If you open up your bulletins,
our service time's right there on the left-hand corner.
Today is December 31st.
We had a wonderful Christmas Fellowship Day.
So thank you, Pastor Cobb, for preaching in the morning.
We appreciate the cradle, cross, and the crown.
That's such a good alliteration right there.
And we've got it all, thank God.
And then we had our soul winning time at 2 p.m.
We had a great time of reaping.
We had seven souls won out today.
We had four children, so I had a group of four
that I got to preach to.
And I verified each and every single one of those.
But Brother Matt was on it.
All the three doors that gave him the opportunity
and he just got 'em, he got 'em, he got 'em down.
So I appreciate Brother Matt doing his job.
Brother Kevin was out with us in support.
And he just happened to be the ones that got the doors.
I got the kids.
Brother Kevin was there as a moral support,
so we really appreciate him doing that.
Philippians 1:15 is the verse of the week.
Some indeed preach Christ, even of envy and strive,
and some also of good will.
And so year today, we're at 276.
This morning, I said we had 31 to reach 300.
That's really, I mean, I love to get more,
but I'm setting a goal, so we push ourselves.
And we got a head start today with seven.
So now we just have, what is that?
30, no, I'm sorry, 24, 24, right?
24 left.
So obviously we get more than 24.
We will not be unhappy.
Coming activities, I meant to put them on there
and I just forgot.
But in February, we have Pastor Dylan Oz
of Anchor Baptist Church coming out, preaching for us.
We'll probably do some kind of fellowship the day before.
And then Pastor Mejia, I reached out to him
and he's gonna let us know what day,
but he's coming out sometime in March.
And then in July, we have Pastor Jonathan Shelley
coming out preaching for us in the middle of July.
In between all that, there are a couple of events,
other churches are doing that are friends of ours.
So I'll go ahead and put that.
I think Pastor Shelley's having a marriage retreat
early January, and then May,
it's May 21 through the 24th or something like that.
They have the Anti-Israel Conference.
So, you know, we'll definitely be bringing you
up to speed on those things.
Pray for the expecting mother, Haley Malutich,
and then just pray for our prayer list in the back.
Then of course, just the housekeeping.
You know, I appreciate everybody stepping up.
I have noticed that, but if the parents will be the ones
to make sure you get the drinks for the kids,
and if you'll help just clean up after them.
Today, I do just, the only thing I would need help with
after the service is if you guys can help me
just gather the trash so we can take out the trash bags.
I don't wanna leave all that food in here
'cause it'll stink up the joint.
We have the big bin out there,
so that'll make our life easier.
If nothing else, let's turn our hymnals over to 79,
and then we will be in Matthew seven, Matthew seven.
So let's turn our hymnals over to page 79,
and we'll sing acapella once again,
away in a manger on the first.
Let's read Matthew seven for us.
Read Matthew seven, and then we'll bring the preaching.
Appreciate it, brother Matt.
- Matthew chapter seven, Matthew chapter seven,
Matthew chapter seven, Matthew chapter seven verse one,
the Bible reads, "Judge not, that ye be not judged,
for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged,
and with what measure ye meet,
it shall be measured to you again.
And why beholdest thou the moat that is in thy brother's eye,
but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Or how wilt thou say to thy brother,
let me pull out the moat out of thine eye,
and behold the beam is in thine own eye?
Tip, crit, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye,
and then shalt thou see clearly
to cast out the moat out of thy brother's eye.
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs,
neither cast ye your pearls before a swine,
lest they trample them under their feet
and turn again and rend you.
Ask, and it shall be given you.
Seek, and ye shall find.
Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
For every one that asketh, receiveth;
he that seeketh, findeth;
and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
For what man is there of you,
whom if his son asketh bread, will he give him a stone?
Or if he asketh fish, will he give him a serpent?
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your Father, which is in heaven,
give good things to them that ask him?
Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,
do ye even to them.
This is the law in the Prophets.
Enter ye in at the straight gate.
For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction.
And many there be which go in there at,
because straight is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth on the light, and few there be that find it.
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, cast into the fire.
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
And in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them,
I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock.
And the rain descended, and floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house.
And it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not,
shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand.
And the rain descended, floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house.
And it fell, and great was the fall of it.
And it came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine.
For who taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes?
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, thank you once again for gathering us here in your house this evening.
Lord, thank you for your word, and thank you for sending your Son to die on the cross
so that we could receive the gift of eternal life.
Lord, we pray that you give us ears to hear and hearts to understand as we hear the message.
Lord, please fill Pastor Reyes with your Holy Spirit, allow him to preach with boldness
and clarity from the pulpit.
In Jesus' name, we ask these things.
Amen.
All right, we're there in Acts, I mean, I'm sorry, in Matthew, Matthew 7.
Let me just plug in this mic for the sake of clarity.
We're there in Matthew 7, and this morning you had a Christmas message.
And Wednesday, the 24th Christmas Eve, we will have church.
And so, I have reserved my Christmas message for then.
So today, I am bringing a different type of message.
And so, the title of my sermon this afternoon is "Wolves that Wear Church Clothes."
"Wolves that Wear Church Clothes."
And we're there in verse 15 of Matthew 7, it says,
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
You shall know them by their fruit.
Do men gather grapes of thorn or figs of thistles?
Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit,
but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,
neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down
and cast into the fire.
Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them.
And as you know, we've preached on this before,
but just for clarity,
we as independent fundamental Baptist,
specifically new independent fundamental Baptist,
we know that this right here means
our fruit is those that we win over to Christ.
It's not our outwardly appearance, how we live,
you know, all those things are good to have,
but that's not the fruit, right?
So, we'll continue, but go down to verse 24.
And then the other thing I want to focus on
is we're building on this message today.
It says, "Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine
and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man,
which built his house upon a rock.
And the rain descended, and the floods came,
and the winds blew, and beat upon that house,
and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock."
Hey, when you're on a rock,
when you're founded upon the rock of Jesus Christ,
you're not easily swayed with every wind of doctrine.
And that's a really important point that I really want to,
I'm going to drive home today,
especially when we're dealing with the wolves
that creep into our churches.
And then in verse 20 says, "And it came to pass,
when Jesus had ended these saints at the end of Matthew 7,
the people were astonished at his doctrine."
Hey, when he preached the word, you know, they're astonished.
You know why?
Because they're not hearing the truth from anywhere else.
You know, we're out so in his seven people.
Why did seven people get saved today if there's so many churches out there in America?
They're astonished because they're not even, they're like, "Whoa, we've never even heard this."
What do you mean all I have to do is believe to get saved?
And then it says there in verse 29, it says, "For he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes."
They're right there.
