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Hey, man, so keep your place there in Titus chapter 1 we're gonna be in Titus chapter 1 throughout the entire sermon So as I have you turn away from Titus chapter 1, you're gonna want to keep a bookmark in that chapter It's gonna be kind of our main chapter for The entire sermon this morning. So the title of the sermon this morning Let me just give you the title first and I'll explain to you What it means but the title of the sermon this morning is the church ian's the church ian's So, I don't know if you've heard that term church ian Lately it's kind of an urban term that has come up in the last. I don't know maybe 10 years 15 years I've been hearing this term in a lot of blogs and on the internet hemisphere, you know You're gonna see people using this term church ian's and basically what it is is let me give you a couple definitions You can find a bunch of different definitions of the term Church ian on the internet and on urban dictionary But in the context that I normally see it used. Yeah, I'm gonna give these two definitions All right church ianity is what this definition is It's embracing of the church subculture and all that goes with it particularly the doctrinal and social aspects That's the first definition another further definition is this modern-day institutionalized Christianity Basically the leader decides what is truth and what is lies based on a bunch of traditions? All right, that's a kind of an urban dictionary Definition of what a church ian is. All right so what I want to talk about this morning is basically the word church ian is this this Derogatory term used for someone it's a broad brush that paints People that go to and belong to a Christian church All right That's what the word church ian is used for if you see people using it in this modern-day age and basically It's used by people who are you know against organized religion or against you know? They're kind of anti-church and a lot of these people Claim at least claim to be Christians and I think that there might even be Saved people that are part of this movement as well this idea that you know Church is bad and it's anti-church and you're gonna see this if you're a soul winner You're gonna have your pulse on society like no other person out there And this is something that you're seeing more and more and more of today is this anti-church Philosophy we don't need to go to any church Churches in my heart or you know churches in my you know living room or whatever it is but you're seeing this more and more and more and COVID and the lockdowns and all these things just made this whole thing go Crazy because like a lot of people is my opinion but a lot of people that didn't really want to go to church They were going to a bad church or a lame church or whatever it was They didn't really like going to church. Anyway before COVID they felt obligated to go to church Maybe they're saved they felt you know Their conscience telling them I should be going to church as your constant conscience should tell you that you should be going to church but then they had this excuse where they didn't have to go to church anymore and So they're like, yeah, we'll just we'll just run with that and we'll just keep that Going the way it is. All right, so there's a real movement and a real increase in people today even amongst the saved That do not believe that they have an obligation or a responsibility or that God would even want them to go to a Church. All right. Now look I get it It's understandable in many cases and I'm going to go into some of the causes that are driving this movement Later on in the sermon, but the problem is this, you know, what does the Bible say is the problem? All right So let's look at what the Bible says and then we'll look at wait later on look at what the causes of this movement are and Then we'll look at the solutions All right, so turn to Hebrews chapter number 10 turn to Hebrews chapter number 10 and turn there I know Hebrews 10 25 is the verse of the week, but just go ahead and turn there if you would We're gonna go back one verse All right, we're gonna go back one verse to Hebrews 10 and chapter number or verse number 24 All right We're talking about this anti church movement this term that is used by anti church people To kind of paint anyone that goes to a church with which this with this derogatory term of a church Ian Oh, you're just a church Ian. All right, look at Hebrews 10 in verse number 24 So while I can understand and I'm going to give you some of the reasons that this movement is growing Today and this movement has really always been around I'm going to give you those reasons But first of all, let's just look at what the Bible says and let's start from there All right, look at Hebrews 10 verse number 24. The Bible says and let us who's he talking to? He's talking to save believers here Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together So he's saying that we should not you know forsake the assembly of the believers All right, as the manner of some is look as the manner of some is this is in Paul's time And as the matter of some always will be all right, but we're definitely seeing a trend today But instead of forsaking the assembly, what is the opposite of forsaking the assembly? What's gonna happen in the assembly the exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching So the Bible here says and I'm gonna bring you back here in just a few minutes So keep a place here as well, but the Bible here is telling you that you come here to strengthen to exhort to grow and Strengthen one another as Christians. I mean there's a point to coming to church It's not just something God tells you to do. Well, God doesn't have all these commandments in the Bible Just telling you hey do this because I said so and I want to just control you No, all of these things that God tells us to do are good for us He tells us to do these things for a reason. All right, so there's a lot of people out there that'll say okay Well assembly an assembly can just be my living room. Well, that's true to a degree All right, many churches many actual churches Legitimate churches did