Sermon
Posers and Pretenders - Bro. Tanner Furrh | Stedfast Baptist Church
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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I just want to start off by thanking Pastor Shelley for the opportunity to preach.
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Also just want to make mention that he will be back on Wednesday.
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So if you're a visitor, maybe you're here for the first time, please come back next
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week.
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Come back Wednesday to hear our pastor preach.
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But nonetheless, I am thankful to be here this morning.
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And I want to focus on verse number 20.
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Notice what the Bible says in verse 20.
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And they watched him and sent forth spies which should fame themselves just men.
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That they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power
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and authority of the governor.
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Notice in this verse, because of the hatred that the Pharisees had, the
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scribes, the hatred that they have for Jesus Christ, they sent forth these spies.
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They sent forth these deceivers and the Bible says that they
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fame themselves just men.
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What does that mean?
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It means that they appeared as if they were righteous.
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They appeared as if they were on the same team as Jesus.
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It says they fame themselves just men.
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What was the purpose?
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So that way they could have something to accuse them of, to their authority,
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right, to the governor, to Pontius Pilate, people that could execute
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some type of judgment, some type of corrupt government, instituting some
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type of judgment upon Jesus.
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And the title of my sermon this morning is Posers and Pretenders.
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Posers and Pretenders.
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Now, typically the word poser, it's a slang term if you're not familiar with it.
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And it's used primarily, I kind of found it funny, it's kind of used
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primarily within like the skater community, right?
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A lot of skateboarders, they will call somebody a poser if they walk
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around with a skateboard, but they don't actually know how to skate, right?
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Or they wear some type of garments, whatever, T-shirts, some rock band,
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or whatever, but they're just a poser, they're just a pretender.
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They don't actually believe the things that they're, or care about, or they're
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not involved in the things that they're promoting, right?
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So I found a definition of, what does poser mean?
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It's an English slang term to describe individuals who adopt behaviors, styles,
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or attitudes to appear part of a group without genuinely embodying its values or skills.
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Now, I can think of a lot of posers when I was growing up in high school.
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There's definitely, I was like thinking back like how can I think of some applications,
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some people that I could really identify.
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And when I was in high school, there was this chick that moved from the big city,
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Stillwater, to our po-dunk little town.
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And she was just a complete goth, satan-worshiping freak.
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And that's how she dressed, right?
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But it's funny is like that there was a group of boys in my class that were kind of nerdy,
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they didn't really fit into any group, and they just like attached themselves to this chick.
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And they started being a poser, like wearing these metal band shirts and acting like they're
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just really edgy and cool and punk rocker.
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And it was clear to all of us, these guys are just a bunch of posers.
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They don't actually believe a lot of this.
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Now, her, on the other hand, she was 100% satanic.
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I have no doubt about that.
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She worshiped the devil, I believe that.
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Or there was this one guy, and he was my friend, I will say that, but
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you'd have people who try to act like they're a gangster, right?
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Try to act like they're just this real tough gangster.
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I'm like, dude, you're white.
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Bro, come on.
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Your parents are happily married.
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You grew up in the country, you're not a gangster.
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But yet that's what he wanted everybody to think, and he listened to that music,
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he dressed that away, and he was a complete poser.
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And listen, there's nothing more irritating than people who are fake, pretenders, posers.
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The ultimate posers?
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How about transvestites?
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A bunch of disgusting freaks, worthy of death.
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What do they do?
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They try to pose as the opposite gender, right?
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They're not fooling anybody.
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We all see right through it.
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It's disgusting.
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Go kill yourself.
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Man, do us all a favor.
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Just to kind of piggyback on the Massa Conference, right?
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That spirit is still upon me.
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It's disgusting to see transvestites posing, right?
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Nobody wants to see that.
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It's disgusting.
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And you know what's interesting is, as you serve God,
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man, the Bible just starts to come to life, does it not?
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You know, we just read this passage where you have people who are spying on Jesus
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so that way they could put them to death.
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They hated him.
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But what did they do?
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They feigned themselves as just men.
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They feigned themselves as somebody who's righteous, somebody who's on his side.
