Amen. All right, it's great to be here. It's always a blessing to visit the
Sending Church, and thank you for praying for us. It's always a blessing and fellowship
with Pastor Anderson, and thank you so much for being an example to us out in
California. And this church, I mean, the best way I could put it is this church
is bomb, okay? And I hope I didn't, like, jinx you, you know, for that, but if it happens, it
happens, amen? All right, look down at your Bibles. The title of the sermon this
evening is Why People Hate Going to Church. Why do people hate going to
church? And the answer may surprise you just a little bit. Look at Psalm 84, verse
number 10. The Bible reads here, For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand.
I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of
wickedness. Now, here in Psalm 84, we see David expressing his adoration for the
house of God. And we obviously know David is a man after God's own heart. He loves
the Lord. He loves the Word of God, but he also loves the house of God. He loves
being in the assembly of believers. He likes to be in the congregation of God.
He loves going to church. Now, go to Psalm 27, if you would. Psalm 27, he says there
in Psalm 84 that he loves the house of God so much that he would rather be one
day in the house of God than a thousand days anywhere else. And honestly, I could,
you know, kind of testify that I'd rather be in the house of God than anywhere else
on a Sunday. I'd rather be in the house of God than anywhere else on a Thursday.
And he's saying there, I'd rather one day is better than a thousand anywhere else.
He even goes as far as to say this, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of
my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Now, you think of a
doorkeeper, doorkeeper is pretty, pretty lowly position in the house of God. So,
you know, whatever position you have is great, but you would think that a
doorkeeper is pretty lowly positioned there, but he doesn't care. He says, I'd
rather be a doorkeeper. I'd rather open up the doors in the house of God than
have any type of superior or superior position anywhere else in the secular
realm. I'd rather be in the house of God than anywhere else. This is the same man
who prophetically wrote, for the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up, and the
reproaches of them that reproach thee are fallen unto me. He's saying, I am so
zealous for God's house. That's actually consuming me a little bit. You know, when
I go to the house of God, you know, for us on Sunday morning, Sunday night, for you
guys Wednesday, for us over there in California, Thursday nights, I'm consumed
with the house of God. It's part of my life. It's part of our life. You know, we
don't wake up in the morning thinking, on a Sunday morning, thinking, man, should I
go to church? Do I really want to go? You know, you know, does, is pastor, is he
gonna preach on me? You know, am I really, I really got to consider, you know, if
church is part of your life, you wake up just saying, not even asking the
question whether you should go to church or not. You're just like, we're
going to church. The zeal of thine house hath eaten us up. Look what it says in
Psalm 27, verse number four. He says here in verse number four, one thing have I
desired of the Lord, that will I seek after. So he's talking about this one
goal that he has. Now obviously I'm sure David had many other goals, but he's
specifically emphasizing this right here. He says, one thing have I desired of the
Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the
days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.
Folks, if there's one goal you can have in your life that's very honorable and
noble is this, to be in the house of God all the days of your life. No matter what
happens, no matter what trials you go through, no matter what difficulties you
face, no matter what financial crisis you may be experiencing, no matter what
health problems you may have, may you have the goal to say, I want to be in the
house of God all the days of my life. I want to be in church all the days of my
life. One thing have I desired, and that will I seek after, and I would hope that
that would be your desire today, to say I want to be in the house of God all the
days of my life. I want my children to be in the house of God all the days of their
life. I want church to be an essential part of my life. He says in Psalm 26,
verse 5, I have hated the congregation of evildoers, and I will not sit with the
wicked. Go to Matthew chapter 13, if you would, Matthew chapter 13. Let me read
you a familiar portion of scripture in Hebrews chapter number 10, and verse
number 24, it says, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to
good work. So, you know, part of the responsibility of being a
Christian is encouraging one another, right? You know, inspiring one another,
provoking one another unto love and to good works, but where do we do that? Well,
he says in verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the
manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see
the day approaching. So according to the Bible, as we draw closer to the second
coming of Christ, we should go to church more. We should assemble with the
house of God more, right? And he says, when you do that, you exhort one another, you
inspire one another, you provoke one another unto love and to good works. It
looks like the Bible is telling us the church is important. It looks like the
Bible is emphasizing the fact that assembling ourselves together in the
house of God should be something that we delighted. It should be something that we
enjoy, but you know what, the same cannot be said for every Christian out there. A
lot of Christians actually hate going to church, believe it or not, and I would
hope that, and I believe there's no one here that would say, well, I hate going to
church, but I'm just here because, you know, it's just got to be here, I guess,
you know, just dragging my feet. But you know, there's certain people where the
commandments of God are so grievous that they have to drag themselves to church,
they don't enjoy coming, and they don't enjoy assembling together with the
believers, and I want to give you a couple reasons why. Now before I get into
that, let me give you some unfounded reasons and excuses why the world would
say people hate going to church, because don't you hear that sometimes? People
saying, yeah, you know, people don't, people like you, you're gonna, you know, scare
people away from church. You're drawing people away from church. That kind of
preaching draws people away from church. It gets people away from God, and here's
a couple reasons what they'll say. Okay, number one, how about this, the reason why
people hate going to church, because you guys got a bad spirit. How many of you ever
heard that before? Just got a bad, you know, Pastor Andrew, I, I like what he
says. I just don't really like how he says it. How many times have you heard that?
You know, it's like, you know, what he's saying is good. I'm not gonna argue with
that, it's good. It's just, you know, the kind of spirit he has, you know, just the
way he says it, okay. Well, you know, the Bible says, though I be rude in speech,
yet not in knowledge, and here's the thing is that people often say, well,
people hate going to church because of pastors like you, because you have a bad
spirit. But hold on a second, the last time I checked, we don't have a bad
spirit, we have a Holy Spirit, right? The Bible says, and whom you also trusted,
after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and whom
also after he believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which
is the earnest of our inheritance, and to the redemption of the purchased
possession, and to the praise of his glory. So the Bible says that we're
actually sealed with the bad spirit? No, with the Holy Spirit. And you know what,
sometimes the Holy Spirit is a little rude. Sometimes the Holy Spirit, when he
is feeling a man of God, is gonna be rude in the preaching. It's gonna hit hard,
it's holy. It's not a bad spirit, it's a Holy Spirit. It's holy preaching. It's
preaching that is powerful. It's preaching that hits the issues of today.
It's preaching that pierces through the divining of sunder of soul and spirit
joins in the marrow. It's a discern of the thoughts and the
intents of the heart. It's powerful preaching, it's holy preaching. It's not a
bad spirit. And look folks, you look at churches like ours and the new IFB,
they're filled with people. People are being reached, souls are being saved,
people are assembling together, people love the preaching of God's Word, and you
know what, no one's saying, yeah this place is just such a bad spirit. They're
here because they know God's Spirit is here. Here's another reason they'll give,
an unfounded reason or excuse the world will try to throw in our face as to why
people hate going to church. Number one is because they say we have a bad spirit.
Number two, well you guys aren't just, you guys aren't relevant enough.
Where's the smoke machine? Where's the purple lights? Where's the rock man? You
guys got to be relevant. But here's the thing, the Bible is always relevant. In
fact, the Bible is timeless. The Bible tells us that it has everything that
pertains to life and godliness. Anything that you need in 2021, the Bible has the
answers for all your spiritual needs. You don't need purple lights, you don't need
purple jeans or skinny jeans. Purple jeans, you don't need purple jeans either.
You don't need smoke and mirrors and skinny jeans and purple lights. You do
well with using the Word of God. You know the Word of God has been preached for
thousands of years. It's reached people for thousands of years. It's relevant,
it's timeless, it will continue to reach people. This is a stupid reason, okay.
Here's the last reason, church is just too strict. Your church is way too strict.
This is why people hate going to church. You guys are too conservative. What's
with the shirt and tie? What's with the old-fashioned hymns? You know, this is
what they'll say. But here's the thing, what people don't realize is that
there's people in this world that actually like boundaries. There's people
in this world that actually like rules. I'm one of them. We got a church filled
with people that like boundaries, they like rules, they like being told what to
do from the Word of God. And you know, the last time I checked, the church is not
for, you know, these lawless and disobedient people. It's for people who
love the law of God. It's for people who want to come to be instructed in the
ways of righteousness. It's for people who want to know where is the boundary,
where are the rules, what does God's law say about life, okay. So for people to say
our church is just too strict, yeah for the lawless and disobedient it's too
strict. But for God's people this is what we want. We want restrictions, we
want boundaries, we want the law of God in our lives, okay. Now why do people hate
going to church? Because those are stupid reasons, those aren't real good reasons.
You know, I've heard many of these reasons throughout the years and they're
dumb. But there are some legitimate reasons why people hate going to church
and if I were to break it into two categories, I would say this. People hate
going to church because of category number one, the pastor behind the pulpit.
Category number two, the people in the pews. Simple as that. So the problem
either lies within the pastor behind the pulpit or it lies within the people in
the pew. Now category number one, why would people hate church because of the
pastor behind the pulpit? Well how about this? Because of the hypocrisy, right? How
about the preaching just being powerless? No dynamic preaching. How about this?
Covetousness? Because the pastor is stealing money, using it to buy himself a
yacht or a Tesla or you know five houses and you know living lavishly and the
church members see that and it gives them a bad taste in their mouth for
church, okay. Maybe they're not growing enough, maybe they're in a church where
the pastor is just kind of going through the motions. He doesn't really, he's not
really excited about the things of God, he just kind of sees it as job security.
He's not really inspiring anybody and the people aren't really growing. They're
not really learning the Word of God. Or how about this? The church just has no
vision whatsoever. And let me say this, this is a big reason right here. Why?
Because where there is no vision, the people perish. You know, people like
being in a place where there's vision. Where people are being reached. Where the
pastor foresees what could be done. Where the pastor can look forward
to the future and say you know we can reach people for Christ in this country.
We can reach people for Christ in our country and in our state and in our city.
We need to mobilize soul winners. We need to preach hard against sin. If there's
vision in that church, it's going to be a thriving church. It's going to inspire
many people to serve the Lord. But a pastor who has no vision, the people will
perish. If they don't have a vision to reach people for Christ, to go soul in, to
preach the Word of God, to raise godly children, to have a successful marriage,
the place is gonna die. You know, small dreams move no man's soul. But big dreams
will move men across the world. Okay. That's some of the reasons why people
can hate going to church. But tonight I'm gonna give you the second category.
Because more often than not, the reason people hate going to church is not
necessarily because of the pastor behind the pulpit. More often than not, in my
experience from what I've observed, it's the people behind the pews. Or in the
pews. Okay. Now when I say why people hate going to church, I know that's
strong language, but I think it's true. You know, there's sometimes that
believers, people who are saved, can begin to despise the house of God. In fact,
doesn't the Bible say, despise not prophesying? And what is the implication
that the Christians, if they're not careful, can begin to hate preaching? Okay.
Not because there's some like wicked reprobate or, you know, there's some
wicked evil person. Something's wrong with their heart. And because something
is wrong with their heart, they can begin to despise the things of God, undermine
them, not esteem them as they used to. Okay. This is what I mean when I say, why
do people hate going to church? Sometimes the problem is the people themselves. Let
me give you four reasons tonight and one bonus reason why people hate going to
church. Here in Matthew chapter 13, look at verse 22. Reason number one, why
do people hate going to church? Reason number one, because they're
distracted. They're distracted. Look what the Bible says in Matthew 13 and verse
22. He also that receives seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word and
the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word
and he becometh unfruitful. Mark chapter 4, you don't have to turn there, verse
number 19 says, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches
and the lust of other things entering in choke the word and it becometh unfruitful,
the Bible says. So reason number one why people can begin despising the house of
God is because they're simply distracted. Okay. Now I believe that this seed that
lands among thorns still gets saved. He still gets saved despite what Ray
Comfort says. Ray Comfort just doesn't believe anybody's saved but himself or
something. You know, I believe that this person is saved, it's just that he falls
among thorns. He receives the word of God, he gets saved, but he's among thorns and
these thorns are kind of choking him out and it's basically impeding him from
growing and becoming fruitful, winning people to Christ, living a life that's
pleasing unto God. Okay. And look folks, wouldn't you agree that the Word of God
is just powerful? Can it transform anyone's life? You know, the Bible says
that the Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing of center of soul and spirit, joints in the
marrow, and is a discernment of the thoughts of the intents of the heart. You
know, the Bible, the Word of God has power. But hold on a second, sometimes even
though it has power, it can fall upon a heart that's among thorns and at that
point it becomes powerless, not because of the Word of God, but because of the
type of ground that it's falling upon. The kind of heart that it's speaking to.
The distracted heart. Now what are some of the things that are distracting
people today? Well it says there in Matthew 13 verse 22, the cares of this
world. Now when I say distracted, I'm not saying like you're sitting here tonight
and you're like, man, when is this gonna be over because I'm hungry. You know, what
am I gonna eat tonight? You know, I'm kind of distracted. Oh yeah, that was a good
point. That's not the distraction that I'm
referring to because, you know, I preach and I still think of those things while
I'm preaching. And I'm still focused, right? I'm still focused. I'm talking
about things that you play within your mind and in your heart that are weighing
you down throughout the week. You know, difficulties that you're going through,
trials and tribulations that you're experiencing, the cares of this life that
the mortgage hasn't been paid, the rent hasn't been paid, my uncle is sick, he's
near death. These are the cares of this life can often choke the Word, distract
you, choke you to the point where you can't focus on the most important things
of this life, which is the Word of God, the Lord working for God, okay. Now the
cares of this world, again, can be various things. You know, we had our church
bombed a couple months ago and, you know, that gives us a lot of care.
You know, we were filled with care, okay. You say, well, what did you do? Was the
Word of God choked in your life? No, but I'll say this, I wish I could choke some
people for doing it. No, I'm just kidding. I wish the Word of God would choke
someone else. Was the Word of God choked? No, but here's the thing, one of the
reasons why is because the Bible tells us to cast our care upon Him, for He
cares for us. He cares for you. And one of the things that I learned from
different pastor friends that I've had is don't worry about the things that you
cannot change. And a lot of times people become distracted in the Christian life
to the point where they can't focus on the things of God because of the fact
that they're trying to change something that they have no authority to change.
They have no power to modify. They have nothing. They can't do anything to
change that. And they're cumbered about much care, okay. I mean, think about this,
like, on Saturday night we got our van stolen, okay. And it was by a sodomite too.
Sodomite slower van. Sodomites have been doxing me for quite some time and just
giving people my address and the kind of car that I have and everything. And you
say, well, how do you know it was a reprobate? Because my neighbor has
security cameras. And then I was just wondering, like, is it gonna be a sodomite?
So you look and there's just this huge butch dyke getting out, you know, they roll
up in the van, they come out, they're laughing, they're getting in the vehicle,
and then they steal it, okay. Now here's the thing is, you know, that's a care of
this life. But here's the thing, if I set my affections on the things of this
earth, I can't focus on what I'm preaching on right now. If I set my
thing, if I set my affections on the things of this earth, on that
vehicle, you know what's gonna happen? I'm gonna have a hard time pastoring my
church. I'm gonna have a hard time caring for the cares of other people. The Word
of God is gonna be choked out of my life. He said, so what did you do? This is what
I did. When I heard the van was stolen, I said, see ya. Thanks for serving us as
long as you did. Thanks for taking us to church. Hey kids, say goodbye to the van
we're never gonna see it again, okay. You say, man, did you, was it that easy? Well
yeah, because it barely had any gas. I did not check the oil. I never checked the
oil, actually. Until it starts smoking, I'm like, this thing needs something. And then
you just buy that big thing and just dump it in there. It was not clean, so it was
like, joke's on them. You just inherited, they're probably gonna return the van,
actually. It's such a bad condition. They're probably like, this is, we should
like pay him or something, like leave it with a couple of bucks or something, fill
up his gas tank. But you know what I've learned? Sometimes you just gotta kiss
things goodbye. And don't let it distract you from the most important things of
this, of today, which is the Bible. Your family, your wife, your children, your
spouse, your church, the preaching. You know, if you're not careful, you know, the
cares of this life can choke you from a very important truth that you're gonna
receive one day during the service. Because you're so busy thinking about
that care, that problem, you're gonna miss that one truth that God is trying to get
to you to help you in a specific area. You can choke the Word, can asphyxiate
the Word in your life, and you don't profit from it. Go with me, if you would,
to go to Proverbs chapter 27. Proverbs chapter 27, to choke means to suffocate
or to obstruct the breathing. And if you think about it, the Bible is often
compared to breath, right? You know, the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3 16, all
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it's profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may
be perfect, thoroughly furnished, until all good works. The Bible says that the
Word of God has the power to make you complete and perfect. It can inspire that
in you, it can create that in you, if you would allow it to. But hold on a second,
the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, the lust of other things
entering in, can actually choke that. And you don't become complete. You don't
become perfect. You don't become the man of God thoroughly furnished into all good
works. What are some of the things that can distract in this world, well, the
cares of this life? How about this, the deceitfulness of riches. When people
become covetous, when they begin to have the love of money, and you wonder why, you
know, you think of 1 Corinthians 5 and the reasons why people, God, you know,
commands for people to be excommunicated from the church if they're guilty of
these specific sins, one of them is covetousness. And we don't think about
that very often, but you know, sometimes people can become so covetous in a
church where all they think about and all they talk about is money, all they
talk about is making riches, all they talk about is their pyramid schemes or
whatever it may be, and they begin to influence others. And you know what that
does? That chokes the Word out of their heart and out of the hearts of those
they're speaking to. For the love of money is the root of all evil, which
while some covet it after, have erred from the faith, the Bible says, piercing
themselves through with many sorrows. What happened? They choked, the
deceitfulness of riches choked the Word out of their person's life, the lust of
other things entering in. The Bible says in Proverbs 27, now wouldn't you, like, if
we're to compare the Word of God to something, it's like honey. I mean
multiple times in the Word of God, it compares itself to honey. Why? Because
it's sweet, you know, it becomes bitter in your belly if, you know, if you consume
a lot of it and you can't digest it very well, it could be very painful for you to
digest. But here's the thing is that, look at what Proverbs 27 verse 7 says, the full
soul loathes in honeycomb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
Think about this, if you come to church on an empty spiritual stomach, the
preaching is going to taste delicious. It's going to be delicious. But if your
soul is filled with the cares of this life, if your soul is filled with the
deceitfulness of riches, if your soul is filled with the lust of other things
entering in, you're going to loathe the honeycomb. You're going to loathe the
preaching. It's going to be boring to you. Yeah, when is this going to be over? Why
does he got to preach for so long? Do we really got to talk about this again? You
begin to loathe that which aforetime would have been sweet to you. Why? Because
you're full. Full of what? The cares of this life. Full of what? The deceitfulness
of riches. Full of what? The lust of other things entering in. The Bible says in
2 Timothy 2, 4, no man that warth entanglement himself with the affairs of
this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. Psalm 119
verse 70 says, their heart is as fat as grease, but I delight in thy law. Why do
people hate going to church sometimes? I'll tell you why, because they're
distracted. Why can't they delight in the preaching of God's Word? Because they
probably filled with the cares of this life. Because they're probably become
covetous. Because there's other lusts that are entering into
their hearts and it's choking the Word of God out of their hearts, choking the
Word of God, and they're becoming unfruitful. Go with me, if you would, to
Hebrew chapter number 5. Hebrew chapter number 5. We're talking about why people
hate going to church sometimes. They hate it because they are distracted. Number
two, because they are discontent. I'm gonna give you an alliterated outline
tonight, okay? They're distracted, but also they're discontent with what? The basics.
You know why sometimes people hate going to church? Because they're
discontent with hearing, listening to, and relearning the basics. What does that
mean? They become apathetic towards simple truths. They always want to hear
something new. You know, oh man, you know, can you pull out that really deep
truth? Well, before you get that deep truth, you know, what's wrong with
talking about the most basic doctrines out there, right? What's wrong with just
talking about the most basic foundational doctrines and getting
excited about that? And here's the thing, you're in Hebrew chapter number 5, I'm
gonna read to you from Matthew chapter 13 verse 15. It says, for this people's heart
is wax gross and their ears are dull of hearing. It's like, I've already heard
this before. Oh, the pre-tribulation rapture, I already know it. Oh, the
Trinity, I already know what he's gonna say. Once they've always saved, in the bag.
Reprobate doctrine, I already know it. What else you got? King James Bible, duh.
And they become kind of discontent with listening to just the basics. Look at
Hebrews chapter 5 in verse number 9. Now wouldn't you agree that the book of
Hebrews is a very deep book? It's very deep. It goes into some deep stuff. And in
chapter 5, Paul, who I believe to be the writer of the book of Hebrews, is starting
to expound upon this doctrine of Melchizedek, which we would say it's
pretty deep doctrine there in Hebrews chapter number 5. It says in verse 9, of
course, we believe that Jesus cried. This is referring to Jesus Christ. Verse 9 says,
And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all
them that obey him, called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Verse 11, Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are
dull of hearing. Now in Matthew 13, those who are dull of hearing, it's actually
referring to those who just don't even want salvation. And I believe it's
actually referring to the children of Israel who heard the gospel so much. You
know, they were the nation from which salvation came. They heard it so much
that they're just like dull of hearing about then. Some of them didn't even get
saved. Many of them did, but some of them didn't. They rejected Jesus. You know, he
came into his own and his own received them not. But here we see that he's
talking to a group of people and he says, look, I want to talk to you about
Melchizedek. I want to talk to you about the deep things about Jesus Christ and
his affiliation and the fact that Melchizedek is a symbol of Jesus Christ,
but your ears are too dull of hearing. Look at verse 12, For when for the time
ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which be the
first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk
and not strong meat. For everyone that useth milk is unskilled from the word of
righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat belonging to them that are
full age, even those who by reason of use have their and have their senses
exercised to discern both good and evil. What is he saying? Look, I feel like I
would want to talk to you about Melchizedek. I want to talk to you about
these deep things, but sometimes you just need to get the basics down.
And it seems as though you become a little discontent with the basics. Folks,
you know what Paul the Apostle said in Philippians chapter 3 verse 1? He says,
He's saying, look, I don't mind repeating myself over and over and over again.
It's not grievous to me. In fact, it's safe for you. You know what? When a
pastor gets up behind the pulpit and he hits on salvation, he hits on eternal
security, he hits on the false doctrine of repenting your sins, he hits on the
Trinity, he hits on these basic doctrines, don't become dull of hearing, recognize
that it's for your safety. Why? Because people forget. People forget. I forget. If
things are constantly being reinforced in your life, you end up forgetting them.
How many times have you read through the Bible and you begin again the following
year and you read a story like, man, I feel like I've never seen this before.
Well, you've seen it. You just forgot it. I mean, there's times when I go through
maybe older Bibles where I would write notes on them and I look at them like,
hey, this note is good. This is pretty good. And it's just like, wow, you know,
what is this? I forgot. You just forget. And the Bible is just a well of
information. There's so much information within the Word of God, you're bound to
forget certain things. So what's the solution? We got to keep emphasizing
those things over and over again. It's not supposed to be a grievous thing. It's
a safe thing to do. And in fact, you know, there's churches out there that have
apostatized. There's pastors who one time were preaching the right gospel and now
they kind of muddied up the gospel. Why is that? Because they stopped emphasizing
the basics. They stopped emphasizing the foundational teachings of the Bible and
now it's like, what? You don't even know what you believe. They're not strong on
their doctrine. Why? Because they stopped emphasizing the basics. Don't be
discontent with the basics. There's people out there that become, they hate
going to church because it's just like, well, you know, I kind of want to just
listen to something new. What you got for me today, Pastor Anderson? Bless me
today. Let's hear something that I've never heard before. No, let's hear
something that we've always heard and let's reinforce that. Let's, you know,
tighten up those screws. Let's emphasize that doctrine. Let's teach it again.
Let's get it grounded. Embed that truth within your heart because if you don't,
you're going to forget it. You're gonna forget it. Let me give you an example of
your pastor, okay? I'm gonna embarrass him a little bit right now.
Pastor Anderson is, his mind just has a lot of information, right? He just knows a
lot, okay? And, you know, you can have a conversation with him and he just like,
just throws up all this information on it. He's like, how did you just recall all
that, you know? But I remember one time, because, you know, we're studying Greek
and he, you know, at the beginning stages when I was learning Greek, he was just
kind of teaching me some tricks on how to like learn specific letters and
there's a letter in Greek, it's C, right? And it looks like a trident, okay?
The letter looks like a trident. And he told me, he goes, the way you memorize
that is you think of Poseidon with the trident because he's holding a trident.
That's who you remember. I'm like, man, that's a good one. I'm gonna
remember that. And it stuck with me. I don't know, it was like a year later,
we're eating at Round Table or something and we're around a bunch of
Greek guys and we're talking about Greek. And I said, yeah, you know, I
started talking about the C. And I gave that same illustration. I said, the
trident, Poseidon, and the trident. And they're like, yeah, that's really good.
And Pastor Andrew looks at me, he's like, wow, that's actually really good.
I didn't know that. And I looked and I was like, you're the one who taught me
that. He's like, really? You know, he's like, really? I'm like, yeah. He's like, I
don't remember that. That's good, though. Probably. But wouldn't you agree, Pastor
Anderson, that sometimes we forget certain things? We forget certain things.
So since that day, everything that he teaches me, I just teach it back
to him and just take credit for it. And when he says, wow, that's good, I'm
like, I know. Came up with that on my own. Hours of meditation and fasting.
Sometimes we forget things. And that's why they need to be re-emphasized. Don't
become discontent with the basics. Appreciate the church, the church that
you're in, when the basics are being emphasized. Why? Because thou shalt both
save thyself and them that hear thee. A lot of people, a lot of churches out
there are getting involved in a lot of weird doctrine. It's because these
things are not being emphasized. And so don't become discontent with that. Go to
Second Timothy, chapter number four. What are some of the reasons why people
hate going to church? Well, it's because they're distracted. They have these
cares in their heart, and it's not allowing them to get the most out of the
preaching of God's Word. It's creating excuses in their lives why they don't
go soul winning. It's creating a reason in their hearts why they shouldn't come
to church because they have to take care of X, Y, and Z. They become covetous. Maybe
they get another job that takes them out of church. You know, the lust of other
things begin to enter in, and it chokes the Word out of their life. They become
distracted. But not only that, they become discontent. Look at Second Timothy four,
verse one, on that same point it says here, I charge thee therefore before God
and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his
appearing and his kingdom. Preach the Word, be instant in season out of season,
reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time
will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust
shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn
away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. You see, if you
don't get repetition, you get fables. You don't get repetitious teaching on
doctrine, you eventually begin to accept some weird doctrine out there. Repetition
is very much important. Go with me if you would to Mark chapter 12. Mark chapter 12.
Reason number three. Reason number one, they're distracted. Reason number two,
they're discontent with the basics. Reason number three, they disparage the
pastor. They undermine him. They belittle the pastor, even to the point where
they begin to degrade the pastor sometimes. Okay, now what do I mean by
that? Well, sometimes if people are not careful, they go to a church service
regardless whether it's this one or a different one, and they're just kind of
like, all right, let me see if he's gonna make a mistake here. Oh, he misquoted
that. Oh, that's not the right one. Oh, that's not correct. And they become
critical towards the pastor. They can't enjoy or get anything out of God's Word
because they're so critical of the pastor, they're just kind of fact
checking the pastor all the time. And that's wrong, folks. You know, obviously, we
need to prove all things and hold fast that which is good. Obviously, we need to
search the scriptures daily to see if those things are so, but we should never
come to a church service where we're so critical of the pastor that you can't
learn anything from God's Word. We should be able to give the pastor the
benefit of the doubt and think, well, you know, if he made a mistake, he probably
just misspoke. If he made a mistake here and he misquoted that verse, it doesn't
mean he's just like a wicked person or he's not qualified or something. He's
just a human being. But sometimes people begin to hate church because they
belittle the pastor. And folks, it happens all the time, okay. And I'll give you an
example. You know, back at my old church, it was an old IFP church, but I love that
church because that's where I got saved. That's where I learned about the King
James Bible. That's where I learned about soul winning. That's where I learned
about the family and having a lot of kids and just everything that's
essential to my life, I learned at that church, okay. And you know what? Obviously
it's an old IFP church, so the pastor is probably not gonna like teach through
the book of Revelation or anything like that. Probably not gonna go deep on
doctrine. And you know what? Maybe he might even say some wrong things. In fact,
he did say some wrong things, okay. But I knew people who were at that church who
knew that about him. And you know what? They struggled in their
Christian growth because they were always critical of that pastor. They
couldn't enjoy the service. They couldn't enjoy the singing. They couldn't enjoy
giving. They couldn't enjoy soul winning. They couldn't enjoy the preaching. And look
folks, obviously in a church like ours, we preach for like 50 minutes, sometimes an
hour. Old IFP churches, sometimes they do like 30 minutes or something. That was a
church that preached for 30 minutes, okay. And you know what? This person was super
critical of that 30 minute sermon. Oh, it's only 30 minutes? I mean, over here they
preach for like an hour. Over there they preach for like an hour and a half. Yeah,
but why do you gotta bring that up though? Can't you just enjoy the 30 minutes of
what you're listening to? You know, is the King James Bible being used? Is he
preaching anything that's correct? If there's correct things in that sermon,
you know, maybe 30 minutes is all you can handle. You know, before you become so
critical of the length of the sermon that a pastor is preaching, I mean, are you a
doer of that word of that first point that he gave in the first 10 minutes? How
about that? People can be, you know, become critical of a church because they
belittle the pastor far too much. They have these high expectations of a pastor
and they think that he just has to walk on water. Folks, flourish wherever you're
planted. Grow wherever you're at. You know, be a blessing wherever you are at. Now
thankfully, you know, you're in a church where doctrine is constantly being
thundered forth from the pulpit, but don't take that for granted. Don't think
that just because pastor Anderson just gives you all these deep sermons and
deep doctrines, that's all he has to do. Sometimes he has to go through the
basics. Sometimes it has to be a very elementary type sermon. Don't belittle
him if he does something like that. Appreciate all doctrines of all the
spectrum of the Bible that he is giving out. Look what it says in Mark chapter 12
in verse number 11. This was the Lord's doing and is marvelous in our eyes. And
they sought to lay hold on him, but fear the people, for they knew that he had
spoken the parable against them and they left him and went their way. And they
sentenced him, certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his
words. I'm just waiting for him to say something wrong. Isn't that a wicked
attitude to have? Yeah, keep talking. I'm just waiting for you to just mess
up. I just want you to say something wrong. I just want you to, you know, just
slip up in your words so I could just catch you in your words. That's a wicked
attitude to have. You know, I just want you to say something wrong about the
Trinity, Pastor Anderson. You're so big on the tragedy. I can't wait till you just
say that one little thing so I can catch you on that. Make a YouTube video about
you. That's a Herodian attitude. It's wicked to try to seek to just, I'm just
going to dissect this sermon. I'm not going to enjoy it. I'm going to, I'm
going to record it. I'm going to listen to it just so I can catch him and him
saying something wrong. That's wicked. That's evil. That should never be our
attitude when we come to church. Why do people hate going to church? Because they
have this attitude right here. Luke 20 verse 20 says, 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. Don't come to church with a critical attitude towards your
pastor. Enjoy your church. Appreciate your church. Appreciate your preacher.
Appreciate your pastor and everything that they preach. Go to Romans chapter 12.
Romans chapter number 12. This is a reason why sometimes people hate going
to church. You know because they've been saved for like two years and they've
read the Bible like twice and now they just know everything there is to know
about the Bible. That happens you know. You just get saved. You just know
everything. You're just like a Calvinist. It's just batteries come included. Don't
sin. You just know everything. It's just like everything falls right into place.
You just know everything. You've only read the New Testament but you know
everything there is to know about God's Word and all of a sudden you think
you're on par with the pastor. All of a sudden you think you can teach the
pastor something. That's a wrong attitude to have. People hate church because of
the fact that they get distracted with the cares of this life, the
deceitfulness of riches, the lust of other things entering in but not only
that they can be they can disparage the pastor. I skipped the point here. They're
discontent with the basics. They can disparage the pastor and reason number
four is this because they're dormant in their service. You know why people often
become critical of their church and they hate their church? Because they're just
not involved. You will love the place that you invest your time, talents, and
treasures to. Your service to. You know if you've been sowing in this church I
guarantee your heart is attached to this church. You love this church. You love the
Word of God. You know you're not hating your church. In fact you love your church.
This is a church where you want to win people to Christ. You want to bring them
here. You want them to grow and thrive. Why? Because you're not asleep at the
wheel. You're actually out there preaching the gospel. You're soul winning.
You're getting involved. Look at Romans chapter 12 verse number 10 says,
Be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love and honor preferring one
another not slothful in business fervent in spirit serving the Lord. Now when you
think of someone who is fervent in spirit you know obviously maybe the
first thing that comes to mind is that you're passionate. And obviously
different people express passion different ways. I'm a little more
extroverted when it comes to that. But being fervent in spirit doesn't mean you
just have to be loud and excited. It just means you're fervent in your spirit. It's
just you're excited about serving God. You're out there winning souls to Christ.
You're in church service. You're being a servant in your church. You're not asleep
at the wheel. You're actively participating in your church. So
something that's dormant is something that's inactive or asleep. Right? The
Bible says in 1st Corinthians 15 34, Awake to righteousness and sin not for
some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. So he's saying
wake up! Why are certain people critical of their church? Because they're asleep
at the wheel when it comes to their service. Why are certain people hating
their church and they don't like their church and they're just like I'm just
kind of apathetic towards the things of God. It's probably because you're not
getting involved. It's probably because you're not putting away the tables after
the service. It's probably because you're not throwing away some trash. It's
probably because you're not winning souls to Christ. You're kind of asleep at
the wheel and it's time to wake up. Go to Ephesians chapter 5 if you will.
Go to Ephesians chapter 5. And after Ephesians 5 we're going to go to James
chapter 1. It's good to come to church and get information. It's good to come to
church and learn doctrine. But you know what's great to couple that with? Service.
It's good to get what you've learned and put it into practice. It's good to get
with that doctrine and to learn and say alright now it's time to put some
feet to this teaching. Why? Because the Bible tells us that knowledge puffeth up
but charity edifieth and charity often is expressed through actions. The Bible
says in Romans 13 verse 10 love worketh no ill to his neighbor therefore love
is the fulfilling of the law and that knowing the time that now is high time
to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we believe.
You know it's time for Christians sometimes to just wake up because the
reality is this is that Christ is coming soon. I was about to go old IFB
right now and be like Christ can come at any moment. A little flashback there.
Sorry about that. Just cut that out of the sermon pastor Anderson. But he is
returning and his return to us means what? The resurrection. His return means
what? Our resurrected bodies. His return equals what? Well three and a half years
thereafter equals just talk about the the judgment seat of Christ where we
receive our rewards for the things that we've done in our body. Wake up. Recognize
that that time is coming soon. And when I say soon I'm not saying it's gonna
happen within the next five years or ten years it could be a hundred years from
now but that's still soon. In the scope of eternity you know in comparison to
eternity. Where do I have eternity? Ephesians chapter 5 verse 14 says
wherefore he saith awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and
Christ shall give thee light. See then that he walks circumspectly not as fools
but as wise. Look what it says here redeeming the time because the days are
evil. So you need to buy back some time. How do you do that? By serving the Lord.
By not wasting time. By coming to church and thinking you know what I'm gonna get
involved with some soul winning today. I'm gonna get involved with that regional
soul winning. I want to redeem the time and get people saved. I want to serve the
Lord as much as I can because the days are evil and you know what I don't know
when that evil day is gonna come upon me and I can no longer serve the Lord. Hey
the night is coming when no man can work. The night is coming when no man can work.
And once that night comes for you it's clock out time. So you better wake up
today and serve God today. Don't allow your service to be dormant in this
church. Why do people hate going to church? Well because sometimes their
service is just dormant. Look at James chapter 1 verse 22 be doers of the word
not here is only deceiving your own selves for if any be a hearer of the
word and not a doer he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in the
glass for he beholded themself and goeth his way and straightway forget of
what manner of man he was. What is he saying? Hey it's great to hear God's Word
but it's even better to apply it. It's awesome to hear preaching but it's even
better to apply the principles in that preaching. God wants us to be doers of
the word and not hearers only. Go to Proverbs chapter 1, 21 excuse me.
Proverbs chapter 21 here's the bonus reason I'm not gonna spend too much time
on this. What are some of the reasons why people hate going to church? Well one
is because they're distracted cares of this life the deceitfulness of riches
the lust of other things entering in can choke the word that person can become
unfruitful and they begin to despise coming to church. It's a drudgery to them
becomes grievous to them. What's another reason will become they become
discontent with the basics. I've heard this before my ears are dull of hearing
give me something I want to hear give me something new to hear. What's another
reason they disparage the pastor they belittle the pastor constantly critical
of what he's saying so they can't receive as much as they possibly can
from the preaching of God's Word. What's another reason because they're dormant
in their service and lastly this is one of the reasons why people hate going to
church and remember they're all D's okay they are distracted discontent they
disparage the pastor they're dormant in their service and number five sometimes
they hate church because they're devils and that person is just not saved okay
why does this person hate our church it's probably cuz he's a devil the guy
is probably some wicked reprobate you say well that's weird though they would
come to church and like come on Sunday morning Sunday night and Wednesday night
and have a Bible and get dressed and do all these things and and hate the Lord
and hate the pastor and do all those things yes I know it's crazy but people
will do that they will join Baptist Church wake up early on a Sunday morning
to get ready put on a shirt and tie come to church use all the Christianese lingo
in church maybe even participate in soul win in soul winning I'll have all these
outward expressions of being a Christian and then just hate the pastor hate the
church why because they're devils that's why I'm sure you know all about that
that's why I'm not really gonna spend a whole lot of time on this point because
I'm preaching to the choir and I'm not calling you Devils okay I'm just saying
like you've been a part of that where you know you can cut that part out too
sometimes people hate going to church it's not because there are discontent
with the basics it's not necessary because they're distracted it's not
because you know they're just belittling the pastor because they want to hear
something new it's not because they're just dormant in their service I'll tell
you why cuz they're just flat-out Devils wicked people infiltrators and you know
what churches like this will get them all the time why because they're trying
to infiltrate to mess up the work they're trying to hinder the work of God
and mark it out when there's people out there who have an agenda to hinder God's
word from being preached and thundered forth they're Devils folks we had a
sowing marathon and in the city of Santa Ana a couple weeks ago it was great we
got a lot of people save a lot of new soldiers came out marathons are just
fun right they're just fun it's not fun for the one organizing it they're
stressing out but I'm not that's not me anymore you know it's like got someone
else to do that and we had that you know people are getting saved it was great
and and you know I was with my family sowing with my family I was with my
sowning partner and we're getting a bunch of people save it was the first
half and we're done it was over it's just like all right I'm just waiting for
my sowning partner to finish up here he looks like he's getting this person
saved these guys walk up and then you know I look at them and I'm just like
hey want to give you this invite unfortunately had the church the new
church address on there and I'm like why don't you give it to our Easter service
you know I just want to give this to you and they just kind of take it like
what's your name I'm like Bruce what's your last name he's like Mahia and I'm
not catching on like my wife told me like later on I knew what was going on I
didn't know I'm just like we're sowing you know and he's like what are you
preaching I'm like the gospel I mean this is weird and I thought to myself
maybe these are some like false prophets and I'm like I'm in their territory or
something like that you know he's like no but what are you preaching I am like
the Word of God I mean what do you want me to say and then he looks down at the
invite he looks up at me and he says what do you believe about gay people and
at that point obviously I'm like alright it's on and I look up and I said you
know exactly what I believe about gay people. I said you know who I am and he's like you
can't preach your homophobic blankety blank here and I said I can preach
whatever I want wherever I want yeah he says well not here and I said well too
late he says you need to leave I said I already got like over 50 soul owners
here preaching the same thing that I'm preaching and then his buddies came
they're like you can't preach your hate here I said then go call the police if
you want I'm not gonna stop preaching I've already did it you're too late too
bad I'm done anyways you know and then they started having this body language
like they're gonna jump me so you know I just grabbed my kids and I put them
behind me and I'm just like alright well I'm leaving so see ya you know just kind
of like walk away and I'm and my soul name partner was still over there and
you know they didn't see him so I'm trying to like distract them from seeing
him you know so they just kind of follow me like yeah you can't come here
and you can't preach here and all this stuff and I'm like alright well I'm
already done so I'm out of here you know so we we ended up leaving I left my
sowing partner he was offered oh just kidding he wasn't offered you know they
didn't know he was there and I texted him I said look they were they were
giving me a hard time they recognized me and so I had to leave but the second
hour we came back but this time I came with the boys you know we came came with
the guys because it was a really receptive area and we came in and the
guys you know they're just like let's go back let's go priest the gospel there we
got you pastor don't worry you know we'll be because because the first time
no like everyone forsook me demons forsook me having loved this present
world and like I had no one there because they're like probably like five
minutes before that happened like all my guys were there and we're like yeah it's
going good all right I'll see you guys in a little bit I'm gonna wait for David
over here I'll see you guys over there and it's just like literally five
minutes later it's like they came and I'm just kind of looking for my guys I'm
like oh man this sucks but this time me and the boys came and we got a bunch of
people saved now I will say we have to cut it short because you know they came
back out and this time they had reinforcements as well at that point I
was just like all right we got to cut it short because they they started like
surrounding us and these this guy was tatted from like head to toe you know
homo thugs or whatever and and I said you know I think we're gonna have to cut
this short I said you know these people are like they're making signals at me
and stuff like that and so we ended up leaving and I thought to myself man
these people are unreasonable and they're wicked men who are trying to
hinder the work of God evil people that's their agenda so folks if they're
willing to do that on a on a public area where they're just even though you're
just preaching the gospel I wasn't preaching you know of the reparate
doctrine that wasn't my thing at that time it's my thing but it's not my thing
at that time I'm just preaching the gospel I'm just getting people saved
we're just inviting people to Easter and they still wanted to stop that how much
more wicked are they when they actually come to the church house to try to
hinder the work of God these are people that hate Church because they're devils
but you're not them okay the first four points were for you or for me or for
safe people last point is not look at Proverbs 21 verse 16 it says the man
that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the
congregation of the dead my prayer tonight is that you would just open up
your understanding to these potential pitfalls that you can fall into where
you can be you can begin to despise the preaching of God's Word you can begin to
despise your pastor and his preaching the church that you're attending because
of these things right here keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it
are the issues of life don't be distracted don't become discontent don't
disparage your pastor and get involved in your church amen
inspire heads on every word of prayer father we thank you so much for your
word thank you Lord for the Bible that it's so clear and concise in these areas
and thank you for warning us of these potential pitfalls that all of us all of
us can fall into at one time or another I pray God that you'd help us Lord to
have a soft heart towards the things of God and I know in my life personally I
know there's been times when my heart has gotten hard Lord and maybe it was
the cares of this life and other things that were entering in that was causing
me to be a little distracted Lord I pray that Lord you'd help us to continue to
soften our hearts as we read the Bible as we come to church and sometimes we
just need to come to church even when we don't feel like coming to church and the
preaching the fellowship will often soften our hearts and remind us of the
eternal and it'll help us to get right with you and Lord bless this evening and
all there is thank you for Pastor Anderson thank you for faithful Ward
Baptist Church and their prayers Lord I'm so thankful for their example their
friendship I pray that you bless them at your hand continue to be with them as
they seek to reach more people for Christ and Thunder forth the Word of God
praise things in Jesus name amen