start in someone's house. There is nothing wrong with that. This church is not this building This church is the assembly of the believers that's what the church is turned to Ephesians chapter number four Ephesians chapter number four So but most people are missing one main thing when they say, okay. Well, my living room is my church Look at Ephesians chapter 4 and look at verse number 11 Because God is a very specific structure for churches. All right, there's no universal church It's not the church It's churches and the Bible over and over again talks about this specific Structure that we just read about in Titus chapter 1 about the structure on the head of the church You know Jesus Christ and then who is to be the under Shepherd of the church on earth? Look at verse number 11 of the Ephesians chapter number 4 So this is kind of you know, puncturing through this philosophy that any person could just have Church in his house By inviting some friends over or whatever and just having you know, creating his own church the Bible says he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ That's you till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect Man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ So the Bible here is saying that you know, there's to be pastors and teachers You know the word pastor elder and bishop in the New Testament are all used interchangeably to describe a leader of a local church Okay, and what the Bible is very specific in 1st Timothy chapter number 3 and I'm gonna have you go to Titus chapter 1 That's gonna be kind of our our main chapter this morning But the Bible is very specific on who can be a pastor on who can lead that local church in Titus chapter number 1 and verse number 4 Look what Paul says I mean look the Bible is very specific in many places about the doctrine that the pastor must have the character of the pastor the the Demonstrated example of his life. He's not a perfect Person the fact that he's a man that is married that has you know children that are you know in obedience to him He has to not only have these characteristics of himself to you know, be not a striker You know not a drunk all these different things of his character, but he has to demonstrate it in his own home So it's very specific. He must follow the doctrines of the Bible and Demonstrate these things in his life. Look at Titus chapter 1 in verse number 4 Titus chapter 1 verse number 4 before we get into those Into those actual characteristics look what Paul says to Titus mine own son after the common faith Grace mercy and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ our Savior For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting and Ordained Elders in every city as I appointed thee and then he goes into the characteristics of what those elders are supposed to be He goes into the qualifications of what a pastor is supposed to be So in every city in every church, there is to be elders leading these groups of assembled Believers, so there's elders pastors bishops all the same thing in every city here That's the difference between you know a proper church and Somebody just having a Bible study in their home Alright, the Bible is to be led the church according to the Bible is to be led by a qualified Leader and that's where the whole term pastor comes in why I mean to keep the order of things That's why to make sure that doctrines because look look folks Anybody will tell you this anybody that's led anything will tell you this one person needs to be responsible I've said this many times if everybody's in charge nobody's in charge if everybody's responsible Nobody's responsible So when I give a task to somebody whether it be in my house Whether it be at work whether it be at the church I can't like go and tell five guys like hey Let's make sure we get this done because it probably won't get done Why because every guy thinks the other guy's doing it? If Nobody's in charge if everybody's in charge nobody's in charge So God does not make this mistake. He ordains a man To lead the local church in every city all right to keep things in order now look Titus chapter 1 goes into this, but the entire New Testament is Devoted to the proper You know Organization and management of the local church. I mean that's what the letters to the churches are all about and look you said why does there need to be one specific qualified person because as Titus chapter 1 talks about right after the qualifications of a pastor There's plenty of unqualified people that will jump right into that job And you can look at this in any Aspect of your life look folks there is plenty all you married people out there or people about to get married There's plenty of divorced people that will give you marital advice freely They will come up to you. They will tell you here's what you need to do Here's the way you need to handle your marriage, and they're like they've been married three times There's plenty of people who have children who are complete disasters Who will give you parenting advice? Who will step right into that role and just tell you how you need to raise your children You will see this again and again and again in your life go on the internet There are people that will give you any kind of advice you want to hear You're like you just pick a conclusion like I want to eat Cheetos for the rest of my life as a diet I want a Cheetos diet. I'm sure there's somebody out there that will give you that advice that there's no problem with that You can just eat junk food I mean isn't that like There's diets all the time that are coming out where people are saying like you don't have to have any specific diet You can eat whatever you want on my program But there's plenty of unqualified people that will just tell you that the most ridiculous things The things that you want to hear you have to understand that people need Qualifications all right there's plenty of people that have failed at everything in their life that would love to just tell you how to run yours There is no Shortage of those people that's why right after the qualifications of the pastor Look at verse number 10 of Titus chapter 1 He's literally saying in verse