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Thank you for the souls that were saved today. I ask now that you please bless Pastor Mahanzi He preaches your word and bless us with attentiveness as we listen. In Jesus name I pray. Amen All right, we're in 1st Samuel chapter 16 look down at your Bibles at verse number 6 1st Samuel chapter 16 verse number 6 says and it came to pass When they were come that he looked on Eliab and said surely the Lord's anointed is before him the Lord said unto Samuel look now look not on his countenance or on the height of stature because I have refused him for The Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance But the Lord looketh on the heart Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel and he said neither hath the Lord chosen this Then Jesse made Shema to pass by and he said neither had the Lord chosen this Again just he made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel and Samuel said unto Jesse the Lord hath not chosen these And Samuel said unto Jesse are here all thy children and he said there remaineth yet the youngest and behold he keepeth the sheep and Samuel said unto Jesse sent and fetch him for we will not sit down till he come hither and he sent and brought him in Now he was ruddy and with all of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look to and the Lord said arise Anoint him for this is he of course that's referring to David now the title of the sermon this evening is things are not always what they seem things are not always what? They seem we see in first Samuel chapter 16 at this point King Saul had gone to a point Where he had rejected the word of the Lord for so long that basically God said I'm gonna reject you from being King and the kingdom Of God shall be taken from you and given to a neighbor of thine that is better than thou Obviously God had already had the foreknowledge that the next king was gonna be King David and at this point King David is a young Man, in fact, the Bible says that he's a youth he's ruddy and he's not necessarily a mature adult so to speak though he was mature and We see that Samuel goes and he seeks out the next king to anoint while King Saul is in office He goes and he goes to the sons of Jesse and he goes through all of the sons seven eight nine of them Right and as he's going through them, you know, they're saying this has to be the guy right here This has to be the son. They're like, that's not the one I've refused him. They go to the next one They say well this must be the one he said that's not him I refused him even to the point where his dad basically said well There's pretty much no one left and he asks him. Do you have any more sons? And he tells them well, there's one more but you know, he's out keeping the sheep He brings him out he ends up being the king and then the rest is history from there and that's what we see is the anointing of David and by the way This is where we find the famous verse in verse 7 where it says for the Lord seeth not as man seeth For man looketh on the outward appearance But the Lord looketh on the heart now before I get into the crux of what the sermon is about I want to talk about this verse for just a minute This verse verse number seven has been grossly misapplied today, right? To this notion that we shouldn't judge anyone isn't that what they typically would say they'll often couple Judge not lest he be judged even though the Bible doesn't say that Says judge not that he be not judged and they'll often say judge not that he be not judge You know because God looks on the heart, right and what they're basically saying is hey You shouldn't judge people because you don't know their heart You know, you don't know what they were who they really are inside But you know what if they were actually to stop and think about what they're saying It's basically they're they're basically condemning the people that they're talking about Because of the fact that you know what if they really knew what was in the heart of man, right? If they really knew what was in the heart of man, they would understand they're actually a lot more wicked than most people think Okay The manner in which they try to use it they basically said don't judge you don't know their heart but here's the thing, you know, the Bible teaches us that we can know man's heart and In fact, there is a proven way to know what is in the heart of man The Bible tells us out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh So one sure way you could know what's in a man's heart is based upon the words that have come out of his mouth Because what's coming out of his mouth is simply a manifestation of things that he's been meditating upon Thinking about you know things that are in his mind And so when people talk about only if they only talk about money, you know, that's all they talk about Well, you know what's in that person's heart If a pastor gets up on Sunday morning Sunday night Thursday night Wednesday night and all they talk about is money Guess what's in that person's heart money if a person gets up and all they talk about is You know the possessions of this world and and the things that they own and you know all these these temporal possessions That's what's in their heart, right? Hey if a person in the church gets up and just all they talk about is false doctrine They can't seem to get anything right, you know, there's something wicked in that person's heart or they're just miss greatly misguided But that's what's in their heart So this is a proven way that we can tell what's in a person's heart is based upon the words that they say That's why I like talking to people In our church, right? To see what's in your heart You know, I like to get to know people talk to people just to see what they say, you know, and look folks You like well, I'm not gonna talk to you After this, I'm no longer talking to you. Well, what do you have to hide? You Know if we are innocent if we're not involved in anything nefarious or wicked we shouldn't have anything to hide We can just openly speak Openly talk not have to hide anything because we don't have anything nefarious in