I'm not going to lie, I'm not going to lie.
I'm not going to lie.
I turn to song number 328 in your red or green hymnal.
328, I Want That Mountain.
Welcome to Shure Foundation Baptist Church.
I want that mountain on the first.
I saw the giant of prayerlessness upon the mountain high.
He laughed so hard at my amended name.
No longer in the wilderness self stays, so I cry.
I want that mountain.
It belongs to me.
I want that mountain.
Where the milk and honey flow, where the grapes of vegetable grow.
I want that mountain.
That mountain that my Lord has given me.
There was a giant of laziness who said I wouldn't go.
And witness for the one who set me free.
I'll come from out the wilderness.
I'll witness now I know.
I want that mountain.
It belongs to me.
I want that mountain.
Where the milk and honey flow, where the grapes of vegetable grow.
I want that mountain.
The mountain that my Lord has given me.
One faithless giant upon the crest of any bronze lift he cried.
Has vowed that he's the one to make me flee.
I'll come from out the wilderness and trust Jehovah's might.
I want that mountain.
It belongs to me.
I want that mountain.
Where the milk and honey flow, where the grapes of vegetable grow.
I want that mountain.
The mountain that my Lord has given me.
On the last, let every giant of distress and unbelief end in sin.
Get ready now to vacate for you see.
I've come from out the wilderness.
I know I'm going to win.
I want that mountain.
It belongs to me.
I want that mountain.
Where the milk and honey flow, where the grapes of vegetable grow.
I want that mountain.
The mountain that my Lord has given me.
Brother Brandon, will you open us in a word of prayer?
Amen.
Turn your hymnals to song number 364.
Song number 364, Standing on the Promises.
364 on the first.
Standing on the promises of Christ my King.
Through eternal ages let his praises ring.
Glory in the highest I will shout and sing.
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing, standing.
Standing on the promises of God my Savior.
Standing, standing.
I'm standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises that cannot fail.
When the howling storm of doubt and fear assail.
By the living Word of God I shall prevail.
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing, standing.
Standing on the promises of God my Savior.
Standing, standing.
I'm standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord.
Bound to him eternally by love's strong core.
Overcoming daily with the Spirit's sword.
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing, standing.
Standing on the promises of God my Savior.
Standing, standing.
I'm standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises I cannot fail.
Listening to him open to the Spirit's call.
Resting in my Savior as my all in all.
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing, standing.
Standing on the promises of God my Savior.
Standing, standing.
I'm standing on the promises of God.
I love our announcements.
Alright, welcome to Sure Foundation Baptist Church for the midweek service.
If you don't have a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand and we'll get you a bulletin.
Alright, on the front cover of the bulletin we have our verse of the week.
The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.
And that's Proverbs 18, 15.
And then we have a special guest preacher tonight, Pastor Anderson.
Pastor Thompson is at the Red Hot Preaching Conference.
I'm very glad that the righteous remnant stayed here.
No, I'm kidding.
As you can see, we're not filled out as we usually are.
A lot of people are down at the Red Hot.
And we get a treat of having Pastor Anderson preach to us tonight.
If you open up your bulletin, we've got the service times and the soul winning times.
And soul winning, did we get anyone?
No, no one for soul winning? Okay, alright.
Then we've got the salvations for July, salvations for June.
And then year to date, baptisms and the attendance.
And if you look over at the upcoming events, starting July 20th, that's Pastor Anderson, that's today.
And then July 20th through 23rd is the 8th annual Red Hot Preaching Conference.
And July 28th through 30th is our five year anniversary.
It's your Foundation Baptist Church.
Pastor Roger Jimenez is going to be preaching at 7 p.m. on Friday?
Yeah, Pastor Roger Jimenez is going to be here on Friday, 7 p.m.
Okay, I actually have to read it.
And then of course we're going to have soul winning, a couple little marathons on Saturday.
And then we're going to do a lunch starting at 1.30.
And we're going to have the bounce house.
And then we're going to have the return of the mechanical bull.
So if you didn't get to ride the mechanical bull the first time, I highly recommend it.
Even though it just kind of spun me off.
But that's going to be a lot of fun for our anniversary.
And then the guest preacher on that Sunday is going to be evangelist Winfield Fisher.
August 3rd through 6th is the Toronto Soul Winning Trip.
And October 12th through 15th is the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship at Steadfast Baptist Church.
And then November 8th through 12th is the Faithful Word Baptist Church Missions Conference.
So make your plans for both of those.
You know, get your hotel rooms or Airbnbs or whatever you have to do.
We're a family integrated church.
Children and infants are welcome in the church services we have available for your family.
A mother baby room and dad baby room.
And then please reserve the back rows for families with young children.
Rockers and gliders are for pregnant nursing mothers and elders only.
No men are allowed in the mother baby rooms and no unattended children in any area of the building.
Please no food or drink in the assembly area and silence your cell phones if you haven't already.
Just a friendly reminder.
Escorts and help to your vehicle by the ushers upon request.
It shouldn't be dark. I don't know. I don't know how long Pastor Anderson's planning on going.
But if you need someone to...
Alright, alright. Praise God.
But if you need an escort out to your vehicle, just grab one of the ushers.
Either me or Brother Robert or one of the other guys in the suit and we'll walk you out to your vehicle.
And then the text giving number, the tithes and offerings for July.
And then birthday is now... Miss Annie, did we sing for you on Sunday?
Okay, alright. I wanted to make sure.
Okay, and I think that's it.
So we'll go ahead and have one more song and then take the offering.
Turn in your hymnals to song number 229, Since I Have Been Redeemed.
229.
229, Since I Have Been Redeemed.
On the first, I have a song I love to sing, Since I have been redeemed.
Of my Redeemer, Savior, King, Since I have been redeemed.
Since I have been redeemed, Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in His name.
Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in my Savior's name.
I have a Christ that satisfies, Since I have been redeemed.
To do His will, my highest prize, Since I have been redeemed.
Since I have been redeemed, Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in His name.
Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in my Savior's name.
I have a witness, bright and clear, Since I have been redeemed.
Dispelling every doubt and fear, Since I have been redeemed.
Since I have been redeemed, Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in His name.
Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in my Savior's name.
I have a home prepared for me, Since I have been redeemed.
Where I shall dwell eternally, Since I have been redeemed.
Since I have been redeemed, Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in His name.
Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in my Savior's name.
