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

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Again, he preserveth the souls of the saints. What does that mean? That means that once you're saved, you were always saved. You see a lot of people say, well, in the Old Testament, that's not how it was. You had to keep the law, you had to keep the commandments, you had to repent of your sins, and then you could get into heaven. That's not true. The Bible says that he preserves the souls. Not you preserved the souls, not they preserved their souls, but he preserves the souls, meaning the people. Meaning when people got saved in the Old Testament, guess what? They were born again. Their soul and spirit, when their body died, went up to heaven to be with God, and I'm going to prove that to you beyond a shadow of a doubt. Go to 2 Peter chapter number 2, and we'll talk a little bit about Lot for a second. So we understand that we have a soul, and what that means and why we go soul winning is to convert people. It's to do work for the kingdom of God. It's to get people saved, to rescue them from the course of this world. Of course, it's to implement Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12. It's so that the word of God will make that new man and as many people as possible. 2 Peter chapter 2, look at verse number 8. So Peter is talking about Lot here. Look what he says in verse number 8. He says this, For that righteous man dwelling among them, now the them there, you guys know who that is, that's the Sodomites, says for the righteous man, for that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. You see that? So just a little tidbit there about our souls. Our souls can become vexed, which is like almost oppressed, right? Anxiety, problems, trouble. So what does this mean for us? Well, this means we need to protect our souls. This means we need to protect our new man. This is not something to play around with. This is not something to just be like, oh, I don't really want to pay attention to this. No, this is very important here. Lot lived a lifetime of vexation. Why? Because of the decisions that he made and because he failed to do what God told us to do, which was to try the spirits. Go to Matthew chapter number 16. Matthew chapter number 16. And notice what that verse had said about Lot, right? After all the crazy stuff that he did, I mean, we don't even have time to get into it. You know, it calls him righteous, right? Now, did he live a righteous life? Did he live what we would call a righteous life? Was he like a good Christian guy and soul-ending himself? No, right? He sat in the gate in a town called Sodom, okay? And even when the angels came to rescue him, he was lingering, like he was like, I really don't want to go. Look at the lights and the casinos and all the great stuff they have here. I don't want to go, right? But yet the Bible still calls him righteous. Why is that? Because his soul and his spirit were saved because he had the new man. And how did he get that? He got that because probably Abraham gave him the gospel. I mean, it's very clear that he was a saved man and he is in heaven and we have a lot of questions for him, I'm sure. So Matthew 16, look at verse number 26. Look what it says here. This is Jesus talking here and this is a very, very popular verse, one that we should at least have written down in our Bibles for soul-ending because I think it's very applicable. Look what Jesus says here. He says this, for what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Now think about this. We talked about this on Sunday, right? What is the religion of the world? It's what we like to call human achievement, okay? And that basically is this verse right here. We live in a world where the majority of people are trying to give something in exchange for their soul, okay? You tell them, hey, are you 100% sure that you're on your way to heaven? Or you ask that question. They say, yes, I know I am because I'm a good person. I'm pretty good. I haven't killed anyone. I believe in God plus I do all these works, right? They've got the hand sandwich train, they've got the porridge, they've got all these different works, but the Bible, Jesus Christ is very clear that you cannot give anything in exchange for your soul. The only thing you can do is give that measure of faith that God's given you and put that all on Jesus Christ. That is all that you can do. Go back to Matthew chapter number 10 and let's take a look further here. Matthew chapter number 10, look at verse 28. Jesus says this. He says, and fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Now, keep this in the back of your minds because we're going to talk about this here in a moment, but how come it doesn't say spirit? Where does the spirit go? That's right, it goes back out and we're going to look at that here in a moment. But notice what he says there, and fear not them which kill the body, okay? Now, why read that? Why understand that? Why even talk about this subject? Well, it's very clear here that when people put more stock in fear into the body, i.e. the old man, okay, which has been cut asunder by the word of God, then guess what? It brings a snare, it brings anxiety, it brings trouble, it brings fear on us, and then we live our lives in perils and vexation just like Lot did, okay? So he says, fear not them which kill the body. Look, you're going to see as these days move forward, more and more people will be emboldened to want to kill us, okay? You say, well, how do you know that? Well, you know, look at the church email account, okay? You know, every time I talk to one of these new evangelical liberals, you know, and they're just like, I'll bet you get a lot of messages and phone calls, huh, from people wanting this and that, I'm like, well, not too many. I mean, I do get some calls every once in a while from somebody maybe wanting help or clarification on a subject, no problem in the world with that. But the majority of the time, it's somebody who wants to do something to this body right here, and it's not very pleasant, okay? And here's the thing, if we live in the opposite direction of what Jesus is saying here, so in other words, he says, and fear not them which kill the body, what happens when we do fear them that kill the body? Well, we start to neglect the new man. You see how that works? That's exactly what he's saying here. This is why we have to understand the difference and the separation that the Word of God did to our trichotomy so that we can build up the new man, so that we can allow him to shine forth versus the old man. Because when