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

Look at verse number four where the Bible reads, for if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. And so we see in 2 Corinthians chapter number 11, a warning about people that could come and preach another Jesus, they could have another spirit, they could have another gospel. And really, the word that comes to mind when I think about these people is phony, phony. And so the title of my sermon this evening is Phonies. And the first group that we're gonna talk about this evening is phony ministers. Phony ministers, those who pretend to be of Christ, those who pretend to love the Lord Jesus Christ, but really, they're preaching another Jesus. Really, they have another spirit. Really, they have another gospel. And so let's think about these three descriptions here. Who would be someone with another Jesus? Well, that'd be your Mormons, right? Your Mormons literally have another testament of Jesus Christ, and so they have another gospel too. But their Jesus specifically, when you start asking them questions about who he is, it's different than the Bible. They would say, well, you know, he's the son of God, but you know, there's lots of gods out there, right? On the mountain, now if you ask them, they'll lie about it. But I'm just saying, once they finally start fessing up, I mean, they believe in multiple gods. They believe there's all kinds of gods out there, and they believe Jesus was actually a man that became a god and is our example of how we can be a god too. That's not the Jesus of the Bible. Jesus Christ is God, and you're never gonna be God. There's a huge difference, okay? Not only that, they believe that Jesus is brothers with Satan. They think we're all brothers and sisters, brother. And it's like, no, I'm not brothers with you, number one. I'm certainly not with devil, all right? So that would be another Jesus. Or, you know, Jehovah's false witness, their Jesus is another Jesus. Their Jesus is not God, he is the son of God, but they're kind of like a Muslim where they reject the fact that Jesus Christ is also God manifest in the flesh. You could have people like the oneness Pentecostals, their Jesus is another Jesus. Because, in fact, they deny the existence of Jesus. You say, how do they, they claim they believe in Jesus. No, here's the thing, Jesus is the son of God. They deny that the son of God even exists. They believe there's just this one ominous pretender who claims to be a father, son, and holy ghost that really isn't, and he just manifests himself as a father and son, but he's not really them. He's just lying about it. It's bizarre, folks. It's not the Bible. God's not pretending to be a father, son, and holy ghost. He really is a father, son, and holy ghost, okay? Or a Calvinist. Hey, if you get really deep into Calvinism, if you go all the way to the logical end of Calvinism, that's another Jesus. Because their Jesus, at the hyper Calvinist view, didn't pay for everybody's sins. That's a different Jesus. Their Jesus just condemned people to hell without even having a chance. That's a different Jesus, my friend, okay? And I'm not saying every Calvinist is that, but I'm saying if you go all the way to the end of what Calvinism teaches, that's another Jesus. Now, what about another spirit, though? Go if you went to 1 John 4, 1 John 4. So we have to be aware of these people, be aware of these cults and these freaks and these weirdos that want to come and infiltrate God's house and teach false doctrine. But you could also not have, you could have someone with the right Jesus hypothetically, but with the wrong spirit, with another spirit and preaching lies. Look what it says in 1 John 4, verse one. Beloved, believe not every spirit. Man, I wish I could get every Christian to just believe this one verse. Don't trust every spirit. But try the spirits, whether they're of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. People get mad at a church like ours, or they get mad at my preaching, and they'll say this. It seems like you call all these different people out. You're just constantly calling people out and labeling people as false prophets. Well, here's the thing. Maybe you disagree with my list, but if you believe the Bible, you should have a big list. Isn't the Bible warning that there's many false prophets? So let's start identifying them then. I mean, you should have a lot somehow. You might disagree with some person I put on that list, but here's the thing, you should have a big list. And if you don't have a big list, then really, you're not really believing what the Bible says. It says in verse two, hereby know ye the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of anti-Christ, where we've heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world. Look, there's coming a day when the anti-Christ spirit is gonna be strong in this world, and the anti-Christ is gonna claim to be the son of God, and every person that went to a church that says, oh, he's really God, is unsaved. Because you know what? They're denying that the real Messiah came. They're denying that the true son of God came. That's a spirit of anti-Christ. That's another spirit. And when you see people denying certain things about who Christ is, that's another spirit. Because no man by the spirit of God called Jesus Christ a cursed. So if someone's attacking the deity of Jesus Christ, if someone's attacking the eternal sonship of Jesus Christ, if someone's attacking any aspect of who Jesus Christ is, it's another spirit. And you know what? You're supposed to try those spirits. You're supposed to test those spirits. And you know what? When you find them to be phony, you need to reject them. You need to be aware of them and get rid of them. It's an evil spirit. And you know what? There's plenty of evil spirits in the world. Even God allows evil spirits to trick false prophets and all kinds of different things. And we need to be aware of these evil spirits. What about another gospel? Isn't there people that would have the right Jesus Christ? They may even have the right doctrines about Jesus Christ. But you know what? Their gospel is a gospel of works. Their gospel is a gospel of you have to do good things to be saved. So here's the thing. You know what? They're not saved either. You gotta get the whole package, okay? You have to have the right Jesus, the right spirit, and the right gospel to get saved. You know what? You could have two and you're close, but you know what? No cigar. Because you have to have all three in order to be saved. And you know what? There's phony ministers that we were warned about in 2 Corinthians 11 that are gonna go around and they're gonna preach weird, perverted things and we have to call them out. We have to point them out. And you say, how do I do that? You have to scrutinize them. But didn't the Bible already tell us to try the spirits? You know what? Whoever's a minister of God should embrace scrutiny today. And you know what? You should embrace scrutiny in your preaching today. You know why people don't embrace scrutiny? Because they preach false doctrine. People that don't like to be scrutinized, you know why? It's because they're doing something wrong. Go to Psalms chapter number 26. Go to Psalms 26 for a second. This is even true in the workplace. I