(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, well it's great to be here at Steadfast Baptist, and my wife and I actually visited this church shortly after we got married in 2015, and I think you guys were just out of the home. You guys are running about 40 or 50 people. It's nice to see familiar faces that were back then, but there's also a lot more people now than that, and when we visited the church, you know, I didn't really know Pastor Romero that well. You know, I knew the other pastors in our movement pretty well, but I had not really talked to Pastor Romero much at all, but you know, the one thing that really, you know, we noticed is that when I think of Pastor Romero, I just think of someone who loves the Brethren. I think of their family, and I just think, man, whenever I think of Pastor Romero, I was like, that guy loves the Brethren, and I really can say he reached out to me as a friend, and I didn't know him, you know, and he was a pastor, and I was thinking, wow, this guy, he doesn't even know who I am, and he's just like really open and really friendly. It's not surprising when somebody's really zealous, and they love the Brethren, how the combination results in this. A church that's getting, what are you guys, like 2,500 salvations this year? I mean, that's amazing. This church is on fire. This church is growing. It's great to see that. Now, we're in James chapter 3, and I want you to look at verse number 14 in the Bible, where the Bible reads in James chapter 3, verse 14, but if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. The name of the sermon this morning is this, lie not against the truth. Lie not against the truth. Earlier this year, this verse really just kind of hit me like it never has before, and James is probably the book of the Bible I would think that I probably know better than any book. It's the first book I memorized, but the Bible's just so deep that you can read it over and over and over again, and then all of a sudden something just hits you that never clicked before, and it says here lie not against the truth. Now, there's a lot of different types of lies. You know, somebody could just tell you a bold-faced lie. You know, I was going soul-wanting yesterday, and I started the conversation with a guy, and he told me, you got to leave your sins at the altar to get saved, and he said, man, you can lose your salvation. You can't just, you know, walk the same walk and expect you're gonna go to heaven. I mean, he made it very, very clear he believed in work salvation. It wasn't a gray area situation, so I go through the gospel with him, and then at the end he's like, oh, I didn't say you have to leave your sins at the altar. I didn't say that. I was like, well, you told me that you can lose your salvation. He's like, no, no, of course you can't lose your salvation. He's like, I knew that, and it was just like, man, the guy's just lying to me. You know, I hope he's just really prideful, and he ended up believing at the end. I have no idea, but you know, lying is just, people just tell bold-faced lies, and they think nothing of it. I was just reading this morning about, you know, Jacob just telling a bold-faced lie to his father, pretending to be his brother, and you just see bold-faced lies even throughout the Bible, even people that are saved. You know, there's little white lies people might tell, which might not seem like a big deal, but a lie's a lie. It's still a sin. Or somebody might say, you know what, I'm gonna start going soul-wanting every week, and then they, on Saturday they don't come, on Sunday they don't come, and then just week by week goes by. A few weeks later, they hear the preaching, they agree again, man, I'm gonna start coming soul-wanting every week, and they never do it. Well, they're breaking their promise. They're lying about what they said that they were gonna do. Well, you know, even in today's world, people exaggerate stories. You know, you talk to people that are older, and they talk about their old high school football days, and boy, they were the greatest player who ever lived, and they just exaggerate those stories. So there's a lot of different types of lies. Now, I could raise my hand today and tell you, you know, I own a red Chevy. Now, that would be a lie. You could look in my driveway at my house and verify that that's not true. There's actually demonstrative and physical evidence to prove that that's a lie. You can look at the information on my car, and you could see that it's not a red Chevy. But in James 3 14, I want you to look at this, this is none of those things. This is a very specific type of lie. Look at James 3 14. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, like glory, not in line, not against the truth. This is talking about something that's actually inside your heart. Now, here's the thing this morning. You could tell me that you love soul winning, and I can't see your heart. I have no clue what's inside your heart. I don't know if that's true or not. You know, Brother Philip told me, Man, I love soul winning, man. There's nothing I like more. I just love reaching the lost. I can't tell whether that's true or not. The best indication I have, though, is is he here on Saturday for so winning? Is he here for Sunday on so winning? His works are going to indicate me indicate to me the status of his heart. That's all I can go off of. I don't know whether what he's saying to me is true or not, but your actions are going to manifest was actually inside your heart. You know, plenty of people say that they love God. I don't know how many I f b churches there are in Texas, but let's say there's a I'm sure there's a lot more than 100. But there's 100 I f b churches. Let's say 100 people per church. That's 10,000 people. You could walk up to those 10,000 people and ask them if they love reaching the lost. They're all gonna tell you yes. Every single one is gonna tell you yes, they love reaching the lost. And here's the thing, though, they actually believe that's true. They don't realize they're lying. They believe that they actually care about the lost in their heart. But that's actually not true. And their works manifest that it's not true. But they do not realize that they're lying. I mean, look at James 3 13 and this shows you what I'm saying is true that your works indicate the status of your heart. It says, Who is a wise man and a dude with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. And the first word in verse 14 is but so it's looking at two different thoughts. You have the person's actually showing that he loves people, that he's showing through his works and the other person who's lying because there are no works to back up what he says. Now, here's the word conversation in verse 13. You can look that up in the Bible. It does not just simply mean the things that you say. It's everything about your life. But you see here that your works indicate the status of your heart. Turn to Jeremiah 17. Now, this might sound like a mean statement or a callous statement, but I'll be honest with you. I don't really care that much this morning what the status of your heart is. But here's what I do care about. I care about the status of my heart. And see, I can only know what you actually care about based on your actions, but here's the thing. We don't know our own hearts either. We don't know what we actually care about, but our actions will indicate to us what we actually care about. Let me turn to Jeremiah 17 myself as well. It says in Jeremiah 17 9, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? See, I don't know your heart, but I don't know my own either. We cannot know our heart. It deceives us. It lies to us. We cannot trust just in our emotions. It says in verse 10, I the Lord search the heart. I try the rains, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. See, God can actually look inside the heart, and he knows what's inside there. But I can't see anybody else's heart, and I can't really tell my own heart either. But my actions will help give an indication what's actually inside my heart. Turn to 1 Samuel 16. You see, we're an independent, fundamental Baptist church. We're not a bunch of Pentecostals up here today who base everything on their emotions, and they say, man, I really feel like I love God, but they're not, I mean, they don't even believe on Jesus Christ. They're not safe, but they don't go soul winning. They don't read the Bible. They don't try to reach the lost. We're not a Pentecostal church here. We're not a bunch of Mormons that pray about the Book of Mormon or pray whether Joseph Smith's a prophet, and they get this feeling inside their heart. And we need to understand today that our feelings will deceive us, and we might think that we love God, but we need to look at our actions because that is going to indicate whether or not you love God. I mean, I'm sure everybody in this room would say, man, they love God. They love reading the Bible, and I hope that's true with most people, but honestly, we have to look at our own actions and find out. And here's what people do a lot of times with the preaching. They look at somebody else and say, man, brother so-and-so, he really needed that sermon, didn't he? Instead of just applying it to themselves, and honestly, you know, even if a lot of people need it, I don't need to worry about other people. I need to worry about where's the status of my heart because my heart can deceive me. I might think I love God, but you know, if I'm not reading the Bible much, you know, if I'm not zealous for soul winning, I'm not praying much, that shows there's something wrong in my heart. And honestly, we all go through good spells and bad spells. When we're in a good spell, we feel like we're on fire for God. When we're in a bad spell, we feel like we're right with God, too. And we got to look at our works, and