we put on the old man by a daily basis, guess what? The works stop. That's how it is, okay? The works stop, the momentum stops, the people stop rolling in, and all sorts of problems and trouble arise. Now, if you would, go to the book of Micah. Micah chapter number six. Micah chapter number six. So we are supposed to communicate this, so obviously we know that God's not gonna destroy us in hell because we are saved, okay? We don't have to worry about that. We know that someday we're gonna get a new body. We will experience that glorification. You see, we're always gonna be a trichotomy. There's just gonna be a little period where the old man goes into the ground, the new man goes up into heaven, and then when the time is right, when the season is fulfilled, we'll get our new bodies and we will still have body, soul, and spirit. But it will be a new body, okay? And we won't sin anymore. The former things will no longer be remembered. They will no longer vex us. They will no longer be a problem for us. But in the meantime, we have to learn how to function in this trichotomy because it can almost, I mean, it can almost seem like we're bipolar sometimes, you know? You wake up in the morning and you're like, man, when I go to work today, if this person says this, I'm knocking them out, you know what I mean? And then you're like, wait a minute, I'm supposed to go soloing tonight. Like, why am I having this fight inside of myself, you know? And these are things that we struggle with, right? But understanding the division here and understanding what's coming and understanding how to protect it, it really is gonna help us out tremendously in our Christian faith and in our walk. Micah chapter six, look at verse number seven. So Micah, a prophet during Hezekiah's reign, I don't have time to get into the full extent of his vision here, but I wanna highlight something that he says here, which backs up Matthew chapter 16 verse 26. Look what he says in verse number seven. It says this, will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with 10,000s of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression? Now don't miss this after the comment here, what does it say? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Very interesting there. So Micah here under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost says, hey, will God accept the fruit of my body, i.e. my old man, in exchange for the sin of my soul? It's a rhetorical question. The answer is a resounding no. He won't. But again, what do the majority of people today say? Look at what I've done. Look at what my church has done. Look at all the food packages we sent out. Look at all this stuff we've done on social media. Look at my pastor Steven Furtick. He's got 18,000 people in the front row at his church. How could he be wrong? How could that be a problem? Well, it's a big problem because if you go study him, and not just him, all the people like him, all the people that look up to him, all the people that are trying to be in the same room as him, really, they are just like these people here. And Micah's saying, will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams? So in other words, can we just heap up and just do more? More works, more works. He'll accept my works the more that we do. Of course not. Right? What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? And the answer is nothing. The only thing a man could ever give in exchange for his soul is to place his faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the same in the Old Testament. It's the same in the New Testament. It will be the same during the tribulation. It will be the same forever. That is how it works. It will be the same in the millennium. Works have never, ever, ever profited your soul outside of salvation. Now obviously, after we're saved, then the works of righteousness that we do count. Why? Because we are in the kingdom of God. We are doing those through the new man, which God has created. So you can leave your place there, if you would, and go to Genesis chapter number 45. So again, the first thing that I wanted to talk about and bring up was the soul. What is the soul? Well, it's basically our mind, our emotions, and our will. It's really who we are as human beings. And you say, well, again, why is that important? Well, it's important because your soul can get vexed. Your soul can go through sorrows. I mean, just go type in the word soul, you know, on your Bible app and just read all the different ways that it can be affected. Okay? And that's what we need to realize and understand so that we can protect our being. So let's move on here and talk about the spirit. Okay? So again, we're breaking down 1 Thessalonians chapter number 5, verse 23, and we're breaking down Genesis chapter 2, verse 7, which basically says that God made us as a trichotomy. Genesis chapter number 45, look at verse number 26. So this is as Jacob is finding out the facts. He's finding out the truth that his son, Joseph, is yet alive. Because if you remember, he thought for many years that he was dead, that a beast had devoured him. He learns from his other sons that that's not true. And that's a whole other sermon in and of itself. But let's look at verse number 26 here and look what it says. So it says this, and told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not. Now look at verse 27. And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them. And when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, don't miss this, the spirit of Jacob their father revived. You see that? The spirit of Jacob their father revived. Look at verse 28. And Israel said, it is enough, Joseph my son is yet alive, I will go see him before I die. Okay? Go to Numbers chapter number 5. Numbers chapter number 5. So again, the first thing that I wanted to bring up here about our spirit, notice this is talking about Jacob's spirit. It says that it revived. What does that mean? It means when he received the news that his son was dead many, many years prior to this, that it did something to his spirit, which affected his soul. Which just basically is saying it affected him as a person. And he never got over it. So when he gets that great, awesome news that his son's alive, it says that his spirit revived and it really affected everything about him. Okay? I mean, think about it. He went on, he was able to make that journey. He saw his son, he saw his grandsons, and he was able to live a decent amount of time after the events that we just read there. Okay? So, why is that important? Why is it important to know and understand our spirit? And