our agenda you understand The Bible actually tells us in Matthew 15 verse 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man for out of the heart Proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witness Blasphemies these are the things which defile a man but to eat with unwashing hands defileth Not a man you see before a person commits murder before a person commits adultery before a person commits fornication Before a person steals or lies or blasphemies it starts in the heart Okay So what first Samuel 16 is actually teaching is That things are just not always what they appear to be or what you think they are David in the eyes of his father was the least likely to be selected as king He didn't even consider him He brought all of his sons except for him and unless you know Except Samuel would have just asked do you have any more? He probably wouldn't have called him out because he didn't think he was a likely candidate to be the king Why because he probably didn't look the part in fact the Bible says that he was a youth and he was ruddy Whereas the previous King that came before him the Bible tells us that he was shoulders Above everyone else higher than any of the people the Bible says so Saul was a tall person He had a physical prowess about himself. He looked like a king. He looked like a leader He looked like a ruler but in comparison to David, you know, David didn't really look like that So, what do they do God's basically tell him hey you judge the outward appearance But I'm judging on the heart and based upon this man's heart. He's a man. That's after mine own heart that's basically what he's saying because he tells Samuel I've Chosen me a man after mine own heart and you're right We can't see the heart but God can and you know, sometimes we're out not to judge on the appearance Because of the fact that the heart could be something completely different than what's being manifested outward in the flesh, right? That's what we see now go to Isaiah chapter 53 things are not always what they seem David's father failed to realize that You know just because someone looks a certain way doesn't mean that's actually who they are inside You know what and we live in a society today that places a great emphasis on appearance Right on how you look how well your your your your body is structured your face is structured You know, this is the guy right whereas God could care less about those things In fact, he considers the body to be corrupt okay, you know and At the end of the day that which is a great price according to the Bible is the inward man That's what's a great price not how you know ugly a person is or you know How they look or how short they are or how fat they are or how whatever you fill in the blank According to the Bible, it's the inward man that counts That's what God says is more precious than anything else is the inward man Though the outward man Paris the Bible says the inward man is renewed day by day But unfortunately Christians today focus more on the outward appearance than they do on the inward They seek to strengthen the outward man to have an appearance Whereas God says you need to strengthen the inward man You know be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might the Bible tells us Saul rejected the counsel of the Lord. Whereas David was a man after God's own heart Saul had a proud of physical prowess about himself. Whereas David didn't look like anything special But you know what his heart was special because he loved the Lord. Okay Now I can spend the entire sermons showing the parallels between David and Jesus and I've done that in multiple sermons But I just want to show you one thing because you know it to a certain extent David was somewhat rejected right because he wasn't even considered For the kingdom, you know to be the king Look at Isaiah 53 verse 2 for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry Ground he hath no form nor comeliness and when we shall see him There is no beauty that we should desire him later on it talks about not being esteemed So that's the same thing that happened with David. They didn't really esteem him as being a leader They didn't desire for him to be the king But God did desire that now this in Isaiah 53 is referring to Jesus Christ himself go to Matthew chapter 8 I'm going to show you something here Matthew chapter number 8 if you would Things are not always what they seem now The first thing I want to point out when it comes to this concept of things not always being what they seem is that you? Know what Jesus is not always what people think he is Okay, it's not always what it seems There is a grave misconception of who Jesus Christ is today in 2020 And people have this perception. They have this image of Jesus. It's not biblical and You know you have your liberal churches and your fun liberal fun centers Purple light type churches and they paint Jesus as being just this lovable only compassionate Absent of wrath no hell good devil type of Jesus I'm and I'm being I'm being facetious, but at the same time. I'm being serious Whether it's just Jesus they kind of mix up Jesus with Gandhi right People literally mix up Jesus with Gandhi all the time They think Jesus is like Gandhi's brother or something you know this this person who's just all for peace No war are you kidding me? God is a god of war the Bible says God is a god of I came not to bring peace, but a sword that comes from the mouth of Jesus Now The Bible tells us that he came into his own his own received them now So they had this perception of who the who the Messiah was right? I mean even his own disciples people who believed in Christ they thought he was going to come as a king To establish his kingdom, but things are not really what they seem Because that his first coming did he come to establish an earthly kingdom No, he came to seek it to save that which is lost and people had this perception Well, he's gonna be like David. You know he's gonna be like Solomon and just he's just gonna rule the kingdom But you know what according to Isaiah 53 when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him So when people