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

Acts chapter 17, we have the familiar story of the Apostle Paul on Mars Hill. It says in verse 17, Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him, and some said, What will this babbler say? Others some, he seemed to be a setter forth of strange gods, because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine whereof thou speakest is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears, we would know therefore what these things mean. And I want you to pay special attention to verse 21. For all the Athenians and strangers which were there, spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or hear some new thing. So in verse 19 they said, What's this new doctrine whereof thou speakest? In verse 20 they said, Oh, we hear these strange things you're saying, and it says that this is pretty much what they live for, you know, just some strange thing. And this is the mentality that a lot of people have today. And so I want to preach a message tonight entitled Some New Thing. This is what we're looking for, some new thing. They're looking for some strange doctrine or something different, and the Bible actually warns us about this. Go to Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4. Paul, of course, while you're turning to Ephesians 4, Paul rebukes these people in Acts 17, and he tells them, You're too superstitious. He says, I saw one of your devotions that is an altar unto the unknown God. And he says, Him therefore whom you ignorantly worship I will declare unto you. And so he begins to tell them the truth of God's word. But look what the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11. It says, He gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Now stop right there. The body of Christ is referring to the local church. And he's saying that within the church he has given pastors, he's given teachers, evangelists, and so forth, that would edify or build up the body of Christ. And he says in verse 13, Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait. To deceive. What's the Bible telling us here? That we should not be like children who are tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. Every new thing that comes along, every strange new doctrine, and we're just tossed to and fro, meaning whatever's trendy, that's what we're going to fall for. Whatever's the new thing, whatever people are talking about, a person who's tossed to and fro is not in control of their destiny. Think of a ship sailing in the sea, and there are all kinds of men engaged and hoisting various sails, and there's a man at the helm that's controlling that wheel and keeping the ship on course, but when they encounter stormy waters or maybe no one's steering the ship or the rudder's broken or whatever, you can imagine a ship just being tossed to and fro in the waves, and it is not in control of where it's going, something else is guiding it. Just the weather, just the waves, and really just random chance. And so what the Bible's warning us about is that there is a raging sea of false doctrine out there. There's a raging sea of just liars and deceivers, and the Bible says that they will use cunning craftiness, they will be believable, and that they lie in wait to deceive, meaning that they have an agenda and a goal of tricking you and fooling you and deceiving you. And the Bible's warning you that if you do not grow up spiritually, you're going to be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. You're just going to be carried along on the sea of what's popular, what's trendy, what the big name preachers are saying, or what's going around, you know, the buzz on the internet or whatever, if you're not firmly rooted and grounded in what you believe. And God said that He gave you the pastors and teachers and people that could strengthen you and edify you and most importantly teach you the Word of God so that you could be rooted and grounded and not tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. Look at verse 15, But speaking the truth in love may grow up. What do we need to do? Grow up! Don't be like a child that can be tricked and fooled by anything and believeth every word. No, He said grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. Verse 16, From whom the whole body, and what's the body that we're talking about again? What is it? The church. From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplyeth, according to the effectual working and the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. What's that saying? We edify each other, we build up each other. It's good for us to be joined together so that we can all grow. The Bible says, Iron sharpeneth iron, so does a man the countenance of his friend. Now what this tells me is that people who are not in a solid church are going to be tossed to and fro. Because God's saying, one of the main reasons why we need church is to prevent us from being tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. And so that we can get the growth we need, get the teaching we need, have the pastor we need, and a lot of people today are forsaking the assembly, they're getting out of church, and as a result we see them being tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. You see these people that were just looking for some new thing, these weren't Christians, these were unsaved, heathen, pagan people and they just always wanted something new. They said, oh it's a strange doctrine, strange meaning foreign, they've never heard of it. Oh wow, we want to hear this. And the Bible says that's all they did every day, they just want to hear something new. But in reality what we need is the old paths. What we actually need is the good old time religion and the old fashioned truths of the Bible, which is not a new book, it's old. It's been around for thousands of years. But what are people looking for today? A new translation. A new version of the Bible. Or they're looking for, you know, even new books of the Bible. This is what blows my mind. When someone who's never even read the Bible cover to cover is looking for other books. You know, and people are like, ooh, but what about these other books? The Gospel of Thomas, you know, and the Gospel of Bartholomew. And what about these other new books? And it's always, stop. Have you read the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John? Because why are you looking to Thomas or whatever when you haven't even read what's in the Bible? Have you even read the Old Testament? Have you read Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel? And yet you want to read, you know, Maccabees or Tobit or these other crazy books. And let me tell you something. Those books are not in the Bible for a reason. Now, it always cracks me up when people say, oh, you know, some council decided which books were going to be in and which books weren't going to be in. And that was just decided by someone else. And they're withholding from you. You know, it's kind of like the devil convinced Eve, like, oh, God's holding something back from you. You know, he doesn't want you to have the best tree because then your eyes are really going to be open and then you're going to be like, gods. And it's like, you know, oh, man, you've been withheld from the best gospel, the Gospel of Thomas, you know. And this stuff, it's just people know the truth so it's being concealed from you. But let me tell you something. Those books are such utter nonsense and garbage. It doesn't take a council of scholars to exclude them. It doesn't. I mean, pick up any of these, what do they call it? Pseudopigraphy, I don't know how to pronounce that word. But anyway, these fake books that purport to be the Bible, just pick one up and start reading it. Just pick up the Gospel of Thomas. It's the most ridiculous, bizarre thing and I don't have the clips from it or the excerpts from it today. But in other sermons, I've gone through and read excerpts from it, just how ridiculous and nonsensical it is. But people just get real excited about, oh, the Book of Enoch, oh, the Gospel of Thomas. No one would have to be a scholar to figure out that those books aren't part of the Bible. And it always cracks me up when Catholics will try to tell you, oh, we decided what books are even in your Bible. If it wasn't for us, you wouldn't even have the Bible and you wouldn't even have it laid out the way it is in the books that you have. Well, first of all, it doesn't make any sense since the Catholic Bible has 78 books and ours has 66. Sounds like they didn't decide which books went into our Bible because they have a different rundown. But if you look at the 12 that they have in that we don't, they're all nonsense. I mean, read them. They're of such a lower quality that it will become very obvious to you right away that they're not God's Word. For example, some of those books are like Ecclesiasticus or Wisdom of Jesus of Sirach. Read those two books and they are a cheap imitation of Proverbs. I mean, I read the Book of Proverbs. I love the Book of Proverbs. And every verse is just so wise and makes so much sense. And when you read the whole chapter of the Proverb of the Day, like some people will take the Book of Proverbs, 31 chapters, and they'll say, okay, there are about 30 days each month. And so on the 5th, they'll read Proverbs 5. On the 6th, they'll read Proverbs 6. And they'll read the Proverb of the Day. I think that's a great thing to do. But whenever I read Proverbs, I'm always just blown away by the wisdom, just by the relevance to my own life, and just by the advice that I can take from it. You open up these apocryphal books of, you know, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom of Jesus of Sirach, and you're going to be shaking your head, and you're going to be doing the facepalm, and saying, you know, what in the world? Are you serious? It's not the same. Why? Because there's a colossal difference between that which God has written and that which man has written. And you say, oh, well, you know, it's just that, it's that flowery language of the King James. That's why you think the Bible has power. Okay, well, the King James translators also translated the Apocrypha. So it's the same style, same wording, same exact translators, and yet it's ridiculous. It's not God's word, and you don't even need to be a scholar to figure out that it's not God. You just read it and you just say, wow, this is inferior. Now let me just explain some of you. God is omniscient. He's the most powerful being in the universe. He created all things. He has all knowledge, all wisdom, all power. Any book that he writes is going to be amazing. And all 66 of these books are amazing. And it's powerful, and nobody can duplicate it, and people have tried. Joseph Smith tried with the Book of Mormon. Mohammed tried with the Koran. And people are constantly trying to duplicate the Bible, and no one can, because God's word is amazing. Now when I read something that's not amazing, it must not be God's word. If I read something that is not even good literature, that isn't even well written, that doesn't even have any power behind it, it must not be God's word. Because anything God does is going to be powerful. Anything God does is going to be infinite in its knowledge and wisdom and magnitude. And so that right there should show you, you say, well, how do you know the Apocrypha is not legitimate? Oh, just read a few pages of it. How do you know the Gospel of Thomas isn't inspired? Because it sounds like it's written by a lunatic, if you actually read it. How do you know the Book of Enoch's not real? You know, well, what about this archaeology? First of all, even if you look up the archaeology behind it, it's really shady. But all you have to do is just look at the Book of Enoch. It talks about giants that are 450 feet tall. I mean, do you know how tall that is? 450 feet? That's pretty tall. I mean, that's taller than any building in Phoenix, to my knowledge. I mean, that's pretty tall. I mean, it's insane. It's insane. So there are a lot of just bizarre things in these books. But you know why so many people go after these? And they go after the Book of Enoch. They go after the Gospel of Thomas. They're out searching for the Gospel of Bartholomew. It's because they just want something new. And there's something wrong when we are bored with or tired of God's Word. I mean, it's a big, long book. These 1189 chapters should keep us busy. But what it really is, is that we don't love God's Word like we should. Because if we loved God's Word, we'd want to read it and study it and learn about it. Instead, people don't even finish this book and it's like, ooh, some new mystical thing. And they want something new. They want something different instead of the tried and the true. And this is not a godly attribute. The Bible says, my son, fear God and the king and meddle not with them that are given to change. There are some people who are just given to change. Meaning, remember in the New Testament when it talked about the bishop and the deacon and it talked about them not being given to wine? What did that mean, given to wine? What does it mean? They have a tendency to do what? They have a tendency to drink. They're given to wine. Well, what does it mean to be given to change? Just a tendency to change. Now, there's nothing wrong with changing, but some people have a tendency to want to change just for the sake of changing. There's no reason to change. But they just have a tendency to just change. For the sake of changing. Or just, let's just find something new just for the sake of having something new. When in reality we need the tried and the true. Now, go if you would to Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13. What is the Bible saying? The Bible said that it was these pagans that are always looking for something new, some strange doctrine, some new thing. But what does God say about that? It says in Hebrews 13 verse 7, remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. Verse 9, be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established not with meats which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. Now, what is the Bible saying? Every verse in the Bible is there for a reason and these verses are in a certain order for a reason. God's building a thought here. He starts out by saying in verse 7, remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation. So he starts out in verse 7 saying that basically those who are your leaders, you know, your pastor who's preaching to you and teaching the word of God. He's saying consider the end of their conversation. Basically what he's saying is there are people who've gone on before you who have studied the word of God and who have lived out various truths in the word of God and you look to those people and follow their faith. Not because you're just blindly following man. You know, the Apostle Paul said follow me as I follow Christ. So you look at somebody who's actually following Christ. There are a lot of people who are not following Christ, but you find people that are following Christ and that are mature spiritually. They didn't just get saved last week or last month or last year, but people who've read the Bible many times and they've lived the Christian life and they've gone through different phases of life and they've gone through church and they know what's going on and he says you look to those people and you can consider the end of their conversation or how those people ended up or where that road took them. And then he says this, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever, meaning that if it was right for them, it's right for you and it's going to be right tomorrow because Jesus is always the same. The Bible is always the same and there are timeless truths of God's word. We don't need anything new. We need to get on the old paths that are biblical and that are tried and true and so forth. And then he says in verse nine, be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. Don't be carried about with diver. What does divers mean? Various and strange meaning foreign, unknown. This is exactly what Acts 17 and Ephesians four talked about. Being carried about. Isn't that like being tossed to and fro? Carried about with all these crazy doctrines and and just being led astray so easily. He said it is a good thing that the heart be established. What does it mean to be established? You'll see sometimes a building and set in stone. There will be an engraving that says established 1925. You know, some really old date and that's when that building was established. It's firmly placed there. It's not going anywhere and when the Bible says it's good for our heart to be established, it's saying we need to figure out what we believe and we need to be anchored and built up on the solid rock and not just built on the shifting sands of well this is what I believe this week and then I'm just constantly to the next to the next to the next. Now obviously there are times when you're wrong and you need to change. So some people they take this to the opposite extreme and they just say well I'm just never going to change what I believe. Never going to change what I believe. If you're wrong, you need to change what you believe. Of course if you see in the Bible that you're wrong and sometimes we'll be wrong about things and we need to change what we believe. Or you don't want to take it to another extreme that says well the Bible says you know obey them for them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose faith follow. So you know whatever my pastor says I'm just going to go with it. I'm just going to follow whatever he says. No that's taking it to the wrong opposite extreme where you just say oh I'm just never going to change and whatever my pastor teaches you know it's always right and I'm never going to question it. No we should be searching the scripture daily whether those things are so. But here's how we get established properly. You don't just get established by just deciding you know what Pastor Anderson's right. I need to just not change and I need to just follow the pastor. That's not how you get biblically established. You know how you get biblically established? You get into the word of God. You read it. You learn it. You know what it says. You get the teaching and the preaching from the pastors and teachers and people that God has given you. You go to the scripture and you verify it and you get anchored on what you believe because you know what the Bible says. Then it's going to be hard for people to toss you to and fro because there have been a lot of times when people confronted me with strange doctrine and just instantly a verse will pop into my head that just proves that wrong and I just instantly know that's wrong. Why? Here's the thing. If you haven't studied the word, if you haven't memorized the word, then when you hear false doctrine you might say, oh really, oh wow, whereas if you know the Bible you're just instantly saying, you know what, that isn't right, that isn't true because the Bible says over here this, this, and that. So those are two wrong extremes. One extreme is just always looking for something new, just questioning everything to the point of ridiculousness and just let's just throw out every tradition, let's just not listen to anything the pastor says, let's just go out seeking after strange and new doctrines. Then the other wrong extreme just says we'll never change no matter what, the pastor's always right. You know these are two wrong extremes and they both have one thing in common. People who don't know the Bible because one is a person who doesn't know the Bible so it's just whatever the pastor says and then another person doesn't know the Bible. So they're just, oh yeah, you know, did you hear that it turns out that blah, blah. I mean people walk up to me and say stuff to me like, did you know that Jesus never one time claimed to be the Son of God? And I just instantly, when I hear that, I just instantly say, well right here in John chapter 9, he says I'm the Son of God. And then again in chapter 10 he brings it out to the Pharisees that he had said, I am the Son of God. Now it's true that you won't find a lot of scriptures of Jesus saying that he's the Son of God simply because of the fact that during Jesus' earthly ministry he didn't want everybody to know who he was prematurely. Remember when the demons would say, you know, you're the Son of God and he would tell them, you know, quiet down because his time was not yet come. So it was not until the very end of his ministry that he began to reveal that he was the Messiah, that he was the Son of God. Before that he spoke a lot of parables, did a lot of miracles, preached a lot of true things, but he did not want it to be known in the early days. So people will try to twist that and even the new modern versions will change that verse in John 9 and get rid of the one place where he says I'm the Son of God. But what I'm saying is when somebody said that to me I just instantly knew a verse. Now another person one time, you know, tried to hit me with this doctrine of you don't need the Word of God to be saved, you don't need the Bible to be saved. You could just hear the Gospel and be saved, but you don't need the Word to be saved. And when they said that this is the verse that they quoted to support that false doctrine, they said the Bible says you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. You know, you don't need to hear the Word of God, you could just have someone explain you the truth and the truth will make you free. But you know, I instantly, the moment that somebody said you should know the truth and the truth shall make you free, I instantly knew. That is a quote from John chapter 8 and I instantly went to it in my mind, the context, when he said to them, it says, when they had heard these words many believed on him. When he heard these words many believed on him. Then said Jesus unto those disciples which believed on him, if you continue in my word then are you my disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free starts with an and. It's not even a complete sentence and if you get the complete sentence it says if you continue in my word then are you my disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. But isn't that funny that someone would get up, a pastor, a guy with a masters and a doctor and a bachelor and an associate, all the degrees lined up, would get up and say you don't need the word to be saved. The Bible says you should know the truth and the truth shall make you free when the verse says if you continue my word then you'll know the truth and the truth shall make you free. And he's using that to prove you don't need the word. What in the world? But he's a liar. See that's not an accident. That's intentional deception. And I sat there and I heard that preacher get up and say you should know the truth and the truth shall make you free and half the people that were sitting in that auditorium said amen. Why? All ignorant, all fools, all sheep, all people who don't know the Bible and don't know John 8. And look even if you don't even know John 8 you'd know that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. You'd know of his own will begat he as by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. You'd know that we need to receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save our souls. You might know Acts 11 14 when it says he shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. You might remember David saying thy word quicken me. It's the word that quickeneth. The flesh, the prophet, nothing. The words that I say unto you. Their spirit and their life. Or you might have just thought of the fact that if the truth shall make you free Jesus said in John 17 17 sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Thy word is truth. How can you say oh you don't need the word to be saved you just need the truth. Thy word is truth. You know it's just ignorance and false teachers and false prophets and false doctrine they all prey on ignorance. They thrive on ignorance. They seek whom they may devour, the ignorant, the unlearned. Do you want to be a victim of false doctrine and be carried away with false teaching? No then you must learn the Bible. You must read the Bible. You must study the Bible. Now look you say well if I just read it on my own. Reading it on your own is the most important part. It's 90%. Read the Bible on your own but the Bible also warns that you need to be in church in order to not be tossed to and fro. So you need both. Read the Bible on your own but you need pastors and teachers and not even just the pastor but you need just the edifying of itself. The edifying of one another. Just being in the body here because a lot of times you might hear a strange doctrine or you might be confronted with something and then you might just bring it up to another church. Hey have you ever heard of this? And then they're going to say you know what that's false and here's why. It doesn't even have to be Pastor Anderson to point out the error because anybody who knows the Bible can point out the error and if you look at these trendy doctrines and these strange doctrines that are constantly coming on the scene they can be easily disproven from the Bible by somebody who knows what they're talking about, by somebody who knows what the word says. You know the biggest example and I know I harp on this way too much, the biggest example is this Hebrew roots sacred name movement. This Judaizer movement where they want to bring us back under you know the Old Testament dietary laws and the feast days. It can be so easily proven with, disproven with scripture after scripture after scripture after scripture but you know what? That movement is spreading like wildfire because people don't know the Bible. So oh wow you know we're supposed to be doing all this stuff and you know why else? Because it's new. Ooh the new cool doctrine. Wow we get to use all these fancy words in another language and we get to you know make these like kind of noises and everything. You know like you know we get to say like you know you know and speak all this Hebrew and spit and clear our throats and everything. And it's so cool. You know what it is? It's exotic. It's exotic. You know we get to, we get to say all these and it makes me sound smart when I get around other people and I can say words that they don't know what it means. Huh? Shofar? Huh? Talk about Yom Kippur huh? Bet you don't know what day that's on. Rosh Hashanah? You know I can talk about Yom Kippur. Huh? Bet you don't know what day that's on. Rosh Hashanah? You know I can talk about Yom Kippur. You know I can talk about you know all these different things. But listen it's you know don't be carried away. There's a whole book of the Bible that refutes that movement. It's called Galatians. Anybody who's read Galatians and anybody who's read Colossians knows that that's a bunch of junk. And Paul said, Paul said I'm afraid of you. That I've bestowed labor on you in vain if this is what you're into. You're observing time. You're you're you know you're doing all this stuff. You're wanting to be circumcised. And you're wanting. He says look if you think you have to be circumcised to be saved he said you're not even saved. And he said in Christ circumcision avails nothing. He said you know he said I didn't tell Titus to get circumcised. But there are there are Christians today that are saying nope we need to be circumcised. We need to abstain from pork. We need to celebrate all these Old Testament feast days and do all this stuff. And that's the trendy new doctrine. You know what are some what are some other trendy strange doctrines that that are going around. You know somebody somebody help me out what are some of the things that are on the Internet. And it's just like a trendy new doc. What's that. The Nephilim. Oh yeah. You know you need to learn about the Nephilim. You know and it's just you know as soon as you put a foreign exotic word that's not in the Bible. You know you go you go back to the Hebrew and throw this word the Nephilim. Then all of a sudden you know you've got this new fun new cool exotic sci-fi doctrine. And I mean it's got everything aliens UFOs giants you know that are 450 feet tall. And you've got hybrids of angels and humans. And you've got them breeding and it's just it's so cool. And there's hours and hours and hours of YouTube videos we can learn about all this cool. Or you could just open the Bible and read what the Bible actually says and it doesn't talk about any of that. But you know what. People are fooled by it because they don't know the word. And then and they get tricked and they get sucked into this stuff. And you know that's a great example. Thank you Charlie. What else have we got. Help me out here. What other what other trendy doctrine. The blood. Yeah the blood moons. Oh yeah. Everybody's out. I mean I get asked about this almost every day. What do you think about the blood moons. Here's the other thing I was going to ask about. The harbinger. Oh have you read this book The Harbinger by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn. You know Rabbi yeah Cahn he's a con man is what he is. It's a con job. But they say oh have you read this book The Harbinger. Oh yeah. And you know and listen instead of just going to our boring old Christian pastor at our Christian church. We're going to go to this rabbi. Oh it's exotic. It's fun. It's new. Yeah. It's different. We're going to go here from Rabbi Jonathan Cahn. And he's saying things that we've never heard of. And the blood moons. This is what they say. You know correct me if I'm wrong but the blood moons is just sometimes the moon just basically turns red through a phenomenon of like eclipses and things. You know sometimes you'll look at the moon and it looks really big or it looks different colors or. They're claiming that this is some fulfillment of Bible prophecy. It's something that the moon has always been doing all the time. It just happens. It's just like you look at it sometimes it's big. What do they call it the harvest moon. And then there's the blue moon. You know once in a blue moon which is about once every 18 months. And you know you got this oh the blood moons. And here's what I always say to people you know no man knoweth the day or the hour of Jesus Christ's return. But you know what I can definitely give you some days that it's not going to happen because it's not going to happen on any day that anybody predicts. So literally I mean if I had a calendar I can't show you the day or the hour of Jesus Christ coming. But I could put a lot of X's on that calendar and say well we know it's not going to be on this day because any time a preacher predicts a day you can cross that day off and say not going to happen on that day. Isn't that what the Bible teaches that nobody knows the day or the hour. We don't know. These people who claim to know are liars. And they say oh these blood moons and blah blah blah and Israel is blah you know and you know what it is. It's some trendy new doctrine. It's not based on the Bible. The Bible says that when the moon is turned into blood that the sun and the moon will be darkened and that the stars will fall from heaven like fig trees and that the earth is going to quake like an earthquake that has never been on the earth ever before. So how can you sit there and say oh well you know what. These blood moons it's fulfilled we're already into the tribulae or we're already into whatever end times. Where's the earthquake? Where are the mountains and islands being removed out of their places? Where's the sun being darkened? Where are the stars falling from the sky? Where are all the other sides? Why isn't the whole earth, why aren't all the tribes of the earth mourning and crying out for the rocks to fall on them and hide them from the face of the lamb? Where's Jesus Christ appearing in the clouds? None of that's happening but they're going to tell you oh this is the fulfillment. But you know who they're going to fool? People who haven't read the Bible, who don't know that the moon turning into blood is accompanied by the sun being darkened, the stars falling from the sky, an earthquake that will move every mountain and island out of its place. You wouldn't have to have somebody sell you a book to figure out that it's happening when every mountain and island are moving out of their place. You won't need the book, you'll just notice that. You might, you'll just see Jesus in the clouds, you'll just hear the trumpet, the whole earth will be quaking. Sun and moon darkened, stars falling from the sky, you're not going to need some rabbi to break this down to you at that point. And so that's a great example of, you know, and then the harpinger, the harpinger. I don't listen to anybody who is named rabbi ever for any reason because Jesus, just like I wouldn't listen to a pastor call himself father because the Bible says call no man father and be not called rabbi. And anybody who's calling themselves rabbi is directly contradicting the teachings of Jesus Christ. I'm not interested in anything else they have to say, they're just going to ignore clear commands from Jesus to not be called rabbi and they're just going, I'm rabbi. He probably also loves the greetings in the marketplace. You know what, and he does, that guy does because you know what, he prayed at a presidential prayer breakfast. You know what that sounds like, a guy that loves the greeting in the marketplace. Because you know what, no real man of God would ever be invited to the presidential prayer breakfast. You know, Obama hadn't invited me yet and Bush didn't invite me either. You know what, and if, and if they invited me, I wouldn't go because I'm not going to worship with you. Oh, but it'd be so cool. No it wouldn't. You know what? Obama should be lined up to come meet me because it's important than Obama is. Because any, any Bible believing preacher is more important than Obama ever thought of being. So, you know, basically if he calls me I might take a few weeks to get back to him because I might just be too busy for people like him. For real, I'm serious. You think I'm impressed by Obama or Bush or any of these people? You know, they're just puppets of Satan and I'm not interested. But you know what, these trendy doctrines, they come, oooh the harbinger, oooh the blood moon, oooh the, you know, all these different, the Nephilim. What else? Yeah, that, what was that like two weeks ago, yeah in the news, oh, turns out Jesus was married and had kids and all this stuff. You know, and people just, they just fall for it, they just go with it. Just some new thing. It doesn't even matter what it is. Just some new thing, some strange doctrine. But you know what, people who know the Bible aren't going to fall for any of it. We hear that and we instantly know that there are plenty of scriptures to prove that Jesus was not married. Plenty of scriptures to prove that these things are false. But people who are unstable, they're going to go with this stuff because they don't know the Bible. Let's keep reading in Hebrews 13 there. He said in verse 9, be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace, not with meats which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go for therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. What's he saying there? He's saying that they need to get away from the animal sacrifice system. They need to forsake that system. They need to get out of Judaism. And he's saying that they need to go unto Christ and that Jesus Christ was offered for our sins, right, and that he wants us to offer sacrifices to him, not of an animal because he already paid for it once for all. We don't have to keep bringing the beasts. He explained it earlier in Hebrews. He's saying we need to offer sacrifice of praise to God continually, for example. He said we need to offer, the Bible says in verse 16, we need to do good and to communicate. With such sacrifices God is well pleased. So he's saying we don't need to offer animal sacrifice. The sacrifices that we should offer are praising God, glorifying his name, doing good and communicating. And when the Bible says communicate there, it's talking about basically giving alms unto people who need help. Basically if you study the word communicate in the New Testament, that's what it means. And so he says, but to do good and to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls as they that must give account that they may do with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you. Now why does he basically bookend this whole section, which is about what? Not being carried away with strange doctrine. The fact that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Why is it bookended with at the beginning in verse seven, remember them which have the rule over you and then over here obey them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God. Why is it bookending this section? Because it ties in perfectly with what Ephesians four said, that the pastor's job is to keep you from getting carried away with divers and strange doctrines. The pastor's job is to equip you and teach you the word of God so that you won't be a child spiritually and so that you will be able to be steadfast and unmovable and not carried away with this stuff. That's the purpose of church. And listen to me, people that are not in church, I've noticed, are the people who get carried away with this stuff more than anyone else. People who use the internet as a substitute for church, they're the people who are getting carried away with this stuff. And you'll notice that people who actually attend a physical, literal church, they actually walk, imagine that, they actually walk in to an actual assembly of God's people and attend a church where they actually commune and fellowship with other believers, they have much less tendency to get carried away on strange doctrine. This church has a moderating influence on us and helps to keep us all straight so that we don't get off on crazy tangents and things. Because if you started, if you came in here to Faithful Word and started talking all crazy, people would take the Bible and show you that you're wrong. And that's good for you because then you're not going to go off on some crazy tangent. If you walked in here like, hey, I got this really cool book from Rabbi Kahn, you know, you guys, you'd just be like, whoa. I wouldn't even have to do it. Like five people would take you aside and show you scripture after scripture after scripture to get you off that thing. You know, and church will do that for you. Church is good for you like that. And it's not just, you know, the man trying to keep you down or something. You just want to get us in church so you can keep us down. You just don't want us to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You know, you just want us to be in darkness and under control. No, it's that these people are trying to lie to you and deceive you and church, not just the pastor, not just the leadership, but actually the whole church is a moderating influence to keep you from following crazy doctrine. Now, go if you would to Luke chapter five, actually let's skip that. Go to Isaiah 58, Isaiah 58. Let me just explain it to you this way, okay? A lot of people will accuse me of preaching a lot of crazy doctrine. A lot of people will say, oh man, Pastor Anderson, he's crazy. He preaches a lot of wild stuff, a lot of crazy stuff. But I would challenge anyone, I would challenge anyone to point out to me what wild or crazy doctrine I have ever believed or preached. But people will be like, oh man, he's crazy. Now look, just because I might be a little bit, you know, wild sometimes, but I'm not preaching anything wild and I'm not teaching any strange doctrine. And let me tell you something, there's nothing that I preach that is original with me, nothing. By the way, when I go soul winning, pretty much 90 some percent of my soul winning methods I got from other people, I learned from other people. I didn't make any of it up. And by the way, people seem to always be looking for cute, new, exotic soul winning methods instead of just using the tried and the true soul winning methods. You know, there's nothing wrong with just doing normal soul winning. You don't have to do some crazy, new, wild, new way of doing it. And you know what, I've never had a desire to make some exotic, new, different way of soul winning. You know, I pretty much just went soul winning with as many people as I could for years and years and I took everything that I liked, what I learned from people, and just took all the best and I put together a method or a few methods of preaching the gospel that fit my personality because I believe that God uses us for who we are and God uses us all different and we're all different. So I found, you know, some good soul winning methods that work for me and I found methods I could teach to other people that work for them. Everybody goes soul winning in this church a little different. Everybody's got their own personality. But you know what? I never wanted to just do some crazy, wild, different, just let's just reinvent the wheel. Let's just revolutionize soul winning because you know what, soul winning doesn't need a revolution. Soul winning needs you to just get out there and do it. Soul winning just needs you to work on it because let me tell you something, the method of soul winning that I use and that most people in this church use and that people have used for many years in other churches, it works. Use it. You know, you don't have to get all crazy. Now of course you're going to personalize it to yourself, but you don't have to just totally change and be there. There's no point, but let me say this. People will often accuse me of, oh yeah, you know, he's just got all kinds of wild ideas and crazy ideas. Okay, name one doctrine that I preach that is unique to me or that I made up or that I'm the only one who's preaching it. Name one teaching that I preach and I can name a million people who believe the same thing. Tell me one doctrine and I will tell you a million people who believe the exact same thing. Why? Because there's nothing new under the sun and if this Bible is the final authority, right? Do we all have the same Bible here tonight? Everybody got a King James? Okay, we all have the same Bible. Everybody who's saved, we all have the Holy Spirit, right? How many Holy Spirits are there? Only one, right? What about somebody over in Timbuktu who is saved and who has a Bible and the Holy Spirit? Don't we have the same book and the same Holy Spirit? Aren't we going to come to a lot of the same conclusions and see the same things? There's nothing new under the sun and I heard somebody say this, if it's new, it's probably not true. And that's a good, you know, anything that's new should be guilty until proven innocent because anything new is suspect. But people will say, oh, but you preach all kinds of new crazy things. Oh, really? Name one. People will say, well, but you preach all kinds of crazy stuff. Okay, what is it? What do I preach that's crazy? Well, like people, just all they have to do to be saved is just believe. Yeah, that's new. That's unique to me. There are millions of people who believe that salvation is by faith and that no works are needed. There are millions of people who've been accused of easy believism before I ever came down the pike. Not new with me. Well, but, you know, you're against birth control. That's crazy. I could find about a billion other people on this planet. Somebody's reproducing out there, my friend. I know you're not with your 1.5 and 2.5 children. No, I'm just kidding. But anyway, you know, there are people out there, and I bet you there are a billion people who believe the same way as me, whoa, wild. You wild man, you. I could find millions of people in the United States who agree with me on that. So how can you say that that's me just preaching some strange, new, wild, crazy doctrine? You know what? Oh, well, you know, you're, you know, you're against the pre-trib. You know what? The majority of Christian denominations have always been against the pre-trib rapture. It's only, it's only recent, recently a phenomenon amongst evangelicals and Baptists and Pentecostals to get on this pre-trib rapture. It's new. And even, even right now as we speak, it's not the majority position. Now in the independent Baptists, you know, 99% of them are pre-trib because they've been tricked and deceived and, you know, that's not my fault. But the bottom line is I'm not alone on believing that the rapture comes after the tribulation because you know what? Matthew, people actually read Matthew 24 before I was even born and actually just took it at face value. And in fact, I never even, listen, I never even taught my wife the post-trib rapture. Never even taught it to her because when my wife and I first got married, she was a brand new Christian. She was a brand new believer and she'd never been in church her whole life except just the Catholic Church as a kid. You know, she went to the Catholic Church and went through the motions, didn't really learn anything of course. But she did that as a kid but she'd never been in church. So I won my wife to Christ. We got married and she was brand new to the church and I didn't want to just right away confuse her or, you know, or just sit there and say like, hey, there's stuff at our church that I don't agree with and, you know, I just, I wanted her to just come to church and enjoy the church and love the church and grow in the Lord and so forth. And that's what she did. And it was a great church that we went to. And she came and she was growing and she was reading her Bible and she read her whole Bible cover to cover in like the first six months, maybe even a couple of times. She was really reading a lot. And she was reading, you know, like I'd come home from work, it's like, oh, I read a lot today. Because she'd read large sections of scripture. She's a new believer, just, you know, as a newborn babe desiring the sincere milk of the word that she might grow there by. So about six months after we'd been married, she'd already read the Bible a few times and she'd been reading it. I'd never brought up to her anything about end times prophecy or anything like that. You know, newlyweds, that's just not really like the big subject, you know, the end of the world. You know, that's not, you know, we were just too happy and having too much fun to be talking about the end of the world. So you know, here we are, we're six months into marriage and she was volunteering down at the church and volunteering at the Christian school and going out soul winning and stuff like that. She didn't have a job or anything and she hadn't had kids yet. So she's volunteering down at the Christian school and in their curriculum it started making mention of the pre-trib rapture in the curriculum. And she told the child, she said, you know, this is false. And I had never said anything to her. She'd never heard any teaching or preaching. She just read the Bible a couple times, like two times, whole Bible. She said, no, this is actually false because Jesus said that this would happen after the tribulation. You know, somebody looked at her really weird and everything. So then my wife came home that day and she said to me, she said, you know, this book, this school book, trying to say that Jesus could come back today and then it's before the tribulation and all this. And she said, you know, they don't actually, do they actually believe that? And you know, cause I got a weird look from somebody when I was correcting the student and I'm like, yeah, you know, they do believe that, you know, and I was kind of embarrassed like, yeah, you know, the church is pre-trib, you know, explain it to her. And that's when I kind of went into it with her and explained it. I just didn't want to hit her with that first thing. You know, it was just other, other things were more important cause that's not the most important doctrine. I mean there are a lot of other more important doctrines than that, but that's just to show you, you know, to sit there and say that, you know, that's some new crazy wild idea that, you know, the pre-trib rapture isn't going to happen. Well guess what? That's what Matthew 24 says, that's what my wife said. And I talked to another friend of mine who was dating a girl who didn't know the Bible very well and he told her, he said, read the book of Revelation and tell me when you find the rapture. Tell me what, tell me where the rapture is cause he said, I want to get it from you cause you're untainted cause you've never been taught anything on this. So just read Revelation and just tell me what you find. And she came at him with Revelation 7, multitude appearing in heaven. You know, it's clear, it's obvious. So anyway, all that to say this, you can name all the doctrines that I preach and all the things that I say where people think I'm so crazy and out there, but you know what, none of it's new, none of it's unique to me, I didn't make any of it up, it's all biblical. And listen, if you're preaching biblical truth, there will always be other people out there who believe the same thing cause of the same Holy Spirit and the same book. If you're the only, if you say I'm the only one, I'm the only one who's teaching this, then it's false. Because unless it's just some really minor, you know, you found some little nuance in the book of the kings or something, but I'm saying if it's any kind of a key doctrine and you're the only one teaching it, well then you might be a cult leader or you might be starting a new religion or something, but I'll tell you what it is, you're false. Because anything that is biblical, if we all have the same Bible and the same Holy Spirit, then you're not going to be the only one who teaches it or else there's something wrong with it. Don't be carried, so that's what the Bible's saying, it's saying don't be carried about with divers and strange doctrines. You know, for example, there's a guy that started a church in Texas and a guy who used to go to our church, his brother got mixed up with this guy and he's a cult leader and his name is Joey Faust and he's a pastor of an independent fundamental Baptist church, but you know what, he's a cult leader is what he is, because he started teaching this strange doctrine that Christians who don't live right, they're still saved, but if they don't live right they're going to go to hell temporarily during the millennium, they're going to go there temporarily to be punished for that, then they get to come out and go to heaven and so it's almost like a Baptist purgatory where they go to the lake of fire temporarily, you know, it's only like a thousand years, you know, it's not a big deal or anything, but anyway, you know, they go to the lake of fire for a thousand years and he wrote a whole book about it, he wrote this book about it and, you know, a lot of people pointed him out as you're a heretic, you're a false prophet, you know, and he tried to say, oh, people taught this, you know, he finds some weird obscure quote that kind of sort of sounded that way, but anyway, it's a new strange doctrine. Now in reality none of these new doctrines are truly new because what they are is they're old lies repackaged, so you take the old Catholic lie of purgatory and you repackage it for a Baptist audience and you, you know, your name's Joey Foust and you come out with this doctrine and, and he wrote this book about it called The Rot and the had all these bizarre statements in it, so then he came out with a second edition of the book now that tones it down where it doesn't sound as wild, but the book is still in essence teaching the same thing, that even if you're saved you could go to hell temporarily if you're not living right, a Baptist purgatory. Anybody who knows the Bible could think of hundreds of verses that would prove that that is false. Okay, the many scriptures, for example, you know, Jesus said, whosoever liveth and believeth me shall never die, so how can you be killed and sent to the lake of fire even temporarily if you have eternal life, and he said, well, eternal doesn't really mean eternal if you go back to the Greek, but here's the thing about it, that's why Jesus said it so many different ways, just to make sure you'll know eternal means eternal, that's why not only did he say eternal life, which means live forever, he turned around and said, never die, just to make sure you don't twist him, because they'll say, well, eternal life just means a long time, really, really long time, no, no, no, it means, it's a little longer than that, it's just forever, that's what eternal means, never ends, goes on forever, but this guy teaches this strange doctrine, it's new, it's different, it's exotic, that, you know, Christians are going to go to hell if they don't live right, it's really the lake of fire, it's temporary, all this garbage, and then, you know, he literally moved the whole church now, now he's moved the whole church from Texas to Missouri, and they're out in some weird boonies place in Missouri where the closest hotel is an hour away, now when you're in Missouri and the closest hotel is an hour away, you're in the middle of nowhere, and he bought, it's like he's following the Joseph Smith playbook for starting a cult or something, you know, where you come out with crazy new doctrines, then you move the whole church to a different state, you buy a big plot of land and everybody lives there, and you're out in the middle of nowhere, and you're building your own little commune or whatever you're doing, it's a cult, my friend, but people get sucked into it because they don't know the Bible, and you know what, I've even talked to people, I've even talked to Baptists where they're like, what do you think about this, what this guy Faust is teaching, do you think it could be true, and it's like, no, you've got, are you, I mean, have you read the Bible at all, and you're just like, what are you, are you even saved to even entertain such an idea, it's so out there, but I'm telling you, there are so many false teachers out there, and this crazy stuff, look, we need to stick with the old time, you know, doctrines of the Bible, and look, I'm not saying if you're wrong, and look, we had a guy who came to our church and he loved our church, and he quit coming, and I went over to his house, and I sat down at his living room, you know, and I was talking about why he wasn't coming anymore, and he said, you know, I love what you preach, and you know, what you're preaching, I mean, you know, it lines up with the Bible, but he said, you know, I've taught my kids a different way their whole life, and I don't want to confuse them. So he doesn't want to confuse them with the truth, he just would rather just stay on the, stay on the false, because it's, you know, that way at least we're consistent, consistently wrong. So look, what I'm trying to say is these are both bad, the one who wants to go crazy and wild and new and strange, but also the people who refuse to change when actually they're confronted with biblical truth. Don't go to either extreme, my friend. Stay on course with true biblical preaching. Read the Bible, follow it, learn it, and look, listen to your, don't be one of these people who just wants to just disprove everything that the pastor preaches just for the sake of disproving it, just to be different, just looking for something. You know, because I don't want people to think that I'm a blind follower, so I'm just going to sit in faithful word and just try to at least find something that I disagree with Pastor Anderson on, just to prove to people that I can think for myself. I'm going to disagree with Pastor Anderson on some stuff, just to show people that I'm making my own decisions, that I'm my own person. Look, that's ridiculous. Don't just change for the sake of changing, just be different for the sake of being different. But at the same time, you don't want to just blindly, you know, tell me what to believe. You need to find the balance of coming to church ready to learn. You should come to church ready to learn, not just thinking, well, you know, what can I find wrong with Pastor Anderson's sermon. No, you should come to church and want Pastor Anderson to teach you the Bible. And if you say, well, I just don't think you're qualified, then go find someone who is. You know, or I just don't think you know what you're talking about, then go somewhere else. But if you think that I know what I'm talking about, if I've demonstrated to you that I know the Bible, then you should come to church ready to learn, want to hear what I have to say, think to yourself, hey, Pastor Anderson usually knows what he's talking about, so I'm going to listen to what he has to say, I'm going to hear him out. But then you got your Bible in hand, and when I tell you to turn somewhere, you turn there. And you look at it and you say, is what Pastor Anderson's saying lining up with what I got in my hand? Then you go home and you read further and say, I just want to make sure that what I heard on Sunday night or Sunday morning or Wednesday night is really true. That's a healthy attitude toward church. You go to church and you check everything out in the Bible. But the bad extreme is just, well, I'm just not going to go to church because I'm just going to do my own thing and the Nephilim and the blah, blah, blah, you know. Or, and then the other false extreme is the one that just says, you know what, I'm just going to go to church and just be a blind robot. And just whatever Pastor Anderson says, that settles it. Case closed. Pastor Anderson taught it. Okay. What I'm saying is, the answer to all of these is to study the Bible. One last thing, Isaiah 58, it says in verse 1, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. That verse has nothing to do with the sermon but I like that verse. Go down to verse 12. It says, and they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places. Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in. Now does the foundations of many generations sound like a diver's and strange new doctrine? The foundation of many generations is something that's always been there. It's been a foundation of the previous generation, the generation of the past, the generation of the past, but often, often people go off into false doctrine and somebody has to stand up and bring us back to the old paths. Okay. And that's not a new strange doctrine coming at you. It's somebody just trying to bring you back to the old paths. So you might say, well, but Pastor Anderson, you preach things that I've never heard. So therefore I'm not going to listen to you. No, because what I'm doing is I'm restoring some old paths that you'd forgotten about. And if you don't think so, then check the Bible and see if I'm right. What I'm doing is restoring the old paths and showing you back to the old path. I've had people come to me. What you're preaching, I've never heard that my whole life. But that doesn't mean that it's not true. Just because you've never heard it, you might have been in the wrong church. You might not have been reading your Bible. I've never heard that before. Well, you know, that doesn't mean it's not true. Because what I'm saying is that we need to be ready to change only if we're sure that the Bible is telling us to change and not just change on a dime, toss to and fro, jump on the latest bandwagon. And listen, anything that's popular and trendy is automatically false. I didn't say most of the time, all the time. One hundred percent of the time, whatever's the popular, trendy, TV preacher, best, if it's a New York Times bestseller is lying to you. If it's biblical. Fact, every time. Why? Because broad is the way that leads to destruction, narrow is the way that leads to life. But just because it's narrow doesn't mean that there aren't millions of people on that narrow path because of the fact that there are billions of people in the world. So when you have eight billion people, then it's still narrow. If you had if you had eight million people, that's that's one in a thousand. That's narrow. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for the word of God. That is an anchor for our soul. That is the rock upon which we can build our lives. How can we build our lives on shifting sands? How can we build a church or build a home and a family when we're changing what we believe every month? Lord, thank you for the rock of our salvation. Thank you for firm, unchanging truths. Thank you that you're the same yesterday, today, and forever so that we can really drill down and dig deep and root ourselves and be established, Lord. I pray that every single person in this auditorium tonight would read their Bible every day this week, Lord, and that they would search the scripture to see whether these things are so. And in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.