I'm going to tell you why. It's because there are attachments that can attach themselves to our spirit. Let me show you that here in Numbers chapter 5. Look at verse number 30. It says this. So this is the law here. It says, Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law. So basically, God is instructing the children of Israel, or the Levites rather, a process of when a man gets this feeling in his being. Something's not right here. Okay? I feel like something's wrong in my marriage. I feel like something's wrong with my wife here, or whatever. The Bible's saying that that is the spirit of jealousy. Okay? Now is that wrong? No. Right? You know, I mean, married couples should be jealous of each other. Shouldn't be envious. Like, oh, you can write better than me, you can speak better than me. Right? That's envy. Okay? That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about jealous. Okay? We should be jealous over the things that belong to us. This is our church. We should be jealous when other people attack our church. I think that's fair. I think that's righteous. The Bible says that God is a jealous God. It never says that he's an envious God here. See, why bring all this up? Because it is a spirit. It's a thing. Okay? And this kind of goes back to Ecclesiastes chapter number 11. Okay? We don't know the way, we don't know what the spirit of jealousy looks like in the spiritual world, or how that works. But we do know that it is a thing, and it attaches to our spirit, and it causes us different emotions, and different thoughts, and different things. And of course, here in the law, God gave them a process to go through to discern whether or not this spirit was even true. Okay? So the try the spirits thing, it's not something new that just only applies to the New Testament. No, they were instructed to do this even way back in the day when the nation of Israel was first starting. Now go to Deuteronomy chapter number 34. Deuteronomy chapter number 34. So we saw the spirit of jealousy. We saw that Jacob's spirit revived when he got good news. Okay? This is also why you don't want to hang around downers all the time. You know what I'm talking about? People are just always like, Oh man, I think I've got cancer in my knee. I think I got cancer in this other leg. Oh, you know, everything sucks. Because it vexes you. It attacks your spirit. It causes your spirits, in other words, to kind of hang low. And that takes a toll on your soul, and it takes a toll on your body. And we'll talk about that in greater detail at a later date. But let's look at Deuteronomy 34 in verse number 9. So again, Moses here is about to be done with the nation of Israel. He's about to hand power over to Joshua. And look what it says in verse number 9 about Joshua. It says this, In Joshua the son of Nun was full of what? The spirit of wisdom. Okay? Now is it possible for somebody who's not saved to have the spirit of wisdom? No. Not at all. You have to be saved. Now is it possible for people that are not saved to be wise? Yeah, there are people that are not saved that are very wise. They're very wise with their money. They're very wise with their behavior. They're very spiritual sometimes. I mean, they can act in a wise manner. You know? And sometimes they're a lot wiser than we are. Let's just be honest. Jesus said that. We don't have time to look at that, but that is a thing. But there's something called the spirit of wisdom. Now how do we as God's children get the spirit of wisdom? Through humility and learning the word of God. It's very simple. Okay? Now it's very simple to say that. It's difficult to actually have discipline to constantly read and pray and meditate and be around God's people and to actually go through these things. But this is very important. This is a spiritual book which can provide spiritual wisdom which affects your spirit, which helps you in your worship with God. So if you would go back into Proverbs and go to Proverbs chapter number 18. Proverbs chapter number 18. And let's further look at some things here regarding the spirit of man. So Proverbs chapter 18. Look down at verse number 14. The Bible says this. It says in Proverbs 18, 14, the spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear. Okay? This is why Lot had so many issues in his life. Because those Sodomites literally, they vexed his soul through vexing his spirit. Their spirit of foolishness, their spirit of all this other garbage really had an impact on Lot. And this is why we constantly tell people, hey, you know, you want to get away as much as possible from people that have evil communications. Because they will corrupt your good manners. It's not the other way around. People think, oh, you know, I don't go to church. I just kind of go to the bars and I go to the clubs and I just kind of hang out where the unsaved are, right? Because that's what Jesus did. And they'll charge that to him. That is foolishness is what that is. That's somebody trying to make an excuse for the way that they're living their life, which is an error. That is the spirit of error versus the spirit of truth. So again, but a wounded spirit who can bear. The Bible says that the way of transgressors is hard. You ever notice that? About people that just can't ever seem to pull themselves out of the snare, right? Their way, their life is always hard. Every time you see them, it's just like, oh, man, my life's falling apart. You know, this has happened to me. This has happened to me. And then you get to talking with them and you get to asking them questions. And you just find out these horrible things that they are allowing to enter into their mind. And it's no wonder that they fit right into this verse. But a wounded spirit who can bear. Let's go to Proverbs chapter number 20. Proverbs chapter number 20. Let's take a look at another verse about our spirit. Look what it says in verse 27. It says this. The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly. See that there? That's very powerful. The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord. So without your spirit, are you alive? No. If your spirit goes back to God whom gave it, which it says in Ecclesiastes chapter number 12, well, you're done. Hopefully your soul is attached to that so that you're on your way to heaven here. But again, if somebody asks, what would be a good definition of the spirit of man? What's its purpose? Well, you would want to point them to this verse right here. It's the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly. Okay? Understand that. We're going to talk about that here in a second. But look, go if you