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

all right keep your finger here in John chapter 8 we're coming right back to it flip if you would to 1st Timothy chapter number one we're gonna be taking a break from the prophecy series we're gonna be getting right back into it next week but recent events have caused me to preach the sermon I'm gonna preach tonight and I think it's a very important topic and in one that that hopefully everyone here will be edified by and learn from this evening and what I'm gonna be preaching about tonight is identifying false prophets how to identify false prophets now I preach sermons like this in the past once or twice and I've identified people who are relatively popular but in my opinion seem to be very easy to identify as false prophets so what I would consider someone to be an easy identifier as a false prophet is someone like Benny Hinn okay someone you know these real cares into these hyper charismatic people that are you know putting on a big show and and get gathering people after them or or people who come and claim to be like the second coming of Jesus Christ right those are false prophets and I consider those to be very easily identifiable but the ones I'm going to be preaching about tonight are a little bit more difficult to spot they're more like the Judases the Judas Iscariots right Jesus Christ said that Judas was a devil from the beginning he knew the 12 that he chose he knew Judas was the traitor and he still you know got him along but see the thing is none of the disciples knew that Judas was the traitor even the very night when he told them like you know whosoever I give the sop to after I've dipped it the same as he right he answers the question like who is it Lord they still didn't get it they still didn't even know who the traitor was okay so these are and this is where the term that the wolves in sheep's clothing comes from in the Bible last script you know we're gonna go over a lot of different scriptures about that and the reason why it's a wolf in sheep's clothing is because they put the sheep's clothing on to make it look like they're like everybody else but inwardly they're ravening wolves and they're looking to destroy they're against God they're against Jesus Christ but they'll put on that outward appearance as though hey I'm just like you I'm a sheep I'm a follower right and they look to to lead people astray and and to and to take people away from the faith these are the people in and we're gonna get there for a second Peter chapter 2 and in the book of Jude both of those chapters I mean are all about false prophets and they give very good descriptions of who they are and it tells you that they they crept in unawares so these are people that come up and and are gonna be part of the church but then they're going to come out with their false doctrines and deceits and try to to take people away and follow after them and split churches and do all kind of destructive work this is what the false prophet does now even the Apostle Paul had written and I don't remember the exact reference at the moment he said that you know after my departure grievous wolves are gonna come in and and try to split you guys up they're gonna you know they're gonna try to destroy the flock and it's where he's warning them and saying look I need to tell you about this I've been warning you day and night with tears like beware of these people look out for this because it's gonna happen and what we don't want to do and what what tends to happen sometimes in churches just in general is that church becomes this the safe space and it should be like it should be a place where you could be comfortable with people right you think about church people who love God they want to serve God as just being a place of just total safety unfortunately that's not true I mean it should be ideally that's the way should be if everybody's heart was right with God it would be but there are wolves there are predators and they come in among the flock and we don't always know when they're gonna be around or even necessarily who they are right especially for a while they want to keep their cover for a long time because they want to establish credibility with people before they eventually make their true self known you know the the one in reference to other false prophets that came out says the Bible says that they they came out from us but they were not of us they weren't goes had they been of us they would have continued in the doctrine but see they came out and started showing oh hey they start preaching these other doctrines and these things that that weren't taught things that they that weren't being received by you know from the from the prop from the Apostles and you know and in the the men of God these new strange doctrines were coming out and trying to people just trying to draw away disciples after themselves now the reason why I have you turn here keep your finger in John 8 to 1st Timothy chapter 1 is because right off the bat though we need to understand that you know this isn't something to take lightly and it's also not something we just go around accusing people just of being false prophets just willy-nilly and just in just unfounded it needs to be very it's a very serious accusation if you're gonna even call someone a false prophet and the way a false prophet is defined in like Jude and 2nd Peter chapter 2 I mean these people are reprobates these people are just damned and they're children of the devil there is what you might call a false prophet if someone teaching it like a false gospel someone wrapped up in another religion but it doesn't necessarily mean that they're a false prophet that I'm talking about in 2nd Peter 2 in Jude okay and the way the best way to understand this is the the Apostle Paul the Apostle Paul was a Pharisee he pre he believed in a false religion he believed in a works based religion he was zealous in his religion he tried to attain you know a high status and really believed in his religion he believed what he was doing was right and and he actually persecuted the Church of God he fought against the believers he fought against the Saints okay so we need to be very careful but he was not a false prophet and the definition that that I'm referring to here of a false prophet being someone who's a child of the devil someone who's going in and and whose heart is just completely darkened and he's and he's just you know all the all the the listings in in Jude and 2nd Peter 2 you know raging you know waves of the sea foaming out their own shame and and wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever you know people of blaspheme the Holy Ghost things like that that that that have never forgiveness that was not the Apostle Paul and this is why I say we have to be careful the Bible says and the Apostle Paul explain this to just about himself in 1st Timothy chapter 1 look at verse number 12 the Bible says and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious these are things these I was blaspheming the name of the Lord I was persecuting people and I was injured like like causing injury and other people he says but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief basically he really didn't know he didn't know anybody there's a difference between people who know the gospel who know the truth and completely reject it and just go up and teach their own thing and and and teach people to follow after these devilish religions right people who have the knowledge and reject it is different than the person who is just got sucked into a false religion and is Ellis about the religion and is in his teaching in their religion but just needs to hear the truth so they could get saved very important distinction this is why I said we don't want to throw around these terms loosely because people can be very zealous in what they believe and being a fault you know a Catholic priest for example could be someone who just got were born into that religion and they believed that and they just never really heard the gospel and this is just what they were doing and they think they're doing the right thing and they think they're serving God but then someone comes along and gives them the truth and give you know oh this whole time I've been preaching a false gospel and people have been believing me and I'm telling people I have to work for their salvation and sending souls to hell now I've got the truth okay and they can be converted and they could believe but then like I said there's others that they know the truth they know the way of the Lord they know what Christ did for them they understand that the plan of salvation and they've rejected it and those are the people that become the false prophets and these are the people who go back if you would to John chapter 8 many of which Jesus is speaking to in John chapter 8 John I love John chapter 8 is awesome John chapter 8 there's multiple times where Jesus Christ says you know that if you believe not that I am he shall die in your sins and he's he's basically proclaiming his deity he is the I am this is why they wanted to stone him at the end of the chapter because he says before Abraham