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

Okay, the title for the sermon this evening is called parallel distractions. Parallel distractions. Now, the term parallel, what crosses your mind when you think of something that is parallel? Does anyone want to give me their opinion? What does it mean to be parallel? What are some thoughts behind that? Yes, Tim? Opposite? No, my parents are correcting you, brother. Train rails, they run parallel. Did we can say something, brother? Two areas going in the same direction. Two things going head in the same direction. Well, you know, there's a few definitions for the word parallel. And one of the definitions is basically to be side to side with, to be side to side with. And if you're, you know, using it as a noun form, it's a person or thing that is similar to another. Okay, similar to another or it's side by side. Another definition for parallel are lines on a plane that never meet. Okay, so it looks like what you guys are basically saying is correct. So, just for the children, and this is why I've got the blocks, guys. You asked me about the fireworks or the blocks. I just want to show you what something that is, you know, what parallel means. So, you've got basically two lines or you've got two things there. And they're side by side as we saw there, right? The first definition there was to be side by side, a person or thing that is similar to another. Are these two things quite similar? Yeah, they are, you know. And as they extend, they're both extending the same way. Okay, they're running parallel with one another, aren't they? But what else is true about what is parallel? That these two things will never meet. You know, if these blocks continued for infinity, and these blocks continued for infinity, they'll never meet. There will always be a separation, meaning that the journey is very similar, but the destination is different. They're never going to cross paths, okay? And so, you know, in our Christian life, there are things in our life that runs parallel to the Christian life. And many times you can be side by side and you can work together. But there comes a time when you realise, hey, we're never going to meet. We're not going to see eye to eye in an area and, you know, you sort of scratch your head wondering why. It seemed like we had a lot in common. It seemed like we were heading in the same direction. But then we find out our destinations, it's a totally different destination. You know, I'm very thankful for parallel lines. You know, I've driven a car in Chile and, you know, the lane markings aren't that clear, brethren. I've had a car accident, you know, in Chile. I scratched my auntie's car because, you know, the lanes are not very clear. And people are just trying to get on top of each other. I mean, if you've driven in South America, have you driven in South America, brother? No. Okay. Or some of those, you know, Southeast Asian countries, I mean, it's a disaster. Thank God that we have, you know, very clear lines in our traffic. And so you can be driving down a road and because we have clear lanes, you can see, you know, a driver next to you. And you're running parallel with that driver. You know, you're not going to crash, Lord willing, right? You're heading in the same direction, but you're never going to meet if you stay in your lane, okay? And you know what? As you're driving that car with a person, you know, a car that might be next to you, you've got a lot in common. You're on the same road. You know, generally speaking, you're heading in a similar direction there. You know, you're facing the same problems. You've got the same traffic. You know, you've got to stop if there's a red light. You're both going to stop and there's green light. You're both going to continue. And there's a lot of similarities, right? But then eventually, you don't have the same destination. Eventually, they're going to end up in their shops or you're going to end up in your home. You're going to end up in totally different places. But for a time period, you guys will run in parallel with one another, won't you? Okay? And so what we saw here in this story here in 1 Kings chapter 13 is a prophet that God sent to King Jeroboam because he was doing wicked things. He was doing wicked things. His prophet comes. And I'm not going to go through the whole story today. But I just want to grab some thoughts there. And God uses this prophet to preach against the king. So let's pick it up there in 1 Kings 13 verse number 6. 1 Kings 13 and verse number 6. I'll keep this here just so you guys, you know, kind of help us in the sermon a little bit there. And, you know, so if the king's doing something ungodly and God sends a prophet to preach against his king, are they running parallel at this point in time? No. They're kind of, they're actually in conflict with one another, right? There's a conflict. But then what happens is, you know, the king, God does a miracle with the king and he has a hand, a withered hand. And the king asks the prophet in verse number 6 to pray for him that God will restore his hand. Look at verse number 6. And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the Lord thy God and pray for me that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the Lord and the king's hand was restored him again and became as it was before. And so we start the story. These guys are not parallel with one another. In fact, they're in conflict. The prophet's preaching against him. But now that God's done this miracle and King Jeroboam sees that this is a man of God and God has stepped in, he asks the man of God, hey, can you pray for me? And what does the prophet do? Yeah, he prays for him, right? And the king's hand is restored. And so for a brief period of time here, they were running parallel. At first they were in conflict, but now they're running in parallel. They've got similarity. There are similar things, right? The king wants his hand restored. The prophet says, yes, I'll pray for you. God steps in and the man's hand is restored, right? And so it looks like it's going to spark this great friendship. Because look at verse number 7. And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me and refresh thyself and I will give thee a reward. All right? So you can see the king wants the prophet over. Wow, you know, you really are a man of God. You've preached me the true word of God. I just want you to come over. I want to be hospitable. I want to give you a reward for being a great prophet. But you'll soon see that that was not running parallel with what God had instructed the prophet to do. Because the prophet responds in verse number 8. And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee. Neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place. For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest. Okay? So think about this, what's happening. So there is a period where the prophet, yes, is running parallel with the king. They want the same thing. They want the hand restored. The hand gets restored. But then the king says, well, you know what? Stay with me. You know, say I