Part of the chapter we're going to focus on this morning is found in verse number 5 where
the Bible reads,
Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience
and of faith unfeigned from which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangly.
The title of the sermon this morning is Don't Feign Yourself.
Don't Feign Yourself.
Verse number 5 says now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good
conscience and of faith unfeigned.
What does it mean to feign?
Basically it kind of sounds the same but it's like to be fake, right?
And one thing that God does not want from his people is to be phonies and fakes.
He wants us to be genuine, genuine people who are real, not faking the funk, doing that
which is right on the side of the Lord with a pure heart out of a good conscience and
of faith unfeigned.
Let me read to you from 1 Corinthians chapter number 13.
The Bible says charity suffereth long and is kind, charity envieth not, charity vonteth
not itself is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not
easily provoked, thinketh no evil.
You know the Bible says that the end of the commandment is charity.
And one way we know that we can fulfill the commandments of God is if we have charity
one toward another, right?
If we show genuine love one toward another, but not just one toward another, towards the
lost as we go out and preach the gospel.
But we know that the Bible teaches us that we're to do good unto all men, but especially
those of the household of faith.
We're to show genuine charity towards other people.
But the Bible teaches us here that that kind of charity, that kind of love, that kind of
unconditional charity that we have one for another comes from a heart that is pure, comes
from a conscience that is good, and comes from a faith that's not feigned, all right?
So you have to have those three elements in order to really have the genuine charity that
God wants us to have.
You gotta have a pure heart, what does that mean?
A clean heart, okay?
And you know what?
A lot of times Christians are just guilty of saying the right things, supposedly doing
the right things, but having a dirty heart when they do them.
You know, they don't practice this matter of confessing your sins, right?
They don't have the discipline of daily confessing your sins, getting right with God, doing that
which is right on the side of the Lord, and keeping a clean heart before God.
You know, God, although he's definitely concerned with what we do with our hands and what we
do with our lives, he wants our hearts to be pure as well.
He doesn't want you to have a dirty heart, he wants, why?
Because he's the only one who can really see our hearts.
And so what happens?
If we're doing supposedly that which is right, but we have a dirty heart, what does that
call?
That's called being a hypocrite.
And who are the hypocrites in the Bible?
The Pharisees, okay?
The Bible says that they draw nigh to God with their lips, but their heart was far from
God.
God probably not said of us that we're doing the right things, we say the right things,
and maybe we're in church, but the fact of the matter is we have a dirty heart.
So the Bible commands us in order to have genuine charity, we have to have a pure heart.
But not only that, it says we have to have a good conscience.
You know, Paul said that he had a good conscience before God and man.
You know, make sure that we're not, that we're right with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Oh, but they offended me, they said this, you know what, we need to learn how to forgive.
Okay?
As much of a discipline as reading the Bible and praying every single day, you know what
discipline is?
It's to forgive one another.
Why is that?
Because people get on our nerves sometimes, right?
And people sometimes offend us, and when they offend us sometimes they don't even know that
they offend us.
And what happens, you go home, you're bitter, you're mad, and what does the other person
do?
Sleeping like a baby.
Okay?
You're bitter one towards another, someone offended you, someone said something they
shouldn't have said, they defrauded you, whatever it may be, and you remain bitter the whole
entire week.
And guess what?
Your whole week is ruined.
You know what you need to simply do is just forgive and forget.
Okay?
Learn to say, Lord, I forgive this person because the fact of the matter is I've offended
a lot of people in my life as well.
And by the way, it's easier to forgive someone when you realize that you've probably done
the same thing to someone else.
Right?
If you realize, man, maybe I did that.
Maybe there's someone that I offended and I don't even know I've offended and they've
been mad at me this whole time.
Then you think, you know what, I should forgive this person.
I need to forgive this person.
Why?
Because you've got to have genuine charity.
You've got to have a pure heart.
In order to have genuine charity, you've got to have a good conscience before God and man.
But the Bible also says that we are supposed to have faith unfeigned.
What is that?
You need to be real.
You need to be genuine.
You know, if I were to categorize Christians into three areas, I would say there's three
types of Christians today.
Number one, go to Matthew chapter 16.
Matthew chapter number 16.
The first type of Christian that I would say that exists is this matter of being a follower.
Right?
Now, Christians throw that term around far too loosely, I'm a follower of Christ.
But they're drinking alcohol, they're fornicating, they're doing all kinds of stuff that is ungodly.
How can you be a follower of Christ?
But not only that, they don't even win souls to Christ.
And the Bible says that if you follow the Lord Jesus Christ, you will become a fisher
of men.
So you know what that goes to show me?
If you're not winning people to Christ, you're not really a follower of Christ.
Not my words, His.
Amen?
But there's followers.
Look what Matthew 16, 24 says, then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after
me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
You know, there's a brand of Christians throughout all ages that have just taken this verse,
and they follow it.
They deny themselves, they take up their cross, they follow the Lord.
They're not perfect people.
And God is not looking for perfect people, He's looking to perfect people, right?
To mature them, to complete them.
And these are the people who really, in all honesty, we're nobodies.
But the fact of the matter is, we love the Lord, we want to walk with God, we want to
do that which is right on the side of the Lord.
We're denying ourselves of the pleasures of this life to live a life that's pleasing to
the Lord.
Right?
That's the follower.
And every Christian, every single person ought to have the genuine desire and put in the
effort to be a follower of the Lord.
Not be perfect, but be a follower.
Say, Lord, help me to win people to Christ.
Fill me with your Spirit.
Help me to learn how to read the Bible.
Alright?
And let me say this, if you're not reading the Bible every single day, you're not a follower
at the same time.
There's a lot of aspects to being a follower of the Lord.
It's not just popping in a YouTube video and watching it, and then there's your walk with
God for the day.
It doesn't work that way.
The Bible says that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceed
out of the mouth of God.
He said, well, I'm a Baptist.
Have you read the word of God?
The Bible says if you continue in his word, then are you his disciples indeed.
You have to continue in the word of God.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein
day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein.
For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
But you know what?
You can't meditate upon the word if you're not reading the word.
Why?
Because whatever goes through the eye gate, the ear gate, it comes out of your mouth.
You can't meditate on that which you're not spending time investing time into doing, which
is reading the word of God.