was I am remember Moses when he asked you he saw the burning bush and he said hey well who should I say sent me when I go to the children of Israel you know and I'm supposed to leave them out and help them out who should I say who am I speaking to God what's your name he said I am that I am he said you tell him that I am at sent you and that's why it's so important here in John chapter 8 Jesus was saying I am if you believe that I am he who's he God that I am then you're gonna die in your sins and this is extremely important and he's explaining that these people here and and they're not receiving it at all and they even say like say we not well that you're a Samaritan you have a devil which is exactly what blaspheming the Holy Ghost was defined as in in the book of Matthew I believe where he says that where he says that they were they were saying that you you cast out devils by the prince of the devil's even by Beelzebub and then he says then he goes into right after they say that says you know whoever says a word against you know a son of man whatever have forgiveness but whosoever blasphemes the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness neither in this world not neither in the world to come you say you do that you blaspheme the Holy Ghost you've gone too far you've crossed the line you never have forgiveness you're damned forever and this is what what the people did that were saying that basically it saw the miracles they saw everything that Jesus was doing they heard his preaching everything was of God undeniably yet they still said you know what that's not God you're of the devil which is it I mean it's almost mind-blowing to think that someone can believe that about Jesus Christ the exact opposite of who he was saying you're of the devil anyways but that's what that's what was going on and this is what they're saying to him here and we know that it was mainly chiefly the Pharisees that were plotting against him trying to take his life and we're doing everything they could to destroy Jesus Christ and what we're gonna see here is he as he's speaking with them is he's calling them a bunch of liars so the sermon what we're going to try to do is give you some tips on being able to spot a false prophet being able to identify hey who is a false prophet now some of these things you're gonna need more than one attribute that I'm listing here to really kind of to cement this down and so like my first attribute hero false prophet is that they're liars right well everybody's a liar to some you know at some point we've all told lies before but false prophets are extremely deceptive and plan out to deceive people and our liars and this is you know we'll see how Jesus interaction with these people and he's calling them liars and of the devil then you're of your father the devil yeah one more just one more point regarding that just as much as we when someone is a child of the devil they're not just a regular lost person the same way that when you're a child of God you become God's child you're born again you're born into God's family you have eternal life it's something that lasts forever you're eternally secure being God's child well when you become a child of the devil you are proselytized to become a child of the devil you've rejected God you've heard you become reprobate or rejected these people have no hope okay and that's that's the other end of the spectrum there so the the phrase being a child of the devil is not used loosely in the Bible people may think oh you're unsaved you're a child of the devil it's not necessarily true at all that's probably not the case people who are unsaved are not just automatically children of the devil they're just unsaved they need to be born again they need to hear the gospel but when you actually become a child together it's like they're it's like you're born again unto death instead of born again unto life but we're gonna pick up reading here in verse number 43 because the false prophets they're extremely deceptive they're gonna use half truths they're gonna use very faulty logic and they're gonna use appeals to emotion look at verse number 43 Bible says why do you not understand my speech even because you cannot hear my word Jesus Christ he keeps going over and over explain to look you can't even understand what I'm saying to you and this is the same for any lost person the Bible says that that the that God's Word is spiritually discerned that the natural man cannot receive the things of God and they can't understand them and that's why any of you if you've been saved a little bit later in life maybe you tried reading the Bible before you got saved and you're like I know it was the same for me I have no idea what this book says we go out so we talk to people all the time that are not saved or say yeah you know I've read the Bible for but I just I mean I don't really I don't really understand it at all it's because the natural man can't receive these things it's it's it's just the blinders are on they can't comprehend it it's the most amazing thing in the world because no other book is like that it's the book that God has given us and that in itself is wonderful because you know what I'm talking about if you're saved today and you've tried reading the Bible before you got saved and then you read the Bible after you got saved it's like wow this is incredible this is amazing so he's speaking to these people here and say look you can't understand you can't even understand what I'm saying you can't hear my words and he says in verse 44 ye are of your father the devil your dad is the devil and the lusts of your father you will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for he is a liar and the father of it and he's saying you're children of your debt of your father the devil the devil is a liar he's a father of lies and you're a bunch of liars and he says in verse 45 and because I tell you the truth ye believe me not because I tell you that you said just for the fact that I'm telling you the truth right now you don't believe me because there is no truth in them they are of their father the devil they are just a bunch of liars verse number 46 which of you convinces me of sin and if I say the truth why do you not believe me he that is of God heareth God's words ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of God he's saying if you're of God you're gonna hear God's words and look this is a test that I use for people not just for false prophets but like even just people who are saved knowing that the natural man cannot receive the things of God it's difficult you know and look the whole purpose of us trying to determine someone saved is because we want to know if we need to keep giving them the gospel right I mean we're trying to give people the gospel and what I do because sometimes someone might give you the right answer and say oh yeah I believe in Jesus right but oftentimes that's such an easy answer their heart isn't necessarily they might not even understood the gift of salvation and somehow they think that maybe they could lose it somehow or or they have to do some good work still and they're not they haven't ever really put all of their faith in Jesus but they might give you a right answer at some point just say oh yeah by grace through faith and not of works because he here it preached a lot I mean a lot of churches will say that but it doesn't necessarily mean that in there in a person's heart they actually have trusted in that for their salvation so what I'll often do and I've done this with relatives and other people will talk about other Bible things now show them hey look here's what the scripture here's what the Bible says about this subject about that subject and go over stuff and if everything's just going over their head and it's like not even getting it and just not receiving it at all I start to think is this person even saved because the simple concepts of the Bible and I'm not even though anything real deep we're not going into eschatology we're not going into you know even though I don't think that's very deep but you know just things that can confuse people just sticking with some of the basics and be like I mean like creation the Bible just says here that the fact that there was a flood a worldwide flood and like you try to show people like look at what the Bible says I mean you either believe it or you don't but they just they just can't grasp this stuff and they're making excuses and not really believing you know that's someone I would say are you even saved it's a good indicator it's something that you could use and then and then when you hear that obviously with a with just your average unsaved person hey let's try to bring the gospel back up and try to explain it to a more thoroughly to figure out where are they not getting it but definitely with the false prophet they're not of God so they don't hear God's words they're not going to understand these things you understand you know a lot of times there are people that have confronted false prophets and they try to explain something to them and try to do it the right way and humbly you know as far as if this person was like a you know a pastor