would to Romans chapter number 8. Romans chapter number 8. Romans chapter number 8. Look at verse number 15. So Paul mentions this to the saved, to the believers here at Rome, and he makes a statement in verse 15. Look what it says. It says for ye, talking to the saved, for ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father. You see that? So what is the spirit that we as God's children have received? It's the spirit of adoption, not the spirit of bondage. That is what we are trying to eradicate in our community. We are trying to go out and get people out of that spirit. So again, when you knock on someone's door and they're like, you know, I don't really care about these spiritual things. I'm not really concerned where I go when I die. Guess what? Through that shell, they are lying to you because they are in the course of the world. And the course of the world provides the spirit of bondage. At night when no one's looking and they're lying on their bed, they're wondering, is this true? What if this is true? What if Jesus Christ is real? What if judgment is a real thing? They have had those thoughts in their heart. The Bible is very clear in Romans chapter 2, rather, that that has taken place in everybody. All of us. Look at verse, actually go over to chapter number 11, same book, Romans chapter 11, and look at verse number 8. And again, Paul reminds the believers, hey, we haven't received the spirit of bondage again to fear because it's possible through complacency and through walking in the old man to revert back to that spirit of bondage. You know, to just kind of forget about spiritual things and to get so caught up into the world that all of a sudden you're fearing everything. You're fearing what man's going to do to you. You're fearful about your job. You're fearful about all these things. And God's like, hey, Paul, make sure you remind the believers not to allow themselves to slide back into a position to where they just have the fear and they're just worried about everything going on. Look, you turn on the news and you're watching that stuff every single day. First of all, I mean, you're going to be one confused individual, okay? If you don't believe me, look, I will take you to people's homes. I mean, they've got three TVs on in their house and they're all on different news stations. I mean, this is a real thing. I know sometimes I wonder if people are like, are you making this up? Look, I'm telling you right now, I say if I go to seven houses a day, I will tell you right now, six of them have at least two TVs on with two or three different, I mean, news stations. They're flipping back and forth. You know, people around here, they don't watch like sports that often. At least not during the day when I'm around. It's the news. Maybe they just turn it on because they think, oh, the service guy will like this. Well, they don't know. The service guy don't like that news. I'd rather you just turn the thing off. But these people are scared out of their minds. Oh, did you hear the gas? Yeah, the gas prices suck. You know what? But you know how I bring myself comfort? I look at these commie liberals and I say, you asked for it and now you're going to get it. But we serve a risen savior who will take care of us. Romans chapter 11, look at verse number eight. It says this. According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, ears that they should not hear unto this day. And so, again, we have to be able to teach this truth to people. There are some people out there that have the spirit of slumber. And you give them the gospel and they're just like, oh, what? What church are you going to again? Like, what did you just say? Who's ever talked to someone like that? Or maybe they track with you all the way to the very end. And you ask them, do you believe this? And they're like, yes. Great. In your own words, tell me now, what do you think a person has to do to be saved? Be a good person, right? And their eyes just get big and have a good relationship with God, because I know it's not a religion, right? It's a relationship. And it's just like, how could you give me the right answer for the last 15 minutes and then revert back to that and actually say that's what I told you? Who's ever had that? Isn't that what you just said? You're possibly dealing with somebody who has the spirit of slumber, which attaches itself to man, and we don't need that. We don't want that. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 2. Look what it says in verse number 12. It says this. It says, Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Look, I can't tell you how important, listen to me, how important it really is to understand what Paul's telling the Corinthians here. I mean, he's tearing them apart in his book, isn't he? They're not exactly a spiritual church. They're not exactly doing things according to the will of God, are they? What does he say? He's like, hey guys, we have not received the spirit of the world, but yet the spirit of the world, he's telling the Corinthians, is in this church. This is why we are the way that we are. Because the spirit of the world is constantly trying to make its way in your life, trying to make its way in my life, and trying to make its way through that door right there to come inside of this church. It happens on a weekly basis, and we cannot allow that to happen. Do you understand me? Do you understand the severity of the subject here? Now we have received not the spirit of the world. See, again, why do you get so upset with this? Because I talk to these so-called Christians all the time. You know what? I'll even go to people's houses a lot of times, and I'll fix their stuff, and I can tell they're saved. We'll talk about it. They'll bring it up. They'll think they're going to get me saved through contemporary Christian music or something. Crank it up. Oh, your employer told me you were a pastor. That's great. And then they'll want to start talking, and it's like, this is great. It's great and all, but I'm looking around. I'm like, what's up with the Bacardi? Well, you know what I mean? What's up with all this booze? How do you have more booze on your kitchen counter than somebody who works at a bar? This is absolutely ludicrous. Look, we have to understand we have not received the spirit of the world, but yet it's so tempting for us, and so many Christians, I'm talking about saved people, slide back into the spirit of the world, and we have to be on guard because of that push. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter number 12. Hopefully you kept your place there, Ecclesiastes chapter number 12. So again, you know, there are spirits that are competing to commune with our spirit, the spirit which God has given us. There is this real spiritual warfare that is going on that we can't really physically see with the eyes, so a lot of times we just have this tendency to, oh, just blow it off. You know, I'm good, right? I read the Bible last week, man. I'm good. Nobody's going to mess with me. Yeah, just wait. That's how it always starts. People thinking, there ain't nothing going to happen. I know the truth about the rapture. I'm right on prophecy, okay? Look, there's all kinds of people that are right on the reprobate doctrine, that are right on prophecy, that are saved, and guess what? They're out of the will of God. They're out of church because they allowed themselves to be defeated by the spirit of the world. Ecclesiastes chapter number 12. I've been referencing this. I just want to read it for you. Look at verse number 7. The Bible says this. It says, then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Now, do you remember that verse that we read in Matthew chapter 10 where Jesus said, don't fear them which kill the body? Right? So who are we supposed to fear? Right. Fear God. And God can destroy both body and what? Soul and where? Hell, exactly. We had a person that came to this church for, I don't know, over a year, and for some reason he just didn't understand, just didn't believe this. I just always thought it was weird. You know, I don't really think that's what that means. What does it mean then? I mean, you got Jesus leaving out, you know, the spirit part, and then you've got Solomon here telling us that, hey, when a person dies, the spirit goes back to God who gave it. Okay? Look, it's not that hard to understand. We've gone over a lot of Bible verses already. Hopefully you understand Hebrews 4-12. When a person gets saved, that word of God comes in and boom! Divides you as in the old you and basically quickens your soul and your spirit together. So when your body dies, that spirit's going back to God and that soul's attached to it and you're going up to the Lord. Okay? Now, what happens when an unsaved person dies? Who, yeah, the body goes into the grave, the soul goes farther down, right? You got two going down, you got the body going into the ground, soul goes down to hell and that spirit still goes back to God. Now, again, I will employ Ecclesiastes 11. We don't know exactly what all of that looks like in the spiritual world, but we do know that when that body goes into the ground and that soul goes to hell, you're very really you, right? Go read Luke 16 because you guys all remember the story of the rich man and Lazarus, right? What did the rich man ask Abraham? Hey, send Lazarus to give me some water, right? Send that servant boy to drop a little bit of water on my tongue. Isn't that what he said? Right? So, again, this stuff can get very intense, but just understand that the spirit goes back to God who gave it, okay? And our mission is to go employ the word of God to as many people as possible who will receive it and hopefully just get them saved, right? But it does help to understand these things. It does help so that we can, you know, just protect ourselves and have that motivation and that zeal to want to protect our soul and spirit, to want to protect the new man, to want to protect ourselves and our church from the spirit of the world, which is always trying to get its way in. Now, go to John chapter number four. John chapter number four. I was going to have you read this first, but I'll just summarize it. Ecclesiastes chapter number eight, Solomon just basically says that man does not have power over his spirit. And a lot of people think that, like, oh, man, you know, scientists and Elon Musk and these guys, they're going to get so technically advanced that they're going to be able to prevent death. They never will. They never will. No human being will ever have power over that spirit, okay? When God says you're done, you're done. And, yes, there is coming a time, which we have read about in Revelation, where people will seek death and will not be able to find it, okay? But it won't be because of some brain chip by Elon Musk. It won't be because of some magic potion that some rich billionaire satanic guy made, okay? It won't be because of that. It'll be because, like, oh, God's like, this is what you want? Sure, I'll let death flee from you. And then what does he do? He unleashes hell on them. They wind up dying anyways. John chapter number four, look at verse number 24. Let's start putting all of this stuff together now so it can make some application here. Look at verse number 24. So Jesus says this. God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth, okay? Go to John chapter number three. We tell people that all the time, okay? This is why we are against the New King James, the NIV, the ESV, the Amplified Bible, all of these garbage versions that are out there. Because the Bible says, Jesus said, hey, God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him with the electric guitar and the drum. Oh, and the smoke machines? No, that's not what he said, right? No, that's what a lot of liberals who come in here will say. They'll come in here, sit down, and then like three weeks later we'll get an email, you know, I just don't think you guys worship God right. I'm looking for a church that suits me. That church, there was some biblical truth and stuff, some pretty awesome things, a lot of nice people, whatever the case is, but I just didn't feel like the worship really hit home. Yes, because you're not seeking to worship the God of heaven and earth. You're seeking to worship the God of this world, okay? Because the God who is in heaven says you absolutely positively have to worship him in spirit and in truth. John chapter number three, look at verse number six, it says this, that which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of spirit is spirit. You see that there? Very important to understand. Go to Luke chapter number one, Luke chapter number one. And while you're turning there, I'm going to read for you Romans 8, 16, which says the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Again, that is very important because, you know, I preached about this several weeks ago, a few months ago now, that, you know, a lot of people, and I'm seeing this increase, like all the time, you know, where people will start to doubt their salvation, and all of us have had doubts here and there. You know, there is a real battle that is taking place in the spiritual world, and I really think it's amping up. But