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

Anchor Baptist Church our first hymn this evening turn if you would to 409 The fight is on hymn number 409 409 The fight is on and sing it out 409 we'll start there right on the first the fight is on the trumpet sound Here the Lord of Hosts is marching on to victory the triumph of the Christ will soon appear the fight is on Christian soldier and face-to-face insert array With armor cleaning and colors streaming the right and wrong engage today The fight is on, but be not weary We strong in it is my whole class If God before us is better or us will sing the big third song at last The fire is on The armor God is giving you and in his reign forever will endure The fight is on oh Christian soldier and face-to-face insert array With armor cleaning and colors streaming the right and wrong engage today The fight is on, but be not weary We strong in it is my whole class If God before us is better or us will sing the big third song at last The fight is leading on to certain victory This is the eastern sky His glorious name In every land shall honor be The morn will break The dawn of peace is nigh The fight is on oh Christian soldier and face-to-face insert array With armor cleaning and colors streaming the right and wrong engage today The fight is on, but be not weary We strong in it is my whole class If God before us is better or us will sing the big third song at last Amen at this time we'll open with the word of prayer if you would bow your heads with me Heavenly Father we just thank you for this day for an opportunity to gather together freely to sing praises In your name to hear from your word I just pray that you'd be with us for the service that everything would be done decently and in order That you would open our ears to the message and that you would fill Pastor Anderson with your spirit And Lord just continue to bless his ministry and the ministry of all the other pastors that are just continuing to do works for you These things we pray in Jesus name Amen Amen Alright for our next hymn this evening turn if you would to 140 We have an anchor Hymn number 14140 We have an anchor 140 there on the first Will your anchor hold in the storms of life When the clouds unfold Their wings of strife When the strong tides lift And the cables strain Will your anchor Drift or curve remain We have anchor That keeps the soul Stead past the shore while the billows roll Fasten to the rock which cannot bloom Grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love It is safely poured Till the storm lifts And fourth is well Centured by the Savior's hand Though the tempest rage And the wild winds blow Not in every way Shall our hardcore flow We have an anchor That keeps the soul Stead past the shore while the billows roll Fasten to the rock which cannot bloom Grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love When our eyes behold Through the gathering night The city of gold Our harbor bright We shall anchor Fast by the heavy shore When the storms all pass Forevermore We have an anchor That keeps the soul Stead past the shore while the billows roll Fasten to the rock which cannot bloom Grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love Thank you, Pastor Anderson, for coming out this evening. I'm really excited to have you. And Pastor Shelley, thank you for coming as well. Definitely this church would not be here without the influence of both of you guys. So thank you for all your faithfulness to ministry over the years. And again, welcome everyone. At this time, we're going to go through our announcements. On the front, we do a weekly Bible memorization verse there. Galatians chapter 1, verse 4 is our verse of the week. Keep working hard on that. Our service times are listed there Sunday morning at 10 30 a.m. Our evening service at 4 30 p.m. And our Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 o'clock. Then going through the book of 1 Samuel. Soul winning times are all listed there. And all of those times meet here at the church building. Now you'll notice there's a time there that's kind of highlighted in gold. That's our Saturday soul winning rally. Where we get together and we have a song. We have a short soul winning challenge by one of the men. And we go out to really receptive areas. And so we'd love for you guys to join us tomorrow if you're still in town to go soul winning. I think it's supposed to be like 70 degrees. So, you know, there's no excuse. It's going to be really beautiful tomorrow. Hope to have you guys out for that. Nursing home ministry schedule is listed there. Brother Cameron up next on February 2nd. We do have our year to date statistics for salvation and baptisms. If you have any salvations, please do email the church email address listed there. And we'll get that added. Church family, please be in prayer for Miss Whitney Reed, our expecting lady of the church. Upcoming events on February 2nd. The p.m. service is going to be a men's preaching night. That's this Sunday. Now the cutoff to sign up has already passed. But we do have lots of preachers. It's going to be a 10 minute sermon limit each. And then right after we're going to have a potluck together. February 14th is going to be a sweethearts banquet at 7 o'clock p.m. We're going to order some really nice food. We're going to have a short little marriage sermon and some marriage games. So that's going to be a fun night for the married couples. If you'd like to come, please RSVP by the 7th so we have enough time to order food. So please do come. If you're out of town and you want to make the drive, you're more than welcome. Just let me know by the 7th and you are welcome to come to this. On April 18th is our Easter soul winning marathon. We're going to hit the Oklahoma City area really hard on that day. On May 16th through the 18th is the King James Conference at Sure Foundation Baptist Church in Vancouver, Washington. I believe Pastor Anderson and Pastor Shelley are both preaching at that conference. So it's going to be a great time. Definitely recommend you to attend that, especially if you're interested in that subject. May 31st we're going to be teaming up with Steadfast Baptist Church and doing a soul winning marathon together in Durant, Oklahoma. A couple hours away from here so we're looking forward to that. On June 28th we're just having a fun fellowship day as a church. We're just heading together and going to the Tinker Air Show at the Air Force Base here. And the nice thing is it's totally free so you're welcome to join us for that. Brother Ben, I know you want to make the drive for that one so come on. August 27th through the 31st is the fire breathing Baptist Fellowship at Steadfast Baptist Church. Mark your calendars for that. And last thing on the bulletin there is the Bahamas mission trip. Raise your hand if you are planning on going to the missions trip in the Bahamas. That's a lot of hands. That's exciting. I know like half of our church has signed up. We're ready to go. So we're really excited. Make sure if you are planning on going to this that you get your passports early. Make sure all your IDs are squared away. And once you have an itinerary, please do email that to evangelistfur. Don't send it to me. We're going to make him do the work on this one. It's a real job, okay? It's a real job. If you'd like to give to our church, there is a QR code there listed there. And on the back is our prayer list. If you have any prayer requests, please email the church. We'd be happy to pray for you. That's going to be it for announcements this evening. We'll go ahead and go to our third psalm. Alright, our third hymn this evening. If you would, turn to 335. If Jesus goes with me, 335-335. 335, if Jesus goes with me. We'll sing there starting on the first. If maybe in the valley where countless dangers hide If maybe in the sunshine that I am peace of mind Love is one thing I know, if it be dark or fair If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere If it's heaven to me, wherever I need, if he is there I know it'll cripple the tear, it's lost to bear If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere If maybe I must carry the blessed word of life Across the burning deserts to those in sinful strife And though it be my bond to bear my colors there If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere If it's heaven to me, wherever I need, if he is there I know it'll cripple the tear, it's lost to bear If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere But if it be my portion to bear my cross at home While others bear their burdens beyond the pillow's foam I'll prove my faith in him, confess his judgment there And if he stays with me, I'll go anywhere If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere If it's heaven to me, wherever I need, if he is there I know it'll cripple the tear, it's lost to bear If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere It is not mine to question the judgments of my Lord It is but mine to follow the leadings of his word But if I go or stay, or whether here or there I'll be with my Savior content anywhere If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere If it's heaven to me, wherever I need, if he is there I know it'll cripple the tear, it's lost to bear If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere Amen. Good singing this evening. As the offering plates are being passed, turn if you would to Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21. Revelation 21, the Bible reads I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is the thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. And her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal, and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the land. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth, and he measured the city with the reed twelve thousand furlongs, the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, and hundred and forty and four cubits according to the measure of a man that is of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper, and the city was pure gold like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth an emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth a topaz, the tenth a chrysoprasis, the eleventh adjacent, the twelfth an amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, every several gate was of one pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there, and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father in Heaven, we thank you so much for this evening. I pray that you fill Pastor Anderson with your spirit now, enable him to preach the sermon that you've laid on his heart with clarity of mind, and give us ears to hear the message tonight, and apply it to our lives. We love you, and in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. Great to be here once again. I believe this is my fourth time preaching in this church, and I've been to Oklahoma City probably 25 times for work over the years before that, but today I got to go to Lake Hefner for the first time, and so that was really cool. Next time I definitely want to ride a bike around that trail. It looked really beautiful, and so it's good to be here with you all once again. Great to see a packed house tonight and all the exciting things you guys are doing with soul winning and keep up the great work up here, and I'm excited to see what God's going to do with this newly christened anchor Baptist church, and so very exciting for me to be here. I appreciate the invitation, and tonight the verse that I'm focused on in Revelation 21 is verse 8, which every single time I go soul winning, any time I give anyone the gospel, this verse is actually part of my gospel presentation every single time, and I've been doing a lot of soul winning lately, and so I've just been reciting this verse over and over and over, and as I was just reciting it over and over again, I just found myself thinking about it a lot and meditating about it a lot, and so I decided to do a series of sermons on this. And because we're in the age of the internet, I can kind of just take my series on the road, and basically the people at home, they could always just tune in, download it, and get caught up. So on Sunday, I already preached on the fearful, and then I preached on the unbelieving, so sorry, but tonight's the abominable, all right? So I was going to preach on the abominable tonight, and the first thing I did was just to look it up in the dictionary, and I looked it in the dictionary, but it didn't really have a great definition. In the dictionary, this time I found the thesaurus was a little bit better. I went to the thesaurus, and it had a list of synonyms, so here are some synonyms for the abominable. Abhorrent, atrocious, awful, contemptible, despicable, disgusting, heinous, horrible, horrid, odious, reprehensible, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, terrible, vile, and wretched. Those are the synonyms of abominable, and then I looked up antonyms. What's the opposite of being abominable? It's being attractive, delightful, desirous, good, great, honorable, kind, likable, nice, pleasant, pleasing, respectable, wonderful, worthy, right? So, you know, in a nutshell, being abominable is something that is loathsome, hateful, disgusting, revolting. It's just something that you don't want to be around. You want to avoid it. You don't like it. It excites disgust. And in this case, obviously, when we talk about the abominable, we're talking about in God's sight. You know, God's the one who's disgusted or revolted with certain behaviors that people engage in. Now, the context of this particular verse, you probably know it, but the idea here is that if you're not saved, you're going to hell, right? You've got to be saved or you're going to hell. And the reason why every unsaved person is going to hell, every person who has not put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ is going to hell is because they've sinned. And it's the sins that we've committed that make us worthy of going to hell, or that's why we deserve to go to hell. And without Jesus, that's where we would go. And that's why the Bible is saying that the fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake, which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death, right? No one could say, well, I've never done anything on that list. Every single person has done one, two, three or more things on that list. And then even if somebody said, well, I've never done anything on that list, well, then unbelieving. So if you're not believing in Jesus, you're doomed anyway, because that in and of itself is a sin. So the purpose of using this verse out soul winning is to show everybody, look, you don't have to be a murderer to be going to the lake of fire. Even all liars shall have their part in the lake, which burneth with fire and brimstone. Even just being fearful, right? What does that mean? Being a coward in this context. And so I'm going to really home in, though, on abominable tonight. What does it mean to be abominable? The first thing I want to show you is that abominable people are people who do abominations. OK, in many ways, we are what we do. The Bible says in the book of First John, he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. The Bible also, obviously, when it says liars, it's talking about people who lie. Sorcerers are people who do sorcery. We'll jump down, if you would, to verse 27. It says there shall no wise enter into it, talking about, you know, entering into the city of God, enter into that heavenly Jerusalem. There shall not enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie. Look, these are the same kind of people that we're talking about in verse eight, liars, abominable. They're people who work abomination or make a lie. So abominable people are people who do abominable stuff. So when I look this up in the Bible, I found 176 occurrences of abomination or abominable. And that kind of surprised me. That seemed like a huge number. I mean, I knew the Bible uses this word, but that's a lot. And so the thing that I first struggled with as I was writing this sermon is what direction to take this sermon, because there's just so much material and so much variety on this subject. So what I decided to do was to just home in on one passage and just make it all about one passage. And so that passage is Proverbs chapter six. So go, if you would, to Proverbs chapter six, and the whole sermon is going to be about Proverbs chapter number six. But as you're turning there, you say, well, why would it be a sin to be abominable, you know? Well, because remember being abominable is being repulsive, repugnant, revolting, terrible in the eyes of God. And the Bible says that all things in this world were created by God and they were created for His pleasure. It is our obligation as creatures of God to be pleasant to God, right? We should be delighting God and pleasing God with our lives. We weren't just created to exist for ourselves. We're supposed to please Him. And the exact opposite of that is being abominable, being disgusting to Him, being revolting to Him. Now, we could go all kinds of different directions with the sermon, but we're going to focus in on verse 16 here of Proverbs chapter six. And it says these six things does the Lord hate. Yea, seven are an abomination unto Him. So again, that helps us understand what an abomination is. It's something hateful, right? Something that God hates is an abomination to Him. And here's the list of the seven things that the Lord hates. Verse 17, a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that be swift and running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. Now, the key to understanding this passage is to realize that this is not intended to be like a catch all list of God just kind of saying, hey, let me just tell you everything that I hate. If that were the case, different things would be on this list. What do I mean by that? If you study the word abomination throughout the Bible, the biggest thing you're going to find is idolatry just over and over again, especially in the New Testament, lots of references to abominable idols, idolatry being an abomination, all throughout the Old Testament, several mentions of the New Testament. So if we were just talking about stuff God hates, we would expect to find idolatry for sure on this list as an abomination. Or another thing we would expect is sexually perverted things because, you know, of course, we know that the Sodomites are an abomination. Men who put on women's clothing are an abomination. And we know that even God hates divorce and that obviously there's lewdness of fornication that's called an abomination to God. And adultery is an abomination to God. But we don't find those things on this list because what you have to understand about this particular list, it's not just a catch all, let me just tell you stuff that I hate, rather everything on this list is connected. It's really talking about one particular subcategory. There's this certain type of people, certain type of sin, certain type of behavior that is just abominable in the sight of God. It's just abominable. And if you think about this list, and as we delve into each of the things on the list tonight, what you're going to see is that virtually all of these things involve harming other people. So it's not just about God hates idolatry, God hates perversion. No, no, this is a particular kind of conniving, scheming, wicked, slanderous person that God is disgusted by. And look, we're all saved here, hopefully. The vast majority of people are saved here. If you're not saved, well, you better get saved before it's eternally too late. But most of us are saved Christians here. We're not going to the lake of fire no matter what. But here's the thing. We don't want to commit sins that disgust God, right? If God's wrath comes upon people to the point where he sends them to hell because of being fearful, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, et cetera, we don't want to do those things as God's children. Even though we're saved, even though we're forgiven, even though we're going to heaven no matter what, we do not want to disgust God with bad behavior. And so we want to look at this behavior and stay really far away from it if God hates it and it's an abomination to him. And what you're going to find is that the thing that ties these things together, and they're very closely connected if you delve into this, it's really that they're all about hurting other people, okay? Now, let's start with the first thing on the list, a proud look. And you say, well, Pastor Anderson, I don't see what a proud look has necessarily to do with like lying or shedding innocent blood or being a false witness or something. But if you would flip over to, let me turn the page here, Psalm 101. And what you're going to see is that God actually does connect these things throughout scripture. And as I go through these seven points tonight, you're going to get deja vu as we keep kind of running into the same themes over and over again. And the points are going to overlap. And by the time I get to point six, we're going to have already seen it several times just while looking at the other points because this stuff is also connected, okay? So what are we talking about first of all? God hates a proud look. A proud look is an abomination to the Lord. And what that means is basically when people are prideful, when people are arrogant or haughty, there's a certain look that they get on their face where you can see that haughty arrogance in their countenance. And that's what the Bible is saying that God hates. And if you're not sure what that is, just look at some album covers of rap music or something like that or rock music or whatever. But look at Psalm 101 and look at verse five. It says, who so privily, that means secretly, slandereth his neighbor. What does it mean to slander someone? It means to lie about them, to say bad things about them that are not true. And it says, he that privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off, him that hath a high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. Now, the Bible here is using a poetic device called parallelism where it puts two things side by side that are parallel. And God here is putting side by side the one who slanders his neighbor with the one with the high look and the proud heart. It's the arrogance and the pride of people that causes them to go slander other people to tear other people down and to lift themselves up. I'm better than you. And so therefore, you know, I'm going to talk bad about you, bring you down a notch in order to lift myself up. That's the mentality here. So you say, well, what does a proud look have to do with being a false witness? Well, it's