If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ siteth
on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth,
for your dead and your life is hid with Christ and God. When Christ, who is our life, shall
appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which
are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concubiscence
and covetousness which is idolatry, for which things sake the wrath of God cometh
on the children of disobedience. In the which ye also walk some time when ye lived
in them, but now ye also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication
out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with
his deeds, and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of
him that created them, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, sythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Put on therefore
as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind,
weakness, longsuffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a
quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things
put on charity which is the bond of perfectness, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts
to which also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever
ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and
the Father by him. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the
Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your
parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your
children to anger lest they be discouraged. Servants, obey in all things your masters
according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of
heart, fearing God. And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto
men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance for ye
serve the Lord Christ. But ye that do it wrong shall receive for the wrong which
ye have done, and there is no respect of persons.
Pray to the Lord God, thank you for this church, thank you for a pastor, and just ask
that you would fill them with your holy spirit now as he preaches his word unto us.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Okay, we are in Colossians chapter number three this morning, and the time my sermon
this morning is habits and attitudes new Christians should avoid. Habits and
attitudes that new Christians should avoid. Now before I get into the actual
points of the sermon, let's talk about what is a new Christian. A new Christian
we would consider, I would say, is a person who's been newly saved for the
last, they've been saved for about one to three years. Okay, that is a new
Christian. Now of course that's given that they've been in church for the last
one to three years. They would be considered still a new
Christian. They're newly saved, they're new in the faith,
they're still what the Bible would consider to be a babe in Christ.
Okay, an infant so to speak spiritually speaking,
that would be a new Christian. But it's also someone who maybe has been
saved for quite some time, but hasn't been in church or
lived out the Bible for many years. So even though someone has been saved for
10 years, 15 years, 20 years, but they haven't been in
church that time, they haven't read the Bible at all,
the Bible would still label them as being a babe in Christ.
Because at the end of the day, you know, being a spiritually mature person
isn't necessarily something that's given to someone based upon how long
they've been saved, but rather how long they've been serving God,
how long they've been reading the Bible, how long they've been in church
and fulfilled the Christian duty to serve God.
And so that is what a new Christian is. That's how I would define a new
Christian to be. Now we have a church full of a lot of
new Christians, and of course people have been saved for the last couple of
years. And in my experience, I've noticed
habits and attitudes that new Christians can often adopt.
And quite frankly, this is just normal for everyone to kind of go through.
Every Christian kind of experiences this. They kind of go through these
phases of being a new Christian. But the danger is that if you don't address it,
if you don't fix it, then first of all, you just begin to
annoy people. All right? And secondly, you actually
don't grow in your faith, okay? Because God expects you to move on to
perfection. He expects you to spiritually mature in the Lord
and to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, and to be a spiritually mature person.
And so I'm going to address some of these habits and attitudes
that new Christians can often have and essentially how to avoid being that way.
Now you're in Colossians chapter 3. Let's get into the points of the sermon.
Number one, let's talk about the habits and attitudes new
Christians should avoid. Number one, avoid, listen to this,
being a know-it-all. New Christians need to avoid
being a know-it-all, okay? You're in Colossians chapter 3. Look at verse
number 12. It says, put on therefore as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,
kindness, I want you to notice this, humbleness of mind,
meekness, long suffering. You see, a person who has a humble mind
is a person who realizes they don't know everything.
Now in the era that we live in, you know, with the internet
and social media and YouTube and how much information is just readily available
to the public, especially to Christians, Christians can often
accelerate their understanding of the Bible, accelerate their understanding
of doctrine, accelerate their understanding of God,
not necessarily via their own personal studies of the Bible,
but rather because it's being given to them constantly through the internet.
And that's a positive, right? In order for people to understand the word of God,
you have a variety of teachers, a variety of preachers,
you have access to information and biblical knowledge
that you can adopt over and over again and you can really accelerate
not your spiritual growth per se, not your spiritual maturity, but your knowledge
of the Bible. And praise God for that. I'm looking at a
crowd that's probably accelerated their understanding of the Bible,
but hold on a second, realize that the Bible says that you need to have
humbleness of mind. Why is that? Well, if you accelerate your
understanding of knowledge and of the Bible, there's a tendency to become
prideful and arrogant and think that you know it all.
But in my experience, when I deal with new Christians who think that they
know it all, you know what conclusion I come to, they don't know anything.
And they miss a large percentage of what the Christian life is all about
because they're actually lacking humbleness of mind. And you would think
that a person who is newly saved, who's accelerated their understanding
and, well, I know the Bible and I've read the Bible. Well, have you read
Colossians chapter 3 verse number 12?
You know, boast not thyself, let another man praise thee
and not thine own mouth, not thine own lips.
And, you know, try to exert this mentality or this persona that you just
already know the Bible. You're already up to par with everyone else
who's been a Christian for decades on end. It's a wrong habit, it's a wrong
attitude to have to be a know-it-all. Have humility of mind. Go to
1 Corinthians chapter 13, if you would. 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
And let's just be honest. We've all talked to a person who thinks
that they don't know it all. Not knows that they don't know it all.
Because, quite frankly, nobody knows it all. Right? I mean, I've been a Christian for
17 years. There's others who've been Christians for 20,
30 years. And you know what that creates within us?
An understanding that we just don't know everything as we ought to know.
The more you read the Bible, the longer you're a Christian, the more you
realize, I actually don't know everything.
There's still more of the Bible to learn. Therefore, let me be
humble about this thing because I don't know everything there is to know
about the Christian life, about the Bible. Whereas newer Christians have a tendency
in a temptation, because they've memorized all the verses, they've
heard all the sermons, they know all the essential doctrines,
they have a tendency to think, well, I know more than the person who's
been a Christian for X amount of years because I've
heard all the sermons. You know, I'm an expert solider
because I've heard all the sermons. I'm an expert Romans
Road Deliverer. I'm an expert in N times Bible
prophecy. I'm an expert in the reprobate doctrine.
I'm an expert in one saved, always saved. Hold on a second.
Yeah, we're supposed to perfect ourselves in the faith, but be humble
in your mind and don't act like a know-it-all, okay?
Let me read to you from 1 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 2,
verse 1, excuse me, you're in 1 Corinthians 13.
1 Corinthians 8 verse 1 says, now as touching things offered unto idols,
we know that we all have knowledge. Listen to this,
knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifies. Now what does it mean to
be puffed up? It means to be proud, blown up and arrogant,
have a big head, right? And the Bible says that's what knowledge
actually does to you. Now it's great to have knowledge and in fact
the Bible commands us to have knowledge and not to be people who
are simple about the things of God, right? We
are to have knowledge. We're to acquire the knowledge of the Bible
but it needs to be coupled with charity. Why? Because knowledge puffeth up,
but charity, the Bible says, edify it. Knowledge edifies you,
knowledge will edify your mind, knowledge will edify your understanding,
but in order to edify someone else, people actually don't need your knowledge,
they need your charity. It says knowledge puffeth up, but
charity edifies. Now New York Christians don't believe that.
