Before Thy throne I spend, when I kneel in prayer,
and with Thee my God, I will give You this friendly friend.
I'll be nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross
where Thou hast died.
I'll be nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
to Thy precious Beside.
There are depths of love that I cannot know,
till I cross the meadow sea.
There are heights of joy that I may not ease,
till I rest in peace with Thee.
I'll be nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
to the cross where Thou hast died.
I'll be nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
to Thy precious Beside.
Christ, our Redeemer, died on the cross,
died for the sinner, paid all his due.
All who receive it all.
Can you, can you play that?
Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to the Steadfast Baptist
Church.
If we can go ahead and find our seats, we will get started.
And once we find a seat, grab a hymnal,
and we will start with song number 85.
Song number 85.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
Sing aloud the Name.
Till it softly, slowly, sets all hearts aflame.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
Sing aloud the Name.
Till it softly, slowly, sets all hearts aflame.
Jesus, Name of cleansing.
Washing all our stains.
Jesus, Name of healing.
Bomb for all our pains.
Jesus, Name of boldness.
Making cowards brave.
Name that in the battle certainly must save.
Jesus, Name of victory.
Stretching far away.
Right across earth's war fields.
To the plains of day.
Jesus, be our joy dome.
In this veil of tears.
Till we reach the homeland.
And eternal years.
Great singing, everybody.
Let's open up the service with a word of prayer.
Lord, we love you, and we just thank you again
for Steadfast Baptist Church.
Thank you for all the souls that were won today
out of soul winning.
Lord, we love you.
We just thank you for everything you're doing here,
everything you do with this church.
We just ask that you continue to bless it,
continue to fill it with your spirit,
and it's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
All right, for our next song,
let's go to song number 121.
Song number 121,
Like a River Glorious.
Song number 121,
Like a River Glorious.
Everybody sing it out together loudly on the first.
Like a river glorious
Is God's perfect peace
Over all victorious
In its bright increase
Perfect yet it flowin'
Fuller every day
Perfect yet it growin'
Deeper all the way
Stay up on Dehova
Hearts are fully blessed
Finding as we promised
Perfect peace and rest
Hidden in the hollow
Of His blessed hand
Never folk and follow
Never train or stand
Not a surge of worry
Not a shade of care
Not a blast of hurry
Touch the Spirit there
Stay up on Dehova
Hearts are fully blessed
Finding as we promised
Perfect peace and rest
Every joy or triumph
Falleth from above
Faced upon our dial
By the Son above
They've been thrust in fully
All for us to do
They who trust Him wholly
Find Him wholly true
Stay up on Dehova
Hearts are fully blessed
Finding as we promised
Perfect peace and rest
Thanks for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church.
If you need a bulletin, you can lift up your hand nice and high and one of us can get you guys a bulletin.
We have Matthew 28 as our Bible memory passage. We also have a January New Testament challenge if you'd like
to keep track. And then on the inside of service soul anytimes, we have our
expecting ladies list and prayer list. Please be in prayer for our church family. There is a couple sign up sheets
out here in the foyer and we have a separate save the date handout for a lot of
the events that are going to be going on specifically January 11th through the 12th.
There's a sign up sheet for that if you're going to plan on going to Houston and doing our soul winning event and preaching event.
Spring Crest Baptist Church pastor Enrique Reyes who has been a friend of ours for a long time
and so excited to go out there and visit them. Also February
6th to the 8th is a ranosa soul winning marathon. Please make sure to sign up
so that way we are aware of those who are planning on traveling with us down there.
February 16th to the 23rd is this is essentially just a recommended
Caribbean cruise trip that some of our church members are going to be going on.
Evangelist Fur is going to be on and leading so anybody that wants to participate can go. Of course
apparently there's like 10,000 cruises a year so I mean there's a million options so
we don't want to hold you back. You can do a cruise whenever you want and go preach the gospel and do whatever you want.
This is just simply us trying to organize a time when other like minded people can go
and the stops specifically for this particular one seem like they're going to
be in receptive areas with good opportunities to go soul winning. I know there's a lot of cruises
where you just go to a bunch of fake islands that are just touristy places so you probably wouldn't get very many
opportunities to go preaching the gospel. So these are designed, at least this specific one
is kind of designed with the idea of stopping at specific ports and areas where you should be able to
get off the boat and go into the city and be able to do a lot of evangelism and so if you'd like to participate
or if you're interested see Evangelist Fur. There is another cruise
missions trip that one of our friends Pastor Anderson's church is doing in March. If you want details
I'll probably put that in our group chat. They are having their staff
brother Segura Chris Segura going out and doing that and so other options there
and then there's there's even ones in November December that look pretty good. So there's a lot of other options
don't feel like this is the only time you can ever do it but this is just the first one that we're recommending if you want to
try and participate. It's probably about $1,800
for two people to go so if you get you and a cabin partner.
The way I was reading it I think kids 12 and under are free.
So if you ended up going on one of these things the way they work that's a pretty good
deal. I don't know a ton about it but that's just I'm just throwing that information out for you
if you're if you're interested. We are going to do a kids choir for Easter.
Also we're doing one in Christmas. We have a spring recital March 22nd
April 19th a Mansfield soul winning marathon. That's just like 15
minutes west of here. We've got May 16th Sure Foundation Baptist Church
is having a King James Bible conference. I've been invited to go speak out there and some other
great preachers are going to be out there. May 31st we're doing a Durant
Oklahoma soul winning marathon and we're going to be partnering with Anchor Baptist Church. So it'll be a good time to see them.
We have a Shreveport Louisiana marathon June 28 July 19th
Lancaster Texas soul winning marathon. We have our men's retreat at the beginning of August. End of August
we're going to have our fire breathing Baptist fellowship conference. We'll be having a Tyler
Texas on a marathon in September Bahamas October 6th through the 11th. So that's a Monday through
Saturday October 31st. So chili cook off with his brother
or Dr. Stringer is going to be preaching for us November 9th. And then we have kind of our holiday
schedule there. We'll have some other events as we get a little bit closer to
the middle of the year. We'll probably put out some more things that we'll have for the end of the year. But this is just to save the date
for you. Also on the back of the bulletin is church reminders.
Please make sure you're not running or rough housing in the church. This is for all children.
Children shouldn't be on the stage areas at any time. Children also should not be in our
kitchen area unless they are being assisted by their parents.
Additionally mother baby rooms are limited to children being in there
with their parents at all times. The fellowship room is not a play area. Please
also don't use church supplies except for actual their intended use.
Make sure to clean up after yourself. The water bottles are designated for our soul winning and
for visitors. And then parents please make sure you're watching your children throughout
the whole time you're here before service during after everything and
children make sure if any adult is giving you some instructions that you say yes or
yes ma'am you do it and try to be respectful to all the adults that are here at the church.
That's pretty much all I have as far as announcements. We'll go ahead and sing our psalm of the week psalm one
hundred and twenty six. It's in our special handout psalm one hundred and twenty six.
All right that was psalm one hundred and twenty six.
Psalm chapter one hundred and twenty six.