But we see followers, and all of us should strive to be a follower of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Okay?
And let me say this.
The Bible says take up your cross what?
Daily.
It's a daily decision.
You may have had a good victory yesterday.
Man, I read 10 chapters.
You know, I prayed for an hour.
You know, I witnessed someone.
I got someone saved and all these things.
But guess what?
Today's a new day.
And we don't want to be Christians that live in the victories of the past.
Praise the Lord for the victories of the past.
Praise the Lord that God got us through these things.
But guess what?
Now we need the victories of today.
How does that happen?
We need to take up our cross daily.
Today's a new day, new decisions to make.
Got to follow the Lord again.
You know, got to submit the flesh to the Spirit of God.
We got to do those things which are pleasing on the side of the Lord today.
Okay?
And you say, well, man, I remember.
Yeah, but back in the day, you know, who cares what you did back in the day?
Okay?
Back in the day, guess where it's at?
It's back in the day, right?
Today's today.
And may it be said of us that, you know what, we're pressing forward, we want to do great
things tomorrow.
We want to do great things today.
Praise God for yesterday, but forget yesterday, yesterday's gone.
We need to figure out what God wants us to do today, tomorrow.
But followers, go with me, if you would, to John chapter 6.
We ought to have a desire to be on fire for God, amen?
Be Christians that are on fire for the Lord.
Again, not perfect, but we're doing our best to do, to live a life that's pleasing unto
the Lord, and it requires all these factors here.
But not only that, so we see the first category would be followers, right?
But a second category is what I would call fans, okay, they're fans.
Look at John chapter 6, I don't mean fan like a fan, okay, I mean like a fan.
John chapter 6 verse 26 says, Jesus answered them and said, verily, verily, I say unto
you, ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and
were filled, labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you, for him hath God the
Father sealed.
So we see here that there's a lot of people that follow the Lord, right?
But most of them really follow the Lord because of what?
Because they were filled with the meat.
You know, they just wanted to see the miracles.
They're there, you know, you think of Herod, Herod was happy to see the Lord.
Why?
Because he had heard many things of him.
He had heard about all the miracles, he was like a fan.
You know, today, we have a lot of Christians like that, unfortunately, don't we?
We have fans of Christianity, fans of independent Baptist churches, but you know what, they're
not necessarily followers, they're just fans.
You say, why is that?
Because they're there, they want to be entertained.
And we live in a generation that all they want to do is be entertained.
You know, sometimes it's not an entertaining thing to get your face ripped off in church,
right?
Especially when the preacher's talking to you, right?
Sometimes you just need to hear the boring doctrine, you need to hear the same thing
over and over again, you need to hear about your sin, you need to hear about the things
that you've heard of before.
Why?
Because a follower is not just entertained by the things of God, they have disciplined
themselves to be involved in the things of God, regardless if it's fun or not.
Look, it's fun to lead someone to the Lord.
It's great, it's great to see people saved, it's great to be a part of a great group that's
doing something great for God, but there's going to be highs and lows.
Are you going to stick it out during the high times, but not just that, but in the low times
as well?
That separates the men from the boys, doesn't it?
When you're there, whether it's going good, or it's nice, like, ah, yeah, the sermon was
kind of boring, so, no, you ought to be there no matter what.
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is.
That's for everyone.
He didn't say, unless it's like, you know, kind of like, you don't feel like it, right?
Unless it's just like, yeah, today I'm just going to just chill out for this Sunday, right?
No, that's called a fan, okay?
That's called someone that is just there because they're excited about what's going on, but
you know what, look, the newness wears off sometimes, okay?
Not sometimes, it's going to wear off.
That's just the problem, with everything, the newness wears off, okay?
Whether it's a job, it's a marriage, it's church, okay?
It's going to wear off, but what separates the men from the boys is that the men say
this, once it wears off, we're just going to keep doing what we're supposed to be doing
because it's the right to do, amen?
Not because, you know, how many fellowships you got going on?
Well, we got three.
Sunday morning, Sunday night, Thursday night, all right?
That's the fellowship.
Now, that doesn't mean we're not going to have any fellowships in between that, but
here's the thing.
We're not here just because we're fans, we want to be followers.
We're not, look, I'm thankful for YouTube, subscribe, okay?
Hit the like button, put an encouraging comment on there because we got too many people putting
discouraging comments on there, right?
Cussing us out or whatever, but here's the thing, look, you ought not to be characterized
as being a YouTube Christian, right?
I know a lot, look, you go on YouTube, you go on the comments, you see some of the same
ones over and over again and you wonder, I'm talking about people who are for us, right?
And you wonder, where is this person?
Are they even in church?
And they're like amen-ing and all these things and they're for us and, you know, forget the
faggots and all these things and they're defending us and all this, but it's just like, where
are you?
I'll tell you where they're at.
They're in YouTube Baptist Temple.
That's where they're at.
And thank God for YouTube.
I mean, if it wasn't for YouTube, as I mentioned before, man, a lot of us wouldn't have known
about a lot of things.
Praise the Lord for them, but you know, there comes a time when you have to like be in church,
you know?
You got to renounce your membership of YouTube Baptist Temple and join an actual church,
okay?
And look, we learned a lot, and look, may YouTube never be an exception for church.
You say, well, I don't feel like going to church, I just watch YouTube.
Shame on you.
Why?
Because the Bible, you're not assembled with anybody, you're assembled with the screen.
You get what I'm saying?
Now you get some good preaching in, but guess what, most of the preachers who you're listening
to on YouTube are telling you to be in church.
How can you even amen that?
It's like, amen, you know, spacebar, spacebar, spacebar, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot.
Weird.
Don't be a fan.
Grow out of that.
You know, most of us, maybe that's where we started.
And thank the Lord for that.
But when it comes down to it, we need to grow up to be a follower, not just a fan, okay?
Now go with me if you would to, let's see here, go to First Samuel chapter number 21.
We should come to church to learn.
You know, and fellowship is very much important, especially for those in our movement.
You know, in our type of churches, we need to have fellowship.
We need to be with one another.
Why?
Because it's just encouraging to be with Christians who are going in the right direction.
We're King James, we're Baptist, you know, we're not ashamed of it.