want to be hospitable. And the prophet says, no, you know what? God says, don't even eat bread, don't eat, don't drink. Just once you've done what I've asked you to do, to return back. Right? And so the prophet realized that he was running. Let's say this represents the prophet. You know, yes, there was a brief period where that were parallel. But the prophet said, you know what? I'm not going to change lanes. You know, this is the lane that God gave me. I'm going to follow the Lord. I'm going to keep going this way. Even though we did have some similarities. But I'm not going to change lanes and become heading to the same destination as you. Right? And so the prophet realized that there is a time when things are running parallel. We can work together. We can do things together. But there comes a time when we cannot work together. Okay? Now let's drop down to verse number 15. Verse number 15. So this prophet goes on his way. And there's another prophet in the land, an old prophet the Bible calls. And this old prophet is very inquisitive. And, you know, he sort of wants to know what this prophet is up to. He realizes he's being sent by God. And he wants to get to know this prophet. In verse number 15, the old prophet says to the younger prophet. He says, then he said unto him, come home with me and eat bread. So now it's not the king. It's not a wicked king. Now it's another prophet. Hey, is that very similar? Are these two guys very similar? Yeah, they're both prophets of God, aren't they? They're both prophets of God. But this time the old prophet wants him to come to his place to eat. How does this young prophet respond? Verse number 16. And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place. For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, thou shalt eat no bread, nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest. And look at verse number 18. The old prophet shows that, hey, actually we're running parallel here. Because it says in verse number 18, he said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art. Hey, what's one of the definitions of being in parallel? To be side to side with or a personal thing that is similar to another. So the old prophet says, hey, I'm a prophet just like you. We're both serving God, right? We have a lot of similarities. And then it says, continued in verse number 18, And an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water, but he lied unto him. Hey, this old prophet lied. Now, look, was he a man of God? Was he used by God in the past? Absolutely. But at this point in time, you can kind of guess why this might be the case. I personally think he's a bit frustrated that God would use a prophet from the southern kingdom of Judah to come and preach against the king. The old prophet's probably wondering why did God not use me, right? And so he lies to this younger prophet, right? Look at verse number 19. So he went back with him and did eat bread in his house and drank water. And so the young prophet, you know, at the beginning he said, No, you know what, I'm heading to a different destination than you. You want me to stay? I have to go. God told me. But the old prophet lied to him, and so the young prophet switched lanes. You see? He switched lanes. Yes, they were running parallel for a period of time. They're both prophets. They're both servants of God. But now he's doing something that God did not ask him to do, okay? And it's quite an easy jump because, hey, we're both prophets. We're both trying to serve God, okay? But now he changed lanes. Now he had a car accident, as he were, right? He shouldn't have changed lanes. It wasn't the lane that God wanted him to drive. Look at verse number 20. And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back. And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee, but camest back, and hast eaten bread, and drunk water, in the place of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread and drink no water, thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers. And so the old prophet now gets a word of God. He preaches, and he says, Look, because you've disobeyed God, you're not going to die with your fathers. He's not going to make it all the way back to Judah, okay? In fact, he's going to die there in Israel. And let's look at what happened. Verse number 23. And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he settled for him the ass to wit for the prophet whom he had brought back. And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him, and his carcass was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcass. What an unfortunate end. This story, you know, it kind of breaks my heart a little bit, right? You've got this young prophet of God. You know, he's being used by God. He goes and preaches against the king. He's very bold. He's very zealous. You know, God does a miracle. He prays to God. You know, God steps in and answers his prayer. You know, he's doing the best he can. You know, he's obedient to God. He's not going to stay with the king. He doesn't, you know, at first he doesn't desire to stay with the old prophet. He desires to just follow God. But just one mistake, just listening to one lie, okay, caused him to change lanes, to get on a different program, you know, and the destination was not the one that God wanted him to be at. And when he changed lanes, he ended up being at a new destination, which was to be cured by a lion. So on his way back home, the lion slew. What a way to die, to die from a wild animal like that. And he suffered a great death, okay. And so what I really want to explain to you, brethren, is that, you know, we have our Christian life to live, right. God in his word, he tells us how we ought to live, right. And what you'll find in your Christian life from time to time, you're going to find ideologies or you're going to find movements and you're going to find maybe family and friends and sometimes other prophets, other people of God, other churches, other good churches, other good pastors, right. You're going to find other things that you'll notice, you know, in time, hey, these things seem to be running parallel with what I've been asked to do. And what you need to remind yourself, though, is even when things are running parallel, even when you can kind of work together and you have similar objectives for a time period, you must remember to stay in your lane, okay. Stay in your lane. You know, get to the destination that God wants you to get at. Don't change lanes and start following another destination, okay. Otherwise, you could be torn apart by some line, okay. Otherwise, something can happen in your life that you never expected, right. And again, these two things are very similar. It's very easy to switch lanes. But, brethren, you've got to stay on the lane that God gave you, okay. Now, let me give you some examples of this. You know, your old school friends, your workmates that you have. You know, I used to work a 9 to 5 job Monday to Friday like a lot of you. And you know what, there are people in that workplace that obviously are ungodly, unsaved, probably even very