Christ singing out on the first.
Hey.
Great singing everybody now as the offering plates are being passed around go and get your Bible
ready for the reading of God's word.
The
chapter would be first Corinthians chapter four first Corinthians chapter number four.
The
the
first Corinthians chapter four the Bible says
let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the
mysteries of God. Moreover it is required and stewards that a man be found faithful
but with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment.
Yea I judge not my own self for I know nothing by myself.
Yet am I not hereby justified. But he that judges me is the Lord. Therefore judge
nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things
of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart. And then shall every man have
praise of God. And these things brethren I have in a figure transferred to myself
and to Apollos for your sakes that you might learn in us not to think of men above that
which is written that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.
For who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou didst not receive
now if thou didst receive it. Why does thou glory as though thou hadst not received it.
Now you're full. Now you're rich. You have reigned as kings without us
and I would to God ye did reign that we also might reign with you. For I think
that God had set forth us the apostles last as it were appointed to death
for we are made a spectacle into the world and to angels and to men.
We are fools for Christ's sake but ye are wise in Christ. We are weak but
ye are strong. Ye are honorable but we are despised. Even under this present
hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain
dwelling place and labor working with our own hands being reviled
we bless being persecuted we suffer it being defamed we entreat
we are made as the filth of the world and are the off scouring of all things
unto this day. I write not these things to shame you but as my beloved
sons I warn you for though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ yet
have you not many fathers for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel
where for I beseech you be ye followers of me for this cause have I sent
unto you to Mothias who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord who
shall bring you into a remembrance of my ways which be in Christ as I teach everywhere in every
church. Now some are puffed up as though I would not come to you
but I will come to you shortly if the Lord will and will know not the
speech of them which are puffed up but the power for the kingdom of God is not in word but
in power. What will ye? Shall I come unto you with a rod or in love
and in the spirit of meekness? Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father I want to thank you for the souls saved
today. Thank you for steadfast Baptist Church. Please help us to serve you more and
to grow more this next year and please bless the message tonight that you've laid on Pastor
Shelley's heart in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. The Bible says in verse eight now ye are full.
Now you're rich. You have reigned as kings without us
and I would to God you did reign that we also might reign with you. Now
here in First Corinthians chapter number four the apostle Paul is describing the church in contrast
to himself and he's essentially describing how they have a little bit
different status than him. He's saying you guys are full. You guys
are rich. You guys are reigning as kings. Now he says in verse number nine for
I think that God has set forth us the apostles last as we're appointed to death
for we are made a spectacle unto the world and to angels and to men. We are fools
for Christ's sake but ye are wise in Christ. We are weak but
ye are strong. Ye are honorable but we are despised. Even
under this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place
and labor working with our own hands being reviled. We bless
being persecuted. We suffer it being defamed. We entreat. We
are made as the filth of the world and are the off scouring of all
things unto this day. I write not these things to shame you but as my
beloved sons I warn you. What is the apostle Paul describing?
He's describing how somehow the church great him
awful. I mean this is what he's saying. He's saying I am considered the
filth of this world. I'm considered the off scouring of this world. I
have the worst reputation imaginable but not you guys.
And it's kind of hard to understand some of these things until you kind of live and experience
them. But this is essentially what I would like to describe you. It's
kind of like when you pastor a church and you have a really really bad reputation
but there's a lot of people that would love to pastor your church. Why?
Because there's a lot of people that would love to have a big church with
a lot of people in it and having a lot of great people because frankly speaking it's awesome.
It's nice to have a big church. It's nice to have a lot of awesome people. It's nice to be around
a lot of people and have some influence or whatever. But
notice that he doesn't get that reputation. He doesn't get that recognition. He's like a
terrible person. He's considered the filth. He's considered the off scouring. So we
have to understand is being in a position of authority of a big church
it's something that a lot of people want. Now a lot of people want this because
they have bad motives. They have bad desires. They don't actually just love
God and want the things of God to go well. They simply just want to be in charge because they want
recognition. They want attention. They want to influence people and they love
the fact that they could be in charge of all these great people and all these wonderful people because
frankly speaking most people don't dislike y'all. They
just dislike leadership. They just dislike the people that are leading a
church and so they're considered often the filth, the off scouring, having a bad
rep. But he's saying you guys are great. And the reality is there's tons of people out
there that would love in theory to pastor a church with lots of great people. I mean you don't
understand honestly none of us really do how many churches are in the United
States are small. Like if you just look statistically 67%
of all churches have under 100 members
and in fact it's almost close to like 40% have under 50
members. So of all the churches in the United States under
you know 67% of 67% of under 100 people
our church as far as active membership is close to 300
so it's like we're a pretty good sized church that's you know going to be
higher up in the percentages of things. Someone having a church with several hundred people in it
you know is a nice is like a cool thing. It's a good thing in a sense. Being a pastor
is a great honor. It's a great privilege. A great blessing. The apostle Paul recognizes that being
a pastor and things like this is a great blessing. But often the men of God in the Bible
in positions of authority they're hated by everyone and they have a terrible reputation.
So what ends up happening is other people sitting in the
wings want to tear down that leader so that they can then take their
position of authority. OK. Why did the apostle Paul say this. Did you not read this. He said
specifically in verse 14 I write these things not to shame you but as my beloved sons I warn you. So he's
saying I'm not trying to make you feel bad about you having a good reputation and me having a bad reputation.
I'm only saying this to warn you. I'm trying to warn you about something.
What is he warning them about. Well let's keep reading. He says in verse number 15 for
though you have 10000 instructors in Christ yet have you not many fathers
for in Christ Jesus I begotten you through the gospel. So the apostle Paul says hey here's
the warning. Everybody wants to tell you what to do. Everybody wants
to be your teacher. Everybody wants to be in charge. In fact there's 10000 people lining
up to be in charge of you. But you don't have many fathers meaning
there's not a lot of people that have actually gotten you saved. There's not a lot of actual people
that have ministered unto you like a father would. And so who should you listen to.
Should you listen to the 10000 people that want to just take over or should
you listen to the people that got you saved. And the reality is you should greatly
consider the advice and the counsel of the people that got you saved over
anybody else. Whoever got you saved whatever pastor or minister
got you the gospel and you got saved by that person you should greatly consider that person's
opinion and that person's instruction over all these other people that want to
come and just tell you what to do. And there are these 10000 instructors
and I've noticed with social media it's like almost everybody wants to be a pastor now.
But not the pastor of a church the pastor of an online ministry their own little guru
ministry and their online podcast and they're going to tell you the Bible.
You have women podcast and kid podcast and old people. I mean everybody
it's not 10000 instructors it's 10 million instructors. OK. I mean there is
just a glut of people that want to tell you what to do and what the Bible says.
But we need to be careful we should be warned and not listen to all these people.
How many people out there and you know it. Friends family co-workers.
They're like oh I saw this guy on TikTok. Oh I read this random devotional.
They're just they're just listening to anyone everyone and they're just willing to get sucked into all
kinds of instruction. But that person has no
accountability in their life for the instruction that they're giving. If I create an
online platform with no real church and I give bad advice and people take my bad advice
and it ruins their life. It has no impact on that TikToker. It has no impact on that influencer.