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And you know, this is what I've kind of realized as I've, you know, gone through the Christian life
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to the point that I'm at now, you know, that when you actually start serving God
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and you really get dedicated and, you know, you really start living how the Bible asks you
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and, you know, not even just ask you, commands you to live, then, man,
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the Bible just really starts to just come to life.
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It starts to just pop right off the page where, you know, and hold your place here in Luke 20.
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Go to John 15 real fast for me.
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Go to John 15.
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You know, I remember being in my early 20s and just being really zealous and wanting to serve God,
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but just, you know, not doing, you know, all the things I should have been doing,
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right?
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Just not being ignorant in a lot of stuff.
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I wasn't a soul winner.
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I wanted to be.
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I wanted to try and I would go out.
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We just failed miserably.
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You know, this guy that I was friends with that went to the church that we went to.
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And I just remember like reading the Bible at that time in my life
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and just some gnarly stories in the Bible and just thinking like,
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man, this is crazy.
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You know, this is cool, but this stuff doesn't actually happen anymore.
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You know, and I look back on that moment in my life where I'm,
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where I can just picture myself just having this puzzled,
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this puzzled look on my face, reading the Bible and just not understanding
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so many aspects of the Bible.
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And looking back on it, it's because I wasn't actually living the Bible.
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I wasn't actually dedicated.
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I wasn't actually serving God the way God wants us to serve Him.
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And when you start serving God, when you stop being of this world
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and you start following Him, listen, the Bible is going to be
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just jumping off the page of you have so much application in your life.
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Notice what the Bible says in John 15 and verse 18.
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It says,
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Remember the word that I said unto you,
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the servant is not greater than his Lord.
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If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
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If they have kept my saying, they will also keep yours.
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So what the Bible is saying is when you stop being of this world
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and you start serving Jesus Christ, you start going soul-winning.
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You start coming to church.
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You start reading your Bible.
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You start cleaning up your life.
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You start dressing like a woman or you start dressing like a man
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and you start acting and behaving yourself
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as if your conversation is in heaven.
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Well, listen, then you're going to actually face some real persecution in this life.
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You're going to be in a similar situation that Jesus was in
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where people are backstabbing Him, doing Him dirty,
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going against Him, persecuting Him.
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And the Bible says if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
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You are not above your Lord.
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If they have persecuted our Lord, they're going to persecute us, the servant.
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And this is something really important to understand
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is that we shouldn't look at somebody who's getting backstabbed,
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who's being persecuted, going through severe persecution.
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Be like, oh man, he brought that upon himself.
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Or if he would have...
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And of course, I think of somebody right now
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who's just going through a lot of persecution, Pastor Stephen Anderson.
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He's being attacked left and right.
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His family's being attacked left and right.
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And you might have this thought,
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oh well, man, it seems weird that all these weirdos,
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all these backstabbers, these posers, these pretenders,
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just seem to just flock to His church, right?
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And the reality is that the reason that's happening
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is because He is serving the Lord greatly.
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It's because He is sacrificing a lot to serve God.
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That's why He's got the big target on His back.
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It's not anything that He has done.
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He's just not of the world, right?
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And when you're not of the world,
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you're going to face the same type of persecutions
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that the Lord Jesus Christ faced, the same things He went through.
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Go back to Luke chapter number 20.
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Luke chapter number 20.
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There's lots of different posers and pretenders in this world.
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Social media kind of gives everybody a platform to be a poser.
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You have a lot of fake people on social media,
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and the things that they post on social media
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is not their real life.
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And so it would be silly to judge your life
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and compare it to somebody else's based on their social media page.
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Because you could look at it and be like,
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man, it seems like they're living the greatest life.
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They seem so cool.
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They have issues.
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They have problems.
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And in a way, social media kind of gives people an opportunity
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or this platform to be a poser.
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How about the Calvinists, the pseudo-intellectuals?
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Right?
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A bunch of posers.
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People, they don't even know what they're saying half the time.
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You know, they can use these great swelling words.
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They can use these big words that make them seem
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like they're intellectuals.
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But the reality is they're complete idiots.
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Why?
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Because they don't believe in salvation by grace through faith.
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They think it's God that chooses who goes to heaven or not.
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How about, you know, this might step on some people's
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you know, toes, but what about just your appearance, right?
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A lot of people are striving to give this persona about themselves.