physically saw Jesus Christ on this earth there was nothing about him that people thought wow he's beautiful He's handsome. This guy has like he's he must be the Christ nothing at all His own people from his own country rejected him. They mocked him they crucified him Right because they didn't you know he didn't fit there the description of what they thought him about Okay, I'm gonna give you an example of this look at Matthew 8 verse 29 This is the story of the man who is possessed with the devil or devil Excuse me says in verse 29 says and behold they cried out saying what have we to do with thee Jesus thou son of God? I thought come hither to torment us before the time and there was a good way off from them a herd of many swine-feeding So the devil's we saw them saying if thou cast us out suffer us to God So the devil's we saw them saying if thou cast us out suffer us to go away into the herd of swine and He said unto them go and when they were come out He just let him go run freely and just eat grass of the field and took care of the the pigs and the swine and they lived happily ever after false They went into the herd of swine and behold the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea and perished in the waters This is not the sermon But this is from the sermon from earlier There's a lot of animals that died here They ran violently down a steep place into the sea and perished in the waters because swine can't swim He just killed a bunch of swine just to save one person You know why because human beings are better than animals They are of more value than any sparrow, okay I've shown this to a lot of vegans and they're just like you miss interpreting that So is this symbolic for something or like can you explain to me the symbolism and how does this? Folks, I know there's symbology in the Bible. This is not an instance of that this literally happened. Okay, and And you think like Jesus cried for this for the swine that went into like Sentient beings These poor sentient beings they just drowned I would have wept just because I remember like so many hot dogs and pork and bacon They could have come from that So much food. They were just they just perished you think he cared about all that swine that just drowned violently in the sea. No He rejoiced over the fact that this man's life was saved. Okay, because that what is important to God, let's continue rain Let's get back on track here And then I kept them fled and went their ways into the city and told everything and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils so The people were keeping the swine. They're just like wow. This is a an amazing miracle that took place You know this guy who you know Society knew was possessed with devils is Now as it says in other parts, he was not sitting in clothed and in his right mind Okay, whereas in times past he was among the graves. He was cutting himself He was acting just possessed right because he was and now he's sitting clothed and in his right mind a bunch of swine Just died. They just ran violently down a steep and they drowned in the sea. I mean, this is a great exploit that took place Okay, so the people who own the swine they're just like whoa We got to go tell everyone about this because this guy's back to normal Look at verse 34 and behold the whole city came out to meet Jesus What do they mean? They're just like man. I want to meet this guy He saved the possessed he somehow caused the devil's to go into the swine. He did this great exploit. I want to meet him and When they saw him they besought him that he would depart out of their coast Not in the world Yes, we did. Oh Get out of here, man Get out of here. Can you just leave our coast, please? This is a fulfillment of Isaiah 53 There's nothing about him that they should desire him So when they came to him, they just he didn't fulfill their expectation in other words as far as his appearance is concerned You see what I'm saying? Things are not always what they seem They see Jesus and even though they see the man sitting in clothing in his right mind The miracle was done. The pigs are drowning, you know, the people are testifying. They want to meet him when they see him Oh, yeah, I guess This is the guy I could get out of here. I thought you were like Jesus, you know Everything we've heard about you Instead they just tell him to leave their coasts Now, let me just say this is that this happened 2,000 years ago, but let me be quite frank with you. It's still happening today You know because you have people talk about Jesus all the time But when people actually get to know the Jesus of the Bible They want him to depart out of their coast They want nothing to do with him. Why because things are not always what they seem They have a certain expectation of what Jesus should be how he should look what he should teach How loving he should be? What kind of compassion he should have His nature they have it all fixed in But once you open up the Bible and you say well, here's the Jesus that you're asking about They're like, oh no have that Bible depart out of my coast That's not my Jesus That's not how Jesus wouldn't do that Jesus wouldn't say that And it's just like well, this is his word Jesus is the Word of God This is his Bible The Bible says certain Jesus said this search the scriptures for in them You think you have eternal life and they always testify of me This is not a misinterpretation of who Jesus Christ is. This is who Jesus Christ is You understand but today you have Churches all around the world specifically, of course We're referring to the United States where Jesus is being preached from the pulpit But let's be quite honest if we were to really show who Jesus is from the Bible They would say depart out of my coast. I want nothing to do with The Bible goes on to say in Isaiah 53 verse 3 It says he is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hit as it were our faces From him he was despised and we esteemed him Not surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet. We did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted You know today you have people who literally constantly