New York Christians who think they know it all, they think to themselves,
well in order for me to be a blessing to people, they need to know how
much I know. In order for Christians to benefit
for me, in order for me to be a blessing, they have to understand
everything that I understand and they need to hear me talk to them 24-7 about
all my knowledge. But at that point you're just being a
know-it-all. It says, and if any man think that
he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
So I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands here,
but you know, do you think you know everything there is to know?
And if in your heart you raise your hand and you say, yes, then guess what? I got
news for you. You don't know nothing as you ought to know.
Verse 3 says, but if any man love God, the same is known
of him. Galatians chapter 6 verse number 3 says, for if any man think
himself to be something, when he is nothing, he
deceiveth himself. You know, a lot of times people
who are know-it-alls, they have a tendency to
express how much they know, divulge how much they know,
and you know they want to portray this persona of being a very knowledgeable
person, but really at the end of the day they're deceiving themselves.
Because the people they're speaking to understand this person doesn't really
know everything that they think that they know.
They're not as knowledgeable about the Bible as they think that they are.
They're deceiving their own selves. Now don't misunderstand me.
We want knowledge. I teach knowledge from the Bible, from the pulpit.
I teach doctrine. I want you to be knowledgeable. I don't want you to be
biblically illiterate. We have far too many churches,
far too many Christians, far too many pastors who emphasize the charity,
but they don't necessarily emphasize the knowledge, right?
They want you to read the Bible to be inspired, but not necessary to receive
information, and that's wrong. We need doctrine. We need the knowledge
of the Bible. The point that I'm making here is
that there's a habit and an attitude that new Christians
have a tendency to have, and that is that they think that they know it all
because they've accelerated their understanding of the scriptures
because of the internet or whatever. Look at 1 Corinthians 13 and verse
number one. Really this point about knowing
it all is helping those who are know it all to
balance out their diet with a plate of charity.
Start growing not just in your knowledge, but start growing in your
charity as well. Look what it says in verse number one
of 1 Corinthians 13. He says, for though I speak with the tongues of men and of
angels and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass
or a tinkling cymbal. Now what is he referring to here?
Well, let me just clarify that the tongues of men and of angels is not
referring to this Pentecostal mumble jumble,
you know, tongue flapping language that no man understands but
God, okay? This Pentecostal demonic practice. Tongues of men and of
angels is simply a phrase that's being used in the bible
to describe someone who has a silver tongue. In other words, they're able to
they're an orator. They're able to speak well and communicate
well and describe things well. And it says, although you're a great preacher,
you're a great orator, you're a great communicator of the bible.
If you lack charity, you're basically just a well sounding instrument.
You're just a well sounding instrument because you have no charity
with your preaching. It says in verse number two, and though I have the gift
of prophecy and understand, listen to this, all
mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith
so that I can remove mountains and have not charity,
I am nothing. Now, I don't know about you.
I want to understand all mysteries, right?
And I want knowledge and I want the faith to remove mountains.
I want to know everything there is to know about the book of revelation.
I want to know everything there is to know about the Daniel 70th week,
about the tribulation, about the seven vials, seven trumpets.
I mean, I want to know everything about the book of Daniel.
I want to have all knowledge of the deep things of God,
okay, because that interests me. I'll be honest with you.
You know, on Sunday nights, we've been preaching through the
lessons from the seven in Revelation. I don't really care if you don't
enjoy it. I do though. Like some of you guys are
yawning, you guys are all bored with it and stuff.
Me, I'm just like, this is just for my edification. I'll be honest with you.
Like, I enjoy it a lot. Me, apparently, me and Ms. Kelly enjoy it.
She gave me the thumbs up. I don't know if that's a thumbs up as in,
yeah, it's boring or a thumbs up as in, yeah, it's great.
I like it. I like prophecy. I like systematic doctrine.
I like for people to break things down. I like expository preaching.
You know, I enjoy information. You know, I like the symbolic
representations of things, the underlying tones of the Bible.
I like layers in the Word of God. I like to find the little nuggets of
truth. I love that stuff, but the Bible's telling us here
that if we have all those things, if we're able to preach,
if we have understanding of all these mysteries, have knowledge,
have all the faith, but we don't possess charity in God's eyes or
nothing. Why? Because charity or knowledge, should I say,
needs to be balanced out with charity to keep you humble and
listen to this to make your knowledge likable to other people.
There's nothing more off-putting than a person who has knowledge
with no charity, than a person who's speaking knowledge to you but has
no charity. You know, just a cold-hearted Christian
with the cold hard facts. And look, I'm mature enough that you can give me the
cold hard facts and not have any charity and I won't be offended by you,
but not everyone's like that. And you know what?
This is the cheesiest saying ever, but it is true.
People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
You know, the Bible came up with that first because charity
edifies. People want charity. People respond to charity.
People reciprocate charity. And if you want your knowledge to be effective
amongst the brethren, you want your knowledge to be effective in this world,
you gotta couple it with charity. He says in verse number three,
and though I bestow all my goods to feel the poor, and though I give my body to
be burned and have not charity, it profited me
nothing of the Bible says. So you could be a sacrificial person,
a person who gives alms, you're feeding the poor,
but if you actually don't have love in your heart, you don't have charity,
according to the Bible, you're nothing. Why? Verse four,
charity suffers long and is kind. Charity envies not.
Charity vanteth not itself is not puffed up.
What does that mean? It means it doesn't promote itself.
It doesn't puff itself up. It's not arrogant. It's not prideful.
So when you give knowledge in a humble manner
in a sincere and humble way, people respond to that better.
He says in verse number five, does not behave itself unseemly.
Seeketh not her own is not easily provoked. Thinketh no evil.
Rejoiceeth not in iniquity, but it rejoices in the truth.
Beareth all things, believeeth all things, hopeeth all things,
endureth all things. What is the Bible trying to tell us here?
It's telling us that charity is just as important
as knowledge. And I think in our church we do have
a group of people who are very knowledgeable about the Bible.
But here's the thing, don't be a know-it-all, and if you don't want
to be characterized or stigmatized as a know-it-all,
have some charity coupled with your knowledge.
If you want your knowledge to be effective amongst the congregation
in the church with others, have some charity. You say, well, how do I have
charity? Pray about it. You know, you should be
taught of God how to love your brothers, amen?
And part of it is just kind of, we'll get into it just a little bit, but
part of just being a knowledgeable person and helping people to know that
you're knowledgeable is actually not saying anything at all,
believe it or not. The person who's just constantly flapping their gums,
showing how much knowledge they have, is the person you actually become
white noise to everyone. Because you just become that person
who everyone knows that doesn't know anything
and wants to act like they do. Don't be a know-it-all. You say, I
thought this was for new Christians. I've been a Christian for a long time
and I'm kind of guilty of this. Well, it's probably because you're still
babing Christ. Or you're reverting back to these old habits and
attitudes that you should not have, amen? You see, none of us should
think that we've attained or already made perfect.