right here, right? It says he that privily slanders neighbor. Now let's get the context back up and let's hit the whole Psalm because it's a great Psalm. It says in verse one, I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee. Oh, Lord, will I sing? I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before my eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. Now look, these people, these froward, slanderous people, people who lie about others, people who think they're so much better than everyone else. Hey, the Psalmist is saying, I hate the work of these people. And these people are an abomination because what did the Bible say? These six things does the Lord hate? Ye seven are an abomination on him. A proud look. And so this is a very disgusting sin. You might not think it's a big deal. Getting together, gossiping, making things up, saying things that aren't true, evil surmising, guessing and accusing people of things that you're not even sure that they really did. But you know what? This is something that's an abomination. And if you do it, you end up being abominable when you're having this attitude. It says, who so, or excuse me, verse four, it says, a froward heart shall depart from me. I will not know a wicked person. What's he saying? You know, I don't want to have friends like this. I don't want to know these people or have them be my buddies. Who so privileged slander with his neighbor, him will I cut off? Him that hath a high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. I'm not going to put up with these arrogant, prideful jerks who are slandering other people. It says in verse six, mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me. He that worketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house. He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. I will early destroy all the wicked of the land that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord. Pretty strong words here about these people with the proud look, the haughty and arrogant attitude that ends up slandering other people. Now, if you would flip over to Psalm 120. Psalm 120. So number one is a proud look. Number two, a lying tongue, right? These six things does the Lord hate? What are they? What are they? A proud look, a lying tongue. Again, we've already seen it. But here's what the Bible says, a lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it and a flattering mouth worketh through it. And so what you can see there is that, again, all of the things on this list are about hurting and tearing down other people. And that's why the Bible says the lying tongue hates those that are afflicted by it. You know what's funny is when someone will lie about you and slander you and then tell you that they love you. But what is the test of love? The Bible says love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Look at Psalm number 120, verse 1. It says, in my distress I cried unto the Lord and He heard me. Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue. So you can see that the lying lips and the deceitful tongue is not a victimless crime, right? He's saying, man, deliver me from the lying lips and the deceitful tongue. Just like the people with the proud look are out there harming other people, liars are harmful as well. What shall be given unto thee, or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? Sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of juniper. Look, God is going to punish these sins severely, right? When you're lying, when you're prideful, puffed up, slandering people, you know, it's going to come back at you with a vengeance, the Bible says. Flip back if you would to Psalm 109. And Psalm 109 is one of the biggest imprecatory Psalms in the book of Psalms. And what I mean by imprecatory, that's just a fancy word for saying it's a Psalm that is cursing. Imprecations are curses. To imprecate is to curse. And so they're called imprecatory Psalms because the person who's praying in the Psalm is praying curses upon wicked people. And there are about 19 Psalms that are usually identified as being imprecatory Psalms. But man, this one just goes on and on and on. It's very strongly imprecatory. But starting in verse number two, look what the Bible says. And what are we talking about? What does God hate? What is an abomination to God? The lying tongue is an abomination to God. Proud look is an abomination. Lying tongue is an abomination. It says in verse number two, For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me. They've spoken against me with a lying tongue. They compassed me about also with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause. For my love, they are my adversaries, but I give myself unto prayer. And they have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love. Now here's where the cursing starts. Set thou a wicked man over him and let Satan stand at his right hand. When he shall be judged, let him be condemned and let his prayer become sin. And again, I'm not going to spend the time to just read this whole chapter, but it gets way more gnarly of just curses and kill these suckers. And it just goes on and on and on and on. But the idea that I really want to drive in here with this point is that what we have here is we have wicked people opening their mouths with a lying tongue and harming people who've done good unto them. You know, harming people that are supposed to be their friends, supposed to be family, supposed to be loved ones, supposed to be church members or allies, and yet they are lying. And therefore, there's a lot of anger and rage here, not just from the Psalmist, but from the Lord himself. Because again, being abominable is in whose opinion? It's in the eyes of God, is what we're talking about. This is a big time abomination. Let's go to Psalm 94. Psalm 94, and I'm just quickly going through these. But the third thing on the list, because remember, we're in Proverbs 6, we're going down the list of things that are an abomination, right? We don't want to be abominable people. We don't want to be people that are repulsive, revolting, awful, atrocious, abhorrent in the eyes of God. We want to be attractive, delightful, desirous, and good in the eyes of God. We want God to look down and be pleased and delighted and say, that's my boy, right? We don't want him to look down and say, oh man, I'm so disgusted by this behavior of a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood. Now, you say, what do these things have to do with one another? They're all about harming other people if we look at them in context. Look, if you would, at Psalm 94, because here's the thing. Hands that shed innocent blood is not just a reference to murder. Obviously, yeah, that qualifies, right? Just murdering someone. But what you have to understand is that if you look up the term innocent blood and you follow this throughout Scripture, what you're going to find is that often it's not actually murdering someone, but it's actually bearing false witness against someone, and then that person gets convicted of a crime that they didn't do, and then their blood is shed, sort of like Naboth, right? Where false witnesses rise up against Naboth, they are guilty of shedding innocent blood there. What did Judas Iscariot say when he betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ? I have betrayed the innocent blood, right? And so the idea could be not just murder, but also getting people wrongly convicted of crimes that they didn't commit, and it's really still just as guilty. Look at Psalm 94, verse 21. It says they gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous and condemn the innocent blood, right? So obviously, this is also prophetic of the Lord Jesus Christ, but the idea here is people getting together and conspiring against an innocent person like a Naboth or anyone else and getting him slaughtered. Look, if you would, at Lamentations, chapter 3. Lamentations, chapter 3. And again, the point of the sermon tonight is that this passage about the six things that the Lord hates, it's not just, hey, name seven things you hate, because then God would probably give a list of something like, well, I hate idolatry, you know, homos are definitely an abomination, you know, I hate divorce, you know. I mean, we could look at scripture and find lots of other things God hates. This particular passage is homed in on sins that are connected to one another that are related to one another, right? Prideful, arrogant people who then lie about other people, bear false witness against them, and perhaps get them condemned even to death. Or condemned to be beaten or whipped or flogged, something else that sheds blood. But we see, fourthly, on the list, a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations. And again, I don't think that this is just talking about every possible wicked imagination that anybody could possibly devise. I think this is a specific kind of wicked imagination that fits in with everything else on the list. Okay, and here's what I mean by that. Okay, and here's what I mean by that. Look at Lamentations chapter 3. And I'm not showing you all the scriptures on these things because it would take too long. I'm just giving you a little sampling of each one. But look at Lamentations chapter 3 verse 59. It says, So this isn't just somebody sitting around with a weird imagination, just imagining a bunch of weird stuff. And God's just like, man, you got a wicked imagination. I don't even know why you dreamed up that story, you know. And, you know, sometimes we probably feel that way sometimes we wake up from a really weird dream. And you're like, what the heck is wrong with me? Like, why did I have that weird dream or whatever? But that's not what the Bible is talking about here with wicked imagination. Although that's bad too, the thought of foolishness is sin. But what we're talking about here specifically is he says, all their imaginations against me. So again, these same prideful, lying, slanderous people who are out to shed innocent blood, out to hurt the innocent, out to slander good people. These are the people who are sitting around making things up, evil imaginations, evil surmisings. They imagine all these bad things that they want to throw at you. And look what it says. It says their imaginations against me. Look at verse 62 because he doesn't even just mention the imaginations once. In verse 60, he said all their imaginations against me. Now look at verse 61. Thou has heard their reproach, O Lord. What is a reproach? A reproach is something like reviling someone, mocking them, accusing them of something. It's saying something bad about someone. He says, look, you've heard their reproach and all their imaginations against me. So whenever things are repeated in the Bible, it kind of gets our attention, right? Verse 60, their imaginations against me. Sixty-one imaginations against me. Same thing again. So again, I think that if we take this idea back to Proverbs 6, we're not just talking about a guy with a creepy imagination or something. What we're talking about is the same person who is the lying, prideful, slanderous false witness. He has the wicked imaginations as well against the people of God. Okay, let's keep going. Behold, they're sitting down and they're rising up. Verse 63, I'm their music. Render unto them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. Give them sorrow of heart. Thy curse unto them. Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord. Now this is a human being praying this, right? Specifically, it's Jeremiah the prophet. If we were in the book of Psalms, we saw David praying similar things. Man, destroy these people. Kill these suckers, you know? And then here we have Jeremiah praying something similar. You know, persecute them, destroy them. Now look, obviously this is inspired by God. This is not just some hot-headed guy who's mad, praying something that's against God's will. Because look, I'm sure that we've all prayed things that are against the will of God before, right? We've asked for things that were not God's will. We've prayed things that were not right. Because what does the Bible say? We don't know how to pray as we ought. And so because we don't know how to pray as we ought, the Holy Ghost makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered because we often pray erroneously. But let me tell you something. The book of Psalms is not a book of erroneous prayers. That'd be ludicrous. Hey, here's a messed-up prayer life. Let's sing it for the next 3,000 years. No, we're singing it 3,000 years later. Because remember, Psalm's a songbook too. And Lamentations is also a song as well. It's also a poetic book. Even though it's in a different section of the Bible, it is still a poetic book. It's still a song. And the idea here is that the Psalms are spirit-filled, righteous, good prayers. Good Psalms, okay? Good things, good examples. And so therefore, if Jeremiah is praying in the Holy Ghost, if Jeremiah is spirit-filled, which of course he is, and he's praying, persecute and destroy them in anger, then God must be mad at these people. Because if that's a spirit-filled right prayer according to the will of God, then God must be super angry at these people, ready to persecute them, ready to destroy them. And what that tells me is that these people who devise wicked imaginations are an abomination in the sight of God. And that's exactly what the Bible said in Proverbs 6. These six things does the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him, a proud look, a lying tongue, right? And then, what's the next one, sorry, hands that shed innocent blood, and a heart that devises wicked imaginations. Now look, again, often we draw a dichotomy between the sin and the sinner. And you know, there's a little bit of validity to that sometimes, of course. But we want to be careful that we don't draw too thick of a line between the sin and the sinner, because we end up being defined by the things that we do, unfortunately. You know, somebody's a liar, because they lie. Somebody's a murderer, because they murder. And at the end of the day, you know, maybe this is distasteful to you. But if you commit abominations, you end up being an abominable person. You end up doing repulsive things. You end up doing revolting things. You end up doing disgusting things. And you end up being a disgusting person to God and the people of God. And so you got to be careful that you don't go down this dark path, okay? And look, these people, the Bible says, are people who God is angry at them. And notice when it says, a proud look, you could say, well, God just, he hates the sin, not the, you know, not the sinner. Because he hates the proud look. But then he also hates the lying tongue. Now he's hating a body part, you know? And then he hates the hands that shed innocent blood. That's another body part. A heart that devises wicked imaginations. Feet that's be swift in running to mischief. And then it says, a false witness that speaketh lies. That's just the person. A false witness is an abomination, right? He that's so with discord among brethren. That's a person. And so again, we don't want God to look down and say, and look, I get it. We're saved. We're eternally secure. Nothing could separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ, Jesus, our Lord. And, you know, he will never leave us or forsake us. But I don't want God to look down from heaven and say, I am disgusted with you, son. I'm not just disgusted with your actions. You're disgusting me right now. I'm disgusted by you. I'm ashamed of you. I want God to be proud of us and say, well done, good and faithful servant. You're my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Like he said to Christ who was obviously the son par excellence that none of us could ever reach that level. But the point is, though, we want God to be pleased with us. We want to delight him. We don't want God to just be looking down at us in disgust. And, you know, if you're going to be a prideful person, a slanderous person, a harmful person like this, you're going to be disgusting to God. That's what the Bible says. Let's go to Psalm 7, if you would. Psalm 7. Psalm 7. We're going to look at a few more Psalms. And, you know, a lot of this stuff is found in Psalms and Proverbs. We can go elsewhere in the Bible, but it seems like Psalms and Proverbs have kind of the punchiest verses about these things. And by the way, you know, you would do well to just really spend a lot of time meditating on Psalms and Proverbs. And obviously I'm for reading the whole Bible cover to cover. And I'm especially for giving special attention to the New Testament and the four gospels. And, you know, those things are all very important. But I think it's also good to incorporate a lot of Proverbs and Psalms. And I think there's a reason why Bibles are often bundled. Like you get a New Testament and Psalms, or you get a New Testament and Psalms and Proverbs. And, you know, one of the things that we're doing this year is encouraging people to read the Proverb of the Day, which, you know, is the whole chapter, not one verse. There's a certain pastor needed to learn that apparently. But it's the whole chapter. The idea is like there's 31 chapters in Proverbs. And so you read the Proverb of the Day. So if it's the 31st, you read Proverbs 31. If it's the fifth, you read Proverbs 5. But, you know, I've even seen some people do a thing where they do the Psalm of the Day as well, where basically on the first day of the month, they'll do Psalm 1 and 31 and 61 and 91 and 121. You know, and just to get five Psalms and a Proverb every day. So they're just reading the Book of Psalms and the Book of Proverbs every month in addition to the rest of their reading. Now, look, obviously, I just want you to read your Bible. I don't care what you're reading, as long as you're reading the King James Bible. But I love the Book of Psalms. And I feel like so much false doctrine would be avoided if people spent more time in Psalms. And so many weird attitudes wouldn't exist if we just kind of lived in the Book of Psalms. I mean, Psalms just has so much good truth in it. And it's just, you know, this attitude of just, oh, don't say anything negative and don't, you know, don't be negative and don't, you know, that's hate speech and everything. You're not reading Psalms if you think that way. Because the thing I love about Psalms is that it's such a balanced book because it has a lot of positive things, a lot of sweetness and light, but it's a lot of hellfire and damnation. And I feel like sometimes our hymnal and I like that, we use the same hymnal that you guys use, and I think it's a great hymnal. It's a wonderful hymnal, you know, published by the Sword of the Lord, Soul Starring Psalms and Hymns. I believe that's what you guys have. That's what we have. It's a wonderful hymnal. But again, it's a lot more positive. There's not really a lot of negative songs in there, you know. But in the Book of Psalms, you have like a whole gamut. You have a lot of really positive stuff, but you have a lot of really negative stuff. And I really like the way that it covers everything. And I feel like if Christians would have stayed with the tradition of singing the Psalms, they would have maybe not gone off on some of the dumb tangents that they've gone off on because they would have had those things in their mind from singing the Psalms. And again, I'm for the hymns, but I feel like we need to bring back more Psalms just to get this good doctrine into our minds and at least in our Bible reading to really spend some time in Psalms. And by the way, Psalms is a really encouraging book, too. And so when you're going through life, you're getting discouraged, and you're feeling down, your life's not really making sense to you. Psalms can often bring clarity and bring your mind to a healthy place. And so I love the Book of Psalms. But now we're going to talk about the fifth thing. There's seven things, right? We're on the fifth one. Feet that be swift in running to mischief. And again, we could just have an idea that maybe mischief is just kind of a generic word of just, you know, doing bad stuff or whatever. But I think that we're talking about a specific kind of mischief here, okay? Because look, if you would, at Psalm 7, verse 14. Behold, he travaileth with iniquity. He hath conceived mischief and brought forth falsehood. Now, notice we've got the falsehood and the mischief right there side by side. The lying tongue and the mischief are right there. He made a pit and digged it. So the mischief here specifically is the digging of a pit, the trapping and ensnaring of good people. It's bending the bow with the arrow ready to shoot privily at the upright in heart. Look what the Bible says in verse 16. His mischief shall return upon his own head. And what exactly kind of mischief are we talking about? And his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate. And again, this is poetry. It's parallel, right? So on one side of the equation, we have mischief coming upon his own head. Now we're going to have synonyms, violent dealing, coming upon his own pate. So the pate stands in for the head. The violent dealing stands in for the mischief. So the feet that are swift in running to mischief, boy, they're not really that different than the hands that shed innocent blood, are they? So now you can kind of see how this list of six things the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination unto him, is a list of things that are connected to each other, right? It's not just seven different things he hates. It's really one flow of activity coming out of the same type of a heart, the same type of person. It starts with the proud look, and this is where it goes. And it's the same kind of malicious, conniving, evil schemer that is out to hurt God's people that all of these seven actions flow from. It's not just, oh, you know, I hate idolatry. I hate divorce. You know, because those are things God hates. I mean, is there a sin that God likes? No, but these particular abominations are connected because they're all in the same genre here. Now, if you would just flip a couple pages to Psalm 10, and we'll see this reinforced once again. Psalm 10, verse 7, his mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud, right? There's your lying lips. There's your false witness. Under his tongue is what? Mischief and vanity. He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages, in the secret places doth he murder the innocent. There's your shedding blood. His eyes are privily set against the poor. He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den. He lieth in wait to catch the poor. He doth catch the poor when he draweth them into his net. Go to Proverbs chapter 4. Look, my friend, there are people out there. They