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That's fake.
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That's not real.
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I mean, I think of like people who have a lot of money, famous people.
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What do they love to do?
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Plastic surgery, right?
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What are they doing?
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They're trying to be a poser.
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They're trying to be a pretender.
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They're this 80-year-old Dolly Parton
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that has had so much plastic surgery.
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Her face looks like it's like stapled back, you know.
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She's a poser, right?
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And you see this a lot with, and you know, unfortunately,
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I think a lot of women, they see these people
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and then they, you know, they think that this is the way
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that I should act or that this is what beauty actually looks like.
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The reality is, hey, listen, if you're all just embrace it,
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you know, when I started to realize my hair was falling out,
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you know what I didn't do?
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I didn't just like grow it out longer
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and try to comb it over, right?
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Something that irritates me so bad is when old guys
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who have no hair start trying to do the comb over,
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like nobody, you're not fooling anybody, dude.
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Just embrace it, embrace age, right?
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There's a lot of great things that come with that.
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Listen, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
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That's why I tell my wife all the time.
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She's beautiful the way God made her.
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And she doesn't need to put on all this makeup
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or get Botox or plastic surgery for me to be attracted to her.
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I'm attracted to her the way that God made her, you know.
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And I believe that the longer, you know, our marriage,
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you know, as Lord willing, we'll be able to have a long marriage.
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I'd be able to live a long life.
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And I believe that the older I get,
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I'm only going to be that much more in love with my wife
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and that much more attracted to her.
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And, you know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
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Don't be this person that's pretending to be somebody
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that you're not, right?
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Don't pretend to have a bunch of knowledge
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in an area that you don't have knowledge in.
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It's okay to say I don't know.
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You know, people ask me questions from time to time.
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I don't know the answer.
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It's just like, sorry, I don't know.
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You know, that's a good question.
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Let me do some research.
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Let me try to find that out.
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It's okay.
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You know, if you're on the job, and you see this a lot
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within like the workplace, you go for an interview
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and you want to impress the person
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you're trying to get the job with, right?
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Well, there's that proclivity of that,
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maybe that temptation to just like, you know,
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they ask you, hey, do you know X, Y, and Z?
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Oh yeah, of course I know that.
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Man, I've been in a situation where I've,
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you know, been in an interview room
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where you're interviewing somebody else
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and you ask them these questions.
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Oh yeah, I know this.
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Debits and credits, I got it.
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Balance sheet, financials, I got it.
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And then you put them in the seat
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and you realize real fast,
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these people have no idea what they're talking about.
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They've never done this before.
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They've lied.
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It's okay to say you don't know.
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Listen, if you don't know,
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just have a willing attitude to learn, right?
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To, you know, get to know more about that topic.
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Don't be a pretender.
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Don't be a poser.
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You know, and obviously the sermon
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is going to be directed towards spiritual things.
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So yes, all those things are important,
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but even more so,
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it's important not to be a spiritual poser,
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a spiritual pretender, these holier than thou's.
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You know, something that really aggravates me.
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And I guess I just took it for granted.
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I didn't realize it or how bad it was
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growing up in an IFB church.
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But man, in most church circles that you,
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if you've ever been to just a random Baptist church
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or just any church in general,
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most people when they're going to church,
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they start speaking Christianese, right?
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Or this King James ease where it's like,
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you know, praise the Lord about everything.
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And just over the top, you know,
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speaking in King James language,
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they're using these and thou's.
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It's like, dude, you know,
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you're not fooling anybody, right?
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And it's honestly embarrassing.
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And so I'm just encouraging you,
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hey, don't be that person.
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You know, growing up in an IFB church,
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there's a lot of people
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who are a bunch of posers and pretenders, right?
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They're trying to feign themselves as just men,
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feign themselves as somebody who's really righteous,
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these holier than thou's,
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but the reality is that inward,
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they're just a bunch of ravening wolves.
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They're wicked people or they have a bad heart.
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You know, we don't want to be these types of Christians.
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We want to be real Christians, right?
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Just be real with people, be honest, be transparent.
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So I have three points this morning
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that I believe the Bible kind of highlights
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posers and pretenders, you know,
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that we're going to see,
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that we're going to come in contact with.
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And I think it's really important on this.
