse 68, then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the
Son of the living God. Looks like the right people stayed behind. And the people who left,
they obviously left for a reason. Go to Matthew chapter 15. Matthew chapter number 15. And
this goes hand in hand with the point about seeking to maximize attendance at all costs.
This movement also seeks not to offend people at all costs. Because you're not going to
maximize attendance by offending people. Because when you offend people, they don't come back.
So if you're going to maximize attendance at all costs, number one, you've got to pattern
it after the world. You've got to bring in the rock music. You've got to bring in the
hip hop. That's what they want to hear. You've got to make the message 20 minutes instead
of 60 minutes or 70 minutes. You've got to bring that down to a 15, 20 minute little
sermonette because that's what they want, something quick they can just get it over
with and get out to the lake and strip down half naked and get on their boat in their
bikini and spend their Sunday like that after they get their 20 minute sermon on the love
of Jesus compelling him to die on the cross for the 150th time. Now look at Matthew 15
verse 12. It says,
Then came his disciples and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended
after they heard this saying?
So Jesus just preached a sermon where he just railed on the Pharisees and the disciples
came up to him and said, look Jesus, don't you know that what you've said has offended
the Pharisees? I mean, do you not realize that you offended them? And look what he said.
But he answered and said, Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall
be rooted up. Let them alone. They be blind leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead
the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Go to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter number
11. Matthew, Mark, Luke. Now in Luke chapter 11, Jesus preaches another just scathing sermon
against the Pharisees. In fact, every verse he starts out saying, woe unto you Pharisees,
and then he says everything that they're doing wrong. And in Matthew 23, the Bible gives
us an even longer version of this sermon. In Matthew chapter 23, every verse he's calling
them hypocrites, he's railing on them, and he's just preaching directly at the Pharisees,
naming them off. Look what it says in Luke 11, 43. Woe unto you Pharisees, for you love
the uppermost seats in the synagogues and greetings in the markets. Woe unto you scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over
them are not aware of them. Now look what he says in verse 45. Then answered one of
the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproaches us also. And here's
what they're saying. They're saying, you know, the way you're preaching against the Pharisees,
it almost sounds like some of this might be directed at us. You know, by saying that,
you're attacking us now. Because the lawyers were a different group than the Pharisees.
So he's preaching real hard against the Pharisees, and the lawyers are like, hey wait a minute,
this kind of sounds like stuff that we're guilty of, you know, are you trying to get
on us now? And he said, no guys, no, no, I'm just, it's just the Pharisees that are, you
know, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. Now look what it says in verse 46, and he
said, woe unto you also, you lawyers. And then what's funny is that he just keeps preaching
and now he just switches. Now it's just not woe unto the Pharisees anymore, it just keeps
being woe unto you lawyers. He just gets specifically on them. They come and complain
to him about his preaching and he says, okay, well I guess I touched a nerve. I think I'm
just going to park it there then, and just park it on you lawyers then, since apparently
you need to hear this more than anybody. He says, woe unto you also, you lawyers, for
you laid men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with
one of your fingers. Woe unto you. And he jumps down to verse 52, he says, woe unto
you lawyers, for you've taken away the key of knowledge ye entered not in yourselves
and then that were entering in ye hindered. And as he said these things unto them, the
scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently and to provoke him to speak many
things, laying weight for him and seeking to catch something out of his mouth that they
might accuse him. And so this movement seeks not to offend, but the Bible says, great peace
have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. You see the people that are offended
by the preaching are usually the people who needed to hear it the most, no matter what
the subject, because if they're offended that usually means that they're guilty of whatever
the sin that's being preached upon. And so if we love God and love his word, we'll not
be offended. When we hear the preaching, we will know it's true and we will know that
we should adjust our lives accordingly. But look if you would at Galatians chapter 1.
Galatians chapter number 1, let me show you another problem with this movement of contemporary
or modernistic type churches, is that they seek to please man, they don't seek to please
God. And the Bible says in Galatians 1, 10, this is a great verse, it says, for do I now
persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? Watch this, for if I yet pleased men,
saying if I still pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. So according to
the Bible, a person who desires to please man is the wrong type of person to serve Christ.