We don't have to worry that, you know, people are going to criticize us for our beliefs
and we're all going in the same direction.
We need that fellowship.
But let me say this, we got to come here to learn as well, okay?
We need to learn about the Word of God.
We need to get reprimanded.
We need to grow.
So the third category is this, and this is where the sermon's at.
The third category is this.
So we see followers, we see fans, and guess what else we see sometimes?
Fakes.
A bunch of fakes.
These can be divided into two categories.
You know, you got your fakes who are like wolves, right?
These are like the reprobates.
These are the people that we don't want to have in our church.
And we don't have a security guard outside of the door, so don't worry, they're like,
you know, as soon as you come in, they're going to say, are you a reprobate concerning
the faith?
You hate God.
Okay?
Let me see your license.
Not like that.
But we will say this is that we are vigilant in this area of trying to, you know, we don't
want to have reprobates in our church.
We don't want reprobates.
We don't want sodomites.
We don't want pedophiles.
Why?
Because we want to protect the church.
And we don't want wolves in our church, okay?
People will try to creep in unawares, to try to influence the flock of God, teach a different
doctrine, lead people astray.
No!
But we're not going to go around looking for those people, right?
Lord willing, he'll just open our eyes to it and we'll be able to see something and
then we can deal with it, which happened a couple weeks ago, amen?
Amen.
These are the ones that feast among us, but that's not necessarily what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about those who, Christians, who just put up a front.
You know what I'm talking about?
I'm talking about Christians who are saved, they're King James only, they love the church,
but they kind of live a double life.
They feign themselves, they're faking it.
They put up a front, they put on their Christian costume when they come to church, right?
And then when they go home, there's just a completely different life, all right?
This is what we would deem as a hypocrite as well, right?
And God does not want us to be fakes.
You say, well, I'm just, you know, I just got saved, I'm still kind of worldly.
That's fine.
Grow out of it though.
You don't have to be fake.
You know, take baby steps, do what you have to do to get rid of the sin in your life.
Do what you have to do to grow in grace and in the knowledge, but don't be a fake, right?
We're going to look at a story here in First Samuel chapter 21, verse number 10.
We're going to look at an example of this.
First Samuel chapter 21, verse number 10, the Bible reads here, And David arose and
fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.
And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David, the king of the land?
Did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands
and David his ten thousands?
And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of
Gath.
And he changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled
on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard.
Then said Achish unto his servant, Lo, ye see this man is mad?
Wherefore then have ye brought him to me?
Have I need of a madman, that ye have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence?
Shall this fellow come into my house?
So we see David, I mean this is the man after God's own heart.
This is the man, this is probably one of the godliest men in the Old Testament.
He's faking something, because he's afraid.
And we'll look at his story in just a bit.
Go to 2 Samuel chapter 14, 2 Samuel chapter number 14, we'll get back to that story in
just a bit.
There's a story, and I think I told it a couple weeks ago, it's not a true story, it's a joke
okay?
So just, you know, this isn't true, right?
Gotta give that a disclaimer.
But there's a guy who's working at a zoo, and he's working at a zoo and the gorilla
at that zoo died.
Okay, the main attraction died.
So they got this guy and said, hey, here's the gorilla suit man, you gotta be the gorilla
for a while until we can replace the real gorilla.
And he's like, alright, so he puts on the gorilla suit, you throw him in there, and
he's like, man, move around, do something, act like a gorilla.
So the guy's like, you know, moving around, he's acting like a gorilla, and he kinda got
into it.
He's like, hey, whatever thy hand find it to do, do what thy might, you know?
So he starts acting like a gorilla, and he just falls over and he falls into the lion's
pit.
He falls over the fence and he goes right into the lion's den, right smack dab next
to a lion.
And he starts yelling, help!
He's like, you know, someone help me!
Then the lion looks over at him and says, hey, quiet, you're gonna get us both fired.
You know?
What was he doing?
He was faking something, he was being something that he wasn't, right?
And we think that's funny, and it is funny.
There's a lot of Christians like that, though, isn't there?
They try to act like something that they're not.
You know?
Look at 1 Samuel, chapter 14.
First of all, we see that there's people that feign their emotions.
Now Joab the son of Zoriah, verse 1, Now Joab the son of Zoriah perceived that the king's
heart was torn to Absalom.
And Joab sent Tekoa, and fetched thence a wise woman, and said unto her, I pray thee,
anoint thyself to be a mourner, and put on now, mourning apparel, and anoint thyself
with oil, but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead.
Now if you don't know anything about the story, Joab is basically setting King David up to
say something that he, to basically incriminate himself in order to bring Absalom back, and
basically Joab wanted to kill Absalom, is what it is.
But he sent this woman, and he said, I need you to fake your emotions, I need you to act
like you're a mourner.
Now what is a mourner?
A mourner is someone who's mourning for the dead, right?
And in these days what they would do is, if someone were to die, they would have mourners
come and mourn for the dead, they would cry, they would weep, they would do those things.
But this person did that on purpose in order to deceive David.
And that's kind of weird, isn't it?
To like, act like you're mourning for the dead or something like that.
I mean, you know of Hollywood actors that do, I mean they do that all the time.
They can make themselves cry at the drop of a hat, right?
They act that way in such, I mean I've heard of things where they cast these Hollywood
actors and say, all right, play like your cat just died or something, you know, and
there's just tears rolling down their eyes.
They're faking it.
And we think, wait man, that's an exaggeration, can't believe people would do that.
But you know there's a lot of Christians that do that too.
They fake their emotions a lot.
You know, they act like they're real excited about the things of God, but inwardly they're
like involved in some wicked heinous sin.
Or sometimes, you know, people just, you know, they make their face long, they act sad, so
they can get people's attention and say, hey, everything all right, man, or what's going
on, you know?
What is it?
They just want attention.
I think kids do that, right?
Children do that all the time.
But for adults to do it, it's they're fainting themselves.
And here's the thing, we all have emotions and God made us with emotions, but the Bible
says this, that he that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken
down and without walls.
And God commands us to be a people who can rule our own spirit, learn how to control
your emotions.
Why?
Because we walk by faith and not by sight.
We ought to be Christians that are driven by principle, driven by God's promises.
And I'm not saying you're not going to have a bad day this week, okay?