Whereas if I am giving bad advice as a pastor to this church and y'all are following it. It will directly
affect you and me. It'll directly affect what's going on. There's a large amount of
accountability to what's being preached here because it's going to directly affect this
church. It's going to directly affect. I mean if I get up and just preach oneness.
If I get up and just start saying let's switch to the message the church will leave.
Everyone would get out. Whereas these people online they'll get up and just preach heresy on the Trinity
or one and they'll get more subscribers. Because they just now added a whole
other audience and then they'll just teach another weird heresy flat earth or some whole other audience.
And in fact it's almost like the exact opposite effect when you're an online influencer
than in real life. Because in real life you can't be everything.
You know imagine you go to someone's house and they're like hey I'm a Eagles fan. I'm a Cowboys fan
and a Redskins fan. People are going to be like what's wrong with you.
Like you can't be a Cowboys fan and an Eagles fan and a Redskins fan.
And then who are you going to hang out with. Nobody's going to like you because they're going to all be like
how can you can't be all of this. Whereas online these people that are the instructors
they're in everything and people just don't realize it. And then you get sucked into all this false teaching
and lies and heresy. And you know what you need to be aware of the 10,000 instructors that are out there.
That's the title of my sermon is 10,000 instructors. You have more people that will tell you what to do
than you could even count. And you know you should listen to the person that got you saved.
Now I want to go to a lot of passages in this. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 10.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 10. This is an important message that's in the Bible.
You need to be careful who you're listening to. You need to be very very careful to the people that are teaching you things
from the Bible and really just life advice in general. Because we can extend this. People think like
this doesn't matter outside of a Christian context. But look everything is in the Christian context.
This world is created by Christ. It's Christ's world. There's all kinds of people online that will give you
marriage advice and they won't bring up anything about the Bible. But you know what? Be careful that person is giving you advice.
Be careful of all these people that want to give you all this life advice and counsel and dating advice and work advice.
You need to be careful about the advice that you're getting in general. And specifically when it comes to things in the Bible
you want to make sure that are directly in the Bible that people that got you saved are the ones you're
considering their opinion the most. And you're valuing their opinion the greatest. Because there's a lot of people that
will come along and tell you things and it's not legit. 2 Corinthians chapter number 10. This is the apostle Paul
having to kind of deal with this issue constantly where there's all these people usurping his authority coming against him.
It says in verse number 12, for we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend
themselves. But they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise.
So the apostle Paul is constantly dealing with this issue with all these people constantly comparing themselves and trying
to tear down the apostle Paul. Talk about how he's not legit. Try to go against him.
Trying to draw away disciples after themselves. And notice when he's combating these people he says,
hey, we're not the type of people that are commending themselves. Be aware of anybody that's going around just
bragging about themselves, constantly lifting themselves up, talking about themselves, showing you all the things
about themselves. You know, that's a red flag. The apostle Paul does it sparingly in these certain situations
just to make it clear like, well, if we were going to compare it's not even close. But we shouldn't even do that anyways.
It's a red flag when people are just constantly wanting to talk about their accolades and commend themselves
and talk highly of themselves and they're constantly measuring themselves and comparing themselves among other people.
You know, it's not a wise thing to do. Now he says in verse 13, but we will not boast of things without our measure.
So when the apostle Paul says, if I did have to say something, if I was going to commend myself, if I was going to boast in anything,
I would make sure I'm doing it with my measure. I'm not going to do it without my measure, meaning he's not going to do something
outside of a certain boundary. That's what he's trying to describe here. He explains it more in detail.
But according to the measure of the rule which God has distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.
For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you, for we are come as far as to you
but also in preaching the gospel of Christ. Now, if you didn't understand that, totally fine,
because none of us hardly can understand what he's trying to say. But when you read this next verse,
it kind of helps you understand what he's trying to say. He says in verse number 15,
not boasting of things without our measure that is of other men's labors. So that's the key to understanding what he was saying.
What he's saying is, I'm not going to go around and brag about things that I didn't actually accomplish.
Like bragging about building a church that you didn't build. Like, imagine you take over a church
and then you brag about that church's creation, foundation, how many people are in that church.
That's bizarre because you didn't do it. Imagine bragging about someone's salvation that you didn't get saved.
Imagine bragging about any accolade or any work that you didn't actually accomplish.
He's saying, I'm not going to boast with about things that are without our measure,
meaning stuff that I didn't do, things that I am just entering into other men's labors,
bragging about stuff that you have not established, accomplished, done or anything.
Whereas people constantly take credit for things that they did not do, credit for ideas they did not come up with.
Credit for works that they themselves are not actually responsible for.
And he's saying, I'm not going to do that. That is not wise. I'm not going to boast in other men's labors.
He says, but having hope when your faith is increased that we should be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly,
to preach the gospel in regions beyond you and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our hand.
But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord, for not he that commended themselves is approved, but whom the Lord commended.
Meaning the apostle Paul is saying, I'm not going to brag and take credit for other people's works,
other people's labors, but even at the end of the day, whatever works I've accomplished,
why aren't we just giving glory to God for that anyways? That's the whole point.
That's the whole concept. He's saying we should recognize in First Corinthians,
chapter number four, we didn't read the whole passage when I was preaching.
We did it before, but he's making it abundantly clear. Why are you bragging about things that you received as if you hadn't received them?
You know, we should just recognize, like God gave us the things that we have. We've received these things.
Therefore, we should glorify God even for the works that we accomplish, whatever we've done, whatever we've accomplished.
Just glory in God. And notice, even if you commend yourself, that doesn't actually mean anything.
You could brag about yourself and it not be true. You could say, I'm really great.
Look at what I've done. But that's not who God approves. Who approves, but whom the Lord commendeth.
And here's something that you have to really, really understand about Christianity and God and these things,
is there's a difference between being appointed and being established.
King Solomon is appointed the king of Israel.
But it's not until he accomplishes certain works that the Bible says that the kingdom was established.
And this is two different concepts. Someone could be appointed into a position and not be established.
There's a lot of people in the Bible that are appointed to positions of authority and power and influence in the Bible.
But God does not establish them. God does not approve of them. And God wants nothing to do with them.
So we could sometimes get confused and think like, oh, well, the powers that be are ordained of God.
Therefore, anybody that's in a position of authority, God approves of them. But that is not necessarily true.
God allows people sometimes to be in positions of authority that do not deserve it, that are not of God, that you should not even listen to whatsoever.
So just because someone's a pastor, let me explain this again.
Just because someone's a pastor does not make them a godly person, does not make them approved of God, and does not make them established.
You should be careful what pastors you listen to. What would be a pastor you should listen to?
One that got you saved. And one that has mentored you and provided fruit in your life.
And this is one of the things, like, when I started pastoring, I remember thinking about this.
Let's go to Proverbs chapter 12 and then we're going to run through the New Testament.
When I started pastoring, I thought about this and I said, you know, I want to start at the churches.