do not go to bed at night until they have done harm to God's people. There are people out there that hate the righteous and gnash on him with their teeth. And let me tell you something. If you put yourself out there and become a servant of God, and you start soul winning, and you start standing up for the things of God, and you start raising your family for God, and you start preaching the Word of God or taking a stand for the Word of God or having conversations where you stand up for what's right. Look, there are people out there that want to hurt you. And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. He says about these people in Proverbs 4 verse 16, they sleep not except they've done mischief. And what is that mischief? Well, let's look at the parallel. Their sleep is taken away. You can see how that's parallel with they sleep not. Their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall. So the specific mischief that comes up over and over again is digging the pit for someone, causing them to fall, laying the trap for someone, trying to ensnare them in their speech or trying to find something to accuse them of, trying to find a way to hurt them. And so now let's move on to chapter 25 of Proverbs. Chapter 25, because the sixth thing that God hates is a false witness that speaketh lies. And again, I told you, I said, by the time we get to the sixth thing on the list, you're going to feel like we already covered it. When I say number six, a false witness that speaketh lies, you're like, I've already seen that eight times tonight. And this is the whole point of the sermon is to get you to see that this list is not a list of a bunch of separate activities, seven different things that the Lord hates. No, these six things are things that the Lord hates and they're flowing from the same type of individual that is engaging in all of these things. And if they're only engaging in some of them, well, they're probably on their way toward or they would like to, or they are the same type of person that would do the other things on the list as well. It says in verse 18 of chapter 25 there, a man that beareth false witness against his neighbor is a maul and a sword and a sharp arrow, right? So the man that bears false witness against his neighbor is doing violence unto him. And so bearing false witness is a violent act. Does everybody understand that? If you bear false witness, you are committing an act of violence, okay? Because even if you are not the one punishing that person, if you say something that's a lie, if you slander and then someone gets punished because of what you said, you hurt that person. If I lied about someone and then they went to prison, if I lied about someone and then they're put to death, if I lied about someone and they get fired from their job, if I lied about someone and they got arrested or something, well, then guess what? I have done violence to that person. Even if I'm not the one who grabbed them and put the handcuffs on them, locked them in a cage, locked them away in solitary confinement, put them in a room with a bunch of weird people or whatever, you know, locked them up for months or years or got them whipped or punished or whatever. Look, you are committing an act of violence by bearing false witness. You don't have to actually be doing the smiting. If you bear false witness and other people get hurt, you're hurting them. And then lastly this, he that soweth discord among brethren, go to Proverbs chapter 17. And while you're turning there, let me just read for you some verses about the false witness. How about this one? A false witness shall not be unpunished. He that speaketh lies shall not escape. Chapter 19 verse 9, a false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish. Chapter 21 verse 28, a false witness shall perish, but the man that hearth speaketh constantly. Look, you're not going to get away with it. If you bear false witness, your sins will find you out. God is going to punish you. The truth will eventually come out, and you're not going to get away with it. What's the last thing on the list of things that God hates, an abomination to the Lord, is he that soweth discord among brethren. He that soweth discord among brethren. And this is the coup de grace. What you have to understand about lists in the Bible is that they typically culminate in the big one, okay? And this list is no exception. Now, I know you're there in Proverbs 17, but flip back, if you would, actually to Proverbs 6 itself, because I want to actually show you this in the context of the passage that we're looking at tonight, because I believe that this whole list is provoked in the mind of the author of Proverbs, because obviously we know that the Bible is written by God, but it also has a human author, and the Bible has dual authorship, which is one of the reasons that it's such an amazing book. Just like Jesus is 100% man and 100% God, the Bible is both authored by man and authored by God. It makes it so phenomenal, so amazing. And so what's interesting here is that you can see the flow of the thought process of the author of Proverbs, you know, through the Holy Spirit, obviously, and God is the ultimate author. But watch what even triggers his mind to even give this list, okay? Because if you start out in verse number 12, it says, because everything before verse 12 is kind of unrelated. It's about like, you know, slothful people and stuff like that. But then it says in verse 12, and obviously you could connect it, but in verse 12 it says, A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth. He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers. Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually, and then look at this, he soweth discord. So discord's already the thought here of someone secretly conniving and not doing things openly and above board, but this kind of going around behind people's back, conniving, colluding, and doing these things. And it's ultimately to sow discord, right? He soweth discord. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly. Suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. So notice here that verse 15 is just about the consequences of doing this. But in this little triplet of verses from 12 through 14, verses 12 through 14 culminate in this statement. He sows discord. Then the next verse is about his punishment. Then when we get down to the six things that the Lord hates in verse 16, what does it culminate in? Verse 19, he that soweth discord among brethren. Soweth discord among brethren. That's not a coincidence. So we have this talk about these conniving people with all their little secret signals and things, and what are they doing? Sowing discord. And then he's like, oh, by the way, these six things that the Lord hate. Oh, and it culminates in what? Sowing discord. That's not a coincidence. So if you read it in context, you will find that sowing discord is the end game of this. It is a big part of why it's even being brought up in the first place, okay? So it's like, yeah, they do all these harmful things, but what they really want to do is ultimately sow discord between brethren. And here's the thing. What does the Bible say about brethren dwelling together in unity? Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Isn't that literally the exact opposite of being abominable? Right? On my list of antonyms, pleasant, good, it's there. How good and how pleasant it is. It's the exact opposite of an abomination. God looks down and feels good about it. It's a sweet savor unto him when brethren dwell together in unity. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments as the dew of Herman and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. Right? So there's this beautiful psalm. That's the whole psalm. It's just a short little psalm, psalm, I believe 133. And that psalm there talks about how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell in unity. And then you got these prideful, arrogant jerks. And what do they want to do? They want to separate chief friends, a whisperer separated chief friends. What's another word for chief friends? What would we call that in 2025? Best friends. A whisperer separated best friends. The whisperer separated chief friends. And you know what? These wicked people, they have a goal of trying to drive a wedge between God's people. And they want to sow discord among brethren. And they're evil. You know what I mean? These people that are out there, and they'll lie to do it. They'll slander to do it. And they want to break up best friends. They want to break up friendships. They want to do what they can to just sow discord, right? Because we need to have in our churches unity. And one of the things I love about Faithful Word Baptist Church is that it's a church that has unity. You say, well, yeah, that's because you threw out all the people. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. We threw out all the idiots and bozos and evil conniving scum. You know? And so, yeah. Yeah, so we have unity. Well, yeah, of course you have unity when you get rid of all the bad people. Yeah, I know. But isn't it amazing that we still got 300 of them left? And that's all Gideon needed. That's all I need. That's all I need. You know what I mean? If Gideon can do it with 300, so can I. So can he, right? And the thing is, look, you've got to have unity in the local church. And look, we get this reputation for like throwing people out too fast or just being on a witch hunt. It's such a lie. And anybody who actually goes to our churches knows the opposite is true because people who actually go to my church, if you ask them, they probably all think that I'm too slow to get rid of skeevy people just because I'm always trying to give people the benefit of the doubt and really say, hey, we've got to help people grow. We've got to meet people where they're at. Oh, this guy's weird. We've got to make him normal. We're going to help him grow. We're going to reach him and so forth. You know, we as pastors have a heart for people. You know, that's part of what it means to be a pastor. You have a heart for your people. You have that shepherd's heart, not like the hireling that just doesn't mind if the wolf comes in and picks off a few. You know, the shepherd's heart is to protect the people and so forth. And so we love our people. And I'm constantly thinking like we don't have any weirdos in our church. Everybody in our church is super cool. That's how I feel right now at Faithful Word that everybody at our church is super cool. Now, if somebody turns out to be a bozo, you know, that'll surprise me. But it always surprises me because I'm always trying to look for the best in people. But at the end of the day, yeah, sometimes we do have to mark and avoid people who are causing divisions and teaching doctrines contrary to what the Word of God teaches and where we have to obviously, you know, purge people from the flock that are just evil, conniving, railing, slandering, gossiping types because unity is so important because, you know, if you have unity, man, you can accomplish a lot. You know, and I mean, and our churches that have unity and we're all on the same page, man, you know, we've done some great works for God last year. I believe this year is not only going to be Faithful Word's greatest year because I already made that proclamation that 2025 will be Faithful Word's greatest year. And we've