Thank you for this opportunity to hear it preached.
Please just fill Pastor Mejia with your spirit now
as he preaches your word and give us ears to hear it
and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
Okay, we're in Acts chapter 14 this morning.
Look down at your Bibles at verse 21 of Acts chapter 14.
It says, and when they had preached the gospel
to that city and had taught many,
they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and Antioch,
confirming the souls of the disciples
and exhorting them to continue in the faith
and that we must through much tribulation
enter into the kingdom of God.
And what I wanna preach on this morning
is things new Christians should never do.
Things new Christians should never do.
And the reason I chose this passage is because
what we have here are the apostles revisiting the people
that they led to the Lord, the people they got saved
and it says in verse 22 that they want to confirm
the souls of the disciples and to exhort them
to continue in the faith.
So they're going back, confirming them,
just helping them along the way, teaching them doctrine,
teaching them principles, things that they need
to be confirmed in the faith.
Now what does it mean to be confirmed?
Well, to be confirmed simply means to be established.
And one thing that God wants from all of us
is to be in the Christian life,
this Christian life for the long haul.
We obviously understand that once we're saved
we're always saved, we can never lose our salvation.
But aside from that, aside from the fact that we're saved,
God wants us to remain in the faith.
He wants us to serve him, to walk with him,
to dedicate our lives to reaching people for Christ,
to discipling others, to leading our families.
And so it's important that we learn how to confirm ourselves
in the faith and to be exhorted to continue in that.
And this morning, I'm simply gonna give you
a couple things here that new Christians
should just never do, okay?
And first and foremost, let me say this,
is that when I say new Christians,
I'm actually referring to two groups of people.
New Christians could be the person
who just newly got saved, right?
Just got saved this week, just got saved
within the last six months, just got saved
within the last 12 months, okay, within the last year.
That is a new Christian, okay?
The second one could be referring to a Christian
who has been saved for years, but they're just
just starting to grow now, okay?
That's still sort of like a new Christian,
because even though they got saved,
maybe they didn't get into a Bible-believing church,
they never got preaching or teaching on the family,
on doctrine, on all these essential things,
and so they haven't really grown much, all right?
They could've been saved for 10 years,
five years, seven years, but if they have not grown,
they're still considered to be a new Christian.
So this applies to both of those groups,
but it also applies to us ancients, okay?
Those of us who have been saved for quite some time,
we can still look at the principles
that I'm gonna talk about this morning
and apply it to ourselves and still find value
in what's being stated here, okay?
Now, I typically don't do this,
but I wanna encourage you to take notes.
I'm gonna give you 10 things
that new Christians should never do,
and it would be wise for you to write them down, all right?
Now, right here in our bulletin,
we have a section called sermon notes,
and you could actually put all those 10 things here.
This is given out every week, okay?
But this is the one week that I tell you,
you should probably write these things down
because they are important, all right?
And I wanna encourage you to reference these notes
in the future, of course.
Now, turn with me if you would to Exodus chapter 23.
Exodus 23, if you would.
You know, a lot of times when you come to church,
I tell you about the things that you should do, right?
I say, this is what you should do.
These are the commandments of the Lord.
Well, this sermon is a little different
because I'm just gonna explain some things
that you should never do.
And in my experience, you know,
this is actually just as important as the do's, okay?
And in my experience in dealing with people
and pastoring people and discipling people,
these are the things that I've seen Christians do
that has really kind of stunted their growth
or even kind of destroyed their relationships
with their friends or family
because they did these things, okay?
First and foremost, number one,
what are some things that Christians should never do?
These are 10 things.
Number one, don't expect overnight growth.
Hey, new Christian, don't expect to grow overnight.
Now, what do I mean by that?
New Christians should never have this expectation
that you or your spouse or your family or your fiance
or your friends should just get everything
that's being stated in church overnight.
That is a common mistake the new Christians always make
when they first get saved,
especially new Christians who maybe they dive in.
You know, if you're the kind of Christian
that as soon as you got saved,
you just jumped in the water, you didn't test it out,
you just went all in head first,
no reservations, no nothing,
you just kind of jumped into the Christian life,
you can often have this unrealistic expectation
that the people who surround you,
whether it's your family, your friends, your fiance,
your wife, your husband should be the same way.
But that is an unrealistic expectation for you to have.
You can't expect people around you
or even yourself to grow overnight.
Now look, when I first got saved, I went head first, okay?
I got saved on July 22nd, 2007 and I came to church,
I didn't have my mom or my dad with me
or anybody like that,
I just came because I wanted to get saved
and then fortunately the church had a really good system
of nurturing new believers and teaching them
how to soul win and teaching them about the word of God
and I just kind of got plugged in right away, okay?
I got plugged in and I'll be honest with you,
one thing that helped with that was going to Bible college,
believe it or not, I know that's like a cuss word,
but Bible college, I went there
and they gave me structure, they gave rules
and I adhered to those rules
and it helped me to grow in my Christian life,
it gave me stability in my Christian life.
But you know, that can't be said for everyone
and we can't have that expectation for everyone,
not every Christian can grow overnight
and in fact, God doesn't want you to just grow overnight,
okay, he wants you to grow over a lifetime
and he wants you to have that expectation
that your spouse, your friend, your children,
they're gonna grow but it's gonna take some time
and what I'm saying here is this,
you need to be patient with people, okay?
Look at Exodus 23 verse 27,
let's see this principle being spoken of here,
verse 27 says, God's speaking to the children of Israel,
he says, I will send my fear before thee
and will destroy all the people to whom thou shall come
and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee
so first of all, what is he talking about?
Well, the children of Israel
are about to go into the promised land,
this is the land that God had promised to them
that they were gonna inherit, it's gonna be theirs,
houses that they did not build,
vineyards that they did not plant,
all they had to do was go in there,
destroy the enemies of God
and they can have it for themselves, right?
And he's basically telling them,
hey, I'm gonna send my fear before thee,
they're gonna be afraid of you, okay?