We should seek to continuously grow in our faith and recognize that we have
not arrived in the Christian life. Go to Proverbs 11, if you
would. Proverbs 11, hold your place in the
New Testament because we're going to come back
to the New Testament. We're going to go to 1 Timothy in just a bit.
Let's look at some verses and proverbs. We're talking about habits and
attitudes that new Christians need to avoid. The first habit, the
first attitude, is this attitude that you know it all.
Prideful, arrogant, know it all, lacking all types of charity.
That is an ungodly attitude. You're puffed up
and you're not built up in love. Look at verse number 12.
Verse number 12 of Proverbs chapter 11 says,
he that is void of wisdom despises his neighbor,
but a man of understanding, listen to this, tells everyone about it.
No, hold at this peace. So according to the Bible, if you have
understanding, if you have knowledge, according to the
Bible, zip it. As they used to say back in the
day, take a lock. In other words, don't say anything.
Why? Because if you want to be esteemed as a person of understanding
and knowledge, you don't say anything about it, you wait till people come to
you. Look at Proverbs chapter 17, if you would,
Proverbs chapter 17. Every couple of months, I kind of go
through these passages and Proverbs. We all know them, but we
need to be reminded of them. Look at Proverbs 17 verse 27.
He that hath knowledge tells everyone. No, spare with his words.
And a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit,
even a fool, an idiot, someone who's stupid,
a foolish person. When he holdeth this peace,
holdeth this peace and the Hebrew means when he shuts up,
keeps his mouth shut. Even a fool when he holdeth this peace
is what? It's counted wise. And don't you,
don't I want to be counted as a person who is
wise? What does it mean to be counted wise? It means people have this
perception of you that you have wisdom, right?
You have this reputation before others that you have a sense of wisdom.
And obviously we want to be wise, but we also want people to think that we're
wise as well. It's two different things, by the way,
right? So we're not even talking about having
wisdom, but let me give you a little life hack here.
If you're a fool, if you don't have wisdom,
but you want people to think that you have wisdom, then this is what you
do. Shut up. Just don't say anything.
And you know people will be like, he's a quiet one.
He's got some knowledge. There's just naturally what people think.
So it says even a fool when he holdeth this peace is counted wise.
And I want you to notice this, and he that shutteth his lips,
that's Hebrew for shut up. People who shut their mouths,
because the lips is on the mouth, right, is esteemed a man of understanding.
So if you want to be counted wise, you want to be esteemed as a person of
understanding. If you want people to think that you are smart,
if you want people to think that you're godly, that you understand the
Bible, here's the best way to go about it. Don't tell people that you
understand the Bible.
Let me give you a little bit of advice this morning. You don't have to chime
in on every conversation and put in your two cents,
especially if you don't know anything about that specific topic.
Sometimes people ask me questions about the Bible, and I'll be honest, I'm the
pastor. There are instances where I don't know, and you know what I say?
I don't know. I'll have to look into that.
I'll have to think about it because better to say you don't know and you'll
look into it than be the person who gives an answer
that potentially might be the wrong answer just because you want people
to think that you know the answer. Don't make me repeat that.
And look, this happens sometimes in our church where there's individuals
who just want to put their two cents in, they want to give an answer,
and they're wrong. And you know what? We have such a kind and charitable
church regardless of what people say. We have such a kind and charitable
church that sometimes people don't call other people out about it
because they're just like, well they just they're just acting like a
know-it-all. But look, I don't want people to think of you as being a know-it-all,
so this is what you do. Just don't say anything, learn about the subject,
or better yet, have the humility to say, you know what, I don't know actually.
I don't really know anything about that. I would have to look into that.
You'd have to ask someone else about that. I'm not an expert in that area.
I may know a little bit, this is what I've heard, but I'm probably wrong
about it because I'm not 100% sure. You know, a lot of people respect that
answer more than you giving a wrong answer.
Sometimes newer Christians get caught up in making sure people know
how much they know, but they should occupy themselves in being good examples to
the believers instead. Go to the New Testament again, go to
1 Timothy chapter 4. We're talking about habits and
attitudes that new Christians need to avoid, and
yeah, I would even say older Christians as well.
Avoid being a know-it-all. Avoid being the person
who thinks that they have knowledge, and even though maybe you might possess a
little bit of knowledge, you don't know as much as you may
think or say that you know. New Christians need to occupy themselves
in being a good example to the believers. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 4
and verse 11. It says, these things command and teach.
Let no man despise thy youth. Now this commandment,
this instruction is specifically given to those who are literally
young, right, as of age is concerned. But this could be applied to the youth
in the faith as well, okay, because they kind of share similarities.
So the apostle Paul is telling Timothy, don't let anybody despise your
youth. Now this doesn't mean, let me let me just
explain what that means first and foremost, okay. This doesn't mean you go around
telling people don't despise me because you know you're being a jerk or you're
being a know-it-all. When it says let no man despise that
youth, he's basically saying don't build up a bad reputation where people
don't like you because you're a youth. They essentially paint the youth
with a broad brush because of you. You know a lot of people have a bad
view of the youth. They're just arrogant. They don't take advice.
They don't listen. You know they have, they're just, we can just
probably go through a list of bad qualities that the youth have.
And the apostle Paul is telling Timothy because he's going to be heading over
a church, don't let anybody despise your youth. In other words,
don't be a despicable person. Don't give people a reason to not
like you. Understand what I'm saying? He says, let no man despise that
youth but be now an example of the believers and he begins to give some
qualities that they need to have. He says in word. In other words, be
appropriate when you speak. Learn how to talk to your elders.
And let me say this, if you're a young person speaking to an older person,
don't treat them like your teenager friend.
Okay? You say, well I'm trying to, you know, we just got it like that.
No you don't. You're still a young person.
You're a teenager. Okay? If you want people to respect you,
you address them in a respectable manner. You don't address them like they're your
teenage buddy or something like that. You know, if you don't want people to
despise your youth, be an example to the believers in word.
Learn how to speak to your elders. Learn how to speak to those who are older
than you. And that your elders is anybody who's
older than you. Especially if you're a young teenager.
Okay? He says be now an example of the
believers in word, in conversation. What is conversation?
Referring to your conduct. Right? The manner in which you behave.
Be an example in your conduct. Look what it goes on to say. In charity.
In spirit. Now here's the great thing about the youth.
They got spirit. Right? They're excited about the things of God.
They're zealous about the things of God. They could be often because of their age,
you know, visibly on fire. Not literally, but you know, visibly as in,
you know, you can see their excitement. You can see their zeal.
They have more energy than some of the older folks.
Right? That's great. And that's why we need young people in the church.
Amen? Like myself. Why are you laughing? I don't know why you're laughing.
It's not funny. In spirit. Be a spirited person.
So notice that some of these commandments here have actually nothing
to do with what you teach. Like the Bible is not saying, hey,
let no man despise that youth. Make sure you let everyone know how
knowledgeable you are about the Bible. How much a great,
awesome soul when you are. How you just have the Christian life down
pack. No, it says in word, in conversation, in charity,
in spirit, meaning your excitement. And let me say this is that we need
excited young people because older people have a tendency
to not be as exciting. They have a tendency to kind of just
be a little dead. Okay? Because they're a little tired.