Isn't that what the Bible says? He says if I yet please men, I should not be the servant
of Christ, therefore the servant of Christ should not seek to please man, he should only
seek to please God, and he should only seek to persuade God. I want to persuade God that
I'm doing right, not persuade everyone around me that I'm doing right. And the Bible says
in Ephesians 6, 6, you don't have to turn there, not with eye service as men pleasers,
but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. The Bible says if we're
doing the will of God from the heart, we're not doing it so that people will look at us
and be pleased with us. We're just doing it because it's the right thing to do. And
we do it right, and it comes from the heart, and that's it. Now, Matthew chapter 23, if
you would, Matthew 23, this is that scathing sermon that Jesus preached against the Pharisees,
and let me show you another problem with this movement. And look, can you see this movement
is very unbiblical and unscriptural in their approach? They're gearing it toward the unsaved
instead of the saved, and by the way, they don't knock doors and go soul winning. When
was the last time one of these liberal megachurches came and knocked on your door? What do they
do instead? What do they do? Help me out. They mail stuff to you. Isn't that right?
You know what? So does Burger King. They mail me stuff too. Do they love me? You know what?
What does Burger King love about me when they send me coupons in the mail? What do they
love about me? They love my money. Hmm, that reminds me of somebody else who mails me stuff
all the time. Who mails me advertisements all the time. And they don't care what I am.
They don't care if I'm Hindu, Buddhist, that's why they're non-denominational. Because they
don't care if I'm a Baptist, a Methodist, an Episcopalian, a Catholic, they don't, as
long as my money's green, that's all they care about. That's why they say, everybody,
come on in, everybody come in. Methodists, and we're not going to try to change you.
If you've been sprinkled, we're not going to try to baptize you. We're not going to
judge you. We're not going to tell you what's wrong. We're not going to tell you what the
doctrine is. Just come on in and worship with them. We want everybody to worship here. It's
all about getting the money. That's what it's about. They are teaching things which they
ought not for filthy, lucre's sake, and it's about making money and getting lots and lots
of money coming in.
It's funny, my brother was telling me about a ministry that he had come into contact with.
It was some kind of a, it was kind of like Brother Garrett preached a sermon in the preaching
class a month or two ago about the homeless ministries. It was that type of a ministry
and they were really yoked up with a lot of false religion, this particular ministry.
And they were really taking money from a lot of sources that were not godly sources. And
here's what the guy said. He said, you know what, Clint, or whoever he was talking to,
he said, you know what, he said, the only tainted money is the money that taint there.
He said, that's the only tainted money. You know, the money that taint there. And you
know, that's the attitude of these churches. Just bring the money. We don't care what,
we don't care. Oh, you're living with another man, you're a man living with another man
in sodomy? Come on in, the water's fine. Here, let's pass the plate a second time. That is
the society that we're living in today and that is why we go out so many and knock doors
and there are so many people who go to church every week and you ask them, do you know for
sure if you died today? You go to heaven and they say, I don't know. I hope so. I'm a pretty
good person. Because there's no doctrine, that's why. Because there's no love of God,
that's why. Because there's no prayer and Bible reading and soul winning. It's just
a big money making entertainment fest is what it is. And it's wicked. And that's why,
you know, I'm not going to try to make church invitations that look like theirs and try
to make a website that look like theirs and try to design our music to be like theirs
and try to start, you know, I'm not going to start calling myself the lead pastor. You
know, I'm not going to start, you know, put on a Hawaiian shirt so I can look like Rick
Warren or something. You know, and this is the movement that I want to get as far away
from as I possibly can. Because it's a movement that is about pleasing man and not pleasing
God. But look, did I have you turn to Matthew 23? Lastly this, the problem with this movement
is that it's a movement that neglects all things external. They only care about what's
on the inside. And you say, well Pastor Anderson, that sounds great. You know, I mean that's,
I mean isn't that how we should all be? Just only caring about what's inside and forgetting
the external. Well you know what, no that's not how we should be. Now a lot of times there's
a little bit of truth in every lie. And when they say, you know, it's the inside that counts,
look of course the inside is the most important. Wouldn't everybody probably agree with that?
What's inside is the most important. What's more important, the outside or the inside?
The inside's more important, right? What's more important, our heart or how we look on
the outside? Our heart's more important. But wait a minute, does that mean that the outside
is just totally unimportant? Just because we say that one thing is more important, right?