of a church or something and try to be humble about explain it and they're just like don't even get it why because they can't receive the Word of God verse number jump down to verse number 54 here Bible says Jesus answered if I honor myself my honor is nothing it is my father that on earth me of whom ye say that he is your God the false prophets are gonna claim God they're gonna claim the Lord or claim Jesus Christ they're gonna claim these they look he's the one that you say he's your God but he's not that's what he says in verse 55 yet you have not known him so you claim he's your God but you have not known him but I know him and if I should say I know I'm not I shall be a liar like you like unto you but I know him and keep his saying so the first attribute the first sign the first thing that we can look for in false prophets are people who are just liars full of lies that that just everything they say that is is basically they're just lying they're being deceptive and not just lying one of the things I've noticed you got to watch out for the guy that handles the Word of God deceitfully and you know as I mentioned earlier in the announcements how unfortunately most Christians most people professing Christians have not even read their Bible through cover to cover once the big problem with that is that they go into churches and they listen to what the the preacher is saying and they just believe what he's saying because they don't know anybody because they haven't even read it for themselves and they think oh yeah here's the expert right we all want to rely on experts and it's not always necessarily a bad thing but like it's easy to get deceived if you don't have knowledge an area let's say you're not an expert you don't know anything about how vehicle how cars work well you're gonna if your car is breaking down you having a problem with it you're gonna bring it to the expert right someone who deals with that all the time someone who's gonna be able to know how to fix it and you're relying on them to give you good information now is every mechanic a good person no are a lot of them the majority of them probably are right I mean I only get a bad rap but by and large I would guess I mean maybe it's just a guess but I would say you know a majority of them are probably honest and doing their best to fix your problem but are there they're shady people out there they're looking to try to deceive you and steal your money absolutely and it's like that in any industry so when you are ignorant of something you just don't know it's a lot easier to be taken advantage of and when you don't know your Bible and when you're not reading your Bible and you're just completely relying on someone else to just tell you what you should believe it's very easy to be deceived very easy to be deceived and this is the importance of look read for yourself but so that's the first step I mean that's that's where you need to be ready but when and you know if you don't even have that you're not gonna be able to find it you're not gonna be able to identify anyone unless unless you're doing a reading on your own because otherwise you have nothing to gauge what they're saying against at all but let's just say yeah okay I'm past that I've read the Bible I read my Bible I stay up with it I mean I could generally say I have a good idea of what the Bible says right I mean you have to have everything memorized but you know you read the Bible you're keeping up with it watch out for the guy that handles the Word of God deceitfully turn if you would to Matthew chapter 1 I'm gonna read from 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 2nd Corinthians 4 1 says therefore seeing we have this ministry as we have received mercy we faint not but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty not walking in craftiness nor handling the Word of God deceitfully but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God see a good steward a good minister of God's Word a good preacher a good pastor is going to have the same attitude that the Apostle Paul had in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 saying look we've renounced dishonesty the hindings of dishonesty of being liars we don't walk in craftiness nor handling the Word of God deceitfully and this is something everyone can relate to someone who's handled the Word of God deceitfully and again it's another example I use at the door saying you know if you want to you could come up with all kinds of crazy doctrines and and use Bible verses to do it rip out different verses out of context and say oh look at this and look at this and look at this and go on this rabbit trail to try to teach a false doctrine I mean people do it all the time there's tons of false doctrine out there in the world but in order to teach a false doctrine the Word of God has to be handled deceitfully and we need to be aware of this and this is another telltale sign of a false prophet because what they're doing is intentionally trying to teach you something that's false because they don't have the truth in them but they're intentionally doing things to make you believe something that's just not true and they know what they're doing is not right but they're wolves and they're out to destroy and these are the people we need to watch out for now the the whole point of what prompted me to even preach the sermon tonight was this event that happened recently by a man named Sam Gipp some of you may or may not be familiar with him he's a pretty popular independent fundamental Baptist they call him I guess an evangelist what he does is he travels around through different churches people you know have him come and preach and that's all he does he travels around the churches and he's preaching almost every week of the year Church invite him in and one of his big things what that he's known for as far as I'm aware I mean I don't follow the guy or anything but he has met a lot of material out there in the King James Bible being the Word of God being this is you know this is why we're King James only and everything so he promotes all this material and he gets a lot of people sucked in because of that and I'll just just say it's no this is later in my notes but I'll say is right now beware of people that might have the same belief them as you on one area on one topic like for example the Bible issue say yeah this is the Word of God you have a tendency to think well it's already such a small group of people that are just like working James only right I mean that's that's not the majority of Christianity by any means it's a small subset of people who are professing Christians to say no we are standing on this so you have a tendency to think wow if you're part of this group of people that believe this then you we probably believe the same and just about it you know oh you're a Baptist you're independent you believe the King James Bible so you let your guard down although a lot of people do let their guard down you just start listening to everything else that they have without doing proper judgment and discernment about what they're preaching because you're too comfortable with oh they already have done this we need to you know so look if you find someone's King James only yeah go ahead start listening to other stuff that they have I mean it's a good sign right but don't just be willing to accept everything they say as if they're not a false prophet because they very well might be everything that people say everything that I say needs to be gauged and judged it all does I mean it's that's how you keep yourself from falling into false doctrines so what this guy did well if you know I'm not doesn't even matter that's not the point I'm not worried about the people in this church getting sucked into his his stuff and his teachings and stuff it really isn't but when all this stuff God was getting exposed I was looking at this guy I was listening to what he was saying and it was just mind-blowing the amount one the amount of lies that came out of this guy's mouth I mean is almost every breath was a lie he was speaking about someone that I know personally my former pastor that I know firsthand accounts that everything that he was saying was false because I've been in that church for seven years from almost since its inception and I know firsthand being there of all the things that happened that transpired all the things that he's talking about and lying about I know for a fact that the guy is nothing but a fat liar that Sam give I know this and he's out there running his mouth and just spreading lies now that alone someone could be a liar they could just not like someone and just lie and try to defame him that alone doesn't say he's a false prophet but it's a very good indicator we've already seen Jesus's discussion with the Pharisees and that you know they were children the devil and and they have no truth in them but look at this is what he did and this is why I'm so confident that this man is just out to deceive you're in Matthew chapter 1 he taught this strange doctrine and when I say strange you're gonna I mean if you haven't heard this it might just blow you away because it's very strange