You know, I have a little point that I, a little note that I wrote for myself.
You know, it's interesting the reason they say that he taught as one is having authority.
It's not just that Jesus obviously is God and he has authority.
But you know, when we preach, people that when we preach the truth,
people are like, "This guy's kind of bossy."
You know, one of the accusations I get a lot from my family
is that I try to impose my belief system on other people.
That's not the truth.
I don't, you can live however you want.
I'm just going to tell you what the Bible says.
You know, so if you're living a certain way,
I'm not going to tell you, "Hey, you need to stop living that way one-on-one."
But if you ask me my opinion, you know, and that's what people do.
They're like, "Do you think that what I'm doing is wrong?"
I'd be like, "Well, based on the Bible, it's wrong."
They're like, "See, you're always trying to impose your lifestyle on me."
I'm like, "I didn't tell you to do... You can do whatever you want.
I'm just telling you that's what the Bible says, right?"
And it says, "Not ascribe..." You know what people like?
They like flattering words. They like flattering preachers.
The preachers that get up and give you like all these weird platitudes.
I was listening to a clip from Greg Locke.
And if you don't know who Greg Locke is, that's fine.
But he's a false preacher who, you know, besides the fact that he divorced his wife to marry the secretary of the church and then still runs the church.
There's all kinds of other issues with him.
When he gets up and he's like, oh, our world's not messed up because of God, our world's messed up because of us.
And, you know, obviously there's truth to that. We're all sinners.
And then he's like, you know, people are like, amen.
He's like, it's like my iPhone, you know, the creator of the iPhone isn't in my iPhone moving around and all that.
I'm the one who's willfully changing it.
And people are, amen, he, you know, he sounds really flattering.
Why don't you just go to the word and just tell us what the word says.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
For there's not one righteous, no, not one.
I'm not saying that it's not okay.
I mean, you can use carnal truth to give you spiritual truth,
but you always want to end on a biblical note, right?
And so what's the why why preach this sermon today?
What's the purpose of it was a way of introduction.
I only have four or five points for you today.
And it's really the characteristics
of a church-wearing wolf, right?
They wear church clothes, but inside they're rabbining wolves.
And every church has them.
And if we don't have one now, we'll have one in the future.
And if we don't have one now, guess what?
We've had one in the past.
As a matter of fact, I believe we've had some just recently.
And that's really what inspired this sermon, right?
Because here's the problem is that as a way of introduction,
that we know that we are as sheep led to the slaughter
and sheep are dumb.
And so the subtlety or the wily ways of the devil
can lead us astray if we're not founded or grounded on the rock.
See, our protection is the shepherd,
the great shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible tells us he is the word, thy word is truth.
So we need Jesus in our life, right?
And here's the thing about the Bible, the Bible never flatters us.
Right? It just tells us the truth.
I mean, if you've ever read your Bible from front to end,
you're going to get to a point where it pricks your heart.
Sometimes you're reading your Bible and you're like,
"Oh, that would be a really good verse for so-and-so."
And that applies to so-and-so.
But then if you're honestly sincere,
you're reading your Bible and you're like,
"Man, that one's right at me."
You know, like that one just pricked up my reins.
That one's got, you know, that hurt, that hits close to home, right?
As we like to say.
And in the Bible, he doesn't call us lions or eagles.
Now, we are victorious in Christ, but he calls us sheep.
Behold, the Lamb of God, right?
That saves the world, that saved the world.
And because we are sheep, we need to be careful
because wolves, they come in.
And I'm talking about the spiritual wolf.
You know, I'm not going to make a comparison today to a literal wolf.
Although there are comparisons we could make,
I'm just going to preach directly what the Bible says about wolves,
and sheep's clothing from the Bible, right?
What do they do? They learn to bleat.
You know what bleeding is from a sheep, right?
They learn to sound just like us.
They dress like us. They sound like us.
You know that saying,
if it sounds like a duck and acts like a duck, it has to be a duck.
But you know what?
Ducks also fall for what?
Duck decoys, right?
Duck hunters will put out decoys,
and the ducks will see that and they'll come down as a resting place,
and then they have duck calls, and then guess what?
Bam!
They're dead, right?
And then you have some good duck, Peking duck.
I love Chinese Peking duck, but that's the way it is.
So not everything that looks like a duck and sounds like a duck
is always necessarily a duck.
So we need to be careful.
Now, here's what really inspired it.
I'm not going to, you guys already know a little bit of the history.
I'm not even going to mention this person
because I think this individual wants to be mentioned.
I know that definitely he's watching the sermons
because of the communication that he's sending out.
And I already forgot about this individual.
Honestly, I just moved on.
And on 11/27, you guys got this.
I sent out a Thanksgiving text to the church.
You know, and unfortunately at that time,
I still have not moved the three young men
that I had removed from the church.
Jesse and Christian and another individual with the initials JS.
I will refer to him just once today as a jackass
because that's what a jackass is.
It's somebody who's just blatantly contemptibly dumb, right?
I mean, I'm just giving you the straight definition from the dictionary
so that we don't, you know, it's a contemptibly foolish or stupid person.
Another term would be a blockhead, but it's the same initials.
But from now on, I'll just use those initials.
The sermon is not about this individual.
The sermon is about the attributes that were clearly distinctive
of someone who crept in and had ulterior intentions.
Their goal was never to be a blessing to the church.
Their goal was to be a detriment to the church by their own admission, by their own words.
So on that day, I sent out the text.
I did not see it until earlier this week.
But on the same day, this JA responds, "Happy Thanksgiving to you as well, Pastor."
Whatever, sometimes I don't get every text.
Sometimes I miss text.
I hadn't thought about this individual in a long time.
Last week, I preached a sermon, and in that sermon, I was talking about how,
you know, the good thing is that we get people saved,
because sometimes those people that get saved aren't going to come to church.
Case in point, Pastor Cobb, Aidan, who you invited over to church,
got saved and he hasn't been back since.
And that's the person that I mentioned.
So then, on 12/15, I get another message, unsolicited,
just so you guys know, I'm not like on there texting everybody.
I barely have time to keep up with like my own life,
let alone somebody else's life.
And this is the text I get, it says, "Hey, Pastor Reyes,
I just wanted to let you know that Aidan has been going to church
with me the last couple of weeks.
And I wanted you to ask, and I want to ask you to pray for him."
And pay attention to the wording because once I give you scripture,
you're going to see some of the similarities of what I'm talking about.
It says, "I know you believe I'm a bad influence on the guy,
but at the end of the day, he's saved and he's in a Baptist church.
And I think despite our differences, that's still an overall win nonetheless."
Whether you got someone saved or they're serving God in a Bible,
believing in assembly, he kind of wrote this wrong.