wicked, right. But I'm there 9 to 5, and guess what, I find myself having to work in parallel or side by side with these other people, right, to get the job done. I mean, literally, I mean, if you work in an office environment where you have several people, several departments, people relying on you, you're relying on other people, you've got to work together, right. You've got to work together to get the job done. There's nothing wrong with that. And so what you'll find is, you know, especially in the workplace, you know, between those hours of work, you know, you're operating in parallel with other people. You're side by side. You're working together. You know, you've got a similar goal to make a profit for the company, to get a paycheck at the end of the week or whatever it is that you get paid, right. And so you're running parallel with these people side by side. There's nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong with that. But what you need to remember when it comes to the ungodly, the unsaved, is just because you're running parallel Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, hey, don't switch lanes. Don't join their agenda, okay. Let me give you an example of this. You know, sometimes, and I experienced this, you know, you work hard and you get along. Hey, I've always tried to be friendly. I've always tried to be a good worker, always tried my best to make people happy in the workplace. And, you know, you get along in the workplace, but then they'll say eventually, you know, as time goes on, you know, they'll be like, hey, let's hit the pub after work. You know, let's have a few beers. You know, let's just, you know, wind down. It's a Friday afternoon. Let's just go have a few beers and relax and chill out and just, you know, let our hair down a little bit. At that point, you realize, hold on, we were running parallel Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, but now I find myself heading to a different destination to what they are. Okay, all of a sudden, we're not heading in the same place. We're not ending up in the same place. Now, if you're weak, you can change lanes and be like, yep, hey, let's go to the pub, if you're weak. Okay, it's very easy to change lanes because for so long, for so many hours, for so many days, you guys were operating parallel with one another. So why should I really bother if I go out and hang out with these guys, you know, at the pub? You've got to understand, hey, that is dangerous. Okay, the ungodly, you know, the unsafe, they don't understand the effects of alcohol, they don't understand how God hates this stuff and the effects that it has on your mind and you can easily become corrupted when you're not careful or when you change lanes. Okay, be very careful about these things. I mean, even family. We've got a lot of, you know, obviously, you know, I don't have such a big family here, most of my family is overseas, but some of you guys have large families and listen, get along with your families. You know, you have unsafe family members, get along with them, love them. They're your family. There ought to be a natural affection for them anyway, okay? And if they're not saved, there ought to be a natural desire to give them the gospel and see these people saved. But many times they are unsaved and they're going to get involved in sinful activities or wicked things, right? And you need to make the decision, well, I'm a Christian, many times we do run parallel, we do love each other. You know, this nephew is celebrating her birthday, I'm going to go and celebrate their birthday because I love them and I want to show them support. We can run parallel sometimes, but understand that their destination will ultimately be different to yours. And at some points, and I'm not telling you exactly what that point is, brethren, but you've got to work it out. At some point you've got to say, you know what, I cannot attend this gathering because it's the devil's music, because it's the world, you know, this gathering is ungodly and I don't think God's going to be pleased with me being here. You know what, come over for a barbecue, we'll talk there, we'll have fun, but you know, this environment, that's just not for me because I realize your destination is different to mine and I've got to make sure I stay in my lane, okay? So this happens, all of us face this crossroads at some point where we realize, man, we were running parallel for so long but this is the time when I have to pull away. I've got to stay in my lane. I can't get distracted. The title for the sermon this evening was parallel distractions. And there's a lot of things that run parallel with our lives that if you're not careful, you're going to be distracted by that, change lanes and end up in a totally different destination. I mentioned other pastors and other churches. You know what, there's a lot of common ground with good IFB churches, King James only, preaching the right gospel. You know, I can find a lot of common ground with other churches, you know, other pastors, it's very easy for me to get along with other pastors even if they believe things a little different to me. You know, even if they're dispensational, even if they're Zionists, you know, I know where they're coming from, I know why they believe that. It's still very easy for me to get along with that person, to be friendly. You know, I even would love to take him soul winning, right? Or if they invite me soul winning, I'd be like, yeah, you know what, we can run parallel together here, we can work together. You know, things are very similar here. We can work together in this environment, okay? I can get along with you here. But when they find out that I'm not a dispensationalist and I don't believe in the pre-tribulation rapture, it tells me that there's going to come a time when they have their conferences, their end time conferences, and I realize that I'm not going to be invited to preach at the conference. And that's just fine, because our destination is different, okay? When things will run in parallel, we can work, there's a lot of things we can work together for, you know? If they're a brother in Christ, I'm commanded to love them, I'm commanded to serve them, I'm encouraged to, you know, I'm commanded to encourage them and to edify them, I'll do all those things, but there are sometimes that, and this is why churches have to be independent, because even a church that might be absolutely almost similar in every regard, there's going to be times when we don't necessarily agree, where we don't see eye to eye on certain things, or the practice of one pastor is not a practice that I would do, or a practice that I would do would not be done by another pastor. Well, you know what? We've got to stay in our lanes and just do what God has asked us to do and not change lanes in a place where God has not asked you to be, okay? So be careful about things that run parallel. You know, and what else? What else runs parallel with the Christian life many times? You know, especially in the day and age of the internet and YouTube and these kinds of things, and a