Everyone has a bad day sometime or another, both men and women alike, right?
But what I'm saying is this, there's certain people that actually fake that because they
want some attention, okay?
And we ought not to be the kind of Christians that just kind of, I want some attention so
I'm just going to do whatever it takes to get it, even fake my emotions so people can
ask me, everything okay?
Is everything all right?
Yeah, no, I'm fine.
But since you asked, you know, there's people like that, you know?
And it's immature, but it happens.
Go to Luke chapter 20, or excuse me, go to, let's see, 2 Samuel chapter 13, we'll go to
Luke chapter 20 in just a bit.
They feign their emotions, but not only that, some people feign their circumstances.
Second Samuel chapter 13 verse 6 says, so Amnon laid down and made himself sick and
when the king was come to him, Amnon said unto the king, I pray thee, let Tamar my sister
come and make me a couple of cakes in my sight that I may eat at her hand.
So this guy was actually feigning his circumstances in order to get his sister to come so he can
rape her.
Okay, if you know the story.
He faked himself to be sick and he ended up raping his own sister.
But sometimes there's Christians who also do the same thing.
They fake their circumstances in order to take advantage of people.
Now that ought not to be said of any Christian, right?
But it happens.
It does happen.
I shared this story a while ago.
This wasn't a Christian, but let me give you an example of how this works.
So years ago at my old church, I was dropping someone off at their house and I was pumping
gas and a person, a lady comes up to me, right?
And she says, you know, I'm from Bakersfield, my car broke down, you know, can you put some
gas in my car?
And I'm like, ah, you know, the righteous considered the cause of the poor.
I'm trying to think, man, is she being genuine?
She being honest, you know, and she goes, are you a Christian?
I'm like, yeah, I'm a Christian.
She goes, oh, me too.
She goes, I'm saved.
I trust the crisis.
My personal savings.
She gave me this whole test and I'm like, okay, this lady's genuine.
You know, so I said, it's a sister in crisis.
Let me help her out.
So I pump gas for her.
Bye.
You know, see you later.
The next week I came to drop off the same guy.
Guess who comes up to ask me for that same gas money to go to Bakersfield again?
Same lady.
And I'm thinking, I think I've seen you somewhere, you know, and she gave me the same sob story,
the circumstances.
And at that point I was like, okay, no fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on
me.
Now it gets better, okay.
So the third week I go there.
I pump gas.
I didn't see her.
But another lady comes.
And I just happened to see that lady talking to the lady from the week before.
And I think to myself, wow, they got this whole system down.
It's like soul winning for them, you know.
And she comes up.
She goes, Mike, can you please help me?
My niece is sick, needs medicine, all these things.
We need about $20, $25 for the medicine.
Can you help us out?
And I'm like, I got this lady.
I'm going to work this right here.
I said, yeah, absolutely, definitely.
And I put the car in park.
I get up.
She's like, what are you doing?
I'm like, I'm going to go with you to go buy the medicine.
And she's like, no, no, no, no, no.
She said, just give me the money.
I'll go myself.
And I was like, no, not a problem.
I'll go with you.
The ride it is right there.
Let's go.
I'll get you the most expensive one.
No, I don't want to waste your time.
You're not wasting my time.
Nothing to do.
She said, forget it.
And she walked away.
But here's the thing, though, is they're faking their circumstances in order to take
advantage of someone.
Let's not make Christians never do something like that.
Fake your circumstances just to take advantage of someone.
We ought to have a desire to help one another, not to fake our circumstances in order to
take advantage of others.
Go to Luke chapter 20.
Luke chapter number 20.
What's the message of today?
It's simply this.
I didn't even notice you put duct tape on this thing.
All right.
That works.
This thing, we're getting a new pulpit.
They're going to build a new pulpit.
Brother Phillip is going to actually do one when he comes back.
He got inspired at the post-trip conference.
So did you see that pulpit?
That's a nice pulpit.
And I will not be able to break that thing.
OK?
That thing is solid.
I'm going to break my fist if I try to punch it.
What's the message of today?
Simply this.
Don't be a fake.
Don't be a phony.
Try to be as genuine as you possibly can.
You're like, man, but I struggle in certain areas.
That's fine.
But you just need to grow.
And don't think the word like the spiritual police, making sure that your ducts are in
order.
Everything has to be just right in order for you to come to our church.
Now there's certain things, obviously, you can't come to our church if you're doing it.
If you're a drunkard, you're out of here.
Unless you decide to repent, then you're good to go.
If you're in fornication, you're out of here, unless you decide to get married, all right?
If you're an adultery, if you're an extortioner, there's certain things we just can't compromise
on because the Bible says it, OK?
And by the way, we're not trigger happy to just say, I can't wait to just kick someone
out of the church, like right now, I just can't wait.
We're not like that.
The desire is for people to repent, to get right, and to get God's blessing on their
life.
So we can have fellowship one with another, amen?
Now Luke chapter 20, verse number 19, the Bible says here, and the chief priests in
the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him, and they feared the people, for they
perceived that he had spoken this parable against them.
And they watched him and sent forth spies which should feign themselves just men, that
they might take hold of his words so they might deliver him unto the power and authority
of the governor.
Now there's people that feign their level of spirituality as well.
Now these guys were faking it like they're a safe people, right?
These guys were wolves, they were trying to trap Jesus and his words, et cetera.
An application to us would be this, there's a lot of people, sometimes they try to fake
their level of spirituality, right?
They don't want to see them as un, they want to make themselves look bigger than what they
really are, right?
And they're not just content with just being where you're at, you're growing, you're taking
baby steps, no, they want to, and often what they do is this, they'll, praise the Lord
brother Jesus Christ, thank you so much for being, you know, it's just like, fake!
I'm thankful when people come, I shake their hands and say, man, thank you for coming,
but here's the thing, when they give you like a full on paragraph, when they quote
like Psalms 119, when you come in, that's a different story, right?
It's just like, you're trying to be a fake, okay?
All right?
That should not be said of us, okay?
And you don't have to memorize, I mean, memorize the Bible, but you don't have to quote the
Bible, you don't have to say that you know everything.
By the way, people know that you know the Bible without you saying anything about the
Bible sometimes, okay?