he started off telling this story that's completely fabricated of what was going on in heaven okay and it was this conversation and forgive me if I don't get it you know verbatim okay I didn't memorize everything that this story was but here's the gist of what he was saying is that Jesus was up in heaven explaining to an angel that what he was going to do that he was going to go and be the Messiah and and you know and set up his kingdom and rule down there and he was getting ready to go because Mary is about to have about to give birth and he's saying like oh man I get down there and he keeps looking at the time like like well in one minute and in 30 seconds and you know she gave birth and then the angel says well what if they don't receive you as if like he never thought about that before oh man we're gonna have to change everything we have to do I don't know what am I gonna do and it's like he's talking about like Jesus is gonna go down and be in the be born like the at the birth would like like as if he wasn't already in the womb prior to that I mean it's so bizarre that's just the beginning part I mean that's like okay this guy's got some really weird thoughts about what was going on you know just making stuff up that's not in the Bible at all first of all just nowhere found in Scripture but what he was saying is that and this is that this is the false teaching and then look anyone who's who's preached a sermon before ought to know that you put in a lot of time and effort into what you're preparing the notes that you take I've got my notes right here I put time into making sure that the things that I am going to say are right are accurate because look I'm trying to persuade you on things and teach you on things so I better have the evidence and the scriptures lined up so I could show you hey look at this passage look at this message this is what we're learning today and and I've looked at these and I got to make sure that what I'm using is in context correct that I'm not just yanking something out of context because if I am I can't use that I can't just use the Bible to support something I believe I have to believe what supported in the Bible it's not my own opinions I'm just trying to force into the Bible and just just say well I'm just gonna use this verse because it just supports what I believe even though it's not with the Bible saying at all and people that do that are using the Word of God deceitfully and that is exactly what this man did and what he was teaching and again I'm not quoting him verbatim because it doesn't matter you could you if you're really interested you could check out the goods all online you can see what what what he said but what he was teaching was that Jesus was supposed to be named Emmanuel meaning God with us that that was supposed to be his name but that Joseph and Joseph decided to call him Jesus which means Jehovah saves so what he's saying is that and he even said these words he says he came unto his own but his own received him not as if Joseph naming Jesus the name Jesus was not receiving Emmanuel or God with us now here's what he used Matthew chapter 1 and he started reading in verse number 22 let's let's look at verse number 22 verse number 22 says now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the Prophet saying behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which being interpreted is God with us now verses 22 verses 23 or verses 20 verse 23 really is a quote from the Old Testament okay what he said this was was the angel telling Joseph and Mary that his name was going to be called Emmanuel and then if you keep reading it says in verse 24 then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel the Lord had bitten him and took unto him his wife and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son and he called his name Jesus so he's saying see Joseph just decided to call him Jesus as if that wasn't supposed to be his name and just because of Joseph's lack of faith that all of a sudden now we have this name of Jesus calling GEO how ignorant of scripture do you have to be to say that oh that wasn't really intended to be his name Jesus there's none other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved the name of Jesus at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of the glory of God the Father I mean you could go on and on and on about the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ his name is a name that's above all names the name is important the name of Jesus Christ and going to try to say that Jesus really shouldn't have even been his name is blasphemy I'm sorry he's blaspheming the name of Jesus Christ but here's how he handled it deceitfully because he's trying to teach this doctrine but if you go back one verse one verse you can see easily how stupid his false blasphemous doctrine is look at verse number 21 actually the start reading verse 20 but while he thought on these things is Joseph deciding whether or not he wanted to put away his wife behold the angel of the Lord appeared on him in a dream saying Joseph thou son of David fear not to take unto thee marry that wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost this angel speaking to Joseph saying don't worry about it don't you know she wasn't unfaithful to you that which isn't conceived in her root and in hers of the Holy Ghost verse 21 and she shall bring forth a son there's what's gonna happen and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins that was the command from the angel you're gonna call his name Jesus and then it goes on to say that this is done to fulfill the prophecy that said that a virgin was going to bring forth a son and it should be called his name Emmanuel calling his name Jesus and the virgin giving birth fulfilled the prophecy that was given in the Old Testament but the angel directed him to call his name Jesus he didn't just make that up on his own and see when I saw that I was like wow what a what a devil who's using the Word of God deceitfully to confuse people to blaspheme the name of Jesus Christ and intentionally lead people astray into his weird bizarre false doctrine why would you leave out that previous verse you know he's relying on he's relying on the ignorance of the people sitting in the pews he's super lifted up with pride and he thinks that these people are so stupid he could pull anything past him and you know what a lot of people eat it up say amen because they don't know their Bibles and they're willing to sit there and take this this false prophet I have no qualms saying he's a false prophet blaspheme the name of their Savior and this is not some minor I mean the name of Jesus Christ is an important issue this is not just some minor thing cuz look independent Baptist we should be independent you should have all of your you know you have your own beliefs we have our beliefs you know we don't have to be yoked up with anyone else's beliefs and people are gonna have differences of opinion difference in their beliefs but the name of Jesus Christ is pretty foundational it's very fun I mean it's our Savior like I mean it's as foundational as salvation itself and when the false prophets make themselves known they need to be called out for what they are and I mean that's watch out for the people that just are using God's words completely out of context or not giving you the context and you know honestly this is why when we if you've noticed if you come in here for a little while we read the entire chapter of the basically pretty much the starting point of the sermon which usually has the theme of what is going on in the sermon so that you can get in context the verses that we're gonna start reading from to see what's going on in this chapter so I'm not just trying to throw things at you without having any idea what's going on in that chapter we read the whole thing and then we dig in and start showing you know like hey this is you know you saw the whole thing in context and I encourage you to take notes here write that because we don't read every single chapter every deal there was not enough time for that so I jump to places that are pertinent you know the pertinent places to prove what it is I'm trying to teach but you should be writing down those references and take it home and look it up later and decide is what he said in support of what he was teaching was he taken out of context or does it line up with what with with the with the context with what the Bible saying that is your job to do that I'm gonna do my best to try to teach you the right things your job is to judge those things and we need more people judging all the things are being taught I mean it's a lot easier to find the false prophets and spot them and not be deceived by them when you're doing the work on your own but it's work another thing that the false prophets will do is drone on and on without teaching clearly now this guy in this sermon they call it if you want to call it that a sermon he spake for almost for no for at least two hours you guys ought to be thankful I do not stand up here I mean I may be a little a little you know heavy-winded sometimes but I mean you're typically sitting through