That doesn't mean that the other is unimportant. Okay, for example, I could say that, you know,
my family is more important to me than my bank account, right? I mean my family and
spending time with my family and having a good relationship with my wife and children
is more important to me than how much money I have. Isn't that a good statement to make?
Okay, but what if I just said, my money and my finances mean nothing? Well then pretty
soon my family's going to die of starvation. So it's foolish to say, well, you know, just
because one thing is more important I'm going to spend all my time on that. Spend all my
energy on that. Well the Gospel's the most important thing, so let's eat a banana and
a glass of raw milk every day until we die. No, just because one thing's more important
doesn't mean that the other's not important. Now look what Jesus said about the outside
and the inside in verse 25 of Matthew 23. It says, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within
they are full of extortion and excess. Now these people are hypocrites. They have the
outside right, but the inside's completely wrong, isn't it? But look at the next verse.
Galblind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, because the
outside doesn't matter. Is that what it says? It says, cleanse first that which is within
the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. So what is the destination
here? The destination is getting to the point where the inside and the outside are clean.
The destination is not a clean inside and a dirty outside. No. He never says the outside
doesn't matter. And let me ask you this, if Jesus really thought that the outside didn't
matter, why did he write a whole chapter about the length of your hair? 1 Corinthians 11.
Explain that to me. If the outside doesn't matter, and then somebody sent me a message
criticizing that sermon saying, why would you waste your time preaching a whole sermon
about the length of somebody's hair when there are all these other more important things
that you should be preaching about? You need to get back to preaching the meat of the word.
Okay, my question is, why did God spend a whole chapter talking about it? If I wasted
a whole sermon on it, why did he waste a whole chapter on it? You know why? Because it matters.
Because it's important. And you know what? There is a lot of scripture in the Bible about
the outside. And if you're going to say the outside doesn't matter, what you're saying
is that huge portions of scripture don't matter. You're going to throw away half of
1 Corinthians 11, you're going to throw away all the teachings in the New Testament and
the Old Testament about modest apparel. I mean, look how many times Paul talks to women
about the way that they dress and the way that they look. About how they should have
modest apparel, shouldn't wear the gold and precious stones and pearls and costly array,
and he goes into their hair, and he goes into their clothing, and he talks to men about
the same thing. And then when he lays out the priesthood in the Old Testament, he's
telling the priests how to dress, he's telling the priests how to cut their hair. Why if
it didn't matter? Because it does matter, that's why. And because there's not one verse
in the Bible that says, like for example, the Bible says man looketh on the outward
appearance, but God looketh on the heart. You know, a lot of people have interpreted
that to where God doesn't look on the outward appearance at all. No, God looks on the outward
and the inward. He sees both. Which one's more important? The inside. But they're both
important. And if we get the inside right, the Bible says that the result of that will
be that the outside will get right also. Now think about this. According to this scripture,
does getting the outside right, does getting the outside right automatically make the inside
right? No it doesn't, does it? But does getting the inside right have a result of making the
outside right also? Yes it does. So if somebody has a completely wrong outside, doesn't that
tell you there's something wrong on the inside? Because if they got the inside clean, then
the outside of them would be clean also. And so this movement of modern contemporary style
churches just completely neglects everything about the outside. Just completely neglects.
My dad visited a church of a relative of ours and literally the guy who took the offering
was wearing a Hooters t-shirt. But don't judge. Who laughed? You're judging. Who was
that? You're busted. Oh, oh, don't judge. Look, you're coming to church in a Hooters
t-shirt, you know what you're saying? I have zero respect for church. I have zero respect
for God's house. The Bible says that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself
in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the
earth. And you're walking in with a Metallica shirt. You're walking in with a Hooters t-shirt.
You're walking in in your pajamas like these people who go to Wal-Mart at 1130 a night
or something. That's how you're showing up to church and then you think that that's okay.
You know what it shows? Utter disdain, utter disrespect, and a total lack of caring is
what it shows. That's what it shows. You say, well I'll preach the Bible. Okay, well the
Bible preaches that men are supposed to have short hair. First Corinthians 11, whole chapter
about it. The Bible preaches that men are supposed to wear men's clothing. Women are
supposed to wear women's clothing. The Bible teaches that exposing your thighs is nakedness.