We'll have our ushers come forth to receive the offering.
Brother Sean, will you bless the offering?
Lord, thank you so much for this day. Thank you, Lord, so much for coming here to listen to Wood Creek.
I pray that you would bless this offering.
I pray that you would bless this offering. I pray that you would bless this offering.
Titus 1, the Bible reads, Paul, a servant of God and apostle of Jesus Christ,
according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness,
in hope of eternal life which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began,
but hath in due times manifest his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior.
To Titus, mine own son after the common faith, grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.
For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting,
and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee.
If any, be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly.
For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry,
not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre, but a lover of hospitality,
a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate, holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught,
so that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision,
whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake.
One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,
not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth.
Under the pure, all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure,
but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient,
and unto every good work reprobate.
Brother Timo, will you pray for us?
Men, well I'm happy to be here tonight.
I know the Red Hot Preaching Conference is going on and a lot of the people are down there.
I'm your consolation speaker.
I'm here to try to make it less painful for you that you're not down there, so hopefully I can do a good job tonight.
But I'm just glad that I have someone to preach to tonight, right?
If you were all down there, then who would I preach to?
And so we're in Titus chapter 1 tonight, and I'm focusing in on the verse that is the theme verse for our church, actually.
Faithful Word Baptist Church is the name of the church that I pastor in Phoenix, of course.
But it says in verse 9, holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught,
that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
And I'm going to put this verse in a little bit of context tonight,
because what I've been doing in this series, I've been going through the Pastoral Epistles.
On this road trip, of course we're just coming from Spokane.
We're heading next to Sacramento, then to Fresno, then to Los Angeles.
And I'm going through the Pastoral Epistles because I'm preaching 14 sermons and there are 14 chapters.
And what I've been trying to do on this series is really put things in context,
because the Pastoral Epistles are just packed with all these really punchy quotes that we hear all the time
and that are constantly being preached on.
But sometimes we need to just kind of look at the greater context, though,
and understand what's the big picture of each chapter.
And that's what I've been doing in this series. That's what I want to try to do tonight.
Because when we hear this verse, holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, and so forth,
sometimes we might forget that the context of this powerful verse is that it's actually in the context of the qualifications for the pastor.
The qualifications for the bishop.
The pastor must be someone who is holding fast to the faithful word.
Because if you back up to verse number seven, it says,
a bishop must be blameless, and it lists all these different qualifications.
You know, verse eight, lover of hospitality, lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate.
And then it's still on that same verb, must be.
The bishop must be holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught.
Now, what does that mean, the faithful word?
Well, faithful means trustworthy or reliable.
It basically means something that we can put our faith in. We can trust it, right?
But the Bible here says that the faithful word is that which he has been taught.
Now, obviously for us, in the English language, in 2023 America, we're talking about the King James Bible.
Specifically, in our language, that is the faithful word.
That's the one that is reliable. That's the one that we can trust.
And that's the one that we have been taught.
You see, the Bible of the Month Club, they can't really be said to be holding to the faithful word as they've been taught.
Because even in the churches that are promoting the ESV, that's not what they grew up with.
They grew up with the New American Standard.
Even the ones who are in the NIV church, they didn't grow up with the 2011 NIV.
They grew up with the 1984 NIV.
And that's not just some minor difference.
I mean, there are dramatic differences between the 1984 NIV and the 2011 NIV.
And if you ask the editors themselves, what's the big difference between these two,
they'll say, well, one of the big differences is that the 2011 NIV has gone much more gender neutral.
I mean, I watched a YouTube video from the makers of the NIV explaining it and promoting it.
And how the 2011 edition is so much better because it's just so much more gender neutral.
It doesn't use these darned masculine pronouns for everything.
Almost as if the church is supposed to be led by men or that men are supposed to be the leaders or something.
We want to just kind of get rid of that and go more gender neutral because I guess these masculine pronouns
that are of course found in the original Greek and of course used in the King James Bible and every other traditional Bible,
they just bother women apparently, just seeing all these masculine.
But they're not smart enough to figure out that if it says he, that could refer to male or female sometimes.
If it says, you know, happy is the man, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.
They don't think women are smart enough to know that if blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
that that also means that the woman who doesn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly is also going to be blessed.
So we have to just change all the pronouns so it's just like blessed is the person that does not walk, you know.
Instead of he has showed the old man what is good and what did the Lord require, he has showed the old human one.
I'm not kidding. That's a literal quote from these modern versions.
He has showed the old human one. Take me to your leader. Greetings. We come in peace.
White man, black man, yellow man, we come in peace. You know, what is that? Human one.
Okay, it's stupid is what it is. Okay, so I was just talking to my brother recently.
He told me that a pastor was preaching and instead of, you know, peace be still, it was be muzzled.
He said to the winds and the waves, be muzzled. Were you there for that one? Yeah. Can I get a witness?
You know, be muzzled. I mean, who in their right minds thinks that Jesus Christ standing on that boat literally said be muzzled?
But you know, that's what the Greek word literally means. Yeah, if you're an idiot who doesn't actually know Greek and thinks that words only have one meaning, yeah.
But actually the King James translators were a little bit beyond your schoolboy Greek and they actually know that that word has other definitions like shut up, be still, peace, be quiet, not be muzzled human one.
Okay, but that's the kind of garbage that we have today, this kind of gender neutral garbage just because like, oh, why is the Bible saying he so many times?
He, him, it's just, you know, it's just kind of like too male oriented. Well, that's what it is. That's the book that God wrote.
I think that we're all smart enough here to know that if the Bible says, chasten thy son while there's hope, we know that we're supposed to discipline our daughters as well.
I think we're all smart enough to know that as many as received him, to them gave you power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
We all know that women can also become the daughters of God, right, without having to make some weird awkward translation because we live in some pronoun obsessed, gender bending weirdo society where everybody's just so sensitive like, oh, it's too masculine, too much toxic masculinity, you know.
Look, the Bible of the Month Club, they're not holding the faithful word as they've been taught because their Bible didn't even exist when they were growing up.
The ESV didn't even exist when they were growing up. The NIV that they use hadn't even been translated yet when they were growing up and it's constantly changing.
And here's the thing, it's not like, well, but now it's settled, you know. It's not like, well, I was born in 1590 and the King James came out in 1611 and so now I'm on the King James, it's settled.