number 9 holding fast the faithful word. This is what this pastor is supposed to do He's supposed to make sure that we hang on to the doctrines of the Bible in this church Because people will come in that want to pull away from the Bible It's the pastor's responsibility to hold fast the faithful word look at verse 10 for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers Especially they have the circumcision there's plenty of people that are gonna come in and just want to tell you What they want to tell you and just deceive you for their own vain reasons and just lead people astray There is going to be no shortage of people there was not a shortage of people at this time There's never going to be a shortage of people like that Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 5. I'll just read it. I'll just read it to you. It says it's better to hear the rebuke of the wise Than for a man to hear the song of fools So it's better to have somebody who's qualified that's telling you everything maybe when you don't want to hear all those things Then to just hear the song somebody tickling your ears because many of these false These vain talkers these unruly people and all these things what do they do? They're very good at telling people what they want to hear to manipulate them to their end To whatever they're trying to get out of the situation. All right, so look all that to say this the Bible is clear that you should attend a church a Gathering of believers and that that church should be led by a man Meeting the biblical qualifications The man being one of the qualifications that he's a man. All right, look, I mean it's all about doctrine It's all about that's clearly what the Bible teaches. So I mean literally most of the epistles are written to churches or Pastors or future pastors of churches telling churches do this don't do this specific things Don't allow this allow this you're making a mistake here revelation chapter 2 revelation chapter 3 going through 7 churches Here's what you're doing wrong. Here's what you're doing. Well, here's what you're doing wrong. Here's what you need to change Here's what you need to fix first Corinthians. Here's what you need to get out of the church Oh got better bring them back into the church now This is what the Bible is teaching just over and over and over. It's about the management and the proper execution of the local church How could you possibly have a Bible in your hand and be against the local church When that's what the New Testament is talking about it's the local church and its role in Our lives as Christians its proper role But look, I mean, it's just the Bible's just how to run a church Like how the world you know how to run a church what the Bible It's easy. All I have to do is follow what the Bible says I mean, it's not easy all the time, but when there's difficult situations it's really not that hard for me to be honest when when there's difficult situations with the church because like It's just the Bible. So It may be uncomfortable at times Mostly for other people but it's just the Bible like that's the authority. All right Look, it's just talking about what the first work should be things that they've done wrong thing that they've done, right? So look it's Bible 101 to say that this no church movement is wrong I mean, we didn't have to do a deep Bible study as an introduction this morning, but the point is this Here's the problem and here's where this movement comes from Most churches today are bad This is where the movement comes from if you decided if you just got saved yesterday and you were going to decide Where to go to church and you're going to take a list of all the churches in your local city And you were going to throw a dart and just choose that way the odds are overwhelming that you would end up in a bad church But it's always been this way. This is nothing new. There's nothing, you know, there's no new thing Under the Sun you're it's gonna be led by an unqualified false teacher probably So, what's the solution turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter number 11 keep your place in first in Titus chapter 1 What's the what's the solution how could you possibly know should I just have to go to 30 different churches and And pick that way until I get a good one. No, well, the first solution is this know the Bible and Look, you don't even have to be a Bible scholar You just have to know a little bit of the Bible Like here's here's one that's gonna cut out maybe 80% of all bad churches just know the gospel and if you're saved You should know the gospel Look at 2nd Corinthians chapter number 11. It says in verse number 3. It says but I fear lest by any means as The serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety. So your mind should be corrupted From the simplicity that is in Christ There is no Simpler thing in the Bible than the gospel There is no simpler concept than the gospel We saw it, you know five young men yesterday like just understand the gospel Is it simple a gift is simple. You did nothing. You didn't deserve it. You deserve to go to hell Jesus paid for everything. All you have to do is put your trust on him and That's it. Not your works. Not even 1% of your works trust Jesus his sacrifice his resurrection for your salvation That's it. That's simple That is the simplest thing in the Bible. But look, this is the largest cut right there if you just knew that And you just checked the gospel of the church that you were considering going to right there Right there. You're gonna get like 90% of the churches out of the way I mean, I just think about the small town that I went to church in when I was a kid in this church There was like you're in this town. There was like I don't know. There's like five Lutheran churches crazy But yeah, there's like five Lutheran churches. There's a Catholic Church I mean, this is like every small town in America right here or at least in the Midwest. There's a Catholic Church There's a usually a Pentecostal Pentecostal Church of some kind and then there's You know, basically that's it Sometimes there's a Baptist Church, but it's very small but 90 90 plus percent have a false gospel of