lot of my friends, a lot of my believing friends have come through or come out of or have gone into the Trufer Movement, the Trufer Movement. And you know what? Many times, I don't know if you all know what that means, but basically the Trufer Movement are those that have curiosity and strong beliefs in conspiracies. And I believe there's a lot of conspiracies, all right? But I don't identify as someone that is part of the Trufer Movement, okay? Now, many times, these things run parallel. You've got your Christian life, you've got the Trufer Movement, right? And what happens is, those that have done some research online, watched some videos, they start becoming apparent, it becomes apparent to them that there's corruption in this world, you know? That there's forces of darkness in this world. And you know, the governments and the authorities and the deep state, you know, they're trying to take away our privacy, they're trying to spy on us, they're trying to make our lives difficult, they're trying to bring in a cashless society, they're trying to bring in some one-world government, and Truffers start to realize that this stuff is going on in the world, right? But as Christians, we ought to be like, yeah, we're already there. The Bible's already told us that. Like, for a Christian, it shouldn't be, man, I can't believe what's going on. Like, for us, it should be, yeah, man, God told us so many years ago, you know, that all these things will happen, right? But the truth of that, maybe he's unsaved, they'll get excited about all these conspiracies and get really involved, it almost becomes their gospel, where this is all they can talk about, this is what they're fascinated on, right? And they realize in due time that there's forces of darkness, and, you know, I've got one good friend that has basically, through the Trufer movement, gotten saved, okay? Because he realized just how corrupt this world is, and, you know, surely there must be an answer to this, you know, how is God involved, why isn't God stepping in, you know, what's God's role in all of this, and he led him to online sermons or videos, I can't remember exactly, got saved, became a Christian, all right? But this is what this same person told me later on, he was, let's say this is the Trufer movement right here, and this is the Christian life right here, he goes, while I appreciate the Trufer movement, I learned a lot of great things, it opened my eyes to the corruption and the wickedness in this world, I had to make a decision to change lanes at some points. At some point I realized that while there's a lot of things that run parallel, I realized that the destinations are not going to be the same. And so I have to make a conscious decision to go from the Trufer movement and live a Christian life. Now that I'm saved, I need to be living a Christian life because we're not going to end up in the same place, even though there was a lot of parallel truths, a lot of parallel ideas in play, and he's absolutely correct, okay? Because the Trufer movement will lead to seek into, how do I put it, it leads you to be focused on the here and now. Focused on the temple. Hey, how can we change governments and how can we change policies? How can we release ourselves from all the spying that's going on? And it becomes a very carnal, a very worldly view. And the end goal is to change this world. The end goal is to, how do I put it, to expose all the conspiracies and to take down the wicked, to take down the deep state, and to start a grassroots movement that will give us freedom and give us a society that we desire to live. But the Christian life is not like that. The Christian life, we realize that this world is going to continue. We realize when we get to Revelation, the end time, this world continues waxing worse and worse. It becomes more ungodly. Listen, the mark of the beast is coming. The antichrist is coming. Tribulation, persecution, other saints is coming. We just need to prepare ourselves spiritually. Thank God that we're not of this world. We're of heaven. And so the ideas are similar to some extent. The destination is completely different. And here's the thing. If you've been part of that Trufer movement and that's what led you to learn about Christ and learn the gospel and get saved, you need to make a decision that I'm going to go, I need to change legs. I need to get on Christ's program. I'm going to go on to God's program and not continue down this road because all this is going to lead me to is stress and worry and concerns about this world. when God wants me to be focused on eternal matters. All right? And you know the Bible says in Colossians, if you can turn to Colossians chapter 3. Turn to Colossians chapter 3 for me please. Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3 verse number 1. Colossians chapter 3 verse number 1. Listen, the Trufer movement, there's a lot of great things. There's a lot of truth. There's a lot of lies. But there's a lot of truth, okay? But they're focused on this earth. They're focused on the here and now. They're focused, how do we protest? How do we stop this? What do we do? Listen, forget that. It's coming, okay? We know the mystery of iniquity. They've already worked all the way back from the Apostle Paul. He explained to us that there is this, you know, this destination that will lead to a one world government, corruption across the scale, across the entire world and the antichrist is going to come and raise himself. And you know, I remember as a young Christian when I was a teenager, when I used to believe in the pre-tribulation rapture, I used to read these books called Left Behind. Has anyone read them? Left Behind or seen the movies Left Behind? Have you seen the movies? Okay, my wife and my mum have, right? And the idea is, well, you know, there are going to be people that are left behind because they're going to miss the rapture and they're going to get saved. And I think I only read the first two books and then I realized this is nonsense. Why did I read Left Behind though? Why did I read it? I was a little bit behind. I was a little bit late to the party. A lot of people had already read it, right? I had a friend that had all the books on his shelf. Like, oh, I think it's 12 books on the shelf. And the reason is because I would read the Bible, I would be looking for the pre-tribulation rapture. You know, I'd be reading Revelation. Where's that pre-tribulation rapture? You know, where is it in the epistles? Where is it in the gospels? And it wasn't there. So as a young teenager, I thought, you know what? I probably have to read these Left Behind books. All right, so I know what has to happen in the end times and how things develop. And when I understand the chronology from the Left Behind books, I'll be able to go back to the Bible and figure it out. That's what I thought. I got through the first book. It didn't really help me much. Got through the second book. Didn't help me at all. And that's when I quit. That's when I quit. But here's the thing about those Left Behind books. What happens in those books is that the believers that get