They're just conceiving your manner of life, you being genuine, your love for the Lord,
and often people say, obviously this guy knows some stuff, or this lady's maturing the Lord,
this person knows what they're doing, and by the way, most people do these things just
because they want the respect of others, right?
You can often just gain that respect not doing those things.
I respect someone who may be struggling in an area, but they're striving to grow, and
it's just like, man, I respect that guy, because obviously he's not trying to be fake, he's
trying to grow, he's trying to be genuine, he loves the Lord, he's trying to be faithful,
I can respect that.
But the guy who's just like, obviously, you know, it's like, no, you're putting too much
salsa on the chips.
Too much salsa on the chips, okay?
You're drenching that thing, right?
You're overdoing it, all right?
That shouldn't be said of us.
Just be genuine, just be real.
Go to 2 Peter chapter 2.
2 Peter chapter number 2.
People used to say, fake it till you make it.
Don't fake it till you make it.
Don't do that.
Just be real till you make it, right?
Just be real.
And you don't have to worry, we're not going to judge you.
You know, it's just like, man, that guy is so worldly, camp, no, that's not how we are
here, okay?
And as long as you're willing to grow, you're willing to take the steps necessary to get
where you need to be, that's what the Lord requires, you know?
But don't be fake.
2 Peter chapter 2 verse number 3 says, through covetousness shall they with feigned words
make merchandise of you whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation
slumbereth not.
So there's people that feign their words.
And often what the Bible will refer to this as is flattery, okay?
You guys ever heard of flattery?
And flattery often, you know, in the world when people say, oh, you know, I'm flattered
by that.
That's not a good thing, okay?
Because flattery, really what it is, it's a lie.
It's someone who lies to you, you know, encouraging you, but they're doing it because they want
to get something out of you.
Does that make sense?
That's what flattery is.
And the Bible teaches us here that in 2 Peter chapter 2, there's going to be people, what
we will refer to as false prophets and false teachers, who with feigned words try to make
merchandise of people.
The John Haggis, the Benny Hinns of this world, these reprobate false prophets who just are
with swelling words, clouds without rain, do these things so they can get your money.
You know, I saw this one video with this guy, you know, he's like, God will bless you, and
he's just sending your money, look, look, look, the devil gave me this message.
I mean, I'm sorry, why did I say the devil?
You know, it's just like, because the devil didn't give you that message, you know?
He completely slipped and he said that.
But these are people with feigned words.
They try to make, they tell you just lies.
Make merchandise, in other words, they want to make money off of you.
And unfortunately, that's not only true for the false prophets, sometimes it's true among
safe people, safe pastors.
What do they do?
They get your best life now, and God's going to bless you, give to the building fund, and
give to all these things, we want your money, you know, in parentheses, right?
These are feigned words.
And look, we as Christians, how do we avoid having feigned words?
Having the word of God in our hearts.
You know, that word of I hid in my heart that I may not sin against thee, the Bible says.
Having God's word in your heart will help you to do those things.
The Bible says, if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.
When we talk, yeah, we ought to talk about the word of God, we ought to talk about spiritual
things, not in a fake way, but in a way that we want to learn, we want fellowship in regards
to those things.
But we have to be careful.
The Bible says here in Psalms 36, verse 1 through 2, the transgression of the wicked
saith within my heart that there is no fear of God before his eyes, for he flattereth
himself in his own eyes until his iniquity be found to be hateful.
Go to Proverbs chapter number 2, Proverbs chapter number 2, the Bible teaches us that
people who actually flatter are people who actually hate you.
These are people who actually want to get something out of you.
And if they're overdoing it, it's just like they're planning something, okay?
You got to be careful with these people.
Proverbs chapter number 2, verse number 16 says, to deliver thee from the strange woman,
even from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
The Bible says, you know, guys, single guys, be careful with girls who flatter you with
their words.
Oh, you're so handsome.
You know that's not true.
Come on, just be honest.
Now when my wife says it, it's true, right?
It's true.
But here's the thing, there are women like that, you know?
And, you know, a woman, I'm not saying a girl can be attracted to you, it's possible.
But here's the thing, they should be attracted to your spirituality, right?
Because you want to be a man of God, you love the Lord, you love souls.
That ought to be the driving factor there.
The Bible says that the whore, she's the one who's the stranger, the woman, she's the one
who flatters with the words.
You know, Proverbs chapter 29, go to Proverbs chapter 29.
This is scary right here.
Proverbs chapter 29 verse number 5, the Bible reads, a man that flattereth his neighbor
spreadeth a net for his feet.
Man.
The Bible says that someone who's flattering his neighbor, you know, when you're trying
to catch, when you're hunting, you're spreading a net to capture that person.
In other words, they have something evil they want to do.
Well, the Bible teaches us here that someone who flatters his neighbor is spreading a net
to try to capture you, to try to do something to you.
Be very leery of that.
Psalm 78 verse 36 says, Nevertheless, they did flatter him with their mouth, and they
lied unto him with their tongue, for their heart was not right with them, neither were
they steadfast in his covenant.
The Bible says flattery and lying is like the same thing.
And be careful when someone's constantly flattering you, they're constantly saying things, and
it's just like, they're kind of overdoing it.
They're being fake is what they're doing.
So go back to 1 Samuel chapter 21, 1 Samuel chapter 21, so why do people do these things?
And how do we avoid this in our personal lives?
Because it's not just unsafe people to do this, sometimes carnal Christians do it as
well.
Okay.
And again, this is not an excuse to be a sinful person.
Right?
It's like, man, I'm trying to be, I'm trying to be real, so I'm just going to keep cussing.
Cousin is just part of my vocabulary, I'm just trying to be real, man.
No, clean up that potty mouth.
Right?
You know, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good
to the use of edifying.
Okay.
Evil communications corrupt good manners.
We ought to speak right.
Okay.
But what I'm saying is this, don't overdo it, okay, to the point where you're trying
to look to be something that you're not.
Look at verse number 11 says here in 1 Samuel chapter 21.
So first of all, why do people feign themselves?
Well, we see here in David's life, we see the contents of his heart.
Verse 11 says, and the servant of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the
land?
Did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands
and David his ten thousands?
Verse 12, and David laid up these words, where?
In his heart.
You see, here's the thing.
You know what David, why, where it all started is when he heard what they said, and he started
thinking about it in his heart.
He was worried about what other people were saying about him.
You know, now back in the day, that was like a good thing, right?
But now it's not necessarily working to his advantage, and he's laying up these words
in his heart.
And often, the reason people fake themselves is because they're worried about what people
may think about them.
They're like, man, what if, what if so and so think, and let me say this.
Just because someone's looking at you doesn't mean they're thinking something bad about
you.
Okay?
You know, why is that person looking at me like that?
Maybe they got a wandering eye.
I don't know.
Maybe just, maybe they're spacing out.
Have you ever spaced out before?
I've done that, where it's just like, I'm spacing out, I'm looking at someone, they
look at me, they're like, I'm like, oh, sorry.
I'm thinking about something else, you know, I'm thinking about after the tribulation,
whatever, you know, I'm thinking about something.
Sometimes it just happens.
Look, sometimes people just get imaginations, okay?
And imaginations can be a dangerous thing.
Why is that?
Because imaginations really sometimes dictate how we behave ourselves.
We'll look at that in just a little bit.
But the Bible says, cast down imaginations, and every high thing that exalted itself against
the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
You see, we gotta measure what we're thinking according to what God says.
So we can't just say, well, I think this is happening, I think this is real, and I think
this is what they said, I think this is what they're thinking.
I think, I think, I think, but what does the Bible say, say, say, right?
You gotta go with what the word of God says.
And look, give people the benefit of the doubt.
Okay, well, I think this person will do you have evidence, are you sure about that?
Look, we have a tendency to be very judgmental if we're not careful, right?
We just judge everybody and everything and everything that they're doing.
Give people the benefit of the doubt.
And don't let your imaginations run wild with you.
This is what happened to David.
This is where it all started.
He laid up the contents in his heart.
You know, if he was smart, he would have said, man, that's what they're saying about me?
That means they know about me over here, you know?
They know I can do some damage, and they're gonna receive me here.
I can be an asset to this kingdom, to king Achish, I can be a blessing here.
They know about my reputation, what do you do?
He goes, man, they're probably gonna think like, I'm here to like fight them or something.
Who knows what he was thinking?
In fact, do you guys remember when Saul was going after David?
And at the very end, he reconciled with Saul, and Saul said, I'm not gonna go after you
anymore and all these things.
And then the very next chapter, David says, I'm one day gonna die by the hand of Saul.
It's like, the guy just got right with you.
And the Bible says, he said in his heart, I shall one day be slain by the hand of Saul.
And he went into the land of the Philistines for years.
Why?
Simply because of the imagination that he had in his heart.
I mean, Saul just got right with him.
He said, man, I'm not gonna pursue you anymore.
I'm wrong about this.
I'm sorry.
And what did he do?
He said, I'm gonna die.
So this is like, even if he would have said he was gonna kill him, he still thought he
was gonna die by the hand of Saul.
Why?
Simply because of an imagination.
And look, we need to be a people who controls our imaginations.
Don't let them run wild, bring it into captivity.
You say, I'm afraid.
The Bible says that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a
sound mind.
Have a mature mind.
Cast down the imaginations.
So we see the contents of his heart.
Go to 1 Samuel chapter 24.
Often it just comes from what we hear about other people, right?
Or the comments that people make about us.
You know, the things that people say or whatever it may be.
Look at 1 Samuel chapter 24, verse number 8.
The Bible says here, David also arose afterward and went out of the cave and cried after Saul,
saying, My lord, the king.
And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed himself.
And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh
thy hurt.
You know what?
A lot of people, we just need to ask ourselves, when we have these imaginations, why are you
listening to other people?
Why are you listening to the opinions and criticisms of other people?
Yeah, but so and so said this.
First of all, you don't know if so and so said that.
You know, I knew a guy, he, at work, where I used to work, this guy, man, you can say
hi and he can turn an entire story out of that one thing.
And then like people would be getting in trouble left and right, and he's like, Did so and
so say this?
And he's like, Well, I think he did.
He's like, So do you have evidence?
He's like, No, but I'm pretty sure he did.
He's like, So you don't know that this is happening?
You don't know that this is taking place?
No.
Did you see it?
No, I didn't really see it with my eyes, but I think, I'm pretty sure it happened.
I wouldn't doubt that it happened.
He's like, He's trying to do everything he could possibly say without saying, Yes, it
did happen, right?
Because he didn't see it.
And a lot of the times, people just hear something and they create a whole story off of that
one thing.
Right?
So we see the contents of his heart.
So what do we have to do as Christians to avoid something like this?
Look, give people the benefit of the doubt.
But not only that, maybe you just misheard the person.
Okay?
Sometimes, you know, words rhyme sometimes, right?
So you might have heard something, and look, sometimes it's just a matter of, maybe they
did say it, but they didn't mean it in that way.
Okay?
Attitudes, right?
And this is another reason why we can't resolve conflict through text messages and emails.
Can I do this?
That's fine.
I mean, was he yelling at me when he said that?
You know, it's like, that's fine, you know?
Just because they didn't put it like a punctuation at the end, or a happy face, or an emoji,
or a thumbs up or something.
It's like, that's fine.
You know?
It's like, sometimes people just, you can't resolve conflicts through text messages.
And look, if you live in the same house, don't resolve these things through text messages.
There's people who text each other while they're at home.
Across the table from one another.
Insane.
It shouldn't be resolved through text messages, through emails, okay?
If you got a problem, just do it the old fashioned way, go face to face.
And here's the thing with text messages.
You're more bold in a text message than you are face to face.
You'll say more things through a text message, because there's so many emojis, that you won't
do in real life.
That's why it's important you do it in real life.
Why?
Because you avoid saying things that you shouldn't say.
Right?
Because you're more bold behind the screen.
I mean, I've had people email me and text message me, you know, when this whole thing
started with our church, they're super bold behind the screen, but when we met face to
face, it was just like, they completely changed their attitude.
Completely.
Why?
Because you're a lot more careful when you're actually looking at the person face to face,
eye to eye.
You're more careful with your words.
If you guys don't email, enter, send.
You know, you're just like, you know, you feel like, oh, but it's a screen.
Don't resolve conflicts through text messages or emails.
It's the dumbest thing you can do.