these churches In all these small town then you get you know, you get your cults your seventh-day Adventists your Mormons your JW's all that stuff You know, I'd maybe throw the Pentecostals in the cult thing too and in some cases But the point is is if you just knew the gospel You would just you would increase your chances, you know, ten to one right there All right. The second one is this turn to first Peter chapter number five and look you're saved, you know the gospel Look if you're saved, you know the gospel if you saved, you know, you know salvation is a gift. It's not of works There's it's it's plus nothing minus. Nothing is Jesus. It's faith alone. That's it It's eternal security. You can't ever lose it. And if you know those things You can cut through a lot of these false teachers But here's another one that you need to look at you need to check the constraint and this is what would catch a lot Of people this is what would catch a lot of people and this is what turns a lot of people Against church where they just paint the idea of church with this huge broad brush is because they were in churches They just had this massive constraint over them, but the gospel most times will fix this as well But look at first Peter chapter number five. This is a Message to pastors look at verse number two The Bible says feed the flock of God which is among you it's talking about he's talking to the under Shepherd He's talking to the pastor of the church taking the oversight thereof So I have the oversight of this church in the stead of Jesus Christ not by constraint though. See that But willingly not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind So the Bible here is saying I can't come in here and want to try to control you That's not my job to take constraint over you good because I would never want it It's Not by constraint, but willingly what what does that mean? It means that I'm supposed to teach you the Bible and you're supposed to willingly want to do the Bible You're supposed to willingly want to hear the Word of God and put that in in In action in your life Let's see. What happens is Men get up and they preach the Word of God and people don't listen and they're like Am I wasting my time writing all these sermons I have felt this way before But they're like, what am I gonna do about this? so like bad men change doctrine to try to constrain people That's where a lot of this false doctrine comes from. It's really two reasons. It's constraint and it's filthy lucre It's constraint. So I want to try to control you. So what do I do? I'll just change doctrine a little bit to say if you don't repent of your sins If you don't turn from the things that you're doing You're not even saved I'll take constraint over you in the in the most powerful way that I can Using your own salvation This is what I should quit using myself as examples because people will take like sound bites of this and put it somewhere But a pastor a false teacher Will stand up and say I Will just tell them that if they don't listen to my sermon and they don't get this out of their life And they don't do this which maybe is a good thing Like hey quit drinking or you're not saved or whatever That's basically what repenting your sins is is you have to turn from these sins or you're not saved or you know I as the pastor will doubt your salvation or whatever. It's constraint That's all it is that's where it comes from all of these false doctrines that add works to salvation It's for exact. It's the exact same reason. I Mean just think of what's some other ones. I mean just think of lordship salvation Think of worship salvation, what is that? Well, if you don't do the works, you're not really saved Which works will I decide? I Mean the false pastor decides You See what I'm saying? It's just it's all constraint. It's all constraint Like I've literally heard a Baptist pastor who I believe was saved Literally stand up and say to his congregation if you don't you listen to this sermon and apply this sermon I don't even think you're saved Or I doubt your salvation like Why are you going there? That you know your salvation Didn't come from me And it's not kept by me Thank God for that. I wouldn't want to keep your salvation I wouldn't even be able to keep my own salvation if it was if it wasn't eternal So the point is it's all all these false doctrines. I mean just think about infant baptism Why why if it why baptize babies why did the Catholic Church if you're thinking about control and money It's brilliant Why because oh you got to come through that the doors of this place if you want your kids to go to heaven Lutherans Catholics all the same thing Catholics literally, I don't know they're probably liberal in this now, but Catholics literally wouldn't bury children who died that weren't baptized Because Catholics and Lutherans believe and look they may not put this out there today But I know they believe this because like they preach it It's what they teach that a child is saved from the time that you know This is what Lutherans believe anyway that the child is saved through baptism It is the means of grace that they are given God's grace And then as they get older the Lutherans believe well, then they need to believe or whatever It's so confusing that most Lutherans couldn't even tell you but they believe that you're given salvation through baptism It's adding To the gospel it's adding works to the gospel Why because you better bring your kids here if you want them to go to heaven who doesn't want their kids to go to heaven It's constraint is what I'm trying to get you to see all the sacraments. What are they it's constraint It's constraint It's things. I don't care. Let's just make up more sacraments like it's just more control that the church has over your salvation But it's all false Because the church the pastor the priest the Pope whoever what false teacher will never have any control over your salvation Because your salvation whether or not you have trusted on Jesus Christ or not. That's all you That's why don't you feel bad if you go to somebody's door and you present in the gospel and they hear the gospel and They don't believe it. That's not on you. That's