I don't mean dead because you're close to death. I'm just saying like in spirit.
Although that might be the case. You know, they don't like loud things.
You know, they can't stand the too much commotion.
You know, I'm not like that. I have a young spirit even though my,
you know, in my flesh I'm getting older. I like to party.
You know what I mean? After church, the fellowship, everyone's just got their
grooves and everyone's talking. I kind of like that.
Now obviously, you know, it can get too much for me if it gets a little later.
But you know, sometimes people just don't like any of that.
But you know, sometimes the younger people can teach the older people
to get excited about the things of God and you need to be excited about the
things of God. Okay? Get excited about soul-winning.
Get excited about church. Get excited about the hymns. Get excited about
preaching. Be an example to the believers in
spirit. Show some zeal about the things of
God. Don't be, you know, some dead Christian
who has no excitement, no zeal whatsoever. Be enthusiastic about the things
of God. Amen? I mean, you are about sports.
You are about Taylor Swift. You are about whatever football game.
You are about whatever soccer games out there. You are about whatever sport
you like. You are about whatever actor or whatever.
You are about the fact that it's December 1st and now you can start
posting on Instagram again. Why not get excited about the
things of God? So he says, be that an example in word and
conversation and charity and spirit in faith. In other words, express,
show in conversation how you have faith in God.
Step out in faith. And of course, the most obvious one should be impurity.
We need more young people who are pure in body and in mind, right?
And they promote purity in our culture. So I want you to notice that what
he's instructing the youth to be is not a knowledgeable person, though
that's commanded of all Christians. It's saying that if you want to be an
example to the believers, you got to do it in this manner.
So if you don't want people to despise you for being a new Christian,
despise you for being young, despise you for being a youth,
exercise these things in your personal life and people will respect you.
And yea, they'll even follow your example.
Because I would say that everyone here wants someone to follow their example.
And so in order for you to have an example to follow,
it should be up to par with these commandments here.
The point that I'm making here is that don't be a know-it-all.
Be someone who does it all. Be a person who
is an example in charity and conversation and word.
And let me also say this. As a new Christian, be teachable.
What do I mean by that? Well, if you're a know-it-all, then
who's going to teach you anything if you know it all?
Right? You know, the people I avoid giving advice to are those who think that
they're a know-it-alls. Why? Because how am I going to help them?
They know it all. They know more than me.
Not just about the Bible, but just about life in general.
The person I want to invest in, the person I want to help, the person I
go out of my way to counsel are those who are still
teachable. They have humbleness of mind. They're willing to listen.
Let me read to you from Proverbs chapter 1 verse number 5.
As I'm going there, go to Isaiah chapter 65. If you would, Isaiah 65.
Proverbs chapter 1 and verse number 5 says,
A wise man will hear and will increase in learning.
And a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsel. What does that mean?
They're willing to listen to advice. They'll listen to counsel.
Why? Because they're wise. They're willing to hear and increase their
learning. I've been saved for 17 years and I'm
still learning. I still call other pastors for advice.
Well, I thought you were like anointed though. Aren't you anointed?
Haven't you read the Bible? Yeah, but you know there's people who
are further down the road than I am. And it doesn't hurt me to ask someone
else for advice on specific matters. Why not?
I want to be a wise man and as a wise man I need to go to others
who are more knowledgeable about life than I am.
Now, I have a cabinet of counselors. Some people that I go to
for specific doctrinal questions or that they would challenge my
doctrinal position and see if they can debunk what I'm teaching.
But there are other pastors that I just go to for just life in general.
Family life, marriage, children, your problems.
If there's a problem in the church that I don't really necessarily know what
to do, I'm not going to be like, well, you know, I'll figure it out.
No, if I'm not knowledgeable about it, you know what I'll do is I'll call one
of my friends and say, I have this situation, you know, this is what I
think I should do, but I need your advice. What do you think of this?
Do you have something you can add to that? Yeah, but then now that you said that,
now people are not going to think that, you know, you're really like
equipped or knowledgeable on their problems. Well, I'm not, my job is not
to convince you of that. My job is to fix your problem.
Like my goal is not to have you think some, have some high opinion about me
that I'm able to fix your problem. I just want your problem to be fixed.
So a wise man will hear, will increase in learning and attain into wise
counselor, Proverbs chapter nine verse nine says, give instruction to a wise man
and he will be yet wiser, teach a just man and he will increase in learning.
Let me admonish you this morning, avoid being a know-it-all.
How? Close your mouth. Having a humble mind.
Being teachable. Being willing to listen to counsel.
And look, not just me. If one of the team leaders comes to you and corrects you in
an area, don't be a know-it-all. Don't reject someone's counsel.
There's a reason they're in that position of authority. I've placed them in that
position. I've esteemed them to be men of understanding.
And even the team leaders, the reason they're team leaders to begin with
is because they take correction.
I correct the team leaders all the time. Not because, you know, they're bad.
It's just, you know, if there's a certain way I want things done
and they're not doing it that way, I correct them. But you know what?
I feel completely 100% comfortable with doing that because I know that they're wise men.
And as wise men, they want to increase in learning.
They don't want, they're not necessarily concerned with their reputation.
They want to be just wise individuals who have understanding,
who attain to wise counsel. I would never make a person, a team leader,
someone who just can't take a correction. Be a person who's able to take correction.
You know, be a person who when someone rebukes you, corrects you.
You don't cry about it. You don't get your feelings hurt.
You don't get, you don't become a person, becomes resentful and bitter towards the person who
corrected you. You don't become a person who's just like, well, you know, I guess,
you're not a wise individual if that's you. And by the way, you know, to the person
who's doing the correcting, let me just say this, is they make sure you're a person of
reputation because, you know, a brother offended, it's harder to be one than a strong city
and its contentions are like the bars of a castle. You know, you better have a good reputation.
You better be a person who people will steam as being a wise individual
in order to give that correction. Habits and attitudes new Christians should avoid.
Number one, don't be a know-it-all. Number two, here's another habit or attitude that
new Christians should avoid. Avoid being a hyper spiritual holier than thou. Please avoid this.
Hyper spiritual holier than thou. This is straight from the Bible as far as the holier
than thou is concerned. Let's read Isaiah 65. Let's get some context here in verse number two.
She says, I have spread out my hands all day, all the day until a rebellious people
which walketh not in a way that was not good, excuse me, which walketh in a way that was
not good after their own thoughts, a people that provoked me to anger continually to my
face, that sacrificed it in gardens and burneth incense upon altars of brick,
which remain among the graves and lodge in the monuments which eat swine's flesh and broth of
abominable things in their vests. Now look up here real quick. Does this sound like
a golly person? This doesn't even sound like golly people, right? I mean they're participating
in idolatry. They're doing all this wicked stuff. They're behaving abominably in the eyes
of God, right? Everyone can see that, right? Look at verse number five. Which say, referring to
these people who are doing these things, stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am holier
than thou. Now this is called hypocrisy. As they are doing these abominable sacrifices,
doing that which is not pleasing unto the Lord, then they have the audacity to come to others
and say, hey, don't touch me because I'm cleaner than you. I'm holier than you. That's called a
hyperspiritual holier than thou. And what does God think of this type of person? Look what it goes
on to say. These are smoke in my nose and a fire that burneth all the day. In other words, they're
annoying. Smoke in your nose, smoke in your eyes. Those things are irritating. They're annoying.