saved after the pre-tribulation rapture, they end up basically fighting against the Antichrist. They're constantly trying to stop the Antichrist from coming into power, stop the Antichrist from doing whatever he wants to do. And they're constantly trying to either stop him directly or just trying to stop his plans. And I'm like, I don't see that in the Bible. Where do I see Christians trying to fight against the Antichrist? What I see in the Book of Daniel is that the Antichrist will overcome the saints. I see this as a losing battle. And when I look at Matthew 24 when God is speaking about the end of the earth, He's not saying, hey, believers, they're going to rise up against the Antichrist and they're going to fight the corrupt governments and they're going to be protesting in the streets. That's not what I read in the Bible. What I read Jesus Christ saying is that the gospel of the kingdom will be preached to all the nations. Well, who's doing that then? It must be the believers. It doesn't look like they're wasting time getting involved in the affairs of this world and fighting the Antichrist. Oh, we've got to fight this and we've got to fight that. We've got to fight that. Listen, they seem to be focused on God's word and making sure people understand what they have to do to be saved. They're preaching the gospel. And then if they're being caught preaching the gospel, yeah, they may lose their life, but they're not losing their life because they're fighting the Antichrist. They're losing their life because they're just serving God. Okay? And here's what, you know, the left behind books will do. That will cause you as a believer to change lanes and think you have to fight the Antichrist or you have to fight a corrupt world government. That's not our call. That's not our job. Okay? If we want to change this world, well, you're going to have to wait until Jesus Christ comes back and he establishes his millennial kingdom and then we'll have a perfect government. Then we'll have righteousness. Then we'll have, you know, a sin and crime being punished, you know, according to God's word. Then we'll have the world that we desire to live in. But we're not called to change lanes, brethren, or the Triffa movement. Look, many of them are even unsaved. They might, just like anybody, a lot of them do believe in God and some concept of God, but many of them don't have the right gospel. Okay? In order for you to be saved from the Triffa, you've got to believe the gospel. You've got to get onto God's agenda. All right? But unfortunately, what I'm finding is sometimes Christians, they know they have their Christian life and so it kind of works the opposite. Let's say this represents the Christian life and they see the parallels with the Triffa movement and they're like, oh, we seem to be, we're very similar. We're heading in the same direction it appears. And what they do is they change lanes and they find themselves here and they find themselves battling the things of this earth, being frustrated at the things of this earth and losing their focus on eternal matters. So we've got to be careful, brethren. We don't want to be distracted by the parallels. Understand there is parallel. Oh, great, let's reach out to the Triffa movement. Let's tell them, hey, all the things you're discovering, you know what, God already told us. God told us this is going to happen. You're not going to change it. Okay? It's good that you're aware of it, but now, hey, how about you believe on a God that's given you eternal life, the God that promises you a perfect government, a perfect earth for a thousand years, believe in Him and you can rule and reign with Him for a thousand years. How good is that? So we can't lose or we can't become distracted. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 2 free, it says, thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Are we called to fight? Yeah, we're called to be a good soldier of Jesus. What do soldiers do? Don't they fight battles? Don't they fight wars? Yeah. Okay? But then it says in verse number four, no man that warth entanglement himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who have chosen him to be a soldier. Think about that then. Think about the Triffa movement and your Christian life. Okay? We're called to be soldiers for Jesus Christ. These guys are entangling themselves with the affairs of this life and you go and switch lanes. You entangle yourself with the affairs of this life. Okay? And then what did it say there? It said that he may please him who have chosen him to be a soldier. Listen, pleasing God was only here, the Christian life. Okay? Fighting the wars of privacy, fighting the wars of COVID, fighting the wars of restrictions, fighting the wars of 5G, fighting, what else the Triffa like to fight about? I don't know. Whatever else, reverend, you know what? You're going to entangle yourself and there's no pleasing God in this battle. There's no pleasing God over here. Okay? I want to live my life over here focused on eternal matters. Okay? Understanding that we live in a corrupt world. We live in a corrupt society. Hey, but we still have to have our focus on the Lord God. You know, we're in this world but we're not of this world. Okay? We're here to obey and to submit but at the same time, we're ambassadors for Jesus Christ. These are two things that we need to balance, you know, in our Christian walk. So, don't allow the things that run parallel to become distracting. Especially don't allow yourself to change lanes. Now, what else? Well, what about physical health? Physical health. You know, there are some people that are just obsessed about their health, obsessed about keeping this body clean and pure and healthy. Should we keep this body healthy? Yeah, we should. Okay? God's given us this body. This is the temple of the Holy Ghost. If you can turn to Mark chapter 7. Turn to Mark chapter 7 for me. Mark chapter 7. And I'll read to you from 2 Corinthians 6, 16. You turn to Mark 7. I'll read to you from 2 Corinthians 6, 16. And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God. As God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. And so, should we look after our bodies? We should. It's the temple of the Holy Ghost. God's given us this body. He wants us to serve in this body. You know, if we become overweight and obese and we can't get around, you know, you're not going to be able to get, you know, go door to door soul winning, right? I mean, if you have, you know, if you, you know, just, just, you know, eat McDonald's all the time, eat junk food, right? You know, just drink Coke all day. You're going to damage your body. You're going to deteriorate your body. And God, you know, you may cause yourself to lose life at an earlier stage than what God would have preferred. And then you have less time for you to serve God. So we should look after our bodies, okay? But should we become obsessed by that? Where that almost becomes your gospel? You're driven to just keep a clean and healthy body no matter what. And the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 