about an hour's worth of preaching he was going on and on and on for two hours and you know what that does though I mean it's one thing if someone's easy to listen to and they're doing a really good job of explaining and and the time is going by real quick because they're just giving you a lot of good information and making things real clear you guys saying it that's not what this guy's doing at all and unfortunately that happens a lot of churches people yo people's eyes start glassing over your mind starts to wander as I was listening to this guy sir and this is what happened to me I was like I was listening as I was doing work you know I'm working on my computer and doing other stuff and I'm listening this and then I just start drifting off like what is this guy talking about one of the things that he did and this is I mean this is just kind of funny all right you know where I'm going with this do you remember what the chapter was it doesn't matter he went he went to some chapter and he says you know some things just stick out at you and you're reading the Bible okay yeah yeah something stick out you and he says well you know he went to this chapter I don't know what chapter was and he started pointing out all the s words just words that started with the letter s and it's our writing him down and write him down and he went through the chapter and for almost like ten minutes he's right now all these s words and he says I mean about ten minutes of just there's this word oh your Savior okay this and this and you know just just writing down words just words that start with the letter s so you know what all this means I don't know like 10 minutes like I don't know what this means and then he's related to his oh you're like I asked like Sam like he uses his own name like and I think I don't know for sure he might have rented something about like like giving a love offering or something for for Samuel maybe you should get you know and it's haha joke joke but his mind is on him just you know and and you notice if you you know listen these guys and and the false prophets are good at this making jokes about them receiving money so it sounds like there's real humble oh yeah this is just real play oh haha yes so I could get some more money but they keep on like planting that in your head because they don't care about you they're preaching for filthy lucre's sake and that's what they really care about which is another word I'm gonna get to the greed a little bit later but that's another sign of the false prophet the the person that just cares about the money but so he goes through this whole thing and he's like wearing you down I mean really is like a weariness sometimes a listen these guys talk and talk it cuz look when you go to church and I know it's like coming to church you want to learn something you know you go there because you're trying to listen and you're following a person make their points say okay you try to follow be careful when you just get completely lost so what is this guy talking about you know it goes off on all these rabbit trails and then just eventually a conclusion is made but the actual support is lacking and you didn't quite catch it because you couldn't follow it and then you just assume what happens a lot of times people just assume well he must have proved the point because he was talking for so long and I just kind of spaced out it I missed it and a lot of people get suckered in that way I mean think about you're sitting there you're trying to focus and pay attention like what's this guy listening you're talking about and he goes off these rabbit trails and trying to think of like well why did he start off here and I was talking about this and he's coming back over here like what where is he going you try to connect the dots in your mind I think like what is he talking about and then at the very end you know he makes a conclusion without even proving it because what he was talking about had nothing to do with the ultimate conclusion and you're kind of confused but a lot of times people just they're in that same mind just kind of accept it like okay well whatever and he moves on and it's just slowly people will receive if they keep hearing that teaching over and over again that well and I mean that must be right because you know I just don't get it I'm just not smart enough or whatever you know people doubt themselves instead of questioning no what I mean what is he trying to say you got to prove it to me in order for me to believe something turn if you would to Psalm 5 Psalm 5 we're looking at another another attribute of the false prophet is someone who's a flatterer flatterer someone who uses extensive praise to people and you butter them up to make them feel real good and like you're their friend and they build that you build that trust with them or they build that trust with you because they're praising you so much but the Bible says to I mean all throughout the book of Proverbs watch out for the person who flatters with their mouth because they're setting a trap for you it's what it is just like you could set traps you could set bait for pests for insects for animals whatever you put something in the trap that they really like to attract them write something sweet like honey and then the snared closes on whatever it is you're trying to catch you're trapping and that's the that's exactly how flattery works you're in Psalm 5 look at verse number 8 the Bible says lead me O Lord in thy righteousness because of mine enemies make thy way straight before my face for there is no faithfulness in their mouth their inward part is very wickedness their throat is an open sepulchre they flatter with their tongue destroy thou them O God let them fall by their own counsels cast them out in the multitude their transgressions for they have rebelled against thee this is talking about the false prophet this is talking about the person who's this wicked person says their inward part is very wickedness like to their core they are a wicked person their throats and open sepulchre it says they flatter with their tongue this is what the false prophet does they flatter they want they want to make you feel really good so that you you like them you feel like they're your other friend so if you go to Proverbs 26 Proverbs 26 Proverbs 26 verse 24 the Bible reads he that hateth dissembleth with his lips and layeth up deceit within him when he speaketh fair believe him not for there are seven abominations in his heart whose hatred is covered by deceit his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation so those first reverses there he's dissembling with his lips he's breaking people down tearing things apart and he has deceit laid up within him he I mean he's got lies and deceit in his heart it says when he speaks fair so when he speaks something that that sounds good or fair or right say don't believe him because there's seven abominations already hidden his heart that one thing that one little bit of honey he's trying to give you like don't don't fall for that because it's hard is full of wickedness and abomination verse 26 it says whose hatred is covered by deceit he's covering up his hatred for you right the wolf that's out to seek and destroy he's gonna cover that up he doesn't want you to know and become aware that he's there to destroy so he's gonna cover up his hatred by deceit by lying I say oh no I love you brother his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation who so diggeth a pit shall fall there in and he that rolleth the stone it will return upon him a lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it and a flattering mouth worketh ruin this is a person who's lying they got the lying tongue they hate you if I was lying to you they hate you because if you love someone you're gonna tell them the truth but the person that hates you is gonna lie to you they don't care about you why would you lie to someone I mean there's no good and there's no value in lying to people so the lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it and a flattering mouth worketh ruin the person dropping all the flattery because they're you know what they're doing they're covering up their hatred with flattery it's it's it's something you have to be aware of and it's something you have to look out for people that is and you know flattery I've got I preach entire sermon flattery but it's overdoing it I mean it's nothing wrong with complimenting people and you can't just assume like oh man you complimented me are you a false prophet right I mean we're not on a witch hunt here but we're trying to identify when our people when are these things adding up you know this person's lying a lot they're using the Word of God deceitfully they're using all this flattery and trying to butter people up and tell them how great they are just just way over and above they're setting a trap for you turn to Galatians chapter 2 Galatians chapter 2 I quoted this verse earlier but I'll read the the reference for you it's in 1st John chapter 2 starting verse 18 about where these little children is the last time and as you have heard that Antichrist shall come