Let's see if I can still, it's like that's still an overall win nonetheless,
where you got someone saved and they are serving God in a Bible,
believing in assembly.
I said all this just so you know that he hasn't fallen off the cliff
and not going to church anymore at all.
Thank you for preaching the gospel to him.
Now, that's an extremely condescending statement.
Look, if you're really a blessing to Aidan, Aidan can go wherever he wants.
He's a grown man, right?
Number one.
Number two, I don't need to know about it.
If you're helping him out and you're really that much better than me
at leading him along and you understand the Bible better, be my guest.
But that's not the case.
That's not the case at all, right?
And number two, this guy, the reason that he supposedly joined our church
was that we're the only soul-winning church that regularly soul-wins in the Houston area,
which is actually kind of sad.
You go to other churches and it's like way more.
Now, in the outskirts of Houston, in the rural areas,
I still believe there's soul-winning churches out there that are doing this regularly,
but I've looked it up.
I have yet to find, if you guys know of one, correct me, please.
And actually, it'd be great if we could even team up with other churches to go soul-winning.
Houston is a huge area.
But that being said, I've heard from not just myself, but other people that have looked up,
and it's hard to find another church with our doctrinal statements, our beliefs,
that also believes in soul-winning, right?
So if that's the main goal, wouldn't you stay here and encourage Aidan to stay here?
That makes perfect sense, right?
I mean, that's the goal.
More important than Aidan learning all the biblical principles would be to get him out there
doing the work of the Lord, because you know what it's going to do?
It's going to encourage him to learn the biblical principles, right?
Because there's this thing called paralysis by analysis.
People that overthink the things never do anything about it.
You know who are the best people?
The ones that do stuff.
They just figure it out, they're stumbling along, making mistakes, and they're just getting
the job done, right?
So anyways, I responded the next day with the following.
This is a very short interaction, I'm almost done here.
I said, "J.A., you're one of the most disingenuous human beings.
I will pray for Aiden that he see the truth and rebukes you for your foolish and disrespectful
back slits lifestyle.
You infiltrated the church just like the Bible says, a wolf in sheep's clothing."
That's it.
I just told him the truth.
I didn't insult him, I didn't, you know, I moved on.
Later that day, he responds and he finally unmasks himself.
I mean, I really knew this, but I mean, this is like telling for anybody who had any doubt
or any inkling.
I want you to just pay attention to this because it's rather comical, but it's actually telling
of why this is the sermon that I'm preaching on because the Bible is so clear that sometimes
the Bible just manifests in other people's actions with their own words.
The Bible says, "After the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh."
It says, "I wish you," speaking of me, "had done a better job of vetting other members
of the church thoroughly to see what they believe because in all honesty, if you did
that then I wouldn't have gotten messed up."
And hence me then steering away Aidan when you try telling him that we didn't believe
in the biblical trinity and was steering away Aidan, he wrote it all kind of weird.
Let me stop right there.
First of all, notice it's not his fault that he got caught up in this weird trinitarian
view from Christian and Jesse.
It's my fault.
I didn't do a good enough job.
So moving forward, just so you guys know, I'm going to call you guys.
We're going to have a series of interviews where I'm going to put you through a series
of tests.
If you fail, I might kick you out of the church.
Of course, I hope you can tell I'm being extremely facetious.
You know what I mean?
I'm going to vet you by you telling me that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you
showing up.
But you know what?
Nobody knows the heart of a man or a woman other than Jesus Christ.
And the Bible tells us that the wolf looks and sounds just like us.
So I mean, I'm just going to have to take some people at their word until they unmask
themselves.
Now, once they're unmasked, I did my job and I got rid of them as quickly as possible,
right?
Jesus says, "When you tried telling him that we didn't believe in the biblical Trinity,
and then he reached out to me about it, I explained my side, and he decided, 'Jesse,
Christian and I were on the side,'" pay attention to the words, "on the side of truth, and yours
was off key."
Now notice he didn't say, "Jesse, Christian, and I were on the biblical side of truth."
He just said, "the side of truth."
And you say, "Oh, you're reading too much into it."
Wait, I'm not done.
Just give me a second.
Now, apparently, I'm off key even though I preach two sermons chock full of, what, scripture.
I even told you some of this stuff, we just have to take it at its word.
The Bible gives us pluralistic views of the Trinity and singular views of the Trinity.
The Bible tells us that Jesus says, "My God," and sometimes God says to Jesus, "My God."
That's as far as I'm going to take it.
I'm not going to play this game where I understand things beyond the scope of what the Bible
says.
Then he says, "This is the scary part.
This is the one that did it for me," because it gives you a way.
What are some of the adjectives used to describe the devil in the Bible?
Would you agree with me that the word beguile is used?
It says that the devil is subtle.
The Bible also says that he's wily, right?
That he uses the wiles of the devil, right?
That's the one I want you to pay attention to because he literally wrote this.
It's on the record in the text, it says, "The only wily thing I did was wait for a fresh
convert to join the church before unleashing my newfound beliefs with Aiden after," you
put it in capital letters, "you introduced him to me."
Did you guys catch that?
He said, "The only wily thing I did was wait.
I have newfound beliefs, but I waited.
And then I saw a new convert, and then what, I pounced."
That's what he's saying.
I'm not saying this, he's saying this.
If you think I'm lying, I'll show you the transcript.
He says, then he goes back to the victim mentality.
He says, "I pray the next time someone comes to Spring-Crest
that you would make sure to inquire as to who they follow
and what they believe on anything you deem heretical.
I hope you actually take my advice.
I hope you actually take the advice I'm giving you
as it would benefit the spiritual health of the flock
you were entrusted with instead of being upset at me
since really and truly was a victim of Spring-Crest
and you should have protected me better.
You should have coddled me better.
I was just a pure, poor, innocent, wily wolf
ready to pounce on you converts.
That's wicked as hell.
I don't care how you slice it or dice it or do it.
If you disagree with me, tough cookies.
I'm gonna give you a ton of scripture to back this up.
And by the way, brother Heath and sister Sylvia
gave me this cup today for Christmas.
And in here it says, the tears of my enemies.
This is what I'm drinking.
And you know, if you've ever drank coffee,
one of the tricks you learn is you put a little bit
of salt in the coffee to get rid of the bitterness.
And what are tears?
They're a little bit salty.
So you know where you can put your victim tears?
Right in my little cup.
So they can remove the bitterness of the coffee
'cause I enjoy drinking my coffee.
So I didn't know that I was gonna have a prop
for this sermon, but it's great.
But turn over, actually go back to Matthew 7,
but I'm gonna read for you really quick.
Now, I personally, I'm just telling you,
personally based on this interaction
and other interactions with him,
since I'm the one interacting with more,
I don't believe that JA is saved.