And what he's saying here is that people like that annoy God, but guess what? Let me let you
on a little secret. They also annoy us as well. If you're a hyperspiritual holier than now, let me
just tell you, you're annoying. No one wants to be around you. Don't talk to me. Get away from me
because you're cleaner than me. These are self-righteous, prideful people. They deem
themselves to be spiritually superior to everyone. They condemn others if they're not as spiritual
as them. And obviously there's instances, please pay attention, there are instances where people who
are hyperspiritual behave that way because they want to deter suspicion because they're actually wicked.
So false prophets, evil workers will often kind of give this excessive and glib attitude of
being holier, hyperspiritual because they want to deter any suspicion from the fact that
they're actually wicked. This is very common in the Pentecostal movement, for example. You have a lot
of these Pentecostal pastors that are super spiritual and they have the Christianes downpacked,
all the holy statements and they kind of exert themselves and portray themselves to be
extremely righteous people. They feign themselves to be just men, but it's because they're
hiding the fact that they're devils at heart. That's a very common quality amongst false
prophets. That's why you've got to be careful when you go to a church where the pastor just
seems excessively spiritual. You want to go to a church where the pastor is being real with you,
okay? Where he promotes spiritual things in the Bible, but you know, you kind of see that his feet
are made of clay though, you understand? You know that they're sinners, they're not perfect,
they make mistakes, whereas a lot of these other type of pastors, you know, in these other
movements, Pentecostal charismatic movements, they want you to think that they are just perfect,
okay? And so that's wrong. But here's the thing is that it's not just false prophets who often
adopt this type of attitude. Sometimes it's just immature Christians too. And I've seen this
over the years where this hyper spiritual holier than now disposition is in our church
and you know, they often belittle others, okay? And they overcompensate and really what it is
is that they just don't want you to know that they're not as spiritual as they want people to think
that they are. So they kind of cake on the spirituality, they cake on the spiritual talk,
they cake on the spiritual actions because behind closed doors, they're not really reading their
Bibles. Behind closed doors, they're not really praying as much. Behind closed doors,
they're very sinful, they have sinful habits, they fall short like anybody else does,
but they want to have this portrayal that they are far superior spiritually than anyone in the church
than you are. And you know what? If you're a new Christian, avoid this attribute, avoid this
attitude of being a hyper spiritual holier than now. Just be real. Just be a real person.
People like real people. Now, you know, but don't take that too far though too
because some of you are so real that you just become offensive too, okay? I'm just saying
you don't have to cake on the hyper spiritual, the spiritual persona. Let that come over time
as you're walking with God, as you're reading the Bible, as you're praying,
you know, you don't have to try to create this reputation for yourself. Just walk with God
and let God magnify you in the sight of all the people. And here's the thing,
hyper spiritual people, holier than nows, are just easily spotted. So you're not really fooling
anybody. Everyone sees that you're just a holier than now hyper spiritual person, okay? Go with me
if you went to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Now in the New Testament,
probably one of the best examples of this are where the Pharisees. And in fact, a lot of
times people will often, you know, associate being a self-righteous person,
right? With being Phariseeical. And that is true. Why? It's because Pharisees were fake.
You know, Jesus said to the Pharisees that, you know, they sit in Moses' sea and he even said,
all therefore whatsoever they bid you to observe, that observe and do, but do not ye after their
works for they say and do not. So they kind of hold up people to a specific standard that
they're not willing to adhere to or to do, okay? They're hypocrites. Which is why Jesus
in Matthew 23 is constantly calling them hypocrites, because they say one thing and actually do
another. They, you know, buying grievous burdens, heavy to be born, but they themselves will not
lift it up with one of their fingers. In other words, they are hypocrites, okay? And why do
they do this? Listen to this. Why are, why were Pharisees holier than now hyper spiritual
people? Because they want to be seen of men. And what are we talking about? We're talking
about avoiding habits and attitudes that new Christians can often have, being to know it all,
being holier than now, and why do they do it? To be seen of men. Grow out of this thing that you
just want people to think that you're a certain way, to know that you're a certain way, to have
this perception that you're a certain way. What do I have you turn? Do I have you turn anywhere
else? Oh, 1 Corinthians 3, look at verse number one. An I, brethren, could not speak into you as
into spiritual but as into carnal, even as into babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and
not with meat for hitherto you were not able to bear it. Neither yet now are you able. For
ye are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye
not carnal and walk as men. What does it mean when it says you walk as men? It's just another
way of saying that they're walking as men absent of the spirit. And part of being a babe in Christ,
an immature person, is that they will be involved in envying, strife, divisions, constantly arguing,
navel gazing, endless genealogies, just endless disputes about whatever in the Bible.
That's a carnal attribute of a babe in Christ. Because the reality is that we shouldn't strive
among ourselves regarding a biblical interpretation of something that's not essential. We've had
this in the past. And by the way, I'm thankful that our church fights about that stuff and
not about the floors or something. The point that I'm making here is that a immature person
will make something big of something that's very small, because they're carnal, they have strife,
and they're just like that. Now, let me say this is that when it comes to being a
hyperspiritual holy living now, there's this trend. I guess it's not even a trend really
amongst fundamental baptism, although we did have this in our church, where sometimes
newer Christians will have this stoic personality. The stoicism amongst babes in Christ,
this attitude that says, well, laughing, that's a little too much.
Cackling and laughing, that's not spiritual. We need to be grave, temperate,
and they almost, but here's the thing though, it's super hyperspiritual
and very much a holier than now attitude to have, because we had a group of these bozos in our church
a while back. These groups of just holier than now, hyperspiritual, no laughing, no fun,
can't do anything like that, no smile about those things, we need to be stoic,
everything serious, you guys laugh too much. And here's the criticism they had about our
church, oh, you guys are just too social. Fellowship, sorry Lord, I guess we just, sorry for obeying your
command to fellowship with the brethren, you know, we're just too social. No, you're just not
social enough, or maybe people just don't want to be around you, because you're so freaking annoying.
Right? That's what it is, maybe you're just mad because no one wants to socialize with you.