Don't be afraid of them
because they're actually afraid of you.
Says in verse 28, and I will send hornets before thee,
I like how creative God is,
like what animal should I choose?
I'll just choose hornets,
I believe he's actually referring to hornets here.
He says, I will send hornets before thee,
which shall drive out the Hivite,
the Canaanite, the Hittite from before thee,
I will not drive them out, look what it says in verse 29,
I will not drive them out from before thee
in one year, lest the land become desolate
and the beast of the field multiply against thee.
What does he mean by that?
He says, look, I'm gonna take these hornets
and they're just gonna go into the Hivites,
they're gonna go to the Canaanites and the Hittites
and they're gonna just become such a burden to these people
that they're just gonna drive them out of the land, okay?
He goes, but I'm not gonna get rid
of all of them immediately, why?
Because if I get rid of all of these tribes,
all of these nations immediately,
what's gonna happen is you're gonna have all this
unoccupied land and when there's unoccupied land,
the beasts of the field have a tendency to take over
and if you have beasts of the field taking over,
then they're probably gonna kill you, okay?
So we'll get rid of some people, you know, here and there,
we'll get rid of enough for you to be able
to inhabit the land, but I'm not gonna get rid of them all
in just in one year, it's gonna take some time.
Look at verse 30, by little and little,
I will drive them out from before thee
until thou be increased and inherit the land.
So he says, I'll get rid of them little by little
until you have more babies, you can grow,
you can train the army, you can increase in numbers
and then we'll get rid of all of them,
all at once, you understand?
So what's the principle here?
God is basically telling them, hey, this land is yours.
You can inherit it, it's yours, but don't expect
for me to get rid of all of these four nations
right off the bat, it takes a little time.
Now the nations, from a spiritual perspective,
the application that we could get from that is this,
the nations could be referring to our flesh.
You know, the baggage that we come
to the Christian life with, right?
These things that we need to put to death.
You know, the Bible says to mortify therefore
the members of the body, okay?
You know, we're not to make provision for the flesh.
So the surrounding nations can be compared
to the works of the flesh, things that you came
into the Christian life with, you know,
a baggage and burdens and sins and bad habits
and preconceived ideas and ways of thinking,
all these things, these are things
that inhabit the land right now.
I mean, you came into the Christian life
and this is what you got going for you, okay?
And what does God say?
Hey, I'll drive them out from before you,
but I'm not gonna do it in one year.
I'll do it little by little, okay?
Now how do we apply that?
Well, here's the thing.
Don't expect to grow in your Christian life
even in one year, to reach full maturity in one year.
Don't expect your spouse to grow
to full maturity in one year.
Why?
Because God even says it takes little by little
transition and change.
It takes driving out the inhabitants little by little.
Don't expect to go into Canaan land, the promised land,
the promised land known as your spouse
and say, all right, put away the evil from among you
and let's just change you completely.
It's not realistic, folks.
It takes time to change, okay?
By little and little, as you begin to drive out
those bad habits from your life, that's how people change.
And my admonition here is this.
Be patient with your family.
Be patient with your spouse.
Be patient with your friends.
Be patient with yourself.
Man, I just don't feel like I'm growing.
I struggle still.
Well, join the crowd.
We all struggle.
It's called being a sinner.
Saved by grace, amen?
We all struggle.
We all have our shortcomings.
We all have our failures.
We all have the flesh that we battle with every single day.
And the point is is that we need to feed the new man.
We need to give the new man that spiritual diet
and starve the old man so that the old man
doesn't peak out as much.
There's a story that we used to hear,
and there's a missionary that went to this tribal area
and these heathens, and he got a bunch of them saved.
And he got the chief saved.
So the guy who was running the whole show,
he got the guy saved.
And after he got him saved, he discipled them.
He was teaching them the word of God.
Well, they ended up leaving, and they came back
about a year after just to kind of confirm
the souls of the disciples.
And he came back to them, and the guy was doing great.
He was growing, and he was still thinking about
the things of the Lord, they're sharing their faith.
I mean, they were being successful.
And he said, hey chief, how's everything going?
And he said, good.
He goes, one problem.
He goes, in me, there's a black dog and a white dog.
He said, what do you mean?
He goes, there's this fighting constantly
with black dog and a white dog.
He's referring to the flesh versus the spirit.
And he goes, well, who wins?
He goes, oh, that's easy, the one I feed the most.
He said, if I feed the white dog,
this isn't a racial thing, okay, folks, right?
Critical race theory, one on one or something.
He's talking about the flesh and the spirit.
And he says, if I feed the spirit,
then I'm gonna be able to overcome the flesh
on the day-to-day basis.
I can put the flesh to death, I can die daily.
I can walk in the spirit and not fulfill
the lust of the flesh.
But folks, let me just say this.
And this is the problem with a lot of these
liberal churches out there,
where they have you come down to the altar
and give your life to God and dedicate your life to him.
And what happens?
They leave the altar, they leave the church,
and they get defeated by the flesh
because they think to themselves,
well, wasn't I supposed to like,
I thought I already conquered this.
No, it's a daily thing.
Take up your cross daily and follow me.
I die daily.
Walking in the spirit requires a daily commitment
to say I'm just gonna walk in the spirit today
to not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Okay?
And you don't have to feel like you're walking
in the spirit either.
It's like, I feel, I feel spiritual today.
You know what I'm gonna say, right?
It's gas.
So what I'm saying is this, don't expect overnight growth.
And this is important, especially in marriage.
Because sometimes you have one spouse
who's just, they just take off.
I mean, they're all in, they're reading 10 chapters a day,
they're winning souls to Christ, they're going to church.
I mean, they are just on fire for God.
And if they're not careful, they leave their spouse behind.
Like, come on, let's go soul-willing,
come on, let's go do this, come on, keep reading,
come on, do this.
It's like, hey, cowboy, slow down a little bit.
Buy little and little.
Don't expect for her, don't expect for him
to grow overnight.
It doesn't work that way, okay?
It's an unrealistic expectation,
and it's not fair to the people who are around you
to grow as fast as you did.
And you know what?
If we compare you to some other spiritual giant,
you're kind of like basically the same way, right?
There's some other spiritual giant out there
who's doing more than you, okay?
And can have that unrealistic expectation about yourself.
And so we need to cut people some slack.
We need to cut your fiance some slack,
cut your friend some slack, cut your family some slack, okay?
Be thankful that your family just comes to church
and is growing and is learning.
Be thankful that your spouse or your fiance
is coming to church and is growing and is learning,
and don't expect for them,
well, they gotta learn the reprobate doctrine today.
It's salvation, baptism, reprobate doctrine.
Give it some time.
This is one of the reasons why people think
like we're so cultish sometimes,
because of new Christians who just kind of
go overboard on some things.
How about you get some of the basics down first?
And help your spouse get some of the basics
down first as well, okay?
Buy little and little.
Grow little by little, okay?
Don't go into the Christian life and say,
well, I'm gonna read 10 chapters right off the bat.
I mean, have you read 10 chapters of any book?
Right?
Well, I read Facebook posts all the time.
But have you read 10 chapters of any book?
No, okay, then maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea
because you don't want to discourage yourself by failing.
Why don't you read one chapter, okay?
Well, what's one chapter, like five verses?
Well, not all the time.
Maybe you just need to read a couple verses then.
I mean, you have a lifetime in the Christian life.
Why don't you pace yourself
and just grow little by little, okay?
Number one thing that Christian,
new Christians should never do, expect overnight growth.
It doesn't happen that way.
Mushrooms grow overnight, but they're kicked over easily.
Redwoods take years to grow.
And they're firm, they're strong.
They can't be kicked over, okay?
That's what you want to be.
You want to be a redwood Christian,
not a mushroom Christian, okay?
The Bible says in Isaiah,
go with me if you would to first Peter chapter two.
First Peter chapter number two, Isaiah 28 verse 10 says this
for precept must be about precept,
precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little.
Verse 13 says, but the word of the Lord was unto them
precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little.
Hey, bring them to church
so they can get a little doctrine.
A little teaching on marriage,
a little teaching on child rearing,
a little teaching on their biblical role,
a little teaching on whatever it may be,
let them grow little by little.
Don't cram it down their throats.
Mistake number one, things that new Christians
should never do, don't expect overnight growth.
Number two, don't expect growth without considerable effort.
What do I mean by that?
Well, sometimes new Christians just think,
well, if I just come to church, I'm growing, right?
Growth happens by osmosis.
I just come and I shake the pastor's hand
or I come and I bring a Bible
and if I just look like a Christian, I just grow.
I take off the pants and I put on a dress, I grow.
I take off the worldly clothing and I put on a suit, I grow.
Folks, you need a considerable amount of effort to grow.
In other words, put in the effort to grow.
Now, this is the balance of the first point, is it not?
Don't expect overnight growth, but in like manner,
you should put in some effort to grow though, okay?
Look at 1 Peter 2, verse one.
Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile
and hypocrisies and envies and evil speakings
as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word
that ye may grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted
that the Lord is gracious.
So notice that it says you should desire,
do you guys hear a ringing on the speaker?
I'm getting old.
Ecclesiastes 12, it's come upon me.
I keep hearing a ringing, but maybe I'm just getting old.
The Bible says here that as newborn babes,
you should desire the word of God, okay?
That means you have to build up an appetite for God's word.
That means you have to read God's word.
Don't be duped by this Christianity out there that says,
well, as soon as you get saved,
you're just gonna love God's word,
and if you don't, you're probably not even saved.
Folks, some people have to build up an appetite
for God's word and for preaching.
You have to like learn to like it.
I've shared this illustration many times before,
thinking about prior to getting married,
I was friends with my wife's,
she wasn't my wife at the time,
but with my wife's brothers,
and him and I would always hang out.
His name is Tim, and Tim would always get me,
what is that called, boba milk tea, right?
Always give me boba milk tea,
and you know, I wasn't for that.
I don't even know what that was like.
What is this?
Why is plastic over this cup?
Why is this straw so big?
What are these little balls in here?
And I would drink it, and I'm like,
did you guys eat this stuff?
You know, and he would always buy me one,
and you know what I would do?
I would drink it.
You know why?
Because I liked his sister.
I'm like, I got to do it because he would come,
you know, and bring me one.
He'd always bring me one, bring me one,
and I'm like, I got to die daily, man.
I got to take up my cross,
and I drink it, and I'm just like,
you swallow these little things,
or do you chew on them?
What do you do with them?
This thing tastes like cigarette butts.
I hated it.
After about 10 weeks, though,
you know what, I actually started liking it.
I was like, actually, this is pretty good.
Then I would go get one myself.
My appetite changed, okay?
You know, I don't know about you,
but there's certain, I know we got meat eaters here,
but there's certain vegetables that I didn't like
when I was a kid that I do like now.
I just enjoy the taste of it, like asparagus.
Asparagus, and we have an asparagus hater over here.
Asparagus, when I was a kid, I hated it,
but now I like it.
I enjoy the taste of asparagus.
Not all vegetables, but I do enjoy that taste.
I remember my mom, she used to like eating Tommy's Burgers
when she was young, when she was younger,
when I was younger, and we would go there,
and I'm like, oh, I hate Tommy's Burgers.
This is garbage burgers.
Get me McDonald's or something, when I was a kid.
And then just recently, I was like,
you know what, Tommy's Burgers doesn't sound that bad.
It's actually pretty good.
I was like, yeah, it's actually pretty good.
My taste buds changed, okay?
And what I'm saying is this,
is that your desires need to change.
You need to desire the word of God,
but notice that it says you have to lay aside
malice, guile, hypocrisy, envies, and all evil speakings,
and I'm sure there's a slew of other things
we have to put away from ourselves as well.
My verse is, wherefore lay apart all filthiness
and superfluity of naughtiness,
and receive with meekness the engrafted word.
So what does that mean?
It takes considerable amount of effort to grow in the Lord.
Don't expect to just come to our church,
and you're just like, well, I go to first work,
so I'm just gonna grow.
Well, not if you don't put any effort into it.
Not if you don't crack open the Bible every single day
and read it.
Not if you don't apply the preaching of God's word.
Not if you're not writing these 10 things down,
and referencing them later on, and saying,
you know what, I need to work on this.
Don't expect growth without considerable amount of effort.
Don't believe this Calvinistic nonsense
that once you get saved, you're just gonna have
the right desires right away,
you're just gonna do right, batteries come included.
Folks, that's nonsense.
If that were the case, then God doesn't have to command us
to do all these righteous things,
because it just comes naturally.
Why does he tell us, don't do this, and do this,
and read God's word, and put away from yourselves
ungodliness, and walk in the Spirit.
Why, because it doesn't come naturally.
We have to be commanded to do these things
because of the fact that it goes against
our sinful nature, folks.
And so, we need to make sure that we put in
a considerable amount of effort.
Go to 2 Peter, chapter one.
It says in verse number four, whereby, 2 Peter,
chapter one, verse four says,
whereby are given unto us exceeding great
and precious promises that by these,
ye might be partakers of the divine nature,
have an escape to corruption that is in the world
through lust, and beside this, giving all what?
Diligence, persistence, right?
Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge,
to knowledge temperance, to temperance,
patience, to patience, godliness, to godliness,
brotherly kindness, to brotherly kindness, charity.
For if these things be in you, and abound,
they make you, that ye shall neither be
barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ, but he that lacketh
these things is blind, and cannot see afar off,
and hath forgotten that he was purged
from his old sins, wherefore the rather, brethren,
give diligence to make your calling in the election sure.
See, we don't expect super Christians,
just diligent ones.
We don't expect these perfect Christians,
just diligent ones.
What does it mean to be diligent?
Just consistent.
Consistently come to church.
Consistently read your Bible.
Consistently love your wife as Christ also loved the church.
Consistently reverence your husband.
Consistently raise your children in the nurture
and the admonition of the Lord, and the consistency
of the most normal basic commands will make you
a great Christian, will cause you to grow.
Turn with me to, go to Luke chapter 14.
Luke chapter 14.
So things that Christians should never do,
new Christians should never do.
Don't expect overnight growth.
Don't expect growth without considerable amount of effort.
You know, you gotta get out of bed to come to church,
obviously.
You gotta open up the Bible to read it, to learn something.
You gotta apply the preaching of God's word,
not just be a hearer, but a doer of the word.
There's things that you have to do,
but that doesn't mean you should just, you know,
well, I'm just gonna leave it up to chance,
we'll see what happens.
No, you gotta, you need a plan.
And look, if you don't have a plan for reading your Bible,
we have a Bible reading schedule that you can use.
All it requires for you to do is be consistent.
Number three, don't bite off more than you can chew.
Things that new Christians should never do,
never bite off more than you can chew.
And in the Christian life, there's plenty to eat on.
There's plenty to chew on.
In this church, there's plenty of doctrine.
There's plenty of work.
There's plenty of things to do.
In the Christian life, there's always more to do,
but let me say this, don't bite off more than you can chew.
Don't overly commit, do what you can
and add faith gradually, okay?
Look at Luke chapter 14 and verse 27.
And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
For which of you, intending to build a tower,
sitteth not down first and counteth the cost,
whether he have sufficient to finish it.
This is the guy who's like, you know what?
We're gonna build something.
I'm not even gonna check what's in the bank.
We're just gonna get started, okay?
But then he doesn't have sufficient.
Verse 29, less happily, after he had laid the foundation
and is not able to finish it,
all that behold it begin to mock him,
saying this man began to build and was not able to finish.
So he's like, we're gonna build a 10-story building here.
It's gonna look great.
I don't even know how much money's in the bank.
And then he spends all his money on the foundation.
It was like, whoa, all that money went for the foundation.
I have nothing else, I can't build.
So he promoted to everyone that they're building this
and they're doing this.
They could not build.
And what happens?
People looked upon it and mocked him
because he was not able to finish that which he started.
What does this mean?
Don't bite off more than you can chew in the Christian life.
Okay?
And so, and you say, give me an example of that.
Well, I think Bible reading is a great example of that.
You know, people ask me all the time,
how many chapters do you read?
How many chapters do you read?
How much Bible content do you get in?
And I never tell them because I don't want them
to use me as a standard of what they think
they should be reading.
You understand?
I've been saved for 14 years.
I've read the Bible many times, scores of times.
And you know what?
I've read the New Testament scores of times, for sure.
But here's the thing.
You know, I've been saved for 14 years.
People who've been saved for six months, a year,
you know, they probably shouldn't have those goals.
Unless you're already a reader,
unless that's already your thing.
You have no problem with reading a 500 page book
or something and that's your thing, then go for it.
But if the first book you've ever read is the Bible,
right, you should probably not bite off
more than you can chew, okay?
Now I need to be careful what I'm gonna say here
because I don't want you to misinterpret
what I'm about to say.
I don't think you should bite off more
than you can chew with church attendance.
Now what do I mean by that?
What I'm saying is this.
I'd rather you be consistent Sunday mornings
than come to church Sunday morning, Sunday night,
Thursday for an entire month
and then we don't see you for like six months, right?
Because it's just too much for you.
I'd rather you just be consistent with one service
and then add services thereafter.
I'm gonna take a mental picture of everyone who's here now.
Recorded, all right, got it.
Don't bite off more than you can chew.
And look, if you come Sunday morning,
you come Sunday night, you miss,
obviously people miss all the time, who cares, right?
I mean it happens.
People get sick or for whatever reason
but if you miss because you just don't feel
like coming to church,
maybe you bit off more than you can chew.
Try to be consistent with just a little bit
that you can do.
And it's not shameful to say well,
man I feel ashamed that I can only read one chapter a day.
Why be ashamed when there's people out there
who just don't even read that at all?
There's people who don't even read the Bible.
Hey, there's pastors who won't even read the Bible.
You're light years ahead of them.
The Bible says in Hebrews five,
you don't have to turn there.
For everyone that useth milk is unskillful
in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
But strong meat belonging to them that are of full age,
even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil.
What do we need?
We need to exercise and use our senses
and read the word of God little by little
and not try to bite off more than we can chew.
Don't try to go for the massive steak
if you haven't been able to digest a little piece.
Don't try to get into end times Bible prophecies
and the intricacies thereof
if you don't have the basics of the Christian life down.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
Things new Christians should never do.
Don't expect overnight growth.
Don't expect growth without a considerable amount of effort.
Don't bite off more than you can chew.
Number four, don't limit yourself.
So this is a balance to the previous point.
Don't limit yourself in the Christian life.
Now, what do I mean by that?
Don't try to use your background and your failures
because you got saved later on in life
as a means to say,
well, I'm just not gonna put in any effort, why?
Why should I even try to live a good Christian life
if I've just have such a bad past and I failed
and I had bad upbringing, I had a bad dad, bad mom,
and bad all this.
And what do you do?
You limit yourself.
Don't be that person.
Don't use your background as an excuse
why you can't serve God or be what you need
to be for the Lord.
And this happens sometimes
because people get saved later on in life,
they come with baggage and they think to themselves,
well, I don't think God can use me at that capacity.
You know what I mean?
I'm just kind of, I've been involved in sin and drugs
or I drink alcohol or I've drank alcohol,
I fornicated prior to getting married or whatever,
whatever it may be, whatever failure you might have had,
don't try to use as an excuse to say,
therefore, I cannot do X, Y, and Z.
Why not?
Now, obviously there's certain things
that this would disqualify you
from certain services of God, right?
If a person is divorced
or if a person is divorced,
basically, they can't be a pastor.
But that's not really a big deal
because there's plenty of other outlets
that you can serve God in.
There's tons of outlets.
There's more Christians serving in other capacities
than there are pastors
because there's many openings everywhere else to serve God.
And look, you can serve God and gain as many rewards
being a faithful layman
than maybe some pastors who are out there.
But don't limit yourself in the Christian life.
I like the example of Caleb in the Bible.
Caleb was like 80 years old.
Emphasis on old.
He's 80 years old, he's conquering land
and at the age of 80, they came to him
and he's just like, I want that mountain right there.
He's like, don't you want like a warm blanket,
a rocking chair?
Don't you want like to just take it easy
the rest of your life?
And he's like, no, give me this mountain.
He says in verse 11 of Joshua 14,
as yet I am strong this day as I was
in the day of Moses sent me as my strength was then,
even so as my strength now for war,
both to go out and to come in.
He's like, I fought back then, I can still get down today.
I can still fight, I can still go to war
and you know what, from a spiritual perspective,
doesn't matter how old you are
or how old you think you are,
don't limit yourself to say, well, I'm this many years old,
I can't really serve God like these young people do.
Why not?
You can still go, do your legs work?
Can you go walk and preach the gospel?
Can you open your mouth boldly?
Yes, okay, are you bedridden?
No, okay, then you can still serve God.
You can still get that mountain.
You can still win a bunch of people to Christ.
You can still make an eternal difference
in the life of an individual somewhere.
It's possible, don't limit yourself.
Oh man, but all these young people,
I just don't have the energy.
Take some B vitamins or something.
Figure it out.
If you're alive, do it.
Don't limit yourself just because of your age.
Don't limit yourself because of your background.
Well, I used to be a gang member.
Well, man, that's the best kind of church members
we can have here.
I like having ex-gang members,
I mean ex-gang members in our church.
Great, especially when the sodomite protests come around.
Works out great.
Look at 1 Corinthians 15 verse nine.
You know Paul the apostle didn't use that excuse?
Paul the apostle arrested Christians.
You know, he was in Jerusalem, he was a blasphemer.
No, he did not kill Christians.
Paul was a murderer.
You know, you're over here ripping on some pedophile,
psychopath murderer out there, like Ted Bundy,
and then people are like, oh, according to this guy,
Paul the apostle can't even be saved.
You're comparing the apostle Paul to like a rapist
murdering sodomite, discussing filth of this world person?
The apostle Paul was injurious, he was a blasphemer,
and he was a persecutor.
He didn't kill Christians.
And let's just say, okay, for example's sake,
that he did kill a Christian.
Did he just like mutilate their body and eat it?
No.
But look what he says.
1 Corinthians 15 verse nine, of course we know
he got saved, serving God, and he says in verse nine,
for I am the least of the apostles.
So first of all, he's an apostle.
But he says I am the least of the apostles
that I am not mean to be called an apostle
because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God, I am what I am,
and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain.
Look what it says, but I labored more abundantly
than they all.
Now who is he talking about?
The other apostles.
Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
This is a pretty bold statement, but it's true.
He's saying, look, Paul the apostle wasn't even there
when Jesus Christ was alive.
I mean, he was there, but he wasn't like there with him.
You understand?
The other apostles were, they were there with him,
they witnessed the resurrection,
they saw him doing all these things,
yet this guy gets saved later on in life.
He was one born out of due time,
and yet the Bible says here
that he labored more abundantly than they all.
He didn't say, well, you know, I was a persecutor,
I was a jurist, people claimed that I'm like a murderer
and stuff, and you know, people think that I'm like
Ted Bundy and all these, you know,
I just, you know, I did all these things,
and I was there, you know, he didn't use that as an excuse.
He just said, look, I'm just not gonna allow
the grace of God to be in vain in my life.
So you know what you do when you limit yourself?
You're basically, the grace of God
is in vain in your life, basically.
You're not using it.
Don't limit yourself in the Christian life.
Things that new Christians should ever do,
don't limit yourself.
Go to First Timothy, verse number four.
Here's an important one, number five.
Please get this.
Things that new Christians should never, never do.
Number five, don't rebuke your family.
Let me say that again.
Do not rebuke or correct your family.
You should never do that as a new Christian.
In fact, you should just never do it, period.
Especially if you're living under the roof.
Especially if like, you know, you're rebuking your parents.
Don't rebuke your family.
I hear this all the time.
Wait, since you became new IFB?
No, since I got saved.
And you know why?
Because I did it, there.
I rebuked my family and I got on them
in a unique Bible, come to church,
you need to get saved, going to hell and all this stuff.
And you know what?
I damaged some relationships in my life because of that.
So I'll be the first to tell you,
I'm speaking by experience here.
I didn't have a filter and I got on my family a lot
and they didn't appreciate it and you know what?
Unfortunately, I kind of alienated
some of my family because of it.
They got a bad taste in their mouth.
Because I had a zeal, but not according to knowledge.
Understand?
And so take, don't allow my failure as a new Christian
to go to waste in your life.
You know, take that advice.
Don't rebuke your family.
This is important because a lot of times Christians,
you know, especially if you come to a church like this,
you learn a lot of doctrine, you know what the Bible says,
and maybe you have family who are Christians,
you have family that are saved,
and you just want to go over there
with the reprobate doctrine,
you just want to tell them how it is
with the reprobate doctrine, post-trip, pre-wrath,
you want to tell them how it is with the sodomites,
you want to tell them how it is with all these things,
and you know what they do?
They resist that.
Because people resist prideful people all the time.
No one likes to be around prideful people.
Don't you resist a prideful person?
If a person just comes to you as a know-it-all
and they're just trying to correct it and everything,
you just kind of plug your ears and be like,
I don't want to hear this, this is stupid.
Well, that's how people feel about you.
When you go to your family,
trying to tell them how to live their life,
trying to tell them, you know, hey, you're wrong,
let me tell you what the Bible says, I'm King James only.
Wrong group of people to do it to.
Because a prophet is not without honor,
saving his own country.
Just remember this, your mom that you're preaching to,
she wiped your butt when you were a little baby.
And that's what she's thinking
when you're correcting her on doctrine.
When you're telling her how it is,
she's like,
I fed you, I wiped your butt when you were a baby,
I held you when you cried, I did all these things,
and you're trying to tell me?
You're saying, should I just never preach to my family?
No, preach the gospel to your family.
And you know what the Bible says,
to be ready always to give an answer to every man
that asks you of the faith that is in you
with meekness and fear.
So when we approach our family,
we don't approach them with the chest down,
let me just tell you what the Bible says.
Open up your Bibles, Roman,
you don't know where Roman's is?
What?
You don't do that with meekness and fear.
You tremble, you tread lightly.
Why, because you have a lot going against you
when you preach to your family.
They know who you are.
And they don't necessarily respect you
at that level sometimes.
So therefore you have to come humbly before your family
and give them the gospel.
And you know what, don't give them the reparative doctrine
before you give them the gospel.
What kind of nonsense is that?
Like yeah, I've been trying to tell my family about this,
are they saved?
No.
The natural man perceives not the things
of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them
for they are spiritually discerned.
Why would you try to teach them the deep things of God
when they're not even saved?
Don't rebuke your family.
Look at 1 Timothy 4 verse 12.
Paul speaking to the apostle,
the apostle Paul speaking to Timothy says this,
let no man despise thy youth.
I'll tell you why a lot of people despise the youth sometimes
because of this rare reason right here.
They come in as know-it-alls, they're correcting their dad,
they're correcting their mom,
they're telling them they should be in church.
Why are you wearing pants for?
Only trannies do that.
You're cross-dressing mom.
You know that's called cross-dressing?
And by the way, yeah, amen, I agree with all that.
Yeah.
But here's the thing, she doesn't know that.
She hasn't gotten any preaching on that.
She doesn't know what the Bible says about that.
And if you're living under the roof of your parents
and your parents drink,
obviously we understand that's wicked,
but you don't go and break their bottles or something.
It's not your place.
Then what should I do?
Grow up, get married, move out?
Win your family to the Lord, love them?
I thought I'm not supposed to be involved with drunkards.
Yeah, but if you live with them,
you really don't have a choice now, do you?
Well, I just think the best thing to do
is just like Stone Cold Steve Austin,
just pour all their beers and stun everyone spiritually.
Just make an impact.
Yeah, you're gonna scare them away.
And you know what?
And then when our church gets bombed again,
they're gonna be like, you learned that from that church.
Hey, parents, they didn't learn it from me.
Let me talk to the camera here.
They didn't learn that from me.
I don't teach that.
Hey, children, obey your parents and the Lord
for this is right.
Don't rebuke your family.
It's important that you, with meekness,
try to win them over, first of all, to Christ.
And here's the thing, sometimes if you don't do that,
the Bible says that a brother offended
is harder to be won than a strong city,
and his contentions are like the bars of a castle.
And then it's just gonna take you
that much longer to win them over, okay?
Don't correct your family.
Don't rebuke your family.
Don't go to the family reunion.
And don't be that one, and like, oh yeah, he's coming.
He's gonna say all that stuff.
But just let him, he's really excited about that.
Just let him say whatever.
And then just view you as that one family member
who is just a grief to be around.
Because you're such a holier than thou.
Hey, we wanna be holy, but we never wanna have
this attitude that we're holier than thou.
Come not near me, for I am holier than thou.
Go to First Corinthians five,
things new Christians should never do.
Number six, along with that, the balance of that,
don't alienate your family and friends.
You shouldn't alienate them.
Well, I'm a Christian now, so I'm just gonna separate
from every single friend and family.
Well, here's the thing, okay?
Well, let's read this, First Corinthians five, verse nine.
I wrote unto you in an epistle,
not to company with fornicators.
That's a good idea.
If all your friends are just fornicators,
unsaved fornicators, it's probably not a good thing.
Why, because you probably become a fornicator yourself.
So he's saying, look, I wrote unto you,
not to company with fornicators.
And look, you could add to that drunkards,
don't company with drunkards,
don't company with prostitutes,
don't company with bad people.
Why, because you're gonna end up learning their habits.
Then he says in verse 10,
yet not all together with the fornicators of this world,
or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters,
for then he must needs to go out of the world.
So he's saying, look, but don't go overboard on this.
And you're just like, well, I don't want to company
with any of my family, any of my friends.
I never want to talk to them again
because they smoke weed and they drink
and this guy is living with his girlfriend
and all these things.
Well, then you should leave planet Earth, right?
Because everyone on planet Earth,
a lot of people on planet Earth do those things.
So let me give you a piece of advice.
Don't be Amish.
Don't be an Amish person.
Amish people just go to the middle of nowhere
and they have this secluded little company of families
that just stay and they're just away from the world.
But then they're a bunch of weirdos.
They don't even have the right gospel.
They're probably inbred, some of them.
Oh yeah, they're so separated from the world
that they're just not tainted by the world,
but they're just tainting themselves
with their stupidity and doctrine.
Folks, we're not Amish.
We want to be where the people are.
And what I'm saying is this,
if you're company with fornicators,
just to kind of company with them,
obviously that's not a good idea.
Now, if you have a friend who's a fornicator
but you're just trying to win them to the Lord,
company with that person so you can win them to the Lord.
But I will say this, if you've been trying to win them
to the Lord for like the last five years,
say, I think I almost got him.
I think, you know, we're gonna go out again.
We're gonna go party and I'm just gonna try
to preach him the gospel.
Not a good idea.
It's not gonna happen.
Don't alienate your family and friends, folks.
Remember this, Andrew first fineth his brother Peter, right?
Brought him to the Lord.
And Peter ended up getting on fire for God.
You don't really hear about Andrew much thereafter.
Peter's the one who went full in,
he became like a leader of the disciples.
Why? Because his brother brought him to the Lord.
Bring your family to church.
Bring them to church.
Don't alienate them.
Jesus said in John chapter 17, verse 14,
I have given them thy word and the world hated them
because they are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world.
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world,
but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth.
As thou has sent me into the world,
even so have I sent them into the world.
So just know this, the world is your home for now.
And recognize that if you're here,
don't alienate your family,
don't have this holier than thou attitude against them.
Have a balance with that.
Obviously, if your family is involved in gross sin,
you know, you need to make sure you separate from that.
But don't say, you know,
I never want to talk to you ever again.
You know, you hang out with reprobates and sodomites
and therefore I don't want nothing to do with you.
It's not a good idea.
Look, if they're not bringing the sodomites around you,
then why even worry about that?
Now look, I told my family, I said this,
I will come to the birthday parties.
But if my dyke of a cousin is there, I will never come.
Because I'm serious about that.
I say, you know why, mom?
Because I got kids.
And I don't want them looking at that.
And you know what?
They all respected that.
And I haven't been to a birthday party,
invited to a birthday party ever since.
I'm just kidding.
They would invite me and they would say, you know,
she can't come because we want Bruce to come.
So they understood that.
You understand?
Turn with me to Hebrew chapter 12.
We're almost done with the list.
I'm gonna breeze through some of these.
Actually, just go to Romans 12.
Go to Romans 12.
I'm gonna breeze to this point.
Point number seven, if you wanna write this down,
write it down.
Don't keep old friends that can lead you astray.
Things that new Christians should never do,
don't keep old friends that can lead you astray.
Let me give you a good piece of advice
when it comes to this matter here.
When you come to church, make friends.
Make new friends.
Don't compartmentalize church and say,
well, you know, church is church,
but when I'm outside of church,
I'm gonna go hang out with my buddies.
I'm gonna go hang out with my girlfriends.
We're still gonna party.
And then I do church on Sunday.
Doesn't work that way.
Because eventually, you're gonna go back to that life.
You're gonna go back to drinking, back to smoking,
back to partying, back to doing whatever it was
that was outside of God's will.
That's what you're gonna get involved in again.
But here's the thing.
It's not like don't have any friends
because God wants us to have friends.
He just wants us to have the right friends.
The Bible says that he that walketh with wise men
shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
What kind of friends does God want you to have?
Christian friends.
And so, well, where am I gonna find Christian friends?
Well, there's like a room full of them right here.
Well, yeah, but there's some weird people here, too,
you know, and you're one of them.
There you go.
So you fit right in.
Don't keep old friends that can lead you astray.
The Bible says make no friendships with an angry man
and with the furious man that shall not go.
If you have a temper problem, you probably should get away
from your friends who help you to have that temper problem.
If you have a drinking problem, you should probably get away
from the friends that basically advocate for drinking.
Number eight, things that new Christians should never do,
don't be set in your ways.
Don't be set in your ways.
Be willing to change and have, listen to this,
be willing to change and have your preconceived ideas
challenged.
Why, because the truth fears no investigation.
There's this attitude out there amongst Christians sometimes
who's like, I will never change.
What I believe, what I do, I'm never gonna change.
That's a wrong attitude to have.
Because the Bible actually teaches the exact opposite
of that.
Why, I'm never gonna change what I believe.
What if what you believe is wrong?
Then you probably should change it, right?
The Bible says in Romans 12, verse one,
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,
wholly acceptable unto God, which is a reasonable service,
and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed,
look what it says, by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable
and perfect will of God.
You know what God says?
You need to renew your mind.
So don't be set in your ways.
Don't think, well, this is how I was taught
in my old church.
Well, we'll see if that measures up to the word of God.
Don't be this kind of Christian that says,
well, this is what I believe,
and I don't want to be challenged by it.
Why would you not want what you believe to be challenged
if it's the truth?
I could never understand, especially dealing with
like pre-tribbers and Zionists.
Like, I'm never gonna change this.
All right, let's talk about it.
Well, I don't want to talk about it either.
Why?
Let me challenge what you believe.
Because if we have the truth, the Bible says
we can do nothing against the truth before the truth.
Well, I've already investigated.
I've already studied it out.
Great, show me what you got.
Let's talk about it then.
Because if you have the truth,
you should be able to win me over, right?
But here's the problem is that a lot of times
people are just set in their ways.
It's not because they have the truth,
it's because they're set in their ways
and they're not willing to change,
even if they're wrong.
Now, this is important because we live in a day and age
where now they do parades for like sodomites and stuff
in different cities.
They call them gay pride parades.
You guys heard of those?
And you know what?
You're in a church where we ardently preach against that.
And we don't just say it's a sin.
Duh, I mean, of course we know it's a sin.
Why don't you just say it's a sin?
Because it's more than just a sin.
It's an abomination in the sight of God.
And the reason I'm even bringing up this point
is because you're gonna hear some things in this church
that may seem a little radical to you.
But you need to have your preconceived ideas
challenged though.
Because if it's true, if it's what God's word says,
then we need to change what we believe
to what God's word says.
But that's not how it was taught.
I get you, I get that.
But what does the Bible say?
And if the Bible says that we need to believe it,
you understand, no matter how radical it is,
and think about this, are the teachings of God's word
radical to God?
No, it's actually normal to God, right?
The teachings of God's word, just completely normal.
It's not like I got something really crazy for you.
He's like, God's word, this is it.
It's people who are like, whoa.
God's like, what?
This is normal, you're whoa.
What you believe is whoa.
It's like, whoa.
That's what you believe.
Be willing to have your ideas challenged.
Be willing to learn.
Are you trying to say you're gonna brainwash us?
Yeah, I'm gonna wash your brain from all the stupid,
filth, and preconceived ideas that this world gives you.
Gonna wash your brain from all the nonsense,
all the filth, all the stupid ideologies,
all the false doctrine,
all the things that the liberal preachers
just pump into you.
You're gonna have it challenged.
The Bible says that he put off concern
in the form of conversation of the old man,
which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
Be willing to have a change of mind.
Now here's the thing, I'm not saying
just take my word for it.
Just whatever I teach, just take my word for it,
just believe it.
No, I'm saying if I'm showing you from God's word,
if I can prove it from God's word,
you should be willing to change that.
Don't be, new Christians can often just be set in their ways.
Well, I don't really agree with that.
Okay, it's okay to disagree, but just know this,
don't say you disagree with me.
Say you disagree with the Bible.
Okay, last two, number nine.
Things that new Christians should never do,
don't underestimate the devil.
Don't underestimate the devil.
The altar call has not yet started, young lady.
No, I'm just kidding.
She was running down the aisle, she was like,
she's about to get right with God, no.
Don't underestimate the devil.
By the way, people, don't freak out when kids are just like,
get away from the parents, they start running around.
We got a lot of little ones in the church, amen.
What do I mean by that?
Don't be prideful.
Don't think, well, I got my ducks in order,
Satan will never take me down.
Hey, he that stand to take heed lest he fall.
Well, ever since I've been to the church,
I'm not gonna drink anymore, I can handle it.
Don't be prideful.
And don't underestimate.
Look, Satan is on a short leash by God,
but Satan is still powerful.
And that's why the Bible says, be sober, be vigilant,
for your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about seeking whom he may devour.
He's trying to devour you.
So don't underestimate the power of Satan
and think, well, you know, I'm good to go, I'm fine now.
No, it's a daily thing that we have to do.
We have to fight our adversary daily.
We have to read the word of God daily.
We have to take up our cross daily.
We have to confess our sins daily.
We have to resist the devil daily.
Don't underestimate his power.
And lastly, number 10, don't underestimate God.
So what do you mean by that?
Go to 1 John 4, 1 John 4, last scripture.
It kind of goes back with the previous points
that I gave about limiting yourself.
Don't think that your problem is so big.
It's so messed up.
The relationship has been so damaged.
Your reputation has been so marred.
Your background has been so bad
that God just can't fix it or something.
Folks, that's not true.
It's a lie from Satan.
All things work together for good to them
to love God to them who are the called
according to his purpose.
That's what the Bible says.
And don't have this attitude of,
well, you just don't know my situation.
Yeah, but there's no temptation taking you,
but such is as common to man.
So whatever you're going through,
someone out there has gone through it.
I guarantee you someone in here has gone through it.
So don't underestimate God's ability in your life
to fix that problem.
But just reference the first point.
It just doesn't get fixed overnight.
Your problems don't get fixed overnight.
The relational problems don't get fixed overnight.
Marriage problems don't get fixed overnight.
Children don't get fixed overnight.
Spouses are not fixed overnight.
Your problems do not get fixed overnight.
But all that to say this is that
don't underestimate God's power to fix it though.
Bible says in 1 John 4, verse four,
ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them,
because greater is he that is in you
than he that is in the world.
It's great scripture to remind us
of how powerful and almighty God really is.
And sometimes new Christians,
they come to church, they have all these issues
and they think, well, this can't be fixed.
Well, let me say this.
If you're alive, if you can breathe,
if you're in church right now,
it's probably gonna get fixed.
Because if it was burned beyond recognition,
you'd probably be dead, probably be in heaven already.
But if you're here, that means that
God can fix that situation, it just takes a little time.
Here are 10 things that Christians should never do.
And I hope you take them to heart,
I hope you apply them to your life,
and I hope you reference them in the future.
Let's pray, Father, we thank you so much for this day.
Thank you, Lord, for your word
and the basic principles of your word.
I pray, God, I'm thankful for so many new Christians
in our church, so many new people that are being reached.
And what a blessing that is.
And I pray, God, that you would help them to grow
in grace and in knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I believe they're in the right place.
I think they just need to be consistent, be faithful,
develop the right relationships,
stray from the relationships that can be damaging to them
out there in the world.
And I pray, God, that you help them to have patience, Lord,
to recognize that these changes don't come overnight.
It takes time, by little and little.
And may your grace be upon them, Lord, and use them greatly.
Bless us as a church, Lord, as we continue to reach
more people for Christ, favor us, Lord.
May your face shine upon us
and that you would continue to use us
until the Lord returns, in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.