1550, Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. You know what? Some people are obsessed. And this is, it runs parallel, right? This is the Christian life where the temple of the Holy Ghost, let's keep ourselves healthy. Let's keep ourselves serving God. Yeah, all good, right? Gluttony is a sin. You know, drunkenness is a sin. Let's be careful of what we put in our bodies, yeah? But then running parallel sometimes is, you know, is the health movement, if I can call it that, right? And it's like, well, you know, there's the chemtrails and there's the fluoride and there's the GMO, the genetically modified foods, and you've got to keep yourself pure from these things. Don't touch these things, right? And you become obsessive and you've got to eat organic and you've got to be healthy and you've got to do all these things, brethren, you know, because that's what this is teaching. And yet, for a period of time, these two things do run parallel. There's a lot of similarities. Let's look after each other. But then what happens sometimes, Christians, they change lanes. And their life becomes all about their body, how healthy it has to be, right? And it's almost like they think this pleases God. If I just focus on this area of my life, I'm pleasing God, but you've changed lanes. You're going to find that the destination is going to be different. You're trying to keep this body pure. God says it's not going to inherit the kingdom of God. Not only does it say that, it keeps going. Neither does corruption inherit incorruption. You know what God is saying? No matter how healthy your body is, it's still corrupted. It's corruption. How can corruption inherit incorruption? So you become obsessed. Look, I believe in eating healthy. I believe in it. I'd rather eat a home-cooked meal than eat McDonald's. I don't want to poison my body with vaccinations. I'd rather keep myself from fluoride if I can where possible, but I'm not going to be obsessed about that because I know this body's corrupt anyway. In fact, there's something vastly more corrupt in this body than what metals might be in my brain or what fluoride my body contains. There's something much more harmful in our bodies. Mark chapter 7, please. Mark chapter 7, you're there. Verse number 17. Mark chapter 7, verse number 17. Mark chapter 7, verse number 17. The Bible reads, And when he entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. So these are now the words of Jesus. He explained the parable. Verse number 18, And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive that whatsoever thing from without enterth into the man, it cannot defile him? Say, what? What did God just say? Anything that enters a man that is without, outside of the body, cannot defile the man. He said, hold on. Shouldn't we stay away from the fluoride? Shouldn't we stay away from the GMOs? Yeah, okay. Keep your body healthy. But that's not what Jesus Christ is focused on. That's not what's important for Christ. There's something vastly more important to Christ. More important to Christ than that. Verse number 19, Because it enterth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats. And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. Hey, what defiles you? What defiles your body? What makes your body corrupt? That which enters the man? No, it's that which comes from within the man. Okay? That's what comes within, right? That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. Verse number 21, For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lascivitousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these things come from within, that defile the man. So you've got this movement here, this health movement. Yeah, it's in parallel sometimes. We need to keep ourselves healthy. And they're like, Man, don't defile your body. You know? And look at the list that Jesus Christ gave us in verse number 21 and 22. I mean, you would almost, if these guys were writing the Bible, they would say, you know, it's the GMOs, it's the vaccinations, it's the fluoride, it's the can trails that defile the man. Jesus goes, No, that's not what it is. It's the evil thoughts, it's the adulteries, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lascivitousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. These are the things that defile the man. These are the things that are within, we all have it, brethren. You know, I don't care how healthy you keep your body and it's fluoride free and perfect and wonderful. You know what? I know what's within that body. All these things, evil thoughts, wickedness, deceit. Okay? These are the things that Christ wants us to be focused on. And so, do we run parallel sometimes? Yeah, but we have a different destination. Okay? This one, the Christian life is keep yourself pure from sin. Sin defiles the body. Sin makes your body corrupt. That's why this body cannot inherit in corruption. This body will not go to heaven. But this destination is, you know, where you do everything you can to just keep yourself perfect and, why? It's going to perish. It's dust. It's corrupted. Okay? So, can we sometimes get along and work together? Yeah, sometimes. But at some point, you need to make a decision when you're being distracted from the things of God and you're given too much focus on things that God does not want you to be focused on. You need to say, man, I better get back on my lane. I think I've changed lanes. I've got to get back to what God wants me to be on. Okay? What else can we talk about? Well, actually, before we get into that, the body, let's talk about the defilement of the body. Some people will die for their body. I've spoken to some Christians. They will die for their body, which is corrupt, which is defiled. Drives me insane. It's like, how is that possible? Where do you get this stuff from the word of God? And it's like, you know what? I'd rather die than, you know, my body being affected by these chemicals and, you know, I become brain dead or something. You know what? If you suffer in this body, and we all will because this body keeps dying. At some point, it's going to pass its expiry date and it's gone, right? And, you know, it's like, I want to have a healthy body. You know what? If you have some sickness or you have some mental disability, if you're saved and you have these things and you're still walking this earth, God still has a plan for you. God still has a purpose for you. God still wants you to serve him. Why would you rather die in a healthy body when God has so much plans for you, even if it's corrupted, even if it's brain dead, even if there's something that affects you. You know, and I'm reminded of one of my first pastors. I believe his name was Les Perkins. Is that right, mum? Les Perkins, okay, an older man, right, in my Baptist union church. Saved man. All right. And I remember that he got on with his, he got on with age and, you know, he suffered a stroke and after the recovery of the stroke, he did not recognize his own family. He did not recognize his children and his grandchildren. I think maybe he remembered his wife and that's it. He could not remember his