But there's this attitude of well, and let me just clarify something, is that obviously there's a time
to laugh, there's a time to weep, time to laugh, time to mourn, and we shouldn't be a church that's
constantly laughing, but you know what, I actually am not offended that I would be considered a very
a person who laughs a lot. I am actually not offended at that at all, because I'm very hard
to do with good luck at medicine. And I'm a very joyful, jovial individual, I smile, I like to
have a good time, because I'm filled with the Spirit, and because I'm filled with the Spirit,
I have the joy of the Lord, I'm able to enjoy life, enjoy the things that God has given us
richly to enjoy, and I think it's actually very much appropriate to laugh. And if you're the
stoic person, don't come around me, you holier than now. There is a time to weep, there is a time
to mourn, but you know what, according to the Bible, there's a time to dance as well. There's a time
to laugh, there's actually a time to be jovient, to celebrate, to have jubilee in our hearts,
but these holier than nows equate being spiritual and holy with being just mournful,
serious, everything, everyone's copying my face right now, just mournful, serious,
nothing should be fun. Well, that's interesting. The same group of people,
when they were in our church, they're no longer here because I prayed them out of the church.
I did, I did. They didn't give me a reason to throw them out, so I was just like Lord,
just take them out. Not take them out, but take them out though, out of the church.
But these same people, let me say this, these same people
were in church, and you know, I can't remember the exact sermon that I was preaching on,
but I was talking about something very serious, something that was very grave,
okay, and the church knew that it was a very grave and serious subject, and one of these guys
who were hyper-spiritual just started laughing his head off over some violence that I described
in the Bible or something, and I had to literally stop my sermon and say, that's not funny,
because funny how they want to criticize our church for being too social,
too fellowshipy, laughing too much. When they're laughing at the wrong things,
we're actually laughing at good things. We're actually laughing at wholesome things.
We like to crack jokes. Yes, of course. Why not? I'm married. I'm a married person.
That's why our church reflects that, but yet, you know, laughing at violence, laughing at wickedness
must be appropriate though, right? No, it's wicked. Let me read to you from Ecclesiastes
chapter 2 verse number 2. I said in my heart, go to now, I will prove thee with mirth,
therefore enjoy pleasure, and behold, this also is vanity. I said of laughter, it is mad,
and of mirth, what do with it? Now, I don't know if you notice, but Ecclesiastes is
written by Solomon in his latter years when he was a major grump, right? Everything was just
negative. Now, there's a lot of wisdom found in the book of Ecclesiastes. A lot of great
truths found in the book of Ecclesiastes, but you also see at the end of the day,
everything's not vanity, because with Christ everything's fulfilling. But when he's in
this state, this grumpy, grinch disposition, he, I said of laughter, it is mad, of mirth,
what do with it? Just as what's the point of laughing, what's the point of mirth, what's the
point of having a good time to have a good time? But keep in mind, Solomon wrote the
book of Ecclesiastes, but he also wrote the book of Proverbs that said that the person who
has a merry heart has a continual feast. He's the one who said, a merry heart,
do what's good like a medicine. And he wrote the book of Proverbs when he was actually
joyful, happy in his youth. It's when he got older. It's when he began to delve into all
his lust and his desires that he became a depressed guy. You know what? I'm not going
to have that attitude in our church. I'm not going to have a faction of holier-than-now
hyper-spiritual dudes who are giving each other marriage advice, even though none of them are
married or have a girlfriend. And let me just say this, don't take advice from a guy on how
to get a girlfriend if he doesn't have a girlfriend. And whatever narrative he's promoting
to you of how much everyone likes him, you might want to go see if that's true.
You understand what I'm saying? You know, these guys want to give each other advice
on how to get a wife and how to get a girlfriend. Did you take your own advice?
You know, you might want to get your refund on that little plan you got there because it
doesn't seem to be working out for him. It sounds like a pyramid scheme. It doesn't work.
But you know what? That is a characteristic of a holier-than-now hyper-spiritual
babe in Christ. And look, have a sense of humor, by the way.
Where in the Bible does it say it's bad to have a sense of humor and to laugh?
Book chapter inverse on what the Bible says that you can't laugh and have a good time.
The Bible constantly talks about laughing. It records God's laughing. It records God's
people laughing. It records joyfulness, rejoicing, and a merry heart. Oh yeah,
but these guys are even holier than that, I guess. You've heard of people who are nicer than God?
There's people who are more holier than God, apparently. Folks, this is not a proper attitude
to have. This is a hyper-spiritual, holier-than-now attitude. And you know, I want to have a
continual feast in my heart. And is it any coincidence that nobody likes being around
these people? You see, according to the Bible, when you, when a man's ways please the Lord,
he may get even his enemies to be at peace with them. When you are a pleasing person unto the Lord,
people want to be around you. People want to go around you. They want to talk to you. They want
to get to know you. They like your company. They like your fellowship, right? But when you
are just a sourpus, no one wants to be around you. Why? Because who wants to be around a grumpy
individual? And look, I'm not going to call this personnel right now because he's in our church,
but most of you know who he is, and he knows who he is. You know, he specifically told me,
I was around this group of people, and he's like, I backslid. He's like, I got away from
God and I backslid. And you know what? I told him, I said, yeah, you did. You were a jerk
for a couple months. You were just like unhappy. You're miserable. He looked miserable. His
countenance had fallen. I was worried about him. I prayed for him, and I even got with the
leaders like, I'm worried about so-and-so. I was like, but I know why he's like that,
because he's hanging around these bozos. Because you know what? Being arrogant,
holier than now, is actually contagious as well. And you know, he even said like,
God chastised me for it. And then you know what happened? By the way, he would go
soul-warning, but everyone in the soul-warning team was just like, this guy's just like a
jerk. Doesn't want to talk to anybody. Doesn't want to be around anybody. But you know what?
He got right with God, and almost like night and day, like the smile came back.
He got away from those people. He separated company from these holier than nows, these gringes.
And now he's a happy person again. I was fellowship with him the other day, and he was just like,
you're right. And he's like, I was really backslidden. And now I'm like happy.
The people you're around will affect your spirit. You'll affect your attitude. Hey,
if you're a grumpy person, just go hang around happy people, and they'll help you to be
happy. You know, you might cramp up smiling every once in a while, because you don't smile enough.
You might pull a muscle in your face, because you don't smile enough, but maybe you need to
work out that muscle a little bit, show your teeth, brush them before you show them.
And realize, yeah, the house of God is a house of prayer, but it's also a continual
feast, because we got salvation, my friends. We got the Holy Spirit. We got the Bible. We
have much to be thankful for, much to be happy about. By the way, last time I checked, one of the most
boss prophets in the Old Testament was really funny, Elijah. When he's going at it with
the false prophets, he's like, he's like trolling them. You know, he's trolling these holier
than nows, who are cutting themselves and being all excessive and overcompensating.
You know, he's trolling them. Yeah, I think it was funny. I love it. Sounds very new IFB to me.
The Bible says in Psalm 45 verse, and by the way, this is not just for them. This is for you.
You grump. If you're a grump in our church, fix your attitude. Get right with the Lord.
Put a smile on your face, because what if God just jobs you today and just takes everything from you?
Then you would think upon the days when you had it all and you had something to smile about.