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Of course, we're looking at this first example here
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in Luke chapter number 20.
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But notice what the Bible says in the next verse,
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verse number 21.
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The Bible says,
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And they asked him, saying,
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Master, we know that thou sayest
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and teachest rightly,
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neither acceptest thou the person of any,
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but teachest the way of God truly.
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And my first point is people who pretend to be righteous.
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People who pretend to be righteous,
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they feign themselves as just men.
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But notice what they said to Jesus.
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Notice what they said.
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We know that thou sayest and teachest rightly,
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neither acceptest thou the person of any,
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but teachest the way of God truly.
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Now is what they said wrong?
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No.
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The Bible says that they call the master.
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We're not to call anybody master,
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but Jesus Christ.
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So they weren't wrong for calling Jesus master.
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They weren't wrong for making this statement
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that what he teaches is right and true.
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But the problem is they didn't actually believe it.
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The problem is it's a fake righteousness.
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They're pretending to be righteous.
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They're pretending to believe the things
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that they're saying.
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They don't actually believe it.
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And this is what the Bible calls flattery, right?
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They're flattering Jesus Christ.
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Now Jesus has the ability to read people's hearts
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and he identifies this right away.
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First of all, we don't have that ability
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to read people's hearts.
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We may not always know.
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Somebody might be saying something that's right,
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but it could be flattery.
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I think this is why it's really important
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that we are aware of these things
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so that way when a backstabber
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or somebody who's a pretender or poser gets exposed,
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we're not offended by those things.
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That we kind of realize like these people
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are going to exist.
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There's some things we can pick up on,
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but if we're in this position,
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we may not necessarily identify these people
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that have feigned themselves as just men
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as being posers or pretenders.
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And I'm gonna kind of get to the attitude
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we should have at the end of the sermon,
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but obviously we want to give people the benefit
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and for the doubt, right?
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We want to see the good in everybody,
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but in the back of our mind,
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we should just know like there's a potential
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for people to be flattering us
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and we don't want to fall into that snare
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and to that trap.
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The Bible says in Proverbs 29.5,
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a man that flattereth his neighbor
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spreadeth a net for his feet, right?
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So what is it that they're doing?
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They're flattering Jesus
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so that way they can ensnare him in his words.
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They're trying to get him to say
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something negative about the Roman government,
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about Caesar, right?
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They're trying to get him to say,
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hey, you don't have to pay your taxes, right?
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And of course, Jesus perceiving this,
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he gives them the correct answer,
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which is hey, pay your taxes, you know?
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Render unto Caesar with Caesars
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and render unto God what's God's.
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Go to Matthew chapter number 23.
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Matthew chapter number 23.
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Matthew chapter number 23.
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The Bible says in verse number 14,
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this is a really famous chapter
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about Jesus just going hardcore
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and rebuking all the scribes and Pharisees,
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the hypocrites of his day,
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just calling them out for all their hypocrisy,
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their fakery.
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He's calling them out for being posers and pretenders.
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Notice what he says in verse 14.
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It says,
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what one to you scribes and Pharisees,
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hypocrites, for you devour widow's houses
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and for a pretense, make long prayer,
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therefore you shall receive the greater damnation.
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Now that word pretense there just means
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that they're basically, they're pretending, right?
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They're using deceit that they're trying to make a show,
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right?
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That they're righteous.
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They're doing it for pretense.
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And you'll see this a lot within Christianity as well
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is where people,
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they'll try to make themselves appear
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righteous by just doing these over the top works,
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right?
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Doing things where they're trying to get the attention
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of everybody.
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Hey, look at me.
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Look at all the great things that I've done.
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You know, the Bible also brings up somebody
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who blows a trumpet when they give alms, right?
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They're giving of charity.
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They're helping somebody,
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but they want everybody to know
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that they're doing it, right?
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They're making a big show about that.
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And this is an identifiable marker
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of somebody who's a poser,
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somebody who's a pretender.
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They're making long prayer.
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They're trying to make themselves appear
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as if they're very righteous,
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as if they're just.
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And it brings up other examples in this chapter.
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Skip down just a couple of verses to verse number 27.