even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time they went out from us but they were not of us these Antichrists are going out from I mean and this is talking about the apostles is the Apostle John saying these people there's many Antichrists out there right now at the time that he was writing his epistle says they came out from us you think oh where did you guys where did you study who were you taught by the Apostle John the Apostle Peter right those are some pretty good names to be able to say yeah this is where we came from and people just want to just believe them because they came out from that group right and that's how you're able to draw people after them this is the crowd I was in this is a church I went to I went to the first Baptist of Antioch or whatever right I mean that the the Christian Church at Antioch or at Berea or a Thessalonica came out of these churches he says they came out they went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us and the reason why they left and started their own church or doing whatever they're doing is because it isn't that it might be made known because eventually it becomes known the wolf that creeps in they only stay undercover for a period of time before they finally let themselves be known you know the Bible says for all the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh it's gonna come out they could lie for a while they could use deceit they could try to trick people and this is what they'll do and this is also the same wicked people I'll come in and try to split up churches they'll try to deceive people and use flattery and then start carrying people away after their false doctrines and when they get enough people following them as opposed to the pastor or whatever then they'll you'll finally be made known and things will come to a head and then these these great churches oftentimes will end up splitting because an infiltrator came in that's out to destroy and that's how that's exactly how the false prophets operate so Galatians chapter 2 another thing to watch out for and this is just in general this is not something that you should ever rely on and shouldn't miss it I mean shouldn't mean anything to you it doesn't mean anything to me but people rely on like or continually reference education and degrees and where did you go to Bible College and all this other stuff as if that matters right I mean when you're having a conversation with someone about the truth about the Bible who cares where you studied it's irrelevant to the discussion of if a doctrine is true or not it doesn't matter people only do that to lift themselves up so people who always say oh I'm doctor so-and-so and I've got this PhD I'm a master of theology and a master of divinity and you know I've all these degrees after my name which is why you should listen to me a lot of these guys are fools the doctor James White oh yeah he's real scholarly real educated the guy's a fool he's not even saved Galatians chapter 2 look at verse number 3 the Bible talks about this very thing this this subject of relying on degrees and in letters of commendation look at verse number 3 but neither Titus who was with me being a Greek was compelled to be circumcised and that because of false brethren unawares brought in who came in tribally to spy out our Liberty which we have in Christ Jesus that they might bring us into bondage so right away he's talking about people who in the background for the story is that Titus was a Greek he was not circumcised but these false brethren people who did not believe in salvation by grace through faith but they believed in a workspace salvation they said nope nope you've got to be circumcised you've got to keep the law you gotta do this other stuff they crept in privately they didn't make known exactly what they believed and they they wanted to spy out that says spy out our Liberty we have Liberty in Jesus Christ we're free from the law right our salvation is by faith through grace alone they came in to spy our Liberty that they might bring us into bondage get it back into doing a workspace salvation trying to corrupt the gospel that was their goal verse number five to whom we gave place by subjection no not for an hour that the truth of the gospel might continue with you so he's saying we didn't give place or be subjected to these people not for now when they brought in their damnable heresy and tried to say that oh you need to be circumcised all this stuff he didn't go along with it he said no we stood up for him we didn't get placed into them not even for an hour we didn't give him any room because they're bringing in damnable heresies we're not going to tolerate it and then look what he says in verse 6 but of those who seem to be somewhat whatsoever they were it make it no matter to me God accepteth no man's person for they who seem to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me he's talking about people who are oh they're supposed to be these real big people right these real big names and and people that that there's that they didn't add anything to me in conference I already know the truth I don't need anyone else to approve what I believe about God's Word because God doesn't accept any man's person he doesn't care if you've got letters after your name God's not gonna do they have respect unto you because of some degree that you hold God cares about the truth and ministers of the truth and people aren't afraid to preach his word and not corrupt it and not use his word deceitfully and not bring people under bondage turning forward to 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 is mentioned one more time it's even more clear here in 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 you don't impress me with how many degree you really don't doesn't impress me I'm way more impressed with the person who reads and studies their Bible all the time and knows their Bible and I can have a conversation with them and they they know exactly what I'm talking about I know what they're talking about because it's someone who reads their Bible and understands doctrine and understand Scripture I've got a lot of respect for that person way more than the person who they've got a lot of degrees but can't even understand some of the simplest of concepts out of Scripture and are just have all kinds of false doctrines and false beliefs because they spent all their time studying what some other guy wrote about the Bible in a book instead of just studying the Bible itself now look you want to read books by other authors go right ahead but that shouldn't be the majority of where you're getting your learning and teaching from about God's Word it should be coming from the Bible itself I'm not gonna say it's a sin to read some book that someone wrote about the Bible because it's not but these these guys that exalt their education to want to rely on that they're relying on what they've read about all these from all these other people's opinions and usually know very little about the Bible itself because they don't spend their time reading the Bible spend their time reading every other book under the Sun and that's gonna screw you up because there's they're ultimately gonna be relying on what some man thinks about the Bible second Corinthians chapter 2 look at verse number 17 for we are not as many which corrupt the Word of God look there's many people out there corrupting God's Word there were in that time and there were today there are today false prophets that are out there corrupting God's Word he says we're not like them we're not as many which corrupt the Word of God but as of sincerity but as of God in the sight of God speak we in Christ do we begin again to commend ourselves or need we as some others epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you saying do we need to like prove ourselves with some letters from some men saying here look we're approved by these people so this is why you should listen to us it's interesting look I didn't go to Bible College I know it's a shocker right I don't see Bible College in the Bible I don't see that the requirements for an elder for for a bishop right that says you have to attend a certain Bible College and the church I went to believe the same exact way I see people in the Bible being taught and trained and and and and learning the Word of God and and receiving the doctrines and studying to show themselves approved unto God and being workmen that needeth not to be ashamed and I see those types of examples being set forth but I don't see a Bible College look you want to go Bible College go right ahead again I mean I don't have a problem with you going it really doesn't matter to me if you if you want to do that that's fine but people started coming up with their own standards and and and some of the people I've had I've had some people I could tell in their voice kind of speak with me speak to me with a little bit disdain when they find out oh you didn't go to Bible College as if well now I'm not gonna listen anything you have to say I mean it doesn't matter the amount of time that was spent studying studying God's Word learning good doctrine you know and doing all the work which