a lot of times people will get these doubts about whether or not they're saved because of maybe something they did or these evil thoughts that they had, you know, and it's always comforting to understand that the Bible says the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, okay? It doesn't say that our thoughts bear witness with our thoughts, okay? Our thoughts need to be checked. Our thoughts need to be garbage. I mean, look, you're going to have these thoughts, and all of us have them. You know, there's just two types of people in the world. There's some people that say, hey, I think I might have a problem. I need help. And then there's other people who just say, oh, I never have those thoughts that are lying, okay? We've all had thoughts. I've said this a million times, and I will say it till the day I die. If God said, hey, for 30 seconds, I'm going to allow all of you to be able to read your thoughts, okay? No one in here would ever look at anyone again or talk to anyone again. This church would be done. It would be a nightmare, and you know that's true. The stuff you guys have thought about me, right? The stuff I've thought about you? I mean, I'm just kidding, obviously. I'm just teasing you, right? But please understand, right? What did Jesus say proceeds from our hearts, which are our thoughts? Yeah, evil, fornications, murders, thefts, you know, all of these evil imaginations and things, right? So, again, it's important to understand that the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. See, what does that mean? This book right here, okay? Do you believe it? That's the question. Do you believe the words that are written in this book and only you know? And if you do, you know what? The Spirit of God bears witness with your spirit. You're saved. It doesn't matter what stupid thoughts come into your mind. You have to take those captive is what you have to do, okay? You have to be able to have that conversation within yourself and say, you know what, Lord, I really need help with these thoughts. Then you have to pray and you have to memorize a Bible verse against that thing and really fight it. It's a fight, okay? But no one's saying that today except for us and our friends and people that study the Bible, okay? You're not going to go to the liberal church and they're going to tell you that. You know what they're going to say? Well, we have this counseling program for $399 a month that you can subscribe to and we'll help you overcome that. We bring in the best psychologists from around the world, right? And you can hop on the Zoom call with them. That's what they'll give you. But you know what? We have the ability to receive the Spirit of wisdom because we're saved. And look, God has made these things available to us. But, you know, the further you want to distance yourself from these things, the more trouble and the more vexation you're bringing on yourself. So, again, let's tie this together here, okay? Luke chapter number one. Look at verse number 46. We're going to talk about soul and spirit and how they work together here. Look at this statement here. Luke chapter one verse 46. It says this, And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord. Now look at verse 47. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. Okay, you see that? So what's God's purpose in creating human beings as a trichotomy? What is the whole point of the soul and spirit? Well, it's because of this, okay? So God created us, or human beings, with a spirit and a soul so that we could receive him. Look at verse 46. So that we could receive him, or verse 47 rather, we could receive him in our spirit and express him through our souls. That's exactly what you see Mary doing here, okay? It says, And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. She doesn't say my spirit hath rejoiced in this excellent Christian song that just really got me moving. It had the right beat. It had the right pattern. It had the right flow. That isn't what she says. No, she rejoiced in God her Savior. Everybody understand that? Go back if you would, let's see, to the book of Proverbs. We're getting close to being done. You know what? Never mind that. Go to 1 John chapter 4. We got to be done here pretty quickly. I'll read for you Proverbs 15. You go to 1 John chapter number 4. 1 John chapter number 4. And we're going to start to talk about something unique here about our spirits that I haven't mentioned. Well, I've alluded to, but I haven't mentioned it. So you turn to 1 John chapter 4. I'm going to read for you Proverbs 15 verse 4 which says this, A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit. Okay? This is very important for you to understand. You need to understand that when you're at work and you're dealing with Captain Christian, Super Mega Righteous, you know, I'm spiritual or I go to church, blah, blah, blah. But they say very perverse things. Okay? You need to understand you're dealing with somebody that has a breach in their spirit. Now, I'm not necessarily saying that anybody who said anything perverse isn't saved because people that are saved can say perverse things. Okay? I mean, people could tell nasty jokes. Whatever it happens, we still have the flesh. We still have the old man. But nonetheless, it is a breach in the spirit. Okay? What's another way to say that though? It has to do with the word hedge. Okay? It's almost like saying that we've basically taken out our hedge trimmers, right? Like Lot did and started gouging that hedge of protection that God's trying to place around us. Who's ever found themselves in that situation? We've all done it. Okay? But the Bible says very clearly, a wholesome tongue is a tree of life. Why is that? Well, a wholesome tongue, a complete tongue. Somebody who speaks more in the word of God. Somebody who is trying to edify and exhort. You know, obviously, you're going to be able to tell people how to get saved. But you're also going to be able to edify a brother. Right? Help somebody out. And that helps life in general. But the Bible says, but perverseness therein. Okay? I'm talking about all manner perverse. You know, you don't have to just be nasty and crude and talking about the physical relationship to be perverse. I mean, you can start turning the word of God around. You know, I mean, you could go down to this create church here and go watch their service. You know, go to one of these barstool churches like that. And you know what? You're looking at a guy who is perverse. Because he's trying to look like the world. Captain skinny tour jeans. Right? Tight shirt. Not caring about anything. Trying to