I want to ordain evangelists. I want to do all kinds of stuff.
But I said, you know, it's probably more important that I successfully pastor for years before I do anything
so that I can recognize that God actually established me and actually approved of what I was doing before I just start other fires.
Before I start other ministries. Like, what's the point in me ordaining a pastor when I haven't even successfully pastored?
Like, that doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. So I just made a rule in my mind.
I said, before I've pastored successfully for five years, I won't ordain another pastor.
Because I just don't even want to go down that road. If I can't even successfully do it, it doesn't really make a lot of sense.
OK, and here's the thing. We should be careful because just because I was appointed as a pastor doesn't mean God's approved or pleased with me
or even going to establish me necessarily, because the church that I started with was handed to me in a sense.
I was entering into other men's labors. I was given a lot of people from a ministry from my sending pastor, in a sense.
And it would be really easy for me to think, like, oh, I'm so wonderful and awesome because these people are coming to my church.
But I was entered into other men's labors. How can I sit here and brag and boast about that?
And I preached the whole sermon at Red Hot like years ago called Free Loaders.
It was crazy to me how I saw all these pastors who were pastoring churches where the vast majority of the congregation was reached by somebody else.
And they are just taking all the credit for it, acting like they're special, getting puffed up and lifted up.
And I'm thinking, like, look, you've entered into other men's labors. You should appreciate the ministry you have.
And if you don't want to give recognition to men, OK, that's fine. Just give glory to God then, though.
But don't take the credit for yourself. Don't lift yourself up.
And what I've noticed about the bad people, the 10,000 instructors that exist, is they love to take credit for things.
They love to be in charge of things, but you know what they don't do? Produce fruit.
They don't produce fruit. Look at Proverbs chapter 12, look at verse 12.
The wicked desireth the net of evil men, but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit.
Now, the primary application of this passage is the idea that wicked people, evil people, they make money through a net.
What would be this? Like, usury. And here's the thing.
Usury is not producing anything.
Usury is an unjust way to make money, according to the Bible.
It's not adding to the GDP. It's just simply taking advantage of people.
But you know who makes tons and tons of money and who's the richest people in this world?
People that are making money through unjust gain.
Things like usury, casinos, smut, all kinds of stuff.
And it's like this net. Whereas notice it says the root of the righteous, what does he do? He yields fruit. Okay?
You know what actually produces income for a nation and a country?
Making goods. Like planting crops and yielding product and manufacturing goods and actually make, like producing something.
You know what's a detriment to society? Is usury. It's a parasite to the host.
It doesn't actually add anything to the actual economy.
Economy, if we were all just usurers, let's just say we were all going to just lend money to each other on usury.
Our nation would fail instantly. But what if we were all farmers?
We could actually have a successful nation. I mean, if we all just produced crops, if we just all manufactured goods, you know what?
That would be a prosperous nation. Now, you can survive with some parasites in your society just because you have enough producers.
But you know what? This carnal concept being understood says wicked people, they want to be these nets.
And again, it's funny. The net doesn't produce anything. It just takes things that already exist, right?
It's just scraping things that already exist. This is how many ministries are.
This is how many ministers are that they don't actually produce anything. They're not getting people saved.
They're not actually changing people's lives. All they want to do is have a net and just drag people into it.
And there's all these 10,000 instructors with their own online ministry, and they just wish they could be the next Stephen Furtick
or the next Kenneth Copeland or somebody where they just want to gather this huge influence and huge church, and they desire the net of evil men.
People like Robert Morris, who they just want to be the next Robert Morris, and they're just kind of waiting in line to just grab all these people and just suck all these people in.
But they're not actually producing anything. And here's the thing. If all Christians only listen to the people that got them saved, these people couldn't exist.
These people can't even thrive because they're not actually producing anything.
So many people are listening and giving their ear to people that did not get them saved and did not minister or do anything spiritual.
And you know what? It's causing just all kinds of problems. It caused problems in this church. It causes problems everywhere.
I'm not saying this church, I'm saying the Corinthian church. That's what I'm meaning by that.
Go over to Matthew, chapter number three. We think about these concepts, but we need to apply them to ourselves.
I'm not going to listen to all these online bozos. I don't get my Bible teaching from TikTok.
I don't get my Bible teaching from Kenneth Copeland, from all these other people.
I want to get my teaching from people that got me saved and, secondly, from people that have mentored me and spiritually discipled me.
Obviously, the person that got you saved can come and go. So it's not like you're limited to that one person.
But that's a person that you should heavily consider as a source of information, as a person that cares for you.
Why? Well, what was the carnal truth that 1 Corinthians 4 taught us?
He says you have not many fathers. Who should you listen to in your life? Your mom and dad.
You want to know why? Because your mom and dad care about you.
Your mom and dad aren't just wanting horrible things to happen to you. Your mom and dad love you.
They raised you for 18 years, 19 years, 20 years, 25 years. Some of you guys aren't married and you're like 30.
I'm just saying, like, they raised you for that long. They changed your diapers. They fed you. They spanked you.
They did all these things for you. You think that they just now all of a sudden magically don't care about you or something?
They're going to give you great advice when it comes to what kind of job you should have, typically speaking.
They're going to give you great advice on people you should consider marrying, people you should consider dating, people you should not consider dating.
I mean, my mom, I remember there was a couple of girls that, like, came over and they were like, I want to see my brother at the time.
They're like, I want to see Greg or whatever. And she's like, you hoes need to go.
Like, you know, she's just like, you're hoarse. Like, get out of here.
I mean, when my when someone called, I remember I was dating a girl and she never called me for a long time.
And then I like asked her about like, I think it was email or something. And she she was like, oh, I call the time.
And I always talk to your mom. And I'm like, so I go talk to my mom.
I say, Mom, is this this girl call? She's like, yeah, I just hung up. I would just say like, OK, and then just hang up.
And I'm like, why didn't you give me the message? She's like, girls should never call a guy.
She's like, you need to never date this girl. She's like, I don't want you to date this person.
I was just like, what in the world? And, you know, at the time, you know, as a kid, I'm thinking like, no, I like this girl.
You know what? She was right. She's right about that girl. My mom was right about those girls that were interested in my brother.
Our parents are right about these things often. Again, obviously, there could be an exception.
If your parents are a Hindu, if your parents are weird or something, they're a reprobate or something.
Is there a technical exception? But look, if your parents are saved, especially if your parents are a Baptist.
I mean, if your parents, they're not going to just sit here and just give you horrible advice and try to ruin your life.
So you should harken to your parents. Harken to the advice and the instruction that your parents have given you.
Harken to the people that love you and care about you. You know, your friends and your family members.
And, you know, in the multitude of counselors, there is safety.
If everybody in your personal life is giving you the same advice and you're not taking it, you know, that's a dangerous place to be in.
Okay? But what if it's like, well, I'm getting all this advice from all these online people that I don't talk to or all these random people.
You know, that's dangerous. The 10,000 instructors online, they're not as invested in you.
They don't care if they ruin your life necessarily. You know, you shouldn't care as much about what they are going to do.