And look, if you, maybe, and here's the thing, maybe you don't even need to resolve the conflict,
you're just mad at the person.
This is what you do.
It's kind of risky, but it'll help you, okay?
You text what you want to say.
You email what you want to email, but you don't send it.
In fact, you wait until the next day.
Why?
Because you need to cool down a little bit, okay?
But don't send it, all right?
Don't put the mouse cursor right next to the send and say, just in case, I'm just going
to, and then you follow, and you hit that thing and it sends.
Then you're done.
Okay?
I've had people do that to me.
They accidentally sit and they're like, you weren't supposed to get that email.
Just delete it, you know?
Just get rid of it.
They're like, no way.
I'm going to read that thing now.
You're done, you know?
Now I know what you're really going to say about me, you know?
It's just like, oh, okay.
But look, that helps because then you just, you write it out, you get all your frustrations
out, and then the next day, and most of the time, it's just like, you need to go take
a nap.
Go get something to eat and go to sleep, okay?
That's typically what it is.
You're not getting enough sleep.
You're a little grouch.
I just want to tell my son, you're being a grouch right now, okay?
You need to go to bed, all right?
Because they're like, ah!
They give them bananas.
Ah!
They're just like, nothing makes them happy.
They're implacable sometimes, you know?
But sometimes we can be that way too.
Why?
We're just, we're tired, we've been working, we're emotionally strained.
Write out that email, go to bed.
And then you wake up and you're like, man, I can't believe I was going to send that.
You know, it's just like, delete, delete, delete.
And so, where am I at?
I don't even know how we got into that.
But look, don't resolve conflicts through text messages or emails.
Do it face-to-face.
And here's the thing, it typically will just, you'll actually leave the conversation liking
each other if you just do it face-to-face.
Because then you realize, you know what, I'm so sorry, it wasn't that big of a deal.
I don't know why I overdid it.
I'm sorry you shake hands and you go have a Coke together or something, you know?
Whereas in email and text, you could just go back and forth and back and forth and back
and forth and it just like escalates even more.
Go to Proverbs chapter, actually, let's see, go to, go back to the story here in 1 Samuel
chapter 21.
So we see the contents of his heart.
Look at verse number 12.
The Bible says here, and David laid up these words in his heart and was sore afraid of
Achish the king of Gath.
So we see his cowardly reaction.
This is David, the man after God's own heart, who really, he's a strong leader, he's a strong
man, he knows how to, I mean, this guy killed thousands of people.
This is the man who's filled with God's Spirit, this is the, and what does the Bible say here?
He's sore afraid.
He's scared.
You know what happens sometimes is we get, the reason why we fake ourselves is because
fear creeps in, okay?
Fear can just demolish a Christian from the inside out if you're not careful.
We're often afraid of just, not just what people think, we're afraid of the future.
What's gonna happen?
Look, God's got it all under control.
We're God's people, if we live in obedience to Him, everything is gonna be okay.
Look, I'm afraid of dying.
Why?
If you die, you go to heaven.
It's the best thing could happen.
Look, okay, the vehicle to get there, okay, I get that, you know, I don't want, you know,
I get that.
But then it's just like, you know, it's done after that.
You know?
You just gotta pray, God, you know, if I die, just make it quick, you know?
If I get murdered, just have Him shoot me, don't have Him stab me or something, you know,
just something fast.
Let me go quick.
But you know what?
Fear often grips the hearts of Christians and hinders them from doing things for God.
It hinders them from being obedient to God.
And often it takes them farther than they wanna go.
I mean, look at David.
For years, he was in the land of the Philistines because he was afraid.
You know, so many Christians, they don't come to church or they don't become a part of our
movement or they don't go sowing, why?
Because they're afraid of a boogeyman, a phantom that doesn't even exist.
They're just afraid and it's just, and here's the thing, most of the things that people
are afraid of, they're not even gonna happen.
They're not even real.
It's a boogeyman that doesn't exist.
Say, I'm afraid if I go sowing, then I'm gonna run into a sodomite and they're gonna do something.
It's not gonna happen.
What if, you know, they get, you know, what if, you know, the sodomites in the land of
Gomorrah or something, I run into, what's gonna, it's not gonna happen.
It's typically just a figment of your imagination.
What if I come to a faithful word and there's protesters lining up all over the place?
Well, that's probably actually gonna happen.
I spoke too soon.
That might happen, right?
But it's not happening today, right?
You're good today, right?
And remember, the gates right here, see these?
You ready?
As long as you're in, you're okay.
You're outside, you're on your own.
Just kidding.
Look, sometimes fear, fear is just this huge monster, but it's like a balloon.
It's just fake.
It's not, it has no substance, you know, and often what we have to simply do is just trust
in the Lord.
The fear of man bringeth a snare, the Bible says.
That's like a trap, but we see his cowardly reaction.
The Bible says that the wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as
a lion.
Often people are afraid of their own shadow and they're running from something that's
not even chasing them.
Be bold as a lion.
Just say, you know what, whatever God brings my way or whatever Satan tries to discourage
me with, I'm just gonna stand firm.
And then at the end of the day, it's like, man, it wasn't even that bad.
What was I afraid of?
I was afraid of nothing.
Let me give you an example of this, okay?
I'm gonna be just transparent with you.
A couple years ago, just to talk about being afraid of something that doesn't really exist,
a couple years ago, my wife and I, we're newlyweds, and we're having one of those days, right?
You know what that means?
It means we're fighting a little bit, right?
No, I won't say fighting, we're just in a disagreement, okay, about something.
Now, my wife is very quiet, she's meek, you know what I mean?
She doesn't argue with me with her words, she just does it with her facial expressions
and is just like, I know what you're thinking, you know, you're ripping me in your mind,
you know?
But we're just, we're having a rough day, it was just a rough day.
So we're having a rough day, and it got to a point where it was just like, it was just
silence.
You guys ever heard of that?
Heard of silence?
We're in the car, and I have electric, you know, those windows or whatever, the electric
windows, and we're sitting in the car, and I'm just like so frustrated, you know, I'm
just like, Lord, help my wife, you know, helping her get right with yours now, I'm just kidding.
It's just like, Lord, help our relationship right now, you know, this is just part of
life, it's gonna happen, I understand that, let's just get over this thing.