fit in with the world. You know, that person has a breach in their spirit. Who's heard of Ravi Zacharias? The guy who died what? Probably about a year ago now maybe? Some great super Christian apologist. What was discovered after he died? That he was very perverse. Wasn't he? Right? And people look back and yeah, but he never said anything. He never alluded to anything. How could this be? The Bible told you. The Bible told you very clearly. The guy was a false prophet. He preached a false gospel. That's perverse. Okay? And what was the big thing? Well, in the original manuscripts and in the original languages, that is perverse. When someone says that, there is a breach in their spirit. That's all I'm trying to tell you. That's what I'm trying to warn you of. Okay? So, you're in 1 John chapter number 4. Look at verse number 1. We talked about this recently but it applies. Let's look at it. Beloved, who are we talking about in 1 John? Is it believers or the heathen? It's believers. Beloved, believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Look, you guys, we have to understand and we have to maintain this understanding that most people, many, who say they are Christians, who say they are scholars, say they are teachers, say they are preachers. Guess what? Most of them are false prophets. Oh, you're a cult. You're saying you're the only one with the truth? I didn't say that. I'm just saying that many means most. And the Bible is very clear here that we have to try the spirits. Say, well, what in the world? How do you try the spirits? Well, you know, what do we just read at the beginning of the service? 1 Thessalonians chapter number 5. What are we told to do in that chapter? To prove all things and to hold fast that which is good. What's another way of saying that? Try the spirits. How do we do that? By the word of God. That's how you do it. You need a spiritual book. You need spiritual words in order to try the spirits. Look at verse number 2. It says this, Hereby know ye the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Okay? This is very important when you're out soul hunting, okay? Because, look, I've been soul hunting with old IFP guys and God bless them, but sometimes they'll just go up to somebody and be like, Hey, you know, are you 100% sure you're saved or if you were to die today, you know for sure you'd go to heaven? Oh yeah, I know for sure. I believe in Jesus Christ, you know? And then you go back later or maybe you probe this person further. Who is Jesus Christ? Well, he's just God's son. Well, what does that mean? Right? Well, I mean, think about what does that mean? If they tell you, well, you know, he began when he was born. Wrong. Or if they say, well, you know, after he died on the cross, now he's no longer man. He's just, you know, he's just all God. Wrong. Because he's fully God and fully man. Okay? Understand that. What does it say in verse number three? And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of antichrist whereof ye have heard that it should come and even now already is in the world. Right? So look, we have to understand this, that we are outnumbered. Okay? We are outnumbered by this, but we are not out-powered. Okay? Verse four. You're of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Now, verse number five. They are of the world. Okay? And people all the time, I'll probably get a message from this. I can't believe you said that about that church. Look, go look up this guy down here at Create Church. It's a nightmare. There was another church in there before those guys moved in. They were a nightmare, too. Their big thing was, oh, you know, we're really informal around here. We are a church that exists to reach the unchurched. Right? So when you come to us, we sit, I sit down on a stool, I'm just gonna talk to you. Really? How about you come to this church? Well, we'll be instant in season and out of season. And I'll tell you things you don't want to hear sometimes to make you better. They are of the world, therefore they speak. Right? Therefore, speak they of the world and the world here with them. That is a very good test. That is a very good way to try the Spirit. This person that you like online, right, that seems to be different. Oh, they have 80,000 people in their congregation. They must be doing something right. I'm starting to think Pastor Jones is crazy. I'm starting to think that this whole new IFB thing just isn't working out because people keep leaving and weirdos keep coming in and blah, blah, blah. Well, really, let's think about this for a second. Listen to what they say. Are they of the world? Do they speak highly of the world? Do they endorse the ways of the world? If so, guess what? Does the world hear them? If the world hears them, guess what? They're not of God. Does the world hear us? No. Right? They listen to us and take us out of context. You know what I mean? But they don't hear us. They don't hearken. They don't receive by and large. Verse number six. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error. Why is it important to understand the difference between those two to protect ourselves? Because there's many different spirits competing to attach themselves to us. Right? And guess what? That's spiritual warfare. Guess what? That means that we are under attack and we have to understand this. Last place I'm going to have you turn. Isaiah chapter number eight. Isaiah chapter number eight. We will be done. Isaiah chapter number eight. So again, a good way to try the spirits is really putting these spirits or another way to say that just these teachings, these concepts, these precepts, these ideas that people seem to come up with and measure them against the word of God. And also a good test, like I've already said, does the world seem to be on board with it? Because if the world by and large is on board with it, guess what? It's probably wrong. It's almost always, always, always wrong. Isaiah chapter eight. Look at verse number 18. It says this, Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion. Verse 19. And when they shall say unto you, seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto wizards that peep and that mutter, should not a people seek unto their God for the living to the dead? Now people constantly try to do this to us, right? They'll come in here and they'll start peeping and muttering. Hey, do you have a program that, um, where you go to people's houses and you bless all the items in their house? Can you come to my house and bless my couch and my chairs and my tea? I mean, I don't want them. I don't want to be, it's a monitor. And can you