remember our bosses, especially in the development world, okay? In software development, you can kind of get away with murder when it comes to wasting time. Because they don't even know what you're doing. No one can really pay attention to what you're doing very well. And so they have to create all these different systems and management processes in order to try and make sure developers are actually doing work. Because you could just put a bunch of code on the screen and they'd be like, looks like he's working on me, you know? And that's the boss filter, right? And as soon as they walk away, they're on Facebook or doing something else. But here's the thing. In the software world, they try to measure these tools because they realize there's a lot of phonies in the software development world. Let me tell you what, there's some phonies in the software development world. So what they started doing is they make us fill out time sheets. So basically, you'd have to put what project you're working on and how much time you're putting on that. And at the beginning of the week, you'd have to give an estimate of how much time it would take to accomplish that task. So they could actually kind of measure and see if you're doing your job. Well, there's these two guys that start piping up and they're like, oh, I have to do all these time sheets. I'm just so busy, you know, working on all this. And they want to tie me down with time sheets or whatever. And it's like the people that worked hard in our department had no problem with the time sheets. You know, the two guys that were piping up about it were the two guys that did no work. That was the reason why they were piping up. Hey, a person that's honest, a person that works hard is not afraid of scrutiny. You know why they're afraid of scrutiny? Because then it'd be like, oh, I do absolutely nothing all day. And I get paid, you know, $150,000 a year to do nothing. It's like, you don't want that kind of scrutiny because you know what happens? You get fired. So after a few months of basically having to put in their time sheets, they just quit. They go work for some other company that's not going to heavily scrutinize them. You know why? Because they're lazy. And you know what? The people that don't like these type of things are lazy type people. But that's not a Christian attitude. That's not a Christian spirit. A Christian spirit is one that wants reproof. A Christian spirit is one that wants to know if he's doing that which is right. Look at Psalms 26, verse two. Examine me, O Lord, and prove me and try my reins and my heart. So notice the right spirit is one that wants to know if he's doing that which is right. Why would I want to waste my whole life wondering if I'm serving God when I'm not? Well, I thought I was serving God, but I wasn't. You know, you'd want to know. You want that instant feedback. You know, people that go to a new job, oftentimes they're asking for instant feedback because they want to make sure they're doing it right and they're not going to waste a whole bunch of time doing it wrong. A good, honest person wants feedback. And so in the Christian life, we should want scrutiny. We should want feedback. You know what, a pastor or a preacher that's not willing to receive scrutiny on what he's saying, it's because he's doing something wrong. And Jesus Christ, he allowed for complete scrutiny. He said, hey, would I preach you in the ear? Or would I say to you in the ear, preach that upon the housetops? Hey, whenever Jesus Christ was being examined by the Pharisees, he said, hey, why don't you just ask anybody what I taught? Just get a witness from every single person. Why? He wasn't going around hiding what he believes, hiding what he was teaching. No, he made it manifest. You know what, the truth is not afraid of scrutiny today. And so you know what, we as men of God actually should desire scrutiny and accountability in our lives and not being a phony. Go to Psalms 139. Psalms 139. Let's look at the verse here that says the same thing. We love verse 22, but we need to love verse 23 too. All right, let's read verse 22 just for good measure. I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies. Look what it says in verse 23. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. Verse 24, and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. We should wanna know, hey, is there anything I'm doing wrong that I could fix? Is there any evil in my heart that I need to correct? Hey, is there anything wrong that I'm doing that I could fix? Hey, in the preaching class, I give guys some hard time. I scrutinize them. You know what, you should desire that, you should want that. And you know what, if you wanna be a pastor someday, you should expect to be tried in this church. You should expect to be heavily scrutinized and heavily measured. Why would you not want that if you were a good person? You really wanna get sent out and not have been proven, not have been tried, not be someone that's ready? Do you really just wanna be a fake? Do you really just wanna be a phony today? We have plenty of those. We don't need any more. Go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 11, 2 Corinthians chapter 11. What are we talking about? We're talking about phony ministers today. And you know what, phony ministers do not want scrutiny. Phony ministers do not wanna be tested. They do not wanna be tried. They do not wanna be proved. If you ask them questions about the Bible, they'd probably scoff and be like, of course I know. I don't have to answer these questions or whatever. Why? Because they're afraid of the fact that they don't know. They're afraid of the fact that they're actually just a fraud and they're faking it. Now, look at verse number 12. It says, but what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion, that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. So the apostle Paul is talking about these wicked evil phony ministers, and he's saying, I wanna cut off their occasion. You know why? Because they desire occasion. They get all this preeminence. They get all this glory. They've got the attention of everybody. And he says, you know the reason why they have attention is because they were desiring the attention, not because of sincerity, not because they actually wanna do the work of the Lord. They just want the attention. They just desire occasion. They just desire to have some opportunity to be seen of men or to get glory. It also says that wherein they glory. Notice they glory in the fact that they have the occasion. Well, I'm a pastor, well, I'm this. Look at my accolades, look at my, and you know what they love to do? They love to brag about themselves. They love to brag about the things they did. Phony ministers love to brag about themselves, and they'll do it in subtle ways. They'll do it in clever ways. But here's the thing, you wanna know a phony minister? It's one that desires occasion and brags about themselves. He says in verse 13, four such are false apostles. So he's saying, hey, the guy that desires attention, the guy that's doing it just for the glory, he should be found even as we, meaning he should be tested and be like us, but he's not. He's a false apostle. Notice this deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. So who are they