And well, she had her hand out like this, right, well, typically what I do when I go
into a car, I just roll up the windows, you know, I just have a habit of doing it.
So I roll up the windows, you guys already know what's gonna happen, and the window smashes
her fingers, I mean, it's trapped in there, something like this, and she screams, I mean,
she's like, ah, you know, and guess what I do, I scream.
But keep in mind, I have no idea what she's screaming about.
She just, she screamed, and I just screamed, because she screamed, no, I didn't scream
like she did, okay, I was more manly, just like, ah, you know, just kind of like, if
you did it in slow motion, of course, but I was just like, ah, and I'm like, oh, and
I'm like trying to pull down, and we laughed afterwards after she was done crying, we laughed
for a little bit, but it just reminded me, like, I literally yelled louder than she did,
but if you were to ask me in that split second why we're yelling, I would tell you, I have
no idea.
She just yelled, I yelled, we yelled together, okay, it was just, that was it.
But you know what happens sometimes, is that's how we as Christians are.
We react to certain things, and we don't even know what we're afraid of.
We don't know what we're reacting to, it's just a natural thing that we do, and it's
just a matter of we don't have a rule of our own spirit, okay, and that's what David is
doing here.
By the way, the Bible says, fear hath torment.
Fear hath, let that sink in your hearts, fear hath torment, it torments people to be afraid,
and it's the opposite of faith.
People feign themselves due to fear, but look at verse 13, and he changed his behavior before
them and feigned himself mad in their hands and scrabbled on the doors of the gate and
let a spittle fall down to his beard.
So now we see a change in his behavior, he's changing the way, why, because of the constants
of his heart, he's afraid, all these things, now he's actually changing the way he acts.
He's acting like a crazy nut.
He's letting spit fall to his beard, he's scrabbling on the doors like he's nuts, why,
because he doesn't want people to think, oh, this is like David, the macho, no, let him
think that I'm crazy is what he's thinking.
Go to Luke chapter 22.
This is a guy who just a couple chapters before was behaving himself wisely before Saul.
I mean, this is a guy who was wise, he's godly, he's doing that which is right.
I mean, in the same chapters, like, but David behaved himself wisely, but David behaved
himself wisely, says it over and over again.
Now he's behaving like a madman.
Look at Luke 22 says, a good example of this is Judas.
Look at the Bible says in verse three, then entered Satan into Judas, surname Iscariot,
being of the number of the 12, and he went his way and communed with the chief priests
and captains, how he might betray him unto them, and they were glad and covenant to give
him money, and he promised and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of
the multitude.
So look, he said, I'm gonna betray him, but it has to be when no one's around, you know,
in the absence of the multitude.
Goes to show you the, obviously he was someone different when the multitude was not there,
right?
And here's the thing, we never wanna be those absence of the multitude type Christians.
I'm gonna be this, I'm on fire for God, I love the King James Bible, post-trib, replacement,
and then once you get home, it's just like, in the absence of the multitude, you just
change.
No, we ought to be the same person everywhere we go, okay?
Genuine everywhere we go, and I'll finish off with this last point here, because I think
I'm pretty much done.
Verse 14, then Achish said unto his servants, lo, you see the man is mad?
Wherefore then have you brought him to me?
Oh, I'm sorry, let me say this, you see that he was allowing spittle to fall on his beard.
You know, there was a time when David sang the praises of the Lord, he was doing right
with his mouth, but now he's letting spit just fall to his beard, it's just a completely
different person.
And the Bible says he's scrabbling on the doors with his fingers, well the Bible says
that David's the one who coined the phrase that God teaches his hands to war and his
fingers to fight, now he's just scrabbling like a madman.
His behavior completely changed.
And often we'll see Christians, it's like, man, I remember when this person was doing
this, doing this, doing this, and what happens?
They fainted themselves, they became fakes and phonies, they changed their behavior,
now they're acting like a completely different person.
Why?
Because they faked themselves to begin with.
But lastly we see the consequences of his actions.
Verse 15 says, have I need of madmen that he have brought this fellow to play the madman
in my presence?
Shall this fellow come into my house?
I mean the outcome was not good for David.
And here's the thing is, often we fake it because we want a certain result, right?
But we're trying to conjure up that result ourselves.
When really if we just do right, we live right, we live a life that's pleasing to God, guess
what?
We'll get the results that we're looking for.
And here's the thing, people try to just kind of make their own decisions in the sense of
making their own outcome, why don't you just do what God tells you to do, even if you don't
understand it completely, obey God, and guess what?
You'll get those results.
And in fact the Bible says that he will give us exceedingly abundantly above all that we
ask or think.
See even the results that you probably get, it's still not enough.
God could have given you more.
And here's the thing, when we obey God, we'll get exceedingly abundantly above all that
we ask or think.
Why?
Because God wants to bless us, he wants to bless our families, but he bless us through
obedience.
Okay?
He doesn't bless through you being a fake and through you doing things that are unrighteous
and all these things, no, just be real, obey God, and God will give you the results that
you're looking for.
It reminds me of a story and I'm done with this.
You know the Queen Mary, has anybody ever been to the Queen Mary in Long Beach?
Queen Mary in Long Beach has been there for a long time and now it's like a hotel, but
during the conversion into a hotel, her three massive smokestacks were taken off to be scraped
down and repainted.
But on the dock, they crumbled.
Nothing was left of the three-fourths inch steel plate from which the stacks had been
formed.
All that remained were more than 30 cups of paint that had been applied over the years.
The steel had rusted away.
And here's the thing, you know a lot of Christians, if you're not careful and you keep faking
it, you're putting coats of paint.
And you say, well, I'm going to do it later on, I'm going to do it, I'm going to be real
later on.
Well, guess what?
You're just going to rust away later on.
And when the hard times come, when the difficulties, the trials and tribulations come, you're going
to crumble.
You're going to fall apart.
The Bible says that they endure for a little while and fall away.
Why?
Because they didn't have any substance.
There's no root in that person.
Just be real.
Get those roots that you need, grow in the Lord, realize we're all patient with one another,
we're going to give you the benefit of the doubt, everything's going to be okay.
Grow at your own pace, but don't be a fake.
Amen?
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Lord, thank you so much for this day.