On the off chance that I'm wrong,
the Bible still gives us clear scripture
that what I'm talking about is clear.
Either you're a wolf in sheep's clothing,
or you can be deceived to act just like the wolves
that are pushing you along.
It's a fact.
Both of them work, right?
In Matthew 13, verse 30, the Bible says,
let both grow together into the harvest.
And in the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers,
gather ye together first the tares
and bind them in bundles to burn them out,
to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.
And you know what the Bible says?
Hey, don't worry so much about the tares
that are with the wheat, you just do the job.
So unfortunately, sometimes guys, let me just tell you,
as the pastor of this church, tares are going to creep in.
I'm doing my best.
I'm going to do my best.
I'm going to vet you the best as possible.
But sometimes it sounds like a duck.
Sometimes it quacks like a duck.
And it's not until later that I found out, oh no, it's not a duck.
Sometimes it sounds like a sheep, and it looks like a sheep, but it's not a sheep.
All right, 1 Corinthians 5 verse 5, when talking of church discipline, the Bible actually says,
you know, and this is my, this is what I've already done.
This is why I think it's funny.
Number one, I'm not the one engaging them, neither did I follow up.
I've already said what needs to be said.
Life goes on.
I'm, I'm, if I didn't block them, you know, sometimes I move on quickly, he'll be blocked
from the church communication.
I have no interest in dealing with this individual.
He's already shown us true colors.
Aidan, by the way, for J.A., and I am talking directly to him, Aidan is saved because I'm
the one who led him to the Lord, and Aidan got baptized.
So you can lead him astray for a while, but you know what?
The Lord will chastise him, eventually, if he's listening to the Bible and he's listening
to the chastisement of the Lord, the Lord will bring him back to a good Bible-believing
church.
And by the way, if you are actually going to a Baptist church, you've already tried
to deceive that pastor, so probably that pastor will preach some good doctrine that Aidan
will listen to, because Aidan is now a sheep of the flock.
So I'm not worried about Aidan, Aidan's protected.
Look, worst case, Aidan gets off on a weird doctrine, and the Lord just takes him home
early.
I'm not saying that's going to happen, I'm just saying, Aidan's good.
I gave him the gospel, it is possible that when you give someone the gospel and they
go through all the motions that they're probably not saved, or I mean, not probably, they could
be not saved, but it's rare.
I really believe we do a thorough job going through the gospel message, we hammer in
eternal security, we talk about hell, we talk about sin, we talk about how the fact that
it's not of works, we talk about how you could never lose it.
We use extreme examples like what if you committed suicide or murder after you believe, where
are you going to go?
So, you know, we've done that.
I've done my job.
But the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 5, 5 it says to deliver such a one as Satan for the
destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
So look, if this J.A. is actually saved, well then I'm just going to deliver him to Satan
for the destruction of the flesh.
Not worried about it.
Verse 11 says, "But now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is
called a brother be a fornicator, or a covetous, or an idolater, or a railer."
Now this guy's been railing on me ever since he left the church.
As a matter of fact, he removed the post, but he already did it.
What's done is done.
He referred to me as "retard Reyes," which actually don't really, you know, retard Reyes
sounds pretty good.
R&R.
I need some R&R in my life.
Sometimes, you know, people get so offended with that word, all it means is you're just
a little bit slower to get things.
You know, sometimes you're retarded in getting somewhere, doesn't matter, you know, I'm not
offended by it.
It says, "Or a drunkard or an extortioner with such a one know not eat."
And then in 1 Peter 5, 8, the Bible tells us to be sober, be vigilant because your adversary,
the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour.
And literally, out of his own words, he said, "Hey, I'll read this one part from you again
because it's so telling, right?"
He said, "The only wily thing I did was wait for a fresh convert to join the church before
unleashing my newfound beliefs with Aidan capitalized the word after you introduced
me to him."
I didn't say it.
He said it.
If I would have said it with some surmising and no evidence, that's the railing on me,
but I'm not even railing on the guy because they're his own words.
He's self-incriminating.
I wish I was making this stuff up.
But anyways, let's not belabor the point.
Let's actually go to those attributes.
You're there Matthew 7.
The first point I have for you, because that's it.
I've moved on.
Like I said, this is not a sermon about that individual, but those characteristics are
not only in that individual, but in many individuals.
This is the telling.
The first point I have is that we need to understand that sheep are innocent.
The Bible describes us as innocent and defenseless without Christ.
That's why we need to be grounded on the rock.
And what do wolves do?
Wolves will prey on that.
Notice that this wolf did not go after Brother Kevin or Brother Matt.
He didn't come to you, Pastor, did he?
No.
Who did he go?
The new convert.
He was given a weak save and he went and talked to him.
Why?
Because that one's weak.
You know, have you ever seen the lions hunt or the wolves hunt?
What do they do?
They separate what?
The foal.
The baby.
They don't go after the daddy buck because daddy buck them out, right?
So we need to just be aware of that.
And by the way, this is not a defenseless church because there's another thing that
a shepherd has.
You know, I'm considered to be the shepherd of this flock, but the great shepherd is actually
the one shepherding you because if I drop the ball, God's got your back.
Jesus got your back.
But on top of that, when you have good church members, you know what we have?
I call all the men in our church, the sheepdogs.
I like to see J.A. walk in here and try to spew some of that junk with anybody else besides
me.
As a matter of fact, that's what cleared it up for me because it wasn't just conversations
with me, it was conversations with other members in the church.
Everybody was like, "What's going on?"
False prophets, they don't come looking dangerous, right?
They don't come looking, they don't come with the gun and the sign, right?
They come gentle, soft, harmless looking, I mean, what was one thing that I heard about
this individual?
Man, he hardly even says anything, he's real soft spoken because he's just sitting there
just kind of watching, right?
Because that's how sheep are, they're innocent, wolves weaponize the innocence.
In Matthew 7 we see that, it says, "Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves, ye shall know them by their fruits.
Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil
fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good
fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire, wherefore
by their fruits ye shall know.
But it's interesting because the only time I let him preach was in October when I was
out at a conference, I mean at another church preaching and it was October 3rd and I listened
to the sermon and it was about the vine and the fruits and in there he said a lot of things
that sound like us, but then in between he was confused about a bunch of other things.
In Luke 10 verse 3 and then if you think about it he was saying all the right things, he's
like Spring Crest is a great church and that's why he gets attacked and this and the Bible
and the fruit and the vine and the purging and all that, that's October 3rd and literally
by October 31st his doctrines changed.
What happened?
Well look, if he's a devil it was going to be exposed.
If he's saved, well he started listening to stuff that's outside of the Bible and he
got deceived.