trying to be like? They're trying to be like Paul. They're trying to be like Peter. They try to emulate them, and they try to look like them. Says in verse 14, and no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness whose end shall be according to their works. Now, why am I emphasizing this? Because I think there's this idea that a phony minister is just gonna look like the devil and talk like the devil and walk around like the devil, and the Bible paints a much different picture. The true ministers of Satan look like a godly person. When he talked about the Pharisees, Jesus said they appear righteous. So that means from an outward, carnal perspective, they would seem righteous. Now, how do you appear righteous today? If you were gonna look at someone, if you're trying to quantify the outward, carnal signs, what does righteousness look like from an outward perspective? How about wearing a suit and tie, right? I mean, if I'm wearing a wife beater or whatever, and tatted up jeans or skinny jeans or something, you wouldn't be like, he's appearing righteous. I would look the part, wouldn't I? I would dress in a certain way that commands respect. How about going to church three times a week? Doesn't that appear righteous? How about always having a Bible in my hand? How about just every carnal aspect, they have it locked in. And let me tell you what, the biggest phonies, they were three to thrive, they dressed right, they always go soul winning. In fact, sometimes they lead soul winning times. Why? From an outward perspective, it's all right. Hey, they're even a pastor, they're even an evangelist, they're even the deacon. Hey, they outwardly have every single, they check every single box, just like every single one. You know why? Because that's the only box that they can check is the outward ones. So they check them and they look right, but here's the problem. They love the fact that they get that attention. And they love the glory and the things, you know, they'll emphasize the carnal righteousnesses that they have so as to try and make it seem like they're righteous. Well, you're not going to church as much as I am, buddy. You know, you're not fasting as often as I am. You know, I fast twice in a week. Have you, you don't pray like I pray, I pray longer than you pray. They'll use this tactic, they're actually bragging about themselves, okay, and they're condemning other people. Look, you know phonies, I know phonies, they check all these boxes, don't they? Look at verse number 20, it says this, this is what's amazing to me. For you suffer if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. He's saying, look, when people come in here and they brag about themselves, you guys like that. He's saying, you guys suffer it. You allow a guy to come in here and brag about himself. You let a guy come in here and condemn you falsely, talk down to you and make you feel bad about doing something that's actually right. They put you in some kind of a bondage. He's saying, hey, if a man devour you, I mean, this guy's ripping you off, taking you, you know, all your goods, all your possessions, whatever it is, he's devouring you and you still suffer it. He says, hey, if a man smite you on the face, they can literally be hurting you physically, hurting your family, hurting you spiritually, taking all of your goods, bragging about themselves, bringing you into bondage, and then Christians still look at them like, this guy's so godly. I hope I can be like him one day, and they look up to him. This is the real evil person that we're talking about here. The people that can come and, you know, they do it through their charisma, they do it through deceit, they do it because they just know exactly how to exude it from a physical, carnal perspective, but the Bible warns about these people, why? Because they're so believable. He's just like, look, he's going to church, and he's got a Bible, and he just exudes all these attributes of the Bible saying, you know, it seems like, even though he's twisting them. Go if you would to Matthew chapter number seven, Matthew chapter number seven, but how do you catch this guy? Pastor Shelley, how do you know this guy's a bad person? How do you know how to beware of this type of person? If everything looks right, how do you know it's fake? How do you know it's a phony? Well, how did we know in verse four? They have another Jesus, they have another spirit, they have another gospel. You know how you figure those things out? By what they say. Look at Matthew chapter number seven and look at verse 15. Beware of false prophets which come to you. Notice this, in sheep's clothing. So how are they dressed? They're dressed right. Which means what? They appear righteous. Every outward sign looks good. They check the box. But inwardly, they are ravening wounds. There's something wrong inside of them, something you can't see. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. Judas does not bring forth good fruit, all right? Corrupt fruit, I mean, I can't hit that hard enough. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast in the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them. Now here's the thing. What is this, what's the primary application here? What is the most applicable way to understand this verse? I believe the fruit is what they say. And here's the thing. Because if it's not based on what they say, how are you gonna really check? I mean, let's say somebody appears righteous but just has no fruit. Did you really know? I mean, are you guaranteed to have fruit necessarily? No. But here's the thing. Everybody talks, okay, everybody speaks. And out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Now, we can take a secondary application from this. A secondary application is if someone produces any fruit, it's gonna manifest who they are. Because if I produce an apple, I'm an apple tree. If I produce an orange, I'm an orange tree. So if I produce a godly, you know, zealous Christian, then you know what, I must be saved. And if I produce a Judas, you know, then that's bad too. Now, don't get confused. Because obviously a godly person can have a Judas around them that's not really their convert. Obviously Judas was of Jesus' ministry but Jesus didn't produce him, okay. So you're gonna have tears amongst the wheat but a bad person's only producing bad fruits. You know, it's like, hey, here's my disciples, Gene Kim, Sam Gipp, Andrew Sluder. It's like, I feel like there's a pattern here. Here's the thing, show me a good ruckmanite. Show me one that's good, okay. So how do we know the tree by its fruit, right? That's a secondary application. You know, I really know Peter Ruckman's a bad tree by what he said, by all the false doctrine and perverted, disgusting things he said. Hey, you should have known what he said, his like third ex-wife jumped out of the moving car. Literally, in his own book, he writes about how his like second or third, you know, wife, because he keeps divorcing them, she jumped out of a moving car. That's how much she couldn't stand him, all right. I can't stand him either. I mean, the guy literally teaches like abortion's not murder. He says a partial birth abortion was not murder, according to him, until the baby took a breath of life, is how he worded it, was it not a living soul. Sick, I