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Sun, Mar 03, 2024 10AM • 51:28Sermon with Gene SimcoSUMMARY KEYWORDSJesus, God, bible, church, read, false teachers, talks, life, teachers, people, Jude, false teachings, live, fruit, Paul, pastor, great, worldly, teach, self-control
Good morning. Welcome. If you're new here among us, my name is Jean I serve here at C three church as your pastor. I want to try something new today. So I know I've said something. And I realized that it might not be true. That said, kind of in hyperbole here, it's a three, we've tried everything. Right. So we've tried to be a big church, we've tried to be this kind of church that kind of tried all different kinds of things. And then I realized something. I heard a sermon from another church. And I said, Wait a minute. I don't think we've ever tried that. Now, it's the turn to the person next to you and say, so we're going to try it out, right? So turn to the person next to you and say, it might just be the Holy Spirit, they're sitting next to you, that's fine network. I won't let the pastor manipulate me
into saying something to you. That I don't mean. Jack, we've done that. Okay, manipulation. It's a sin. It happens in very subtle ways. So we're going to talk about that a little bit today. But we were talking about sin, right? We're talking about things that people don't want to talk about. But the Bible talks about it a lot. So I heard a story about a pastor who was preaching on set, and well, why because the Bible talks about it all the time. And one of the members got uneasy about it felt uncomfortable. Now, most of the time, when someone feels uncomfortable, they like use somebody or something else as an excuse, like, I have a friend who right is uncomfortable with that. And that's kind of what this guy did. He said, Listen, you're scaring people away. If you keep preaching about sin, no one's going to come back. Right? So and I know the feeling, right, we did first or third John and like, half the room gone. So the guys were in, he's trying to agitate the pastor and make them nervous about this right? Pastor thinks about it for a second. He takes a trip to the utility closet, and the guy follows him there. He goes in the utility closet, the guy can't figure out what he's doing, no matter how he gets up on a shelf, there it is, brings it down, and it's a box of rat poison. He said, You see, what you're asking me to do is take this label off,
and put another label on candy, perhaps don't just see what might happen. The milder we make
the label, the stronger we make the poison. I didn't really come up with that one on my own. So. So it's about reading the label the Bible is not to say that the Bible has poisoned and no, we apply this to everything around us in the world. So it's important to read the label. And the Bible talks about false teachings and false teachers are lots for very good reason. And you're going to notice that we're approaching the end of the series towards the end of the Bible here. And you're going to see that so last week, I pondered the idea of taking the Jesus fish off everybody's cars who didn't act like a Christian. That's not funny anymore, I guess, this week, what the Bible says about those who misrepresent Christianity by what they teach. So we talked about what you do, now what you teach. So we find ourselves the book of Jude, Jude or Judas, but not Judas Iscariot, like, and Mark six, three is Jesus's brother. So this is a book of the Bible, very short book and up there with Obadiah. Just one chapter, one page. That's it, written by Jesus's brother. That's interesting. We're going to see how he introduces himself. The whole topic is false teachers. It's all about false teachers. So let's just hop right in Jude one. This is letters from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. I'm writing to all of them called by God, the Father who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ. God gives you more and more mercy, peace and love. So here is the opening very similar to Paul Paul's usually grace and peace. You know, Peter kind of started out this way. They're setting the tone John, like to set this tone here and you notice what it is right? Mercy, peace, and love. There you go. Now what it is to be a slave. We've addressed this quite a bit in the Church recently, so I'm not going to get into it too much is more about your commitment to Christ here. It is not about racism. So don't think about it the way we would think about it in our culture and your commitment to Christ, not racism. But here's the thing. If you think about this, All humility. He's the brother of Jesus. Wouldn't we say that? All right, brother Jesus, so you got to listen to everything I say no. He's the brother of James and the slave of Jesus. So now he was mocking Jesus, let's say John seven there. This is a pretty remarkable turnaround. He goes from mocking his brothers mocked him to being not just like his brother and acknowledging that, but a slave of Jesus. Amazing, so he knows who the master is. Now, we'll get right into it here. Jude, one three dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write you about the salvation we share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time, to his holy people. I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches saying that God's marvelous Grace allows us to live in moral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago for the guide the or only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, so here we go. False teachers. Again, right, so you're going to, it's going to sound really familiar, if you've done this, you've just kind of decided I'm going to read like, a lot of books of the Bible. Second, Peter, very close proximity, first or third John's in between. And then you have Jude, especially with Second Peter, you're going to read that you're going to read this and go, didn't I just read this, right? So if it's redundant, it's important, we have to remember that. So you notice something, these faults teachers and keep this in mind for application they have what wormed or your version might say, crept their way into our churches. They're here. Notice that? All right, and we've seen this before. How can we deny Jesus? Sometimes it's by the way we live, Jude one, five. So I want to remind you know, you already know these things that Jesus first rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt, but later he destroyed those who did not remain faithful. And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belong. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness waiting for the Great Day of Judgment. Don't forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality of every kind, and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of eternal fire of God's judgment. So here you have kind of a little bit of an early Old Testament summary. Remember the angels the cause of the flood, the corruption, so the sons of God or angels, right, so that had intercourse with the daughters of men just corrupted humanity. God got very angry about that, and hence, the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, you if you've never had the Bible, you probably know that story to tell him so. So there's a lot of sexual immorality going on there. It's a really bad place. So he's reminding these people so they serve as examples. And Paul says this in First Corinthians 10 – they are examples for us. So is what she's bringing in. Hey, pay attention, right? So these are example Jude one eight in the same way. He's people who claim authority from their dreams that are moralize, defy authority and scoff at supernatural beings. But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy, but simply said the Lord rebuke you is took place when Michael was arguing with the devil about Moses his body. But these people scoff at these things that the things they didn't understand. Like I'm thinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them so they bring about their own destruction. What sorrow awaits them for they fall in the footsteps of Cain who killed his brother like Valium that deceives people for money like Cora they perish in their rebellion. So important thing also for the athlete application here, a claim these things from their dreams, right? So just remember that untested dream. So here we see Kane in valence. So remember, first Johnny talked about Kane bellum? Was mech mentioned in Second Peter, right? So you have these bad examples, right? But here's something kind of funny. If you know your vibe, well, in this series, it's been a while. When did we read that about Michael the Ark Angel having an argument with the devil about Moses, his body? I don't know where that is. Have to be by Deuteronomy. Moses dies. It's not there. It's not in probably your Bible. And so just really quick, because we haven't been there in a while. A lot of people don't like to preach from Judah, especially in Protestant circles, because you're on into something kind of tricky right here. Now those of you know the Bible, really well know that. There are not apocryphal books, and some are so they're called Deuterocanonical. In some denominations, right, so stuck into scripture, even in the denominations that have them in their Bibles. But when we looked through the series, we saw that these books were in our Bibles since the very beginning of Christianity. So if you go and find the earliest copies of the Christian Bible in the early church, they have like 18 More books in the Old Testament than we do. But then you look at the 1611 King James Bible, they have a lot of these books in there too. And they had them there till the mid 1800s. So not going to get into why they're not there or whatever, whatever. But it's only for about the last 150 years, the Christians have not been reading from those books. make us think a little bit so. So Protestant pastors don't like to have to explain this, because they can't. So interesting point, but don't get lost in there. So it's the assumption of Moses. It's usually not actually in any kind of Bible canon that we see. But it's an apocryphal book. So anyway, don't get lost in this. They're arrogant. Not even Michael, the Ark Angel disputed with the devil, right? So these false teachers, they're arrogant, right? They think they know everything. It's a way of saying that. Jude 112 when these people eat with you, and your fellowship meals, commemorating the Lord's love, says feasting without fear, integrate, they're like dangerous reefs that can ship rescue. They're like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They're like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain. They're like trees in autumn that are doubly dead. For the bear. No fruit have been pulled up by the roots. They're like wild waves of the sea churning up foam of the foam. They're shameful deeds. They're like wandering stars doomed forever to blackest darkness. Enoch lived in the seventh generation after Adam prophesied about these people. He said, listen, the largest coming with countless 1000s of His holy ones to execute judgment on the people of the world. He will convict every person of all the ungodly things they have done, and for all the insults that ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These people are grumblers and complainers living only to satisfy their desires, they brag loudly about themselves and flatter others to get what they want. So remember that line? We'll bring that up again. So another instance where we have to ask where did we read that about Enoch? We didn't. He just gets taken up by God. Another quotes this is first Enoch, probably verse 919. He quotes from the book of Enoch, which is an apocryphal book. So again, causes people to wrestle Judas tough, right? Because the logic, think about the logic, are you this is the word of God, what I'm reading now. Now, the apocryphal books, maybe did a chronicle. Maybe they're not scripture, whatever. So you believe it's fine with me. But here, Judas putting it into the Word of God as if this is something that Enoch actually said, and that this actually happened.