You know why?
Because he's in the milk of the word, not in the meat of the word.
In Luke 10 verse 3 the Bible says, I mean in verse 1 it says, "After these things the
Lord appointed others seventy also and sent them two and two before his face in every
city and place whether he himself would come.
Therefore said he unto them, 'The harvest truly is great, but the labors are few.
Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth labors into his harvest.
Go your ways, behold I send you forth as lambs among wolves."
So it's natural that we're going to run into wolves.
Literally the Lord's like I've sent you into the forest where there's wolves, but you still
got to go.
I mean so sometimes they're going to creep in.
Go to Romans 16.
I'll read for you really quick in Isaiah and Isaiah 53 verse 5 the Bible says, "But he
was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement
of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.
And we, like sheep, are gone astray, and we have turned every one to his own way, and
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened out his mouth.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before the shear is dumb.
So he opened not his mouth."
Hey, thank the Lord that Jesus Christ died because every one of us has gone, what, our
own way, the Bible says.
Romans 16, you're there, Romans 16 and verse 17, the Bible says, "Now I beseech you, brethren,
mark them, which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned,
and avoid them, for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but with their
own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the heart of the simple.
For your obedience is come abroad unto all men, I am glad therefore on your behalf, but
yet I would have you wise unto that which is good and simple concerning evil.
And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly, the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you.
Amen.
Hey, they use good words and fair speeches.
You know, it's interesting, the attacks I've got lately, it's like this guy, the Mormon
guy that called us, the people that get online.
Some of the people that get online are like, "Hey, we just want to talk.
We just want to tell you our side of the story.
I don't want to hear anybody's side.
I just want to hear the Lord's side."
As a matter of fact, I don't even want to hear my side of the story.
I just want to hear what the Lord has to say.
If you want my side of the story, I don't know that I might even tell you because I
don't want to border on the line of gossip.
I'm just telling you the facts, right?
Why do wolves love churches like ours?
Because they love churches that preach the truth.
These churches that preach the truth are full of what?
Sheep.
And you know what?
In a church like ours that's growing and that's thriving, you're going to find all kinds
of Christians.
You're going to find Christians that have been there for a long time.
Pastor Cobb's been serving for five plus decades, right?
As a matter of fact, this 24, 23-year-old punk has got nothing on Pastor Cobb and myself.
Combined, we've got over six years, I mean six decades of preaching experience.
In life, we've got over 120 years of life experience together.
You've not even lived two decades completely, I mean three decades completely out, and yet
somehow you know how to give advice on how to vet the wolves that are coming into the
church.
Number two, so point number one is that sheep are innocent and defenseless and wolves will
prey on that.
Point number two is sheep follow voices and wolves learn that language, right?
My sheep hear my voice, the Bible says, but you know what?
The only way to hear that voice is to constantly be hearing it because the enemy will sound
alike.
It's scary, right?
How's the enemy even doing it now?
Think about it.
What's one of the biggest things that people are concerned about?
With artificial intelligence, they're going to be like, "We won't know if this is the
real person or artificial intelligence," and it's gotten so good that sometimes you don't
know anymore, right?
Well, that's what the wolf does, right?
People follow the voice of the shepherd, and so what they do, the way they attack, is they
teach, influence, and guide, but notice they do it, what, in secret, on the side.
Everything I'm preaching to you is open, right?
It's out there for people to scrutinize, criticize, believe, not believe, and as a matter of fact,
it's constant, but the people that are wolves and they're creeping in, they don't want you
to know anything about them.
Here's a good point, when I preached on the Trinity, this guy went on YouTube and he called
me a retard and he said all this stuff, and one of them was he's like, "Hey, I told my
pastor about you and he says you're a bad guy and he's raising up an offering so that
you change the sign on your church from Baptist to something else, name your price."
And I said, "Hey, give me your pastor's number, give it to me, give me the address, I'll be
there, you name the time and the place, I'll show up, I'll talk to your pastor, you tell
me the name of the church, you know what he hasn't given me?
The name of the church."
He's a coward.
Go to John 10, go to John 10, yeah, go to John 10 and there in verse 12, and then we'll
go back a little bit, but the Bible says in verse 12, he says, "But he that is a hireling,
and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveeth
the sheep, and fleeeth; and the wolf catches them, and scattereth the sheep."
So hey, he might be a hireling, but either way, he's still a bad dude.
It's not just him, everybody who's attacking us.
That Mormon idiot, he called me back three times.
One of them, he's like, "Did you hang up on me on purpose?"
I'm like, "Yeah, I hung up on you on purpose."
"But pastor, I just want to talk--" I'm like, "You are going to hell.
Leave me alone!"
I don't have time for impatience, but Marcel's looking at me, she's smiling, I don't usually
call out the women in the church, but poor Marcel, I don't know why they're picking
on her, but he's like bugging the crap out of her.
Thank God that she has a good husband who's like, "Tell him to go kiss a lemon, you know,
he's like leave us alone."
Poor Marcel, I'm sorry Marcel, that's what happens when you come to our church, right?
But here's the thing, the false teachers know the doctrine language.
They quote scripture, but they quote it out of context, but it sounds good.
Just like the devil, "Ye hath God said."
You go back to verse five of John 10 says, "Verily, verily I say," verse one, I'm sorry,
"Verily, verily I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door to the sheepfold, but climbeth
up some other way the same as a thief and a robber."
Hey, I've never, people want to accuse us of stealing church members.
Look, you can do whatever you want.
You can stay, you can leave.
People are like, "Hey, we're thinking of moving to your church."
I'm like, "Great."
They want to, but if you found a good church and you're serving, serve at that church.
I'm not, the Lord will fill the pews up the way the Lord needs to see fit.
But isn't that funny that he admits, "Well, I took Aidan because I needed to take him
away from you because you're so evil."
Verse number two says, "But he that entereth by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by
name and leadeth them out.
And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him,
for they know his voice.
And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice
of the stranger.
This parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things they were which
he spake unto them.
Then Jesus said unto them again, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the
sheep.
All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
I am the door.
By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.
I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd giveth life for the sheep, giveth his life for the sheep.
But he that is in the hireling, we already read that verse, you know, he flees, and then
verse 13 says the hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine, as the father knoweth
me, even so know I the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
And interesting, Pastor Cobb did the work, I reap what he sowed, and then this guy's
like, "Well, no, no, but come with us." Wait a minute, that doesn't even add up.
The best place for that young man to be is in this church, because I'm just going to
tell you something, it's not even arrogant, it's just confidence based on the fact that
what we're doing for the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the best church in Houston. I used
to say there was two. One, no longer building exists, that church is now merged with ours.