put words in Jesus mouth Jesus wouldn't say that he said it What are you talking about? We talk about like the death penalty for sodomites the death penalty for people who commit adultery Jesus would never do that Like what Bible you're reading? Well God would never do something. How can God you know? Just are you trying to tell me that God would just violently take away an animal's life I'm not trying to tell you that the Bible says that has thousands of examples of that you need to come to grips with who Jesus really is and Don't make up a Jesus of your imagination He's a figment of your imagination you have an expectation of Jesus. That's not reality folks And I'm not talking about the people here. We have the right perception of Jesus Why because we have the right Bible we have the right teaching we know who Jesus is Okay, but there's people out there. They literally will confuse Jesus with Gandhi Love the sinner hate the sin All right, and they'll literally say Jesus I mean I literally have people tell me Jesus said love the sinner hate the sin All right How many have people tell you that as if Jesus said that you will never find that that must be in John 23? verse 1 Look it up That must be in Revelation 23 Not gonna find it that must be in Matthew 29 Mark 17 Okay, that must be in some extra biblical revelation because it doesn't exist. Jesus never said that that was a pervert named Gandhi Who would sleep in a bed with naked women? Oh You don't want to talk about that now do you Don't compare Jesus with Gandhi and look folks if you want to say love the sinner hate the sin, that's fine But don't say that Jesus said it Be honest with yourself do your research and recognize Gandhi is the one who made that statement not Jesus Things are not always what they seem but it's okay because you know what the Jesus of Bible is way better than the Jesus that people are portrayed for decades on end and hundreds of years This false Jesus is the seizure Borgia Okay they make Jesus in Their own image and they constantly move the goalposts and de-emphasize what he emphasizes, you know It's foreign to them the biblical teachings are foreign to him and look I mean and I'm so sick and tired of seeing it on social media You see on social media people posting pictures of Jesus and that's supposed to make an image of God but let's let's just say let's just Say okay, then maybe you could make an image of Jesus what you can't because the Bible says you clearly can't Why would you choose Caesar Borgia? They choose this tall white complected Brown hair long flowing brown hair like the dude just got like out of a saloon salon I was gonna say a saloon that too actually both This Pantene Pro-V guy He's tall thin and limp-wristed. Yeah, and when I mean limp-wristed, he's literally like He has blue eyes in those paintings And I'm thinking myself like do you know how Middle Eastern people look? You Know how people look from the Middle East not like that I mean, these are the same people that said the Jews are God's chosen people Even though they look Polish and they have red hair, right? It's just like you know, how real Israelites used to look like. I mean they were it's the Middle East They're under the Sun. They're dark This guy looks like he's from, you know, I don't know Spain or Europe or something Caesar Borgia Okay But this is in there you see this on I see this on Instagram all the time and often post Verses and they'll have Jesus there and just like cut that faggoty hair off That guy has long hair That's sinful according to the Bible folks. Oh Jesus wouldn't talk like that. No, you know what? You're absolutely right. He wouldn't talk like that He just he walks the walk actually instead of saying faggoty he just burns all the homos in Genesis 19 Which is exactly what he did How can you say such a thing? I Could read it for you It's in the Bible But things are not always what they see now, right? Where people think well, oh man. Well, this is the Jesus that I thought this is always who Jesus was. No Jesus is in the Bible folks who he is his nature his divine his divinity his compassion his wrath It's all intertwined here in the Word of God And we need to make sure that we don't get duped by the Jesus of mainstream Christianity Okay, I know this is offensive to some people but look folks. This is this is fact Okay Things are not always what they seem and often people have this perception because they have preconceived ideas that were instilled by Mainstream Christianity that doesn't use the King James Bible. They don't read the Word of God They base their theology off of feelings and images And by the way, we need to read the Bible entirely not selectively Right People are that well, that's Old Testament. Yeah, I know Old Testament is great Love the Old Testament If the Old Testament was completely done away with I mean, why does it make up a large percentage of our Bible? Why did God choose for it to be a large percentage of the Word of God if it just has no relevance to us today? Jesus said he's the same forevermore. Amen same yesterday today and forevermore So the Jesus of the Old Testament is the Jesus of the New Testament the Jesus of the Old Testament Okay does not change You know if Jesus were to walk into the vast majority of churches today The pastors and the congregants would probably like thoroughfit They would not like some of his preaching You Know because he preached the Word of God and he would you know, Jesus ripped face Jesus rips face. He teaches doctrine. I mean the prophets He's not preaching like the prophets the prophets preach like him You understand that so how can that be if he came way after the prophets because they had the Spirit of Christ upon them That's why The only reason the prophets were so bold in their preaching what the reason they were so abrasive It's because they had a Spirit of God upon them folks Things are not always what they seem now, here's the unfortunate thing. Okay, because when you think about Jesus, you know The Jesus of the Bible is obviously a lot different than the Jesus of mainstream Christianity but you know a lot of people will look at for