on them That's the brilliance of how God made salvation because your belief is yours alone It's not collective My dad was a deacon. My mom is a pastor. That's not gonna get you to heaven That's a false gospel Salvation is not collective. Look a church a gathering of believers We have great power to exhort one another to strengthen one another but your salvation that's yours And no one can constrain you with that loss of salvation It gives the church control This is why you know Pentecostalism many times like just like pure Pentecostalism not the liberal version of it But pure Pentecostalism. I just had people tell me at the door yesterday To save people that got out of a Pentecostal church and told me they're like, yeah, it was like a cult Like well, yeah, it is a cult It is a cult because it's it's somebody that's standing up there because you know, here's the thing Loss of salvation, you know, you better listen to what I'm saying You better not do certain sins. Look which sins how many? How often? Well the pastor defines the false teacher defines how many which ones how often? That's a cult. That's someone that's trying to gain control most Like Fundamental Pentecostals when I say fundamental, I mean Pentecostals that really believe the Pentecostal doctrine. They are terrified people There are people that are constantly worried that they're gonna go to hell That's not the gospel That's a false teaching. That's somebody that has gone into you know religion or whatever just to control people and take constraint over people and In the like I said that the real doctrinal fundamentalist Pentecostals are very good at it and they can really get a hold of people and people are really scared That are in those things, but these people yesterday it was interesting. They're like, oh, yeah, I was like a cult I'm like why and they're like well He just said like if we left the church we're gonna go to hell and all this kind of stuff and they're like We don't we know that's not true. I'm like exactly Like that is a cult Like I don't think you should leave this church. But if you leave this church, you're not gonna go to hell If you're saved you're saved There's no constraint there. It should be willing It should be willing see the Bible teaches and warns so much about these types of leaders That would take constraint over people mainly for the purpose of money is What the Bible is teaching about false prophets and look you'll see that you see that everywhere You see that with the mega churches you see that the mega churches don't necessarily do it by constraint They do it by tickling ears They do it by telling people everything that they want to hear by not saying things in the Bible That you know would upset people or what divide people So there's the constraint and there's the there's the mega church pastors who are just bring everybody in and they don't teach any doctrine at all But it's all for filthy lucre. It's all the same thing I mean, this is really the problem with true leadership and you're gonna see this all over your life The problem with true leadership is really anybody worthy of it Many times just think politics for a second Anybody worthy of true leadership is generally not going to want it You think about a politician like this is why I like all politicians are pretty much dirtbags You say why because like no decent man Would ever want to go into that line of work you say why is that because? Because he's if he's a man like the Bible is calling out in Titus and first Timothy chapter 3 This is a man of good character. He's a man that works hard. He's probably he's got a trade. He's got a purpose He's probably already doing what he wants to do with his life He's probably got a you know, a nice, you know, beautiful wife and a beautiful family And he's probably just doing really well It's like why would he ever want to put himself in a position where he's like number one like just dealing with a bunch of other dirtbags and Number two where people are just gonna attack him and try to like lie about him and destroy him and all these different things He's like, no, he's like I've got a decent thing going myself Why would I want to ruin that by just going into this mud pit over here? You know, this is the problem This is the problem with leaders, you know, generally today, but look for pastors For pastors, this is why there's a that I believe that God gives a desire to men to be a pastor So if it wasn't that desire given by God to men, I mean, I Don't think many decent men would want to be pastors either I'm thankful, you know for that desire from God, but because look honestly like personally just a testimonial I don't need to be in charge of anything. I Don't need that, you know in my life. I never had more I never had more freedom I never had more fun, you know, then just being a church member actually It was great Really enjoyed being a church member of a great church and even even in the secular world and I've said this to guys that go Out in the workforce. I'm like, you know what don't be one of these guys It just like wants to get be the boss and just wants to be the the manager job No, the best thing you could do. I never had more freedom and just more autonomy than when I was just an engineer That was the best right there And that's why I tell the guys I'm like, hey, you don't want to be the boss You want to be the expert You know just get good just get better than everybody else at whatever it is that you do You want to be the expert not the boss? but look Turn to Ezekiel chapter number 33 as for me. I'm glad that God gives men the desire to go into the ministry But as for me in the ministry, I don't I don't need to be in charge of anybody The last thing I would want to do is try to like, you know Try to control people's lives. I think the whole thing is just it's distasteful from you know completely You know, I want you to do what the Bible says. I want you to listen to my sermons I spent hours and hours and hours writing sermons and and just studying through and pouring through the Bible and just so I Get this doctrine to you in a way that you can easily apply to your life I want to get you know Even complicated