children. Okay. Now after this stroke, he didn't live for too much longer. I think it was only a few weeks afterwards. But he forgot, you know, and so he's suffering in his mind, but he's still alive. Okay, he's still alive for a few more weeks at least. And you know what he didn't forget? He did not forget his Jesus. He did not forget his Bible. He did not forget the gospel. And so when he's going around the nursing home, the story goes that he's going around preaching Jesus Christ. That he's preaching the gospel. But this man doesn't even remember his family. He's lost all that history. His brain has been damaged by the stroke. But somehow for those last few weeks, God had a plan for him. You've got to go and preach the gospel. And that's what he was doing. Somehow even this corrupted body, you know, was lacking, but the new man in him was alive. The new man was in touch with the Spirit of God and he knew, even though he got saved later in life, he knew that his mission, his goal, was to preach the gospel. Even with a corrupted body. And some of these people say, man, I don't want that. I'd rather die early. Man, God has plans for you. Okay? Even if you suffer. Even if you're born with defects. If you're saved and you're alive, God wants to use you. Okay? So let's not get obsessed with this. Okay? Focus on the life that God has given you to live. Don't get distracted with these parallel things. I think about creation ministries. Creation ministries. Can you please turn to Romans chapter one for me? Romans chapter one. And I like creation ministries. Brother Matt, you got saved through one. Okay? I'm not denying the effectiveness. I'm not denying that it's a good thing from time to time. And you know, people set up creation ministries from time to time and in many ways, it does run parallel with your Christian life. You know, they're trying to promote, you know, that God created everything in six days, some 6,000 years ago. You know, it's a young earth and they're doing these great things. There's a lot of things in common. A lot of similar things. Okay? But you need to understand that God did not call for us to start creation ministries. He did not call us to start ministries and institutions that are outside of the local church. Many times these creation ministries, they run rogue. You know, what we see is that the church is the body of Christ and all the work that was done for God was done through a local body. You know, you see the Apostle Paul going out, doing his missionary work. He was doing it from the church of Antioch. The church of Antioch was sending him. He was coming back. He was accountable. He was bringing a report of the work that he was doing. He would come again and again and again. All right? And we see that God uses the church local body to be the one that ministers and does the work of God. But these creation ministries, many times they do their own thing. They don't operate under a local church many times. Okay? And while we do have a lot of similarities and I do love to see the creation ministries rip apart the arguments of atheists and evolutionists, I love seeing that. I realize at the same time that they're heading in a different destination. Okay? Many times these creation ministries, they believe that the most effective form of evangelism is to teach creation. Okay? The most effective form. You're in Romans chapter 1, verse number 16. Romans chapter 1, verse number 16. Very famous passage. Hey, brethren, what is the power of God unto salvation? Is it a creation ministry trying to debunk atheism, debunk evolution? Is that the power of God unto salvation? No. Okay? It's the gospel. The gospel. God, if you got saved through this ministry because, you know, you got on board here, eventually you heard the gospel, but you need to realize at some point I need to change lanes. Why? Because these creation ministries many times, their destination are the debates. You know, they want to get into the debates. And listen, nobody wins debates. In fact, God tells us not to debate. Okay? You know, debates are ungodly. I don't have the passage in front of me right now, but, you know, God tells us that is not something for us these creation ministries love debating. They love going head to head with evolutionists online or together in person in some university or some type of organization. And listen, and they think that's effective. All debates do, brethren. All it does. If you're on Facebook, you'll see debates every day. All it does is, you know, those that are on the side of evolution, they're always going to promote their person. It doesn't matter how good the other side is. They're always going to back their person. And look, the believers that are backing the guy that's preaching young earth creation, they're just going to back their guy. And that's it. You're just backing your guy. I'd rather watch the football. I'd rather watch the, you know, watch the Western Sydney play or something and back them. Because look, it's ineffective. You're not going to win people to the Lord through debates. Your hope is that by the debates, some people might come to the gospel. But listen, that is what saves. It's preaching the gospel that saves. I don't want to invest my time in debates and arguments, especially when God told us not to debate. It can become a distraction is what I'm trying to say. Okay, it can become a distraction. Do it yourself missionaries. You know, sometimes, and again, missionaries are great. I love missionaries. Missionaries should be operating under a local church though. Okay, and from time to time, I'll get people say to me, hey, there's so and so over here in the Philippines. There's so and so over here in Africa. There's so and so over here in South America. Let's support them. I want to support missionaries. I do. Okay, because I love the preaching of God's Word. I love seeing people get saved. But my question is always this. What church are they operating under? Which church sent them? Which pastor are they accountable to? Which church are they reporting back to? Oh, they're just doing their own thing. Okay, that's a distraction. Yes, they run parallel with us. Okay, but it's a do it yourself, you know, and trying to live off that when they didn't prove themselves in a local church, which is what they're supposed to do. Prove themselves in a local church. Okay, and the church is the one that sends the missionary out to do God's work. Now, are they doing great things? Are they running parallel with us sometimes? Yes. But what happens if you change lanes, you're going to think that the local church is not important, that the local church is not the institution by which God sends out His evangelists and His missionaries. Okay, so don't become distracted. Stay on God's program. And if we support a missionary, you know, if you guys have something in mind, tell me, okay? But it's got to be sent by a local church. It's not just him doing his own thing. Can you please turn to 2 Chronicles 18? 