bless my cups and my plates and my forks? And it's like, shut up. Okay. You know, it's like, look, what are you a wizard? I mean, look, we don't teach bong shui here. That's what I call it. I think, I think the correct pronunciation is feng shui. You know what that is? That's like this Asian mysticism that basically says, if you don't have stuff organized correctly, you know, in a space or in a room, it creates like this negative energy, right? And you've got to kind of look at this yin yang symbol and really try to align everything that you do in it. That's kind of where that teaching comes from. Anybody know why I'm bringing this up? Because some fool tried to come in here and do that. That's why. Anyways, look at verse number 20. To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. You understand that? That's the same thing that John's telling us, right? That we need to try the Spirit. When people are constantly trying to undermine the word of God, look, just understand that's a problem. And it needs to be dealt with accordingly. Last verse I'm going to read for you is this. First John chapter number four, verse number six again. We're of God. He that knoweth God heareth us, he that is not of God heareth us not. It's that simple. It really is that simple. Look, when you're talking with people and they seem spiritual, right? Look, the reason why they seem spiritual is because that's pretty much accepted in the world today. You can almost get by if you just say you're spiritual, right? But the test is, what side are you on? Are you on the side of the Spirit of Truth? Can you even receive the Spirit of Truth, which is what? It's the word of God. Or are you the Spirit of Air? And look, don't think just because you're saved that you can't fall prey to the Spirit of Air because it happens all the time. We see people all the time in all different types of churches get so filled with pride and arrogance that all of a sudden they start saying the strangest things, don't they? And it's like, how did you go from soul winning and going to church to saying stuff like that? And it's because pride has blinded them and they started basically breaching the Spirit. They started violating the hedge of protection, you know, and now they're in a state of chastisement and the Spirit of Air is plaguing them. It's vaccine them. Look, just study the life of Lot, if you don't believe me. Who thinks it's a good idea? Look, if we met somebody today that was kind of like Lot, let's say they came here for a while and all of a sudden, well, I got beef. I think this church is getting too big or whatever, you know. I'm going to go over here where it's more well watered, you know. I'm going to go to this church over here for whatever reason, right? And then you start hearing about them hanging out with queers. We'd be like, that guy's a rabbi, this and that. It's not always the case though. It's not always the case. I don't even know why I'm talking about this, but you get the point, right? We need to protect our spirit. We are a trichotomy and what we allow to enter into our eyes and our ears, it does affect us. It does matter, okay? And let me just leave you with this. We win souls, but we try the spirits. Does that make sense? We win souls, but we try spirits. All that, everything I said basically leads to that. We win souls and we try the spirits. That's what we do. That's what we are called. That's what we are commanded to do, okay? Win souls and try the spirits. And by doing that, right, we're not going to go wrong. Are we going to make mistakes? Of course everybody makes mistakes, okay? But by and large, we will get this thing moving. We will have victory after victory after victory as a church if we can just learn to keep that and to make that our understanding. We win souls and we try the spirits. We have to do this. We have to constantly refer to this book for everything that we do. This is true worship. I mention this all the time and I mention this on Sunday, you know? That's what Paul said. He says, hey, I'm called into question because of the way that I worship God, believing the things that are written aforetime, you know? Believing the prophets, believing the Psalms, believing the Proverbs, believing the words of God, believing everything that Jesus said, right? You know what? That's why the world has a problem with us, right? And we need to protect our spirit and not be ashamed of the Gospel, not be ashamed of these words, not be ashamed, not be vexed, not be brought back into the spirit of bondage because a few family members walked away or because a few friends said, you know what? I don't want anything to do with you anymore. Let them go. They're not worth it. They will only pull you down. And then what? What are you going to do? You're going to spend eternity wishing you hadn't done that. That's what's going to happen. So let's not make that mistake and let's understand these things because we have to protect what is spirit, what is spiritual. So let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for this study. Just pray that you'd bless the fellowship after the service, Lord, and be with us as we go throughout the rest of the week. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Alright, please grab your songbooks one more time and turn to song 415. Victory through grace, 415 on the first. Conquering now and still to conquer, right in the King in his mind, leading the host of all the faithful into the midst of the fine. See them with courage advancing, clouding their brilliant array, shouting the name of their leader, hear them exultingly say, not to the strongest of battle, not to the swiftest of race, yet to the true and the faithful, victory is promised through grace. Conquering now and still to conquer, who is this wonderful King? When to the armies which He leadeth, while of His glory they sing, He is our Lord and Redeemer, Savior and One, our Divine. They are the stars that forever ride, and His kingdom will shine. Not to the strongest of battle, not to the swiftest of race, yet to the true and the faithful, victory is promised through grace. Conquering now and still to conquer, Jesus our ruler of all. Thrones and their scepters all shall perish, crowns and their splendor shall fall, yet shall the armies out lead us, faithful and true to the last. Fighting thy mansions eternal, rest when their warfare is past, not to the strong, not to the swiftest of race, yet to the true, victory is promised through grace. We cannot help the enemy out, Lord. Bring us safe back to our place this weekend. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.