The Bible teaches that it is a sin to have tattoos. The Bible says in Leviticus 19, 28,
you should not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, listen to me, nor print any
marks upon you. I am the Lord. So the Bible clearly states that we should not print marks
on our body, but yet you will never hear that preached in one of these churches because
the outside doesn't matter. Now you say, were you mad at people who have tattoos? Absolutely
not because here's the thing about tattoos, they don't come off. Now I used to think that
you could get them removed until I spoke, because you see signs, I even saw a billboard
this week that said tattoo removal. But you know what? Until I talked to somebody who
tried getting them removed and then I went online and did some research about getting
them removed, folks, they don't come off. I mean, getting them removed is a horrific
process that's very expensive and that scars you. I mean, there's just a lot, it's not
just as simple as, oh, it's like it never was on there. I mean, if you really have to
get rid of it, it's possible. But it's very, very difficult and it's never going to be
fully gone. And so you ought to think about that, oh, thou 17 year old who's about to
turn 18 and go out and get that tattoo, you know, that that thing's permanent. You might
not want that when you're 55 years old, the one that you got when you're 18. And look,
I'm not mad at you if you have tattoos, because you know what? Everybody's made mistakes.
Some people's mistakes are just more visible than others, but we've all made mistakes.
We all have things in our past that we've done that were stupid things, things that
we're ashamed of. But look, does that mean I'm not going to preach what the Bible teaches
you? Oh, somebody's done that? Oh, somebody has a tattoo. I better just not preach that
part of the Bible then. Better just not preach it. No, of course I'm going to preach it.
Look, I'm not trying to beat people up who've already made a mistake a long time ago. And
you know what? The people who've done it, they're probably amen-ing everything I'm saying
right now because they're thinking, yeah, he's telling the truth. I regret getting it
and I don't want other people to get it. So, you know, they should listen to this preaching.
And if not, then their heart's not right if they're going to sit there and begrudge
the preaching of God's Word because, oh, I did that. Well, you know, there are a lot
of dumb things that I've done too, but I want to hear it preached about because I don't
want other people to make the same dumb mistakes that I've made. And, you know, we've all made
mistakes. No one is perfect, but you know what? That doesn't mean that we should just
neglect to preach the truth because we're afraid of offending people, because we want
to maximize our attendance, because we want to gear it toward the unsafe, because we want
to neglect everything external and only talk about the internal. But, you know, the external
does have an effect and it does matter. You know, as you study the Old Testament, a lot
of the things in the Old Testament no longer apply to us today. Things that were specifically
and listen to me now, only things that were specifically changed do not apply to us. Anything
that has not been specifically changed, Jesus said, I'm establishing the law, I'm not breaking
down the law or the prophets. We need to still believe it. Moses is red every week, he said,
and we need to follow it, but there are a lot of things that specifically change from
Old to New Testament. Like, for example, we don't offer sacrifices. That would specifically
change. We don't observe the Sabbath. Specifically tells us not to worry about keeping the Sabbath
in the New Testament. You know, what else has changed? The meats, the drinks, the divers
washing, the carnal ordinances. Back then you could only eat certain types of meat during
that time. Now we can eat all things. And they're all different things where he specifically
says that they've changed. Now one of those major things that has changed is the Levitical
priesthood. You know, we don't have a Levitical priesthood and a tabernacle and all that.
But does that mean that we still can't learn something from studying the Levitical priesthood?
Of course not, because the Bible teaches that all scripture is profitable for doctrine.
And you know, when I look at the Levitical priesthood, I notice that there's a whole
lot of discussion about what they wear, okay, and how they dress. And then there's one specific
thing that he brings up. And he says that they're not supposed to wear any material
that causes sweat. Does anybody ever remember reading that scripture? You know, it talks
about them not wearing a material that causes sweat. And he talks about how their garments
have to be clean and all this stuff. Now, obviously we're not going in and serving the
tabernacle and performing a sacrifice or lighting up incense. But, can't we learn from that
principle that when God was setting up people as leadership and when God is setting up people
to preach the Word of God and to teach the people and to be their leaders, that he wanted
them to at least take care of themselves in some degree? Because he's telling them to
bathe their flesh in water and not to wear anything that causes sweat, okay, when they
go in to minister. Why? What is wrong with sweating? The Bible said that when you go
to work, that you work by the sweat of your face. And God commands us to go out and work
and sweat, doesn't he? So why is he telling the priest that when he ministers not to wear
anything that causes sweat? What is the detriment of sweat? It stinks. It smells bad, right?
So why does he not want the priest to smell bad? Why does he not want the priest, because
look, when we go out to work, like for example, I was doing a little project around the house
yesterday. I had to fix some broken down things in my house. And so I was working,
and I became very sweaty. And not only that, but I was working with plumbing. And you know,
when you work with plumbing, you get into a lot of really gross things, right? Just
because the stuff sits in the pipes, and you know how pipes get gunked up? So I'm digging
stuff out of pipes. I'm digging sludge out of pipes. And so I was covered in sweat. I'm
also covered in sludge. And then I walked up to give my wife a hug. And my wife wanted
to give me a hug, and then as I got closer, she's like, what in the world? What is that
smell? Look, there's nothing in the world wrong with going out and smelling bad and
working hard and getting all sweaty and stinky, being a plumber or being an electrician or
being whatever. But you know what? Why did God not want them to wear something that makes
them stink when they're going in to minister? Because they want basically the people to
have respect for them. Because people don't respect somebody who's a slob, that's why.
Are you listening? You know, if they show up and they stink and their clothes are dirty
and they're not dressed nice, then basically people are going to look at them and they're
going to have disdain or lack of respect for them because they are not taking care of themselves.
You know, when we have leaders in this world, don't we expect them to take care of themselves
to a certain degree? I mean, for example, the President of the United States. What if
he went on TV and did a press conference and he's wearing a dirty shirt? He's got a big
stain on his shirt. Or he's just wearing t-shirt and sweatpants. And he's given a State of
the Union. You know, what do you expect him to wear? You know, you expect him to dress
nice. You expect him to wear a shirt, tie, a jacket just because of the fact that he's
in a formal setting. Now, if you were to come across him in an informal setting, you wouldn't
expect that necessarily. But wouldn't you still expect his clothes to be clean? You
know, maybe a tucked in polo shirt or something, just something classy, something clean, something
nice, not just to look totally slovenly and sluggardly. Look, what about the general in
the army? Would you expect the general to be just casualed out, slovenly, no, you wouldn't
expect that at all, would you? What about the boss at work? What about the owner of
the company? Is that how he dresses? You know, usually when you're in a store, you can tell
who the manager is, right? Why? Because they're dressed a little bit nicer than everybody
else. And by the way, if you work at your job and you want to become the manager, start
dressing nicer, they'll make you the manager because they'll look at you and think, this
guy looks like a manager. Seriously. It's true. You say, well, that's not in the Bible.
No, but if you're smart, you'll take the advice because, and by the way, even in your home,
I even have made a point in my home to dress nice even when I'm at home because I want
my wife and children to respect me. And you know, they don't always see me when I'm out
slogging and working hard and working my fingers to the bone somewhere. And they don't
always necessarily see me working hard and making all the money that I, you know, that
I make to provide. But when I'm at home, sometimes my tendency when I get home is, because it's
my day off, right, because I've been working hard and struggling, my tendency when I'm
at home is to just basically lounge around in like a t-shirt and shorts or something.
You know what I mean? Because you're just, you're just glad to be home, you're taking
it easy and lounging. But you know what, I found it helpful to just every day get dressed
and dress nice and put my shoes on every day and just look like I mean business and look
more serious. That has even caused me to get more respect in my own home. Why? Because,
you know, you don't want to be a slob anywhere. You don't want to be slob in any way. And
I'm not against athletic clothing if you're performing athletics, okay? But when you're
just wearing a sweat suit every day of your life, you're not going to get the same respect.
And you know what the thing is? This movement teaches that the pastor should come to church
as casual as he possibly can. That's what they teach. And I'm not saying that everybody
has to wear a shirt and tie or a suit. That's what I wear because this is, this is what
I consider nice clothing. And, you know, if I were in the Philippines or China or somewhere
else, you know, nice clothing would probably consist of something different. Or if I were
in Africa or something, nice clothing might look different than what it looks like, you
know, in the United States of America. But you know, this movement that tells the pastor
to come to church in flip flops, you know, wrinkled up cargo shorts, a graphic t-shirt
that's faded, hair punked out, he's trying to look like a teenager. I'm not trying to
look like a teenager. You know why? Because I don't want to be treated like a teenager.
You know, we know a pastor here in town and every time I see this guy he looks like a
rock star. He looks like a teenager. He dresses and looks like he's 15 years old. Well, you
know what? If you want to go to a church where the pastor dresses like he's 15, people are
going to start treating him like he's 15. And people aren't going to have any respect
for him. They're not going to respect what he's saying because if he looks like a joke,
they're going to start treating him like a joke. And so this carries across to every
area of life, my friend. You know, be serious about the way that you look because yes, the
outside does matter. Is the inside more important? It's 10 times more important. But don't fall
into this trap of completely neglecting your appearance and your wives, husbands, whatever.
You know, you just say, oh, well, I'm married to my wife. She's going to live with me for
the rest of her life anyway. I'm just going to just let myself go. I'm going to take a
shower every week whether I need it or not. You know, I'm not going to dress nice. I'm
not going to put on deodorant. I'm not going to brush my teeth. Who gives a rip? It's the
inside that counts. She better love me for who I am. I mean, wouldn't that be ridiculous?
And you know, this mentality that says, you know what, let's go to church, let's come
in our pajamas, let's come in our flip flops. The pastor's going to get up and he's wearing
a dirty pair of jeans, he's wearing trendy clothes that make him look like a teenager,
and then you wonder why people aren't taking the Word of God seriously. Because the pastor
is dressing like a teenager. And I'm not a teenager today. There was a time when I was
a teenager, okay? And if you would have known me when I was a teenager, I thought as a teenager,
I spake as a teenager, I understood as a teenager, and when I was a child, I spake as a child,
I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish
things. And this childish movement today, where the pastor, who is also known as the
elder, the elder of the church is standing up, dressed like a rebellious teenager, rocking
out like a teenager. It just shows a total lack of maturity, a total lack of seriousness,
and a total disdain for anything about keeping their external right. We don't care what you
look like, we don't care what the pastor looks like, it's just all about how cool and trendy
we can be. And we could drive around and go to all these churches and the pastor will
look the same in all of them in 2013, but five years ago he would have looked completely
different. And five years ago he would have looked completely different than that because
it's just whatever the trend is amongst teenagers. What kind of a backward society do we live
in, where we go down to the high school and look at how the teenagers are dressed, and
that's how I'm going to pattern my clothing. Now we ought to tell them how to dress. Pull
up your pants, quit wearing these tight little queer jeans that make you look like this bird-legged
little emo, queer little sissy, get a pair of pants that fits right, pull it up, button
your pants, buckle the belt, tuck in your shirt, wear clean clothes, comb your hair,
and quit looking like a slob. But you know what, if the pastor looks like a slob, well,
we're probably all going to look like a slob. And look, I don't primp and preen myself all
day, but you know what, I'm not going to look like a slob either. And I'm not going to dress
like a teenager either. And so you say, well Pastor Anderson, I disagree with everything
you preach. Well then, you know what, you're not going to have any problem finding a church.
If you disagree with my sermon this morning, you're going to have a really easy time finding
another church. Just go to the Yellow Pages and just find the biggest ad. Better yet,
go to your mailbox. It's right between the Burger King ad and the McDonald's ad, okay?
You'll find that invitation to that liberal megachurch. You know, go out, just drive down
the freeway, you'll see the billboards, and you can go rock out and you can hear the plan
of salvation one more time, but it's not going to have any doctrine. It's not going to tell
you how to be saved biblically. It'll just talk about Jesus dying on the cross. Because
you know, we can't offend the people who believe it's by works or that you can lose it or that
you have to repent of your sins or that you don't or that you have to be baptized or that
you don't or that it's faith alone or faith plus work. But you know what, you can go,
you can rock out, you can roll out of bed in your pajamas, you can show up, you can
jam for Jesus, you can juke and jive and gyrate, and then you can get your 15 minute sermon
on the love of Christ and you know what, Starbucks is in the lobby and it's a discounted
price. It's perfect. Or you can come to a real church where we actually read scores
of scriptures and learn biblical doctrines and actually care about every aspect of serving
God, not just salvation but also living the life, getting the inside right, and then getting
the outside right as a result. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we
thank you so much for your word and we thank you so much that you set us an example by
not worrying about offending people, not really caring what the attendance was. You just said,
well, you want to go away also? Help us to not get sucked into this modern church movement.
Help Faithful Word Baptist Church to never go down that route. And help us to stay old
fashioned and stay traditional and stay conservative and not become this liberal, modernistic,
contemporary type of a church.