example like a Joel Osteen and Think wow Godly man, I Know you don't think that but I guarantee I promise you there's people out there to think that in fact look at his church service Thousands upon thousands of people who think that okay, you know, I wouldn't send my dog to a Joel Osteen service Okay, and there's false prophets out there Who looked apart but things are not always what they seem Go to Matthew chapter 23 I'll read you from 2nd Corinthians 11 13 says for such are false apostles deceitful workers Transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness Whose end shall be according to their works So what we see is that Satan when he seeks to have an agenda of deception He mixes it in with a little bit of truth now How does that look how does that look like on a physical scale or in the physical realm? Okay. Well, basically they make them look like a Christian, right? They make false prophets look like Christians. That's why the Bible even talks about wolves in sheep's clothing so they have an appearance as Of a sheep, but inwardly they're ravening wolves. Look at Matthew 23 verse 27 Won't you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you're like unto whited sepulchres Which indeed appear beautiful outward? You know, they just have a beautiful casket But are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men but within you're full of hypocrisy and Iniquity, you know what? I don't care what he looks like. What does he say? What is he teaching I don't care if he says he's an independent fundamental Baptist Peter Ruckman said he was an independent fundamental Baptist Peter Ruckman is a wicked person who taught a lot a lot of false doctrine. I Don't care if a sleuter says he's an independent fundamental Baptist the guy is not saved You Know they might have the outward appearance and look like a Baptist and yea even carry a King James Bible But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what they look like. Let's see what they believe You understand because things are not always what they seem The Bible says in Matthew 7 15 beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing But inwardly they are ravening wolves the Bible tells us So what I'm trying to get us to understand here is that we need to make sure That we never fall into this mold this way of thinking that because this is the way it's always looked that it's right We need to always filter everything through the Bible and sometimes we as Christians We have preconceived ideas and nothing can ever be questioned that nothing could ever be changed but here's the thing what doesn't change is the Bible and that's what we need to compare it to you know, and Unfortunately, you have Christians who say well, this is what I've always believed therefore I will never change And they think that's an honorable thing to do. I mean, it sounds honorable on the surface. I'm never gonna change I'm never gonna change. I'm never gonna change. This is what I've always believed, but that's not biblical folks The Bible literally says you have to renew your mind Transform your mind you have to change Change is often good if it's changed for the better The Attitude that we should have is this well, you know what? I'm not a man given to change But if I'm wrong, I need to change But there's literally people who you show them from the Bible what the Bible says and they see and they'll say I'm still not gonna change though and Is that honorable? No, that's called pride This is like man. I gotta admit that I'm wrong Now I have to admit that this entire time I believe something wrong and now I need to change what I believe folks if you just let go of that pride you get something called humility you get something called grace and It's actually far more honorable for a person to admit that they're wrong and get it, right Then to for everyone know that you're wrong including yourself and not get it right at that point. You look like an idiot Okay Things are not always what they seem Now let's switch gears here what about sin You know when you think about sin, obviously, we know what the Bible says about sin, but sin can often be deceptive as well the Bible actually talks about the pleasures of sin and often when sin comes or Temptation comes it comes in a different form in order to entice you but things are not always what they seem And that's how we got to understand we have to understand go to Proverbs chapter 20 if you would Proverbs chapter 20, you know, it's important that we as Christians even as a church that we're constantly talking about overcoming sin. Amen You know keeping our lives clean making sure that we are good repenters of sin that we're keeping the church clean Not just physically but spiritually as well okay, we're cleaning up our lives and Here's the thing. I'm gonna teach some very basic doctrine right now But this is something that often people forget. Okay when it comes to sin The more you sin The more you don't get it right the more you actually begin to justify your sin Understand so the more you sin and you don't get it right the more you actually begin to justify your sin and then it becomes normalized in your life and Then the end result of that because the wages of sin is what death What ends up happenings you suffer the consequences of that sin and by that time, it's just too late You Become desensitized to your sin because you don't get it right and folks Let me just say this we are never gonna stop sinning Right. We're sinners. No one's perfect But here's the thing that doesn't mean that we can just continue in sin that grace may abound we need to make sure we get sin out of our lives and Here is the temptation sometimes for Christians who are heavily involved in the ministry Heavily involved in their church is what they'll do is they'll justify their sin by the service they have towards God Well, you know, yeah, I'm involved in this, but I'm a good soul in the bow. I Do this, but you know, I'm like five people to the Lord this week. I know how to preach the gospel I know the Bible I'm post trip. I Don't like the Jews and all these things, you know I don't like homos and you