And when it comes to ministers online, you know, the guy that actually sees you in church, that's ministering to you and loving to you,
he has a lot more vested in you than some online guy that you've never met.
And if you can't even vet this guy's fruit, if you've never seen this guy actually produce fruit, that's a dangerous person.
Why does the Bible say? Matthew chapter 3 verse 10.
And now also the axe is laid under the root of the trees, therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast on the fire.
Hey, trees that don't produce good fruit are worthless.
Look at chapter 7 verse 17. Chapter 7 verse 17.
Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit. Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit.
Every, every, every, every, every, every good tree. Hey, I'm a good tree. Okay, then show me your fruit.
Oh, I know this really great pastor, but I have, there's no fruit. Not a good tree.
What does the Bible say? Every good tree, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Here's a tree bringing forth bad fruit. Well, then it's not a good tree.
We need to do fruit inspections when it comes to trees, when it comes to preachers, when it comes to people.
Like if you're talking to this guy and all the people that follow him are unsaved weirdos, he's not a good tree.
And if you're going to a church where everybody's saved and locked in a doctrine and they're producing fruit regularly, it's a good tree.
It's that simple. It's that easy. Now, what could a bad person do?
A bad person could jump into a good tree and pretend like he produced that fruit. How about like Jack Scott?
Obviously, Jack Scott just inherits this awesome church of First Baptist Church, Hammond, Indiana, that was built by the works of who?
Jack Hyles. Now, do you think Jack Hyles had any good fruit?
I mean, do you think the guy that went to Hyles Anderson when he was running a thousand and turned it into a hundred thousand,
planted countless churches, got thousands and thousands of people saved,
and pretty much any good pastor that's out there that's worth his salt and the old I.B. is coming from a Hyles Anderson graduate.
What does the Bible say? Every good tree brings forth good fruit. So it sounds like he was a good tree.
OK. Whereas look at Jack Scott. Where are the people that Jack Scott got saved?
Have you ever ran into somebody and they said Jack Scott got me saved? Have you ran into anybody?
They're like, yeah, I was sent out and mentored by Jack Scott. That's why my church exists. Doesn't exist. That's interesting.
Oh, and then he's a pedophile on top. So do you think this guy is a good tree or a bad tree?
It's like it's pretty obvious. But you know what? I'm sure he loved pastoring First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana.
I'm sure he loved the attention and the authority and everything, because there's ten thousand guys lining up to be Jack Hyles,
but they're not willing to do the work. They just want the attention. Be careful. Be aware of these people.
Look at verse 18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. You know what?
No one is going to listen to my preaching and say he convinced me to be a Hindu.
I was listening to Pastor Shelley and I became a Calvinist. I was listening to Pastor Shelley and I realized works saves you.
OK. That can't happen. So if you go to a church where half the congregation is believing weird stuff and is not saved,
that guy preaching is not a good tree. He cannot do it. He literally is not going to cause that kind of a problem.
It says, Every tree, verse 19, that bringeth not for a good fruit is hewn down and cast in the fire.
Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them. How do we know who's the good preacher and the bad preacher?
By their fruits. What are they producing? What are they making? What are they creating?
Go to Luke chapter three. I'll just read for you in Matthew 12, verse 33.
The Bible says, Either make the tree good and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt, for the tree is known by his fruit.
The Bible says in Luke, chapter number three, verse number nine.
And now also the axe is laid under the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.
Look at chapter six, verse 43. Chapter six, verse 43.
For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit. Neither doth the corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
For every tree is known by his own fruit.
For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush, gather they grapes.
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil.
For the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
Look, we need to evaluate preachers and teachers by their fruit, and specifically the main application I'm bringing is salvation.
Look, if you want to know if a preacher is good, how many people are they getting saved?
That should be the number one thing, because all of us are sinful.
Every pastor is a sinful person. Every pastor has mistakes.
We cannot evaluate them based on how nice of a person they are, or if you like their personality.
You can't evaluate them on all these different things. You can't evaluate them on their sins.
You can evaluate on this, though. Are they getting people saved?
And the people that are getting lots of people saved are really good trees, and then the people that aren't getting anybody saved.
Think of a preacher, and you're like, I've never heard of anybody being saved by this person.
No one's doing anything. They're not producing anything.
Here's a question. Are they even a good tree?
And unfortunately, there's 10,000 bad trees out there, and there's not a lot of good trees out there.
You need to be careful about all of these bad trees that exist.
Go to Jude chapter number 12.
There's so many evil, wicked people out there that want to destroy you, that want to cause you to err from the faith, these 10,000 instructors.
But you know what? What did the apostle Paul say? I warn you.
Now, what was the warning again? Let's remind ourselves. Why in the world was the apostle Paul warning them?
Oh, yeah, because the apostle Paul's reputation was horrible.
I didn't make that up. That's what he said. He said he was the filth of the world.
He was the off scouring of the world. He's considered the apostle's last.
So somehow the greatest fruit producer has the worst reputation.
But here's the thing. Do we base the tree on public reputation, or do we base it on the fruit?
And look, it'd be like walking into an orchard, and you're looking at all the trees in the orchard,
and you're expecting the tree based on the quality of the bark, and you're like, well, the bark kind of looks ugly on this tree.
But then it has amazing-looking apples.
And then there's another tree over here. The bark is clean and nice and shiny on the outside, but there's no apples.
Do you really care how nice the bark is on the tree that you're eating the apples from?
I mean, how many of you have gone into the grocery store and said, I want to know what the bark looked like on this tree?
Or are you looking at the app of the fruit and saying, wow, I don't really care what that tree looked like.
And you know what? God uses sinful men to produce some really good fruit.
So why in the world are you sitting here and evaluating the outward bark, the outward appearance,
when the Bible constantly says to not judge people based on the outward appearance, and you're not evaluating the fruit?
And the people that have no fruit, well, they don't want to point you to the fruit that they have because they don't have any.
They point you to their shiny bark. Look at all the bark that I have. Who cares about your bark?
Yeah, you have clean bark because you're a one-year-old sapling that hasn't done anything.
And what does the Bible even say? Look at Jude 12.
These are spots in your Feast of Charity when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear.
Clouds, they are without water, carried about of winds.
Trees whose fruit withereth without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots.
Notice the interesting thing here. Trees whose fruit withereth.
This is like a guy like Jack Scott taking over a huge church, and then when he's done with it, it withered, didn't it?
He didn't make that church bigger. He didn't make that church better. He didn't grow that church.
He actually withered it, and he ruined the fruit that was on it.
And they themselves, they're without fruit. They themselves are twice dead.
They themselves will be plucked up by the roots and just cast away.
We should evaluate people on their fruit.
That's what the Apostle Paul is warning us and telling us to consider.
Look at 3 John. Just flip the page back one, or if you have to. You might even already be there.
Look at verse 9.
I wrote unto the church, but geographies, who loveth that of the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
This is just crazy.
John, it's like he either starts this church or is heavily involved in this church.
He can't even come to his own church. Isn't that weird?
Wouldn't it be weird if you got a bunch of people saved in an area, and there was a church, and you helped start it or form it,
and then you're not even welcome to come back to that own church?
Wouldn't that be weird? Wouldn't that be crazy?
But that's what the Bible is saying. That's geographies. Why?
Why would geographies not let him come back?
Because he loveth to have the preeminence among them. He wants the attention.
Verse 10, wherefore if I come, I will remember his deeds, which he doeth,
prating against us with malicious words.
So he's just, oh, this guy is so evil and so bad and rar, and not content therewith.
Neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbideth them that would, and cast them out of the church.
So a guy takes over a church that he didn't build, and then casts everybody out,
and won't receive the person that led or started the church, and no fruit.
Withering the fruit, destroying the fruit. I mean, that's who geographies is.
And then it says, verse 11, Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good.
So if you were just to say, like, on paper, okay, here's a guy who takes a church,
and it doubles in size over a period of several years, and reaches tons of people,
and is getting a bunch of people saved. Maybe that guy is being established by God.
Let's take another guy who takes a church. It withers and is destroyed, and all the fruit is gone.
What does the Bible say? Follow that which is good.
Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good.
He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.
The other person doesn't even know God. The other one is of God.
So who should you follow? The fruit producer again.
You have not many fathers. Hey, you have 10,000 instructors, but you have not many fathers.
Go over to 2 Timothy, chapter number 3. Look at verse number 1.
This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves,
covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God,
having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.
From such turn away, for of this sorter they would creep into houses,
and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lust.
So there's your 10,000 instructors coming in there just confusing women.
And what kind of women? Women that have lots of sin issues.
Women with lots of sin issues are easily led astray, easily taken advantage of.
These type of preachers are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Now as Janus and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth.
Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith, but they shall proceed no further,
for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was.
So he's saying, eventually these guys just expose themselves as just being idiots.
Just being fools, just being stupid, just being prideful, just being jerks, just all of this stuff.
It'll be obvious eventually.
And it says, But thou has fully known my doctrine, man of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions,
which came to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, which persecutions I endured.
But out of them all the Lord delivered me, yea, in all that will live guiling Christ Jesus to suffer persecution.
But evil men and seducers shall act worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived,
but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of.
Notice this phrase. This is really important.
Knowing of whom thou hast learned them.
Hey, pay attention to who you learned this from.
Pay attention to who ministered to you.
Pay attention to who actually came alongside and served with you and taught you these things and loved on you and did all this stuff.
Not just some bozo like Janice and Jamboree is coming out of nowhere who are going to take advantage of you and they're a fool.
Beware of the 10,000 instructors in Christ.
Go to Romans chapter 16. Go to Romans chapter number 16.
Look, these warnings are real.
There are real Christians that are saved and they're going to get sucked into the 10,000 instructors.
They're going to get sucked into a guy that doesn't have fruit.
They're going to get sucked into a guy that didn't minister to them.
They're going to get sucked into a guy that has no accountability if he ruins their life.
And he just goes online and just blows off his mouth and just ruins people.
There are pastors and there are preachers.
Their ministry is almost dedicated to just destroying Christians and destroying churches.
They just constantly make video after video just attacking other people and it's just a negative fest.
And all they really can accomplish is getting people out of good churches to stop soul winning and then become a railer just like they are.
I mean, I've looked at people that were on the right path, on the right track, and then they started listening to a certain person online
and they get disgruntled, bitter, upset.
They leave that church.
Now they're going to some other church that they think is lame.
They don't really go that much anymore.
They're not really doing the soul winning anymore.
And now they just rail and lie and gossip just like that minister that led them.
And it's not someone that got them saved.
It's not some church that they've ever attended.
It's not someone that's ever ministered to them and that person has no accountability for their actions.
But you know what? They got sucked into that 10,000 instructor in Christ out there.
That is an online ministry that's not producing fruit.
It's producing bitter, envious, psycho ex-girlfriends.
Just like they are.
And you know what? It's a real threat.
This is saying in verse number 17,
Now I beseech you brethren, mark them which cause divisions and defenses,
contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them.
For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly.
And by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
So there are people out there that just want to draw you away.
I mean, there's so much verses. I don't have the sake of time to go to all this.
Go to Proverbs chapter 29.
Acts chapter 20.
The apostle Paul is saying, I warned night and day.
He was weeping.
He's warning them with tears that grievous wolves will enter in not sparing the flock.
What does the wolf do? He's trying to destroy the sheep.
He's trying to get people out of church.
He's trying to ruin their lives, stop them from soul winning,
stop them from serving God, stop them from reading their Bible,
just devouring them and ruining them mentally.
They ruin them with false doctrine.
They ruin them.
And here's the main manipulation tactic that I've seen.
And it's really gnarly, but they ruin them through fear.
And this is what's weird.
This is how they control people.
Is they ruin people by fear by calling them names.
They say, hey, if you go to steadfast Baptist church, you're a retard.
Hey, if you go to steadfast Baptist church, you are a Kool-Aid drinker.
You eat paint chips.
You're mentally handicapped.
I've heard a certain pastor say all of these things about y'all.
And what is he doing?
He's trying to intimidate you.
He's trying to intimidate people that think, I'm not a retard.
I only ate paint when I was a kid.
What does he mean?
I haven't had Kool-Aid in years.
He's trying to make you afraid.
Like, I don't want to have that label.
I don't want to have that accusation.
So it controls you by fear.
Like, oh, I don't want to have this bad rep like the pastor,
like the apostle Paul or somebody.
And through fear, they intimidate you.
They try to scare you into leaving so that you'll get their approval.
But it's so funny because that person hates you.
It's so funny that you seek the approval of the person that actually despises you
and calls you names and makes fun of you.
But it works somehow.
There are simple-minded people that they're so afraid of somebody making fun of them
that they'll do anything to appease that person.
Oh, no, I don't want to be that person.
I don't want to be the retard or whatever.
And what does the Bible say in Proverbs 29 verse 25?
The fear of man bringeth a snare.
They try to intimidate people and scare them, but it's really a trap.
And the trap is to get you out of serving God.
The trap is to listen to them and allow them to be your guru.
And they're going to guide you into all truth.
And they're going to help you detox or whatever.
And you know what?
All they're really doing is just creating a trap for you to fall in and destroy yourself.
Go over to Jeremiah chapter 28.
Go to Jeremiah chapter 28.
They're going to badger you.
And it's weird, but it works.
Men sometimes do this to women.
They treat girls bad on purpose just to try and get them to feel like they need to get their attention.
It's just like bad boy syndrome or something.
It's super weird, and it doesn't even make sense.
Look, girls, if a guy doesn't treat you well, leave him alone.
But there's this thing inside of us that when someone doesn't like us, we want to win them over.
We want to get their approval.
And manipulative bad people take advantage of this.
They know what they're doing, and they treat you bad on purpose just to try and manipulate you and control you.
Don't let someone do this spiritually.
Don't let someone talk down to you and basically make fun of you.
And then you think, I need to get that person's approval.
That's weird.
The apostle Paul is building Timothy up.
The apostle Paul is encouraging Timothy.
He's saying, hey, he served with me like a son as a father.
And the apostle Paul is trying to warn Timothy, like, look, you need to listen to me.
And I'm the person that ministered unto you.
Now, I don't even think that necessarily the apostle Paul got Timothy saved.
It seems pretty clear in the Bible that Timothy was already saved.
But he is like a father unto him in the sense that he mentored him, he spiritually led him, he guided him in that way.
Because when he talks about his faith, he talks about his grandmother and his mother, that faith coming.
It's probably likely his mom got him saved.
And he was already saved.
But he didn't really have that spiritual mentor to come along and to help him grow.
He was producing a lot of fruit in his life for him and loving on him.
And so he's someone that he should look to and be guided by.
Now, this is what's also interesting.
And I'm kind of going to be finishing on this section.
But I would love to think that there's just tons and tons of great preachers in the world.
I would love to think that there's just mountains of great godly people and people that want to love you and do good.
But the Bible doesn't paint that picture.
And I'm trying to align my views with what the Bible teaches and what it's like.
You know, there's only one Moses, but there's all kinds of Dathan, Korahs, and Abirons.
There's all kinds of people just constantly trying to overthrow them and ruin them.
Consistently throughout the Bible, it's like there's very few good ministers, and there's many, many false prophets.
There's 450 prophets of Baal, and there's one Elijah.
Or there's one Micaiah.
Or there's one Elisha.
Or there's one minister that's basically Jehoiada.
The priest is going to stand in the gap.
There's just one Josiah.
There's very few people.
There's one Jesus Christ walking around the earth.
There's just a few disciples.
I mean, even most of the disciples get screwed up, and it's like there's one Paul.
I mean, you know, there's not just like this overabundance ever.
But now I'm supposed to believe like everybody's godly, everybody's great, everybody's awesome.
I don't think so.
There can even be whole areas that are not good.
And in the book of Jeremiah, we see this to an extremity.
And I want to show you some verses on this.
Look at Jeremiah 28, verse 13.
This is God telling Jeremiah,
Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord,
Thou hast broken the yokes of wood, but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron.
For thus saith the Lord of hosts, The God of Israel, I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations,
that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,
and they shall serve him, and I have given him the beasts of the field also.
Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Here now, Hananiah,
the Lord hath not sent thee, but thou makest his people to trust in a lie.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth.
This year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord.
So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
Hey, when there was a controversy between preachers, it got heated.
You know, you think that, like, you've seen drama.
This is drama, folks.
When the preachers are saying, like, You're of Satan, and the other one's like, You're going to die.
But this is what's funny.
Hananiah died.
And then they still didn't listen to Jeremiah.
I mean, wouldn't you think, like, Hey, this guy's a false prophet, and he's going to die this year.
And then he dies. Wouldn't you be like, Let's listen to what Jeremiah has to say, you know?
But then they still don't listen to him.
I mean, when God opens up hell, and Korah, Dathan, and Abiram fall into hell,
they're like, You killed the people of God.
It's like, Dude, I watched them go into hell.
Like, this is crazy to me when I'm trying to convince people, like, someone being not saved,
like in Isaiah 14, the king of Babylon, who goes to hell, and they're constantly trying to bring him up out of hell.
I'm like, Isaiah 14 says the king of Babylon went to hell, buddy.
Okay? And I'm just trying to say, like, You could watch someone go to hell, and then they're still like, No, he's saved.
No, he's the people of God, man.
It's like, Hey, Hananiah just died. He's of God, though.
It's like, No. This guy's not of God. Okay?
Can you realize that he's not established?
When the Bible says, like, Hey, when a prophet speaks, if it comes to pass, then you know he's of God.
So it's like, God's going to constantly send preachers and voices and all this stuff.
We need to check the guy that's established with fruit, not the guy that's just willing to say it, or even has the position.
Hananiah has the position.
But did you see what it said specifically in verse 15?
The Lord hath not sent thee.
You're not of God, buddy. I know you're a priest. Still not of God.
Hey, I know you're a pastor. That doesn't mean you're of God.
Look at chapter 29, verse 8.
For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Let not your prophets and your diviners that be in the midst of you deceive you,
neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed, for they prophesy falsely unto you in my name.
I have not sent them, saith the Lord.
Now, I'm just not reading the whole context. This is great.
Jeremiah's in Jerusalem.
Jeremiah's sending to all the captives in Babylon.
And this is his message.
Don't believe a single preacher.
All of them are bad.
All of them are false.
Don't listen to any of them.
He has to literally preach to them because there's not a good preacher in that entire area.
Yet, there's so many people today, they act like, oh, there's great churches everywhere.
That might not be true.
You have to realize, sometimes people tell me there's not a good church in this area, and you kind of think you're skeptical,
but that could actually be true, folks.
And I'm not going to just say, just go to every church is good, and there's all these great areas, and there's all these great preachers.
That may not be true.
Show me the fruit.
Now, wouldn't God have loved for that to be the case?
And it's not always Jeremiah's situation that's this extreme,
but I think there's a lot of places in this world where there may not be a very good preacher anywhere near.
Look at Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 24.
Thus shalt thou also speak to Shemaiah the Nahalomite
It's kind of hellish, you know? Nahalomite.
Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying,
Because thou hast sent letters in thy name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem,
and to Zephaniah the son of Messiah the priest, and to all the priests saying.
And this gets complicated because it's like so many different authors and the same thing,
so I'm going to try and just help you understand who's talking.
It says, The LORD hath made thee priest.
Now, verse 26 is the false prophet speaking.
This is the letters that the false prophets in Babylon sent to Jerusalem.
This is them speaking to their own false prophets, their disciples.
The LORD hath made thee priest, and the stead of Jehoiada the priest.
That ye should be officers in the house of the LORD.
For every man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet,
that thou shouldst put him in prison and in the stocks.
Now therefore, why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, which maketh himself a prophet to you?
So they're like, Hey, you guys are the priests.
You guys are the ones in charge.
You're the real deal.
Why are you letting this Jeremiah, who's making himself a prophet, preach?
Why aren't you putting him in prison?
Why aren't you throwing him in jail?
That's what these false prophets are saying.
Hey, you have the position.
Did Jeremiah make himself a prophet?
What a lie.
What a deceit here.
Jeremiah's not making himself a prophet.
Verse 28, For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon, saying,
This captivity is long, build ye houses, and dwell in them, and plant gardens, and eat fruit of them.
And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.
Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah.
So Jeremiah gets to hear about this letter of people preaching against him.
You know, someone sent him a clip from a sermon.
That was someone preaching about him, you know what I mean?
They didn't have Facebook and YouTube back then.
They had literal letters.
They're like, hey, here's this letter about you, bro.
It says in verse 31,
Send to all them of the captivity, saying,
Thus saith the LORD concerning Shemaiah the nellomite.
So this is a response video.
Jeremiah's making a response video.
Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you,
and I sent him not,
and he causeth you to trust in a lie.
Therefore, thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the nellomite,
and his seed.