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Verse number 27 says,
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Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,
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for you are like unto whiteed sepulchres,
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which indeed appear beautiful outward,
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but are within full of dead men's bones,
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and of all uncleanness,
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even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men,
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but within you're full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
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Something that's just a common characteristic
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of a poser and a pretender
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is they're usually somebody who has bad motives.
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There's somebody who internally
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is a wicked person, very wicked.
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And you know, some of the most obvious examples
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in our world today
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that would fit the Matthew 23 Pharisees
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and scribes would be Catholics and Protestants, right?
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What do they do?
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Love to go around in long robes.
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They love to pontificate about how righteous they are.
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They'll wear their backwards collar, right?
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They want everybody to know that they're super righteous,
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but yet these people are some of the most wicked
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individuals on the face of the planet.
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When you look up statistically,
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people who have been abused in church,
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it's overwhelmingly by a Catholic priest, right?
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By somebody in a position of authority,
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a position of power,
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somebody who is doing all these outward shows
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of how they're so beautiful on the outside.
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They're these whiteed sepulchres.
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And I like the example that Jesus brings up here
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because the example is that, you know,
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the grave is beautiful.
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It looks pretty. It's beautiful.
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But on the inside is just dead men's bones, right?
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It's a dead man.
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And that's a perfect example of the Catholic priest, right?
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The Orthodox priest.
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These Protestant bishops that worship idols
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and, you know, are preaching, you know,
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a false gospel that are believing
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all kinds of heresy when it comes to salvation.
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You know, these people,
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they're just inwardly dead men's bones, right?
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And many of them are twice dead.
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And we see that example being brought out in their works.
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The things that they do kind of helps us to understand
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that these are twice dead people.
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These are people who have no hope of salvation.
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And of course, that's what Jesus Christ said.
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You know, he said that,
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how can you escape the damnation of hell?
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Right?
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Because there's no salvation for these people.
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They're wicked individuals and they're posers and pretenders.
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Our world is filled with a bunch of religious posers.
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You know, that's why it's so important
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that you're picking a good church, right?
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A church where the pastor is sincere
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and honestly he's handling the Word of God sincerely, right?
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He's not twisting scripture to his own liking.
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He's not just getting up and telling you what you want to hear.
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He's telling you what you need to hear.
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You know, regardless of what, you know,
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what feelings might get hurt in the process.
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You know, that's the type of church you should desire to go to.
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It's one where the pastor's just gonna get up
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and tell you exactly what the Bible says, right?
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And not leave anything, any stone unturned.
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Go to 2 Timothy chapter number three.
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2 Timothy chapter number three.
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And this is really just a point
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we could just park it on the whole sermon
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and just hit so many verses
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because there's so much information in the Bible
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about pretending to be religious,
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pretending to be righteous,
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pretending to be somebody that you're not through your works.
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2 Timothy chapter number three.
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Look at verse number one.
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So this is talking about, you know,
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what's gonna happen in the end times
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or as we get closer to the day of the Lord.
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The Bible says,
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this know also that in the last days
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perilous time shall come.
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And it gives us a list of things that we can look for,
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things that are gonna be prevalent,
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that are gonna be prominent in this time.
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Let's skip down to verse number five.
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It says, having a form of godliness
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but denying the power thereof from such, turn away.
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So the Bible says in the end times
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or as we get closer to the day of the Lord
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that there are gonna be more people
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who are gonna masquerade as being righteous
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on the outside.
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They're gonna appear as being righteous on the outside
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but they don't actually know God.
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They're not actually saved.
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Why? Because they deny the power of God.
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They're not actually putting their faith and trust in God.
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They don't believe the things that they're saying.
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They don't believe the word of God.
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It's like, how can you be a Christian
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and not believe the word of God?
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That makes no sense.
-
It's like, why are you a Muslim?
-
Because you believe the Quran, right?
-
Why are you a Hindu?
-
Because you believe in whatever weird book that they have.
-
Nobody ever knows what book they have.
-
Some book out there, I'm sure.
-
Why do you follow the religion?
-
It's because of the teachings, right?
-
It's like, how can you be a Christian
-
and not believe the Bible?
-
I mean, talk about being a poser.
-
You're like the skater with the skateboard
-
walking around, right?
-
That's never skated in his life.
-
I mean, how many Christians are like that?