already had our greatest January, so we're off to a good start. Today is the last day. We didn't screw it up. So we got through one awesome month, the greatest January of all time by several different metrics. But you know what? I believe that Steadfast is going to have their greatest year and I believe that Anchor Baptist is going to have its greatest year because it's the first year, so it's for sure going to be the greatest year. You know, I mean, no matter what you do, that's the cool thing about starting out. You're going to you're going to break every record, you know, because you're brand new. But I'm telling you that unity is something that God loves and it's something that we as pastors love and it's something that we need if we're going to be successful. And God looks down and he sees it. It's pleasant. It's pleasing in his sight. And the devil would love nothing more than to get in and sow discord and get us all at odds with one another and fighting one another, attacking one another. And, you know, by the way, even obviously the unity within the local church is the most important thing. But even among us preachers, you know, I'm a person that actually values having friends. And as a pastor, I like to have pastor friends. Right. Amen. You know, I like to have pastor friends. Right. Because we as pastors, it's nice for us to be able to talk to each other and kind of understand what we're going through because we're both peers and we're both doing the same thing and we're both dealing with a lot of the same pressures and doing the same job. We have the same love, the same vision, the same heart. And so, you know, I think that pastoral friendships are there. I've known a lot of past over the years. It's like they just don't. They're not. They don't show themselves friendly. They kind of just isolate themselves. They don't want to be friends with anybody. And I don't think that that's a good idea. I think it's good for us as pastors to have pastor friends because iron sharpens iron. And so does a man sharpen the countenance of his friend. And I frequently like to pick up the phone and, you know, talk doctrine with somebody because, you know, I want to bounce things off of another pastor and things like that. Or, you know, if I'm dealing with things, I like to have somebody that I can go to and talk to as a friend. And, you know, wicked people, they really want to destroy those friendships between me and my pastor friends or between other pastors and each other. And, you know, one of the things that they'll try to do is they'll try to pull this thing of, oh, well, you know, you're just a Pastor Anderson clone. That's what they'll try to tell my friends like, oh, you know, you're just like Pastor Anderson, huh? You're just a clone. You're just a copycat, you know. And to me, this is the equivalent of sort of like the playground tot like, what's the matter, you chicken? You know, it's kind of like the same thing, like, oh, you just do whatever Pastor Anderson does, huh? Oh, you just got to be exactly like Pastor Anderson, huh? And then it's like, oh, show them, I'll preach something really weird that Pastor Anderson would never do, you know. I'll show them how different I can be. And we never want to be different for the sake of being different. But you know what? These bunch of conniving slanderers, you know what else they'll do? They'll accuse other pastors of trying to copy me or me trying to copy somebody or whatever. But then they'll also do that to church members too. And they'll say, oh, you just believe whatever your pastor tells you? Oh, so you're just kind of just this Kool-Aid drinker? You know, you just do exactly what the church's program is? And you know what they're trying to do? They're trying to sow discord among brethren, right? What they're trying to do is they're trying to get you to be variant and different just to show that, you know, you're not one of these just Kool-Aid drinkers or whatever. Now, let's just talk about drinking the Kool-Aid for a second, okay? First of all, it wasn't Kool-Aid, it was Flavor-Aid. That's just a fact, okay? Look it up. It was grape-flavored Flavor-Aid, not Kool-Aid. And you know what I'm talking about? Jim Jones, right? It was one of the largest, I mean, it was a tragedy. It's one of the largest mass suicides in history. It was over 900 people. Man, let that sink in. Over 900. There's a book about it called 900 Lives. I've read multiple books about Jim Jones. That was one of them. And when you think about over 900 people committing suicide, but they didn't really all commit suicide because a lot of them had a machine gun pointed at them. Telling them, drink the Flavor-Aid or you will be shot. You know, so you can't really necessarily call that... And some people actually were shot when they tried to run into the jungle and so forth. And a few people survived. And I read another book that was written by one of the survivors. This girl who like came up through Jim Jones' cult and went to Guyana, went through the whole thing. And then she wrote the book, and I forget what it's called. It had like poison in the name or something. But she wrote a book about it. It was super interesting. And she ran into the jungle and escaped while the Flavor-Aid was being handed out. But the reason I'm making a big deal about the fact that it was Flavor-Aid and not Kool-Aid. It was a different brand. The reason I'm bringing that up and making a big deal about it is just to show you how these things that are in the popular imagination, they often get distorted and are not being told accurately. Because Christians will often get compared to Jim Jones when Jim Jones was an atheist. So it wasn't Christians giving out poison Kool-Aid to Christian pastors. No, it was an atheist communist who... Here's another fun fact for you. That in Jim Jones' church, they had congregational singing of the Soviet Union's national anthem. So they sang the national anthem of the Soviet Union. They were communist. The Bible was banned at Jonestown. Someone sent Bibles to Jonestown and they were literally used as toilet paper. And again, you can read the book, 900 Lives, which I believe is written by a professional journalist from a newspaper. You can also read eyewitness account from that lady that survived. And they all line up. All the testimonies will tell you he's an atheist. He's a communist. He was trying to set up a communist thing in Guyana. He said, Jesus isn't going to save you. God can't save you. He took the Bible and threw it at the wall in disgust. And it was literally used as toilet paper in Jonestown. These are facts, you know. And then people want to tell you that because you are a loyal, faithful member of your local church, oh, you're a Kool-Aid drinker. You're drinking the Kool-Aid. Here's the thing. Fundamental Baptist churches are not asking you to do anything harmful. Nobody's telling you to harm yourself. Nobody's, you know what, we're trying to make your lives better. You know, I mean, the kind of advice that you're getting from the pulpit in a fundamentalist Baptist church is stuff like reading your Bible, winning souls to Christ, right, having a family that's ordered according to clear, blatant verses in the Bible, right. We're making people's lives better. Sorry, but we are. First of all, we're getting people saved. Second of all, we're making people's lives better. We're living a better life. And, you know, even if we preach things that make people really mad, like when we start getting on like the food you eat or like, you know, your lifestyle or something, you know, we're just trying to make you healthy and feel good and live longer and have, you know, just a balanced life. You know, we're up here preaching stuff and trying to help you. And you know what, let me tell you something. You know, I don't think that I'm just a person who just kind of mindlessly follows others. You know, I don't think people would accuse me of that because of the fact that I've been a pioneer, quote, unquote, in certain areas, although really, you know, nothing's original with me. But what's funny about that is that when I was a church member, though, I would have been called a Kool-Aid drinker because when I was a church member, I was always gung ho for the program of the church. When I was a church member, I wasn't a rabble rouser, troublemaker, telling everybody how different I am than the pastor, listing all my disagreements. No, man, I was just on board with the program. And you want to know who my best friend was back in the day was Pastor Roger Jimenez. And guess what? Pastor Roger Jimenez and I went to church together for years. I met him when I was 20 and he was 16. We went to church together for years and we were close and we went soul-winding together for hours and hours and hours together. We talked on the phone for hours and hours and hours. After I went off to Bible college, we stayed in touch. He came and visited me while I was at Bible college with his wife and we spent time together. When I started the church, he came out two months after starting the church and went soul-winding with me, preached in my church and all this, and we were close. And then I got up and preached a sermon in May of 2006 where I preached against the pre-Trip rapture. And he called me on the phone and was like, why did you never tell me this? He's like, how long have you known about this? I was like, since I was 12. He's like, what else are you not telling me? But you want to know why I didn't tell him that and why he literally never heard that from me until May of 2006? It's because I didn't speak against the doctrine of the church. Even to my best buddy that I'm soul-winding with, hanging out with, on the phone with, doing stuff with. I did not get together with him and talk bad about the doctrine of the church or say anything negative about the church. And he said, why didn't you tell me this? I said, well, because, you know, I didn't want to. So discord. Because, you know, if we agree with 99 percent of what the church is saying and doing, why would I take you aside and say, hey, you know, our pastor's wrong on eschatology. Hey, you know, you know that we're learning the wrong end times, right? Let me teach you the true story. And look, I know that, you know, that might come as a shock to some of you that I did not reveal that to him and did not say that to him. But it's because of the fact that I understand how important unity is. You know, even when I married my wife and she was a pretty new believer, when we got married, she had only been saved for just a matter of several weeks. OK. And so she was a very new Christian when we got married. And I did not criticize the church to her ever. And I did not tell her, oh, well, here's the things we disagree with about the church or whatever. You know, and I taught her the Bible and she was reading just tons of scripture on her own. But I did not want to sow discord. I did not want to destroy her faith in the leadership. I wanted to be gung ho on board with a church that God was mightily using to win souls. And, oh, you're just a Kool-Aid drinker, huh? You just go along with everything. No, I'm going along with everything because if it's 99 percent right, then why wouldn't I just go with the church's program and not just say, well, let's just emphasize the 1 percent that we're different. And look, by the way, before I started Faithful Word Baptist