This is the best church in Houston. The best place for Aiden to be is here. But you know
what? We're not a cult. So if you want to be somewhere else, be somewhere else. I told
him more than once, I said, look, you're young. The problem with being young is that you're
young. The advantage with being young is that you're young. You can take your youth and
redeem the time properly, or you can get off on the beaten path. But you know what? He's
safe. He's going to heaven. What do we tell people at the door? I just had four kids and
I said, hey, you know what? If you never read your Bible, if you never go to church, if
you never obey your parents, if you go to jail, if you commit suicide, but you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, what happens? Go to heaven. Now, are those good things to do?
No, but they're not determinant of whether you get to heaven or not. Matthew 24 verse
11, go to 2 Corinthians 11. Go to 2 Corinthians 11, but I'll read for you really quick. Matthew
24, the Bible says, "And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many." Hey,
we are not idiots in the sense that if we're reading our Bible, we understand that many
false prophets will come. We are sheep in the sense that hey, the Lord tells us to act
certain ways around certain people, and that puts us at risk of being defrauded, of being
taken advantage of. The Bible says pray for them, which, you know, what persecutes you
and despitefully use you and speak evil against you. And I might be paraphrasing that, but
doesn't that Bible say that? Pray for your enemies. So sometimes it's just going to happen.
As a matter of fact, this is how loving and patient I am. I wish I would have told you
guys, because that's just, but I don't like doing that because there's no point. I just
keep things to myself, but the only one who knows is my wife. When I met this individual,
the first time he reached out, I said, I don't think this individual is legit, but he's saying
all the right things. I said, I have a feeling he's not going to stay with us more than six
months. I just hope he doesn't start anything. You can ask her after the service. That was
literally within the first hours of talking to the guy. I said, this guy just gives me
this, there's alarm bells going off, but hey, I'm not God, right? So if somebody says they
believe and they say all the right things, I've got to take them at their word until
proven wrong. I mean, that's just the way it goes sometimes, right? Second Corinthians
11 verse 13, the Bible says, I mean, verse 12 says, but what I do that I will do that
I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion that wherein they glory, they may
be found even as we for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ and no Marvel. Hey, don't be shocked for saying himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also
be transformed as the ministers of righteousness whose end shall be according to their works.
Hey, sometimes they're going to come in and they're going to look the part. You know,
the false prophet is not going to look like a hoofed horned, you know, tail with an Orion
or a spike. He's not going to come in and be like, he's going to look like a preacher
of the word, right? He's not going to look like the imagery we grew up with of the devil.
That's not what the devil's going to look like. He's going to look like what an angel
of light. The Bible even says that. It says that everybody's going to worship the beast,
right? Those that are just deceived, they're going to be like, whoa. And you know, if you're
in the milk, like Aiden, it's very easy to be susceptible to the things of the world.
You know, if you don't know the shepherd's voice, you'll follow the wolf straight to
the slaughter. Well, how does one know the voice? By reading and memorizing scripture
and being in church. You know, we preach the same thing almost every other weekend.
Hey, here are my three points. Family, church, Bible reading, church attendance,
soul winning. I tie everything to basically like the same tenants because if you don't
have those tenants, you can't grow from there. Number three, sheep are scattered. Wolves
divide to devour, right? We are a sheep that are scattered and what do the wolves do? They
find that and then they're looking to divide and it's not just divide and conquer, it's divide and
devour, right? Sheep are innocent and defenseless. That's why the wolves prey on that. The sheep
follow the voice, but the wolves will learn that language. The sheep are scattered so the wolves
divide to devour. So, you know, they're not going to attack head on. He waited in that fellowship
we had on October till everybody left. You know, maybe he smelled weakness in me. He waited and he
pulled me to the side and then he realized that bucked them. I was like, I don't have time for you.
But then he said, you know, let me find somebody else. Isn't that what a wolf or a lion does when
they're on the prey? You know, they ever see them, they jump on one and they don't get it because it
was too strong or too powerful. What do they do? They don't give up. They just find the weaker one.
They're just going to keep pouncing and pouncing. They isolate. Acts 20 verse 29, go to Jeremiah 5.
I'll read for you Acts 20. The Bible says, "For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the
counsel of God. Take the key therefore unto yourselves, and to the flock over which the
Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his
own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not
sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men rise, speaking perverse things, to draw away
disciples after them. Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not
to warn everyone night and day with tears. And now brethren, I command you to God and to the word of
his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are
sanctified. Go to Jeremiah 5, go to Jeremiah 5, what do false prophets do? Will they undermine the
pastor? Hey, I don't care if you look at me with respect or not. If you really believe the Bible
then you should respect the office because it's ordained of God. I didn't choose this, God did.
I made the choice to say, "Lord, if you will use me, use me." But under the right pretext. Pastor
Cobb sitting right there ordained me in 2016. My wife has pictures, my parents were here. This is
not some like rinky dinky game. We didn't play around. This was not a joke. Even David wouldn't
touch God's anointed, right? But they'll undermine the pastor. And by the way, I don't even care if
he undermines me. I actually take more offense that he went after Pastor Cobb and other church
members, right? Like it makes me mad when Pastor Cobb does the work because you know, you're 23,
you're young and spry. You should be doing the work twice as hard, twice as long. You should
be up earlier and go to bed later doing the work of the Lord and yet Pastor Cobb is out working you
at almost 90 years old. That's because you're nothing but a low life, wicked, no good doer.
You're a piece of crap is what you are. They create factions. All of a sudden I found out
about all this group of guys that were meeting together and they're having a kumbaya, you know,
Bible study to figure out, you know, what the Trinity is. Whisper, you know, they talk amongst
themselves, but they'll never talk to me directly. And when they did talk to me directly, when I
faced it head on, you know, a couple of, I remember just a couple of the phrases, when I, when I,
when he asked me to marry him, I said, look, if your parent, if the parents of the young lady don't
want you to marry them, I'm not going to marry you. Oh no, pastor, I would never, I would never
subvert your authority of the authority of the parents. I would never, never do that. When I
pulled them into my office and said, hey, you can stay in church, you just can't be, that's not the
position of the church. Why don't you stay in church and learn the right position? He's like, oh,
you're right. I would never do that. Exactly what he did, right? They separate instead of gathering.
Jeremiah five verse six, the Bible, I mean, verse one, the Bible says, run ye to and fro
through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof.
If you can find a man, if there be any that executed the judgment, that seeketh the truth,
and I will pardon it. And though they say the Lord liveth, surely they swear falsely.
O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? Thou hast stricken them, but they are not grieved.
Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces
harder than a rock. They have refused to return. Therefore, I said, surely these are poor. They are
foolish, for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God. I will get me
unto the great men, and I will speak unto them, for they have known the way of the Lord and the
judgment of their God. But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds. Wherefore,
a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evening shall spoil them. A leopard
shall watch over the cities. Everyone that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces, because their
transgressions are many and their backslidings are increased." So it applies either way.
Your back's lidden, the wolf's going to get you. If you're a wolf, well don't get get, don't be
gotten by the wolf, right? Sorry that I messed that up, but you know what I'm talking about.
Cephaniah 3 verse 1 says, "Woe to her that is a filthy and polluted to the oppressing city.
She obeyed not the voice, she received not correction, she trusted not in the Lord, she drew
not to her God. Her princes within her are roaring lions, her judges are evening wolves, they gnaw
not the bones till the morrow. Matthew 12, turn to Ezekiel 22, but I'll read for you real quick.
Matthew 12, the Bible says, "Then was brought unto him one possessed with the devil, blind and dumb,
and he healed him in so much as the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed
and said, 'It's not this, the son of David.' But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, 'This fellow
doth not cast out devils, but by bills above, the prince of the devils.' And Jesus knew their
thoughts and said unto them, 'Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation,
and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan cast out Satan,
he is divided against himself. How shall then his kingdom stand? And if I be bills above, cast out
devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges. But if I
cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.'" And look,
we separate and we cause division, not because we're contentious, but because we preach the truth.
Nothing that I've ever said to that guy has been but the truth. Now, is it possible that I could
have gotten emotional and maybe got a heat in the moment? Absolutely. I take this stuff seriously.
We're not playing church here. You know, I was tired. We ate turkey and brisket and ham and mashed
potatoes. I'm not going to lie to you. We were out there sowing and I didn't tell brother Matt or
brother Kevin, but I was kind of dragging. But we don't play church. We got a job to do and the
Lord blessed it. Man, we had seven souls. That's what it's about. You know, if someone's not feeding
you with the word of God, you know what they're doing? They're fattening you up like a little
piggy. Make you squeal and then we'll eat you up. Thanksgiving, Christmas dinner. Point number four,
sheep trusts, trust, right? But wolves exploit for gain. So remember, sheep are innocent and
defenseless. That's why the wolves will prey on that. Sheep follow the voice, but they need
to be in the word, right? Or they'll be deceived because the wolves will learn the language and
twist it. Sheep are scattered. The Bible tells us that if we're not in church, we're going to be
scattered and the wolves will divide and devour. And then the sheep are trusting and the wolves
exploit for gain, right? And this one, that's why I said, I'm going to give you the characteristics.
The inspiration was this attack, but this individual is not, at least not that I know of,
I don't know that he's trying to be a preacher. I don't know if he's doing it for gain. I guess
the only thing my wife did say was I do remember a conversation where he didn't want to pay his
tithe to Tithely because he didn't want to pay the processing fee, you know, where as the majority,
I mean, and I don't understand, by the way, if you pay the processing fee or not, I don't care.
You do what you needed with your tithe money. I'm just saying it's a weird statement to say,
hey, is there another way I can pay my tithe because I don't want to pay the processing fee,
which is figuring it out. Yeah, I don't have to figure it out for you as the pastor. You
should just figure it out for yourself, right? I mean, I've been tithing a long time. I've never
asked anybody to accommodate me on tithing. I just tithe. So Ezekiel 22, I'm going to start
speeding this thing up because I don't know, I didn't put a timer, so I'm going to try to wrap
this thing up. Let me know. Somebody give me some time here if I'm going over. But Ezekiel 22,
the Bible says, "Son of man," in verse 24, "say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed
nor rained upon in the day of indignation. There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof.
Like a roaring lion, revenging the prey, they have devoured souls. They have taken the treasure
and precious things. They have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have
violated my law and have profaned my holy things. They have put no difference between the holy
and profane. Neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean and have hid
their eyes from my Sabbaths and I am profaned among them. Her princes in the midst thereof
are like wolves, ravening the prey to shed blood and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity and dividing lies unto them,
saying, "Thus saith the Lord, when the Lord hath not spoken." In other words, they're calculated,
right? They deceive, they sell you a bill of goods. 2nd Peter 2, Bible says, "But there are
false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who
privably shall bring damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that brought them, and bring upon
themselves swift destruction." Hey, if you don't have a biblical view of the Trinity, that's
heresy. Because the only other view would be the oneness view. Call it what you want to,
classical Trinitarian, oneness, modalist. It's still wrong. "And many shall follow their
pernicious ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of, and through
covetousness shall they be feigned with words, with feigned words, make merchandise of you,
whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not."
1 Timothy 6 verse 5, this is the verses that Pastor Cobb used to ordain me, says, "If any
man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ
into the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing but
doting about questions and strives of words, whereof cometh envy, strives, railings, evil,
surmises." I mean, isn't that what this guy, it sounds like maybe he was envious of my position.
I don't know, he didn't say that, but it sounds like it. He's definitely creating strife. At one
point he blamed the other guys, now he's blaming this, he's blaming that. Definitely he was a
railer. You don't call a pastor of a church a retard, that's railing. And then evil surmises,
I mean in that whole text that I read to you where basically he's the victim of my failure,
if I would have just protected the flock he wouldn't have become wily in his ways.
Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, supposing the gain is
godliness, but from such withdraw thyself, but godliness with contentment is great gain.
And then the last point I have for you, the end of the wolf and the safety of the lamb.
Just go to John 10 because I don't know where I'm at and I don't want to,
I know it's been a long day and I appreciate everybody being here.
And I know that you guys, you know, will accommodate and I appreciate that, but I will
for the most part always try to keep it within the hour, right?
John 10 verse 24, "Then came the Jews round about him and said unto him,
How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly."
Hey, explain to me the Trinity plainly.
And I did and then they're like, nah, we don't agree.
Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believe not.
The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me,
but ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep.
And I said unto you, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man plug them out of my hand.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all,
and no man is able to plug them out of my Father's hand.
I and my Father are one.
Pay attention here.
"Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
Jesus answered them, 'Many good works have I showed you from my Father.
For which of those works do ye stone me?'
The Jews answered him, saying, 'For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy.'
And because thou, that thou, being a man, makest thyself God."
Isn't that the accusation I got?
So they said that they didn't believe that Jesus in the flesh was actually God the way God is in the Bible.
It's very similar, right?
And actually, at one point, so one of them told me that they thought it was heresy,
which would be blasphemy.
And all because they say, 'Hey, my sheep hear my voice.'
Look, I have the assurance that I'm saved.
I know that if you believe, you're saved.
You know, I prayed, I told Brother Matt, the dad that came out,
I thought he was going to run me off, and I said, 'Hey, you know, do you have time?'