-
They're walking around with the Bible
-
that they don't even read.
-
They don't even know what it says.
-
And then they get offended
-
when the preacher gets up
-
and just clearly preaches
-
what the Bible is saying.
-
Hey, fags should be put to death.
-
That's what the Bible says.
-
Leviticus, 2013.
-
You know, these wicked false prophets,
-
these pedophiles,
-
hey, put a millstone around their neck
-
and cast them into the sea.
-
Put a bullet in their head.
-
These people need to die.
-
They're only a harm to our society.
-
People like this faggot,
-
weird-loving freak Gordon out here, right?
-
What a freak.
-
Is he not getting the memo?
-
Like everyone that he's partnered with
-
is either in prison.
-
They're just too apathetic
-
to even come protesting in the longer.
-
I mean, they're not steadfast.
-
That's for sure.
-
I mean, what a reprobate freak.
-
You know, these people deserve the death penalty.
-
And you say, you know,
-
how can he say that?
-
Well, that's what the Bible says.
-
And we just believe the Bible around here.
-
We're not a bunch of posers.
-
We're not a bunch of pretenders.
-
And I'm sick and tired of all these
-
apathetic Christians that don't
-
actually believe the Bible.
-
Go to Titus chapter number one.
-
Just flip over a couple pages.
-
Titus chapter number one.
-
This is talking about false prophets.
-
And we're going to learn a little bit
-
about false prophets to help you this morning.
-
Notice what the Bible says in 16.
-
It says,
-
So again, we see that the false prophet
-
is a pretender, their poser.
-
They profess that they know God, right?
-
How many people do you see these Catholic priests,
-
these Baptist pastors?
-
You see all kinds of people getting up
-
and professing that they know God.
-
But how do we know, you know,
-
the person that's the true prophet
-
versus the false prophet?
-
Well, it says in works they deny him.
-
So you say, well, and I've heard
-
different interpretations of that.
-
Like, you know, them trusting in their works
-
to go to heaven.
-
That's how they're basically manifesting.
-
But I believe the Bible just tells us clearly
-
what the work is that makes them manifest
-
that they're reprobating.
-
Notice the very next two words.
-
It says being abominable.
-
You know, what is it that the works
-
that they're doing that deny the Lord Jesus Christ,
-
that deny their faith in him for salvation?
-
It's being abominable.
-
You know, I don't have to worry or wonder.
-
It's like, is Kenny Baldwin safe?
-
No, he's a faggot.
-
Hey, put him to death.
-
Yeah, right.
-
Like, what are we even talking about here?
-
Why are we even, you know, having this conflict
-
in our mind whether or not the guy saved or not?
-
Oh, come on.
-
You know, he's, he's professed himself.
-
He's shown himself not to be a true prophet.
-
It's not like, oh, oh, well, he said some good things.
-
I don't care.
-
So what?
-
You know, I knew this pastor once
-
where I went to this church.
-
And, you know, this is one of the reasons
-
I stopped going to the church.
-
And I like the guy.
-
I want to like the guy.
-
I believe he saved.
-
But, you know, his dad basically got caught
-
as being a pedophile.
-
And he was a pastor, a Baptist pastor.
-
Got caught as being a pedophile in California.
-
He got locked up.
-
He's in prison.
-
And, you know, that information kind of came to me.
-
And I approached this pastor about it,
-
just asking him, like, where is he at on this?
-
Because I know, you know, he seems like a good guy.
-
Went soloing with him.
-
You know, he preaches a good gospel.
-
And he's just like, yeah, I think my dad saved.
-
And he's getting people saved in church.
-
And when he gets out, I'm going to welcome him back
-
into my church.
-
And I'm just like, see ya.
-
I'm out of here.
-
This is not the type of place I want to be where,
-
you know, the pastor's just attracting all kinds
-
of filth and disgusting debauchery.
-
Just these abominable people.
-
What in the world, man?
-
How can you be a Baptist preacher
-
and believe the Bible and preach hard on sin
-
and then look at somebody who has committed
-
such an abominable act as pedophilia
-
and then be like, oh, I think they can still be saved?
-
What does the Bible say?
-
It says that the reprobate,
-
they're disobedient unto every good work reprobate.