everything that the Bible talks about it's just oh you didn't go to Bible College so you don't have this letter of commendation from this organization somewhere else outside of your local church teaching you something other than what your church believes because that's a biblical model Apostle Paul says look we're not like other people do we need to commend ourselves look do I need to lift up myself and give you all the reasons why you need to believe me and you know look this is why you should believe me because I've got this degree and this degree and this degree and you know no believe me because if what I'm saying is true from God's Word that's why you should believe me I mean judge for yourselves the proof should be in the pudding you should be able to judge this ministry based on the work that this ministry is doing based on the things are happening in this church based on the people in this church the people have been one to Christ through this church and and just the fruits of this church some degree on a wall means nothing you get a degree and not even remember know anything I mean it it it it really means nothing and in a Bible says right here in second Corinthians chapter three look you don't need letters of commendation verse number two he says I didn't say oh you know what I forgot I started reading in chapter 2 verse 17 and then continued into chapter 3 so if you weren't able to follow me I apologize for that second Corinthians chapter 3 verse number 2 he says ye are our epistle written in our hearts no in red of all men he's saying we don't need these letters of commendation from other people because you you are converts you are Church you are our epistle you demonstrate what we believe in who we are and and of what spirit we are and everything else you are the ones if people want to know whether or not you know they can listen to us you're they are example verse number three for as much as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us written not with ink but with the Spirit of Living God not in tables of stone but in fleshy tables of the heart and such trust have we through Christ to God word not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves but our sufficiency is of God who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament not of the letter but of the spirit for the letter killeth with the spirit giveth life so the people that want to exalt themselves and how many you know watch out for that and again you could have one of these attributes and not be a false prophet right so I'm just giving you a list of things look when they start adding up you're really better but what and some are more severe than others people can fall into this trap of thinking that you know of just being proud and thinking that they're really intelligent and that you need to listen to them because you've studied so much or whatever and you have these degrees and doesn't necessarily make them a false prophet but keep an eye on all that stuff and don't get sucked into that of saying well that that needs to be you know you need to have that or else I'm not gonna listen to you turn people to Matthew chapter 7 I need to wrap this up I didn't realize how Matthew chapter 7 it's a passage that is I think commonly misunderstood Matthew chapter 7 I'm going to read the section starting verse 15 but it's talking about you know by their fruits you shall know them and too often times people will apply this to just knowing whether or not a person's saved and what they'll do is they'll say well if a person isn't reading their Bible and they drink or whatever then they must not be saved because the Bible says by their fruits you shall know them because they're not doing anything good right and that's not necessarily true because that's not what this passage is talking about Matthew chapter 7 it's not what the fruit is referring to of just some person of whether or not they're a believer based on how much sin they have in their life that is not what this is talking about let's look at it so we'll read it in context and see what it is talking about Matthew chapter 7 starting in verse number 15 the Bible says beware of false prophets he's setting the stage here and again go later and read this whole passage and set in in context we're starting verse 15 beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves that's the warning look we've got to be aware of these people verse 16 you shall know them by their fruits who who are we just talking about the false prophet that's who you identify by their fruits the false prophet you shall know them by their fruits do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire wherefore by their fruits you shall know them and that concludes this whole section just about knowing knowing a person by their fruits it's a false profit now look every believer is not necessarily a profit right profit is a smaller subset so he's saying you're gonna know the false prophets by their fruits and he goes on with a real simple analogy of a tree if you have a tree you're gonna know what type of tree it is by what fruit it produces say if you have a tree and it's producing apples well guess what you know what type of tree it is that's an apple tree because it's producing apples you're not gonna have an apple tree that's producing oranges they no no that's really an apple tree but it but it just produces oranges that's not an apple tree it's an orange tree I mean this is simple right this is what you say like this is so easy to understand and he's saying you cannot a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit just as much as a corrupt tree or a bad tree can't bring forth good fruit you are going to bring for everything brings forth after its kind what type it is so whatever type of tree it is that's what's gonna bring forth not every believer is a tree not every believer reproduces himself right just like not every piece of fruit becomes another tree reproducing itself you could have a lot of fruit on a tree but how many of those tree fruit actually fall the ground die and grow and you know turn into another tree bearing fruit not many it's a small percentage well it's the same way with believers with people who hear the gospel they believe the gospel many people get saved but they never bring forth more fruit and and get other people saved and reproduce themselves in other people reproduce that that salvation in another person bring forth another Christian because if you're a Christian tree you're gonna bring forth other Christians the false prophet cannot get someone else save their converts aren't gonna be legitimate converts that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ because they're a false prophet because they don't believe in the doctrine they're gonna be teaching damnable heresies so their converts their proselytes as Jesus said there'd be two four twofold more the child of hell than themselves they're bringing people in and bringing them into their own damnation so if you're gonna find who's a false prophet you look at their converts you look at what they're doing you look at the fruits of their ministry what are they doing that's how you determine whether or not a person it's one of a very good way of determining is this person a false teacher or not are they a false prophet if you go to a big church or any church doesn't matter what size it is and you hear someone and he sounds pretty good go to the people in the congregation and find out hey you know oh did this person lead you to the Lord ask them about their salvation ask them what they believe and you'll see the fruit of that prophet is it good fruit or bad fruit I mean are all these people just unsaved believe it in workspace salvation that are supposedly converted by the by the Prophet that's how you're gonna know it's very it's a very simple illustration but unfortunately it's been it's been kind of yanked out of context to apply it to way too many people for the wrong reasons then it should be all right I need to let's turn if you would a second Peter to I'm going to close with that I've got some more things I want to cover someone who's greedy is another good sign and I mentioned that before I'm not going to cover that's pretty it's pretty simple to understand I was going to show you some passages from Jude and talking about people who you know the false prophets who ran greedily after the error of Balaam and people who are just in it for the money you know those are false false prophets just care about the money but second Peter chapter two look at verse number one what we're going to close with this and we'll be done Bible says but there were false prophets also among the people even as there shall be false teachers among you this is something that's going to happen which is why I'm preaching this we need to understand this is there's gonna be false teachers among us it's gonna happen and we can't stop it for me I mean it's gonna happen they're gonna creep in they're gonna they're gonna they're gonna sneak in it says who privily which means like privately sneakily shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction this is why Peter is giving the