And he's like, 'I don't have time. I believe.'
And then I kind of overcame the objection.
I actually gave him some verses, and I think I made him think.
And I said, 'Well, look, your two daughters were here.
Would it be okay if I give them the gospel?'
He's like, 'Sure.' And he brought them out.
And then two other kids from the neighborhood joined.
And then in the middle of the conversation, I'm giving the gospel,
the dad came out and brought me a glass of water.
You know what? I believe that we planted a seed so deep
that that guy, even if we never bump into him again, will get saved.
I'm not making a prediction.
I'm just saying the Lord stirs the souls of those who are seeking him.
Right? He was busy.
He's trying to provide for his family.
I think he was sincere that he didn't have time,
but the Lord will make a way.
So the conclusion of the whole matter here is don't just be a sheep.
Look, we understand we're sheep, but you know what?
We can be discerning sheep.
The Bible says to put on the whole armor of God.
It says we wrestle not against flesh and blood.
Right? Just because the Bible says you're already dumb and set for the slaughter,
doesn't mean that you have to be dumb about things.
And what I mean by that is look, if someone slaps you in the face,
the Bible says turn the other cheek.
To the world, that looks really dumb and uses the dumb things of the world, right?
The simple things it says to confound the world, the wise things of the world.
But we can still discern, and when we discern, we prepare.
By the way, I was prepared for the eventual backstabbing.
That's what this, you know, I've lived life.
I'm 46 years old.
Today, one of our church members gave me a set of readers.
I never thought I'd get to the day where a set of readers would be a great gift
because my eyes are actually starting to dim.
That's life.
You know, I'm no longer that 23, 24-year-old, you know,
and have this like impetus and arrogance and haughtiness about me.
I know the Lord is real and I also know that He requires us to be real
and serious about this thing that we call, you know, salvation and the Bible and doctrine.
Hebrews 5, so we have to discern.
So when I go into relationships, I've already told you,
I go into every relationship that I have in my life other than my wife,
even my kids, I go into it because they're not my wife,
expecting to be screwed and taken advantage of.
And you know what, you should do the same.
Brother Matt, I love you, but I don't live with the delusion
that you might not one day backstab me.
I hope you never do.
You probably never will.
All signs point to the opposite.
But you know what, I'm not going to marvel if that happens.
And I'm not saying, brother, by the way,
if you don't know brother Matt, he's great.
Brother Kevin, I'm going to pick on you too.
So there's no way I'm just going to make it even.
I don't, but you shouldn't live with that delusion either.
That's why you should hold me accountable
to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because if I'm starting to deceive you,
then you follow the Lord Jesus Christ, period.
The Bible says in Hebrews 5,
this is the last place I'm going to have you turn.
The Bible says in Hebrews 5 verse 12 it says,
"For when the time that ye ought to be teachers,
ye have need that one teaches to you again,
which be the first principles of the oracles of God,
and become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat.
For everyone that useth milk is unskillful
in the words of righteousness, for he is a babe."
See that's why I'm not even mad at this guy because he's a little baby.
By his own words in admission he said,
"I'm just a poor little baby.
You didn't coddle me and take care of me and the wolves took me.
And then I grew up and I looked in the mirror
and I wasn't an ugly duckling, I was a wolf.
And so then I went and I became a wolf and I took other sheep with me."
I asked, that's what he's admitted to.
But verse 14 says, "But strong meat belongeth to them that are full age,
even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil."
Look, it's my responsibility to work on discerning good and evil.
But let me just remind you of some other verses,
"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
I'm a failure just like all of us.
I'm a success too.
Life is a series of failures and successes.
But the ultimate victory belongs to the Lord anyways.
That's just the way.
Look, you think that John the Baptist didn't know
that when he told Herod,
"It's not right for you to be with your brother's sister,"
that there might, you'd think he was so dumb
he didn't know that that could lead him to death.
No, he knew.
But he didn't stop from preaching the word
and it got him beheaded.
And what did Bible say?
What did Pastor Cobb tell us this morning?
He was the greatest of all men that have ever walked the earth.
That's what the Bible tells us.
So if John the Baptist can do it, do it to me.
Take advantage, despite, you know, use me, abuse me.
But just know who's got my back.
Just know who's got Pastor Cobb's back.
Just know who's got Spring Crest back.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, you know, I like it like that cartoon, right?
With the little chihuahua and he gets a little brave
because I'm Mexican and I'm short.
And all of a sudden he gets a little brave on that bigger dog
and that big dog's not really afraid
and then all of a sudden his demeanor changes.
The dog across him quivering
and the little chihuahua gets a little puffed up.
He thinks he's but what's really happening is the big bulldog
came up from behind and he had the chihuahua's back, right?
It's kind of like that, you know, I'm just ready to roll.
I don't see fear in the enemy and then all of a sudden I see fear
but I'm not going to get high.
I'm just going to remember Jesus has got my back.
David said, "Hey, I'm going to kick your butt, Goliath,
because God's on my side."
Because you picked the fight with the wrong guy.
You picked on a guy too big for your britches.
Let's close in our word of prayer. Emily, follow Lord.
Thank you so much for today.
Thank you for your blessings on this church.
Thank you for the opportunity to preach this message, Lord.
Lord, I just pray that you would help us to continue
to be of strong, mature age and to both discern good and evil.
But also to realize that we shouldn't marvel when the wolves have crept in,
when they unmasked themselves.
We realize, man, they sounded just like it.
They were good.
They did a good job with their masking.
Lord, we can avoid maybe a plethora of wolves if we're discerning.
But on occasion, we're just going to fail.
And that's where you come in, Lord, and you're going to take care of us.
You're going to protect us.
You're going to watch out for us.
Thank you, Lord, for the seven souls.
More than anything out of the sermon, thank you for your word.
Thank you for the souls that we want today.
Thank you for the work that we're doing.
And continue, Lord, to just watch over us.
Give us a good week.
Give us a good Christmas.
Give us a good time and fellowship with our friends and family.
And that your word may be preached, Lord.
And help us not only to reach our goal, but to crush it for 2025.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Lucy, will you stop that over there, please?
Let's turn our hymnals over to Paige.
You haven't stopped it yet, right?
All right, we got one more.
Sorry.
Sorry, I'm short.
So my daughter, but stay there.
I got my daughter helping me out.
Turn your hymnals over to page 81.
81.
Or if you want to grab your hymnal, I guess.
Come on down.
You can sing.
Sorry, babe.
What child is this on the first?
What child is this who lay in heaven's sleep?
Butchered this one.
My wife's not here right now.
And I appreciate you guys coming out.
Turn that off.
We'll clip that part out.
Bless you all, God bless you all.