begin to justify your sin based upon the things that you believe and do But you know what the Bible talks about the armor of God including the armor of righteousness the breastplate of righteousness and The breastplate of righteousness is referring to righteous living folks We don't you got to make sure that we as Christians we keep sin out of our lives and You keep it in check on a daily basis. Don't use your service for God as a justification why it's okay for you to sin Okay. Oh Weed here and there never hurt anybody Smoking here and there and drinking here and there and you know doing a little this here and there I serve God I go to church folks deception And look things are not at surface value. There may seem correct but things are not always what they seem and That sin grabs a clutch grabs a hold a stronghold in your life. It's gonna eventually destroy your Let me say this folks. Let me just remind us of what type of church we're in The type of church we're in is that if you're involved in drunkenness, you will get excommunicated out of the church What is drunkenness when you are not sober via? alcohol weed crack heroin Mind altering drugs you sniff glue. I Consider that to be not sober Well, it's glue, you know, I got a lot of projects I do at home and every once in a while I just kind of whiff it up a little bit and Sin is not always what it seems Because sin according to the Bible it tells us it's pleasurable. It's not like sin is like not fun sin according to the Bible's pleasurable But what does the Bible tell us in Proverbs 20 verse 17 bread of deceit is sweet to a man Bread of deceit is sweet. It says tastes good. Hold on a second But afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel You bite into that bread. Oh, man. This is sweet, but you start chewing. You're just like oh, this is gross It's like yeah Things are not always what they seem, huh? You know you smoke weed you drink alcohol. Oh, I'm having so much fun until you black out and get raped All things are not always what they seem, huh? You know you take some mind-altering drug, oh we're having so much fun. Yeah until you just fry your brain lose your mind And you become a lifelong idiot with holes in his brain because you did shrooms Shrooms Puts holes in your brain folks. Oh, but it's just hanging out with my friends. Yeah, but folks the wages of sin is death You know oh, but you know I got I'm hanging out with this person You know it's just my girlfriend, and we just we made a mistake, and we're we Fornicated you know we did we did that and and you know, but you know we love each other Well folks first of all if you're in our church, and you're involved in fornication Come come talk to me after the service. I need to get I need to talk to you You cannot be in our church and be involved in fornication Okay, according to first Corinthians chapter 5 fornication is a sin That is that will get you excommunicated out of the church now if you didn't know that okay? Well now you do now you know Will you be merciful yes, but now you know So now what's expected is that you get that right either you separate from your partner that you're fornicating with or You get married right But sin is not always what it seems we need to recognize that we need to make sin look exceeding sinful and Don't let pet sins get him get a stronghold in your life You know and don't allow your work and your service for the Lord to overshadow your sins either To make an excuse of why oh, this is okay, because you know I do this I saw when I'm part of a soul winning team You know I do great works for God God's hand is on me. I'll be just fine doesn't work that way guys I don't respect their people We need to make sure that we as Christians are confessing our sins. We're getting it right. We're departing from evil We're cleansing our lives. We're sanctifying ourselves on a daily basis, okay? The Bible tells us in Romans 6 21 what fruit had he then in those things were of year now ashamed For the end of those things is death But now being made free from sin and become servants to God you have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life For the wages of sin is death But the gift of God is eternal life to Jesus Christ our Lord go to Luke chapter 14 excuse me Luke chapter 14 Things are not always what they seem how about this the Christian life is not always what it seems Some people tell you hey become a Christian once you become a Christian it's gonna be a okay Roses and daisies a bed of roses nothing bad will ever happen lies lies lies lies and more lies Now look you get saved It's it's only up from here But That's not to say that as you're making your way up You're not gonna suffer some some tribulation You're gonna go through difficulty in fact. I hate to break it to you sometimes You go through the same difficulty that unsaved people go through as well Sometimes you suffer the same consequences the unsaved people suffer as well Sometimes you suffer the same misfortunes that unsaved people suffer as well because that's just life The Christian life is not what it seems sometimes Oh, I'm a Christian now, so now everything's gonna be fine. My wife's gonna. Love me my husband's gonna Love me my children are gonna respect me. I'm just gonna succeed and nothing ever bad is gonna happen wrong It's not what it seems sometimes bad things happen to good people in fact it happens a lot It's part of the Christian life now don't let that deter you From living the Christian life and being faithful to God Why because I'd rather go through trials and difficulties with God than without God right I'd rather Go through difficulties and tribulations and trials while I'm reading my Bible Well, I'm preaching the Word of God while I'm winning people to Christ while I'm serving the Lord Then have to go through difficulties and trials not doing those things Why because the the Christian who goes through trials, and they're not involved. They're not serving the Lord They're wondering man am I being punished Like it's God gonna strike me down Do I even have God's protection on me whereas the person who served the Lord? They're like you know