things explained in a simple way so you can take that go. I see that I can apply that I can fix that But I want you to do that willingly There's nothing in me that Wants to control anyone it's my it's simply my job to tell you that's it It's simply my job to tell you the doctrines, you know, basically everything and that's why if I leave something out That's on me though So these things are things that I'm careful about Look at Ezekiel chapter 33 in verse number 3 and you can apply this to everybody soul winners But I mean, I really look at this as something that applies directly to a pastor someone leading a church The Bible says Ezekiel 33 3 if when he see at the sword come upon the land He blow the trumpet and warn the people Then whosoever here at the sound of the trumpet and taketh not warning if the sword come and take him away his blood shall Be upon his own head. So That's really like a release for me as Long as I tell you as long as I blow the trumpet and then you just go after in the week and you do whatever You're gonna do that's on you Look if it comes to a point We're starting to hurt things in the church and then I have to fix things in the church then that becomes on me But if I tell you doctrines and you don't put those things into into play in your marriage and your family with your children Whatever it is, that's not on me The Problem is is that look at verse number five? It says he heard the sound of the trumpet and took not warning his blood shall be upon him But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul But if the watchman that's why that's who I hope everyone is Willingly, but he that taketh warning shall deliver soul, but if the watchman see the sword come This is the the liberal pastor right here That's saved and just doesn't want to offend anybody and blow not the trumpet and the people be not warned if the sword come and take Any person from among them he is taken away in his iniquity But his blood why require at the watchman at the pastor's hand That's a pastor That is not telling people the truth and look a pastor that is not preaching doctrine that is not preaching you know the things of the Bible eventually will end up with a church full of unsaved people a Pastor that allows people to get up and like toy with repent of your sins type type language That's not gonna cause people in the church that are currently saved to you know, not be saved anymore But that's gonna cause people that come into the church say we quit soul-winning You know, I just get really watered down in the doctor and I'm like, ah lordship salvation repenting your sins It's all pretty much the same thing But guess what that's gonna mean that's gonna mean that people that come in here are gonna be confused. They're never gonna get saved It will it will end in disaster and the Bible says that that pastor is responsible for that Alright, so look the point is this now look it's my job to manage the church according to the Bible It's my job also to protect the church according to the Bible Which are two things that are really one in the same That's why doctrines like the reprobate doctrine all these it's so valuable that they're practiced you know, it's June now and You know, one of the things that really bugs me about June is like it's my birthday You know, I'm serious like this really bothers me like it's my birthday and the first thing we got to talk about is homos And I'm just saying it's my birthday though It's simply my job to protect the church That's all how do I do that? Well, I just follow the doctrine of the church So whatever, you know the world wants to do none of that unnatural perversion or any of it will ever be here Why because it's my job to protect the church So that's all you need to know get your kids out of school get into a good church Which is this one and I'll protect the church. I won't allow that stuff in here ever over my dead body so My wife told me yesterday. I was underneath I was underneath the sink fixing the garbage disposal and my wife, you know It's June 1st, which is either, you know a great day, you know, my birthday or you know Abomination day or whatever, you know, but my wife's like look at this in the newspaper And I'm just like oh I can about imagine first of all It's a newspaper who ever get who gets a newspaper anymore But now we get this we get this small newspaper in it where we live now And we got this newspaper and my wife gave me this newspaper as I'm underneath the sink She's like look at this and she shows me this newspaper. I brought it for you here And here I'm expecting it. You know, it's June 1st I'm just expecting some horrible thing, right? And here's what the article says. It says Merced Judge. This is the this is the the independent The official publication of Southeastern Madera County and I'm subscribing to this thing I don't know what you have to do, but I'm subscribing it says Merced Judge releases convicted child molester to Madera County and this is the front page of the paper a Picture of the guy You know what? I'm like praise God for this publication Because what are they doing? They're protecting the community They can't stop this judge this wicked evil judge This guy's been you know in and out of trouble for child molestation for his like his entire life He's it's the third of his life he spent a third of his life behind bars and mental hospitals for crimes against children and This judge lets him out. Well, and then this this publication is like, what can I do? What can I do? Well, I guess we can tell we can show people we can warn people Good for them Good for them. We need more people like this I don't know what this is, but if I got to pay him ten bucks a month something I'm doing it Cuz good for them For protecting look it's my job to protect the church according to the doctrines of the Bible and God tells me Jesus Christ Jesus Christ tells us just follow the doctrines of the Bible and there will be no problems the gates of hell shall not prevail against it All you have to do is just follow what I tell you to do. That's it. So that's my job Not to constrain not to make, you know, filthy lucre or whatever But look back to this idea of