And again, there are times to be grave, to be sober, to be serious, but there's also times to
be jovial and to be happy. And let me say this, the majority of the time, the majority of the
time in the Christian life, everything is jovial and happy. The Christian life is not always
arduous and difficult. By the way, these same people, they're like, so when are we going to get
protested again? I don't know. I don't schedule those things. It's not like I put it on the bulletin
and say, you know, by the way, we got a scheduled protest, you know? They're like,
why aren't we being protested? Why aren't we attacked? I don't know. I didn't schedule the
last protest. I didn't schedule the bombing. I just preach God's word and whatever happens,
it happens. I think there's something wrong because nothing's happening. What do you want
to happen? You act like we could construct these things or something, but you know what?
That's what they do. They construct who they are and intentionally try to act a certain way.
Whereas we, we're just being Christians. We're just being Christians, reading the Bible,
loving the Lord, winning souls to Christ, fellowshiping one with another, and just
let the Lord do whatever he must do with us, allow persecution or not. Plain and simple.
I haven't changed the agenda of what we do as a church, plain and simple.
But folks, this is the attitude of the holier-than-thou hyperspiritual person.
Let me say one more thing about this dumb group, okay? And I'll finish with this,
okay? Not the sermon, but just this point.
Typically, hyperspiritual, holier-than-thous overcompensate majorly because they're
lacking in their personal life, lacking in a lot. And you know, we went to this
Sonning meeting in Barstow. We were going there on a monthly basis.
And it was good for a time. It was a very small group. And you know, one of these holier-than-thous
came with us. And that was the last trip he came to, by the way. I banned him for life
from ever going. He can go Sonning somewhere else, but not with us.
Because he was so hyperspiritual in that meeting, in that Sonning trip,
and so off-putting, he just made it distasteful. And you know, he's like,
how long have we gone? What was the amount of salvation? What were the addresses? What was
the specific time? I'm like, why are you asking all this? And this is what he said. Well, so-and-so,
which is the other hyperspiritual guy, wants to know all the stats of this particular area
because he wants to see if it's worthy for him to come there. Yeah, you heard right.
That's what he said. I told him, I said, you can't come anymore.
And I didn't give him any stats.
I said, you can't come anymore. So he's like, oh, if it's worthy enough, I'm sorry,
I'm sorry that the Great Commission is not worthy for you since he told us to go everywhere.
Regardless. You understand we go to play with Sonning in areas that are not receptive?
Should we just not go there? No, we need to go everywhere.
Plain and simple. Oh, well, I need to know if it's... So he sends this little minion.
That's how rats are, by the way. Did you know that? Rats will literally send out their young
first to see if they get trapped. And then, you know, if they get trapped, they're like,
oh, can't go that way. That's how rats are. You don't want to see if it's worthy enough
to go there. No, we're not worthy enough. Sorry, don't ever come. And is it any, you know,
is it any coincidence that the same guy is saying that we're not charitable?
He's the same people that are saying that we're not a charitable church.
We're not charitable towards our visitors. And look, folks, this guy, one of these guys
was extremely offensive in our church. He offended not everyone, but a large portion
of our church. He offended women in our church. He offended moms, wives all the time. He said,
why don't you kick him out? Because I'm a pastor who loves the people, and I wanted to be patient
with him and admonish him and encourage him. So I never did. But the guy never, he never got the
memo. You know, we have potlucks or whatever. And by the way, I'm preaching on manners and
etiquette tonight. So, you know, I hope everyone comes back tonight because I'm talking about you.
All right. And then if you don't come, I'll make sure the leaders send you a link to the sermon.
You know, we would have these potlucks. And then one of these holy women now is because,
you know, he's so charitable, he would just stack up his plate and just walk away like,
look, everything in our church is free. But can you be considerate though? Or the fact that there's,
you know, other people behind you? Are you just going to do like a cartoon and just like
grab a few slices and walk away and come back for more later? Oh, but we're not the charitable
ones. I mean, there's a lot that I can say about it, but I'm going to say it tonight.
The point that I'm making here is sometimes I preach a sermon. I want to preach a sermon
about one specific thing. So I have to create like other points around it. So this is one of them.
All right. Don't be a holier than now hyperspiritual person. Don't be weird. Be a likable individual
in our church. Be a personable individual. Be a person that people can socialize with.
Be a person that you can have a normal conversation with. And look, I know COVID
made everyone all weird because everyone's all in isolation, but you need to learn
how to socialize again because that's part of the Bible. Okay. And if you don't know
how to socialize, go read a book, go listen to a podcast, fill your mind with information
that you can give out to people when you're in a conversation. Become knowledgeable about things
so you guys can like be an interesting person to talk to. And if you don't want to do that,
just kind of listen to people and people love hearing the person who just listens to them
and do one of these.
Every once in a while. Be a person who's just able to
smile. Don't take yourself so serious. Let me also say this. Okay.
A person who's humble is able to make fun of themselves all the time.
The people who are the hyperspiritual holier than now, they can't stand when people poke fun
at them. They can't stand it because they take themselves too serious. That's why. I don't mind
poking fun at myself. I don't mean you look throughout the sermons over the years. I poke
fun at myself all the time. Plain and simple. I think everyone should do that. Get a sense
of humor. Don't take yourself so serious. Anyways, go to Ecclesiastes chapter seven.
These are habits and attitudes new Christians need to avoid.
One of these other guys, you know, told me this a couple years ago. He was like,
Pastor, I'm not going to get married because having a wife and children would just
hinder me from getting more people saved. You know, as he's telling a married person this,
who has children, right? And I'm thinking in my mind, no, you're not married because no one
wants to marry you. Don't bring the Lord in this. Don't bring the Lord's work in this.
Boy, that's your fault. He's like, I don't want to hinder myself from winning
more people to Christ. And you know, I told him that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
And then the next, that was on a Saturday that Sunday, I preached against him.
Because it was so stupid. It was a retarded thing to say. Because he's essentially saying that
the institution that God created is insufficient or makes you less efficient in your gospel
presentations and your soul. And I say, well, what if my wife's soul wins and then I raise my kids
to be soul owners? What if I have 10 kids? Doesn't that multiply our efforts to get
more people saved? He's like, oh, yeah. But it's just a holier than now hyper spiritual statement
to make. Because he wants people to think like, wow, this guy is just so godly. He's so holy. I wish
one day I can just be that way. Habits and attitudes new Christians should avoid. Number
three, avoid excessiveness on either end. And what do I mean by that? Don't be overly excessive
in being righteous. Meaning, don't bite off more than you can chew. Okay? Look at Ecclesiastes 716.
I want you to notice this. Be not righteous over much. Neither make thyself over wise.
Why should a soul destroy thyself? Here's another way of saying it. Pace yourself in the Christian
life. Sometimes I see Christians come to church, they get plugged in, and then they put it in
fourth gear right away. Now, if you can handle fourth gear for years on end without downshifting,
then kudos. But most people can't, though. And what happens is they become righteous over much,
and they end up burning out in the Christian life. Okay? Don't bite off more than you can chew.
Now, with that being said, you know, we're talking about excessiveness on either end.
Don't be overly excessive in being two lax either. Go to Philippians, if you would, chapter four.