mean, only a sick person says this kind of stuff. Now, again, if we keep reading the context, what does it say in the next verse? Verse 21, not everyone that sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord. So again, did these people appear righteous though in this list, you know this passage pretty well. Hey, they're going to church, they say they know the Lord, they say they're doing works for him, they say they're prophesying in his name. Hey, from an outward perspective, they probably look pretty good, but you know what, when you listen to what they said, it was terrible. They were trusting in the wonderful works to save them. That's how you know it's a false prophet. So here's the thing, when you see some guy that looks really good on the outward appearance, but then all this weird crap is coming out of his mouth, you should expect me to jump all over that. Well, but he looks all good, he's a pastor. You know, oh man, he's a pastor and he goes to church and he carries a Bible with him. He's always got a tract in his hand or something. Like, that doesn't mean anything to me. And you know what, if you're a godly person, why would you not want to be scrutinized? You know, the worst thing I can do is preach lies. If I preach a lie, point it out to me, I'll fix it. I'm not afraid of fixing lies. And no godly person should be afraid of fixing lies in their life. You know, because the things that we say are what's so important. Look, some people will literally believe every single thing the pastor says. I mean, whatever I say, there's people in this room and there's people all over this country, they'll believe virtually anything that comes out of the pastor's mouth. That's why it's so important to make sure everything you say is right. And make sure that you're telling it what the Bible says, that you're preaching what the Bible emphasizes, not just your own heart. Go to Acts chapter number 20, Acts chapter number 20. What's the title of the sermon? Phonies. I'm warning you today, Christian, there's a lot of phonies today. And the most important thing that we need to emphasize is what they say, not their outward signs, not all this other supposed stuff that they got going on. No, let's check on what they're saying. And you know what, you can learn a lot about a person by what they say. I believe that I could tell you an infinite number of things about someone just on one sermon. I mean, just based on one sermon, you should be able to tell so much about a person. You know why? Because you can't hide. You cannot hide. You cannot but help but speak the things which you've seen and heard. You know, when the guy gets up and all that's coming out is football, I can tell you a lot about him. It's Facebook, you know, it's commentary, it's Spurgeon, it's false doctrine, it's the Bible. I mean, I was trying to tell Dylan this and I said, look, we play this game, just drop the YouTube hammer on some of the people that we like. And so he takes Pastor Jimenez and he just takes some random sermons, he's just dropping the hammer. It's just like Bible verse, Bible verse, Bible verse. Just every time he drops the hammer, he's just explaining a Bible verse or talking about a Bible verse, it's like, hey, this tells me a lot about Pastor Jimenez. You know what he's doing? He's constantly preaching the Bible. His sermons are all about the Bible. It's an emphasis of the word of God and you can learn so much about a person by just what they say. Look at Acts chapter 20 and look at verse number 28. Take heed therefore in yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost have made you overseers to feed the church of God which you have purchased with his own blood. Now, in this context, the Apostle Paul's talking to the elders at the church of Ephesus. He's brought all the pastors, all the leaders in this area and he's telling them, hey, you guys are the overseers. It's important for you to feed your flocks. He says in verse 29, for I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. He's saying, look, bad people are gonna come in. You know, you're gonna have some wicked, evil people try to creep into the churches and this happens all the time. I mean, this church knows this, all right? Verse 30, also of your own selves though. He says not just will bad members come in the church. He says even some of you pastors, even some of you pastors, notice this, shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. How does he identify the bad pastors? By speaking perverse things, perverted things. And he says, what's their goal? They just want a following. Oh yeah, what did it talk about in second Corinthians? They just desire occasion, didn't they? That they get what? Glory. It's all about self-glorification. It's all about occasion. It's about ripping people off and devouring them and it's selfish. Look, why does the wolf kill the sheep for his own dinner? His god is his belly. That's the one whom he serves and he doesn't care who he kills or harms and he's trying to trick people to see people in order to kill them. Now, go to Titus chapter number two, and I'm taking a little while to explain my first point, but the biggest phonies that we need to worry about today are these phony ministers, and they make me angry. They make me very angry. And what is a perverse thing? Well, perverse means corrupt in the Bible and corruption is lies. Some people would say, and obviously perverted or perverse could mean a lot of different things. We could think of it as being filthy or smut or whatever, but most of the time in the Bible, the perverse or perverted is just twisting that which is true, perverting it, making it crooked, corrupting it in some way. It's not isolated to one area. It's just in the fact that it's something that's not true. And when the Bible talks about people speaking perverse things or filthy communication or corrupt communication, it's emphasizing lying. It's emphasizing teaching false doctrine. Look what it says in Titus chapter two, verse seven. In all things, showing myself a pattern of good works in doctrine showing, notice this, uncorruptness. Meaning what? You're not teaching false doctrine. Well, how much false doctrine is acceptable? Well, according to Titus two seven, he says nothing. Uncorruptness, meaning what? You're not saying anything that could be misconstrued, anything that could be wrong, any kind of false doctrine. Notice this gravity, sincerity, sound speech, notice this, that cannot be condemned. So if I speak a perverse thing, that could be condemned. If I'm speaking sound speech, it doesn't matter what you throw at me, the Bible's gonna stand true. It's speech that cannot be condemned. Look, you wanna be a great preacher? Preach things that can never be condemned. Preach things that are always right. Preach things that are always biblical. That's one of the most important attributes, if not the most important thing, is having the sound speech, preaching things that are true. And you know what, it makes me sick and frustrated about all these preachers, they'll preach lies, and then you call them out on their lies? Well, that's not what I meant. Well, that sounds like it wasn't sound speech then. Sounds like it wasn't uncorrupt. Sounds like it was corrupt, sounds like it was perverted. Go to third John, chapter number nine. Third John, look at chapter number nine. You know what, you ask any false prophet, you call him out on the carpet for his false doctrine, you'll hear these words, that's not what I meant. Sick, it's disgusting. Everybody's misunderstood, including the devil. You know, well, you just didn't understand the devil. He's just this poor little misunderstood guy. That's Luciferian doctrine, my friend. Look, we have the word of God, and it's a sharp sword. It's not this dull blade that you have to go around and hack, and it's like, I don't think that makes sense. Well, it's not what I meant. No, every time the Bible speaks, it's exactly what I meant. It's not like, whosoever believeth. Well, it kind of means works, though. No, it doesn't, it really means faith. I mean, show me a verse in the Bible where we don't believe what it actually says. No, we believe every verse exactly what it says. We're not like, well, it's not really, when it says obey there, you know, or when it says believe there, I don't know. No, it really means it, every single time. You know what these false prophets, when they get called out, you know what they don't like? You. That's just how it works. And I remember reading 3 John a lot, and I never understood it. I just, I couldn't wrap my brain around it. Because I'm reading this chapter, and I'm like, this is written by the Apostle John, the disciple in whom Jesus loved. This is the disciple that laid his head on Jesus' breast. I mean, this is like the greatest, like if you're gonna say, who's the most likable person in the Bible? It's arguably John. John is just that one guy that you think like, man. And imagine you start a church, you're John. You know, you're involved in planting churches, and then somehow that church doesn't like you anymore. I'm like, I couldn't understand that. I'm like, how could someone turn on John? Well, look what it says in 3 John. It says this in verse nine. I wrote unto the church, but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words, and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbideth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. I remember reading this, I was like, Diotrephes, I just don't get this character. And then Manly Perry helped me figure it out. Yep. He literally has a church started by Pastor Anderson via, you know, online ministry. His whole church is just flooded with these people that love Pastor Anderson. Pastor Anderson gets them saved. He basically gifts him a church. Him and Pastor Jimenez just gift him a church of all these people. And now all of a sudden, those two guys can't come to their church. Isn't that bizarre? Isn't that just weird? It finally makes sense though. I was finally like, there's a Diotrephes in the Bible. Prating against them with malicious words. Speaking evil of them. Going around privily and talking evil of them and trying to, you know, get people to not like them. And the people that, you know, wanna go to the church and still have the right spirit, he won't allow them. And even cast them out of the church. He cast all the good people that aren't gonna just backstab the guy, John. It's like, hey, the guys that don't wanna backstab John and still love the word of God, well, we gotta throw them out, you know? Because we're starting a cult over here and we just, you know, we can't allow anybody to have a dissenting opinion. And it's like, look, you should love scrutiny. Scrutinize everything I say. Test everything I say with the word of God. You know what, if it's sound speech that cannot be condemned, I'll leave it. And I'm warning you, there's a lot of bad people out there that you need to be afraid of. And you're like, well, he appears righteous, okay. He looks like a lamb, but he speaks like a dragon. Go to Philippians chapter number three. Philippians chapter number three. I've already harped on that, but you know what? We need to learn some more Bible. Philippians chapter number three, verse number one. The Bible says this. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you. To me, indeed, is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Hey, why do you keep preaching these things? Well, it's safe for you, okay. Is you know what, I already know that I'm not gonna have any problem in that area. I've already marked this person. I'm already gonna avoid this person. I'm wanting you to get the same doctrine, and for you it's safe. Verse two, beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision. He's telling you to beware of evil workers. Why would he say that if there is no such thing as an evil worker? They are, they're out there. Look at verse number 17. Brethren, be fallers together of me and mark them which walk, so as you have us foreign and sample. He's pointing them out. Hey, notice these guys. Don't be like them, be like me. Verse 18, for many walk, of whom I have told you, often. Hey, wake up to the preaching. It's gonna be often. Yeah, amen. And now, tell you even weeping. The apostle Paul is like, look, this guy's evil. He's a wolf. Don't go near him. And then he's just watching people still go, and you're just like, no, he's still a wolf. He's still preaching false doctrine to them. You're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's just like watching people kill themselves, basically, spiritually. And so he's telling them weeping. He knows people are gonna fall into the trap. He knows people are not gonna harken. He knows people are gullible, and they're simple, and they're little sheep, and he's trying to warn them. He's telling them weeping. Hey, beware of this guy. You don't think that I examine these people before I mark them publicly? Oh, I do. And when there's really bad wolves, I have to call them out. And there's so much information, you know, I think you would actually get sick of how much I could preach against them. But you know what? It says this, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. And he says, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame. Notice this, who mind earthly things. You wanna know how these guys preach? It's always earthly things. That's why we call them Fox News Baptist, my friend. Because it's always about guns. It's always about food. It's about prepping. Yeah. Mainly, Perry's preached two sermons on prepping. How is that not minding earthly things? Riddle me that. How is that a spiritually-minded thing? To physically prep. It's bizarre. These people mind earthly things, they preach carnal things, they admit that they're carnal. You know what? Obviously, no one's perfect. But at the same time, if you get up to preach the Bible, it should be spiritual. Not about the carnal. Now, go if you would to 2 Corinthians 11 back. Go back if you would. I'm gonna hit my second point quickly. Not only do you have phony ministers, but you also have phony brethren. Not just the guy behind the pole, but you could have also other phonies in this room. And so, just because someone walks in here, comes here three times a week, and has a Bible in their hand, does not mean they're a trustworthy person. And I would tell you this when weeping, because frankly, I've seen people make really bad mistakes by trusting others in church. And man, just, you know, Doug Trowbridge. I mean, honestly. That's kind of funny now. But I mean, this guy's a psychopath. Like this guy is literally texting married women, or Facebook messaging married women his sermons, like asking them for critique. Creeping on women, doing all kinds of weird junk. Look, these guys are sick, and they want to prey on people. And he's never gonna be a pastor, but you know what, he showed up at churches. He still shows up at churches. And the only person that wants him is Manly Perry. That's a different story. Verse 26, it says this. And journeying's often, and perils of waters, and perils of robbers, and perils by mine own countrymen, and perils by the heathen, and perils in the city, and perils in the wilderness, and perils in the sea, and perils among false brethren. There's a thing called false brethren, they're phony. There are people that will creep into a church, and they're fake. And you say, do they look fake? No. They're gonna look better than most people. They're gonna show up, they're gonna come in, they're gonna look the look, but they're not gonna talk the talk. That's how you can check and know that they're phony. Go to Galatians chapter two for a second. Galatians chapter number two. And you know how much we should tolerate false brethren? Zero. Nada. Well, don't you want to get them saved? Look, he's a bad person, get him out. Galatians chapter two, verse two, look at this. And I went up by revelation and communicated unto them that gospel which I preached among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were reputationless, by any means I should have run, or had run vain. Neither Titus, who was with me being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised, and that because of false brethren, unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. That reminds me of the previous passages, talking about how they want to bring you into some kind of a bondage. And they're always looking for something about you to pick you apart. Oh, you're gonna bring them into bondage. What did he say in verse five? To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. Hey, when you notice a guy preaching false doctrine, you know how long you subject yourself to that? No, not for an hour. Hey, when your brother comes in and he says, hey, here's an all-bean chili, no, not for an hour. Hey, I'm not gonna subject myself. Look, that sounds sad. That's sad you believe in that false doctrine. You know, I'm gonna have to pray for you. You know, they spy out your liberty, and they have to bring in all this leaven. That's a joke, my friend, okay? But in all seriousness, look, people that are speaking perverted things should be called out. Look, when someone has phony soul-winning numbers, that needs to be scrutinized. When someone gets 25 people saved every soul-winning time, it's like, let's go with that person. Like, all the, I've seen a lot of phonies in the church. That's when I went to Faithful Word, and man, the phonies, they're just like, you know, there's not many people that got saved, you know, it's like, they have to use like 18 hands or whatever for how many people are getting saved their soul-winning time. And they only go by themselves or with their family, and it's just like, I don't think, there's something off about this, okay? And you know, at first, you're like, great. Then you're like, cool. How long did you go soul-winning? Really? Downtown, okay, you know, sure. Look, there needs to be scrutiny in every area of life. Hey, when people are preaching weird things in soul-winning, call it out. Call it out. I can't tell you how many times a phony person, it's like 85 people have a story, like, well, he said this perverted thing, and he's like, yeah, he told me that perverted thing too, and it's like, why didn't somebody say something, right? We should like scrutiny today. We should be a place that loves scrutiny and correction and making things manifest. Whatsoever does make manifest is light, is what the Bible says. We need to shed light on these things, and these people ought to try to spy out something to use against you. Let me tell you this. There's people that are phony brethren, and they'll use marriage to their advantage. I've seen this a lot. It's horrible, it's wicked, it's evil. There are people destroying young people's lives today, and they are fake brethren. They have ulterior motives for getting married, like access to children. Look, we've literally had at Steadfast Baptist Church a guy marry a divorced woman, and guess what? He's a child molester, and guess what? He molested her child. Whoa, Pastor Shelley, I can't stay unmarried for the rest of my life. That's terrible. Well, is it better to marry a child rapist? Hey, there's other reasons people might want to take advantage of you and take advantage of your poor situation. Hey, be careful about these people. Hey, when you're committing sin, there's consequences of that sin. Oh, being unmarried is so bad. Well, how about getting your child molested? Was it worth it? I guarantee it wasn't. There's people that will just marry someone for a green card, and they'll be like, oh, I love Pastor Anderson, too. Oh, I love Pastor Shelley. I love every single one of his sermons. They're so great. Let's get married right away. I have to go back, you know, let's get married in like a week. Probably not a good idea, and hey, I'm not trying to attack people that have done this, all right, if you're Rebecca and Isaac, go for it, but here's the reality, be careful. Because there have been people that got married super quick, and it wasn't very, it ended quick, too. Easy come, easy go. There's some people that want to get married to fill a void in their life. They're just such an unhappy person. There's nothing good in their life. They feel like if they get married, that'll somehow fix all their problems, but they don't realize that marriage is harder than being single. If you're already failing at being single, marriage is gonna be worse. Because not only do you have to take care of yourself, you have to take care of another person. You have to put other people's wants and desires above your own. That's why it's stupid for men that don't even have a job to get married. You can't even provide for yourself. How are you gonna provide for someone else? Hey, you young ladies, marry a provider. Marry a guy that's got it all together. You don't want to take care of him the rest of your life. You want him to take care of you. And you know what, as men, we should take care of our wives. You say, why are you preaching this, Pastor Shelley? Because I don't want to see my church make bad decisions. I don't want to see the young people get taken advantage of because they think everyone's a good person. Because we have such a great church, and we have so many great people here. I mean, look, 99% of people here are great, are awesome. And the 1% that I don't know about yet, we'll catch you. All right? We'll catch you. I don't know who it is, but we'll find you. But here's the thing, I don't want you to be taken advantage of, and that's how we find out. I don't want your kids to be taken. Look, there are sick, disgusting people that try to take advantage of pastors, people that try to just get their kids married just for ulterior motives and doing all kinds of. I don't want to go into it. It's sick. It's disgusting. You be careful who you marry. Hey, you be careful. There's people that want to get you in trouble, you know, the flat earthers. Here's one. Look, there are people that will befriend you, and their goal is to babysit your kids so they can do stuff to your kids. You know I let babysit my kids in this room? No one. You know how many of your kids I'm going to babysit? None. And you say, is that because you're a bad person, Pastor Shirley? No, but I don't want you to get in a habit of trusting me and thinking you can trust someone else. And look, you be careful. You know, unless it's like a close family member, you know, a lady that you trust, I wouldn't do it. Too precious. Too valuable. And there's just too many bad people. There's too many phonies out there. You know, there's 2 Timothy chapter number 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. Say, are you preaching the Bible or your opinion, Pastor Shirley? I'm preaching the Bible. 2 Timothy, look at chapter 3, verse 1. This is a sobering message. And you say, are you preaching this because something happened? No. I'm preaching it so it won't happen. 2 Timothy chapter 3, look at verse 1. This know also that in the last days, perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection. This means they can harm a child and it doesn't even, they feel nothing. It's just like a video game to them. They're so desensitized. Their conscience is so seared. They're given their past feeling. And they can just hurt and harm. To hurt a child to a normal person is so grotesque. It'd be so repulsive. You couldn't even imagine doing it. But to these people, it's like eating a candy bar. In fact, sometimes they enjoy it. It's even worse. Truth breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. Be afraid of the people that really hate Pastor Anderson. That's a bad attribute. Hey, be afraid of people that hate Jesse Michael. I'm just telling you. People that are really wicked, they always hate Jesse. I don't know why. I'm just telling you, be afraid of these people. That's always my moniker. I just like, what do you think about Jesse? And they're like, oh, I don't like him at all. He's like, stay away from that person. Look, these people are out there. You keep reading, but you say, well, it seems like this person will be obvious. I mean, from this list, wouldn't you just, your first instinct be like, this person's obvious, right? But look what it says in verse 5, having a form of godliness. They look godly. They trick people. If they were that wicked looking, they wouldn't trick anyone, OK? It's that they look godly. He says, but denying the power thereof, meaning what? They're really not saved. From such turn away, verse 6, for of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lust. You know what these people like to do? They like to prey on the weak. They take women that are hurting or in sin or have some kind of a problem, and they're predators. They attack them. They try to prey on someone. Hey, you have to ask this question. Why does someone like me? Hey, if you've got a pot belly, and you're middle age, and some young hot thing is coming to you like, you're Brad Pitt. You're like, no. And let's be honest, if you're a lady and you've got problems, and some guy's just acting like you're a thing, you should ask the question, why? And notice these creepers, they're subtle. They creep in, and they take advantage of people that are weak. They take advantage of people that have problems. So the strong usually are not the ones that the wolf come after. They come after you weak people. You people that don't come to church three times a week and aren't reading your Bible and aren't that zealous, you're the most likely target. You should start getting back into church, my advice. I have too many notes. Go if you would to First Timothy chapter 5, and I'm going to wrap up my third point. Point number one, we need to worry about phony ministers. Point number two, we need to worry about phony brethren. But here's my third point. We need to be worried about phony Christians. There are saved people that are phonies too. And you know what? It's just a shame. Why would you go your whole life faking it? There's people in this room that are not going to be rewarded in heaven at all that you think are going to be rewarded. Because they were just faking it the whole way. They did everything to be seen of men. They didn't go soul wanting to actually get people saved. They did soul wanting so they could look good at Steadfast Baptist Church. You know what they pray, and they fast, and they do their alms just to be seen of men. There's people that come in this room. There's men in this room. They yell amen really loud when I'm preaching, but they're fake at home. They yell amen real loud, but they don't read the Bible. They yell amen real loud when I'm getting on the women, but they're a terrible husband. They're a terrible father. You can trick everyone in this room, but you can't trick your wife. You can trick everyone in this room. You can't trick your children. You know what, I see a lot of independent fundamental Baptists being phony Christians, and their children go to the devil. Can't trick them. Don't be a phony. Don't yell amen to something that you can't do either, that you can't honestly believe. Don't be fake. And don't sacrifice your family just to pretend that you're something you're not. Just accept who you are, and work on yourself, and become a real Christian. You know, your family needs you and depends upon you, men. What about the women? Look at First Timothy chapter number five, and look at verse number 11. But the younger widows refused, for when they have begun to wax wand against Christ, they will marry, having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith, and withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle, but tattlers also, and busybodies speaking things which they ought not. I will, therefore, that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary, to speak reproachfully, for some are already turned aside after Satan. You know what, I see a lot, a lot of phony Christians today, and in the women category. They say, what does this look like? They're loud, and they're boisterous, and they just try to put on a show about how godly they are. I mean, they have a Facebook post for every area of their life that they're succeeding in. I mean, every meal that's just this five-star course, I mean, they got it on there, and they're sharing it, and they basically just look at their online persona, and they just look like the Proverbs 31 woman. I mean, look at this meal I made, and look at this thing I sewed, and look at this, you know, I have my own podcast, and my own blog, and I have all these, yet here's the thing. How can you do all that while you're still raising your family? You know how you do that? You don't. It's fake. It's phony. You wanna know the women that are really thriving in the home? They're not thriving online. You pick your poison. You can thrive online, and you can have a whole bunch of women look up to you and think, oh, I wish I could be like her. Or you could just thrive in the home, and you'll have a bunch of people look up to you, your children. You can only pick one, though. You're not gonna get both. Your children are gonna look and say, mom is fake. Mom gives more