this anti church movement To all these people that are telling people this or people that don't think that they need to go to church anymore Let me just say this rare doesn't mean non-existent The real churches have always existed They've always been there somewhere. All you have to do is know a little bit of Bible and And just and just find one and just go there that's it You don't have to be a Bible scholar. But look I get it. I get it people have been hurt in these bad churches. I Understand that I've met many people who have been hurt in bad churches Well, they've been financially taken advantage of I've heard stories out So winning of some of these churches even in Fresno here that will literally send a financial advisor to your house Honey look the Bible teaches Give 10% to the Lord, but what that's a very easy percentage. I don't need to help you with that math I'll tell you what the Bible says what you do or don't do that's on you That's between you and the Lord just like every other doctrine in the Bible People have been taken advantage of by wicked people in the church many times church leaders kids have been abused You know people have been physically abused in other horrible ways in churches So then they go and they paint with this broad brush that all churches are bad But no because all churches are not bad all churches would not allow it You have to have the reprobate doctrine or you will have wicked people in your church because Like it was just another sin just like every other sin. Are you perfect brother? It's so Important to have every doctrine of the Bible no matter how unpopular it is in that day and time to be preached But what they do is people have gotten into bad churches that have had Horrible things happen to their families to themselves and what do they do? They throw the baby out with the bathwater And then the worst thing is is they take other people with them They take other people with them. They lead others, you know down this anti-church movement path, you know, they lead others astray and look There's a market for it because people don't want to go to church today So people take this bait and they're like, yes, there's a reason I don't have to go to church Because this horrible thing happened to this person in this bad church Yes, there's bad churches out there Find a good one. They're out there, too People don't got want to go to church say us church attendance is on the extreme decline in 2000 this is amongst religious Christian people by the way This isn't like the broader population in the year 2000. It was 42% of people that said they were Christians went to church In 2011, it went to 38% in 2021. It's at 30% I guarantee you today It's well below 30% Couldn't find any great numbers, but I after kovat are you kidding me Pete? You can see this out solving people simply didn't go back They quit going to church and they just didn't go back. So the point I'm trying to make is this churchian narrative sells It sells to people it resonates with people but it's not what the Bible says and it doesn't work Go back to Hebrews chapter 10 go back to Hebrews chapter 10 It Doesn't work for your Christian life It's not going to help you grow in the faith grow in the Word of God It's not going to work for you. Look at Hebrews 10 in verse number 26 In Hebrews 10 25 it talked about not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together in verse number 26. It talks about fuller meaning This is what's gonna happen to you if you quit going to church This is what's gonna happen if you get out of church Get out of the Word of God get out of the assembling of yourselves together If we sin willfully after we've received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins This isn't talking about losing your salvation. This isn't talking about, you know, not being saved anymore this is talking about somebody that knows what they're supposed to do because they used to be in church and Now they're willfully sinning the Bible saying Jesus isn't gonna die for you again, buddy Jesus died on the cross one time all that remains is punishment All that remains is chastisement on this earth That's what the Bible is teaching here, but a certain fearful looking of judgment and fiery indignation That doesn't mean hell just because it says fiery. It means God is angry with you which shall devour The adversaries are saying you won't be right with God and he's gonna chastise you Especially if you know what you're supposed to be doing and you're not Doing it the Bible is exhorting one another to keep the faith have a proper relationship with God Separate from the things that you know, do the things we should do and separate from the things that we shouldn't go to Hebrews chapter 11 Hebrews chapter 11 Look at verse 13 This one chapter over the Bible says these all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them and Confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. You know what it's hard to be a stranger and a pilgrim by yourself It's hard to be a stranger and a pilgrim by yourself in second Corinthians chapter number six It says we're to come out from among them and be separate. It's hard to be separate by yourself As a matter of fact, it's so hard that most people will separate by themselves and they'll stop being separate Because they're all alone Because it's it's hard to do people who separate alone Typically don't stay separated. I Mean here's a separation trick for you and I've mentioned this before but you must separate unto something You're just like hey family I just got saved and we're changing everything and we're just never gonna do anything anymore and That's it we're gonna sit inside our house and we're gonna read the Bible We're not gonna go to you know, we're not gonna have friends We're not gonna do any of these things like you have to separate unto something Or it won't work. The Bible is teaching us and that's what the assembling of ourselves together is for I mean in first Peter chapter 2 it calls us peculiar You know what it says it says you're a peculiar people then say you're a peculiar person all by yourself Like look we're peculiar people together We're peculiar