admonition he's saying look there'd be false prophets and watch out for it and he's gonna explain and describe them verse number two and many shall follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of and through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not and their damnation slumbereth not these people will come in privately and bring in their damnable heresies and they're gonna try to gain your confidence through many different ways and try to gain your confidence through flattery they're gonna try to gain your confidence through things like oh yeah I'm King James only oh yeah look at my material on that and I can't tell you how many false prophets I've seen that promote a King James only I mean Peter Ruckman comes to mind he has a lot of material out there on the King James Bible issue that a lot of people refer to but then you start getting into his weird doctrines on other things like like a child isn't even really like a person or alive until they breathe their first breath so like opening the door for for abortions to be just fine because they don't believe a life actually be in the conception but when you breathe and you know weird things like that I mean just bizarre damnable doctrines but they use something that oh yeah hey we you know we've got a connection here we believe that and and we'll we'll sneak in and and then start spewing their their damnable heresies look at jump down to verse number 10 the Bible says but chiefly them that walk after the flesh and lust of uncleanness and despise government presumptuous are they self-willed they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities these are this is the false prophet these are the attributes of them they walk after the flesh and lust of uncleanness they despise government and not just like the government here but I mean like governing a feel like God or anyone ruling over them at all just despising any government at all presumptuous are they self-willed they are not afraid to speak evil dignities whereas angels which are greater in power and might bring that railing accusation against them before the Lord but these as natural brute beasts is talking these about these false prophets as being natural brute beasts stupid animals made to be taken and destroyed speak evil of the things that they understand not they can't understand them they're not saved they're damned the children of the devil and shall utterly perish in their own corruption and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime spots they are in blemishes sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you again the admonishment while they're with you they're gonna be feasting with you they'd be going to the potluck with you and and making themselves look like a sheep but inwardly the ravening wolves verse 14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin beguiling unstable souls and heart they have exercised with covetous practices cursed children now I'm going to go on a little bit but we need to remember and I'm constantly trying to remind everyone here of this because I believe everyone here is pretty normal in the sense that your eyes aren't just full of adultery and you can't cease from sin ever that this isn't you just just out to beguile unstable souls and just have hatred in your heart and and and they're just mischievous and and trying to seek people's hurt and just are constantly constantly in the flesh and just and just can't stop from sinning this is a wicked wicked person that is hard to even comprehend that these people exist because it's so far removed from who you are right and like I said before this isn't just your average unsaved person I mean I know when I was unsaved was I wicked yeah was I sinner yeah of course but was I just constantly just bent on people's destruction no I mean what I wasn't like you know like the serial killers right I mean if people are just plotting and planning and and premeditating or murder and hurting people and killing people just going after them and setting traps I mean this is the way that a false prophet is described as being they try to make themselves look real good and oftentimes the serial killers they get by with doing this up for a really long time because they fool a lot of people into thinking that they're good that they're just fine if there's nothing wrong with it well this so-and-so would never do that just like the child molesters uncle so-and-so would never do anything like that cousin so you know whoever it is they would never do that how dare you say anything against them because they've built up their confidence with you but we need to be aware of this that these people do exist so that we're vigilant and we watch out for it so that they we don't allow them just to destroy our church destroy your life destroy your children's lives and and protect yourself from it verse 15 which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor who loved the wages of unrighteousness but was rebuked for his iniquity the dumbass speaking with man's voice for bad the madness of the Prophet these are wells without water clouds that are carried with a tempest to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever for when they speak great but excuse me swelling words of vanity they allure through the lusts of the flesh through much wantonness those that were clean escaped from them who live in error while they promised them liberty they themselves are the servants of corruption for of whom a man is overcome of the same as he brought in bondage the false prophet is someone we need to seriously be on guard for all the time and in the days of the internet it's so much easier for to get to get for false prophets again access because you made very sincerely be looking for some more teaching look at you I want to hear some good preaching look that's great amen but just be careful about who you're listening to and try to prove them it's a lot harder to prove someone on their fruits when all you hear is a sermon on the internet and I'll close with that point because you know anybody can listen to stuff and promote teachings online and be a follower of whoever but that doesn't necessarily make that person the fruit of that person's ministry right there's a lot of people believe all kinds of weird things that will follow and do all kinds of nasty things on the internet even though they're following someone who teaches right and they're bringing a bad name upon that person but that's not their fruit I mean that's just these are his people doing what they do on the internet cuz the internet's like the Wild West I mean who knows word where their true teacher you know the true leanings are coming from so all that said just to read your Bibles is to say this read your Bibles watch out for the warning signs the Bible says in Romans 16 17 now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them they they're such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple let's not be simple let's be let's be educated know your Bible watch out for the liars watch out for the for the for the flatterers watch out for the people who are constantly worried about their degrees and trying to tell you why you should believe them watch out for the people who are greedy and just they seem like they're just in it for the money they're always talking about tithing they're always talking about how much money you got to give they're always so focused on the money and not the weightier manners of the law and judgment and mercy and and you know all the things the Bible talks about here so hopefully you know you could use this information don't forget it don't get lulled into a into a state where you're just accepting of everything that comes your way constantly judge constantly be aware and beyond the lookout for those that are lying in wait to deceive let's bow our heads have a word of prayer dear heavenly father Lord we thank you so much for all the instructions that you give us in your word God this is a this is this particular topic I know has been stressed over and over again we could we see it clearly even with the Apostle Paul you know talking about how he's how he spent night and day just warning and and knowing that that at his departure that that the wolves are gonna come in dear Lord Jesus Christ himself even said that that he was gonna when he was gonna go away there's gonna be people are gonna come in and try to scatter the flock dear Lord we know that these people exist we know that there's evil wicked people out there help us never to forget that and to be on guard and not to just be super judgmental of everybody all the time in the sense of like being on some type of a witch hunt dear God because that's not what the atmosphere we're trying to create here but just to be aware and just to just to be cautious and always beyond the lookout just to make sure that what we are receiving is in fact truth and is coming from your word dear Lord and not just even the thoughts out of someone's heart I pray to you please just help us and help our church to grow and that we wouldn't be split by some false brethren that creep in unawares your Lord's in Jesus name we pray amen