Philippians chapter four. Just do what you can. And I think the bare minimum of what God requires
is perfect. You know, going to one to two to three services a week is great.
But going to one to two three services every two months, not great. That's very lax.
You know, the Bible talks about not being slothful in business, but fervent in spirit. God wants us
to have fervency when we serve the Lord. To be excited about the things of God, to make ourselves
do these things, and to be excited about serving the Lord. Look at Philippians chapter four,
verse number four. It says, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice.
Let your moderation be known unto all men, the Lord is at hand. What does he talk about?
Moderation, meaning don't allow, it's the opposite of excessiveness. Don't be a person who's overly
righteous, but then also overly lax. You should be right in the middle. Moderate. You go to the
services, you win souls, you read the Bible, you pray, repeat. Right? Go to church, go soulning,
read the Bible, pray, repeat. You standardize your Christian life before you optimize it.
The bare minimum should be that you go to church every single week. Right? And you say, well,
I feel like I'm not growing on my faith, or I don't know if that's enough, add another service.
In my opinion, obviously we can't find three services in the Bible, but if you want to be
a mature Christian, if you want to accelerate your growth, if you want to, if you want
God to bless you, you want more Bible knowledge, come to all three services.
I mean, what better thing to do than to come to all three services?
You know, and by the way, I like the midweek service because it kind of gives you a midweek
jumpstart. You're in the world, you're dealing with all kinds of people,
and you're hungry for the Bible, you go there for the Bible study, it requires
a certain level of commitment for sure. I'm not going to, I'm not going to, you know,
stand up here and lie to you. Coming to a Thursday night service requires some commitment
on your end. Sitting in traffic, the kind of traffic we got out here,
you know, sitting in traffic and, you know, it's in the evening, it's after work,
you're tired, it requires a level of commitment. But let me say this, whatever you commit to,
God will obviously recompense you, reward you for that.
Number four, habits and attitudes new Christians need to avoid, avoid remaining
a self-centered Christian. When you first come to church, you kind of come here to
see what the church can do for you. And we're here to help you, we're here to bless you,
we're here to be a blessing to you, but eventually you've got to move on from that.
Ask not what the church can do for you, but after a while ask what you can do for the church.
Too many times Christians have this mentality that the church is there to serve them,
and that's 100% true in the beginning stages, when you're a babe in Christ.
But after a while, you should be well-fed enough, well-equipped enough, well-trained enough,
that you're like, now it's time for me to be a blessing to someone else.
I want to learn so many. I want to help someone else. I want to be a blessing to other people.
This is called moving on from being a self-centered Christian, okay?
Philippians chapter two, let me read this to you in verse number 19, it says,
But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send to Mothi as shortly unto you,
that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state, for I have no man like-minded
who would naturally care for your state, for all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus
Christ. What am I saying? It's time for you to seek that which is Jesus Christ and not just your
own benefit. And look, the church will always be here to serve you, the church will always be
here to feed you spiritually, but we all got to get to a point where we're like,
you know what, I think I'm ready to start serving. Where is an area in the church that I can get
involved in, that I can personally invest my time into, be a blessing to others, because we all
come here to hear the preaching of God's word, but let us go on into perfection. You know,
the Bible says that these things are given unto us for the perfecting of the saints. Listen
to this, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. So our intention
should be, you know, I want to get to a certain level where, you know, I think I'm ready to
actually start being, stop coming here just to be fed, but I want to feed too. I want to feed
someone else, I want to be a blessing to someone else, I want to serve in a particular area.
And lastly, and I'm done, because all that sermon was just centered around that one point,
so I'm just kind of breezing through these other ones, but they're still good points though, okay?
I was just like, what else can I come up with? No, I'm just kidding. Lastly, number five,
avoid, listen to this, this is for new Christians, avoid the missing out mentality.
What do I mean by that? You know, if you're a new Christian, this is a new structure for you.
These are new rules. It's a new atmosphere. And sometimes Christians can get the mentality,
oh man, just being in church all the time and serving God and soul winning and reading the
Bible, I feel like I'm missing out in the world, okay? But let me just tell you this is that the
cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, that stuff's not real. You know, the children of Israel was like,
oh, we missed the garlic and the leeks and the melons. It's like, what are you talking about?
You're talking about how you're like dying there. The reason you guys are out here in
the first place is because you're crying out to God, because you hate it in Egypt.
But it comes to a point where sometimes new Christians, because they're in a new
atmosphere, and yes, it's an atmosphere of rules, they can often have this mentality,
oh, it was better in Egypt, oh yeah, under Pharaoh and your taskmasters, under the devil's influence,
with the consequences of sin, with all the filth and disgusting perversion out there, oh yeah,
it sounds great. No, at the end of the day, you know, we should have this attitude.
One thing have I desired, and that's to be in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
You know, the Bible tells us for a day and night court is better than a thousand,
right? It says I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tense
of wickedness. What does that mean? It means to be someone who's opening the door for other
believers to come into the house of God is way better than whatever the world can offer.
Why? That's where God's blessing is, that's where God's will is. Even doing the most menial task,
and there's no menial tasks, but even the most menial, quote unquote, task in the church
is still better than whatever the world has to offer. It's better than whatever you,
people used to do, whatever you used to do on Friday nights or Saturday nights.
Serving is far greater. But you know what? In order for you to have the mentality,
you've got to grow into that mentality, okay? So how do I grow into that mentality? Well,
coming to church helps you to grow into that mentality. Listen to preaching like this will
help you to have the right biblical perspective, and then fellowshiping with people, not being a
person who hates socializing. You know, fellowshiping with people will reinforce that mentality as
well. You will become like the people you're around. Plain and simple. So if you want to
be godly, on fire, a fundamental independent Baptist, be around fundamental independent Baptist.
Be around Christians who are on fire for the Lord. If you want to be a soul winner, be around
soul winners. If you want to be around zealous Christians, be around zealous Christians. If
you want to help with your, if you need help with your sense of humor, be around funny people
who don't take themselves so serious. If you feel like you're prideful and arrogant and lack
humility in mind, be around people who have humility of mind, who are able to laugh and
enjoy life and still serve God because they both go hand in hand anyways. The point that I'm making
here is that these are habits and attitudes that new Christians, yet even older Christians,
need to avoid. That's great. Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Thank you for the admonishments of the Bible, Lord. Help us as your people to realize
that it's actually fun to serve God. Yes, it is joyful to serve the Lord. And yeah, of course,
there's hardships and difficulties. Serving God is not without its ups and downs.
But Lord, we realize that the majority of the time in the Christian life, we're just having a
blast. It's a wonderful thing to serve God. And Lord, you even said that you would anoint
us with the oil of gladness. And so if I find people who are just grumpy and angry and
miserable, they're lacking being spirit-filled because an indicator that someone is anointed
with the Holy Spirit of God is that they have gladness. And that gladness is not just something
that's displayed in our heart. It actually also resonates in our countenance. And I pray that
you bless us as we go on our way, Lord. Bless our evening service in Jesus' name. Amen.
Please do your song books.