wrestle with that, so? Yeah, so a lot of people don't like to deal with it. Right? So notice there without fear. And that's not a good thing. We've talked about fear. And the Bible says fear a lot more than the fear not so there without fear what other arrogant, arrogant people without fear, and they flatter you. We'll talk about that. Jude 117. But you my dear friends must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ predicted. They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural or worldly instincts because they do not have God's Spirit in them. But your dear friends must build each other up in your most holy faith. PRAY IN THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourself safe and God's love and you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment, show mercy to steal others, but do so with great caution. Greg says, you're hating the sins that contaminate their lives, literally hating the tunic stained by the flesh is what it says. So, verse 18, it's a quote of Second Peter three, three, so indeed, they're similar and Peters getting quoted here. So we know it's kind of got to be afterwards. One of the bad things divisions, we've talked about this in the church, no good. Divisions are not good, worldly. So they're worldly. They have worldly instincts. They're not focused on the heavenly things, the worldly things there without fear and you should fear Alright, so fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom. The Bible talks about fearing a lot more than not a prayer praise. Jude 124 Now, all glory to God who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fall. All Glory to Him will loan his God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power and authority are his before all time and in the present and beyond all time. Amen. And that is what Jude is all about. So, the Bible talks a lot about false details. If you just read it. It's all why? Well, they're like handlers have poisoned. With changed the label. There's no warning with them, and what they're feeding you can cost you. We're here your eternal life is what the Word of God says if you get Jesus wrong, and we'll talk about that. So let's do a little bit of review. We're towards the end, we have revelation coming up some great revelation in two parts. But just right before that, so we'll do the review here of what we've seen here, the Bible, New Testament about false teachings. Let's just look at what the warning label says here. Matthew 2424, Jesus, for false Messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive if possible, even God's chosen ones the elect. See, I have warned you about this ahead of time. This is Jesus talking. Acts 2029, says Paul in his speech to the Ephesian elders and farewell speech. I know that false teachers like vicious wolves will come in among you, there it is, again, after I leave not sparing the flock, Romans 1617 Paul, and now and one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters, watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people's faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught, stay away from them. Such people are not serving Christ our Lord. They are serving their own personal interest by smooth talk and glowing words, he deceive innocent people divisions again, Philippians three to watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those new leaders who say you must be circumcised to be saved for false teaching of that time. Here's Timothy for one. Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times, some will turn away from the true faith, they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. Second, Peter do you want but there are also false prophets in Israel. Just as there will be false teachers among you that will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the master brought them in this way, they will bring some destruction on themselves. Second, John one, seven. See this because many deceivers have gone out into the world, they deny that Jesus came in a real body. Such a person is a deceiver and antichrist, a false teacher. We looked at that last week, he had one for today. I say this because someone godly people have wormed their way into your churches saying that God's marvelous Grace allows us to live in more lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, but they have denied our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. So these are just some primary example. They're just kind of want to take the New Testament, and just show you the span of these things. It's a lot, and it's a lot more than that. So they're a big deal. Because they can cause you to think wrongly about who Jesus is. And this is really a huge, huge deal. And you'll notice something that it said that they're among us. Now. That may be weird today, right? Because you think, you know, I don't I guess so. Most people I know, at church, they're not exactly giving me false teachings like, what's going on? How does it happen today? Well, back then, when I told you this, you had this Arian heresy and is really one of the first ones to come into the church. But that's a big reason for the writing of the Gospel of John, John's big on the deity of Christ, because by his time, like whatever it was, 50 years later, people are starting to deny that they're saying that Jesus wasn't God, we don't think so. So it was the first one on the first IRC, the church, the fact that you would have to follow the law was probably the first but it's this idea that Jesus is not God. He's really not the Messiah. So where are we seeing this today? And it's very subtle. So I want you to pay attention to a couple of things here. What are they going to do? They're not going to like just jump into the church and announce that they're here, right? Where this worm their way and creep their way in, it's going to be subtle. Now, they didn't have media back then. Have like TV, they didn't have shows. So, you know, I've talked about this before, I'm not going to elaborate that much on it. But do we have stuff like that? Now that might deny Jesus? Yes, if you've been here for a while you've caught it. If you know the Word of God, you'll catch it in a minute. So they're especially a certain show very popular that says it's based on the Bible. Very, very loosely. It adds quite a bit of so the Word of God it takes away quite a bit. So the word of God but the most important thing that doesn't, which, by the way, the word of God tells us not to do it. So you're dealing with people who are what? Arrogant. Oh, right. So I'm a producer of a show. If I'm doing a show about the Bible, I'm going to say we need to get this exactly right. I'm going to grab my Greek Bible, just from that. And we're going to do it just like that. Maybe there should be speaking the original languages and it should have the subtitle so this is going to be a discussion but we're going to get it. Exactly right. I'm not going to add anything to it or take away why. I guess I'm not arrogant. I figured, well, the author of life, wrote the best script ever. How could I possibly make it any better? Good Christian attitude, right? Not a Christian attitude. Yeah, we got to fill in some blanks here. This isn't enough. So that's the first thing that should be obvious to you. As soon as you have your Bible you're reading along. You should just go. Nope, nope, these people got it wrong. But there's some subtlety here. This one in particular, and I just say Mormonism is not Christianity have been trying for years to be accepted. They are not because they don't believe that Jesus is God. You're out soon. You're done. We're done here. Arrogant. Remember, they these dreams and things. What was it? Joseph Smith, goes off, sees a vision somewhere. A dream comes back and says, yep, this isn't good enough. We're going to have the Book of Mormon now to go right up on top of this because this wasn't right. Well, those are the producers of that very popular show called The chosen a producer. And so what motivation what might they have to throw little things in there? John three, the conversation where Nicodemus in the whole Bible and he has three lines. He's talking for half an hour and a part of that dialogue is he tries to worship Jesus. And Jesus says, No, you don't have to do that. Oh, yes, you do. Oh, yes, you do. That's Jesus, get down at his feet, and start wiping it with your tears. He never rejected worship. Never. Why would you do that? Because if you believe that Jesus isn't God and you're producing that show? Yeah, Jesus, and that show needs Matthews help in the Sermon on the Mount. God needs your help with a sermon? I don't think so. So it's creeping its way in and it's very hot in my Bible app, I'm going to have to get a new one. Like live on there. Like one of the chosen is kind of like No, no, not on my phone. No. Anybody who even plants the seed that Jesus is not God. Out was it say stay away from them. So be careful poison. And it's crept its way into the church.
Arrogance. So but here's the thing, and I've said this before, it's preying on people who haven't read the label. So I don't know your favorite book, right? They make a movie out of it. People go nuts. If they get one point wrong. Nuts. It's over Rotten Tomatoes. isn't like the book didn't stay true to the book. Okay, why Christian? Are you not that outraged when something comes out? That went way off from the Word of God? Where's the outrage? So it's preying on the majority of mainstream Christianity who doesn't care enough to read God's love letter to us? And so a part of me is like Fox teachers could pardon he's like, son, you think what do I say? Almost every Sir, don't believe me. Believe that, check my work. Good job. You talk about it. So they are doubly dead, it says and they want you to be the same. That's what it is poison peddlers changing the label. So we need to read the real label which says you're supposed to test them. First on for one dear friends do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the Spirit they have come from God, or there are many false prophets in the world. So at first Thessalonians 520 Do not scoff at prophecies but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil. How do we test them? The Word of God you have the script right here. Test them with that. Now, let's look quickly, just what the Word says about some of these teachers. Now we did go to Matthew But let's go there again, Matthew 715. And towards the end of the Sermon on the Mountain, beware of false prophets who come in disguise as harmless sheep, but a really vicious wolves. Where are they again? You can identify them by their fruit that is by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? A good troop tree produces good fruit. A bad tree produces bad fruit a good tree campers BAD FRUIT battery can produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit. So you can identify people by their actions, right. So their actions will tell you we talked about this first, John, right especially First John, one through five the whole thing we saw that very clearly. Right? Now here's the thing, just so we don't get this wrong because it's top Matthew seven verse one it says Do not judge. But then it says how you're supposed to judge for false teachers, right? So just if we keep reading to James, James three, one, not many should become teachers, my brothers because you know that we teachers will receive greater judgment or condemnation. We are supposed to judge teachers. Now, big disclaimer here. I'm going to give a bunch of these qualifications very quickly. And this is review. Again, we've done this before, but the Bible talks about a lot. So on this topic I want to show you, wherever you're at, in your Christian walk, you might be new here might be your first day, it might be your 500th day, wherever you're at. That's your personal walk with the Lord. Okay, that's fine. When you say, I want to be a church leader, right? I want to be an example. See, people, that's what we are want to teach a different category. everyone hear that? Okay, so I'm going to say some things. I don't want anyone here to be discouraged. Turned away, right? Think that that exploitation is over? You're in your own spot. You're in your own place. That's between you and the Lord. Right? Good. Just keep working on it. That's all just read. Just ask just try. Just try. Nobody's going to be perfect. I'm talking about I'm pretty much throwing myself under the bus, right? So don't worry about teachers here. So what do we do we judge a tree by its fruit, we judge the teacher by its fruit, fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 522. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. There's no law against these things. The context is something about the law of Moses, right? So you must have these qualities if you want to be a church leader or a teacher, you must it's not optional, right? But did you notice something? Self control. Self control is a big one, and it keeps coming up over and over again. So if someone's peddling Anything But Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control, their false teacher, you shouldn't be peddling anything. But the fruit of the Spirit that is the fruit of the Spirit period. Not and I think no, no, no, that's it. So it's so important in the Bible that we're given pastoral requirements, I call it pastor, it's really elder there, but just in our society by Pastor, right. So we have in First Timothy three, and Titus chapter one, let me read them to you first Timothy three, one, this is a trustworthy same. If someone aspires to be a church leader, he does hire as an honorable position. So a church leader must be a man whose life is above reproach, he must be faithful to his wife, it must exercise Oh, there it is, again, self control, live wisely have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and literally says hospitable. Why, because I can be hospitable here and I should be, he must be able to teach. He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent. See the opposite of the fruit of spirit, you must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money, was managed his own family? Well, I think children who respect and obey Him, of a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God's church? That sounds a lot like the fruit of the Spirit, doesn't it? And there's that self control again, why? Teachers are to lead by example. Exam otherwise, you are a hypocrite. Right? So first Corinthians 927, Paul's writing, I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise I fear that after preaching others, I myself might be disqualified. What's disqualifying? Not being self controlled and disciplined over your body. And I'll tell you why. 370 and your brothers and sisters pattern your lies after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. I've told you often before and I say it again, with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows that they're really enemies of the cross of Christ. They're headed for destruction. Their god is their belly, Helia and Greek. They brag about shameful things. They think only about this life here on Earth. Their conduct, their self control, tells you this discipline over the body, it's coming up over and over and over again, why a godly teacher cares for the temple of the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians three and six, that says, Whoever destroys that temple, God will destroy them. This is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Now, remember, guys, wherever you're at teachers, okay, just teachers. But here's the thing. If they don't care for the temple of God, the Holy Spirit is God. How are they going to care for the body of Christ, if they don't care for their own body? This is how you test them even before they speak. Now, once we've judged whether a teacher should even be teaching in the first place, we need to look at some practical ways in which we can tell that we're being peddled something or being sold something I'm going to back this up, go back and forth with some scripture here, but just to get practical, so let's just look at one thing, if it always makes you feel good it so if you really know the Word of God, well, it's very corrective. Right? It's not like Hey, good job on that sin life you're leading, like Jesus, very negative, very negative fury. A lot of what Jesus says talks a lot about sin and correction. Right? So it always makes you feel good. That doesn't sound like the Bible does it? No, not at all. Dude 116 These people are grumblers and complainers living only to satisfy their desires. They brag loudly about themselves and flatter others to get what they want. Right. So one quick thing bragging about themselves, right bragging about themselves? Or do we have that in our society at all? And we take in worldly institutions and made these titles really important? Right? How did how did you introduce himself? I am the you know, the rightful heir, like the brother of Jesus and no, slave, Jesus. That's enough. That's all you need to know. Paul said he counted all that stuff is garbage is worldly learning, bragging about themselves, their titles? I want to say to start saying to people, like where do you go to school? University of the Holy Spirit?
If that's not enough for the person? Is the Holy Spirit better than a college? I think people forgotten. I don't know. Right? So leading with titles, doesn't make you feel good, but it always flatter you. So
maybe the ladies are going to relate to this. I'm going to get in trouble. So you know, maybe you went shopping for clothes. And you made the mistake of going alone. And so, you know, maybe you tried something minor. That was questionable. I know. But you got out of the dressing room, and the salesman was like, that looks great on you. You don't even it's awesome. We look so good. You're like really? Right. So you make the sale. You take it home, and someone who really loves you goes. Where'd you get that? Right? No. Did your mom send that to you? No, no, no, no, no, don't go shopping alone. Right. So it's very important you like someone who you trust to come shopping with you. But it's like that, right? A flattery. They're selling you something? If you know it doesn't sound right, that it doesn't sound right. It doesn't matter whether they make it like you feel good about it. No. Right. So the selling is on this line when they always affirm you and say Yes, right there was affirming you and all your choices. This and most of us came in here. We knew we were wrong, right? We knew we made bad choices, right? That's why we're here. We knew I know about but if someone's going to say You know what? That's all right. It's all good. They don't challenge you. You talked about were related to a gym right? What kind of gym you go to go there a trainer doesn't challenge you or you're not going to get any better. All right. Good dietician. It tells you that he has many cupcakes and ice cream as you want, you know, right challenge you Second Timothy four, three, her time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound wholesome teaching. They will file their own desires and look for teachers who will tell them what ever their itching ears want to hear. Yup. Today, right Jude one for us. They've wormed their way in the church is saying that God's marvelous Grace allows us to live our moral lives. Now, if you haven't seen the message yesterday, you've ever been hit with this. Right? So they'll read first John. And they'll read the first chapter. Good verses like eight through 10. And stop. There's no chapter breaks in the original. John wanted you to keep reading, right? So here we say we haven't sinned. We're liars. Right? So they love that they just stop sin, right? It's good. It's called greasy grace, like so we're good. That's what the Bible says. Wrong. That's not what it says. If you keep reading chapter two, I say this, I'm writing to you so that you do not sin. Keep reading. We can tell who are the children of the devil and who the children of God are because the children that will keep on sending. Read First John for yourself. Don't believe me? And it says more than that. It's worse than I'm even giving it to you. Better. Right. So what they're saying to keep eating the poison. But not like that. So speaking of salespeople, right when it's all about the money, what are the leaders not supposed to love? Money says real clearly. Second Peter to one. But there are also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the master brought them in this way. They'll bring sudden destruction on themselves. And then he will follow that evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered in their greed. They will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago and their destruction will not be delayed. So Yes, tithing is a thing. Right? So we don't have to. We've learned that throughout this series, but it's a good idea, right exercise of faith. It's yours, God, right, I get to keep 90%. We've talked about the correct attitudes about this right? Exercise of faith. Just it's yours, Lord. That's it. Right? Of course, you want to help your church, right? The Bible talks about that, too. Right. Paul, live by the generosity of some of his donors, we read about Phoebe and Lydia, right? Yes, right operation of the church. But there's a thing called the prosperity gospel, it's the half gospel, it's just the blessings part. None of the suffering and sin part of the Bible talks a lot more about none of that, right. So it's not even the half gospel, or the 10%, the quarter gospel, right, so you'd be blessed all the time, no matter what. Or what happens. Well, they get the map out, like Naples, one of the wealthiest cities in the world. We're going there. We're going to open a church there. There's a lot of rich suckers that don't read their Bible in Naples. We're going to make them feel great, and get rich. There's a man of God, lightning told some of these people say a man of God needs to have all this money. We've been told in the Old Testament that God was not rich. And let's look at what the New Testament says about it. When Paul is telling his protege, Timothy, about being a good elder, right, First Timothy six, five, these people talking about false teachers always cause trouble, their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth to them. So godliness is just a way to become wealthy, yet true godliness with contentment is itself Great. Well, after all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can't take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be was that word again, content, but people longed to be rich fall into temptation or trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin, destruction. Why? People that longing to be rich, anyone longing to be rich, for the love of money is the root of all evil says the Word of God. Not all kinds of does not say that. And some people probably hyperbole but Paul saying it's important. Some people craving money have wandered away from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. But you Timothy, oh, there it is, are a man of God, where the man of God do so run from all these evil things? Pursue righteousness and a godly life along with faith, love, perseverance, perseverance and gentleness. Sounds like the fruit of spirit again. So in the same letter to be fair, it tells people to pay teachers double honor. Hey, your teacher, double honor what's double honor? Oh, my wife works. So remember, you're doing good, right? I'm good. I'm content with what you guys give me. Great. We're good. We're good wife. One more close work. That's it. And First Timothy says pay your teacher double and what doesn't it say? 100% on 100 times on it right 10 times what your neighbors making, you know. So it does say pay your pastors well, but what is he telling him the ideal here is that you're just content? Your content? Philippians four, right? Content, whatever I have that I'm good. I'm good. Figure it out. Not hate church. I need a jet or whatever. It is. Wrong. Stop listening that No. Speaking of money, when they don't tell you the true cost. Familiar with the Gospels familiar with your Bible? Like when I said Jesus negative? Yeah, kind of right. Because people are like, Jesus, I want to follow you. But let me bury my parents first. Let the dead bury the dead. There's some very nice evangelical pastor. Let the dead bury the dead. Negative. I want to follow you I'm homeless. You know, like you didn't say exactly the Bible is exactly that. But what? Right the birds that they have their nest the foxes have their den Son of Man has no place to rest his head. Homeless. You're homeless too. It's awesome. What? Yeah, yeah, I want to follow you Whoa, whoa, wait king with 10,000 troops goes against another king with 20,000 without counting the cost. Yeah, that's Jesus. When people want to follow him. Right? Give up all your money. Peter's going to give up everything to follow you. So Mark eight, for example. Right? Who do they say I am? Peter. You know, Jeremiah, one of the prophets. Nobody you say I am Peter, you're the Messiah. Very good. But you know what the Son of Man has to suffer a lot of stuff. Peter tries to rebuke Him for it. No, no, no. This is Jesus his reaction mark a 33. Jesus turned around and look until his disciples and reprimanded Peter Get away from me, Satan. He said you are seeing things merely from a human or worldly point of view, not from God's then calling the crowd to join his disciples. He said, If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own weight, literally deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me. If you try to hang on your own life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, and the sake of the Good News, the Gospel, you will save it. And when you benefit, if you gain the whole world, lose your own soul, sacrifice our life and the Greek is anything worth more than your soul. There's the warning label. You want to follow me? Don't be selfish. And you're probably going to die the way I'm going to die. Okay, let's go. Again. And we should not be seeking out the world because Jesus clearly say here seeking something that could cause us to lose our soul. So here's the thing, if Jesus is being used, like a genie in the bottle, to promise you anything but eternal life, it's a false teaching. That's it. It emphasizes all those worlds, the blessings of the Bible over, over, over, over again, in context, says don't do that.
Quick disclaimer, you can have nice things. But if someone's like, is Jesus enough? Yeah, that's it, you're going to throw that stuff away. Because guess what, like Paul and Peter, you're going to have to pack up that tent. If you're not excited about that, that's a problem. So anything that's going to take your attention away from heavenly things? That's a problem. So again, we've seen it first. Jhansi 15 Do not love this world are the things that offers you for new love the world you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, and craving for everything we see in pride, our own shipments of possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away along with everything that people crave. And anyone who does what pleases the Father will live forever. James, for you adultery says it says in a Greek, so to the men, he's calling him adulteresses, Don't you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say again, if you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. Quick note, the best commentary on the Old Testaments, the New Testaments best commentary on the New Testament is the first letters of the New Testament. So just in case like there were teachers, then taking what Jesus says out of context, James and John are coming along by the power of the Holy Spirit, making sure you got it right. So keep reading. Jesus says, gain the world. Why be SIRs are supposed to be focused on heavenly things. Colossians three, one, since you have been raised in your life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor and God's right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of the earth, where you die this life and your real life is hidden with Christ and God. And when Christ who is your life has revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. That's what we're focused on. That's what we're waiting for. The sounds like what the world is selling. It's probably what the world is selling. Right? So Christianity, it does not need worldly sales techniques, bait and switches, doesn't have fine print. Jesus does do sound like a fine print teacher. Sound like say no sound? Sounds like somebody who leaves something out. They forget something. I don't think so. If you feel like you're being sold something. You are, you are. Yeah, and this is pretty interesting. A lot of people wouldn't consider this, but I just want to share this back end with you go through a couple of things, and we're close. It requires a big production. This is interesting. It's not it's not something that a lot until you get into church, if you have an honest conversation with a pastor. They're like, this is the bane of your existence. It's actually the worship team. So we have single tracks. And I tell people, it's a bit of a joke, but not really, the tracks are great, because they don't have egos, and they don't mess up. So I started as a worst I was the worship leader here. At C three, I come from a musical background. And so I can tell you a lot about the worship team and what happens there. Right. So we try to keep it simple. What? Well, Christianity doesn't require a big production. So on your end, right. You should be able to say Jesus has enough. I don't even batteries or none of that's biblical. I don't even have batteries recharged. No, no. Man does not live on bread alone. But every word that comes from the mouth of God, this is how you get fed will tell me you need a band to get fed. Don't tell me you need to save a bunch of lives to get fed. Because that's what a lot of people are doing. Right you just show please give me a show pastor right but that's what happens. It's dangerous. The power Right, to show what's God say about that show, Amos five, Isaiah want to take away the noise, right if you're not living righteously, but what happens is, as it pertains to false teachers is exactly this. You start with this excuse, this lie that you believe, well, you know, today could be the only day that this one person ever comes into a church and hears the gospel. Right? So we got to get it exactly right. And that means dishonoring my entire staff. Wrong, Nothing justifies that. And you're not that important. Get that idea out of your head. Right? That's what they do. And so we got to have a big show. And then eventually, you're like, we but isn't this kind of like a bait and switch to shut up? And one soul save? Well, not really, because as soon as they start listening to Jesus, they're going to find out that what we're doing here, the production is so different than Biblical Christianity. Yeah, they're not going to read that. We're counting on that, too. Let's just do the show, puts more butts in seats. But pastors will totally dishonor their volunteer base, everybody. Here, we just had to have like, somebody couldn't say, whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever. Okay, you say, and nobody can sing, you sing. It's just what you're supposed to be doing. And if nothing works, then we have the word of God read the principles on the wall, what do they do an X, that thing. So the word of God fellowship breaking the bread prayers, check, check, check, check, we're good. We're not going to have songs today. If you leave, that was a test. That's it. Oh, pastors will use the excuse to dishonor their people. Because of the production, when you're in an environment where the production is more important than the people, you're at a false place. The people should always be more important than the production. Always. No exceptions, were given no excuse not to love. So just a couple of things, these go together. When its affiliated, and I see this now more and more the church drives me nuts, when it starts affiliating itself with a political or worldly institution. So the church didn't have Republicans Democrats in mind. Right, so not at all. So there is no worldly or political institution that represents God or the kingdom of heaven. None except the church. That's it. That's the only thing in the Bible. We're told the only institution that represents God, everything else is fading away. It's passing sorry if you believe it, but America won't be here forever and ever. Because the Bible told us God's going to melt there. There's no political or worldly institution that represents the kingdom of heaven. None that needs to stay out of the church. God's only representatives here are the people, the church leadership, the people we read about the Bible. That's it. So no other Messiah but Jesus, nobody else is going to fix the world because God's going to destroy it. When Jesus comes back and Institute the new heavens and the new earth, read your Bible. So keep that out of the church. When it fans the flames of the flesh, we read about the fruit of the Spirit. Here's the fruit of the flesh of the rotten fruit of the flesh, the center the flesh. Galatians 519. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear. Sexual immorality, impurity. lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, pay attention, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, and all parties and other sins like these. Let me tell you, again, as I've said before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God. Do these institutions make you feel anger? quarreling, selfish ambition, division, envy. None of that belongs in the church, anything that will even agitate that. And the church needs to go. So if politics is it needs to go and I would add excluding people. No, out of the church, it's sinful. There are a lot of people who have infected the church with these things again, what did you say? They'll be right here among us. Lastly, makes back to the my point, if it makes Jesus out to be anything less than who He is. God, if it makes Jesus out to be and that includes right, so the heretics, were saying he's not God, right? You can be a guy he's a God is the God did anything if it makes Jesus less than brings him down and Less than King of all kings? Nope, that's got to go if it makes them a genie in a bottle. No, that's not my God. That's not the God of the Bible. Jesus. He is the bread of life that sustains us. He He's the light of the world whose example we should follow. He should be enough because our Lord those who obey Him, He's our Savior. That's the right way to think about is the King of kings, the Lord of lords. He's our master, our teacher. This is when we look to and Jesus is enough. And then we pray from the scriptures for you today. Now all glory to God was able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy and his glorious presence without a single fall. All Glory to Him, who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ, our Lord of glory, majesty, power and authority are his before all time and in the presence and beyond all time, amen.
Good morning. Welcome. If you're new here among us, my name is Jean I serve here at C three church as your pastor. I want to try something new today. So I know I've said something. And I realized that it might not be true. That said, kind of in hyperbole here, it's a three, we've tried everything. Right. So we've tried to be a big church, we've tried to be this kind of church that kind of tried all different kinds of things. And then I realized something. I heard a sermon from another church. And I said, Wait a minute. I don't think we've ever tried that. Now, it's the turn to the person next to you and say, so we're going to try it out, right? So turn to the person next to you and say, it might just be the Holy Spirit, they're sitting next to you, that's fine network. I won't let the pastor manipulate me
into saying something to you. That I don't mean. Jack, we've done that. Okay, manipulation. It's a sin. It happens in very subtle ways. So we're going to talk about that a little bit today. But we were talking about sin, right? We're talking about things that people don't want to talk about. But the Bible talks about it a lot. So I heard a story about a pastor who was preaching on set, and well, why because the Bible talks about it all the time. And one of the members got uneasy about it felt uncomfortable. Now, most of the time, when someone feels uncomfortable, they like use somebody or something else as an excuse, like, I have a friend who right is uncomfortable with that. And that's kind of what this guy did. He said, Listen, you're scaring people away. If you keep preaching about sin, no one's going to come back. Right? So and I know the feeling, right, we did first or third John and like, half the room gone. So the guys were in, he's trying to agitate the pastor and make them nervous about this right? Pastor thinks about it for a second. He takes a trip to the utility closet, and the guy follows him there. He goes in the utility closet, the guy can't figure out what he's doing, no matter how he gets up on a shelf, there it is, brings it down, and it's a box of rat poison. He said, You see, what you're asking me to do is take this label off,
and put another label on candy, perhaps don't just see what might happen. The milder we make
the label, the stronger we make the poison. I didn't really come up with that one on my own. So. So it's about reading the label the Bible is not to say that the Bible has poisoned and no, we apply this to everything around us in the world. So it's important to read the label. And the Bible talks about false teachings and false teachers are lots for very good reason. And you're going to notice that we're approaching the end of the series towards the end of the Bible here. And you're going to see that so last week, I pondered the idea of taking the Jesus fish off everybody's cars who didn't act like a Christian. That's not funny anymore, I guess, this week, what the Bible says about those who misrepresent Christianity by what they teach. So we talked about what you do, now what you teach. So we find ourselves the book of Jude, Jude or Judas, but not Judas Iscariot, like, and Mark six, three is Jesus's brother. So this is a book of the Bible, very short book and up there with Obadiah. Just one chapter, one page. That's it, written by Jesus's brother. That's interesting. We're going to see how he introduces himself. The whole topic is false teachers. It's all about false teachers. So let's just hop right in Jude one. This is letters from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. I'm writing to all of them called by God, the Father who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ. God gives you more and more mercy, peace and love. So here is the opening very similar to Paul Paul's usually grace and peace. You know, Peter kind of started out this way. They're setting the tone John, like to set this tone here and you notice what it is right? Mercy, peace, and love. There you go. Now what it is to be a slave. We've addressed this quite a bit in the Church recently, so I'm not going to get into it too much is more about your commitment to Christ here. It is not about racism. So don't think about it the way we would think about it in our culture and your commitment to Christ, not racism. But here's the thing. If you think about this, All humility. He's the brother of Jesus. Wouldn't we say that? All right, brother Jesus, so you got to listen to everything I say no. He's the brother of James and the slave of Jesus. So now he was mocking Jesus, let's say John seven there. This is a pretty remarkable turnaround. He goes from mocking his brothers mocked him to being not just like his brother and acknowledging that, but a slave of Jesus. Amazing, so he knows who the master is. Now, we'll get right into it here. Jude, one three dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write you about the salvation we share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time, to his holy people. I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches saying that God's marvelous Grace allows us to live in moral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago for the guide the or only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, so here we go. False teachers. Again, right, so you're going to, it's going to sound really familiar, if you've done this, you've just kind of decided I'm going to read like, a lot of books of the Bible. Second, Peter, very close proximity, first or third John's in between. And then you have Jude, especially with Second Peter, you're going to read that you're going to read this and go, didn't I just read this, right? So if it's redundant, it's important, we have to remember that. So you notice something, these faults teachers and keep this in mind for application they have what wormed or your version might say, crept their way into our churches. They're here. Notice that? All right, and we've seen this before. How can we deny Jesus? Sometimes it's by the way we live, Jude one, five. So I want to remind you know, you already know these things that Jesus first rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt, but later he destroyed those who did not remain faithful. And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belong. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness waiting for the Great Day of Judgment. Don't forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality of every kind, and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of eternal fire of God's judgment. So here you have kind of a little bit of an early Old Testament summary. Remember the angels the cause of the flood, the corruption, so the sons of God or angels, right, so that had intercourse with the daughters of men just corrupted humanity. God got very angry about that, and hence, the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, you if you've never had the Bible, you probably know that story to tell him so. So there's a lot of sexual immorality going on there. It's a really bad place. So he's reminding these people so they serve as examples. And Paul says this in First Corinthians 10 – they are examples for us. So is what she's bringing in. Hey, pay attention, right? So these are example Jude one eight in the same way. He's people who claim authority from their dreams that are moralize, defy authority and scoff at supernatural beings. But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy, but simply said the Lord rebuke you is took place when Michael was arguing with the devil about Moses his body. But these people scoff at these things that the things they didn't understand. Like I'm thinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them so they bring about their own destruction. What sorrow awaits them for they fall in the footsteps of Cain who killed his brother like Valium that deceives people for money like Cora they perish in their rebellion. So important thing also for the athlete application here, a claim these things from their dreams, right? So just remember that untested dream. So here we see Kane in valence. So remember, first Johnny talked about Kane bellum? Was mech mentioned in Second Peter, right? So you have these bad examples, right? But here's something kind of funny. If you know your vibe, well, in this series, it's been a while. When did we read that about Michael the Ark Angel having an argument with the devil about Moses, his body? I don't know where that is. Have to be by Deuteronomy. Moses dies. It's not there. It's not in probably your Bible. And so just really quick, because we haven't been there in a while. A lot of people don't like to preach from Judah, especially in Protestant circles, because you're on into something kind of tricky right here. Now those of you know the Bible, really well know that. There are not apocryphal books, and some are so they're called Deuterocanonical. In some denominations, right, so stuck into scripture, even in the denominations that have them in their Bibles. But when we looked through the series, we saw that these books were in our Bibles since the very beginning of Christianity. So if you go and find the earliest copies of the Christian Bible in the early church, they have like 18 More books in the Old Testament than we do. But then you look at the 1611 King James Bible, they have a lot of these books in there too. And they had them there till the mid 1800s. So not going to get into why they're not there or whatever, whatever. But it's only for about the last 150 years, the Christians have not been reading from those books. make us think a little bit so. So Protestant pastors don't like to have to explain this, because they can't. So interesting point, but don't get lost in there. So it's the assumption of Moses. It's usually not actually in any kind of Bible canon that we see. But it's an apocryphal book. So anyway, don't get lost in this. They're arrogant. Not even Michael, the Ark Angel disputed with the devil, right? So these false teachers, they're arrogant, right? They think they know everything. It's a way of saying that. Jude 112 when these people eat with you, and your fellowship meals, commemorating the Lord's love, says feasting without fear, integrate, they're like dangerous reefs that can ship rescue. They're like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They're like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain. They're like trees in autumn that are doubly dead. For the bear. No fruit have been pulled up by the roots. They're like wild waves of the sea churning up foam of the foam. They're shameful deeds. They're like wandering stars doomed forever to blackest darkness. Enoch lived in the seventh generation after Adam prophesied about these people. He said, listen, the largest coming with countless 1000s of His holy ones to execute judgment on the people of the world. He will convict every person of all the ungodly things they have done, and for all the insults that ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These people are grumblers and complainers living only to satisfy their desires, they brag loudly about themselves and flatter others to get what they want. So remember that line? We'll bring that up again. So another instance where we have to ask where did we read that about Enoch? We didn't. He just gets taken up by God. Another quotes this is first Enoch, probably verse 919. He quotes from the book of Enoch, which is an apocryphal book. So again, causes people to wrestle Judas tough, right? Because the logic, think about the logic, are you this is the word of God, what I'm reading now. Now, the apocryphal books, maybe did a chronicle. Maybe they're not scripture, whatever. So you believe it's fine with me. But here, Judas putting it into the Word of God as if this is something that Enoch actually said, and that this actually happened.
wrestle with that, so? Yeah, so a lot of people don't like to deal with it. Right? So notice there without fear. And that's not a good thing. We've talked about fear. And the Bible says fear a lot more than the fear not so there without fear what other arrogant, arrogant people without fear, and they flatter you. We'll talk about that. Jude 117. But you my dear friends must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ predicted. They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural or worldly instincts because they do not have God's Spirit in them. But your dear friends must build each other up in your most holy faith. PRAY IN THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourself safe and God's love and you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment, show mercy to steal others, but do so with great caution. Greg says, you're hating the sins that contaminate their lives, literally hating the tunic stained by the flesh is what it says. So, verse 18, it's a quote of Second Peter three, three, so indeed, they're similar and Peters getting quoted here. So we know it's kind of got to be afterwards. One of the bad things divisions, we've talked about this in the church, no good. Divisions are not good, worldly. So they're worldly. They have worldly instincts. They're not focused on the heavenly things, the worldly things there without fear and you should fear Alright, so fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom. The Bible talks about fearing a lot more than not a prayer praise. Jude 124 Now, all glory to God who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fall. All Glory to Him will loan his God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power and authority are his before all time and in the present and beyond all time. Amen. And that is what Jude is all about. So, the Bible talks a lot about false details. If you just read it. It's all why? Well, they're like handlers have poisoned. With changed the label. There's no warning with them, and what they're feeding you can cost you. We're here your eternal life is what the Word of God says if you get Jesus wrong, and we'll talk about that. So let's do a little bit of review. We're towards the end, we have revelation coming up some great revelation in two parts. But just right before that, so we'll do the review here of what we've seen here, the Bible, New Testament about false teachings. Let's just look at what the warning label says here. Matthew 2424, Jesus, for false Messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive if possible, even God's chosen ones the elect. See, I have warned you about this ahead of time. This is Jesus talking. Acts 2029, says Paul in his speech to the Ephesian elders and farewell speech. I know that false teachers like vicious wolves will come in among you, there it is, again, after I leave not sparing the flock, Romans 1617 Paul, and now and one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters, watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people's faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught, stay away from them. Such people are not serving Christ our Lord. They are serving their own personal interest by smooth talk and glowing words, he deceive innocent people divisions again, Philippians three to watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those new leaders who say you must be circumcised to be saved for false teaching of that time. Here's Timothy for one. Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times, some will turn away from the true faith, they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. Second, Peter do you want but there are also false prophets in Israel. Just as there will be false teachers among you that will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the master brought them in this way, they will bring some destruction on themselves. Second, John one, seven. See this because many deceivers have gone out into the world, they deny that Jesus came in a real body. Such a person is a deceiver and antichrist, a false teacher. We looked at that last week, he had one for today. I say this because someone godly people have wormed their way into your churches saying that God's marvelous Grace allows us to live in more lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, but they have denied our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. So these are just some primary example. They're just kind of want to take the New Testament, and just show you the span of these things. It's a lot, and it's a lot more than that. So they're a big deal. Because they can cause you to think wrongly about who Jesus is. And this is really a huge, huge deal. And you'll notice something that it said that they're among us. Now. That may be weird today, right? Because you think, you know, I don't I guess so. Most people I know, at church, they're not exactly giving me false teachings like, what's going on? How does it happen today? Well, back then, when I told you this, you had this Arian heresy and is really one of the first ones to come into the church. But that's a big reason for the writing of the Gospel of John, John's big on the deity of Christ, because by his time, like whatever it was, 50 years later, people are starting to deny that they're saying that Jesus wasn't God, we don't think so. So it was the first one on the first IRC, the church, the fact that you would have to follow the law was probably the first but it's this idea that Jesus is not God. He's really not the Messiah. So where are we seeing this today? And it's very subtle. So I want you to pay attention to a couple of things here. What are they going to do? They're not going to like just jump into the church and announce that they're here, right? Where this worm their way and creep their way in, it's going to be subtle. Now, they didn't have media back then. Have like TV, they didn't have shows. So, you know, I've talked about this before, I'm not going to elaborate that much on it. But do we have stuff like that? Now that might deny Jesus? Yes, if you've been here for a while you've caught it. If you know the Word of God, you'll catch it in a minute. So they're especially a certain show very popular that says it's based on the Bible. Very, very loosely. It adds quite a bit of so the Word of God it takes away quite a bit. So the word of God but the most important thing that doesn't, which, by the way, the word of God tells us not to do it. So you're dealing with people who are what? Arrogant. Oh, right. So I'm a producer of a show. If I'm doing a show about the Bible, I'm going to say we need to get this exactly right. I'm going to grab my Greek Bible, just from that. And we're going to do it just like that. Maybe there should be speaking the original languages and it should have the subtitle so this is going to be a discussion but we're going to get it. Exactly right. I'm not going to add anything to it or take away why. I guess I'm not arrogant. I figured, well, the author of life, wrote the best script ever. How could I possibly make it any better? Good Christian attitude, right? Not a Christian attitude. Yeah, we got to fill in some blanks here. This isn't enough. So that's the first thing that should be obvious to you. As soon as you have your Bible you're reading along. You should just go. Nope, nope, these people got it wrong. But there's some subtlety here. This one in particular, and I just say Mormonism is not Christianity have been trying for years to be accepted. They are not because they don't believe that Jesus is God. You're out soon. You're done. We're done here. Arrogant. Remember, they these dreams and things. What was it? Joseph Smith, goes off, sees a vision somewhere. A dream comes back and says, yep, this isn't good enough. We're going to have the Book of Mormon now to go right up on top of this because this wasn't right. Well, those are the producers of that very popular show called The chosen a producer. And so what motivation what might they have to throw little things in there? John three, the conversation where Nicodemus in the whole Bible and he has three lines. He's talking for half an hour and a part of that dialogue is he tries to worship Jesus. And Jesus says, No, you don't have to do that. Oh, yes, you do. Oh, yes, you do. That's Jesus, get down at his feet, and start wiping it with your tears. He never rejected worship. Never. Why would you do that? Because if you believe that Jesus isn't God and you're producing that show? Yeah, Jesus, and that show needs Matthews help in the Sermon on the Mount. God needs your help with a sermon? I don't think so. So it's creeping its way in and it's very hot in my Bible app, I'm going to have to get a new one. Like live on there. Like one of the chosen is kind of like No, no, not on my phone. No. Anybody who even plants the seed that Jesus is not God. Out was it say stay away from them. So be careful poison. And it's crept its way into the church.
Arrogance. So but here's the thing, and I've said this before, it's preying on people who haven't read the label. So I don't know your favorite book, right? They make a movie out of it. People go nuts. If they get one point wrong. Nuts. It's over Rotten Tomatoes. isn't like the book didn't stay true to the book. Okay, why Christian? Are you not that outraged when something comes out? That went way off from the Word of God? Where's the outrage? So it's preying on the majority of mainstream Christianity who doesn't care enough to read God's love letter to us? And so a part of me is like Fox teachers could pardon he's like, son, you think what do I say? Almost every Sir, don't believe me. Believe that, check my work. Good job. You talk about it. So they are doubly dead, it says and they want you to be the same. That's what it is poison peddlers changing the label. So we need to read the real label which says you're supposed to test them. First on for one dear friends do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the Spirit they have come from God, or there are many false prophets in the world. So at first Thessalonians 520 Do not scoff at prophecies but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil. How do we test them? The Word of God you have the script right here. Test them with that. Now, let's look quickly, just what the Word says about some of these teachers. Now we did go to Matthew But let's go there again, Matthew 715. And towards the end of the Sermon on the Mountain, beware of false prophets who come in disguise as harmless sheep, but a really vicious wolves. Where are they again? You can identify them by their fruit that is by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? A good troop tree produces good fruit. A bad tree produces bad fruit a good tree campers BAD FRUIT battery can produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit. So you can identify people by their actions, right. So their actions will tell you we talked about this first, John, right especially First John, one through five the whole thing we saw that very clearly. Right? Now here's the thing, just so we don't get this wrong because it's top Matthew seven verse one it says Do not judge. But then it says how you're supposed to judge for false teachers, right? So just if we keep reading to James, James three, one, not many should become teachers, my brothers because you know that we teachers will receive greater judgment or condemnation. We are supposed to judge teachers. Now, big disclaimer here. I'm going to give a bunch of these qualifications very quickly. And this is review. Again, we've done this before, but the Bible talks about a lot. So on this topic I want to show you, wherever you're at, in your Christian walk, you might be new here might be your first day, it might be your 500th day, wherever you're at. That's your personal walk with the Lord. Okay, that's fine. When you say, I want to be a church leader, right? I want to be an example. See, people, that's what we are want to teach a different category. everyone hear that? Okay, so I'm going to say some things. I don't want anyone here to be discouraged. Turned away, right? Think that that exploitation is over? You're in your own spot. You're in your own place. That's between you and the Lord. Right? Good. Just keep working on it. That's all just read. Just ask just try. Just try. Nobody's going to be perfect. I'm talking about I'm pretty much throwing myself under the bus, right? So don't worry about teachers here. So what do we do we judge a tree by its fruit, we judge the teacher by its fruit, fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 522. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. There's no law against these things. The context is something about the law of Moses, right? So you must have these qualities if you want to be a church leader or a teacher, you must it's not optional, right? But did you notice something? Self control. Self control is a big one, and it keeps coming up over and over again. So if someone's peddling Anything But Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control, their false teacher, you shouldn't be peddling anything. But the fruit of the Spirit that is the fruit of the Spirit period. Not and I think no, no, no, that's it. So it's so important in the Bible that we're given pastoral requirements, I call it pastor, it's really elder there, but just in our society by Pastor, right. So we have in First Timothy three, and Titus chapter one, let me read them to you first Timothy three, one, this is a trustworthy same. If someone aspires to be a church leader, he does hire as an honorable position. So a church leader must be a man whose life is above reproach, he must be faithful to his wife, it must exercise Oh, there it is, again, self control, live wisely have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and literally says hospitable. Why, because I can be hospitable here and I should be, he must be able to teach. He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent. See the opposite of the fruit of spirit, you must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money, was managed his own family? Well, I think children who respect and obey Him, of a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God's church? That sounds a lot like the fruit of the Spirit, doesn't it? And there's that self control again, why? Teachers are to lead by example. Exam otherwise, you are a hypocrite. Right? So first Corinthians 927, Paul's writing, I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise I fear that after preaching others, I myself might be disqualified. What's disqualifying? Not being self controlled and disciplined over your body. And I'll tell you why. 370 and your brothers and sisters pattern your lies after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. I've told you often before and I say it again, with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows that they're really enemies of the cross of Christ. They're headed for destruction. Their god is their belly, Helia and Greek. They brag about shameful things. They think only about this life here on Earth. Their conduct, their self control, tells you this discipline over the body, it's coming up over and over and over again, why a godly teacher cares for the temple of the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians three and six, that says, Whoever destroys that temple, God will destroy them. This is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Now, remember, guys, wherever you're at teachers, okay, just teachers. But here's the thing. If they don't care for the temple of God, the Holy Spirit is God. How are they going to care for the body of Christ, if they don't care for their own body? This is how you test them even before they speak. Now, once we've judged whether a teacher should even be teaching in the first place, we need to look at some practical ways in which we can tell that we're being peddled something or being sold something I'm going to back this up, go back and forth with some scripture here, but just to get practical, so let's just look at one thing, if it always makes you feel good it so if you really know the Word of God, well, it's very corrective. Right? It's not like Hey, good job on that sin life you're leading, like Jesus, very negative, very negative fury. A lot of what Jesus says talks a lot about sin and correction. Right? So it always makes you feel good. That doesn't sound like the Bible does it? No, not at all. Dude 116 These people are grumblers and complainers living only to satisfy their desires. They brag loudly about themselves and flatter others to get what they want. Right. So one quick thing bragging about themselves, right bragging about themselves? Or do we have that in our society at all? And we take in worldly institutions and made these titles really important? Right? How did how did you introduce himself? I am the you know, the rightful heir, like the brother of Jesus and no, slave, Jesus. That's enough. That's all you need to know. Paul said he counted all that stuff is garbage is worldly learning, bragging about themselves, their titles? I want to say to start saying to people, like where do you go to school? University of the Holy Spirit?
If that's not enough for the person? Is the Holy Spirit better than a college? I think people forgotten. I don't know. Right? So leading with titles, doesn't make you feel good, but it always flatter you. So
maybe the ladies are going to relate to this. I'm going to get in trouble. So you know, maybe you went shopping for clothes. And you made the mistake of going alone. And so, you know, maybe you tried something minor. That was questionable. I know. But you got out of the dressing room, and the salesman was like, that looks great on you. You don't even it's awesome. We look so good. You're like really? Right. So you make the sale. You take it home, and someone who really loves you goes. Where'd you get that? Right? No. Did your mom send that to you? No, no, no, no, no, don't go shopping alone. Right. So it's very important you like someone who you trust to come shopping with you. But it's like that, right? A flattery. They're selling you something? If you know it doesn't sound right, that it doesn't sound right. It doesn't matter whether they make it like you feel good about it. No. Right. So the selling is on this line when they always affirm you and say Yes, right there was affirming you and all your choices. This and most of us came in here. We knew we were wrong, right? We knew we made bad choices, right? That's why we're here. We knew I know about but if someone's going to say You know what? That's all right. It's all good. They don't challenge you. You talked about were related to a gym right? What kind of gym you go to go there a trainer doesn't challenge you or you're not going to get any better. All right. Good dietician. It tells you that he has many cupcakes and ice cream as you want, you know, right challenge you Second Timothy four, three, her time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound wholesome teaching. They will file their own desires and look for teachers who will tell them what ever their itching ears want to hear. Yup. Today, right Jude one for us. They've wormed their way in the church is saying that God's marvelous Grace allows us to live our moral lives. Now, if you haven't seen the message yesterday, you've ever been hit with this. Right? So they'll read first John. And they'll read the first chapter. Good verses like eight through 10. And stop. There's no chapter breaks in the original. John wanted you to keep reading, right? So here we say we haven't sinned. We're liars. Right? So they love that they just stop sin, right? It's good. It's called greasy grace, like so we're good. That's what the Bible says. Wrong. That's not what it says. If you keep reading chapter two, I say this, I'm writing to you so that you do not sin. Keep reading. We can tell who are the children of the devil and who the children of God are because the children that will keep on sending. Read First John for yourself. Don't believe me? And it says more than that. It's worse than I'm even giving it to you. Better. Right. So what they're saying to keep eating the poison. But not like that. So speaking of salespeople, right when it's all about the money, what are the leaders not supposed to love? Money says real clearly. Second Peter to one. But there are also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the master brought them in this way. They'll bring sudden destruction on themselves. And then he will follow that evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered in their greed. They will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago and their destruction will not be delayed. So Yes, tithing is a thing. Right? So we don't have to. We've learned that throughout this series, but it's a good idea, right exercise of faith. It's yours, God, right, I get to keep 90%. We've talked about the correct attitudes about this right? Exercise of faith. Just it's yours, Lord. That's it. Right? Of course, you want to help your church, right? The Bible talks about that, too. Right. Paul, live by the generosity of some of his donors, we read about Phoebe and Lydia, right? Yes, right operation of the church. But there's a thing called the prosperity gospel, it's the half gospel, it's just the blessings part. None of the suffering and sin part of the Bible talks a lot more about none of that, right. So it's not even the half gospel, or the 10%, the quarter gospel, right, so you'd be blessed all the time, no matter what. Or what happens. Well, they get the map out, like Naples, one of the wealthiest cities in the world. We're going there. We're going to open a church there. There's a lot of rich suckers that don't read their Bible in Naples. We're going to make them feel great, and get rich. There's a man of God, lightning told some of these people say a man of God needs to have all this money. We've been told in the Old Testament that God was not rich. And let's look at what the New Testament says about it. When Paul is telling his protege, Timothy, about being a good elder, right, First Timothy six, five, these people talking about false teachers always cause trouble, their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth to them. So godliness is just a way to become wealthy, yet true godliness with contentment is itself Great. Well, after all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can't take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be was that word again, content, but people longed to be rich fall into temptation or trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin, destruction. Why? People that longing to be rich, anyone longing to be rich, for the love of money is the root of all evil says the Word of God. Not all kinds of does not say that. And some people probably hyperbole but Paul saying it's important. Some people craving money have wandered away from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. But you Timothy, oh, there it is, are a man of God, where the man of God do so run from all these evil things? Pursue righteousness and a godly life along with faith, love, perseverance, perseverance and gentleness. Sounds like the fruit of spirit again. So in the same letter to be fair, it tells people to pay teachers double honor. Hey, your teacher, double honor what's double honor? Oh, my wife works. So remember, you're doing good, right? I'm good. I'm content with what you guys give me. Great. We're good. We're good wife. One more close work. That's it. And First Timothy says pay your teacher double and what doesn't it say? 100% on 100 times on it right 10 times what your neighbors making, you know. So it does say pay your pastors well, but what is he telling him the ideal here is that you're just content? Your content? Philippians four, right? Content, whatever I have that I'm good. I'm good. Figure it out. Not hate church. I need a jet or whatever. It is. Wrong. Stop listening that No. Speaking of money, when they don't tell you the true cost. Familiar with the Gospels familiar with your Bible? Like when I said Jesus negative? Yeah, kind of right. Because people are like, Jesus, I want to follow you. But let me bury my parents first. Let the dead bury the dead. There's some very nice evangelical pastor. Let the dead bury the dead. Negative. I want to follow you I'm homeless. You know, like you didn't say exactly the Bible is exactly that. But what? Right the birds that they have their nest the foxes have their den Son of Man has no place to rest his head. Homeless. You're homeless too. It's awesome. What? Yeah, yeah, I want to follow you Whoa, whoa, wait king with 10,000 troops goes against another king with 20,000 without counting the cost. Yeah, that's Jesus. When people want to follow him. Right? Give up all your money. Peter's going to give up everything to follow you. So Mark eight, for example. Right? Who do they say I am? Peter. You know, Jeremiah, one of the prophets. Nobody you say I am Peter, you're the Messiah. Very good. But you know what the Son of Man has to suffer a lot of stuff. Peter tries to rebuke Him for it. No, no, no. This is Jesus his reaction mark a 33. Jesus turned around and look until his disciples and reprimanded Peter Get away from me, Satan. He said you are seeing things merely from a human or worldly point of view, not from God's then calling the crowd to join his disciples. He said, If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own weight, literally deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me. If you try to hang on your own life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, and the sake of the Good News, the Gospel, you will save it. And when you benefit, if you gain the whole world, lose your own soul, sacrifice our life and the Greek is anything worth more than your soul. There's the warning label. You want to follow me? Don't be selfish. And you're probably going to die the way I'm going to die. Okay, let's go. Again. And we should not be seeking out the world because Jesus clearly say here seeking something that could cause us to lose our soul. So here's the thing, if Jesus is being used, like a genie in the bottle, to promise you anything but eternal life, it's a false teaching. That's it. It emphasizes all those worlds, the blessings of the Bible over, over, over, over again, in context, says don't do that.
Quick disclaimer, you can have nice things. But if someone's like, is Jesus enough? Yeah, that's it, you're going to throw that stuff away. Because guess what, like Paul and Peter, you're going to have to pack up that tent. If you're not excited about that, that's a problem. So anything that's going to take your attention away from heavenly things? That's a problem. So again, we've seen it first. Jhansi 15 Do not love this world are the things that offers you for new love the world you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, and craving for everything we see in pride, our own shipments of possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away along with everything that people crave. And anyone who does what pleases the Father will live forever. James, for you adultery says it says in a Greek, so to the men, he's calling him adulteresses, Don't you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say again, if you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. Quick note, the best commentary on the Old Testaments, the New Testaments best commentary on the New Testament is the first letters of the New Testament. So just in case like there were teachers, then taking what Jesus says out of context, James and John are coming along by the power of the Holy Spirit, making sure you got it right. So keep reading. Jesus says, gain the world. Why be SIRs are supposed to be focused on heavenly things. Colossians three, one, since you have been raised in your life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor and God's right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of the earth, where you die this life and your real life is hidden with Christ and God. And when Christ who is your life has revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. That's what we're focused on. That's what we're waiting for. The sounds like what the world is selling. It's probably what the world is selling. Right? So Christianity, it does not need worldly sales techniques, bait and switches, doesn't have fine print. Jesus does do sound like a fine print teacher. Sound like say no sound? Sounds like somebody who leaves something out. They forget something. I don't think so. If you feel like you're being sold something. You are, you are. Yeah, and this is pretty interesting. A lot of people wouldn't consider this, but I just want to share this back end with you go through a couple of things, and we're close. It requires a big production. This is interesting. It's not it's not something that a lot until you get into church, if you have an honest conversation with a pastor. They're like, this is the bane of your existence. It's actually the worship team. So we have single tracks. And I tell people, it's a bit of a joke, but not really, the tracks are great, because they don't have egos, and they don't mess up. So I started as a worst I was the worship leader here. At C three, I come from a musical background. And so I can tell you a lot about the worship team and what happens there. Right. So we try to keep it simple. What? Well, Christianity doesn't require a big production. So on your end, right. You should be able to say Jesus has enough. I don't even batteries or none of that's biblical. I don't even have batteries recharged. No, no. Man does not live on bread alone. But every word that comes from the mouth of God, this is how you get fed will tell me you need a band to get fed. Don't tell me you need to save a bunch of lives to get fed. Because that's what a lot of people are doing. Right you just show please give me a show pastor right but that's what happens. It's dangerous. The power Right, to show what's God say about that show, Amos five, Isaiah want to take away the noise, right if you're not living righteously, but what happens is, as it pertains to false teachers is exactly this. You start with this excuse, this lie that you believe, well, you know, today could be the only day that this one person ever comes into a church and hears the gospel. Right? So we got to get it exactly right. And that means dishonoring my entire staff. Wrong, Nothing justifies that. And you're not that important. Get that idea out of your head. Right? That's what they do. And so we got to have a big show. And then eventually, you're like, we but isn't this kind of like a bait and switch to shut up? And one soul save? Well, not really, because as soon as they start listening to Jesus, they're going to find out that what we're doing here, the production is so different than Biblical Christianity. Yeah, they're not going to read that. We're counting on that, too. Let's just do the show, puts more butts in seats. But pastors will totally dishonor their volunteer base, everybody. Here, we just had to have like, somebody couldn't say, whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever. Okay, you say, and nobody can sing, you sing. It's just what you're supposed to be doing. And if nothing works, then we have the word of God read the principles on the wall, what do they do an X, that thing. So the word of God fellowship breaking the bread prayers, check, check, check, check, we're good. We're not going to have songs today. If you leave, that was a test. That's it. Oh, pastors will use the excuse to dishonor their people. Because of the production, when you're in an environment where the production is more important than the people, you're at a false place. The people should always be more important than the production. Always. No exceptions, were given no excuse not to love. So just a couple of things, these go together. When its affiliated, and I see this now more and more the church drives me nuts, when it starts affiliating itself with a political or worldly institution. So the church didn't have Republicans Democrats in mind. Right, so not at all. So there is no worldly or political institution that represents God or the kingdom of heaven. None except the church. That's it. That's the only thing in the Bible. We're told the only institution that represents God, everything else is fading away. It's passing sorry if you believe it, but America won't be here forever and ever. Because the Bible told us God's going to melt there. There's no political or worldly institution that represents the kingdom of heaven. None that needs to stay out of the church. God's only representatives here are the people, the church leadership, the people we read about the Bible. That's it. So no other Messiah but Jesus, nobody else is going to fix the world because God's going to destroy it. When Jesus comes back and Institute the new heavens and the new earth, read your Bible. So keep that out of the church. When it fans the flames of the flesh, we read about the fruit of the Spirit. Here's the fruit of the flesh of the rotten fruit of the flesh, the center the flesh. Galatians 519. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear. Sexual immorality, impurity. lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, pay attention, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, and all parties and other sins like these. Let me tell you, again, as I've said before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God. Do these institutions make you feel anger? quarreling, selfish ambition, division, envy. None of that belongs in the church, anything that will even agitate that. And the church needs to go. So if politics is it needs to go and I would add excluding people. No, out of the church, it's sinful. There are a lot of people who have infected the church with these things again, what did you say? They'll be right here among us. Lastly, makes back to the my point, if it makes Jesus out to be anything less than who He is. God, if it makes Jesus out to be and that includes right, so the heretics, were saying he's not God, right? You can be a guy he's a God is the God did anything if it makes Jesus less than brings him down and Less than King of all kings? Nope, that's got to go if it makes them a genie in a bottle. No, that's not my God. That's not the God of the Bible. Jesus. He is the bread of life that sustains us. He He's the light of the world whose example we should follow. He should be enough because our Lord those who obey Him, He's our Savior. That's the right way to think about is the King of kings, the Lord of lords. He's our master, our teacher. This is when we look to and Jesus is enough. And then we pray from the scriptures for you today. Now all glory to God was able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy and his glorious presence without a single fall. All Glory to Him, who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ, our Lord of glory, majesty, power and authority are his before all time and in the presence and beyond all time, amen.