No, no, no, it's not settled. It'll never stop. There's going to be another ESV, another NIV. The Bibles are going to keep changing, keep changing.
They're not even, I mean, look, the editors of the ESV literally claimed like this is the last ESV and it took them less than six months to say, nope, there's going to be another one.
We've got to change it. We've got to keep updating it. It will never stop, my friend. The Bible versions that were out in the 60s and 70s are totally different than the Bible versions that are out now.
And 20, 30, 40 years from now, it's going to be a whole other landscape of Bible versions, but some of us are over here holding fast to the faithful word as we've been taught the traditional text of scripture, the King James Bible that has stayed the same for the last 400 and some odd years.
Tried, tested, true, reliable, faithful. Not only that, it goes further than that because this is just an English translation. What about the underlying text?
Hey, the King James is translated from the traditional Greek text, the traditional Hebrew text that has been passed on, so even before there ever was an English language, this is still the same Bible people have been using.
That received text in both Old and New Testaments. And so the faithful word is what he has been taught. He's holding fast to it. What does it mean to hold fast?
It means to hold on tight, not just be ready like, oh, there's a new one? Cool. That one says Yahweh? Well, that's cool. No, it isn't cool.
We need to stay with the tried and the true. And you know, this is something that Paul really emphasizes to Timothy and Titus both in his pastoral epistles is just, man, stay with the tried and the true, the word of God, the doctrine that you've been taught.
Don't be carried about with divers and strange doctrines. Don't go off on all of these trendy, cute little things.
Let's kind of compare the epistle to Titus here a little bit with what Paul wrote to Timothy because, again, we're putting this in context. It's a qualification for the bishop that he hold fast the faithful word.
Back up to Titus chapter one, verse five, okay? And the first four verses are just sort of a greeting. Of course, we read it all before the service. But in verse five, it says,
For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee.
And he's saying, look, let's ordain some elders, and we need some guys that are holding fast to the faithful word as they've been taught. Okay?
Now, let's compare that. Keep your finger there. Go to 1 Timothy chapter one. Okay? So you've got a finger in Titus. 1 Timothy one.
So Titus, he said, I left you in Crete so you could ordain elders in every city and that they would be holding fast the faithful word as they've been taught. Okay?
Now, look at 1 Timothy chapter one, verse three, and he writes to his other young protégé in the ministry,
As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus. Isn't that similar to saying, you know, hey, I left you in Crete.
He's like, hey, I talked you into staying in Ephesus. I besought you. I asked you or, you know, wanted you to stay in Ephesus when I went into Macedonia,
that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine. Right?
Stay with the tried and the true, the Word of God, not getting carried about with divers and strange doctrines.
He doesn't want them to get sucked into heresy. What's the specific heresy? Well, we'll get into that in Titus, but it says in verse four, where you are there,
Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith. So do.
So he's saying there, you know, people are coming at you with genealogies. Who do you think's coming at him with a genealogy?
Do you think that that's Greek people? That's the Jews, right? Because they're so into their ethnicity.
And elsewhere fables is called Jewish fables elsewhere. Okay, if we were to get that in context.
So we see that similarity there. Okay, now let's flip over to 2 Timothy, because we're kind of just comparing some things to the epistles to Timothy.
Look what it says in verse 13 of chapter 1, 2 Timothy 1.13. Hold fast. Now what did the Bible say? Holding fast the faithful word.
Here it says, Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus,
that good thing which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost which dwells in us. Hold fast the form of sound words.
Holding fast the faithful word. Look at chapter 3 of 2 Timothy, verse 14.
But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned.
He's saying, look, you know where this doctrine came from. You know where your Bible came from.
You know where my teaching and my preaching came from. You know me. You know who I am. Right? That's what the Apostle Paul is saying.
Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them,
and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
And so we see, again, this idea of holding on to that which you've received, the traditions that have been passed down.
The Bible says, Therefore, beloved, stand fast and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word or our epistle.
Now, when we hear the word tradition, a lot of times we think it's a bad thing.
Because the Bible does talk a lot about people who will make the word of God of none effect through their tradition.
They'll void the word of God with their tradition. Any tradition that voids Scripture is obviously a bad tradition,
but there could also be a lot of good traditions. Right?
Where good, sound doctrine and good methods and biblical things are passed down from parents to their children.
Passed down from one church to the next. And so we want a traditional Bible.
We do want to go to a traditional church because we want to continue in the things that we've heard and the continuing things we've learned,
knowing of whom we've learned them, knowing of whom we've been assured of these things.
We know this Bible. We know where it comes from. I wonder where do the new Bibles come from?
I wonder if most people who are using these new Bibles that keep coming out, I wonder if they really know where they come from.
Right? Like, what is the, here's a fancy word for you, what is the provenance of these Bibles? Where do they come from?
And here's the thing about that, is that these unearthed archaeological finds of older and better manuscripts, nobody knows where they came from.
You know, and you can say, well, yeah, sure, we know where they came from, you know, Sinai Atticus.
Because, you know, two of the most important texts are, of course, Sinai Atticus and Vaticanus.
Well, of course, we know, you know, Sinai Atticus was found in a monastery, you know, at Mount Sinai.
Okay. But here's the thing about that, like, yeah, but where did it come from before that?
Because it supposedly is from the 4th century AD, and it was found in the 19th century.
So, 1500 years, what's it been doing? Where did it come from?
You know, who wrote this text? Who used it? Was it ever used in preaching?
Was there ever a church that ever preached out of this thing?
Or was this thing just sitting in this monastery, literally in the trash, okay?
You know, just in a pile of junk, and a scholar named Tischendorf found it.
But stop and think, it's like, where did it come from? Like, who wrote it? What church did it come from?
You know, at least our Bible, we could actually trace and figure out, okay, this thing's been passed down,
people have been using this, people have been reading it, people have been preaching it.
Not just like, we dig up this thing, and for like 1500 years, where's this thing been at?
We don't know. What's it been doing? What's it been used for?
Who originally wrote this thing, or commissioned this thing, or what is it?
You know, and then same thing with Vaticanus. You know, it's produced out of the Vatican library,
but why all of a sudden does it just get pulled out in the 19th century?
You know, why all of a sudden does it just become a thing in modern times?
And, you know, what was it doing for the rest of history?
No, we don't know. Who knows?
You know, all these changes that are constantly happening in the modern Bible versions, who's behind them?
Who decides what goes into the Nestle Alonde 29th edition of the Greek New Testament?
30th edition, 31st edition, 32nd, who are these people?
You know, most people don't have any idea, right?
You know, I would rather go with the faithful word, as I've been taught, the traditional text.
I know where it came from. I know God's been using it.
I know that there's been spirit-filled preaching coming out of the King James Version.
Multitudes being saved from the King James Version.
I got saved from the King James Version. You got saved from the King James Version.
We've all heard wonderful preaching. We've seen great soul-winning movements come out of the King James Version.
What came out of the Legacy Standard Bible?
Which replaces Lord with Yahweh over 7,000 times.
What is the great work for God that has come out of this brand new Bible that makes this dramatic change,
literally changing the name of God to something that has been unknown in English-speaking Christianity, virtually unknown?
Except a few eggheads in a university who sit around trying to figure out how something was pronounced thousands of years ago,
which is literally impossible to figure out. It's literally impossible to figure out.
But I digress. Let's go back to Titus.
Titus, chapter 1, verse 9, holding fast the faithful word as he had been taught.
Why? Why is it important that he may be able to, by sound doctrine,
both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. Now, what are the gainsayers?
The gainsayers are the people who would speak against right doctrine. They would teach lies and teach heresy.
It's the people that Paul was warning Timothy about, these people that are trying to teach some other doctrine,
and they're trying to get people to go after fables and genealogies and so forth.
He's saying, you know, you've got to be able to take this book as a preacher and exhort and convince the gainsayers.
You know, that means that as preachers, it's our job not to just preach to the choir,
but we should be trying to convince people out there in this world that Bible truth is still Bible truth.
Going out and getting people saved, going out and getting people to understand what right biblical doctrine is in 2023,
and fighting against whatever heresy is out there, okay?
So a lot of people think that we should just get up and just tell the truth,
but that we don't necessarily need to fight against the wrong doctrine.
You know, I remember when I was a young man and I was starting out preaching in a nursing home as a ministry of our church,
and the nursing home ministry director didn't approve of the way that I was preaching because I was preaching against things.
And I preached against Roman Catholicism.
And he took me aside and he said, you know, he said, you can't preach against Catholicism like that.
Now, here's the thing. Obviously, I understand obeying your elders and obeying those that are in authority,
but here's the thing. The pastor of the church is literally just ripping face three times a week.
And I mean, he's ripping on Catholicism. He's ripping on everything.
And then it's like this other underling guy is kind of like, hey, we don't, you know, we don't do that here.
So I was submitting to the higher power. I was obeying the higher power.
I wasn't like doing something against what the pastor would have wanted or what the church stood for.
The church stood for hard preaching in general, and the pastor was ripping it up three times a week, okay?
So I didn't, you know, this guy, he tells me, hey, you know, you don't need to preach against anything like a false religion.
He said, just tell people the truth. Just speak the truth. Just speak right doctrine.
You don't have to say this other religion's wrong. You know, you just say what's right. That's it.
And then let people figure it out. You know, you don't have to say, well, the Catholics are doing this and this is why.
He said, all you have to do is just say salvation is by faith. We don't have to do anything else.
So he gave me this big speech, and I, you know, I listened to him, and I was like, okay, you know, all right.
So the next time it was my turn to preach, I get up, and I just followed his instructions to a T.
And I get up, and I'm just, you know, and I literally made it, like all the examples he gave me, I said those exact things that he told me to say.
Like, he's like, you know, you could say something like this. So I just say everything, because this is like a nursing home.
It's like a 15-minute sermon. And I just get up, and I'm basically going through and saying, hey, you know, it's all by faith.
And, you know, there's one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, you know, hint, hint, wink, wink, nod, nod, you know.
But I basically, I just did it, and the guy's just sitting there just smiling the whole time, this guy.
And he's just smiling like, that a boy, good boy, that's a good boy.
And I'm getting up there, and I'm preaching, and then I get to the very end of my, I get to the very, there's like two minutes left in the sermon,
and I just look right at the guy, and I just say, let me tell you something about the Roman Catholic Church.
I said the Roman Catholic Church teaches the opposite of everything I just said.
They teach that you do have to confess your sins and do the sacraments, all these, everything.
And I just did it all in like the last two minutes, and afterward the guy comes up to me,
and I was wondering like, what's this guy going to say to me, because, you know, and he's just like, good job.
I'm just like, okay.
But here's the thing, I read the New Testament, you know what I see the Apostle Paul saying?
He's saying, hey, here's the names of the false teachers to avoid.
You know, Phygelus, and Hermogenes, and Alexander the coppersmith, and he's listing off the false teachers.
He's saying, these people have erred concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection has passed already.
They overthrow the faith of some. Here are their names. Phygelus, Hermogenes.
He called it out. He warned them about false teachers.
He says, look, you've got to hold fast the faithful word. Why? Look at verse 10.
Because there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers,
especially they of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped.
We're going to shut these people's mouths, he says, with the Word of God, with biblical truth.
And so whatever heresy that's out there, we need to shut their mouths.
Right? We need to exhort and convince the gainsayers.
Many people are on the fence. We want to bring them over to our side, right?
People that are deceived by Catholicism. But you know what? We need to call out Islam.
We need to call out Roman Catholicism. We need to call out the Seventh-day Adventists.
We need to call out the Mormons. Call out the Jehovah's Witnesses. Why?
Because all of the above are teaching damnable heresy, and they're not saved.
Now look, there are a lot of evangelical Christians that are saved that we disagree with, right?
You know, on lesser points, or on non-essentials.
But let me tell you something. There are some damnable heretics out there
denying the Trinity, denying the deity of Christ, and teaching, you know, horrible things.
You know, teaching to worship Mary, and to go through Mary.
No man cometh unto the Father but through Jesus.
There's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
And we need men of God, pastors who are holding fast the faithful word,
who are able by sound doctrine to exhort and to convince the gainsayers,
the people that speak against sound doctrine, the people that speak against the truth,
the people that speak heresy. They need to be confronted with the truth,
and their mouths need to be stopped. We need to shut them down.
Now look, obviously we don't necessarily have the power to stop the mouths of every false teacher,
but that's the goal.
I mean, look, what did the Bible say about John the Baptist?
You know, he came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe.
That's the purpose of John the Baptist's coming, that all men through him might believe.
Now, did everybody get saved through John the Baptist? Did the whole world get saved? No.
But the goal is to get everybody saved, right?
And obviously, most people are not going to be saved because broad is the way that leads to destruction.
But don't we still have a goal to go out and get everybody saved? That's the goal, right?
But obviously, we know that broad is the way that leads to destruction.
And so, obviously we know we're not going to be able to literally shut down Mormonism
or shut down the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Seventh-day Adventists,
but you know, we'd sure like to, and that's what we're trying to do. That's the goal.
And maybe some of these false prophets and false teachers, if enough pastors would get up
and rail on them and rebuke them, then you know what they would probably do?
They'd probably close their doors eventually because they'd just get so exposed and so wrecked
that they just can't even continue. You know, if everybody were just exposing them that hard, think about it.
But either way, whether it happens or not, it's the goal. It's like we want to get all people saved.
God will have all men to be saved. He wants all men to be saved.
He's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Well, God's will is that the mouth of false prophets will be stopped
or at least that they'll be made to look so stupid that people don't fall for their garbage.
You know, I just had somebody come up to me even on this trip and say,
hey man, I was mixed up in the Hebrew Roots movement and thank you for rebuking that.
Thank you for preaching against that because I heard that preaching and I got out of that false wrong movement.
And so that's our job as preachers is to call out false religion, rebuke the heresies of this world.
And we need to use the faithful word to do it. We need a Bible that we can trust, that we can rely on.
The right Bible, not a fraudulent counterfeit Bible of the month club Bible.
Because there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers out there.
And by the way, especially of the circumcision, Jews, anyone?
You know, but how many preachers will even, preachers are like afraid to even say that.
Oh, that's antisemitic or something.
We're just reading the Bible here. Is everybody okay?
You know, it's what the Bible says, especially they have the circumcision.
Translation, Jews.
And what are these Jews saying?
Well, first of all, they need to have their mouths stopped.
They subvert whole houses, right?
So they're leading families astray, teaching things what they ought not for filthy, lucre sake.
Now, I can't imagine Jews being motivated by money, but apparently that's a thing.
And then the Bible says, whose mouths must be stopped, whose subvert whole houses,
teaching things what they ought not for filthy, lucre sake.
Lucre means money.
Like, lucrative, right?
Ah, that's too archaic. We get a vocabulary, buddy.
One of themselves, even a prophet of their own.
Now, let's read this slowly so that we don't misunderstand it, right?
One of themselves, even a prophet of their own.
Because I misunderstood this for a long time, so I want to make sure we get this right.
A prophet of whose own?
Those of the circumcision, right?
Many unruly and vain talkers, especially those of the circumcision,
one of themselves, right?
So one of those prophets of the circumcision said,
The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
Now, this fits within the context of the New Testament in general,
and it fits in the context of this chapter,
that Jews would somehow be negative toward Gentiles in general.
Just, all Gentiles are bad, Greeks are bad.
And in fact, they would take it so far as to say that Gentiles are unclean.
They are just unclean people.
We can't even eat with them.
We can't have anything to do with them.
They're unclean.
We're holy and separate and different, and we cannot have anything to do with them.
And so it makes sense that they would pull out this little saying, or whatever,
and people will try to claim that this saying came from pagan literature,
and obviously a lot of the evidence for that is, of course, coming after the New Testament's written,
so some of it is suspect.
But let's just say it is a pagan quote.
Because it is true that if you read ancient Greek mythology,
there are references to Greek, or excuse me,
Cretan people being known for lying or something.
You know, you can find some references, not necessarily this exact quote,
but you'll find just stuff about Cretans like,
okay, let's just say for a moment that this is some pagan quote.
Are we talking about pagans in the context?
No, we're talking about people of the circumcision,
even if the quote came from pagan,
they're pulling out this quote and using it and saying,
the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, low bellies,
we're better than the Cretans, we're Jews, and these stinking Cretans, they're all liars.
Now, what does he say next? He says,
this witness is true.
Now, look, I've had some people misunderstand this,
and I misunderstood this the first time I read it as a child, as a teenager.
I read this, and I thought, because I wasn't getting the picture of what was being said,
and probably because I'd been so programmed and brainwashed that, like, the Jews are wonderful,
that basically I thought, when it said this witness is true,
I thought it was saying, like, yeah, it's true that the Cretans are always liars.
But now I'm kind of a little embarrassed to say that I actually thought that that's what that meant when I was growing up,
because once you know the truth and understand this passage, it's kind of absurd
that God would just label this group of people and single out just the Cretans
when the context is literally about the people of the circumcision saying this stuff.
It makes a lot more sense to actually understand.
And, you know, my pastor in Sacramento, when I was a teenager, you know, he preached this correctly,
and I was like, oh, whoa, yeah, you're right, whoops.
Because he said, no, no, no, this witness is true.
He's saying my testimony that I'm giving you right now, that this is what their preachers are preaching, is true.
I'm not falsely accusing them of claiming that the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
He's saying, no, no, this witness is true, therefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith.
And then, look, just to prove that I'm right, that we're still talking about Jews not giving heed to Jewish fables.
So, it's not like, okay, we're talking about Jews, now let's just have a random thing about pagans,
now let's go back to talking about the Jews.
But literally, you look at Bible commentaries, they'll literally claim that Paul is saying it's true about the Cretans,
and it makes no sense, because he started out saying those of the circumcision,
and then he says rebuke them sharply so they don't give heed to Jewish fables.
So, when you slow down and actually get the context, it's not even controversial, it's just fact.
Fact is that the witness that's true is that they said that, and that's why they need to be rebuked sharply.
Now, what do we do with a verse like this? Rebuke them sharply.
Obviously, a lot of people will point to other verses in the Bible that say,
in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle to all men.
There are lots of verses about being gentle, and kind, and so forth,
and here's what I find that a lot of people like to do.
They like to pick, when there are two things in the Bible that seem to be saying two different things,
here's what they do, they kind of just pick the one they like and ignore the other one.
And that's the wrong way to read the Bible, because everything in the Bible is true.
The part about being kind and gentle is true, and the part about rebuking people sharply, they both have to be true.
So don't just be like, well, you know what, I'm kind of a mean person,
so I'm just going to only look at the rebuke them sharply part,
and just totally forget about the gentleness, and kindness, and meekness.
And there are people like that, and I'm just going to rip everybody's head off.
But then there are a lot more people who say, well, I'm just going to home in on the gentleness,
and just pretend that this rebuking them sharply doesn't exist,
and just say, well, it's never right to rebuke anyone sharply for any reason.
That's just wrong. We need both.
Here's the true story, my friend, is that people that are deceived,
people who are just Joe church member,
people who are just following these religions and don't know better,
those are the people who want to meekly and gently instruct.
The architects of these religions, the ones who are propagating this,
the preachers, and the leaders, and the president of the Mormon church,
and the archbishop of the Catholic church, and the priest of the local church,
teaching Catholicism and everything, those are the people that need to be rebuked sharply.
You know, the parishioners, hey, forgive them for they know not what they do.
See how now both are true, instead of us having to just pick one and discard the other?
No, all of God's word is true.
And so isn't it amazing today how many pastors,
they won't rebuke anything sharply ever for any reason, and it's wrong.
They're not qualified.
I mean, look, part of the qualification is that you're holding fast the faithful word.
Guy who's on the NIV ESV train, he's all excited about the Legacy Standard Bible,
you know, he's not even qualified because he's not even holding fast the faithful word.
He's got an ever-changing Bible where things are disappearing and being added constantly.
Okay.
But not only that, in order for us to be doing our job as pastors, we have to rebuke false religion sharply.
And you know, there's another word for that, it's called hard preaching.
Right? Not just getting up and being soft and saying,
well, you know, I mean, the Catholic church, you know, it's like, NO!
What does sharp mean? Pointy.
I'm just talking about the word sharp. You know, it's pointy.
It's something that kind of, Ouch!
Right? Hey, that's how preaching should feel sometimes.
A little bit of a stab, a little bit of a point.
And by the way, when the Bible talks about preaching, in Ecclesiastes chapter 12,
it talks about how preaching is like an ox goad, which is basically like a stabby pointy thing.
It's like poking people. Hey, wake up! You know?
And poking people, and you say, well, you know, sometimes hard preaching makes me a little uncomfortable.
Well, good.
Because if you're just always comfortable all the time with all the preaching you're hearing,
well, then it's probably not hard preaching.
And sometimes some sharp rebukes are going to come forth,
and maybe some people kind of wince a little bit, and maybe they're not used to this kind of preaching,
and then they show up for the first time in independent Baptist church,
and they're a little shocked, maybe, because they're just so used to watered down, soft,
everything's a rounded edge, dulled, blunt edge Baptist.
Blunt edge Baptist church isn't rebuking anybody sharply.
But some people need a sharp rebuke.
Jesus Christ rebuked the Pharisees sharply.
He rebuked the Sadducees sharply.
He rebuked the lawyers sharply.
But then you see him being kind and gentle and loving and meek.
So apparently he had this balance down because he's the perfect, sinless son of God.
And so it says here, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith.
And again, the they here, I don't believe that the they here is referring to the false teachers,
because I think no matter how sharply you rebuke the false teachers,
they're not going to be sound in the faith.
Because the Bible teaches elsewhere in many places that the false teachers tend to be reprobates.
But rather, the Bible says that the false teachers subvert whole houses.
And so it's rebuke them, the false teachers, sharply so that they,
the whole houses that are being deceived and subverted by these people, may be sound in the faith.
So that their victims would be sound in faith.
Rebuke them sharply.
You see, if I'm rebuking the pope, if I get up and say that the pope is the vicar of hell,
is it because I want the pope to call me up tomorrow and be like, hey, I heard your sermon?
I mean, I don't know, is the pope, you know, I don't know, does the pope speak English?
Because I think the pope is from like South America.
Is it still Pope Francis?
Does that still wish pope were on?
You know, I don't know if he's going to call me up speaking Italian or Latin or Spanish and be like, mama mia.
What must I do to be saved, Pastor Anderson?
I heard your sermon and you're so right.
How can I be praying to Mary?
What in the world?
I listened to your sermon on worshipping Mary and I'm ready to get saved.
Is there any chance that that would happen?
Is there any chance that the pope will get saved and become a Baptist?
It will not happen.
It cannot happen.
It has never happened.
Some bozos will probably be like, whoa, it could happen.
Get real, man.
I'm more likely to get struck by lightning like 40 times in a row and survive.
Actually, it's just, make it 4,000 because it just can't happen.
It's just literally impossible.
Okay, so why am I preaching against the pope?
Because I'm trying to fix the pope.
And here's what's funny.
There will be some horrible, damnable, reprobate, false prophet and people are like,
hey, you should have gone to him and talked to him and tried.
Why?
He's a reprobate.
I'm trying to rebuke him sharply, not for his sake.
I'm rebuking him sharply so that Catholics can get saved.
Because I guarantee you that there are Catholics who watched my sermon
called Pope Francis and His Lies that got saved.
I heard from Catholics who got saved.
Pope Francis and His Lies.
But Pope Francis didn't get saved.
Okay, so if I'm preaching against Mormonism,
I'm not expecting the quorum of 12 to get saved
or the president of the Mormon Church to get saved.
If I'm preaching against these religions, I'm not expecting the leadership in these.
No, I'm rebuking and calling out Kenneth Copeland
not because I want Kenneth Copeland to get saved.
It's because I'm trying to reach his followers.
I'm rebuking them sharply so that they can be sound in faith.
And here, again, you're like, well, is that what that pronoun is referring to?
Let's get the context.
The context fixes everything, folks.
It says that they, how do we know who the they is?
How do we know I'm right about this pronoun?
Because let's keep reading.
That they may be sound in faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables
and commandments of men that turn from the truth.
So we have whole houses giving heed to this junk.
They need to be sound in faith so that they don't give heed to the Jewish fables
and the commandments of men that turn from the truth.
The men that turn from the truth are the vain talkers, the unruly deceivers,
and we're trying to get people not to give heed to those people.
Does everybody see how the context bears that out?
And then he says this in verse 15,
unto the pure, all things are pure,
but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure,
but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
Now this is another just kind of great quotable verse
that we could use in a lot of different ways,
but in context, here's what it is.
It's people that are being called unclean.
It's the Greeks.
It's the Cretans that are being called unclean.
And how do I know that?
Well, because in the book of Acts,
there's this wonderful Bible story where Peter is praying on the roof
and God sends him a vision where a sheet comes down from heaven.
And the sheet has all kinds of animals in it,
all kinds of animals that, under the Mosaic law,
would have not been termed clean for eating.
And what does God tell Peter?
He says, Arise, Peter, slay and eat, kill and eat.
And Peter says, Well, not so, Lord.
You know, my entire life, and I'm paraphrasing,
but he says, My entire life have I not eaten any of these unclean things.
And God says, What God has cleansed,
that call not thou common or unclean.
And then three times this sheet is let down from heaven saying,
No, what God has cleansed, that call not thou common or unclean.
And then right when he's done with the third vision,
there's a knock at the door and there's three men there, three Gentiles.
And the vision was repeated three times because there's three guys, okay?
And when he goes with those men who had been sent there by Cornelius,
who is an Italian, and they go back and Peter's going to preach the gospel,
and here's what Peter's interpretation is,
God has shown me not to call any man common or unclean.
God showed me not to call any man common or unclean.
God showed me that the Italians or the Greeks, they're not common or unclean,
that God loves them, that they need to be saved,
that we want to reach them, we want to have fellowship with them,
we want them to be our brothers and sisters in Christ.
And so here when he says, unto the pure all things are pure,
but of them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure,
you know, part of this has to do with claiming that these group of people,
the Cretans, are unclean unto them.
No, they're not unclean.
Unto the pure all things are pure,
but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure,
but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
You know, and Jesus said, you know, give alms of such things as you have,
and behold, all things are clean unto you. Right?
And so these people are obsessed with a legalism of washings and washing pots
and washing furniture and all of these rituals and things,
and God's trying to get them off of that
and get them to understand that we're in the New Testament,
and we're not under the law, we're under grace,
and these cardinal ordinances were just pictures and shadows of things to come,
and now that Christ has come, that's not a thing anymore.
He's trying to get them to see that,
and that even under the old covenant they've gotten overboard on things
and become too obsessed with the minutia of rules and ordinances
and regulations and things,
he's trying to get them to see that now, you know, we're in the New Testament,
and these are Judaizers, right?
You know, they're into Jewish fables, genealogies,
they're into the circumcision, and so forth.
But then taking a broader interpretation of verse 15,
unto the pure all things are pure,
but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure,
but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
You know, sometimes you get around somebody who just has a dirty mind
and just like any innocent thing, it's just to them they find the innuendo
or the double entendre.
You know, they're always just finding these perverted interpretations of things
because unto the pure all things are pure.
Sometimes innocent people will say something that, you know,
could be interpreted in a sick way or a weird way,
but to the pure all things are pure,
but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, right?
They'll twist, they'll take beautiful things in the Bible
and turn them into something weird.
You know, like for example, you know, we're reading the Bible
and we get the part about Jonathan and David
and how much David loves Jonathan,
and then those who are reprobate and defiled and unbelieving,
nothing's pure to them, so like, oh, it's a homo thing, right?
I mean, but that tells us more about them than about the text of Scripture, okay?
That's their perverted mind reading wickedness into the Scripture that wasn't there
because, you see, to normal people they know that a man can love another man
because they're brothers in Christ, because they're friends.
You know, only a sick pervert would just go there
when we're just talking about dudes being friends.
He says they profess that they know God.
You know, these people will talk a talk of knowing God and, you know, following the Bible,
but in works they deny him, being abominable.
I mean, abominable means hateful, like meaning that, you know, they're disgusting,
that they're hated, they're abominable, right?
What does it mean to abominate? It means to hate.
These people are abominable. They're hateable.
You know, they're detestable, would be, I guess, a better word.
They're detestable people. They're abominable people.
They're disobedient and, under every good work, reprobate.
So, you know, based on what they say, oh, yeah, we're Christians, we're following Christ,
but what they do tells a different story that makes them seem reprobate concerning the faith, right?
And if you would, just flip back a few pages.
You're there in Titus, but flip back to 2 Timothy 3,
and he says in 2 Timothy 3, in verse number 6,
For of this sort of they which creep into houses, and lead captive, silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lust.
So just as the Bible said in Titus 1, these people subvert whole houses,
now we have them creeping into houses, they're climbing in your windows, you know,
and they creep into houses, leading captive, silly women, led away with divers lust,
ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
That's reprobate.
Now as Janus and Jamborees withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth.
Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith.
What does reprobate mean? Rejected concerning the faith.
They're rejected, they're reprobate.
Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind.
So, in verse number, excuse me, in 2 Timothy 3, these false prophets and false teachers, they're reprobate concerning the faith.
They're ever learning, but they're never able to come to the knowledge of the truth because they're reprobate concerning the faith.
And then over here in Titus chapter 1, it says, well they profess that they know God.
They talk a talk of knowing God, but by their works they deny him, and their works deny him.
And it says, unto every good work they're reprobate.
So when we see their actions, what they preach, what they do, we declare them reprobate.
Over in 2 Timothy 3, hey they're reprobate concerning the faith.
Their works expose them for the reprobates that they are, according to Titus chapter number 1.
And then he says in chapter 2 verse 1, but speak thou the things which become sound doctrine.
Just like he said in chapter 3 of 2 Timothy, hey they're reprobate, but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast heard them.
And learned them. So putting this all together, what's the takeaway here?
Putting this all together, Titus chapter 1 is the Apostle Paul, he's looking at Crete, there's false religion, there's Judaizing,
Jews that are creeping into Christianity, claiming to be Christians, claiming to be saved,
but they're damnable heretics, they're false prophets, they're reprobates, and they're bringing people over to their side.
And Paul's saying we need some pastors ordained in every city, we need elders, bishops, ordained in every city to combat the heresy.
To combat the false teaching and the false doctrine. We need somebody who's going to get up and rebuke sharply those false prophets and call them out.
They're reprobates! Whole houses are following this trash, and we want those houses, we want those people to be sound in the faith,
not giving heed to this junk! Okay, and that's what we need. Now, do we need that today in America in 2023?
I mean, if the Apostle Paul were looking at America, would he just be like, ah, everything's fine, there's no Judaizing here.
No heresy here, no false teaching, just keep on doing what you're doing. The Epistle of Paul to America.
Hey, evangelical Christians, you're doing great. Keep it up. Keep your chin up. Good job.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, amen. No, he'd be saying, you know, there are some vain talkers on YouTube.
There is some junk out. Man, you've got some heresy, you've got some false religion surrounding you.
Man, we need men of God in every city who are going to cry aloud and spare not and who are going to rebuke false teachers sharply and call out the heretics for the reprobates that they are.
That's what we need. We need men who will actually hold fast the faithful word and use it for the sword that it is and actually start doing some stabbing with it and rebuke them sharply with a sharp sword.
How are you going to rebuke them sharply when your Bible is a literal butter knife? Okay, it's not literal.
But, you know, your NIV is a butter knife and it's like rebuke them sharply. You're going to have to spread them to death with that butter knife, okay?
You need the steak knife of the King James Version to really rebuke them sharply so that they feel the stab, you know.
And we need some preaching that's hard preaching against false religion and heresy and heretics.
So, you need to get in a church that is a Titus 1 church, you know, because that's the kind of church we need in every city.
And so get in a Titus 1 Baptist church, get in a 2 Timothy 3 Baptist church, not some watered down, soft church that won't rebuke anything or rip any face.
And it's sad today that, you know, in many places, you know, it's lacking, isn't it? Like, man, I can't find a church in my area that's really preaching hard.
I mean, that's a struggle for people sometimes. But, you know what? There's nothing new under the sun because what did Paul say in Titus 1?
He said to set in order the things that are wanting. What does wanting mean? Missing, lacking, exactly.
So, he says set in order the things that are wanting and ordain elders in every city.
You know what Paul's saying? You know, in every city in Crete, there isn't a church like this.
There isn't a hard preaching church in every city. There isn't a church rebuking false prophets in every city.
We gotta fix that. Let's work on that. And again, it's one of those jobs that you're never gonna fully accomplish.
Just like we're never gonna get everybody saved. We're never gonna stop the mouths of every false prophet.
We're never going to have a Titus 1 church in every city.
That's why some people have to move or drive a little further or just kind of go to a watered down church and just do the best they can with what they've got.
You know, those are pretty much the options. But it's what we're striving toward.
It's one of these goals that we never quite reach, but it's what we should still work on.
And by the way, when it comes to their mouths must be stopped, here's the good news is that there actually are cults and false religions that have ceased to exist.
So saying, hey, I would love to see Mormonism just stop existing, that's not really a crazy desire.
Because I wouldn't be that shocked if it just died in the next 20, 30 years because, I mean, it should have already died the moment the internet came out.
That should have just been game over for Mormonism. You know, I mean, come on, like, it's just embarrassing to still be a Mormon after the internet.
You know, it's embarrassing to be a Jehovah's Witness after the internet.
But, you know, it wouldn't shock me because, guess what, there are a lot of other, like, let's name some false religions that have kind of virtually died.
Like, they're not even really a thing anymore. Does anybody want to hit me with one?
Like, how about fake messed up denominations of Christianity that just aren't really kind of a thing anymore?
Yeah, like the Quakers, they used to be bigger than they are now, right?
I mean, now they're just an oatmeal. That's pretty much all that's left, you know?
And I don't know, maybe they'll even get rid of the Quaker off the oatmeal.
They got the Indian off the Land O'Lakes butter, you know, maybe the Quaker's going next.
Aunt Jemima's gone, you know, maybe Quaker's going out the door next.
Nuts to that Pentecostal charismatic flopping around bozo.
Because you know why they're called Quakers? Like an earthquake.
They're called Quakers because of, like, you know, demonic garbage.
What about, like, Christian science?
I mean, every once in a while you'll see one of those, like, Christian science reading rooms,
but I'm pretty sure they're big time in decline, you know?
And as soon as Tom Cruise and John Travolta are dead, Scientology's going to go bye-bye.
I mean, you know, I'm pretty sure it's on life support right now.
And so, good riddance to that garbage.
You know, there are false religions that come and go, thank God.
But man, wouldn't it be great to watch the Seventh-day Adventists go down,
or the Mormons go down, or the Jehovah's false witnesses go down, right?
It'd be great.
You know, and this is kind of what motivates me as a pastor, because people always ask me,
and I think I've even been asked multiple times on this trip, like,
why did I become a pastor, or what motivates me to preach, or to continue, or to do this job?
And I'll tell you what, my motivation is, the number one motivation is this Titus 1 motivation,
which is, like, there's so much error, and so much false doctrine, and so many lies,
and I just hate lies, and I love the truth, and it just drives me nuts,
all the false teachings about my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Bible,
and the Christianity that I love, just watching it be corrupted.
It's like somebody's got to get up and set the record straight, and that's what I want to do.
You know, I want to set the record straight.
And when I'm out soul-winning, what am I doing?
You know, I'm taking people and showing them the truth.
It's just the world being full of lies is what motivates me to want to be a full-time professional truth teller,
because of all the lies that are out there.
And so that's what we need to be, folks.
And obviously I'm preaching through the pastoral epistles,
but obviously I'm not necessarily preaching to a room of pastors,
because we've got, obviously, a lot of laymen, and men, women, boys, and girls.
But you know what?
All of us, though, how we can apply this, though, is we can all hold fast the faithful word.
We can all stay with the traditions that we've been taught by God's word.
We can all stick with the old-time religion, and we can support churches that are rebuking them sharply,
and not being a baby about it, and getting all, you know, this is so mean.
We can support it. We can participate in it.
And you know what? We can go out there door-to-door, man, woman, boy, girl, and what do we do door-to-door?
We tell them, hey, here's what the Bible says about being saved, and what are we doing?
We're helping these people not to be subverted by false doctrine.
And we gently, meekly, because we're not knocking on Pope Francis' door.
We're not knocking on the door of the president of Mormonism.
I'm sure he's in a gated community, and, you know, we're not going to get close.
You know, I went to Louis Farrakhan's house in Phoenix three times out soul winning, but, you know, I never got close.
Okay. But we did witness to his followers, right?
We do witness to those people, and you know what? That's what I do. That's what you do.
And we can make a difference and get people saved.
So let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for this great chapter, Lord.
Thank you for the faithful word.
Thank you that 20, 30, 40 years from now our Bible is going to say the exact same thing that it says right now.
And I thank you that it says the same thing that it said when my dad got saved as a 10-year-old boy.
Lord God, help us to hold fast the faithful word and help us to meekly, gently preach the gospel to every creature out there soul winning, week after week.
And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
For our last song this evening, turn your red or green heavenels to song 96.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 38, 39, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 45, 46, 46, 47, 48, 48, 48, 49, 49, 50, 49, 50, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51, 51
51, 51,
51,
51, 51,
51, 51, 51,