2 Chronicles 18. I hope this sermon makes sense. There's a lot of things that run parallel, yeah? A lot of things that are similar in our Christian life, but you don't want to get distracted. Can you work together sometimes? Yeah. Can you get along? Yeah, we can, okay? The hope is you tell people that are on the other side, hey, why don't you change lanes with me? Why don't you come over here, okay, and live the Christian life? But many times, it's like this. No, we're going to get behind that agenda. You know, who's influencing who? You ought to be influencing people to come get saved and live the Christian life, okay? Not you getting caught up in parallel distractions. 2 Chronicles 18. 2 Chronicles 18. We'll end on this story. And again, another very famous story here. It says, Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance and joined affinity with Ahab. So let me get you up to speed who these are. Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah, the seventh kingdom, and Ahab was the king of Israel, the northern kingdom, okay? So Jehoshaphat, he's getting along with Ahab. They have a lot in common, right? Now Jehoshaphat, without going through everything, was a godly king. He was living a Christian life. Ahab, very wicked king, okay? Very wicked king. But were there some parallels? Absolutely, they're both kings. And they're both reigning over this holy land that God gave, you know, as an inheritance. And, you know, they can both trace the lineage all the way back as these people of God. There's a lot in common. I'm sure they had a lot of common enemies, all right? There's a lot of things in common. And look at verse number two. And after certain years, he went down to Ahab to Samaria. I remember Samaria was the capital city of the northern kingdom. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance and for the people that he had with him and persuaded him to go up with him to ram off Gilead. Okay, so King Ahab, Jehoshaphat comes and visits King Ahab. Ahab is like, all right, let's do a great feast. Let's slaughter a whole bunch of animals. You know, let's just enjoy ourselves. And so they're having a good time. They're getting along. There's a lot of parallels, as I said, right? But now the king of Israel, he wants to, he's persuaded or convinced the king of Judah to come to ram off Gilead. Why is that? Because there was a battle to fight. He was fighting a war. He wanted to take down his enemy. Look at verse number three. And Ahab, king of Israel, said unto Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, will thou go with me to ram off Gilead? And he answered him, I am as thou art and my people as thy people and we will be with thee in the war. What? Jehoshaphat, this guy is a wicked king. This guy is an ungodly king. Hey, but there were a lot of parallels. They could work together. There was a lot of things in common. Hey, what happened to King Jehoshaphat? He switched lanes. He says, yep, my people are your people. My battles are your battles. We're one and the same. Now you can see there's a friendship. Things are going okay for a period of time. But now who's influencing who? Jehoshaphat should have influenced Ahab. Hey, come back to the Lord. Come back serving the Lord. Hey, you want to come to Jerusalem, to the house of God and offer your sacrifice to the Lord? Hey, you're more than welcome. That should have been King Jehoshaphat being the godly influence. But now the godly king was being influenced by the wicked king. Okay. Let's drop down to verse number 16 because they call Micaiah the prophet. A lot of the prophets of the land were saying, yeah, you know, the Lord wants you to go. You're going to win the battles. And they call for Micaiah who's this one godly prophet that basically gives the opposite news. In verse number 16, prophet Micaiah says, then he said, I did see all Israel scattered upon the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, these have no master. Let them return therefore every man to his house in peace. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, did I not tell thee that he would not prophesy good unto me but evil? And so, you know, Micaiah the prophet, he's telling the truth. He's saying, look, it's going to be disaster. You know, the armies of Israel, they're going to be like sheep with no master. Okay. They're going to be scattered. And that's exactly what happens. King Ahab is going to lose his life in this battle. Okay. And so the sheep are scattered. They're going to lose this war. Okay. Let's drop down to, let's go to the next chapter now. Second Chronicles chapter 19, please. And just to save us some time, you know, King Jehoshaphat, he gets convinced even though he heard from a man of God that it's a losing battle, he ends up going to war with King Ahab and King Ahab loses his life. Okay. The king of Israel, amen, he loses his life. Right. This guy loses his friend that he had. Right. He should have been a godly influence. He made a mistake. And I want to show you how God responds to King Jehoshaphat. Verse number one. Second Chronicles chapter 19, verse number one. And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned, that's returned from the battle, to his house in peace to Jerusalem. And Jehu the son of Hanani, the seer, went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord. Was God happy with King Jehoshaphat? No. Okay. King Jehoshaphat went to, what, help the ungodly. He was influenced by the ungodly. He changed lanes. Instead of living the righteous Christian life that he wanted, he changed lanes and he was helping the ungodly. God was not happy with them. He says, look, and love them that hate the Lord? King Ahab hated the Lord. Brethren, sometimes, you know, I'm not saying all these parallel examples that I've given you, I'm sure if you think about it, you've got some other ideas as well that can come to mind. They're not always going to be ungodly wicked people, but many times they are. As I told you, many of my work colleagues, we got along 9 to 5, 9 to Friday, but I know after work they're doing some very ungodly wicked things. Okay. I'm not going to help them in their wickedness. You know, I realize I've got to stay in my lane. Okay. Yeah, I'm going to look weird. I'm going to look different. I'm going to be a little bit like prophet Micaiah, doing one thing when all the other prophets are saying, what are you doing? Okay. You're going to be a little bit weird, live in this life, stay in this lane, right? And sometimes you're going to make friendships and, you know, you can get along and work together to some extent, but when you realize that you're heading to the wrong, or to different destinations, you need to remind yourself, I need to stay in my lane. I need to influence people to come over to this side to live a Christian, godly, righteous life that's focused on eternal matters, not focused on the things of this earth. And so let that be something for you to think about. That's my conclusion, brethren, parallel. Just a reminder, what a parallel. Two things that are side by side, very similar, but ultimately, brethren, headed to different destinations. They'll never meet. Okay, let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, I want to pray.