Church, I had preached over 500 sermons. So before I started Faithful Word Baptist Church, I had preached 500 sermons. And in all of those 500 sermons, they were all preached in churches that were pre-trib and so forth. And so guess what? I never preached anything that went against the doctrine of any of those churches. Oh, does that make me a Kool-Aid drinker or compromiser? No, it's because of the fact that it wasn't my place to set the doctrinal agenda of the church. That's the pastor's place. I'm going to lead that to the leadership. And I am going to just put my head down and work hard and do a good job and support a great movement of what God is doing. And God was mightily using our pastor back in California. God was mightily using that church. And so I'm not going to sit there and tell my wife, well, okay, let me tell you everything the pastor got wrong in the sermon tonight. Let me just tell you what he's wrong about. Because first of all, even things that we disagree on, maybe I'm the one who's wrong. That thought is always in my mind, too. But even if I know I'm right, it's not going to help her to just be emphasizing the variance. And so therefore, I remember one time, like six, seven, eight months after my wife had gotten saved and been in church and everything like that, she'd been volunteering at a Christian school every day. So she didn't have a job or anything. She's just a stay at home wife and she hadn't had her first child yet. So she would go down and volunteer in the Christian school and define irony. But she was mainly helping with English, even though English is her third language. But she came home one day and she's like, man, I found the craziest thing in the curriculum from the Christian school. It's saying that Jesus is going to come back at any moment. And she's like, I told this kid, no, man, you know, the tribulation has to happen first. And she did not get this from me. She just got this from reading the Bible. And she's just like, sorry, but Jesus may not come today because she said, I don't think this is right. And then, you know, somebody was kind of horrified, like, what have you done, you know? But then she came home and I kind of sheepishly admitted to her. I'm like, yeah, actually, that they do believe that. Yeah, they do think that. And yeah, you're right, that isn't what the Bible says. She's like, what the? But again, what I'm trying to show you here is a mentality of, hey, I don't need to just emphasize to my wife everything that the pastor gets wrong. I don't have to just take my best friend aside and just indoctrinate him and all of my personal beliefs. You know, instead, what's more important is just being a part of a soul winning King James Fundamental Baptist team that is shaking the area with the gospel, that is winning hundreds of people to the Lord, that is getting people saved, baptized, lives changed. You know, why don't you learn to be a team player? Why don't you get on board with the church? Why don't you endeavor to have unity? Why don't you strive for unity in the local church? And why don't you get behind your pastor's leadership? And then when they come to you and say, oh, what's the matter, are you just a Kool-Aid drinker? Just whatever Pastor Oz says, huh? I guess just Pastor Oz says it and you just follow it, huh? Whatever Pastor Shelley says, you're just straight, how's that Kool-Aid taste? Right? But here's the thing, if somebody came to me and said, what's the matter, are you chicken? Do you think that's going to make me, I'll show them, you know, I'll go jump off that bridge or whatever. Grow up. What are you in junior high? Don't fall for it. You know, as pastors, we need to be careful that we don't fall for it and make a point to show how different we are from one another, because that's just stupid, man. Get up and preach the Bible. Now, obviously, in different churches, there are doctrinal differences and I'm not required to be like Pastor Oz. He's not required to be like me and we're going to preach different things and that's okay. In the church, we should try to keep the doctrine homogenous and keep quiet our differences. Whereas, you know, separate independent churches, obviously, I'm going to come right out and preach things that contradict, you know, Pastor Shelley or Pastor Oz or whatever, but it's never because I'm like, well, I got to show I'm different. I got to show that I'm different than the old IFP. No, no, it's just I'm just preaching what I believe. They're just preaching what they believe. Sometimes it's going to be different. And when people come up to me and say, well, you know, Pastor so-and-so is preaching this thing that's different than you. And they'll always be like, well, Pastor so-and-so is saying this and you're saying this. Who's right? I'll have people come up to me and say this and I'm just like, obviously, I'm right. Like, why are you asking me? I'm a little biased since I am me. But if you ask me, well, you know, because Pastor so-and-so says this and you're saying this, who do I believe? You know, it's just like, you know what those kind of people are doing? They're trying to sow discord a lot of times because what they're trying to do is they just want to make sure I know that somebody is preaching something different than me, you know, and they're trying to just put, you know, just trying to create a wedge or whatever. And some people are asking those questions sincerely. I get it. But you know what? I'm always suspicious of people that ask those kind of questions. You know, when it's just like, well, you know, because I heard you preach this, you know, and I mean, you know, on this date and then he said this on this date. So which one is it? What's the deal? And I always just tell people, listen, man, if I preach two different things on two different dates, just go with the later date. Well, in 2006, you preached it this way and now 2025, which one is it? Well, duh, it's the 2025 version. I don't even need to know what it was. You're not going to believe this. When I was 24 years old, I didn't know everything. Obviously, I still don't know everything. But the point is that, you know, beware of people that are constantly trying to separate friends. And they're trying to break. And look, I'll tell you this. I believe that there is a cabal of people. And call me a conspiracy theorist. I believe that there have been people who for years have had a desire in their hearts, these little conniving weird little people, that their biggest desire was just that Pastor Jimenez and I would not be friends. I mean, I believe that there has literally been an agenda among people that were just working on it. And I've had multiple people tell me about being in conversations with some of these idiot, phony, weird pastors where they were literally sitting around fantasizing about a split in the new IFB where there's like a Pastor Jimenez wing and a Pastor Anderson wing. You know what? That kind of attitude, that kind of thought, you know, it's wicked. It's just like, why would you want to break up a friendship that's gone on for decades or something between pastors or friends or whatever? Like, why would you want to do that? Like, why is that your goal? You know, you just really want to see so and so the pastor break free from, you know. And the people are taunting us to try to get us to break fellowship with this person and break fellowship with this person and split from this person. And look, I know that a lot of people have split from me recently and I'm just like, bye. You know, because at the end of the day, I got plenty of friends. You know, I'm not a lonely person. I live in a house with 10 people. I have hundreds of people in my church and I have lots of pastor friends that are still cool. And so the thing is, though, just be aware of that mentality that just wants to split people and break up friendships. And we all have to show how different we are. And we all have to, you know, because there could be a temptation to say, well, you know, Pastor Oz has to now step out of Pastor Shelley's shadow. You know, now that he's independent, he can pull out that weird doctrine that he's been hiding, you know, and do that. Now, look, inevitably there are going to be differences between Pastor Oz and Pastor Shelley. I'm sure inevitably there will be. And here's the thing. If you're up here, you shouldn't be saying, well, you know, Pastor Shelley, you know, you need to get on his you need to get on Brother Oz program. And Pastor Shelley would agree that, you know, that you should not be, you know, well, back when we were steadfast. You know, or whatever. Now, that's a bad attitude. Hey, and you know what? If you can't get behind your pastor, you need to move on. You know, you need to get behind your pastor. You need to shut up about all the little grievances and differences and little small things and be true to your church. Be loyal. Be faithful. Don't emphasize differences. Don't be variant. Don't try to sit there and prove how different you are. And don't sow discord among brethren. God hates it. It's an abomination. You should be a peacemaker. Striving for unity. Striving to create more unity in the local church. Not just imagining and lying and stretching the truth and being a false witness and conniving and being prideful. And by the way, this whole attitude is why I got to show that I'm different is pride. If somebody calls me chicken and then I go do something crazy to show that I'm not chicken, that's pride. Because if I'm humble, if somebody's like, you're too scared to jump off this bridge or whatever, I just say, you know what? Yeah, I am too scared to do that. You're too scared to go jump out of this plane or what? Yeah, I am. Right? You're too scared to go pick a fight with that guy over there. Yeah, I am. Because I don't know how that fight's going to go. Grow up. Well, you're just a Kool-Aid drinker or whatever. You know, it's like, well, it was Flavor Aid and you don't know what you're talking about. Jim Jones is a commie telling people to drink poison. So it's not a Kool-Aid drinker to just be a faithful, soul winning member of a Baptist church. You know, unbelievable, right? And by the way, you know, even if you disagree with the pastor, you don't have to say anything. Like, I didn't say anything for decades about the preacher of rapture. Or decade singular, I guess. But anyway, let's look at a few final verses and then I'll be done. Are you there in Proverbs 17, verse 9? It says, Proverbs 17, 9, He that covereth the transgression seeketh love, but he that repeateth the matter seperateth very friends. And here's what I think is funny, too. Everything's a cover up now. And everything's swept under the rug. Here's what's funny. Something will be talked about in a YouTube video with 100,000 views, but then because we don't want to still talk about it six months later, cover up. Right? Or how about this? The church will have a whole meeting about something. Someone will be church disciplined. The person repents, gets right with God, and is reinstated to the church, but then we don't want to talk about it six months later or three months later. Cover up. Really? Because last time I checked, when sins have been forgiven and forgotten, that's not a cover up. That's love. And you know what's funny? How about this? Someone will get arrested for a crime. They'll be convicted or plea bargained. They'll go serve their time. They