attention to just flattering women online than to me. You know what makes me mad is women getting out there teaching the Bible, and pretending like they're this great woman, and look how great my life is, and look at all these meals I have, and look how beautiful I look, and all this junk. And you know what they do? They take godly women, and they vex them. Because godly women notice that, and they think, I can't be like her. I'm just struggling to get food on the table. I'm just struggling to teach the kids things. They're like, I'm just pouring all my effort and energy into these kids. How does this lady look so good, and her house look so good? And look at this five-star meal she's constantly putting out there. You know why? It's fake. She's not investing in her children. It's a lie. It's deceit. And you know what? How can you have so much time to like every single Facebook post? There are some women out there, it doesn't matter what, they like it instantly. You know how they like it instantly? Because they're always on Facebook. And if you're always on Facebook, you know you're not dealing with as your children. You wanna know the really godly women? You don't know about them. You know what that takes? Faith. Takes faith. But some women, they're just busybodies, they're always going around, talking about who they are. And notice what the Bible says. They learn to be idle. They learn to be idle. Facebook, Facebook, Facebook. They learn to do absolutely nothing. And hey, I'm not against social media. But I'm gonna tell you this, it is an enemy of a lot of people today. Because it teaches you to be lazy. It teaches you to do nothing. To accomplish nothing in your life. People have a habit of being lazy today. And you know what? These women that go on there are evil. They're doing the work of Satan. Because you know what? They're teaching other women to be idle. Hey, you going out there and always having all these blog posts and video posts, it's like man, I can't wait to have this huge, successful online ministry as a godly wife? It's like, what are you? You can't have your cake and eat it too, my friend. And you know what? There's gonna be a day in which your children grow up and you're gonna say, well, none of them wanna see me. None of them wanna talk to me. None of them are serving God. Was it worth it? No. And you know what? They're gonna deceive other women in making that mistake. If you invest in your children, if you invest in what they're doing, if you spend time with them and you're FaceTiming with them and you're not a busybody and you don't know all the gossip going around, hey, the less you know, the less you wanna gossip. The more you know, the more you wanna gossip. You should know the least amount about other people's business. The Bible says in all labor there is profit but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury. These people have a great social life. They know about all the scuttle going on. You know what? They accomplish nothing. It's not worth it. You know, the Bible says, look at these people. They, in verse number 13, they're wandering about Mouse House accomplishing nothing. They're idle. They're tattlers. They're busybodies. They're speaking things as they ought not. They accomplish absolutely nothing. What's the opposite? The one that's what? Marrying. That's a big accomplishment. The one bearing children. That's a huge accomplishment. The one that's doing what? Guiding the house. Big accomplishments. One woman's doing all kinds of work. The other woman's doing absolutely nothing running her mouth. Yeah. And you say, well this is mean. You know what's mean is women getting on and blowing off their mouth online. That's mean. Because they're destroying other women's faith and they're making them feel inadequate as a wife. They're making them feel inadequate as a mother. I despise things like Pinterest and Facebook because they really ruin women. They make them feel so inadequate and so insufficient. Look, you know what should make you feel adequate is the Bible. You say, hey I'm married, check mark. Hey, I'm bearing children, check mark. Hey, I'm guiding the house, check mark. Then you're great. You're a great woman. Hey, you're greatly to be praised. Hey, don't look at these fakes online. Don't look at these phony Christians online because you know what, all their work's gonna burn up. And your children are gonna shine bright and glory with you. All the great things. Look, Timothy was a great person because his mom invested in him. Not in busybodding and tattling and all this other stuff. And you know what, I'm not against women that have like a cooking videos or doing all this stuff. But at the end of the day, it's vanity. It's not accomplishing anything. And you should never neglect your family for it. You should do the opposite. Be like, I haven't even checked Facebook this week because I've been so busy serving my husband and serving my children. Well, I was too busy catching up on everything online. I didn't have time to make dinner tonight. I didn't have time to vacuum because I was just watching all these videos on which vacuum I should buy. Hey, I found there's 35 other vacuums that would do better than the vacuum I have. It took me four hours. And I could have vacuumed my house with the vacuum I got in one hour. That hits home a little bit, doesn't it? Go to Proverbs 29. Hey, I'm just, you know, I want you to be a godly person. Let's not be fake today. Let's not be fake men and fake women. I don't wanna have a church of fakes where we all just like, we talk the talk. You know, we're just like, we're so godly. We love the Lord. We don't really walk the walk, do we? Or we say that we know the Bible, but then when we're tested on the Bible, we don't know the Bible. Hey, whenever we tell women that they're supposed to be godly, but all they're doing is a bunch of busy bodying and gossiping, what a shame of a church. What a shame if a pastor's wife was just a constant gossip and tattler and just had this online persona, Joyce Meyer. My wife is not the next Joyce Meyer. Look at Proverbs 29, look at verse 15. The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself, bringing his mother to shame. Don't leave the children to themselves. Don't neglect the children for an online presence, for a social life. Make them the priority. Make your husband the priority. Make serving God the priority. Miss Facebook posts. Don't miss your children's lives. Can't have both. You know what, as we are here to serve God, let us do it with sincerity. I beg you, Christian, and watch out for all the phonies. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for your word. Thank you for giving us such clear instruction, and I pray that we would actually love you in sincerity and in truth, that we would desire scrutiny in our lives, we would desire to be tested and to be proved, and I pray that we would walk by faith, not by sight, that we wouldn't get tricked and deceived by all these people that are putting on a vain show that are trying to trick us and deceive us and to vanity, but rather, we would just serve you humbly, that we would just humble ourselves and to submit ourselves what the Bible actually teaches, and by faith, we would know that we're pleasing in your sight, and in Jesus' name, we pray, amen.