Now the part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on there in 1 Timothy chapter 3 is
at the very beginning when he's going into the qualifications for the bishop, one of
the things that he brings up there in verse 2, he says, a bishop then must be blameless,
the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt
to teach.
And the word that I want to preach about there tonight is the word vigilant.
Now all of these qualifications of the bishop or pastor or elder, those are three terms
that are used interchangeably in the New Testament, all of these qualifications are important
and they are there for a reason.
And any of these qualifications should be very seriously looked at and we shouldn't
just brush off some of these and say, well you know the main one is that he's the husband
of one wife, or you know the main one is that he's not given to one.
All of these are here for a reason and God is saying if you don't meet up to this criteria
you're not cut out for the job.
And I think vigilant is one that we might not often talk about or think about but it's
important nonetheless.
And we have men in our church that are looking to pastor, some that even may be pastoring
very soon, it's important that they make sure to look at this as a checklist of characteristics
that they need to have in their life.
And vigilance is the characteristic that I want to talk about tonight.
Now go to 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 8.
One other place in the Bible does the term vigilant come up?
But in a moment I'm going to show you a synonym for vigilant that is used throughout the New
Testament.
Look at 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 8, famous verse the Bible reads, be sober, be vigilant.
Just like it said in the qualifications for the bishop when it said vigilant sober.
Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about
seeking whom he may devour.
So if the pastor has to be a guy who is vigilant and the Bible is telling us that we need to
be vigilant because our adversary the devil walketh about as a roaring lion seeking whom
he may devour, that tells me that the reason the pastor needs to be vigilant is to be aware
and on guard of the devil's attacks.
Now go to Acts chapter 20 because there's a synonym in the Bible that comes up a lot
that means being vigilant.
And it's really the same thing because just to define the English word vigilant for you,
it calls to mind someone who is awake at night on guard watching.
And the synonym for being vigilant is watching.
The Bible talks about different watches of the night and just as you see in both scriptures
that use the word vigilant it's coupled with being sober.
There are also a lot of couplings where it says watch and be sober.
Be vigilant, be sober, watch and be sober.
Why?
Because a vigil is when someone stays up during times that other people are asleep in order
to be on guard.
You've heard of people keeping vigil.
Sometimes people as a form of protest or as a memorial for someone who's died or as a
religious observance, they might be up in the middle of the night with candles holding
vigil or keeping vigil.
Or let's say there's an invader or an enemy that's anticipated.
People will be standing guard all night long keeping vigil, watching.
It calls to mind the watchman on the wall looking for the enemy ready to sound the trumpet
and sound the alarm of the enemy.
And we know that our enemy, the devil, is on the prowl and the pastor needs to be vigilant.
Yay, all of us need to be vigilant.
We all need to be watching.
We all need to be on our guard.
That's what it means to be vigilant.
In Acts chapter 20 we see an admonishment unto the elders or the pastors and they're
told basically to be vigilant because they're told to watch.
Look if you would at verse 28, it says, "'Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all
the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of
God which he hath purchased with his own blood.'"
So a shepherd is another word for a pastor.
And the shepherd is not only feeding the sheep and guiding them to green pastures and fountains
of waters, he's also there to protect the sheep.
The most famous shepherd in the Bible outside of the great shepherd Jesus Christ or the
Lord himself, the shepherd, would be David.
David was a shepherd.
He kept the sheep.
And if you remember, he had a few times where he had to defend the sheep against a lion
and against a bear and he killed them both.
And that was part of his job.
The Bible talks about in John chapter 10 how Jesus is the good shepherd of the sheep and
that he'll defend the sheep against the enemy.
And that the hireling who does not own the sheep, the sheep don't belong to him, he'll
flee when the wolf comes because the sheep don't belong to him.
He's not going to risk his life.
But he said, I'm the good shepherd, I'll lay down my life for the sheep.
Just like David was a good shepherd and protected the sheep.
Of course, some people will try to insult pastors who are paid by calling them hirelings
and try to use John chapter 10 to do that.
Of course, I preached a whole sermon about it last Sunday morning where we just demolished
that ridiculous doctrine.
We tore it up one side and down the other using a lot of scripture.
And here's what's funny, if they're using John chapter 10 to insult a pastor by calling
him a hireling, I guess what would be the opposite of that?
Me owning the sheep?
I mean think about how foolish that is.
I guess if I owned you then I'd care more about you is what they're trying to say.
No I don't think that the pastor should own the flock here.
You know, the flock is owned by Jesus Christ.
So that's just a really silly verse to try to apply.
But you can take things out of context and make them say what you want if you have an
agenda to do that.
But the Bible says here unto the pastors, it says, take heed therefore unto yourselves.
So the first area that we need to be vigilant with, before we try to be vigilant over the
church and vigilant over the flock, he said first of all be vigilant about yourself.
Take heed unto yourself, protect yourself, guard yourself.
And when the Bible is giving the qualifications for a pastor, where do pastors come from?
They come from the flock.
They come from the pew.
They come from the church member and they are found faithful.
The Bible says let these also first be proved or tested, then let them use the office of
a deacon being found blameless.
You see, you develop these attributes as a church member, you don't just magically snap
into all these when you become a pastor.
All of us need to be vigilant.
We need to be vigilant of ourselves and we need to be vigilant of our families, meaning
that we guard our family, especially as men.
We're the husband, we're the father, we are leading our home.
It's our job to stand guard and make sure that the enemy, the devil, does not creep
in with sin, with wickedness, with false doctrine, etc.
And that carries over to the church as well, not just guarding ourselves, not just guarding
our family, but the Bible says also take heed to the flock.
Guard the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers to feed the church
of God which he had purchased with his own blood.
For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing
the flock.
Isn't it interesting that God in the same breath talks about protecting the flock from
the wolves and feeding the flock.
You know why?
The best way to protect the church members from the wolves that bring in false doctrine
is to teach them the truth.
I mean if you feed the flock and teach them good sound doctrine and drive in all the biblical
truths that God has given us, then they're going to be able to withstand the attacks.
And they're going to be able to make it and not get torn apart by these grievous wolves
that enter in.
It says in verse 30, also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things
to draw away disciples after them.
Therefore, and here's the word vigilant here, watch.
Watch.
What does watch mean?
What are these watches of the night?
What does it mean to watch?
To stay up, to stay awake, to stay alert.
The Bible says therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober.
Being vigilant, being wide awake, eyes open, alert, paying attention.
He says watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone
night and day with tears.
So are you getting a picture of what vigilance is like?
On the alert of an enemy that's at the gates.
Now let's stop and think about this for a moment.
What does a person look like that is not vigilant?
Because if God's giving us the qualifications for the bishop and he says look this guy needs
to be the husband of one wife.
Okay what does a person who's not the husband of one wife look like?
Well number one, it could be somebody who has two wives, polygamy.
Number two, it could be somebody who has no wife, like the Catholic priest.
Number three, it could be somebody who is married a wife, gets divorced and then marries
another wife and then gets divorced and marries another wife.
Repeat as many times as you want.
But I'm just saying that's not the husband of one wife.
Because the Bible says whosoever marrieth her that is divorced commits adultery.
If you put away your wife except for the cause of fornication, you cause her to commit adultery.
You put away your wife and marry another, you're committing adultery, etc.
So sometimes it helps to figure out what the opposite is.
So if God's saying hey, being the husband of one wife, what's the opposite of that?
A single man, or a man who's married to multiple wives, or a man who's divorced and remarried
I believe would also fall under that category.
So what does a guy look like that's not sober?
You could say well he's drunk, he's on drugs, or he's just unserious.
There are a lot of ways you could look at that.
You know what does a guy who's a striker look like?
Well he's a guy who gets in physical fistfights, he's a brawler.
Okay so with that in mind, now let's think about vigilant.
What does a person look like who's not vigilant?
Because we could easily look at somebody who doesn't meet the qualification of husband
of one wife and say okay you're not qualified because you're not the husband of one wife.
Okay but what kind of a person would we look at and say well he's not cut out for the job
because he's not vigilant.
What would that person look like?
Well probably somebody who's gullible.
Easily duped.
Think about it.
Somebody who's just really naïve.
Somebody who's really overly trusting.
I mean he just, oh of course everyone's intentions are good.
Of course people should be trusted and of course these are good people.
Of course these are nice people.
Someone who is asleep at the wheel, he thinks everything's sweetness and light.
He's naïve, he's gullible, he's easily duped.
Go to Matthew chapter 13, Matthew chapter number 13.
Quite literally the man who is not vigilant is one who's asleep.
He's not up, he's not alert, he's not on the wall, he's not a watchdog.
And it's our job as pastors to be a watchdog.
And God even rebuked prophets and pastors in the Old Testament that were not doing their
job of being vigilant and guarding and being that watchdog.
He called them dumb dogs, they can't bark.
He said they're all dumb dogs, they cannot bark.
Because a watchdog is one that when it sees the enemy approaching, but have you ever seen
a watchdog where you walk up to it and it just walks up to you and just starts licking
your hand and you're completely straight.
You know maybe you're out soloing and you like these when you're out soloing.
You don't like the true watchdog when you're out soloing.
But when you're out soloing sometimes you'll just waltz into the yard, the dog just comes
up to you and just rolls on its back, pet my tummy, you know.
It's licking your hand, it doesn't know you from Adam.
That's not an effective watchdog.
He's too trusting.
He thinks everyone who shows up at the house has good intentions.
Now I have a dog and I have a dog for one reason.
It's a watchdog.
I didn't buy that dog so that I could have a new best friend.
I have enough friends, my wife is my best friend and I've got plenty of other friends.
I wasn't looking for man's best friend.
We got a dog because people were trying to break into our house and we found bolt cutters
that were left behind from people who tried to break in, somebody shook on our back door.
You know we thought we need to get a dog to guard the house.
So we bought a dog for that purpose and our dog is a very good watchdog.
Because it barks at people who try to rattle anywhere near the gate or come in the yard
and so might as well hear the dog barking and then we can go check it out.
It's like better than an alarm system, the dog.
That's the purpose of that dog.
And guess what, that's the purpose of this dog right here, to bark, to warn, to preach
and to cry aloud and spare not and lift up my voice like a trumpet when I see the enemy
approaching the walls.
And the Bible is telling us that to be a pastor you have to be that type that is alert and
on guard.
Look at Matthew chapter 13 verse 24, it says another parable put forth unto them saying
the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field.
But while men slept his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
And when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit then appeared the tares also.
So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good
seed in thy field?
From whence then hath it tares?
And he said unto them, An enemy hath done this.
And if we go down later in the chapter he explains the parable in verse number 37, he
answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the son of man.
The field is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares
are the children of the wicked one.
So the Bible talks about the fact that as we sleep and fall asleep and aren't paying
attention, tares will creep in amongst the wheat.
Jude warned about it, 2 Peter chapter 2 warns about it, Acts 20 warned us about it.
False prophets, grievous wolves creeping in, not sparing the flock.
Why?
Because we're asleep and we allow it to happen.
Now that's what a man who is not vigilant looks like.
You say why is this guy not cut out to be the pastor if he's not vigilant?
Because a lot of times what you'll see is churches where just anything goes.
There's no vigilance there.
There's nobody there who's guarding and who's an overseer who's saying hey, we need to keep
this stuff out of our church.
Let me just give you some examples of just stuff that I've seen over the years.
How about this?
A guest preacher who nobody knows from Adam is just put behind the pulpit.
Nobody knows this guy just because he's a fundamental Baptist or he's an independent
Baptist.
They just stick a guest preacher behind the pulpit and he just preaches false doctrine
because we don't even know where this guy came from, we don't know who this guy is,
and you'd be shocked how many people call me constantly who I don't know, they just
say, can I come preach on Wednesday night?
Can I come fill the pulpit on Wednesday night?
Can I come, and I'm a missionary and I'm coming through and I want to do this service.
One time the guy who made the movie A Thief in the Night called me and wanted to come
preach on Wednesday night.
This is before or after the tribulation came out.
He obviously didn't know what our beliefs were on that and he thought that I was going
to think it was the coolest thing in the world that he was the guy who produced that movie.
Sorry, not impressed.
He wanted to preach.
I told him, I said, first of all, I said, I don't even know who you are.
I said, I never have people preach who I don't know.
I said, Wednesday night is in two days.
I already know what I'm preaching.
The service is already planned.
You're not part of it.
I didn't say it that way.
But I just told the guy, I'm not just going to randomly, but you know what I think some
pastors do is just like, oh cool, night off.
Night off.
I can save that sermon I wrote for another day.
You can't just randomly just put whoever behind the pulpit.
If you do, and they preach false doctrine, you better be ready to get up and say it.
And rebuke it and say, okay, sorry, I didn't know that that guy was a heretic.
Let me tell you what the Bible really says.
But how often does that happen?
Not that often.
Not very often.
Unfortunately.
But a lack of vigilance just puts whoever behind the pulpit and doesn't guard the pulpit
and say, hey, let's make sure that people who get up to preach are doctrinally sound
and they're going to preach biblical truths that we believe in and not just get up and
just preach because we just don't know who they are.
It always reminds me of that story in Acts 13 where the apostle Paul shows up at a synagogue
and they just put him in the pulpit.
They just, oh, you guys want to preach?
Come on up here.
And a Mormon church does that too.
There's an open mic at the Mormon church where I forget, it's like a certain night each month,
my pool man told me about it.
And he said there's an open mic each month where you can literally, he said he's gone
down there and just put on a white shirt and tie and just shown up and just preached the
gospel at this thing because they just let anybody just get up and preach at this thing.
But guess what?
We don't have an open mic like that.
Okay, this is not the Latter-day Saints, all right?
So what I'm saying is vigilance doesn't just allow stacks of gospel tracts everywhere that
preach a different gospel than what the church believes in.
That's not vigilant.
I mean when there's just tracts everywhere that are completely a different gospel, a
work salvation, turn from all your sins and you'll be saved.
Or how about this?
Just literature everywhere with false Bible versions, calendars on the wall with a false
version.
How about this?
Sunday school material with a long-haired Jesus, Sunday school material with Jesus in
a dress.
Because all it is is just a lack of vigilance.
It's just a place where anything goes.
Just whatever Bible versions, you know, just I don't know what the Sunday school teacher's
teaching over here and I don't know what that tract says and I don't know what that DVD,
I don't know what's on those DVDs back there on that shelf after the tribulation.
What is that?
You know, I know what that is and if I didn't know what it was, it wouldn't be back there.
And I know that all those Bibles on those shelves are all King James Bible, all of them.
And if I saw a calendar or a picture of a long-haired Jesus or Jesus in a dress or some
NIV Bible verse, you know, that stuff all needs to be taken down and cast outside the
city and burned.
And it needs to be broken down with the idols and the prophets of the Baal and all that.
What I'm trying to say is that vigilance means that we guard things.
And you know what?
It's easy to say that about the church.
Now it's time to do that with your home.
It's time for you as a man, as a grown adult man, to confront your teenagers about some
of the weird junk that they have on the walls in their room or, you know, whatever weird
DVDs and whatever weird, you know, whatever you don't approve of, whatever you don't think
is godly, and guard your house of satanic influence coming into your house.
You know, just things that are just wicked, things that are just demonic.
And just actually stand guard of it and say, look, you know, I don't want to just allow
it to be a free-for-all in my home, a free-for-all at church.
Somebody's got to be there to be in charge and just to guard against this kind of stuff.
And that's what vigilance means.
The guy who's not vigilant, it's easy for people to come in with whatever brochures
and tracts and calendars and Sunday school material and everything that's not King James,
that's not salvation by faith alone, that's not sound doctrine.
We need to make sure that we're on guard of that, both personally and as a church.
That's what it means to be vigilant.
That's what it means to be watching and to be sober.
Now go to First Peter chapter 4.
First Peter chapter 4.
You know, another thing is with the music.
Sometimes the kind of music that comes in can become a music that promotes showmanship
and self-glorifying performance.
This is what I think that we should try to stay away from with music more than anything,
is this kind of performance mentality where it's a self-glorifying.
You know, if someone sings, they should be singing for the glory of God, not for their
own glory.
I mean church is not a place to exalt me or to exalt you.
It's a place to exalt the Word of God and exalt Jesus Christ.
And when someone gets up, it can sometimes be apparent that there's more glory going
to that person than to the message of what they're even singing.
Now we have a really easy way of being vigilant about this.
We just don't have any special music.
We just sing congregational singing because everybody's singing.
Everybody's participating.
We're all singing hymns, but a lot of times it can become Star Search or American Idol,
Baptist, where it's just everybody's looking for their moment in the sun to get up there
and really shine.
When you see people up there, and you'll see these, I've seen these fundamental Baptist
boy bands where there will be like five guys and they'll put their legs, look at my legs,
like this is the microphone, and they'll put their legs out like this and they've got the
microphone and they're just like, and they're singing and they're closing their eyes.
They're just really praising.
But you know what it's really about though?
It's about putting on a show.
It's about looking cool.
It's about being the heartthrob.
They're like a wannabe Backstreet Boys or whatever.
You see just the sensuality in the singing.
When women do it, it's wrong because it becomes a sensual, almost worldly, seductive type
of a style sometimes.
When men do it, it's just queer.
When men get up and start just getting all touchy-feely and breathy with the microphone,
and look, here's how you can eliminate a lot of it.
No microphones.
And I'm not against microphones because obviously if you have a big congregation or a big building,
using amplification can become necessary.
But when it comes to singing, what a microphone allows you to do is to get really quiet.
And what happens is it's like this little whispering in your ear type of a thing.
It becomes like an intimate bedroom voice where it's just this seductive, intimate,
just really tight, talking really quiet, just right there in your little comfort zone.
And then they put the microphone right up to their mouth and then they can get really
breathy and really...
And look, some people think that I'm crazy right now, but honestly though, you know that's
what worldly music is designed to push that button.
Worldly music is designed where they have these female singers and they show off their
bodies and they sing in this breathy, seductive voice that's way too personal, way too intimate.
I think it's best described as the bedroom voice.
And women get up and sing that way and it becomes like a nightclub, you know, it becomes
like a worldly scene.
And men, when they do it, it just comes off as really effeminate and queer.
You know, to get up in front of the congregation and get all breathy and seductive up there
with your microphone.
Part of the way to eliminate it, and again, I'm not against microphones, but I'm just
saying part of the way to eliminate it is if you just got rid of microphones, it would
cause people to actually have to sing in a halfway normal way.
Because if you don't have a microphone, you actually have to move some air out of your
lungs.
You have to use that diaphragm to bellow out some sound and you end up with more realistic
singing.
That's not the right word, but you know what I mean.
How about just singing that's just praising God?
And when we sing congregationally, it just doesn't happen.
Everybody's just singing.
You're just singing, you know, what can wash away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
And you know, if you get all quiet and breathy, nobody's even going to hear you.
We're going to drown you out.
So the only kind of singing is loud singing.
Loud singing, my friend.
And it's not just this, you know, what can wash away my sin.
You know, just this weird, and it makes you uncomfortable sometimes.
That's right, they do.
So I don't like it.
And it's not just that I just have a different musical preference that I don't like it, I
find it to be offensive.
I find it to be sensual and I find it to be irreverent and I find it to be more self-glorifying
than glorifying of God.
It's all about drawing attention to yourself and then there's applause and we all congratulate
you on your wonderful performance.
It's funny because I watched a performance of Handel's Messiah, who knows what that is.
It's a cantata or it's basically an orchestra and then there's a choir of like about 55
or 60 voices and then there are about four soloists and it's a pretty neat piece of music
because all the words to it are just direct quotes from the Bible.
It's all straight out of the King James except whenever it quotes Psalms it's from the Geneva
Bible because it's an old piece of music and they'd done the Psalms from the Geneva Bible
for so long, they were set in that tradition.
And so it's just a lot of scripture put to music.
So I always found it to be enjoyable because of the fact that, you know, you're just listening
to God's Word put to music and you actually memorize a little scripture in the process
of listening to it.
But it was just funny because I went to a performance of Handel's Messiah and just afterward,
you know, I was waiting for my wife to come out of the restroom and we were just waiting
outside and I'm standing there and the performers were coming out and some of the people from
the audience were congratulating the performers and I was just listening and no one was giving
Jesus Christ the glory.
I mean I'm sitting there hearing this and I was just moved by the scriptures and it's
all about Jesus and, you know, it's talking about the coming of Christ and his birth and
his crucifixion, his resurrection, his second coming and everybody's just praising the musicians
and the musicians, you could tell that the musicians even in the performance were taking
all the glory unto themselves.
The conductor when he spoke at the beginning of the performance did not give Jesus Christ
any glory.
He just gets up and talks about hopefully this will bring some greatness into our lives
and this is such a great piece of music, let's really be great in 2014 and you're like what
in the world, what are you talking about?
It's about Jesus, you know what I mean?
But not to these people because they're just worldly people and so to them it's just, oh
you sing so well, oh your music is so good, oh you play that violin so well.
You know what, that shouldn't be the emphasis, okay we expect that from the world, but is
that how church is going to be?
We're after the service, we're just praising the singer and praising the pianist and praising
the violinist.
You know what we ought to do is praise God and we ought to humbly, if we have musical
ability and you know we have a great piano player and we have my son on the organ does
an awesome job and we have other people who participate and play instruments and song
leaders, but you know what, God gets all the glory and we should never get up here and
be a song leader or play a piano or play an organ or play a guitar with an idea of bringing
glory to ourselves.
Think about that, making me look good up here, I want to really perform well.
No it should be, you know what, I want to do my job right so that God can be glorified
and so that God's people can sing praises to God and God is glorified when we play skillfully
with a loud noise and when we make a joyful noise on the Lord and sing out and sing loudly
to the Lord in the congregation.
He is glorified by that, but the vigilant pastor is one who says, hey let's make sure
that the spirit of Hollywood doesn't come into our church, the spirit of Broadway, the
spirit of self-glorification, pride and arrogance that the Lord hate, where it becomes a thing.
Even preaching can become a self-glorifying preaching, where instead of being about getting
the truth out, getting the message out, teaching people the Bible, it just becomes bringing
glory to self.
And that can be another thing that can creep in.
So when it comes to the music, are we going to allow all styles of music to creep into
our church?
Are we just going to say, when it comes to the music, anything goes?
You know, Christian rap, sensual singing, breathy voice, whatever, whatever effeminate,
queer sounding music, bring it on in, you know, bring in the heavenly medal, you know,
bring in, or are we going to say, no.
But some people don't know how to say no, and they're not qualified to be a pastor.
Because they're not vigilant.
Either they're asleep at the wheel, they don't even know the dangers of this stuff, they
don't even realize what's happening as the church goes worldly, as the church goes neo-evangelical,
as the church goes New King James, as the church goes seeker sensitive, they're just
clueless and oblivious, or they don't have the guts to stand up to it.
Either way, they're not cut out for the job.
That's what it means to be vigilant.
But it's not just at the church, it goes for our homes as well.
Now look at 1 Peter chapter 4, let me just touch on one last thing.
1 Peter chapter 4.
The Bible says, verse 7, 1 Peter 4, 7, but the end of all things is at hand, be ye therefore
sober and watch unto prayer.
If you remember it was 5-8 of 1 Peter that said, be sober, be vigilant.
And just one chapter earlier in 4-7, it says, but the end of all things is at hand, be ye
therefore sober and watch unto prayer.
A similar statement about being vigilant and sober, but in regard to the end times.
Because he says, the end of all things is at hand, be ye therefore sober and watch unto
prayer.
So isn't the Bible saying here that because the end of all things is at hand, we really
need to be vigilant?
We need to be vigilant because the end of all things is at hand.
Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, while you're turning there I'll read for you from Ezekiel
chapter 33 verse 6.
You're turning to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, but in Ezekiel 33, 6 the Bible reads, but
if the watchmen see the sword come and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned
if the sword come and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity,
but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.
So a watchman is the guard that's supposed to be staying up all night, he's being paid
to do it.
He's paid to be a security guard.
Who's ever had a job as a security guard?
I know Brother Segura has.
Anybody else had a job as a security guard?
Did you ever work nights as a security guard, a lot of nights?
Even if you were caught sleeping on the job, what's going to happen?
Did anybody ever get caught sleeping on the job when you worked there?
You caught a lot of guys sleeping?
What happened?
Did they get fired?
They didn't fire them.
Well, they should have, okay?
But look, isn't that the exact opposite of what a security guard's supposed to be doing?
He's supposed to be watching, he's supposed to be vigilant, you know, he's just asleep.
Now here's the thing, it was at a shopping mall, right?
So he's a security guard at a shopping mall.
Somebody's asleep on the job, they don't even get fired.
But sometimes, throughout history, if you were in the army or some kind of a military
and you were asleep on the job, you'd be killed.
Literally.
I mean, I'm not saying that that's right, but it's true though, that some people throughout
history have often been killed for sleeping when they're not supposed to.
What the Bible is saying here in Ezekiel 33 is that if the watchman sees the sword
come and doesn't sound the trumpet, the Bible says that he's going to be held responsible.
Or basically, it's going to be seen as his fault that that person died if he doesn't
warn them.
And God's using that as an illustration that if we don't warn the wicked to turn from his
way, if he dies in his iniquity, his blood's going to be required at our hand because we
didn't warn him.
It's our fault, is what the Bible's saying.
So God holds us responsible to warn people, okay?
And he says to Ezekiel, son of man, I have set thee a watchman over the whole house of
Israel.
Pastors are set as watchmen over the local church.
Fathers and husbands are watchmen of their home.
It's their job to watch and to guard and to protect that household.
They need to do that job.
Now 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 is another scripture that brings up watching and remember the end
of all things is at hand, so we need to watch and be sober and we need to be vigilant as
the end approaches.
1 Thessalonians 5 verse 1 says, but of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have
no need that I write unto you.
Now look, that first word, but, what part of speech is that?
That's a conjunction.
And that means that we are continuing the thought that we just left off.
What did we just leave off talking about?
The rapture.
Because in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 13 all the way through verse 18 he describes the
rapture.
And of course the famous scripture is there in verse 16, for the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God and
the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be
with the Lord, wherefore comfort one another with these words.
That's the rapture.
That sounds, we're caught up together in the clouds with Christ to meet the Lord in the
air.
But, so is this just a whole new subject?
Conjunction, my friend.
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you.
The times and the seasons of what?
Something totally different, okay?
The times and the seasons of something different.
Now that makes no sense, does it?
He just described the rapture, but of the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need
that I write unto you.
The times and seasons of what?
Of the rapture.
We just talked about it.
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
But the day of the Lord and the rapture are two very completely different things.
Now that just doesn't make sense, folks, if you just read the passage.
He talks about the rapture and says, but, I don't have to tell you about the timing
because you already know that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
Making it clear that the day of the Lord is the same day as the rapture.
I mean, that's the only way that that even makes any sense.
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
And of course, people talk about the rapture being what?
As what?
As a thief in the night.
In fact, that's the name of the movie.
For when they shall say, who are they?
When they shall say peace and safety, is that God's people?
That Christians?
That Jesus and the Bible?
No.
When they shall say peace and safety, the unsaved, the world, then sudden destruction
cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape.
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief.
What day?
The day of the Lord.
So from this passage, really clear that the day of the Lord is destruction under the wicked.
Isn't that what it says?
The day of the Lord is a day where they're saying peace and safety and sudden destruction
is coming upon them.
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief.
Now why doesn't verse 4 just say, but you're not going to be there anyway because you were
raptured out long before?
No, that day is coming upon you, but it's not coming upon you as a thief.
That same day that we are removed from this earth in the rapture is the same day that
God will pour out sudden destruction upon the wicked.
First we are removed, then the wicked are punished.
Just like with Lot.
Lot came out of Sodom and the same day Lot came out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone.
When we are taken out of this earth in the rapture, what we read about in chapter 4,
God's going to rain fire and brimstone on the earth the same day.
All fire and brimstone will rain from the sky a half hour after we are raptured.
That's what the Bible teaches.
Now that's not what the movie teaches, that's not what any movie teaches, but it is what
the Bible teaches.
I heard there's a new Left Behind coming out with Nicolas Cage.
I mean, Nicolas Cage's career must be going downhill.
You know what I mean?
If he wants to do this kind of a B movie.
You know, Nicolas Cage has now prostituted himself to liberal Christianity.
Do you think that Nicolas Cage is a Bible believing Christian?
I saw an interview where he said, he didn't even claim to be, he said I don't even believe
in it.
So why is he doing the movie?
Well either just for the money or just because he just loves Satan.
So he's just, I mean Satan's done a lot for him.
I mean Satan has done a lot for Nicolas Cage, the least he can do is make a movie for Satan.
I'm sure all of his movies have been for Satan to some level, but he needs to do one that's
just all for Satan.
You know what I mean?
Where he just promotes false doctrine and false Christianity and the pre-tribulation
rapture lie.
But you know what all the Christians do?
Oh Nicolas Cage, oh it's so wonderful.
You know what it makes me sick?
When Christians get excited about Hollywood actors, throwing Jesus a bone.
God's not a respecter of persons.
I'm not impressed by Nicolas Cage.
I'm not impressed by the world celebrities.
I'm not impressed by these people.
Oh isn't it so great that this Hollywood actor, no, you know who's great?
Real life people that don't work in Hellywood, that don't make a bunch of wicked movies,
that aren't ungodly wicked whoremongers, that are just God fearing people who go to church.
You know who's a great person?
Plumbers and electricians and carpenters and landscapers and everybody who does an honest
living and not some Hollywood actor, not some rock star, not some celebrity.
The world celebrities are of the devil and yet we get all excited if one of them just
kind of mentions Jesus or something.
Hey why don't we just get excited about the people who actually go to church, who actually
have an honest job, instead of getting all excited about some holly weird actor.
I'm not interested in you Nicolas Cage.
I would not even walk across this room to get Nicolas Cage's autograph.
I would not even walk 10 feet to go shake his hand.
I don't care about Nicolas Cage.
I mean you could literally put every celebrity known to man, put them all in a restaurant
across the street, put all the celebrities, put Tom Cruise and Angelina Jolie and Brad
Pitt and put all the members of U2 and Metallica and Jon Bon Jovi and put Captain Kirk and
Spock and Picard and put, I don't know who, put everybody over, put SpongeBob SquarePants
over there, put every Hollywood actor and every musician and every politician and Obama
and Biden and all the Bushes and the Clintons and everybody.
I wouldn't even walk across the street to even say hi to them.
I wouldn't even walk over there to meet one of them.
I wouldn't be like, oh I'm never going to wash this hand again.
I just shook hands with you.
I promise you I would not even walk across the street to even talk to those people.
I have no interest.
Zero interest.
No.
Mel Gibson.
Oh he made a Jesus movie.
Listen Bieber, yeah I'd walk across the street to kick his little butt, no I'm just kidding.
Just kidding.
But anyway I wouldn't either, that's not a threat.
But I'm just saying that we as God's people should not get excited about the celebrities
of the world.
They're ungodly.
And you know James really tore into this in James 2 when he talked about how we get all
excited about the rich people.
We don't love the poor, but he said do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the
judgment seats, do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which you are called, but you've
despised the poor.
He says look the rich people, the celebrities, the Hollywood idols, and the rock stars, they
blaspheme Christ.
I'm not excited about meeting them.
I don't think that they're some god man or something that I could just, oh I just want
to meet them so bad.
I couldn't even care less about even seeing them or saying hi to them, getting an autograph
from them, and you think I want to watch some movie of Nicolas Cage promoting the pre-trib
rapture?
Oh but at least they're hearing about Jesus.
Which one?
But anyway, I don't know what any of that had to do with the sermon, but here's the
thing though.
The Bible tells us that we should be vigilant as the end times approach, and as a pastor
it's part of the job to be vigilant.
And all of us believers should be vigilant, and in 1 Thessalonians 5 here, as he explains
to us the timing of the rapture, he explains as the timing of the day of the Lord, he explains
that they both have the same timing, and we know what, the sun shall be turned into darkness
and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.
So if the sun and the moon are going to be darkened before the day of the Lord, we know
the sun and the moon are going to be darkened before the rapture.
So it can't happen at any moment, it's after the sixth seal, it's after the tribulation
according to Matthew 24, and I don't want to re-preach that whole sermon, but look what
the Bible says here in verse 4, but ye brethren are not in darkness that that day should overtake
you as a thief.
Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day.
We are not of the night nor of darkness, therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us
watch and be sober.
For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and
for in helmet the hope of salvation.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Of course we believe that we will be raptured after the tribulation, but before God's wrath
is poured out.
At the darkening of the sun and the moon, just like Jesus said, just like this passage
teaches, just like every passage about the day the Lord teaches.
But what I'm trying to say is that this passage is equating being asleep or being in the dark
as not knowing when the day of the Lord is going to happen.
Not knowing when the rapture is going to happen.
And people will try to say to you, well, you know, it's coming as a thief in the night,
we just don't know when it's going to happen, we have no clue it can happen at any moment,
but that's not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible teaches that when we see these things begin to come to pass, then we will look up
and lift up our heads for our redemption draweth nigh.
It says we'll see it begin to come to pass.
It says we should be watching.
Jesus said these things have spoken unto you that you should not be offended.
He said, you know, you need to be warned that the tribulation's coming.
The tribulation truly is a sword that is coming.
Because the Bible says that the Antichrist will make war against the saints and overcome
them.
I mean, isn't that a sword coming?
Okay, so what if the watchman doesn't warn about the sword that's coming?
Is he going to be responsible for people who are killed by that sword?
Will people be killed in the tribulation?
Okay, will people be killed because they're not warned?
Because they just have no clue that this is happening.
They have no clue what's going on.
And preachers today, many of them have bought into this lie and, you know, they actually
believe in the pre-trib rapture.
And they actually believe that Jesus Christ can come back at any moment, even though the
Bible doesn't say that anywhere.
Even though the Bible's real clear, X, Y, and Z has to happen first.
And of course, you know, after the tribulation came out over a year ago, 13 months ago it
came out.
And that movie has been viewed online, you know, it's uploaded in a bunch of different
versions on YouTube, and it's been viewed online about 1.6 million times.
One version alone that we didn't even upload has been viewed over a million times.
It's not even the official version.
And then there's a version that's got 300,000 views, there's a lot of versions with 30,000,
50,000.
It's like over 1.6 million views.
Thousands and thousands of DVDs have gone out, they've been copied and shared and passed
around.
That movie has made the rounds, and that movie has really made a big impact.
I mean, people are waking up to this thing, and a lot of people have seen that movie and
heard about it and they're wising up to it.
And simply because the movie is just filled with scripture that just demolishes that false
doctrine.
But here's why I bring that up.
You know what I've noticed that a lot of pastors are doing right now?
See, there are a lot of pastors that are pre-trib, but ever since that movie came out, a lot
of pastors have just quit talking about it.
Because I've talked to a lot of pastors, and I'm not talking about one person, I've talked
to a lot of pastors where I said, hey, have you seen the movie?
Have you looked at this doctrine?
And here's where they say, well, I'm kind of 50-50 right now.
Is it pre-trib or post-trib?
I mean I'm hearing this from a lot of people.
You know, I'm 50-50 or, well, I'm leaning toward that it's after the tribulation, but
I just don't really know.
I'm still studying it.
Six months later, still studying it.
Year later, still studying it.
Two years later, still studying it.
I talked to Dr. Roland Rasmussen, the guy who won my parents to the Lord back in the
day.
He's the guy who does the voice at the beginning of after the tribulation.
He said that he told a guy about it like 20 years ago.
And he talked to that guy like last month and he's still studying it.
I'm still studying it, I mean it's interesting.
And so you know what I'm starting to hear a lot from these guys now, these pastors?
They'll say like, well, it just doesn't really matter.
It's just not really that important.
It's just not really that big of an issue.
You know, well, maybe it is post, maybe it's pre-trib, I don't know.
I know specifically of a pastor who's been a pastor for over 10 years and he has never
taught the rapture one way or the other.
Never taught it pre-trib, never taught it post-trib, because he's just not sure.
And he's just studying it.
Now hold on a second.
Doesn't God call us to warn people?
Doesn't God call us to be vigilant?
Doesn't God call us to be a watchman on the wall?
Doesn't God call us to warn when we see the sword coming?
Shouldn't we be warning people about what the devil is doing with this whole one-world
government, one-world religion?
Shouldn't we at least warn people that the Bible says there's a time of great tribulation
coming unlike the world has ever seen?
Shouldn't we be, and let me ask you this, when was it more important to know the truth
about the tribulation and the rapture, 100 years ago or now?
This may happen in our generation.
It could happen in a long time from now, but it's very likely that it could happen in our
lifetime.
So let me ask you this.
Why is it that in the 2,000 years since Jesus Christ walked on this earth, why are we talking
about the tribulation less now than ever?
Why are pastors just afraid to talk about it, afraid to preach about it?
They don't want to preach pre-trib because they know it's stupid.
Because they know that that movie after the tribulation chewed up that garbage and spit
it out, that Tim LaHaye, Kirk Cameron garbage.
And you know what?
They know it's false.
They know it's a fraud.
They don't want to preach that, but they don't want to preach the post-trib either because
they know that it's not popular and they're going to be hated like Pastor Steven Anderson
is.
Well choose you this day whom you're going to serve.
And I'll tell you right now, if a young man came to me and said, Pastor Anderson, I believe
God's calling me to preach, I want to go start a church, I want to pastor, I want to do it.
And he said, but I just don't know where I stand on the second coming of Christ.
That little itty bitty doctrine called the second coming of Jesus Christ?
You know that little insignificant thing that the Bible barely mentions?
No it's something that's mentioned almost every chapter of the New Testament.
I mean it's a pretty serious doctrine.
I would say, well you need to figure that out, you know what I mean, before you become
a pastor.
You know, and you need to warn people and tell people the truth about what's going on.
And to me, being vigilant is part and parcel of understanding the end times.
Because right there he says, watch and be sober so that you're not in darkness like
the people who have no idea what's going to happen, and the people upon whom that day
will come as a thief.
Don't be like them, he says.
Don't be like these thief in the night people.
Don't be like these people that think, oh yeah we don't know, we're in darkness, it's
just happening at the moment, we again know.
Be vigilant instead.
So how can you be both?
How can you be vigilant and you're not talking about end times prophecy?
You're not talking about the tribulation.
You're not talking about the day of the Lord.
You're not talking about the rapture.
How are you vigilant?
When he said watch and be sober, he said the end of all things at hand.
Watch and be sober, it's coming as a thief in the night upon them because they don't
know the truth.
We do know the truth.
Just be sober and watch and let us understand these things.
Now I say all this tonight just to help you understand what it means to be vigilant because
there are men under the sound of my voice that will pastor someday, God willing.
They need to hear this message and understand that the job of being a pastor is to warn,
to be vigilant.
To warn about false prophets, warn about false teachers, warn about false doctrine, warn
about sensual music, warn about corrupt Bible versions, warn about the tribulation, warn
about persecution, just to be vigilant and just to be a watchdog.
Not to be a guy who's naive and trusting and believing.
Also to those that are never going to pastor, those that are women, those who are men, that's
not the path that they're taking in life.
They're not going to be a pastor.
This is a message for you to be vigilant of your home and also to just be vigilant of
yourself.
To be alert, to be awake, just knowing that the devil is attacking is half the battle.
Just knowing, okay, the devil wants to destroy me.
The devil is out to destroy our church.
The devil wants to destroy my family.
The devil wants to creep in.
Just knowing that will cause you to be awake and paying attention and vigilant and sober
and watching.
It's a sad day today when pastors don't want to be that watchman.
They don't want to be vigilant and they don't want to warn people because they're afraid
of the fallout.
Or they just say, well honestly, I just don't know.
I just can't figure it out.
It's not that hard.
Let me ask you this.
Do you think God wrote the Bible in such a way where it was purposely meant to be difficult
to figure out?
Do you think God's just up there saying, you're not in darkness.
You're the children of the light.
You don't even need me to tell you the timing.
You already know the day of the Lord's coming.
Let him figure it out.
Like he's just going to tell us, yeah, you understand it, right?
It all makes sense, right?
Figure it out, guys.
Do you really think that's what God's doing?
Like he just made it hard?
And yet you've got all these, I just don't know.
Is it pre?
Is it post?
I don't know.
Well, what did Jesus say?
What did the Bible say?
What up your stupid chart and your stupid commentary, it's pretty clear.
And you know what?
If I didn't know, let me just close by saying this.
If I didn't know whether the rapture was pre-trib or post-trib, you know what I'd be doing?
Working day and night to figure it out until I figured it out.
And that's what these guys ought to do.
Not just I'm studying it for the next five years.
You know what?
That's too late, buddy.
If I did not know where I stood on any key doctrine, whether it's salvation, whether
it's heaven, whether it's hell, whether it's the second coming of Christ, whether it's
the virgin birth, inspiration of the Bible, whatever, I'd be studying it day and night
and maybe I'd be vigilant in the sense that I'd be lighting candles and staying up at
night reading my Bible until I figured it out.
But just sitting there and saying it doesn't matter, I don't care, I'm not sure where I
stand isn't going to cut it.
Just not going to cut it.
And so we need some young men to replace some of these guys.
You know what I mean?
And I don't hate, you know what, I love every brother in Christ.
Whether he believes in a pre-trib rapture or not.
If he's my brother in Christ, I love him as a brother.
But you know what though?
If this former generation of pastors are just going to be non-vigilant and just allow everything
to just go and just not take a stand on anything, not warn on these important subjects, they
need to be replaced with a younger generation that's going to come up and rebuild the old
waste places and restore the old paths.
So who is going to fill that void?
Who is going to be the, you know, we can't just rely on the pastors that we have right
now in America.
We need new guys to step up to the plate and thank God for Brother Dave Burzins answering
the call and starting a church and preaching the old paths.
Thank God for Pastor Roger Jimenez.
Thank God for anyone else who we don't know about who's starting churches and pastoring
and doing great things for God.
We need some new preachers, some new pastors that are going to be vigilant.
And so if you're a guy under the sound of my voice right now that has any thoughts of
being a pastor someday, put this on your list of, you know what, I need to become a vigilant
person.
You've got to be vigilant.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father we thank you so much for your word and I thank you for the fact that when I was
growing up I sat under some preachers that were vigilant about some things and they warned
me about sin and they warned me about bad trends and they kept a lot of bad things out
of the church as I went to, Lord.
Please help us to keep bad things out of our home, bad things out of our personal lives
and bad things out of our church.
Help us to be wide awake to the devil's plan as he seeks to infiltrate our family and our
church and help us not to just trust everybody and not realize that there are very wicked
people out there.
There are creeps who come into churches, the pedophiles, false teachers, just whatever
kind of evil people, seducers and wicked type people.
Help us to just be aware of it, Lord, and to keep on our guard at all times.
And please, Lord, just raise up a generation of preachers that will stand on the wall and
blow the trumpet and cry aloud and not be afraid to warn people about the truth.
And in Jesus' name we pray.