will serve the time, finish it, get back integrated into normal society and normal life, whatever it was, whether it was drugs, stealing, whatever. And then it will be brought up 15 years later, 20 years later, 25 years later. Just, oh, yeah, well, these are the kind of people that go to this church, you know. It's like, well, hold on a minute. What does the Bible say? The Bible says in chapter 16 verse 27, go back one page, chapter 16 verse 27 of Proverbs, an ungodly man diggeth up evil, you know, goes on the Internet and digs up. Something that's already been dealt with. And here's the thing, it's like, whoa, we don't want to talk about that. That's already been dealt with. That was already church disciplined and forgiven and forgotten. Oh, it's a massive cover up. It's being swept under the rug. Because what they want to do is just talk about it for the rest of our lives. Something that's already been dealt with, let it go. And by the way, everyone's sins don't need to be broadcast publicly on YouTube. Right? I mean, here's the thing. You know, Noah got drunk. That was wrong. But did there really need to be a YouTube video about it? But yet Ham was the first YouTuber and made a YouTube video about Noah being naked and drunk. You know, he probably had some clickbait title on the video, you know. Noah gets drunk and naked in the tent. You'll never believe what happens next or whatever. But the Bible says, he that covereth the transgressions he could love, he that repeateth the matter, separated the very friends. An ungodly man diggeth up evil. Are you there in verse 27 of chapter 16? And in his lips there is as a burning fire. A froward man soweth strife. What does it mean to sow? To plant seeds. He plants seeds of strife. And a whisperer separated his friends, you know. This guy. Talking about people quietly behind their back, whatever. A violent man entices his neighbor and leadeth him in a way that is not good. He shutteth his eyes to devise froward things. Moving his lips, he bringeth evil to pass. Meaning that he's laying in his bed at night with his eyes closed just thinking about how can I break up these friendships. How can I break up this friendship between pastors? How can I break up the unity of the local church? How can I get a faction to get on my page that I can draw away disciples after me? Okay. Chapter 6 is where we started. We don't have to go back there. But six things that the Lord hates. I just want to, because I'm already out of time. Conclusion, don't act like an abominable person. Be a person that delights the Lord. A person in whom the Lord is well pleased. Here are some final verses to think about. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are his delight. Okay. Do not lie about people, and don't repeat lies that you haven't personally confirmed. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight. They that are of a froward heart are an abomination to the Lord, but such as are upright in the way are his delight. Right? There are people that God delights in, and people that God is just disgusted by. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight. And then lastly, Jeremiah 9.24, But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, which exercised lovingkindness, just judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Look, you need to be a person who tells the truth, who loves other people, who wants to build other people up, esteeming other better than yourself. Not a proud look, but rather you're looking at other people as better. Other people are more important. You're willing to play second fiddle to the pastor, or to play second fiddle to the soul-winning director, or play second fiddle to the music director, or play second—literally, right? Or to play second fiddle to whoever is the authority in your life. You're willing to be humble. You don't go around repeating stuff. You're not repeating the matter, separating chief friends. You're not a whisperer, a backbiter, but rather you seek to cover the transgression. You seek love. You seek to build people up. You strive for unity, and look, unity takes effort. Unity takes effort. Or you could be an abominable person who is sowing discord, sowing strife. And look, I've been pastoring. Now I'm in my 20th year of pastoring. There are church members that are just a pain in the butt, constant problems, constantly starting. And then there are people who go to the church literally for 15, 20 years and are just a blessing. You know, they're just helpful, they're a blessing, they're pleasant. Which one are you going to be? You know, which one are you going to be? Because I guarantee you that if you're a pain in the backside of your pastor and the people around you in the local church, I guarantee you God's looking down, and he's displeased too. Because God wants that unity. He wants that pleasant, loving relationship between his people. He doesn't want to look down and see all this petty, vengeful, vindictive, bickering and backbiting and fighting and whatever. And you know, and here's the thing, look, I know that there are a lot of people that hate me, but you know what, there are just as many people who hate Pastor Shelley. So that makes me feel a little better, you know. I think maybe even more people might even hate him. Because I used to be the most hated guy, but not, you know. But like, you know, I guarantee you that there are people who just absolutely hate Dylan Oz, right? Because Pastor Oz, you know, he was viral on those clips and everything, right? And you know, there are so many people that just hate him. And also, you know, you know that these little disgruntled, little ex-New IFB weirdos, I mean, they were trying to have an ex-New IFB conference in Oklahoma. I wonder why they're trying to do that. You think they're trying to do that to be a blessing to Anchor Baptist Church, to be a blessing to Pastor Oz? Or were they doing that to try to hurt Pastor Oz? To try to sow discord in this church? I mean, this is the church in Oklahoma, amen? I mean, you're in the right, this is the place. I mean, am I in the right place or what? I mean, this is it, right? This is the church, and here's the thing. This church, you know, you better be gung ho about this church succeeding. That's what you should be. You're here. Get excited about it. You know what? There are other people in other cities, they would love to have Pastor Dylan Oz in their city, right? They're like, oh, please send us someone to this church. You know, we get these emails every week. Please send us someone. And then here you are. You've got the man here. And you know what? If you're too stupid to get behind him, if you're too stupid to be a gung ho, not 90% in, all in, all in, gung ho, team anchor Baptist, then you don't even deserve this church. You've got to be in it, man. You've got to be gung ho. And look, every church I've ever been in, I've been gung ho. And if I can't be gung ho, I'll go somewhere else. And you know what's funny is that if you leave this church and go to the next church, there's going to be more you disagree with. Unless you're dumb, you know? I'm just saying, like, you know, yeah, but you know, there's this one thing. Well, then shut up about that one thing and get to work for the Lord and get soul winning and start blessing people around you and be a person that's blessed. And you know, there have been people at our church that were troublemakers. And you know what we've done over the years? We've done this multiple times. This is what we said to them. We said, you know, we don't want to excommunicate you. We don't want to throw you out of the church. But you're not allowed to attend our church for six months because, you know, if we had to, like, repeatedly correct someone or have the same problem with someone. And you know, we've prescribed this multiple times. I don't know if I've told you this, but we've prescribed it where we'll say, you have to go to an old IFP church for six months. This is your punishment. I'm not kidding. We've done this multiple times. We've said, you must go to an old IFP church for six months. And at the end of that six months, if the pastor writes you a letter that says, this person has been coming to my church for six months and they are a blessing and we like having them at our church, then you can come back. And it worked. It works. Because here's the thing. You know what? If they can't figure out a way to get along at our church, they can't figure out a way to get along at that church either and vice versa. Because you know what? If the new IFP stopped existing tomorrow, myself, Pastor Shelley, Ben, you know, we would all actually survive in old IFP churches. Fine. And we would thrive there. Right. I mean, you know, amen. I mean, we would we would just thrive there. But you know what? The reason we've given that homework assignment, it's kind of a rough homework assignment because it lasts for six months. But the reason we've done it is because, you know, we were teaching people, go learn to be a team player. Oh, you don't agree with me on this and that. Well, I'm going to send you somewhere where you disagree with a lot more. And why don't you go somewhere where you disagree with 20 things instead of two things, and you can go there and learn how to be a team player. You don't want that. You don't want if you don't want that to happen. Just be gung ho. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. We thank you so much for this church. And Lord God, we know that this area, so-called Bible Belt. Somebody told me it was the buckle. Lord, we know that this area needs Anchor Baptist Church. And Lord God, I pray that there would not be any abominable bozos that would just be here to cause division and be double minded, half in, half out. Lord God, if there's anyone here under the sound of my voice that is wavering, I pray that they would just get all the way in gung ho and be a blessing to the church and walk in love toward their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and not so discord. Lord, we thank you for this assembly and the great group of people that you brought together tonight. Bless us as we go our separate ways. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright, at this time we'll go to our last hymn. If you'll grab your hymnals, turn to 441, Great is Thy Faithfulness. Hymn 441, 441, Great is Thy Faithfulness. We'll sing there right on the first. Great is Thy Faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, thy compassions may fail not, as Thou hast been, Thou forever will be. Great is Thy Faithfulness, Great is Thy Faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see, all I have needed Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy Faithfulness, Lord unto me. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses above, joined with all nature in penacled witness to Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. Great is Thy Faithfulness, Great is Thy Faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see, all I have needed Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy Faithfulness, Lord unto me. Heartened for sin and a peace that endureth, I own dear presence to cheer and to guide. Great is Thy Faithfulness, Great is Thy Faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see, all I have needed Thy hand hath provided. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy Faithfulness, Lord unto me.