people look at us and they're like you're weird. You don't do that stuff. You're weird great. We're all weird together We're all peculiar Together it's easy to be peculiar When you're not by yourself, it's hard to be peculiar alone Peculiar people. I Mean the best example is soul winning You go soul winning out in an unreceptive area we've been hitting a couple unreceptive areas lately But you go and you do that and you're like I'm soul winning with with my wife and I and we're we're our own Church and you go so any an unreceptive area, you know what like you're just gonna get you're gonna get beat down You're gonna get beat down and other people aren't soul winning and you know, it's it's super demoralizing when you're by yourself. I Mean you're gonna start to have thoughts that creep in like nobody wants to hear this What are we doing out here? We were just slamming doors in my face. Is this really my responsibility to? Go out and and just like bring the gospel to these people. They don't even want it Anyway, these are the kind of thoughts that will creep in if you're by yourself But you know what if you're with a local assembly of believers and you go out soul winning like we're in a super receptive Area, like it's just like me and brother Jeff. Like I almost like don't see the doors It's weird to like just talking the whole time It's like I don't even really remember the unreceptive days It's just great fellowship days. You know, you're just out there and it's like it's like nothing It's like water off a duck's back when you're with a local group of believers and guess what you go out this afternoon at 2 o'clock and you just get Beat down and 80 people slam the door in your face You come back here and you're gonna find that there was another group, you know I always say that I always say that when I'm out and there's other groups out and like I'm just like I'm taking one for the team here because I know I'm gonna go back and somebody's gonna have great stories Some reason have great stories We're like they just hit like this this place where like all these people you had multiple salvations happens all the time But you know what that is that's exhorting one another That's exhorting one another I mean you want to be like, you know, James and John like calling down fire and like just getting all depressed about You know people being unreceptive but soul winning can do that to you and like with the church. It's completely different though. I Mean it's just great fellowship success stories. It's awesome I Go watch this chapter 1 verse number 10. I'll just read it for you. What's the point of all this church? What's the point of assembling and all the exhortation and all the growth? It says that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in Every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. This is one thing no matter what I preach I wish people would understand that applying the Word of God and growing in Christian faith It's about you being fruitful which means you will or will not affect other people not yourself So if you don't listen and you're not willing you're gonna be unfruitful, which means other people will suffer People that get backslidden and out of the Christian life. They're literally harming the eternal destiny of Lord knows how many other people That's how important keeping right in your Christian life and being with the proper assembly is It's important to those around you. Not just you not just your children, which is important to your children as well But look the point is this people have had bad experiences and they're throwing the baby out with the bathwater on this church thing They're just like my church was bad equals all churches bad wrong You just had a bad church And to those people it's not surprising that you had a bad church because the majority of churches are bad It's not just you that this has happened to I am sure most of us in this room have been in bad churches I've been in bad churches for literally decades in my life That doesn't mean all churches are bad. It just means that most of them are And it's easy to find a good one, but that's why the Bible is warning us about false doctrine False religion false teachers. It's a main theme in the New Testament especially So we shouldn't be surprised You shouldn't be surprised if you found a false teacher if you found false doctrine if you found a false church, it's always Been this way. It's not just 2024 America. It's always been this way since Paul's time since Jesus's time and it always will be so for everybody else and it's listening to this stuff especially saved believers Like look, it's a cop-out and you know, it is It's a cop-out for backslidden Christians That don't want to get anything out of their life It's a cop-out for people that don't want to separate. They don't want to clean up their life They don't want to be peculiar or strange They just want to be in the world. They don't want to sound any different. They don't want to look any different They don't want to do any of that stuff. It's just they're just backslidden and That's the market that all these, you know people that are throwing out this church in you know doctrine That's the market share that they're getting is backslidden Christians. It's pitiful It's pitiful. It's so important that you protect your spiritual life Because I mean as you get backslidden, by the way And this is a good, you know, this is a good way to put it As you get backslidden some of this stuff may become appealing to you Some of these thoughts may creep in like I do I really need to go to church that much Do I really need to go church? You know pastor says three to thrive Three to thrive Three to thrive three to grow. It's better for you It's better for you to come to church more than it is to come to church less. It's essential for your Christian life It's essential for edification exhortation fellowship and ultimately fruitfulness Because the first thing that goes away in the Christian life is soul winning So protect your Christian life don't listen to this garbage if you're not in a good church you need to get in one Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer You