This church, if you could, go ahead and please stand with me, come on inside.
Song number 374, Send the Light.
Song number 374.
On that first verse.
There's a call come ringing, oh, the restless wave.
Send the light, send the light.
There were souls to rescue, there were souls to save.
Send the light, send the light.
Send the light, the blessed gospel light.
Let it shine from shore to shore.
Send the light, the blessed gospel light.
Let it shine forevermore.
We have heard the Macedonian call today.
Send the light, send the light.
The golden offering at the cross we lay.
Send the light, send the light.
Send the light, the blessed gospel light.
Let it shine from shore to shore.
Send the light, the blessed gospel light.
Let it shine forevermore.
Let us pray that grace everywhere about.
Send the light, send the light.
And a Christ-like spirit everywhere be found.
Send the light, send the light.
Send the light, the blessed gospel light.
Let it shine from shore to shore.
Send the light, the blessed gospel light.
Let it shine forevermore at the last.
Let us not grow weary in the work of love.
Send the light, send the light.
Let us gather jewels for a crown above.
Send the light, send the light.
Send the light, the blessed gospel light.
Let it shine from shore to shore.
Send the light, the blessed gospel light.
Let it shine forevermore.
Let us pray.
Father, thank you for this wonderful and beautiful day that you've given us.
Thank you for the opportunity to be able to come to church.
I pray for the preacher and also pray for your spirit,
also for the singing to come and may glorify you.
We love you in Jesus' name.
Amen. Go ahead and please be seated.
Song number 472, This Is My Father's World.
Song number 472 on that first verse.
This is my Father's world.
And to my listening ears,
All nature sings and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world.
Rest me in the thoughts
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas.
His hands the wonders wrought.
This is my Father's world.
The birds their carols raise.
The morning light, the lily white
Declare their Maker's praise.
This is my Father's world.
He shines in all that's fair.
Hear rustling grass, I hear Him pass.
He speaks to me everywhere on the last.
This is my Father's world.
Oh, let me ne'er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father's world.
The battle is not done.
Jesus, who died, shall be satisfied.
And earth and heaven be won.
Alright, great singing, just a few announcements here
before we sing our next song, which will be
441 Great Is Thy Faithfulness.
I'm sorry, yes, 441 Great Is Thy Faithfulness.
Just a few announcements here, of course our Sunday morning service
is at 1030 Sunday evening at 5pm
and then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock
and we're currently going through the book of Matthew
so hope to see you during our midweek service.
You see the so many times and teams
the list of expecting mothers, congratulations to Marcos and Ariel
on the news that they're expecting
and so be in prayer over them, we'll make sure she gets on the list there.
You see the important reminders there at the bottom
and then some of the upcoming church events
we have TJ's soul winning
not tomorrow but the following Monday on the 11th
and we'll meet here at the building at 9
and so if you'd like to participate in that
you can see brother Ulysses, Hernandez for more details
you do need a passport
not necessarily to cross but to come back over
and so if you'd like to participate in that
we would welcome you, especially if you know how to preach the gospel in Spanish.
And then we have our
sixth year anniversary service coming up
on the 17th, now on that Saturday
we have the Fontana Sowing Marathon
in light of our anniversary
so that will be on Saturday, September 16th
at 9.30 AM
we'll meet at Veterans Park, you have the address there
and so I want to encourage everyone to participate in that
please make sure you sign up in the back
if you're going to be participating in the Fontana Marathon
so we can get a head count
and get the food ready and all that
just keep that in mind
and then a homeschool field trip is coming up on Friday, September 29th
that will be at Kids Space Children's Museum
at 9 AM
you see the address there
of course that's 100% free
and so if you would like to be a part of that
you can ask my wife for more details
she has all the info
and that's pretty much it
you look there at the bottom
please make sure you silence your phones
during the preaching so as to not be a distraction
during the service
Monday to Thursday
one right over here
how about Friday and Saturday
for the morning
three
I thought I saw a hand
how about this afternoon
two, one
no scratching you guys
you guys picked the perfect time to scratch yourself
yes, two
anybody else, did I miss anybody
keep up the great work on soul winning
let's go ahead and sing our next song
great is thy faithfulness
alright, song number 441
great is thy faithfulness
song number 441
on the first verse
great
is thy faithfulness
oh
God my
father
there is no
shadow of
turning with
me
thou changes
not
my compassion
they fail not
has
thou past been
thou forever
will be
great
is thy
faithfulness
great is thy
faithfulness
morning by
morning
new mercies
I see
all I
have needed
thy hand
have provided
great
is thy faithfulness
Lord
unto me
summer
and winter
and
springtime
and harvest
sun, moon
and stars in
their courses
above
joy with
all nature
in many
bold witness
to thy
great
faithfulness
mercy and
love
great is thy
faithfulness
great is thy
faithfulness
morning by
morning
new mercies
I see
all I
have needed
thy hand
have provided
great
is thy
faithfulness
Lord
unto me
pardon
for sin
and a peace
that
endureth
my
to cheer and
to guide
train for
today
and bright hope
for tomorrow
blessings
all mine
with ten thousand
beside
great
is thy faithfulness
great
is thy
faithfulness
morning by
morning
new mercies
I see
all I
have needed
thy hand
have provided
great
is thy
faithfulness
Lord
unto me
Great singing.
As the ushers come forward for the offering please turn your Bibles to
Philippians chapter 1.
Good evening
tonight we're in Philippians chapter 1
and the Bible reads
Paul and Timotheus
the servants of Jesus Christ
to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at
Philippi with the bishops and deacons
grace be unto you and peace from God our Father
and from the Lord Jesus Christ
I thank my God upon every remembrance
of you always in every prayer of mine
for you all making requests with joy
for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now
being called upon you
being confident of this very thing
that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it
unto the day of Jesus Christ
even as it is meet for me
to thank this of you all
because I have in you in my heart
and as much as both in my bonds
and in the defense and confirmation
of the Gospel
you all are partakers of my grace
for God is my record
how greatly I long after you all in the
bowels of Jesus Christ
and this I pray that your love may abound
yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment
that ye may approve
things that are excellent
that ye may be sincere and without offense
until the day of Christ
being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by
Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God
but I would ye should understand
brethren that the things
which happened unto me have fallen
out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel
that so my bonds in Christ are manifest
in all the palace
and in all other places
and many of the brethren in the Lord
waxing confident by my bonds
are much more bold to speak the word without fear
some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife
and some also of good will
the one preached Christ of contention
not sincerely, supposing to add affliction
to my bonds
but the other of love, knowing that I am set
for the defense of the Gospel
what then, notwithstanding every way
whether in pretense or in truth
Christ is preached
and I therein do rejoice, yea I will rejoice
for I know that this shall turn to my salvation
through your prayer and the supply of the
Spirit of Jesus Christ
according to my earnest expectation and my hope
that in nothing I shall be ashamed
but that with all boldness as always
so now also Christ may be magnified
in my body whether it be by life
or by death
for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain
but if I live in the flesh
this is the fruit of my labor, yet
what I shall choose I want not
for I am in a strait betwixt two
I desire to depart and to be with Christ
which is far better, nevertheless
to abide in the flesh is more needful for you
and having this confidence
I know that I shall abide and continue with you
all for your furtherance and joy
of faith
that your rejoicing may be more abundant
in Jesus Christ for me
by my coming to you again
only let your conversation be as it becometh the
Gospel of Christ, that whether I come
to see you or else be absent, I may hear
of your affairs, that you stand fast
with one spirit, with one mind striving
together for the faith of the Gospel
and nothing terrified by your adversaries
which is to them an evident
token of perdition, but to you of
salvation and that of God
for unto you it is given in behalf of Christ
not only to believe on him
but also to suffer for his sake
having the same conflict which he saw in me
and now here to be in me
let's pray dear Lord God thank you for this church you've given us
and every soul here right now Lord I just pray that you bless
pastor right now as he preaches unto us
out of your word Lord and just
give him boldness and give him
remembrance of what he
has found in your Bible to teach us today Lord
and just give us ears to hear Lord
and attentiveness tonight we pray this all in Jesus name
Amen
Amen, alright we're in Philippians
chapter 1 and the title of my
sermon this evening is why Christians
are fake, why Christians
are fake, look at verse number 8
it says for God is my record
how greatly I long after you all
in the bowels of Jesus Christ
and this I pray that your love may
abound yet more and more in knowledge
and in all judgment verse number 10
is the text verse it says that you may approve
things that are excellent
that you may be sincere
and without offense
till the day of Christ
here the apostle Paul is writing to the church at Philippi
and he's exhorting them he's saying that
he wants them to be excellent
he wants them to approve that which is sincere
and when you think of the word sincere
we don't often use it the way it's
used in its context in the Bible
sincere simply means to be pure
in other words without defect
without anything to convolute
who they are as a Christian
it says there that he wants them to be pure
without offense till the day of Christ
but really that word sincerity
or sincere the way we would use it
is derived and can be related to that
term pure, right? When someone is sincere
they don't really have
any other underlying motive
they don't have any
underlying defect
within them they're pure
they have the purest of intentions in other words
they're sincere they're genuine
and this is what God wants from us
as Christians he wants us
to live a life of sincerity
of truth that we're not fake
that we're not necessarily
just kind of putting on a face
and putting on a facade
of being something that we're not
he wants us to be real
he wants us to be genuine
he wants us to be sincere
now what does it mean to be fake?
well because you think to yourself
are you saying all Christians are fake
because the sermon is called reasons why Christians are fake
well I'm referring to those Christians
who essentially
are disingenuous sometimes
and to be fake
would mean someone who lacks
sincerity
they're disingenuous
they essentially are people who
have some sort of underlying motive
or there's a reason why they carry a facade
of something they're really not
they're not a real person
here as they are maybe back
home or who they are
when they're at work or with other people
they're fake
and what does it look like?
well a person who's a fake is someone who
overcompensates a lot
they give excessive
and insincere praise
this is what's also known as flattery
and then also they often
have this characteristic of being
hyper spiritual
and that's part of overcompensating
when someone is hyper spiritual
they become excessive
in their spiritual disciplines or at least
vocalizing their spiritual
disciplines and acting like a Christian
because they're trying to
cause you not to see who they really
are because deep down inside
they're not necessarily spiritual maybe they don't love
the word of God as much or
they don't have a walk with God they're not walking
in the Spirit but they want to portray as
though they do
now let me just say this is that we all want to put our best foot forward
so don't misunderstand me
because sometimes
we're not at 100%
we're not necessarily operating
at optimal levels as a Christian
we're always in the Spirit
we always love the Bible
always love Sony we want to come to church
and everything's just hunky dory
all the time obviously that's unrealistic
it's not true
but as Christians we do want to put our best foot forward
when we come to church
maybe you're having a bad day
and you had a bad week
maybe you had a bad morning
maybe you got in a fight with your spouse or something
your wife beat you up or something like that
and then you guys kiss
and make up in the parking lot
but you're still in pain
you got bruised ribs
you got to put your best foot forward
when you come to church
and just kind of suck it up
and wipe away the tears
and smile and be happy
and obviously I'm exaggerating but I'm saying
sometimes you're going to have a bad week or a bad day
and you don't want to bring
that type of attitude into the house of God
you're obviously coming to church because
you want to be exhorted by the preaching of God's word
you want to sing the hymns and have great fellowship
and so what we do often
and myself included
is we put our best foot forward
we just kind of put those problems behind us
whatever thing that we're struggling with
whatever attitude that we may have
we put that on the back burner
and we put our best foot forward
now what does it mean to put your best foot forward?
the best representation of yourself
but here's the thing
it's actually you
it's just the best representation of you
it's you on a good day
this is a lot different from being a fake
because a fake is someone who portrays
themselves to be something that they're not
that they're not at all
a person who's putting their best foot forward
is essentially someone
who's trying their best
to have the best attitude
you know
just have the best disposition
there's nothing wrong with this
when guys are dating
they often put their best foot forward
and then after marriage
the wife never sees that good foot ever again
it kind of goes backwards a little bit
where is that good foot?
I remember that best foot you had
where did it go?
you know
now it has like corn
and it's all ugly
and ingrown toenails and all that
it's not as best as it really
it was a fake foot
they put their best foot forward
because they're trying to win over
I've said too much
I'm already married
so those of you who are not
no you do
and this is fact
when you're dating someone
they're trying to get a girl to marry them
they're going to try their best
to make themselves look as best as possible
but here's the thing
that's really who they are
in their best optimal position
now obviously
now let me say this
obviously there's instances though
where someone can do that
and it's not their best foot
they're actually fakes
and obviously that's a terrible situation
between putting your best foot forward and being a fake
putting your best foot forward is
you being sincere and that you're not perfect
you're having a bad day but you know
you're doing the best that you can today
whereas a fake just tries to make it seem
as though everything is hunky dory
there's no problems, he doesn't have any sin
she doesn't have any sin, nothing ever goes wrong
and they're just kind of being a phony
now what are some of the effects
of being a fake?
what happens, what are some of the consequences
of being a fake?
let me give you a couple things here for a way of introduction
first and foremost
people who are fakes miss out on meaningful relationships
they really do
because deep relationships
require transparency
you know, talking about your weaknesses
fears, failures, etc
and so when you're a fake
and you have it all together
you don't necessarily like to be transparent with other people
whereas when you're being genuine
and sincere
you know, you're transparent
not to an excessive amount
but enough that people know that your feet are made of clay
that you're not perfect
that you are a sinner
you make mistakes
and you need the Lord, you need church
you need God's people
but people who are fake, they miss out on those meaningful relationships
because they constantly want to portray
as though they have everything together
there's never a problem in their life
they don't suffer from any sadness
they don't go through any season of depression
or discouragement
everything is just perfectly fine in their life
you know, you're being fake there
and you're missing out on a lot of meaningful relationships
that you can build
by sharing your sufferings with other people
okay
and so an effect of being fake is that you miss out on those relationships
and I want to get into
I don't want to
I don't want to get into this point too quickly
but you know what, this is why I'm thankful for our church
because of the fact that
in our church
you know, when we fellowship together
we're being real with one another
sometimes people are just a little too real too
they get a little too comfortable
you know what I mean
like when the Bible says we're brothers and sisters in Christ
people take that a little too serious sometimes
or it's just like
they're just a little too real
okay
there has to be a sense of discretion too
you understand
but you know, I think it's still great that people are transparent with one another
they treat each other as brethren and sisters
whereas that is not the case in a lot of other churches
and I'm not referring to churches
within our movement
what we would refer to as the new IFB
I'm talking about fundamental Baptist churches in general
and I'm sure other churches
like non-denam churches are probably even worse
okay
where everyone's just fake with one another
they're just extremely disingenuous
they don't really know each other
and so they have these superficial
relationships
because they're not being sincere with one another
they have this mask of
you know
I'm holy, you're holy
but at the end of the day they're just kind of
they're probably just wicked people sometimes
okay
or even if they're not
they're just not being sincere, they're not being transparent
and so they don't develop deep
meaningful relationships
and I would say this
in the last six years
of the existence of this church
we've developed a lot of deep relationships in our church
there's a lot of people here that I
I mean I love the entire church
but there's a lot of individuals that I've
developed like deep love for
okay, that I think about
and they are my brethren
and they're like family to me
and one of the reasons why is because
we are transparent with one another
you know, and obviously as a pastor
I have to make sure that I'm not so
transparent
that people can often
they kind of lose respect or whatever
but there's a certain line of transparency that I can cross
that can help people to
realize, oh, you know, he's just like us
or whatever, you know, and what that does
is it develops great relationships, I have great
relationships with the men in our church
love the men in our church
and I think that is due to the
transparency with one another, okay
but another effect of being fake is that you
stunt your growth
because if you're a fake
you're basically saying you have nothing to work on
and you're a person
who can't take correction
a fake does not like to take correction
at all because
in their minds they have nothing to correct
you know, they're just everything
they got it all down packed
everything's good to go
whereas a person who is genuine and
sincere recognizes
that they will have defects
they recognize that they are
you know, missing out
on certain virtues that they need to
develop and they need other people to kind of
point those things out
now that requires for you to be in a position
of vulnerability so that
someone can come to you and say
hey, what you're doing isn't right
you know, you should change your
behavior, your attitude in this area
don't make this decision, they have the
liberty to say that to you and then you
come out a winner at the end because of
the fact that you are transparent, you're not
being a fake, you're being genuine, you're not trying to act
like you got it all together and so
you can kind of stunt your growth if you're
a fake Christian
not only that
but being a fake will exhaust
your emotional energy
that can be used to serve and love
others
so what do you mean by that? It takes a lot of energy
to be a fake
that's why
when church service is over
everyone fellowships until like
midnight sometimes, not that late
because Ulysses starts kicking us out
but you know into the wee hours
you know, you say well what
do you mean by that? Well we're not exhausted
because it's not exhausting
to be yourself
it's not tiresome
to just be you around people
you know what is tiring is to keep up a facade
okay, that
is an exhausting task and
here's the best way for me to explain this
because I kind of observe
this, pastoring this
church and being a part of
another church, one thing
that's very common, listen to me
with old IFB churches and I've said this
before but it definitely applies
right now for this sermon
and that is that as soon as the
service is over in the old IFB churches
everyone just beelines it to the
door and they're out of here
now don't misunderstand me
because I know
someone's got to go tonight
for whatever reason okay, you probably have
a good reason to do that okay, maybe you got to go to
work or you have a long drive ahead of you
or whatever, don't think I'm talking about you
because people are like oh man, now we can't go
you know, now we can't just
leave right away, no if you got to go you got to go
but I'm talking about in
general in these old IFB churches
they don't want to see
anybody after service
and I'm not exaggerating, I'm talking about
during prayer
during, I mean the
pastor is praying at the end of the service
and you can hear people like
scurrying out of the doors
this is, how many of you have been in an old
IFB church, how many of you have seen that
in an old IFB church, yeah, I mean that's very
common, they're just, they're out of there
because they don't want to talk to anybody
you say why, because going like this
hey brother
how's it god bless you, it gets
tiring after a while
you say, it gets tiring to say hey brother, well it gets
tiring if you're a fake
you know we say hey brother to each other but it's just genuine
and we don't mind saying it
but when you have this fake smile
this fake disposition
this fake attitude of actually
caring for people
you get tired
and so at the end of a Sunday night service they're just like
I'm tired of being fake, I got to go home
where I can be worldly
and godless in front of my family
and the pastor and no one else can see it
that's a real thing my friends
and I literally remember
when we started the church
and the first service
I don't remember what the first service was
or who preached, maybe it was me, maybe it was brother
I don't remember
or one of the first services
the service was over and everyone just stuck around
and it was actually very foreign to me
not that I wanted to leave
because I wanted to get to know the people
especially if I was going to be heading up the church
I was always the one
even in the old IP church
I used to just stick around because I was part of the cleaning crew anyways
and I'd just help
talk to people, disciple people
but I was shocked that people in church
were just kind of sticking around
you say, why were people just hanging around
because of the fact that they're just real
with each other
what's there to hide
but I'm telling you in other churches
churches is not like that
other churches they're just like
I don't want to talk to anybody
I don't want to deal with anyone
and it's not because they're just physically tired
it's because they're tired of having that facade
and they're just going to have to go over that number
over and over again
and in fact, if they were to stay after service and chat
there's only so much they can talk about
because they don't have anything in the reserves
there's nothing of substance there
whereas us
man, we've got a whole list of things to talk about
and when we run out of things to talk about
we just talk about false prophets or reprobates
talk about end times
talk about Bible, talk about food
talk about whatever
and everyone always brings in something new
and then we talk about it, we fellowship
and the conversation goes on
and it gets to a point where it's just like
it's getting late, maybe we've got to get going
and you may leave here exhausted
but satisfied though
you're like, man, I'm tired
but it's a good tired
it's like I'm exhausted
but I'm satisfied, I'm content
I feel joy
it was just good to see the brothers
it's good to see the church, good to be with the brethren
and I'm telling you, it's not like that in other churches
and along with that
it's hard to keep up with the lie and deceit
so if you're a fake
you're constantly lying about who you are
you've got to keep up with that lie
and who you told that lie to
and all these things
there's people like that
and so it's better to just
be who you are
you say yeah but who I really am
is just an immature
Christian that
doesn't know a whole lot of Bible
that's fine, I mean we all start somewhere
start learning the word of God
start maturing in your faith
and be a godly person
here's another effect of being fake
you lose influence because you're not relatable
you can't really relate to a fake
because a fake has it all together again
a fake has it all together again
they're perfect, they don't have any problems
and so it's hard to relate to someone like that
whereas we like to relate to people
who have suffered like us
who feel pain
and suffer and laugh
and are just kind of
they condescend to men of lowest state
they are down to earth
and here's the thing
this is one area
that pastors in the old IFB
they didn't even learn this
in fact I remember a long time ago
there's a pastor
many of you know who I'm talking about here
his name is Jeff Owens
and Jeff Owens when I first got saved
man I used to listen to his sermons all the time
I loved his preaching
because he preached on just an array of different topics
and different doctrines
and he was just a really good teacher of the Bible
and so I had all his CDs
and just listened to them
and I learned a lot from him
and so you know you listen to someone
for a lengthy time you kind of wonder
you're just kind of excited to meet them one day
you're just like wow they're so
personable behind the pulpit
they're so cool
they're so knowledgeable about the Bible
so one day he came to preach for our church
and I was in charge of hosting him
because in the old IFB they would always
designate a person to host
the guest preacher
to kind of wait on them hand and foot
get them a water if they wanted something you'd get it for them
you'd drive them places or whatever
and so they had these rules
and so I was actually designated
to sit with him in the service
and you know what that guy was the hardest person
to ever relate to
he was just not a kind person
he's extremely rude
he's a very snobby preacher
and it kind of ruined the image that I had
of him in my mind I was just like wow I thought this guy
was kind of like a
genuine down to earth type of a person
but when you actually meet him
in person he's actually a jerk
and this happened multiple times
because he came to preach for us a couple times
and I remember thinking to myself
this guy is a fake
now obviously he ended up apologizing
to the Sodomites
for his sermons on sodomy
that are still up by the way
and so you can see why someone like that
would be a fake
but I remember just sitting next to him
just trying to ask him questions
and he would just kind of like give me a one word answer
and just kind of look the other way because he didn't really want to talk
and I thought to myself like oh okay well
you know I guess I'll just stick to the sermons online
if I want a fellowship with this guy or something
but it showed me
he lost influence over me for sure
because I thought to myself
this is not the kind of preacher that I want to be
I want to be someone who relates to the people
that people can approach
people can talk to and not feel as though
you know people are looking at me thinking
that I think that I'm better than them
or something like that
and so when you're fake you lose influence
because you're not relatable
and then lastly the effects of being fake
is that you confuse your children
when you're fake
and that's a big thing
okay what do I mean by that
none of us are perfect
and none of us live a perfect life
at home
but you know that life should be
very similar to what you're living here
right like it should just be
like a you version
but at home
whereas a person who's fake
is a person who
creates this facade at church
but then they're a completely different person
when they go home
now you may be able to fool me
you can fool the church members
but you have these little people that
go back home with you
and these little people
they keep good track of like
things that you say, things that you do
they're called children and these children
will call you out on your stuff sometimes
and
children are not dumb
they soak up everything and
they are keen on hypocrisy
very keen on
hypocrisy and so you
may think to yourself well I'm going to be one way at church
and when I'm home it's just a free for all
because no one's watching me yeah but you got kids watching
you though your kids are watching you
and you know what that type of
hypocrisy compounds over
the years and you will see
the devastating ramifications
of you being a fake in church and being fake
at home in the years
to come, it's a fact
because kids will grow up
and this is one of the reasons why kids grow up and they're just like
I want nothing to do with church
because my dad is all, my mom
is all brother this, brother that
it's all about church and Jesus
and the Bible and so on but it's
a complete different narrative when we go home
you understand?
and so if
anything out of this list
a good reason not to be a fake
is if you have children you don't want to raise
rebellious children who
hate the things of God
and they don't want to be in church
they don't want nothing to do with the word of God because of you
because of your hypocrisy because you're a fake
and you're a phony
God doesn't expect for you to be a perfect parent
your kids don't even
expect for you to be a perfect parent
they just want you to be sincere
now obviously that sincerity
you should grow in being a mature parent
and loving the Lord and loving the Bible
and loving the things of God
but just be yourself
okay? don't be a phony
don't be a fake because again
you can fool me
and you can fool the church members but if you have a family
you're not going to be able to fool them
you're not fooling your wife you're not fooling
your husband they see you
at your best they see you at your worst
and so it's important that we
recognize these effects of being
a fake Christian and
stay away from that
so that was all introduction
now go with me if you would to Luke chapter 20
Luke chapter 20 let me read you
a couple of verses here regarding
being sincere it says in Romans 12
verse 9 let love be without
dissimulation
another way of saying that is don't have fake love
okay?
be sincere about your love
towards others, towards
your spouse, towards your children
towards the brethren
don't let it be a simulated love
where it just doesn't have any substance
to it
2 Corinthians chapter 1
verse 12 says for our rejoicing is this the testimony
of our conscience that in simplicity
and godly sincerity
not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God
we have had our conversation in the world
and more abundantly to you
word
Titus chapter 2 verse number 6
says young men likewise exhort to be
sober minded and all things showing
thyself a pattern of good works
and doctrine showing uncorruptness
gravity sincerity
sound speech that cannot
be condemned that he that is of the contrary part
may be ashamed having no evil thing
to say of you
1 Timothy 1 says now the end of the commandment is
charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience
and of faith unfeigned
not having a fake faith
fain means fake
insincere, disingenuous
etc. now let me give you some
reasons why sometimes Christians
are fake number 1
is because they are inwardly
false prophets so let me just get that one out of the way
ok
the reason sometimes Christians are fake is because they're actually not Christians
at all they're actually
false prophet infiltrators
and I wish old IP churches
would just stop fighting
us stop fighting us on this
and just realize that this is a real
thing in churches
that there are definitely people who will
infiltrate or have infiltrated and are probably
there right now in their churches
who are false prophets
and they're portraying themselves to be
something that they're not you say like what like what do you mean
I don't know like a lamb
they're trying to be like a lamb but they're actually a wolf
in sheep's clothing
you know they're fake they're phony
it's like oh you know they're just immature
they're just a little off on doctrine
they're just a little off in this area
you know that is true in certain instances
but I guarantee you the vast majority
of the time especially in the day and age
in which we live they're just false prophets
look at Luke 20 verse 19
it says
the chief priests and scribes the same hour
sought to lay hands on him
and they feared the people for they perceived that he had
spoken this parable against them
and they watched him and sent forth spies
which should feign themselves
just men
that they might take hold of his words
that so they might deliver
him unto the power and authority
of the governor
so it says here that
these people who hated the lord
chief priests and scribes
they sent forth these spies and they basically
instruct them hey act like
you're just men
act like you're righteous people
act like you're one of them I mean this is
wicked this is evil
this is wicked
and so they're feigning themselves to be
saved people why because they want
Jesus Christ listen to this
to let down his guard
because in their minds they think
if he lets down his guard
he's going to end up saying something
that's incorrect and we can catch
him in his words this is
how they think okay
and
this is what people do today
where they try to get
you in a position where it's like
you know just trying to get you comfortable and
just because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speak it
they're trying to get you just
comfortable because they want to catch something
out of your mouth to accuse you
of later on you understand
and this has happened in our church
where I've talked to people
and you know they'll try to catch me
in my words somehow they
will word certain things in a
certain way that would seem as
though like you know they have some sort of
underlying motive now this happened today
but the person it happened with
I don't believe is a false prophet okay
but it is a tactic that false prophets
use though
and automatically I caught
it when this person was asking me this question
it was a visitor
they asked me a question and they
formulated the question in such a way
that essentially I caught on
and knew okay the reason they're asking me this is because
they want this response
so they can accuse me of some sort of false doctrine
or something and it was about calling on
the name of the Lord
and it was about that
doctrine and so I just
kind of saw through that and I just gave them the answer
and it was about
let me just give you what the example was okay
basically you know
because this guy doesn't know if calling on the name of the Lord is essential
for salvation and he said
you know so when did people
first started getting saved in the Bible
or when did people first started calling on
the name of the Lord in the Bible
and he obviously knows what I believe
about it so he knows I'm going to
tell him Genesis 4
but
the reason he wants me to say Genesis 4 because that's where it says
men began to call upon the name of the Lord
it's because of the fact that
he wants to reply with
oh so does that mean before Genesis 4
nobody was getting saved because the Bible doesn't record
anybody calling on the name of the Lord
so before you know he can
unravel that little plan of his
I explained Genesis 4
is where it says the man began to call upon the name of the Lord
but that simply means that
men on a grand scale began to
get saved outside of
Adam and his descendants
from Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 3
so that just kind of ended it right there
and here's the thing
out of the abundance of my heart my mouth spoke
because
of the fact that I'm not lying
I know what I believe
I'm sincere and genuine in this doctrine
so it's easy for me to answer this
but you know obviously the guy
I don't know if he was sincere or not
but you know there's other instances
where people would try to do that
because they are essentially
projecting who they are
which is a fake
so they're trying to catch you in your words
they're trying to feign themselves to be just men
and they do that
because they're tempting you
in fact it says in verse 21
and it asks them say Master we know that thou sayest
and teacheth rightly that's called flattery
neither acceptest
thou the person of any but teacheth the way of God truly
that's more flattery
because they hate him
is it lawful for us to give tribute unto
Caesar or no?
no it's not because they're sincere they're trying to catch him
he says but he perceived their craftiness
and said unto them why tempt he me
okay
now if these were just men
they would simply they would realize
he has the answer and they're not trying to tempt him
but he knew they were trying to be crafty
he knew they were being guilesome
he knew that they were there
without sincerity
they didn't have genuine love
they just wanted to trip him up
so false prophets will do
things of this nature
they will be fake and they will come to our church
false prophets
will come to our church
looking like you, looking like me
talking like us, dressing like us
with the intent to
either teach false doctrine
or take advantage of the innocent
this is exactly what they do
and in fact the Bible tells us you don't have to turn there in Jude 16
these are memorized complainers walking after
their own lust and their mouth speaketh
great swelling words having men's persons
in admiration because of advantage
and in fact let me give you one last example
about the old IFB actually it's the second to last
example because I want to use another example later on
being a new IFB pastor
and being in a new IFB
church and being around
genuine people
has heightened my senses
for fake people
and
you know
I feel like I had
an innate ability to discern
when people were fake even in times past
but that ability has increased
so much more because I'm just always dealing with people
but I'm also just
always with genuine people
and so when you
got the real dollar bill
when you're constantly working with the real dollar bill
you know when a fake dollar bill comes along
well
well there's been times throughout this ministry
where I have fellowshiped with
or I've been with people of old IFB
churches and I'm just like
woah this person's
fake
and it's just like oozing
out of them
and it's just like the red flags are going
off like crazy
and I'm like this person is being so fake
this person is flattering me right now
he's being fake he's a phony
ahhhhh you know he's just like
things are just coming out he's just like
but the thing is here's the thing though folks
is that they
would do that before
I just didn't even really catch it before
it's like the whole you know
I don't know if you've ever heard the
very crass illustration
that I've used in times past
where if a bum is
around other bums that smell like piss
they don't really
notice that they smell like piss
it's not until that bum leaves
gets rehabilitated
takes a shower and
cleans up if he were to go back there a month later
he'd be like dude you guys smell like piss
he would
actually smell it right
and so it's like one of those
things he's like you have to leave it to actually see
it cause you're around it so much
you don't really notice it
and I remember
there's this thing where
in the old IFB
church that I was in
where there's one particular guy
who was just
a very charismatic person
he was he wasn't on staff
per se but he was like a
he was like a leader in the church people respected him
and they knew who he was
and he wouldn't really talk to me at all
he just you know and I didn't know back then
why it was just but now I know
it's cause he just unless he wanted
something from me that's the only time he would approach me
but he one time he would
he would do this every Sunday night
because on Sunday nights there's a
bunch of bus kids
right and a lot of these bus
kids needed a ride home
so he was in charge of getting these bus kids
rides home
so then every Sunday night I'd see him
and I'm like oh man here he comes
and then he'd come and he's like brother
how's it going
and he would automatically just take this
excessive interest in my
well being
like he really just loved me at that point
his bowels of
mercies yearned for me
on Sunday nights
and I was just like
you know at first it was just like oh I'm doing good brother
you know good to see you and you know
he's like how's Bible college
and I'm just like it's going good
you know just hey what classes
are you taking and then like
midway during the conversation he's like hey I
gotta ask you can you take these kids home
you know like 5 or 6 kids or something
like that and I'm like oh yeah
yeah I could do that but you know
so the first time I didn't really catch it
until it was just like every Sunday night
brother
it's just like
and then after a while on Sunday nights
I would just like try to avoid him
like he's like where's
you know where's he at
because I knew that all he wanted was to flatter
me in order for me to like take these kids home
and so you know
are you saying he's a false prophet I don't know
but he just behaved like one
that's what false prophets do
they speak
swelling words of vanity to have men's
persons in admiration listen to this
because of advantage
they want something from you
ok
and in fact I got another old IFB
illustration here now this isn't a personal
illustration but you can
validate this with brother Chris Cervantes
because he was part of the
IFB church too
you know Chris Cervantes if you know he's a member of our church
he's the one that does our tracks
he does a lot of
designs and stuff like that he knows a lot of
the graphics and so he was
responsible for a lot of that other stuff in the
church plant that we were a part of
well you know when everything went down
and we were like booted out of the church
to come start this church
the satellite
pastor of that church
basically told him like hey did you hear what
happened to Bruce?
and he's like no
oh ok never mind
and then so he thought to himself like
I'm going to call him now because now you pique my interest
so he called me he's like what happened
and I told him everything and he's like oh
why? and then I told him all the
doctrines and he's like you believe
that the rapture
is after the tribulation so I started
going over the verses with him and then he's like oh man
yeah it's true
I guess it is after the tribulation
so Bruce just started talking and he's like you know what I'm going to go to your church
because I want to learn the Bible
so I want to go to your church
so you know eventually he ended up
coming to our church but the guy knew
the pastor knew or the satellite pastor
knew that eventually he was going to come
to our church
which amen yeah
he knew so
you know what he did was
he just started showering him with gifts
he would give him like gift
baskets and like
shirts or something and
basically trying to like flatter
him to try to get him to stay
well he
ended up leaving anyways so
then you know he told him he's like hey this is like my last service
I'm going to
pastor Bruce's church or whatever
and this is what he said
because he was there for a long time
he said oh ok but can you still do our
tracks?
so did he really care
about Chris Cervantes
did he really have any sincere desire
for him no the reason he's giving him all these
gifts is the reason why false
prophets give gifts to other peoples because they want
something from them
ok
and he said you shouldn't call him a false prophet well he's talking
a lot of false doctrine
damnable heresy
you know repent of your sins
he's a lot of questionable things
have happened at that church and so in my
opinion based upon my
assessment
he's a false prophet
and so you know
and by the way he's one of the
fakest people you ever meet too
big surprise
he said
well you know were you fake
when you were at your old church no
that's probably why I got in so much trouble
because I was just a little too real sometimes
I would consider myself the
black sheep of that family
I still am
actually you know
it was just because I was just always real
I was just a sincere person and I think
I'm still I believe myself to be a
sincere genuine person still which is probably why a lot of
those people don't like me still because I don't
fit their fake mold
and so
that's one of the reasons why people are fake and so
because they're false prophets so we'll have
people come to our church that are like that not knowingly
obviously but just you know they'll come under
the radar and they'll try to be
fake and they'll have
some sort of nefarious agenda
but they won't last obviously
go to John chapter 12
what's another reason why people are fake
Christians are fake
I'll tell you why it's because they desire the praise of
man
and now I'm not referring to unsafe
because obviously the false prophet is not safe
he's not saved he's not
justified twice dead plucked up by the roots
he's a wicked person
now we're just talking about safe Christians
because safe Christians also have the potential
to be fake and the reason
why I'm preaching this is because I want to make sure that you
and you and you
and everyone in this room
you stay a sincere person
you
keep genuine faith
just be real
you be real with me you be real with other people here
obviously you have some discretion
don't let your hair down too much
you understand what I'm saying
don't get too comfortable around people
but be genuine
be sincere
don't be a fake person this fake Christian
don't be a person
who's fake because you want the praise
of the people in our church
which is the reason why people are fake sometimes
because they want the admiration of people
so they will claim to put their best foot forward
but what it is is they're just being fake
ok
look at John 12 41 it says these things
said Esaias when he saw his glory and spake of him
nevertheless among the chief rulers
also many believed on him
but because of the Pharisees
they did not confess him
lest they should be put out of the synagogue
for they loved the praise of men
more than the praise of God
now let me explain this verse
let me just deviate from the sermon real quick
to explain what this means
when it says they did not confess him
it doesn't mean they didn't call upon the name of the Lord
ok
I'm sorry that I have to explain this
but lest anyone
should clip this and be like see he believed
you know
so many believed on him and when it says they didn't confess him
it means they didn't go around telling people
about Jesus Christ
it doesn't mean they believed
and they just didn't call upon the name of the Lord
and the proof of that is the fact that it says
lest they should be put out of the synagogue
because if the Pharisees are going around
telling people
hey I believed on the Lord for salvation
hey I got saved Jesus is the Christ
they would run the risk
of being excommunicated from
their local synagogue
ok so this isn't saying
that they didn't call upon the name of the Lord
because everyone who gets saved and believes
calls upon the name of the Lord
but what is the motive
he says in verse 43
for they love the praise of men more than the praise of God
so even though these guys are saved
they're still struggling with the fact that
they love
the praise of men
they want to plead, they're a bunch of man pleasers
ok now again there's nothing wrong
with following rules
being kind one to another
you don't want to take this to an extreme like I'm not a man pleaser
so I'm just not going to fit any type of mold
I'm just going to be rude as possible
and just let it fly
no you got to learn some discretion
appropriateness, things of that nature
but don't be a man pleaser
make sure you're here
in church not because you want to see
a particular person or because
you want people to observe your godliness
but because you love the Lord
you should be in this church because you love the Lord
ok
obviously we have other reasons
why we like coming to church
you might like me as a preacher I don't know
but maybe you have a good friend in church
maybe you enjoy the fellowship of other brethren
but at the end of the day listen to me
the love of Christ constraineth us
it should constrain us
we're here because we love God
because we love the Bible
that's why we drag ourselves to church
this is why we obey the preaching of God's word
this is why we read the Bible
because we love God
and look if you can keep that
as your main reason why you're serving God
you're not going to backslide
you're not going to go out into the world
why? because at the end of the day
no matter how great of an offense
another person can give them to you
you know that you're doing things because you love the Lord
not because of someone else
but fake people do things
or they're fake because
they want to be admired
and complimented by others
because of their godliness
ok?
but the Bible says in Galatians 1
10 go to Acts chapter 5
Galatians 1 10 go to Acts chapter 5
Galatians 1 10 says
for do I now persuade men or God
or do I seek to please men
for if I yet please men
I should not be the servant of Christ
so it's important that you recognize
that
the reason believers can sometimes fall
into this pit of being a fake
putting up a facade
is because they're too concerned
with what other people think of them
that's what it is
now again don't be
too extreme about this because to a certain extent
we should be concerned
a little bit about what people think about us
because we should live a life that is above
reproach
we should be above reproach
and seek
to have a godly
reputation but
the underlying motive should be that it's because we love the Lord
not because you want people to
compliment you and praise you
or whatever
and so a lot of times Christians don't want to
or excuse me a lot of times Christians
will be fake
because they're afraid of what people might think of them
if they don't look a certain way they don't talk a certain way
and so they'll start to
overcompensate in a lot of areas
now look at Acts chapter 5 here's a great example
of this principle here
it says in verse number 1
but a certain man named Ananias
with Sapphira his wife sold a possession
and kept back
part of the price
so prior to this Barnabas brought in an offering
he sold his possessions
and he brought an offering and everyone saw it and they kind of like
praised him for that
so Ananias and Sapphira come
they sell their possession
but here's the thing is that they keep back
a little bit of what they sold
okay
his wife also being privy to it
and brought a certain part and laid it
at the apostles feet and Peter said
Ananias why hath Satan
filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost
and to keep back part
of the price of the land
whilst they remain was it not thine own
and after it was sold
was it not in thine own power
why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart
thou hast not lied unto men
but unto God
so what's the deal here well in my opinion
because Barnabas came and he sold his possessions
and he brought that offering
Ananias and Sapphira saw the praise that Barnabas
was getting and they're like
oh we want that same praise
so what they did is they sold their possessions
and
they might have just claimed like we're going to give
this much
so they told everyone this is as much as we're going to give
but then they actually kept back a part of it
because in reality
their service wasn't genuine
they were doing it because they wanted the praise
of men that's why
that's why Peter tells them you didn't lie unto men
you lied unto God
you know men are obviously going to believe what you're saying or whatever
but at the end of the day you made this
oath that you were going to give this much
and you didn't and so
now he's going to pay the price look what it says in verse 5
Ananias hearing these words fell down
and gave up the ghost meaning he died
okay
and great fear came on all them that heard these things
and so
you know what if this happened every time you didn't hide
you're just like
you just fall down and die
we just have a lot of titers
okay
people will tithe more than they come to church
I'll tell you that much
I mean this is a severe punishment
but hey I mean you know God's making
an example out of Ananias for lying
unto the Holy Ghost
he says in verse number 6 and the young men arose
wound him up and carried him out and buried him
man that was quick
and it was about the space of three hours
after when his wife not knowing what was done
came in and Peter answered
unto her tell me whether you sold the land for so
much I almost feel like Peter
kind of said it wrong you know what I mean
hey you know did you sell it for this much
it's like maybe Peter had it out for her too
maybe he wanted her to join her husband
in you know in heaven or something
he said tell me you sold the land for so much
and she said yay for so
much it's like oh man you
messed up
like she should have just been like you know what
my husband lied
but I'm willing to give it all or whatever
but she was privy to it so they conspired
together to do this
so that means they got together and said hey let's
just say we're going to give this much but we're going to keep
a piece of it and so just
you know between you and me
first time then Peter said unto her how is it that you have
agreed together to tempt the spirit of the Lord
behold the
feet of them which have by the way this is the most
this is a cold
verse here right
it's cold
behold the feet of them which have buried thy
husband are at the door and shall carry thee out
it's like man
I kind of like that phrase
there
then she fell down straightway at
his feet and yielded up the ghost and the young man
came in and found her dead and carrying her
forth buried her by her husband
and it says in great fear came
upon all the church and upon as many as heard
these things he said why did
God go to such an extreme
well again to make an example out of them
in order to cause the churches to
fear the Lord
so that they would not be tempted to
lie unto the Holy Spirit right
to do such a wicked thing but the main principle
that we can learn from this is that
the reason they did this is because they love the praise of men
and so
don't be this type of Christian
that you put up a facade
you act like something that you're not
only because you want other people to praise you
for that fake version of yourself
okay because you're fearing man
you're afraid of what people are going to say
you're afraid of being judged or something
just be real, just be genuine
go to 2 Samuel chapter 12
actually no no no I'm sorry go to Philippians chapter 1
I'm going to skip over some of these things here
let me say this going back to my original point
in the beginning regarding
you know the effects of being a fake
is that your hypocrisy
your children can snip out your hypocrisy
and you're
going to raise children to love
the praise of men as well and what you do
in moderation your children will do in excess
okay
I mean if you're fake they're going to be doubly as fake
as you are because
they're going to learn from your ways to be just a fake person
you know
and you might come from a home where maybe your mom
and your dad or something, your parents
they were big on being fake
like afraid of what people might think
but you know you're a Christian now
you have the Bible
go according to what God says
and recognize it's better to just be genuine
be sincere
what's another reason why people, Christians are fake
they overcompensate because of sin
so sometimes Christians
will put up a facade, they'll be fake
and it's not because they love the praise of men
per se, but they're embarrassed though
because maybe they have some sort of
sin in their life
and the story that this reminds me of
is David, you know he kills
Uriah, he commits adultery with
Bathsheba, Nathan comes
with this parable, he sets him up
with this parable about
the man who ate, who killed the
ewe lamb that belonged to
the man who only had one ewe lamb
and the other guy had a lot and then he's like
what shall be done unto this man and David's like
that guy should die
so he's just like overly excessive on the punishment
that the man deserves for stealing
the ewe lamb, which by the way
that's not the punishment
that's put out
by God, you know if someone steals they have to
restore it, but he's
like death penalty
and now Peter was birthed, you know what I mean
through this it's just like
you should be killed for stealing that
lamb and then of course another cold
phrase, you know thou art the man
and he's like it's actually you
I'm talking about, but
it's a great story
to show that sometimes people overcompensate
and act hyper spiritual
in other words they're acting
like something that they're really not because
they have some sort of underlying
sin in their life
and the solution to that
is get right with God
repent of that sin
clean up your life
so that you can actually be godly
not act like you're godly
it's always better
to be godly
when you are godly than to act
godly
you say well how do you know
because if you're acting godly
people can sniff that out
people can sniff out a
hyper spiritual Christian like that
and they may not be able to
verbalize it, but something
within a person says there's something off
about how this person is behaving
you understand
and so get right with God
get that sin out of your life
and walk in the spirit
don't be this person who's just a fake
and a phony only because you're trying to overcompensate
you know
I remember this one time
it was like maybe last year or something
someone was coming up to me and they're just like
they're like condemning people for watching TV
right
just condemning people for watching TV
and they really just wanted
to talk to me about like what about
you know is it sinful to do this
but then later on you find out this guy was involved
in some really horrific sin
and it's just a classic example
of overcompensating
and just being hyper spiritual
even though they're guilty
of a more grievous sin
than watching TV
which I don't even know if people watch TV
do people even have TVs anymore
I mean don't people just have iPads and stuff
I don't know
now you're in Philippians
here's my last point
yeah it's my last point
here's my last point
Christians are just fake
because they possess shallow
Christianity with zero substance
sometimes Christians are just
fake because they have nothing to give out
so they have to
like put on this face
that they're just like a really godly person
but you know when you actually hear
the words coming out of their mouth
you're just like this person has nothing to talk about
this person doesn't read the Bible
this person doesn't love the Lord
it's just there's nothing of substance in that conversation
and I think a good example of this
is CCM
isn't that a good example?
because of the fact that
you know CCM
talks a lot about
I mean I think they talk a lot about Jesus
they talk a lot about the things
of God but when you actually
look at the verses
there's like no substance to it
it's a bunch of freaking cotton candy
verses with no meat
on the bones
it's just shallow
music
right?
no substance to it
Cody give us an example
no I'm just kidding
you know only because I don't want to give
there's only one example that I know
and that's here I am to worship
but apparently that's from like the 90's or something
I don't know
see hey he's being real
he's not like
I knoweth not what thou speakest
but
but you know CCM is a good example
of that right?
it's a good example of something
that has zero substance but tries to portray
itself to be something that it's not
which is Christian music
now I remember when I first
got saved my brother's
girlfriend
she hates Christianity
she hated Christianity but she wanted
to please my brother so she gave
me a CD
and this is before I knew about anything Christian
or any Christian music should I say
like hymns or anything like that like I was newly saved
and she gave me a CD by a
guy named Lecrae
apparently you guys know who that
is
and because she knew that
I was into rap and hip hop and all that
and she was like
here's a good alternative
he's a rapper
and I'm like what kind of corny
stuff is this
is what I said
we're keeping PG here
and so like
you look at the list of songs
and you're just like one of them
I remember one of them one of the songs was called
Jesus music and the music was spelled
wrong it was like with a Z
or something
because they're so hip and cool
but I remember
the song though
or at least the verse
it said like riding with my top
down
that's what he said
and I remember listening to that and I'm like
this is the cheesiest stuff
I've ever heard in my life
and I was thinking to myself
I probably can get more doctrine
from like a Tupac
song about God than from Lecrae
this has no substance to it
now thankfully obviously
thereafter someone
at the church gave me a CD with
hymns on it and the first hymn that I
heard was I'm on the winning
side
now I heard it and it was acapella
and I was like this is garbage
too but then we started seeing
it in church and it
prepared my heart for preaching but then I started
liking it because obviously I had to develop
an appetite for it and then I
started realizing like a lot of these hymns had
like a lot of it was just
substantial doctrine
it was just very deep
and it literally prepared my heart for
preaching because it made me
think upon the words and meditate upon them
but all that to say
that CCM is garbage
and it's a perfect example
of a fake Christian
if a fake Christian
was a genre of music it would be
CCM
right? I mean do we have any
objections to that?
because a fake Christian
tries to portray itself to be
Christian but there's no substance to it
and I guarantee you the people that
listen to that music if you were to go to these churches
where the people who listen to these
type of music you wouldn't be able to
have a doctrinal conversation with them at all
it would be very difficult to have a doctrinal
conversation with them
there might be an exception to that rule
but I believe in general
if you were to talk to these liberal
Christians
who claim these
Calvary Chapel
or Harvest type
Christians
these Lonnie Frisbee types
and try to have a genuine
conversation about the Bible
about hell, heaven,
eternal life
most of the stuff they would say
wouldn't even be doctrinal
it would just be one of those
hey brother
amen glory to God
hallelujah
and if you keep that
conversation going for about 30 minutes
they're
tapped out
after a while they'll be like
you know what dude I can't even talk to you anymore
I gotta go or something
because it'll probably get tiring for them to talk like that all the time
right?
because they don't really have anything of substance to give out
don't be that fake Christian
read your Bible
think upon the word of the Lord
so that when you conversate with people in church
you know you have something of substance
and value to share with someone
because I can tell based upon
conversations like who reads the Bible
you know what I mean?
you can tell like this person reads the Bible
they think upon the Lord
they are
they're speaking out of the
abundance of their heart and apparently their heart is
filled with the things of God
and obviously none of us just have the Bible
in our hearts
we have other things going on in our hearts as well
but the preeminence of the Bible should be there right?
we should be able to speak on these things
and not be ashamed to speak of them
okay?
you know this kind of reminds me
okay here's the old IP
last illustration
is that I remember this one guy in Bible
college
and this was one of the fakest guys
I've ever met in my life
because
he would
like my office was in
the attic
that's where they placed me
and it was like the wall
on the other side of the wall was the auditorium
and so I'd be there in the morning just working
and he would be in the auditorium by himself
just reading the Bible out loud
but he knew I was there
like he knew people were around
he just wants people to hear him
and in fact you know the Mcfailures
those twin idiots
you know what I'm talking about
these weirdos
who are in Africa these false prophets
these hyper spiritual McDoubles
I remember going on a missions
trip
and I was just talking to Pastor Anderson about this
you know going on a missions trip
and I was in my hotel room in the morning
getting ready you know because we had a long
day ahead of us and one of
these Mcfailures were right in front of my room
reading the Bible out loud
in Spanish
just reading out loud like he wanted
me to hear him or something it was just like
and I kind of went out there just to let him know like
I'm in here and he didn't care he just
kept going
but these guys
they're false prophets though they have nothing of
substance they literally think they're the only
saved pastors in Africa
I mean what kind of crap is that
but obviously that's an extreme
um
that's an extreme example
you know in church
the example could just be given that you just don't
have anything of substance
depth to your Christianity
look at Philippians 1a it says
for God is my record how greatly I long after
you all listen to this in the
bowels of Jesus Christ
look at chapter 2 in verse
number 1 it says there if there be any consolation
in Christ if any comfort of love
if any fellowship of the Spirit if any
bowels and mercies
fulfill you my joy that you be like minded having the same
love being of one accord and of one
mind why does it say bowels
talk about that deep love
that love that just hits like right in the
depths of your soul and this
is the type of conversation and love that we should have
one for another it's like it's in our
bowels you know what I mean like a deep
yearning for
communion with the brethren
I'm not saying that always has to be but there should be some
sort of depth to your Christianity
where it's just like you feel a deep
longing to be with the church
you have a deep longing to see someone
to fellowship you have a
deep longing for the word of God you know you feel
it in your bowels okay
and so go to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 2 and we'll finish there
a fake Christian
only has one thing in their bowels and it's not
love okay
they're just full of crap no one caught that
they're just full of crap
that's what they are
you know they're just
they don't have much to give out
and you can tell based upon a conversation
with them and please don't take
this to the extreme and say oh if someone doesn't want to
talk to me or they have nothing to say
they obviously don't have you know they don't have
bowels of love for me you know some people are just really
introverted and they have a hard time
conversating I get that okay
these are the exceptions to the rule because I already know
like introverts are like oh man
people are going to think I'm like a false prophet and
you know I listen to CCM
and you know it's like no
don't think that way
okay I'm speaking in
generalities here obviously
you know and
let me say this though
regarding introverts
okay
is that they don't talk a lot but once you
become their friends though
sometimes they just can't shut up
and I mean in a good way
sometimes introverts are just introverts towards
like groups of people
but once they have like that one friend
they can talk a lot
and so you know
obviously the things that they talk about
especially if they're walking with God has a lot of depth to it
and so don't think
that an introvert just never talks
you know my daughters
are a little introverted in church
but not when they're home
when they're home it's just like
alright
Kyla I get it baby
I get it you know
alright look at verse number seven
I like what he says here
regarding love
for people he says
he's like you know I gave you the truth
but I also gave you my soul with that truth as well
in other words there's something
of substance
within that relationship
and so what's the sermon tonight
the sermon is simply this
just don't be a fake
let's keep ourselves genuine in our church
and sincere
have sincere conversations
be yourself
but if yourself is just a rude, arrogant jerk
then you need to change that
see I'm being transparent with you guys
if you're just a rude, arrogant, jerk
jerk-et
okay
you know and you're like well that's
this is who I really am pastor
I'm just a jerk-et
this is what you said I'm supposed to be
okay but you know you gotta work on that
you know what I mean so that the real
you eventually will be
like a person who's kind
and discreet
and things of that nature you understand
and so it's important for us to just be real
but I will say this
by way of closing
I prefer someone
who's a Christian
as a friend
who is a jerk
and sincere
than a so-called Christian who's just
fake around me all the time
I'd rather be around people who are just rough
around the edges
than someone who's just completely smooth
and just deceitful
so I'd rather be with a bunch of black sheep
like me
than be with a bunch of clean sheep
right, but they're a bunch of
phonies
because I don't like being around phony people
I don't like being around fake people
I don't like fellowshiping with fake people
it makes me sick, I can only handle it for so long
okay
I'd rather be with some rough Christians
maybe they're a little rough around the edges
maybe they don't talk as
you know, as
nice or whatever
maybe they just let it fly sometimes
and maybe they offend people
every once in a while, but you know I prefer that because at least I know
he's being real
at least I know she's real
at least I know this is what you get
whereas a person who just has it
all together but they're fake is just like
I don't know who you are
you can be anybody, you understand what I'm saying?
and so don't be fake, let's pray
Father we thank you so much for your word
help us as your people Lord
to develop and cultivate
sincerity in our lives Lord
help us to be genuine and pure
and sincere
until the day of Christ
and I pray Lord that you'd help us to avoid
just being
disingenuous and fake
Lord and help us as your
people to develop
the virtues necessary that that
real self, that real person who we are
is godly and virtuous
and someone who adheres to the
principles of God's word and
someone who loves people deeply in their bowels
Lord and I pray that you bless us as we go on our way
in Jesus name, Amen
the message unto you
I'll give
Disrecorded
in His word
Hallelujah
it is only that you
look and live
my brother
live
to Jesus now
and live
Disrecorded
in His word
Hallelujah
it is only that you
look and live
I have a message
full of love
Hallelujah
a message oh my friend
for you
is a message
from above
Hallelujah
Jesus said and I
noticed truth
look at him
my brother live
look to Jesus
now and live
Disrecorded
in His word
Hallelujah
it is only that you
look and live
life is offered
unto you
Hallelujah
eternal life thy soul
shall have
if you'll only look to
Him
Hallelujah
to Jesus and the Lord
can save
look and live
my brother live
look to Jesus
now and live
Disrecorded
in His word
Hallelujah
it is only that you
look and live
on the last
tell you how I came
Hallelujah
to Jesus when He
made me whole
was believing
on His name
Hallelujah
I trust in Him
He saved my soul
look and live
my brother live
look to Jesus
now and live
Disrecorded
in His word
Hallelujah
it is only that you
look and live
alright we have a baptism
be good please turn the song number 29
at the cross
song number 29
at the cross
song number 29
at last
and did my
Savior please
and did my
sovereign die
could He
devote that
sacred end
for such a worm
as I
at the cross
at the cross where I
first saw the light
and the burning of my heart
rolled away
it was there by faith
I received my
and now I
am happy all the day
alright we have a baptism
here tell us your name
Adeline have you trusted Jesus as your
Savior okay upon your public
profession I'm going to baptize you in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
go ahead and cross your arms over your chest
bear it in the likeness of His death
praise to walk in the goodness of life
congratulations
do we have another one
okay we're good oh yeah
I'll pray
Father we thank you so much for a
great Sunday thank you for all the baptisms
people who got saved and
thank you for all of
God's people who made it to church today
Lord I pray that you bless us as we go on our way
give us a great fellowship Lord
and help us to think upon that which we've heard
this Sunday in Jesus' name we pray
Amen you are dismissed
you