that's going to indicate how right with God you are. In 1 Samuel 16, 7, it says this, But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. See, God knows what's actually inside the heart. Your works are not a perfect indication of the status of your heart, but they're the best indication that we have. You know, somebody might go soul winning a lot simply to be seen of men. It doesn't mean they really care about the loss. It might not be true. And we ourselves, sometimes we might go soul winning for those same reasons. That doesn't mean that we really love the loss. Now, I do want to say something before we get into this sermon because I don't want people to be confused about this. Some people will say this. They say, wow, if somebody is really saved, the best evidence is their works. And that's garbage. That is not what the Bible teaches. And here's the reason why that doesn't make any sense. Since salvation is based on what we believe, the best indication of if someone's saved is what they say they believe. That's the outward manifestation. Now they could be lying to us. We don't know what's really inside their heart, what they really believe, but that's all we can go off of. You know, we knock a door and somebody is drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette, but they tell us salvation is a free gift, that you don't have to repent of your sins. You can never lose your salvation. I believe that person is saved. I don't care whether they're drinking, you know, beer. That doesn't affect whether or not they're saved. Somebody could answer the door, though, wearing a suit and tie. And they're singing from soul stirring songs and hymns when we knock that door. And then they tell you, well, you got to repent of your sins. And honestly, there's a lot of IFBs that are going to say that. Look, I got to look at that and assume that person's lost. Now, I hope they're just confused, but I've got to assume they're lost based on what they say they believe. So I'm not sitting here saying that we can tell whether or not somebody's saved based on their works, but I'll tell you this, the Bible says, if you love me, keep my commandments. You want to find out if somebody loves God, do they keep the commandments of God? You know, I was going soul winning with a friend of mine in West Virginia one time, and you know, I got saved at West Virginia University, you know, college campus. And so we would knock a lot of the same areas, because we had a smaller group, not like an army like we have here today of soul winners. And so we'd go to the most receptive areas where we knew the freshmen were and some sophomores, and we knocked in this area that we had knocked a few months earlier. And the college where I was, oftentimes four people would live in one place. And so you could knock that same door the next day, and the odds are it's not going to be the same person who answers. So we would knock a lot of the same areas. And so I was a silent partner at the door, and my friend knocks the door, and the person opens it, and I realized immediately, wow, I just got this person saved a couple months ago. Now here's the thing. I wanted to see whether or not she really got it. You know, I want to see whether or not it really made sense to her. I want to know whether or not I'm doing a good job soul winning. So what I did is I slid to the side so she couldn't see me. I was kind of blocked by the door, and he's going through the gospel with her. She said she was from a Catholic church, and so immediately he assumed she probably wasn't saved, you know, because obviously the Catholics do not teach salvation by grace through faith. But she's answering everything right, and she's answering really well, too. He's like, well, you know, what do you have to do to be saved? She's like, well, just believe on Jesus Christ. He's like, do you have to do any worse? And she's like, no, it's a gift. And he's like, well, can you ever lose it? Like, let's say you murdered someone. She's like, no. What if you committed suicide? She's like, no. And he has this puzzled look on his face, like, what in the world? He's like, I know she's lost, but she's giving all the right answers. And then all of a sudden he just kind of walks away. He's like, all right. He's just kind of like, what just happened? And then I told him, yeah, I just got that person saved a couple months ago. And so, you know, we can't necessarily go off of what they look like. We go off what they say they believe. That shows us, you know, whether or not they're saved. And she answered her right. She got saved. So what I want to do this morning, what I've told you as an introduction is this, we cannot really trust our heart. So I want to look at four different areas that are common to our movement. Three of them are very specific to this movement. They wouldn't really apply to other IFB churches, but they're very specific to this movement. And one would apply to pretty much any church. But areas where I see people say they believe something or they care about something, but their actions often indicate that it's not really true. And this is the sort of sermon, you know, you could easily get offended because you say, no, I really do feel that way. But what we just saw was very clearly your works will indicate what's inside your hearts. You need to be open-minded. What does the Bible say? And that is going to really show you whether or not you feel the way you say you do. Now the first area I want to show you where I see a lot of people turn to 1 Samuel 19 actually. The first area I want to show you where I see a lot of people lying against the truth. Let me be very clear what I mean. What I'm saying, the things I'm going over today, I believe that people honestly think that they mean them. You know, they don't realize they're lying. They think what they're saying is true. But we got to look at the works to see whether or not that's actually what's inside your heart. Because the works are going to show whether or not it's true what they say. The first thing I want to look at is this. When men say they have the desire to be a pastor, they say, I desire the office of a bishop. In our movement, it's kind of the cool thing to say you want to be a pastor. But you know, the works of a lot of people that say they want to be a pastor, it would indicate that they do not want to be a pastor. Look at 1 Samuel 19. Look at verse number 20. It says in 1 Samuel 19 verse 20, So we see that Samuel's kind of standing appointed. He's kind of running the show here. It says in verse 21, Where are Samuel and David? What we see, because the first point of this that I want to show you is this, you know, obviously preaching is a big part of being a pastor. You're going to be preaching 40 minutes to an hour each sermon, three times a week. That's two hours to three hours of preaching, probably at least a week. What we see is basically a preaching night here at 1 Samuel chapter 19. And what you see is the power of all of these sermons. Now here's the thing. If you want to be a pastor, I would think that you take the sermon seriously. Like on, what is it, October 7th at the preaching night? I would think if you really want to be a pastor, you would take that very seriously. Because, you know, that's a good opportunity to practice writing sermons. It's good to practice in front of people to develop your skill. And honestly, I listen to a lot of sermons from, you know, churches in our movement, and I listen to preaching nights. And what you can see is some people take it seriously, and some people just get up here and wing it. And, you know, sometimes the people that get up here and wing it, they might sound like they're dynamic because basically their sermon will be, they'll just pound the pulpit and say, man, we believe in soul winning or we hate the sodomites. It's like one of those two things. But they obviously didn't spend time creating like a real sermon. And obviously we need the times where we pound the pulpit on those things. You know, there's a lot in the Bible. And, you know, when I get a chance to preach, I want to preach something kind of new, something where people kind of learn. Not some new doctrine, but it presented in a new way, so it really hits people. And honestly, you hear people at the preaching nights that say they want to be pastors, and they do not take it seriously. They don't spend much time at all preparing. I heard a guy that said he wanted to be a pastor, and he kind of bragged to me about it only took him 30 minutes to prepare a sermon for the preaching night. You know, 30 minutes in total of writing it and preparing it. And he said it like it was a good thing. Now when I heard that, I was just thinking, man, for a 10-minute sermon, I usually spend like two, three hours, you know, and more if I have more time. You know, like this morning, I have a bad habit of waking up very early in the morning. You could ask my wife. It was 4 30 in the morning. I woke up before my alarm, and I just took my sermon this morning, just went out walking, just looked over for like an hour and a half just practicing. I have extra time to prepare it. I want to spend extra time, because if it can make it even a little bit better. I believe the preaching of the Word of God has power. I believe it can change people's lives, and I want to make sure I do a good job. And you see people that say they want to be pastors, and they don't spend any real time preparing their sermons at the preaching nights, or sometimes they don't even get up to preach. They say they want to be pastors, and here's their chance, and they don't even come with a sermon prepared. They don't even preach at all. You know, and it's not just not spending much time. I believe if you want to be a pastor, you should be always ready to preach. You know, at this church, it's a very zealous church. I'm sure there's a lot of everyday soul winners here. People that in their personal lives are looking for people to win. And the reason why you're an everyday soul winner is you really believe in soul winning. You love soul winning. You care about the loss. You want to see people get saved. But you know, if you want to be a pastor, you should feel that way about what you're preaching as well. And you ought to come prepared to preach. Every single service at Verity Baptist, I have a full-length sermon in my car ready to go. Like, last second, if my pastor gets in a car wreck, or if he wakes up in the morning really sick, I want to be ready, you know, in case I get a chance. And here's the thing. There is a prepared place for a prepared person. That's the truth. On our honeymoon, we were in Sedona, Arizona because we had a family member that graciously gave us a timeshare for a week. And so we ended up visiting both Faithful Word and Word of Truth. And I had two full-length sermons ready to go just in case. Now, I didn't know whether I'd be preaching. I wasn't expecting anything. But you know, if I got a chance to preach, I didn't want to be writing a sermon on my honeymoon. You know, I wanted to make sure I was ready to go. And so I ended up getting, I can't remember if it was a text message or a Facebook message from Pastor Berzins, and he asked me if I wanted to preach the Sunday night sermon when I was visiting the church, and I said absolutely. And here's the thing. If I wasn't prepared with the sermon, guess what? I wouldn't have preached. But there is a prepared place for a prepared person. And here's the thing. You don't have to sound a trumpet and let Pastor Romero know you're ready to preach. Because the one you're trying to impress is not really Pastor Romero. God's the one who sees everything. He knows who in this room is taking it seriously and who's not. Now usually it's pretty obvious who takes the preaching seriously when they preach the preaching nights and who doesn't. But even if you trick man, you're not gonna trick God. God knows who cares about it. And if you want to be a pastor one day, God's gonna look down on someone who actually really cares, who's passionate about preaching, who wants to preach a sermon that can change people's lives. You ought to be that person who's always ready to preach. Pastor Romero, let's say for example something happens. He should be able to call on a few people that are ready to go last second. If there's a car wreck or he wakes up really sick, it shouldn't be last second someone's just like flipping around saying, well I guess I'll just wing it. That shouldn't be the way it ought to be. I mean there ought to be people ready to go to preach. You know my church in West Virginia about I don't know four years ago I decided I was gonna start writing you know one full-length sermon a week. You know I said if I really want to be a pastor I need practice writing sermons. And I said if there's no one to preach to, I mean this is West Virginia, you just walk out in the woods and scream. You know and so I literally you know did that sometimes you know because there's no one within long distance. And so it was literally like a week later my pastor came up to me and he said you know I need a new full-time preacher at Junior Church. And obviously we don't believe in Junior Church here you know where you break off kids from the adults. But you know I think if you're at a lame church you have an opportunity to serve. You know I've served on bus routes. You get a chance to preach. Obviously I'm gonna take that. And so he asked me if I wanted to be the new full-time preacher for Junior Church and I said absolutely. It was just amazing to me how it's a big coincidence. I start preparing myself and God's like okay you're prepared. Maybe God was waiting on me for a while. I don't really know. But there's a prepared place for a prepared person. And if you say you want to be a preacher one thing that would be evident is that you'd be spending time working on sermons, looking for sermons, and definitely take the preaching night seriously. Because even in small sermons everyone can be edified from them. You can help change people's lives. This preaching is important. But it's not just with preaching sermons. It's also with song leading. You know song leading is an important part of a church service. It's not just the sermon but it's everything. The announcements, the song leading, everything. And here's the reason why a lot of people don't think that it's important. You know when I listen to a sermon from Steadfast Baptist Church I only tune in for the sermon because you know I listened to the sermon what was it, How to Resurrect a Dead Christian Preached a Few Weeks Ago because that was a topic that really interested me. And so I wanted to listen to it. Now I didn't listen to the music. I didn't listen to the announcements. I was there for the sermon. And so sometimes I think in our movement you tune into a lot of people's sermons and you don't hear the music so you start thinking well the music's not important. It's all about the sermon. But here's what you have to understand. You get somebody saved out soloing on the street. You realize they probably don't care about the post-trip rapture. That's probably not that important to them when they first get saved. When I first got saved guess what wasn't important? Whether or not the rapture is pre-trip or post-trip. I didn't even care about the King James Bible when I first got saved. And honestly when someone first comes to this church they're gonna care more about the fellowship and how friendly people are, how welcoming, the songs. Now here's the thing. The goal is that they'll switch over to really caring about doctrine. Really caring about soul winning and the King James Bible and hard preaching. But when someone first gets saved they're probably not gonna be like that. Now in our movement a lot of people get saved through conspiracy theories and you know hearing after the tribulation and stuff like that. So you might think of it differently but I'm telling you if you get somebody saved on the street who visits church they don't care about a lot of the things that you might think they do. They're gonna care about the music and first impressions are powerful. And honestly song leading is difficult. Ask the men at this church to do song leading. It isn't easy. You might say well I'm in tune when I sing the song. It's different when you're behind the pulpit. When I first started leading songs at Verity Baptist my voice cracked every single time because I was incredibly nervous and I was like man I thought I had an okay voice but I get up here and I sound like I have a frog in my throat. And it's a lot more difficult than you realize and honestly I would rather you know figure it out now and practice. You know take out the hymnal and practice at home. Look online and just practice leading the music so when you get up here you're ready but I mean if you want to be a pastor that's an area you got to figure out. And I understand you don't feel comfortable doing it neither did I. You know when I first started leading music I was more nervous every time I led music than when I preached a sermon. But you know I'm glad that you know after practicing over the last you know over a year it's really helped me learn and get better. And if you want to be a pastor that's an important part. Another area that's important if you say you want to be a pastor is this is investing time into your wife and family spiritually. You need to invest in them if you want to be a pastor because the ministry is difficult. Now let me say this before I go on because I kind of forgot to say this but I don't want to persuade someone not to want to be a pastor. That's the last thing I would want to do because we need pastors out there. The Bible says if a man desires the office of a bishop he desires the good work. Now if you feel you have that desire that's great. You know that's not necessarily everybody's calling. I don't think everyone has to be a pastor. But here's the thing I just want to show you these things so if you say you want to be a pastor you look at your works and say man I got to fix that now because I got a real I got to prepare myself now. Now investing into your wife and family that's gonna be huge. Think about this let's say for example you're preaching the sermon there's 500 sodomites surrounding your building. You know that could happen maybe even in Texas I don't know you know happens in California. But here's the thing it doesn't matter if you've read the Bible a hundred times. You know if your wife is not strong spiritually she's not gonna be able to make it through that. That's gonna be tough when they're threatening and you better believe the things they were saying to us. You know going to church people threatening kids in ways that I'm not gonna repeat. I mean it's reality. And here's the thing if you're gonna be a pastor your wife needs to be spiritually strong. Your kids need to be spiritually strong because the attacks are gonna probably come on the wives not the husbands. And the wives are the stronger vessel. The husbands are the stronger vessel. The wives are the weaker vessel. And so the devil knows who can I attack. Think about this the devil came to eat. And when if you start a church one day the devil is probably gonna come to your wife. And if your wife isn't spiritually strong enough to take it it's it's gonna be very hard. You know it's gonna be worth it to invest in the time now to teach your wife to be spiritual. Get her to read the Bible. You know have a Bible reading plan and memorize the Bible and have a prayer life. Because if you don't do it now you're probably not gonna make it as a pastor. It's gonna be very difficult if your family's not spiritually strong. And one thing about the old IFB movement they kind of go off this thing where it's okay if the pastor is godly but the wife you know it doesn't matter if she reads the Bible. That's not really what we believe in this movement. We believe the wives especially as they homeschool the kids they need to know the Bible. So they can teach and train their kids. You know both husbands and we're not a church where the ladies don't go soul-winning. Because in some IFB churches ladies really aren't even allowed to go soul-winning. It's not considered a good thing. But here if you're gonna be soul-winning and teaching your kids you need to know the Bible. You need to be spiritually strong and it's worth it to invest your time. If you're a married guy who says you want to be a pastor invest in your wife spiritually. It is worth it. It might be difficult. It might take time. It's very important though if you expect to make it. But yeah this point also applies to ladies as well because there's a lot of ladies that would say I want my husband to be a pastor. And a lot of ladies might say that but sometimes their works don't really indicate that. You know this last point applies to ladies as well. Ladies if you want your husband to be a pastor the number one thing prepare yourself spiritually. Don't make it where your husband always has to ask you to read the Bible. Just decide I'm gonna read the Bible every day no matter what. I'm gonna memorize the Bible every day no matter what. I'm gonna pray no matter what every day. You know if your husband always has to ask you to do it and here's the thing you know we have free will. Ladies can decide I'm just not gonna do it. And here's the thing ladies you just need to decide yourself if you want if you're willing to be a pastor's wife and support your husband and that desire that he has you need to prepare yourself spiritually. Another way is this that you know when you preach sermons you know it's very difficult unless you're in the right mind. You know I can think of one time specifically where I preached a sermon and I had a lot of stuff going on in my personal life. I was very emotional and here's the thing though and I guarantee you Pastor Ramirez had plenty of times up here where he preached in his personal life he probably had emotions and things in his mind but he got up here he played the man and nobody even noticed it. And that's what I had to do you know Pastor Mendez was out of town I preached a Sunday morning sermon some people knew what was going on some didn't. Nobody even knew that came there. People that didn't know before they didn't even realize anything was different because I just got up here just had to set my mind right and just preach the sermon because that's what I'm called to do. That's in the book of Ezekiel that's kind of like what Ezekiel does. You know his wife dies like well just keep going. It's pretty harsh like man you know Ezekiel if you want to think of one guy who really had a tough life that guy had a tough life. But here's what you need to understand ladies you shouldn't distract your husband in a short time before he's gonna preach. Within 24 hours he needs to keep his mind clear. The preaching is very important and you ladies need to realize this preaching is very important and if a guy's mind is somewhere else it's very hard to get filled with the Spirit and preach with boldness if his mind is somewhere else. And the other thing I want to say about this ladies who say I desire to be a pastor's wife my husband to be a pastor is this. You shouldn't downgrade the importance of your husband preparing for the ministry. You know if your husband spends lots of time reading the Bible you know you could do far worse for a husband than a guy who spends a little bit too much time reading the Bible. I mean there's a lot of losers and derelicts out there. You know if your husband spends lots of time reading the Bible and memorizing and having a prayer life and he's trying to grow and learn as a pastor you know you got to be thankful that you married a guy like that rather than some loser derelict that's gonna cheat on you. You should be happy with that guy. You need to realize the importance of your husband spending you know a lot of time and one thing I'm very happy and blessed to is I can say that about my wife like I will go out sometimes on I like I have nervous energy so I go out and walk to memorize the Bible and I'm just walking and memorizing and sometimes I'll go out for a while just working on the sermon or memorizing the Bible. It's important that your wife's gonna be supportive of you spending that time. Turn to First Samuel 17. So the first point we saw was this. The desire to be a pastor. A lot of people say they have that desire. They desire the office of the bishop but they're lying against the truth and here's the thing I want you to keep that desire but I want you to fix the works. Fix the works and make it back up what you claim is in your heart. Fix your heart today and really prepare yourself because it's good it's not something you can go half in and say maybe I'll be a pastor maybe I won't. Can you imagine if somebody was in law school and they're like well you know maybe I'll go through law school or I might quit this semester maybe join back in a year or something like that that'd be ridiculous you know for one you couldn't afford it but you either go it all in or you don't and just decide you say I want to be a pastor realize it's gonna be a lot of work but just go all in if you want to do it you got to go all in you can't go half-heartedly because you will not make it and you're just wasting your time and you're also wasting your pastor's time when he's praying for you every week because I'm sure he wants lots of churches started and when you say you have a desire to be a pastor and you're kind of half in half out you know don't waste his time take it seriously and just go for it the second thing I want to look at is this so not just a desire to be a pastor but a love toward the brethren that's something where a lot of people say they love the brethren but their works don't really indicate it now this is the point that applies not just really to our movement but you know to every church you know everybody no matter where I'm sure they would tell you that they love the brethren they love other people that are saved I mean the IFB's out there they say they love us but I'm pretty sure they don't you know they say oh I love pastor Marrow man I love pastor men as in Pastor Anderson and it's very obvious they hate them it's very obvious they do not love them the average run-of-the-mill you know IFB house Anderson type church out there it's obvious they don't they say they do but it's obvious they don't now you don't have to turn back there I want you to say in first Samuel 17 but this this is the point that really applies directly to the verse we talked about where it says but if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts glory not lie not against the truth so having envy or strife in your hearts that'd be like envy towards somebody else or strife towards somebody else and in this church world it happens all the time people are constantly fighting in churches yeah and they won't admit that they're mad at so-and-so they'll say no I'm not at all but they gossip about them 24-7 and tell everybody about what they did whether they took their parking space or their seat or whatever it is or something small or man they made one rude comments I get over it that happened a long time ago but in first Samuel 17 we see a very envious man here in Eliab look at verse 28 and Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men and Eliab's anger was kindled against David and he said why cameest thou down hither and with whom has I left those few sheep in the wilderness I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle and David said what have I now done is there not a cause he's like what did I do wrong he's like I'm just saying I'm gonna go and fight the battle but you know what is wrong with Eliab he's envious of his younger brother who's out doing him spiritually he's mad that David is on fire for God and he's not same thing as King Saul were that the they say Saul hath seen his thousands and David his ten thousands Saul should have been happy for David but he wasn't same thing as Eliab he's envious that David is right with God and envy inside your heart will destroy your life you see that with Saul and David he never gets it right it destroys his life you know how does this apply to a church you know we go out soul winning we knock doors and maybe you come back and you didn't get the most people saved in our group yesterday there was four people saved between the guys and the ladies I got none of them you know I was the low guy everybody else got somebody saved now it's very easy to be kind of envious and other people that got somebody saved but that's stupid I mean if they got someone saved you know praise the Lord that's great if they're getting a lot of people safe don't be mad at your fellow brother if he gets more people saved than you hey he's on fire for God that's great it's not a competition between me and you we're on the same team it's ridiculous to say man I wish I had gotten more people saved praise the Lord that somebody got saved that's what counts or maybe at a preaching night somebody gets up here and preaches a sermon and they preach a sermon that really edifies people and lots of people come up and say man you know brother Jesse that was a great sermon don't be mad at Jesse because people like discernment and honestly this stuff happens where people think in their hearts man I had the best sermon or I spent more time or they should have thanked me nobody said you a great job you know that that's ridiculous we should not have envy against our fellow brothers and you know I don't think that anyone would but you know I hope everybody here is really happy for brother Adam Finn and the work he's doing in Jacksonville don't be envious because he's being used greatly by God it's not a competition praise the Lord they're doing a great work in Jacksonville it's not a competition between us you know we need we need great churches all over the world all over this country praise the Lord if more great churches are started it's not a competition who gets more saves steadfast severity who has more people at church steadfast severity we're on the same team yeah if you guys have twice as much as us in five years you guys are running a thousand that's great as long as we're doing well praise the Lord if another church is doing great as well it's not a competition between us turn to Proverbs 17 verse 9 and honestly that's easy to preach but I've even noticed with myself that when somebody when my heart starts to get not right and somebody's like one of my friends is you know really doing well spiritually there's a small part of me that is almost mad at them you know what I mean I don't know if you guys know what I'm talking about but there's a small part of me that's kind of like envious because they're really on fire reading the Bible memorizing the Bible it's something that can creep up on any of us you know we got to watch for it every single one of us because there's a whole verse devoted that in the Bible where it talks about that in James 3 14 and envy will just absolutely destroy your life you keep thoughts of envy or something else inside of you but also strife look at Proverbs 17 verse 9 it says in Proverbs 17 verse 9 he that covereth a transgression seeketh love but he that repeateth the matter of separated very friends in the Bible talks about covering a transgression we kind of talked about this but are you the person that when you find out something bad about someone you're repeating to other people so you look better than them that's what people try to do when they try to lift themselves up they'll tear other people down always instead of covering a transgression and not mentioning it they send a text message to another lady or another guy at the church saying hey did you know so-and-so did this because it makes them look more spiritual yeah it's a terrible wicked attitude to do something like that but it's something that goes on and you got to watch for yourself that when you hear things don't repeat it just just love your fellow brother and say you know man so so what if so and so did something wrong you don't have to repeat it and let everybody know just cover the matter don't repeat it turn to Ephesians chapter 4 now these are a few things mentioned in James 3 14 we're gonna see in Ephesians 4 there's a lot of other things inside your heart a lot of other emotions we can tear other people down and they can destroy your life you know bitterness we're gonna see a lot of things these things here in Ephesians 4 look at verse 31 it says let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you so the Bible says that you ought to forgive one another maybe somebody at church did do something really wrong to you I know I could raise my hand and say I've done a lot of stupid things over the years I can think of things that I accidentally said to people at church and I thinking man that was really rude that was I hope they forgive me and it's like you can't immediately necessarily get it right sometimes we've all done things like that but if somebody accidentally said something or even if it was malicious you know just get over it forgive them because if you're bitter what it does is it destroys you it doesn't destroy the person you're bitter at it will destroy your life and not the person that you're bitter at but notice in verse 32 that's very interesting it says forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you now do we deserve to be forgiven no we don't so here's what God's telling you even if someone does not deserve to be forgiven forgive them it's not saying forgive them if they deserve it now I mean how did God forgive us when we don't deserve it at all and so it's the same thing with our fellow brother even if you're the guy who's getting kicked around I mean think about David look at the things that happen in his life you know people are all the time and he always turned the other cheek with those people he forgave them that's the way we need to live our lives even if somebody doesn't deserve forgiveness forgive them because if you allow this to faster inside of you it will destroy your life and people are gonna wonder a year from now how did so-and-so quit church and it all started with something small in the heart and they didn't forgive someone and here's the thing I'm sure all of us would say we have love toward the brethren but if you're going around gossiping or you're upset at other people having success that shows you really do not love the brethren like you say you do or love all of the people at this church like you say you do it's something you need to fix today turn to Ephesians 6 and so the first two points we saw this morning was this people lie against the truth when they say they have the desire to be a pastor they they desire for their husband to be a pastor people lie against the truth when they say they have a love toward the brethren and their works indicate otherwise but the third thing I want to talk about is the family model you know what I mean by the family model or the family structure is the husband working and the wife staying home and raising the kids now you might say at first that brother stuck you know you've only been married a couple years you have your first kid on the way but you don't have kids now I mean who are you to judge and say something about this but actually I think I'm actually a very good person to preach on this because I am actually a product of the family model you see I was homeschooled starting in middle school and I know a few other people in our movement that were raised IFB and homeschooled but I was not raised IFB I was raised United Methodist and if it weren't for being homeschooled I do not believe I would be here today I don't know if I would have gotten saved but being homeschooled you know saved me from whatever would have happened because I look at the people I was friends with in fifth grade before I got you know homeschooled all of those people man they destroyed their lives you know friends that started to drink and party and fornicate you know when they're in high school and even in middle school it's like if my parents didn't pull me out I don't know what happened to me so here's the thing about the family model there's a few things we need to keep in mind of what our goal is one thing that's rather obvious is this that your family will be spiritually strong I think we all know that obviously if you want your kids homeschooled you don't want them to hear about evolution you don't want them to hear about the sodomite agenda and this liberal agenda and all that stuff so obviously if you homeschool them it can help them be spiritually stronger but it's not just that the family model it's gonna help families be close which is not gonna happen if your kids are in the public school system they will not be as close as if you homeschool them families will be closer the other thing is this your kids for sure will be more educated if they are raised by their moms and top of their moms then the public pool system they're gonna get a much better education and what I want to do when I'm talking about this point I want to encourage some of the ladies here who might be discouraged and feel like man I feel like the school system could do a better job they cannot do a better job I promise you that we're gonna see that here but this applies to both husbands and wives I believe husbands are the big indicator of whether or not your family is gonna be close or not I think we're the ones who are really gonna determine that and I'll tell you why because when we work 40 50 60 hours a week the easy thing to do is sit around and be lazy when you get off work and not spend time with your wife not spend time with your kids but just kind of sit around and be lazy the world will go and they get done with work and they turn on sports or news or whatever the rest of the night and just sit there with a beer or whatever and do nothing with their family that's what the world typically does but even as us as Christians it's very easy when we get off work to just get there and say well I'm just gonna check out what's going on a Facebook or YouTube and not really spend time with my family but I want you to understand this you know when I was growing up you know my dad like I said I was raising I'm Methodist my parents were not saved they're saved now but they were not saved when I was growing up and you know my dad every single Saturday would take me out to play sports you know whether it's soccer or baseball basketball football he did what I enjoyed to do now I didn't realize growing up that my dad is tired you know when he gets off work you know I'm a little kid I'm just running around jumping making his you know life crazy you know what I mean my sister we're opposite my sister read books for 10 hours a day and I'm there during the winter time in West Virginia just throwing around a football bang and stuff against the windows and stuff like that like all day long you know I didn't realize my dad was tired and exhausted from working all day because obviously I was a kid I wasn't out there working I didn't really realize you know what he was doing but you know looking back I just think you know if my dad hadn't spent time with me you know I wouldn't be very close to him and obviously you know we need to teach our kids to be spiritually strong but we need to spend time with them in general you look at Ephesians 6 verse 4 it says and ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord this is a really interesting verse because I used to look at this verse and when it says provoke not your children to wrath I just kind of thought of a dad losing his temper and yelling at his kid would provoke them to wrath and I think that's true but notice what it says but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord that word nurture implies that you're actually spending time with them that you're not just ignoring them but you're actually spending time here's the thing if you do not spend time with your kids you will provoke them to wrath that's a fact if you do not spend time with your kids that want to spend time with you you will provoke them to wrath especially when they come to a church like this and there are other fathers who will take time out of their lives to spend time with their kids if the kids whose parents don't care about them they will provoke their children to wrath we eat when we get off work we need to spend time with our kids look at Ephesians chapter 5 and obviously there's there's nothing really spiritual about going out and kicking a soccer ball but it's just a matter of me you know that I just spent time with my dad because I used to play soccer very regularly I used to travel a lot for tournaments and stuff like that honestly I don't really remember those tournaments that well that that's not my fondest memories you know my fondest memories are just taking a soccer ball with my dad those are much better memories and I still have a close relationship with my parents we actually just on vacation with them in North Carolina before we came out here and I have a close relationship because of the fact they invested time in me you know if somebody loves you you in turn are gonna love them and when kids see that their dads love them and their parents love them what's the result they're gonna probably love yes it's really sad when you see kids that grow up and you got parents that are just getting near retirement age and all of a sudden they want to spend time with their kids because all of a sudden they have more free time and then at that time though the kids don't want them in their life anymore because it's like well you didn't spend time with me when I was young now I'm working full-time I got other things that are more important that's what happens with the world their model of the husband's working their Cosby Show method where the dad's a doctor the wife's a lawyer but the house always looks perfect and they spend lots of time together as a family they're never stressed everything's perfect that's a bunch of garbage that's a massive lie and people think that it's gonna work for them they chase after money they live their life for money and they wonder why when their kids grow up they don't want to have anything to do with them it's because you didn't spend any time with them yeah that's the reason why you provoke them to wrath they saw other dads that love their kids and since you didn't spend time they don't really love you they don't really care about you that much look at Ephesians chapter 5 let me turn there myself in Ephesians chapter 5 where it says in verse 25 husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with a washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkled or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish so odd men to love their wives as their own bodies he that love with his wife love with himself for no man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherish it that even as the Lord the church once again in verse 29 we're seeing the implication that you're actually spending time with your wife you're actually cherishing her you actually care about her and if you get off work and you spend no time with her it shows that you really don't care about her and I'm not gonna name any names of any famous IFB preachers that went down the road but but we can think of lots of those guys that were traveling six days a week never home for their families you know various evangelists and pastors never home for their families and they wonder why their wives end up divorcing on them they wonder why that they read the Bible so much but their wives end up leaving them their kids grow up and they hate their parents and they say there are a bunch of hypocrites because honestly they were they get up here and talk about they care so much about the kids on the bus route and they don't even care about their own kids and that's the truth and so we see that we need to spend time with our family and I talked about how we need to train our wives we want to be pastors but not even just you know training your wife's not all about just reading the Bible but we need to spend time with their wives and spend time with our families turn to Proverbs 31 so honestly I believe in terms of having a close family the big determiner is going to be the guy one of the reasons is because your wives they want to spend time with you us you know we can easily get caught up in just one just reading the Bible you say what's a spiritual thing it's spiritual but you got to know when to slam on the brakes and say I'm gonna spend time with my family as well but in terms of of training the kids and teaching them and educating them I would say the big indicator would be the wives now here's the thing growing up I have an older sister who's two years older than me now my sister is is very intelligent she skipped she skipped second grade so when she was in fourth grade I was in first grade and then she was in fifth grade I was in second grade now in West Virginia sixth grade is middle school now my sister was pretty much far above all the other students in the class so my parents knew that the education system was not working for her because she would she was reading like college-level books when you say what happened to you brother Stuckey I don't know I'm good at math I mean I'm good at soccer I don't know if that counts but you know my my sister though she had skipped one grade and so Mike my parents decided to pull her out now in today's world homeschooling doesn't seem strange but you guys was really strange 20 years ago yeah I mean all of the parents all the people in the community kind of persecuted my parents after that you know just say what are you doing you know with your daughter taking her and homeschooling her it and here's the thing there's a lot of resources to educate your kids in today's world there's the internet and all kinds of different homeschooling curriculum there were not many choices 20 years ago so my parents took a leap of faith my mom was already staying home but she wasn't homeschooling but you know she decided she wanted to homeschool my sister and you know honestly my sister was able to excel far more than if she was being taught by the public school system because this is how pop because I've used to teach in math in high school and this is how the high school system works or any of the school systems basically you know you have to make sure that you teach all the kids and the expectation is they're all going to learn but it doesn't work that way because some kids learn faster than others you have the kids at the top of the class that is really easy to them you have the kids that it takes work but they can get it but then you have the kids that don't understand anything and what I noticed when I taught was this the kids that got it like this they were troublemakers and the kids that didn't get it at all they were troublemakers all the other kids were not troublemakers and I thought back to when I was growing up and I was thinking man I always listened in school but in math class I did not you know I got in trouble that's when I got sent to the principal's office when I'm in math class because it was the one thing that I understood and so here's the thing the school system if your kids are at the high level they're not gonna be taught by the school system but if your kids are at the low level they won't be taught this is the way school systems work though they want to have a low failure rate so they look like they're successful so whether or not the kids get it or not they move on to the next grade I remember failing you know about 20% of the class because to multiply six times seven they had to use a cell phone they had no clue how to do that you know and the school system just move them on you know I think they failed like two kids and I had like eleven on my list or something like that I mean they want to look like they're successful so they have a low failure rate it's like oh 97% of the kids pass it looks really good except for the fact the kids don't know how to do basic multiplication and they're going into 10th grade math that's ridiculous you know but that's what the school system does and it's not going to educate them it's honestly a big joke the Bible says in Proverbs 31 where I had you turn verse 13 she seeketh wool and flax and worketh willingly with her hands you know this is not something where the husband has to force her it's something she does willingly one thing we see in our movement is that you know some wives they decide well we're gonna pull our kids out or some families that we don't have in the school system so we're doing things right but if you're only going half in as a stay-at-home mom or half in as a dad you're still lying gets the truth you really don't believe in the family model because the family motto is about a lot more than just your kids don't go to the public school system you have to actually train them and teach them at home and the great thing is this if you teach them and help them they will learn and they'll have a much much better education than they're gonna get in the school system turn to Titus chapter 2 it says in Titus chapter 2 starting at verse 4 it says that they may teach the young women to be sober to love their husbands to love their children to be discreet chaste keepers at home good obedient to their own husbands that the Word of God be not blasphemed in verse 4 it says that they may teach the young women the implication is this this is something that might not come naturally it might be something that's hard especially if you got saved out of the world if you're like half in like man I kind of wished I had in my career but I kind of glad that I raised my kids you're not gonna do a very good job you have to go all in I mean here's the thing people would go all in for a job and do everything they could to get a promotion yeah we ought to go all in whether it's husbands or wives teaching our kids spending time as a family educating them we need to go all in don't just do this halfway thing where my kids are not in the public school system so I must be right with God no you need to actually teach your kids at home they ought to know the Bible when you're raising them they're not learning about evolution they should be learning about the things in the Bible they should be learning their math or reading and everything like that they will become better educated and more spiritual and your family's gonna be close if you go all in but if you go halfway and you only kind of halfway believe in this family model it's not gonna work out for you you know you're lying against the truth it's not gonna work out like it's gonna work out for other families that go all in turn to Daniel one so honestly this works for kids at all level with their education you know if kids are very advanced they're gonna do far better if they're homeschooled in terms of learning more you can look at any math competition in West Virginia math field it was a big competition it is always homeschoolers that win there's almost no exception you look at the spelling bee it's homeschoolers that win because they're able to excel themselves you know when I was homeschooled we did not spend eight hours a day learning the material it didn't take eight hours a day you know because on the stuff that we got we just moved on I didn't have to wait for 30 other kids that might need a little bit more time and the thing in the school system is if you're struggling with something you are gonna be left behind they say no child left behind but plenty of kids get left behind they advance in the grave but they don't learn the material and the school system it just is not gonna work for educating your kids as well as homeschooling them if you're at the top of the class you're gonna do much better at home but if you're in the middle of the class is gonna help you as well and if you're a kid that's really struggling you might say well my child it takes them longer to learn what's really good that you're teaching them then because they will be left behind in the public school system because they will be advanced in the grade and not know the material even if it does take them longer to learn at least you can teach them and the public school system will fail at that they will not be successful at teaching your kid they're gonna come out and what happens with those kids those kids are always the ones that join the military they become policemen because honestly that's their best financial option if they don't understand anything they were taught because they just needed a little bit more time and here's the great thing as a Christian when we read the Bible it makes us more intelligent and when you learn about things you become more intelligent those kids can become intelligent but they probably won't in the public school system in Daniel 1 verse 19 the Bible reads in Daniel 1 verse 19 and the king communed with them and among them all was found none like Daniel Hananiah Mishael and Azariah therefore stood they before the king and in all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king inquired of them he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm we see kids here that are far excelled behind all the scholars and the experts that are making the big bucks we see kids here that understand things and honestly you know kids they're gonna become intelligent if they're reading they're learning they're learning the Bible and they try to say this that kids are antisocial you know that are homeschooled and they say they won't get proper socialization but you know when you go door-to-door soul-winning and you see the beer cans and the cigarettes you see a house that's completely messed up you see a husband that's screaming at his wife they can tell the effects of alcohol and cigarettes it's the whole it's the kids in the public school that are brainwashed it's that they're the ones that have a messed up socialization the reason why people think kids that are homeschooled have a messed up socialization from my perspective having gone from being in public school to homeschool my friends in fifth grade ended up going down a party road and I did not feel comfortable anymore talking to them about fornicating and about alcohol and smoking everything they were talking about I didn't feel comfortable so I felt awkward around them that doesn't mean I was antisocial it just means that I didn't want to talk about drunkenness and honestly when my kids grow up I don't want them to feel comfortable talking about oh wow that's great you fornicated with so-and-so no big deal I mean I don't want them to be comfortable talking about getting drunk and plastered and destroying their lives the homeschooling does not make you antisocial it gives you the proper socialization and at a church like this there are tons of homeschool kids you do not have to worry about that it's not like they're not talking with with other kids so go all in on this family model thing and it will work for you I want to encourage you ladies go all in your kids will be better educated they're gonna be more spiritual and you know when your kids grow up they're probably not going to forsake you because they actually saw that you love them turn to Hosea chapter four and we're gonna look at our last point the the first point we saw was this people lie against the truth when they say they have a desire to be a pastor their works indicate often that that's not really the case people lie against the truth when they say they have a love toward the brethren and their actions indicate that they don't really have a love for the brethren people lie against the truth when they say they believe in the family model but their actions indicate that they don't really believe in the family model fully but also this most people here would probably say I really believe in our movement but honestly a lot of people are lying against the truth when they say that you know our movement is different than the other IPs I don't think there's any question about that it's different in a lot of ways for one of those those so many numbers would never be that high unless they're counting getting the same five-year-old saved every single week on the bus that's the only way you're gonna be getting up to 2,500 you know you have this big bus route it's it's the same kids that get baptized like three or four times a year it's it's a joke it's funny how when you try to preach the gospel to those kids and do a thorough job that you're really mad but they're okay with them getting like rebaptized like six or seven times like every single special service they get baptized every single one they get baptized but you know there's a lot of things about our movement not just so it obviously I would say most people here are probably pretty invested in solar you hear that preached a lot but our movements about a lot more than just so it a lot more one big thing is about knowledge knowledge is a big thing about our movement that is absent from the other IFPs and if you really believe in our movement you're gonna take some you're gonna really care about learning knowledge you're gonna really care about learning the truth I remember it was in 2008 when I was I saw Pastor Anderson answered a question on Google that I had about the Bible and he had a link to his sermons and I remember going to his website and there were repentance fight was something I just fought like a year ago so I was really clear-minded on what's important it wasn't just about the King James Bible I knew man they got to be right on repentance and they got to care about soul-winning I understood at the right mindset so the first sermon I heard of his was John chapter 3 and the reason why I picked John 3 was not because it was the most interesting to me but I said John 3 is a chapter I feel like I know pretty well John 3 is a chapter where I feel like you know I have a really good understanding of it so I want to pick something that I feel I know pretty well and I'm not gonna be deceived you know I'd actually heard one sermon of his before I didn't realize called why Billy Graham is going to hell you know cuz I always hated Billy Graham it's a great sermon but I listened to John chapter 3 and I remember being blown away when I listened to the sermon because I learned a lot and I've been listening to so much independent independent fundamental Baptist preaching and it's like I would use those sermons to help re-energize me because I wasn't learning anything from the sermons they would scream about the same things you know the first year or two I was saved I loved those sermons but eventually it got old it was the same sermon over and over and if you've come from another IFP Church I guarantee you have pretty much the same experience that you heard your pastor preach and it was boring and honestly the most spiritual thing you could have been doing probably is this here with your Bible yeah during the service memorizing or reading the Bible you know I've done that before during service because you're learning nothing knowledge is important but it wasn't just that I learned a lot from the sermons cuz I'm sure you guys learn a lot from pastor Maris preaching he knows about really well but it was also the emphasis on my personal learning not just I'm learning from the pastor but that I need to read the Bible over and over and over again that was something that was new to me because I think with other IFP churches it's like they're afraid to allow the Holy Spirit to teach a believer what the Bible says I mean they are literally afraid it's like man if I leave them with just the Bible as a new believer who knows what they'll believe I mean it's ridiculous but that's literally what they believe that's literally what they think in Hosea 4 6 the Bible reads my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because that was rejected knowledge I will also reject thee that thou shalt be no priest to me seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God I will also forget thy children it emphasized my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge we could look at so many verses that talk about the importance of gaining knowledge but here's what I want you to understand if you're someone who relies in your past or to spoon feed you you are no different than someone who goes to Hyles Anderson that doesn't read the Bible the only difference is you have a better source and that's why you have better doctrine if you're not learning on your own you're no different than someone who graduates from Hyles Anderson that goes to one of those churches the only difference at all is that you have a great source where 99 plus percent of stuff is right on the money you'll be edified you'll become a zealous soul winner because he knows the Bible if you don't learn for yourself you are no different than the people that we look at and say they're watered down you're just lucky enough to be listening to a pastor that actually knows the Bible pretty well you know the best source we have of learning is not pastor Romero it's not pastor minutes it's not pastor Anderson it's the Holy Spirit and if you read this book you're gonna learn a lot more than if you just listen to sermons and honestly I love listening to sermons like I said it just listen to how to resurrect a dead Christian recently that your pastor preached but I don't have time to listen all the sermons and I would rather sacrifice sermons then I'm going to sacrifice some of the things I talked about I'm not gonna sacrifice my time with my family I'm not gonna sacrifice you know I'm talking about my wife not you know my my parents are extended family or anything I'm not gonna sacrifice that I'm not gonna sacrifice my personal Bible reading if I have time to listen to a sermon that's great but that's like a cherry on the top you know I need to make sure I do my memorization every day I do my Bible reading the Holy Spirit is the best source of information turn to Psalms 101 we're gonna look at one last place and here's the thing about listening to sermons you know I remember with the old IFB movement when I first started listening to sermons I learned a lot because I didn't know that much about the Bible but eventually it was like the same thing honestly even if you listen to pastors in our movement though when you first start listening you learn a lot more for each sermon than you do as time goes by because what happens is pastors need to train the new people that are at church you need to keep hearing the basics because if you don't preach about the Trinity there's gonna be all kinds of heresy going on yeah I mean you got to keep hitting the basics because people need that and sometimes you might say man I read the Bible so much I want something new you got to realize that we need to teach the new people and so it's not always gonna be something brand new to you and you're gonna start realizing man I actually learned a lot more reading the Bible for myself than I do just listening to sermons and look I learned a lot from sermons but I learned more from reading the Bible myself and that ought to be the way and all pastors in our movement would preach that that you need to read the Bible for yourself and learn for yourself don't rely on somebody to spoon feed you up here he imagined being like a grown-up and somebody spoon feeding you and literally that's what people do with the Word of God they just don't read the Bible for themselves and they just rely on sermons that's a massive mistake you're as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow their body and honestly you know no matter how great of a Christian you are how long you've been saved you're still gonna grow through the Word of God you need that but it's not just about a lack of knowledge you know with with other IFPs but you know our movement is not just about crossing the T's and dotting the I's Psalms 101 verse 3 it says I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes I hate the work of them that turn aside it shall not cleave to me this is a great verse and oftentimes we apply it to the television that's a great application because the television the cable it's pretty wicked it's and and honestly you know I'm not naive I'm sure there's people in here that have a TV you own a TV you know you assume people everybody gets things right but it's not the case you know you know the TV is wicked and it's not just that you're learning all this false stuff but it causes you to be lazy and it caused you not spend time with your family you want to be close to your family you got to get rid of it the hell of it you know you're wasting your time having that wicked thing before you where you're being brainwashed by the world but here's what I want you to understand in our movement is kind of a common thing to say you shouldn't have a TV and you shouldn't watch you're listening to worldly music those are kind of the two two of the big things and those are two great things because before we're saved pretty much all of us or before we got right with God all of us were watching TV probably all of us listen to various different types of music before we got right with God so those are two great things we need to understand it's not just about I cross the T I crossed off my list that I don't own a TV I'm good to go on that I crossed off the list that you know I don't listen to worldly music there are a lot of other ways in today's world where you can get worldliness to creep in see the Bible College system they want to have your hair at a certain length they want your skirts to be at a certain length and then people will measure it down to the inch and say well I met the qualifications I'm right with God but it's not about just meeting those qualifications because see if you fix the inside it will fix the outside and in our world today there's not just the TV there's also the computer and the computer is getting worse every year and honestly we all have to individually make choices what we're gonna allow ourselves to see what we're gonna allow ourselves to enter into our minds and honestly we're gonna have to make some cuts that maybe we didn't make in the past you know and honestly this could be different for different people but it's not just simply because I don't own a TV I'm good to go there's more to it than that now here's these are two big points about believing in our movement it's not just about crossing the T's and dotting the I's and our movement is about knowledge and if you're someone who says man I believe in soul winning I love this movement but you don't actively read the Bible for yourself you might say you really love our movement but you're not fully invested in this movement because our movement is is not just about soul winning it's about gaining knowledge and that's something we all need to be doing you say what is the point you know of this sermon brother Stuckey you know the Bible says lie not against the truth we need to understand our actions they're gonna speak a lot louder than our feelings and our emotions you know like I said we're not a bunch of Pentecostals here that base things on our emotions you might have said going into the sermon man I really want to be a pastor but you know if those things that I mentioned you're not doing you need to fix that because your actions don't indicate all I can go off of is your actions if your actions don't indicate that you want to be a pastor you got to really look at and say do I really want to be a pastor and I don't want you to not want to be a pastor I want you to change you know your actions to fit what you say you say you have a love tour the brethren yet you're the biggest gossip at church there's a problem with that if people know you to be a gossip or know you to start all these stupid fights there's a big problem with that you say you believe in the family model but you're not fully invested yet you're like halfway in you say I'm gonna kind of go all in as a dad kind of spend time with my family but not really or you know your wife and you say well I'll kind of go all in as a stay-at-home mom and do the best I can you know but you kind of don't you know if you're not going all in you don't really fully believe in the family model you know like the Bible teaches and it these points are not going after knowledge if you're not learning knowledge you don't fully believe in our movement like you think you do let's close our clothes let's end in a word prayer your Heavenly Father thank you for allowing us to be in your house this morning I ask you to help us all apply this sermon to our lives God including myself God help us to look at our actions and realize you know that that any one of us can fall into these things where maybe at one time we were right with God but maybe you aren't anymore help us to fix our actions today fit what we say we really believe in and care about God we pray this all in Jesus name amen