He shall not have a man to dwell among his people.
Neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the LORD,
because he hath taught rebellion against the LORD.
Again, what's the consistent theme?
The teaching rebellion against the LORD.
We need to evaluate preachers based on what they preach.
And when they're preaching rebellion against God's word,
when they're preaching false doctrine and heresy,
hey, this guy is not sent of God.
I don't even care that he has the position.
Because you know what? He's not established.
He doesn't have the fruit. He's not mentoring you.
He didn't actually produce anything good.
You know what? Stay away from these 10,000 instructors.
You could have a whole area of 10,000 instructors,
and they're not going to benefit.
Go over to 2 Peter 3, and we'll finish.
I could go on and on.
The whole Bible is just constantly hammering this point.
And look, it's ultimately God testing you.
There's 10,000 preachers out there,
and there's 9,999 liars,
and one guy that will give you this straight truth.
Which one are you going to listen to?
There's a million lies out there.
There's a million bad religions.
There's a million ways to go to hell.
There's all kinds of bad Bibles.
There's all kinds of bad churches.
You can get into Pentecostalism.
You can get into Calvinism.
You can get into United Methodists.
You can go sit by the dyke while the dyke's preaching to you.
You can go listen to all kinds of women preachers.
You can get on podcasts.
You can have Joyce Meyer tell you all these things.
I mean, you have endless opportunity to hear lies.
So when you have endless opportunity to hear lies,
and you've already rejected them,
and you're locked in on the people that are actually ministering to you and loving you,
don't then go back and start listening to these 10,000 instructors that come along.
Don't go listen to the guy that's not producing any fruit,
that didn't get you saved,
hasn't done anything in your life,
has no accountability for you.
That is not the person to listen to.
Be careful.
You know, how about the Moses that drug you through the wilderness?
Maybe that's the guy to listen to, not Kor,
who came out of nowhere and is lifting himself up among the congregation.
He's accusing Moses of doing it,
but he's the one that's actually doing it.
And then he uses flattery by saying the whole congregation's holy.
It's like, whatever.
Yeah, everybody's great.
Yeah, what a real truthful statement that is.
And look, there's a lot of people out there,
there's a lot of YouTubers,
Facebook, all this stuff, that want to just basically destroy your faith.
But be careful. What does it say in verse 17?
He therefore beloved, seeing ye know these things, before beware,
lest ye also being led away with the air of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness.
But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
Hey, if you're growing in the Lord, just keep growing.
Don't let other people come along and get you out of your happy little growth path
and end up destroying you and cause you to not be steadfast.
Hey, if you're growing, just be steadfast.
And just be patient and just keep growing in the Lord.
Just going to church, reading your Bible, doing right for your family,
working hard, getting people saved.
Don't let these 10,000 instructors come along and destroy you.
The Apostle Paul said, hey, I have to warn you.
I have a bad reputation.
And let me just say this.
I have a bad reputation. Okay?
Not nearly the Apostle Paul.
But I'm just saying, like, I don't really have a good reputation.
And there's a lot of people that hate me.
There's a lot of attack videos and whatever.
But, you know what, don't judge me based on that.
Please judge me on the fruit that's being produced.
And, you know, I don't think that I'm special.
I don't think that there's anything about me that's better than another person.
But what I do think is God has been using us.
I mean, look at our church.
I mean, our church was in a bad situation several years ago.
And now it's better than ever.
The Steffes Baptist Church is great, folks.
And if you were here in 2019, it was a different church.
Those that were here, ask them.
It's a different church, different group of people.
The group of people here are solid, great spirit.
We're doing great work for the Lord.
Don't let someone come and spoil you.
Don't let someone come and drag you away.
And, look, there's 10,000 people that would do it, folks.
And, you know, say, hey, you don't have to come to this church to serve God.
I'm not teaching that.
I'm not saying I'm the only person that can teach you the Bible.
I'm not saying that.
But if you're going to switch churches at any point, make sure that guy's producing fruit.
Make sure that that guy has some accountability for your life.
Make sure that someone is doing something for the Lord.
If you say, hey, I'm going to be going somewhere even more if I go to this church.
I'm going to be more zealous.
I'm learning more doctrine.
Why would I ever stand in your way?
Go for it.
Please do.
Please go there.
I'll go with you.
Okay?
I mean, I'm not, you know, it's not about that.
But don't let some online guy that's not producing fruit, that's not doing good things,
that's drawing people out of church and causing more railers to be produced than people getting saved.
Don't let that guy destroy you.
Don't let that guy get you sucked out and being evil like him.
You stick with church.
You go soul winning.
You do the right thing.
And, you know, listen to the people that have invested in your lives and care about you.
Don't think like, oh, I just found this random guy online.
He's going to tell you.
No.
Listen to your parents.
Listen to the ministers that have loved on you.
Listen to the person that got you saved.
And let's please, please, please check the fruit of the trees before we, you know, make rash decisions.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you Heavenly Father so much for giving us a way to be able to evaluate things, to test things.
I pray that we would consider things with spiritual eyes, that we would look to the fruit that's out there
and we would see where you're confirming people, where you're establishing people.
We'd see where the work of God is being accomplished and that we would get plugged into one of those vines.
And then when we're plugged into a vine producing fruit that we wouldn't leave it for a barren, ungodly, wicked, evil tree.
We wouldn't allow the 10,000 instructors that want to destroy us to come whisper in our ears and lead us down a bad path.
I pray that we would constantly consider the fruit and we would continue to produce fruit for your honor and your glory.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Alright, closing. Let's go to song number 409.
Song number 409.
Song number 409, the fight is on.
Song number 409.
Everybody sing it together on the first.
Hallelujah.
The fight is on.
The trumpet sound is ringing out.
The cry to earth is heard of far and near.
The Lord of hosts is here.
The cry to earth is heard of far and near.
The Lord of hosts is marching on to victory.
The triumph of the prize will soon appear.
The fight is on.
Oh, Christian soldier.
When history makes history's way.
With God we're gleaming and others screaming.
The right and wrong engage today.
The fight is on.
The freedom we're in.
The storm within is my hope past.
If God before us is a man before us,
We'll sing the mid-first song at last.
The fight is on.
A rousing soldier's brave and true.
Nobody's end victory will assure.
The Lord go on.
The armor God has given you.
And in his strength, forever we'll endure.
The fight is on.
Oh, Christian soldier.
When history makes history's way.
With God we're gleaming and others screaming.
The right and wrong engage today.
The fight is on.
The freedom we're in.
The storm within is my hope past.
If God before us is a man before us,
We'll sing the mid-first song at last.
The fight is leading on to certain victory.
The blow of our promise stands the eastern sky.
As war does play in every trench of poverty,
The war will break the dawn of peace and time.
The fight is on.
Oh, Christian soldier.
When history makes history's way.
With armor gleaming and others screaming.
The right and wrong engage today.
The fight is on.
The freedom we're in.
The storm within is my hope past.
If God before us is a man before us,
We'll sing the mid-first song at last.
Great singing, everybody. We're all dismissed.
Thank you for watching.