God's protecting me I know he's with me. I'm just going through a trial But don't fool yourself into thinking that because you're a Christian nothing bad is ever gonna happen to you. It will happen to you Look let me just say this okay We Talk about we often talk about persecution because that's the tribulation right and Often the the the mind said that even those in the new IFB have is like oh, we're gonna suffer tribulation We're gonna suffer persecution at the hands of the sodomites You know and everyone always prepares for that like I remember literally when we first started the church You know Garrett Kirsch way who's who's a reprobate he he was like literally like trying to scare us the entire time He's just like oh, yeah. He doesn't have a bunch of reprobates in here Self-fulfilled prophecy by the way because he was the first one But he was he would say he goes you guys are gonna have all kinds of sodomites And it I don't know what he was trying to accomplish You know cuz I was just thinking myself well I guess I'm just gonna have to get some of my gangster buddies to come like on the first day To kind of just like fight them if that happens cuz I've never really been involved in something like that. You know we're Where you're in a church, and then sodomites come like are they gonna like break through the door? We're gonna have to get down like how does that work? You know, but I remember there's a guy who used to go to our church And I told him I said hey first day. We might have some sodomites So you know this is what you got to do okay, cuz I can't do it cuz I'm gonna be preaching so I need you to pay attention if they come this is what you Do and literally reach the work at this warehouse, and and he was like the bouncer So he was a cute literally go around you guys remember He would literally go around and just pick up the workers and just like toss him to the side He's just like pick him up and toss me He's like I gotta get ready you know I gotta get ready for that persecution in case there's some sodom I gotta pick him up and throw him out That's literally by the way no sodomites have ever shown up to our church Okay That might change, but I don't think it will I don't believe any sodomite will ever Step foot in our church Without us doing something about it. I think a lot of sodomites are actually scared of our church and rightfully so you know But we had this thing because of Garrett cursory of course there You know on the first day you're gonna have a bunch of sodomites and all these things you know but you know what persecutions have actually come in a different form and This is what a wise pastor recently has told me okay. He said he said brother Mejia You we often think that the trial comes we often think we can we can predict the kind of tribulations. We're going to experience Like I already know what I'm gonna go through. I already know what the trials gonna be he says it never works out that way We're never able to predict The trial that comes our way we think we can it's like well. It's just sodomites Not necessarily Sometimes there's a curveball and it comes in a different form it blindsides you and That's what that's the trial that you look if we can predict the trials that we can prepare for them to that You know custom fit custom fitted for that trial and just deal with it, but here's the thing There's no learning that takes place with that When we go through something that we've never experienced like a death in the family for example you know as a Sickness something that just completely takes you off guard you're forced to be in a position where you're gonna learn something from that But here's the thing a lot of people they go through trials like that And they just fall away why? Because things are not always what they seem they thought that when they became a Christian they start serving the Lord Nothing bad is ever gonna happen folks bad things will happen I know good people great Christians who have lost their children and For parents that's almost unimaginable I Don't like to imagine that but there's good people who have lost it. I mean good pastors I think a pastor Wilkerson for example from First Baptist Church of Hammond. He lived down the street from my house. I Know him he knows me. I actually recently just saw him at a airport a couple months ago But I remember he lost his 17 year old son in a car accident I Just life-taking not because he was involved in sin that they're a godly family you guys you guys remember him Lost his son, and I remember both our church and his church wondering like why? Do you think they would have expected something like that? No, because sometimes Difficulties come in different forms in different shapes in different sizes look what it says in Luke 14 verse 26 if any man come to me and hate not his father and Mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters. Yea his own life Also, he cannot be my disciple and this whoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple For which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and Counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it Less happily after he had laid the foundation is not able to finish it all that behold it begin to mock saying This man began to build and was not able to finish, you know, what we have to do as Christians count the cost Count the cost and don't say well, I'll serve the Lord as long as I just get one trial No, you just got to say serve the Lord no matter what happens Serve the Lord no matter what happens count the cost and look Let me just teach you real quick how to deal with a specific trial if you're going through a trial if you ever You're gonna go through a trial boat. If you're in a trial, this is what you do. You think of the worst possible outcome I already know why you're laughing. I remember that inside joke, sorry folks Think of the worst possible outcome The worst thing that can happen and you make peace with it That's one of the best ways to deal with the trial You say okay. What's the worst thing that can happen? Well, the worst thing that happen is that I just die All right, I'll make peace with that You look at your situation you figure out what is the worst possible thing that can come from this situation and you imagine it and You make peace with it and say well, what's in God's hands then? That's the worst thing that can happen You know, so guess what when that doesn't happen you get something a little lesser than that. You're actually like, okay, that wasn't that bad That punch in the face wasn't that bad You understand? Well, what I'm saying is this is that as Christians you need to count the cost And say well, man, I thought we're just gonna be like persecuted by the sodomites No, sometimes it's just like a health issue you get sometimes it's a death in the family Sometimes it's a death of someone who's close to you Sometimes it's a pain that's very unbearable and you wonder why am I going through this? But you know what? This is what you signed up for Right And when we never be the kind of Christians that charge God foolishly Really like Joe We do not charge God foolishly for anything that happens in our life. That is negative or bad We recognize the Lord give it the Lord take it bless. It'll be the name of the Lord. This is what I signed up for This is what I signed up for. I knew things were gonna happen Obviously we didn't know the specifics but something was gonna happen You don't want to be the one who thinks well, this is not what I expected Because things are not always what they seem okay The Christian life is not always what it seems but let me say this some people were saying well serving God is boring Well, not necessarily serving God is exciting People who want to tell you all you do is go to church. You just like so in and just Stay at church like till 12 You guys go to raising canes like that sounds boring Well, I'm saying things are not always what they seem Don't knock it till you tried it Come to our church go to the services go Sony sing the songs serve the Lord and you'll recognize wow This is actually an abundant Christian life This is actually very exciting. I actually anticipate going to church. I Actually anticipate hanging out with the brethren Can we have a fellowship that's not in church? Can we have something going on at hikes house or at the Gonzales house, can we have a fellowship? Can we just see each other throughout the week? And you know what the Christian life becomes an exciting life Don't let someone give you a preconceived idea what it's like to serve God. Well, that's all you do Well, what do you do on Sunday mornings recover from your hangover? What your clamato Trying to get over your hangover Throwing up your guts. Well, that sounds fun No, it's not Wake up in the morning cup of coffee Bible in hand getting ready for church Go to church and you have a great time The only people criticize you and try to give you a preconceived idea what it's like to serve God It's great to serve God. I'm excited to serve. I love serving the Lord. It's great You Said doesn't it get mundane? Of course everything gets a mundane. This is life We can't just be like ah Go on like fourth gear the entire time. Sometimes you got a downshift You know, sometimes you don't need to see me and I don't need to see you Right It's just life folks, okay Things aren't always what they seem don't let people try to give you this perception of churches Oh, it's such a burden to go to church. You just go in here preaching of God's Word. Yeah. Okay, what's better? yeah, go into a club and Dancing and and and being around your friends that are drinking and drunk and looking like idiots Why a bunch of perverts got back to you the whole time. You don't know which ones are freaking reprobate Who has some wicked motive of? Raping you you don't know who has AIDS or STDs. Oh, yeah, that sounds fun Why don't you just play Russian roulette? It's like the same thing. Oh That sounds great that you do not on a Saturday night, I'd rather just get good sleep on a Saturday night Wake up go to church and guess what tonight I laid my head on a pillow with a clear conscience a Lot of people lay their heads on their pillows wondering do I have AIDS? Did I get herpes Did I get gonorrhea? I need to go get tested not me The worst thing I think I was like did I leave the lights on at the church? Did I leave the AC that's the only that's like the only thing No guilty conscience Did I bring my hard drive? Oh stink. I forgot the cards that charged the batteries That's just like the worst thing that you that I think of There's people who out there who lay their heads on the pillow and I just wondering like man What's gonna happen to me? And what did I get myself involved in folks when we're serving God? All things were together for good to them to love God then were they called according to this purpose It's only on the up-and-up after this Things are not always what they seem don't let people give you this wrong perception of the Christian life What's the sermon today? The sermon is simply this Before you make judgment on a situation before you make judgment on the Christian life. Hey before you make judgment on Jesus read the Bible and Simply the sermon is this reinforce everything that you're perceiving through your eyes and ears to the Bible You have a wrong perception of something. Okay, let's realign our thoughts according to the Word of God Amen, let's fire our heads and have a word of prayer. Father we thank you so much for your word please continue to renew us in our minds Lord and sometimes I myself can get my mind in the gutter and and not in your word and not think upon things that are lovely and true and Lord I pray God that you continually help us to Recognize what real what the reality is and the reality is the truth is found in the Word of God That's what reality is it never changes our circumstances the situation are constantly changing and transforming They're taking on new roads, but the Word of God never changes. It's steady. It's a rock And I pray that you'd help us to stand upon that rock continuously and and not allow others to to determine What our perspective should be help our perspective to be molded by the Word of God and in Jesus name we pray. Amen