-
It doesn't matter even if his dad is in prison
-
and he's even giving lip service to the right gospel.
-
I don't give a rip.
-
The dude is a reprobate.
-
There's no coming back from that.
-
He's worthy of death.
-
They should just do us all a favor,
-
save us some tax dollar money
-
and put the bullet in the guy's head.
-
Just put him to death.
-
You know, we need to stop just pretending
-
and having this weird mentality about salvation,
-
about false prophets.
-
It's like, okay, so what?
-
So what?
-
If somebody says the right thing about salvation,
-
if they come out later as a literal faggot,
-
they're worthy of death.
-
They can't be saved.
-
It's ridiculous.
-
Go to Numbers chapter number 24.
-
Numbers chapter 24.
Numbers 24 chapter mention
-
The second point I have for you this morning
-
is pretending to speak for God.
-
Pretending to speak for God.
-
Numbers chapter 24.
Numbers 24 chapter mention
-
Here we have kind of this unique character in the Bible.
-
I think on the surface,
-
if you haven't really studied this particular character,
-
you could maybe get confused as to the role
-
that this guy's playing.
-
I think it's, you know,
-
if you're new to Christianity,
-
you know, maybe you've only read through your Bible
-
or maybe you haven't read all the way through your Bible,
-
or maybe only once or twice.
-
I can understand somebody getting kind of confused
-
on this character, but, you know,
-
the Bible clearly teaches that this guy Balaam,
-
the son of Bezor, is a false prophet.
-
And, you know, if you just read Numbers
-
on, you know, by itself on face value,
-
you can see the guy's kind of up to no good,
-
but you can't really just put your finger on it, right?
-
It doesn't, it's not just like 100% revealed.
-
It's later on in the New Testament.
-
And honestly, he gets, he does get destroyed by God later on,
-
but in the Old Testament,
-
but in the New Testament,
-
the Bible is just super clear on this guy.
-
But I want to point out this particular part where,
-
you know, Balaam, he kept telling Balaak
-
that he can't go beyond the word of the Lord, right?
-
He can't go and curse the children of Israel.
-
But it's not like he is because, man, I'm just,
-
you know, I'm just righteous inside,
-
and I just don't want to curse good people.
-
That's not the reason why he didn't want to do it.
-
The reason he didn't want to do it
-
is because it wouldn't have mattered if he did it, right?
-
God wasn't going to curse these people.
-
He knew that he couldn't go beyond the word of the Lord
-
to curse the children of Israel.
-
It wasn't going to be effective.
-
It wasn't going to be any good outcome of that.
-
It didn't matter.
-
And yet, even still knowing that,
-
he's still kind of like skirted around the issue
-
and still tried to do it multiple times,
-
just in a way that, you know,
-
maybe he wasn't as apparent or whatever.
-
But what's interesting here is,
-
kind of towards the end of this passage about him,
-
he preaches the truth.
-
He preaches something that's right.
-
Notice what the Bible says in verse 16.
-
It says,
-
He hath said which heard the words of God,
-
this is Balaam speaking,
-
and knew the knowledge of the Most High,
-
which saw the vision of the Almighty
-
falling into a trance,
-
but having his eyes open.
-
I shall see him, but not now.
-
I shall behold him, but not nigh.
-
There shall come a star out of Jacob,
-
and a scepter shall rise out of Israel,
-
and shall smite the corners of Moab,
-
and destroy all the children of Seth.
-
And it goes on,
-
it's kind of listing out all these different prophecies.
-
But notice he's prophesying of the Lord Jesus Christ here.
-
You know, it is what he's saying.
-
Is it wrong?
-
No, what he's saying is actually true.
-
This is a true prophecy,
-
but yet Balaam is a false prophet.
-
And this is something I think people struggle with,
-
as they see somebody get up and say something that's right,
-
and then, you know, they have,
-
you know, they fall into,
-
you know, some type of terrible sin,
-
and then they're confused.
-
They're like, you know, why is this God?
-
I mean, if he did something,
-
if he said something right,
-
how could he be a false prophet?
-
Like they just struggle with
-
reconciling these things in your mind.
-
But the reality is that they're opposers and pretenders, folks.
-
I mean, there are a lot of people that get up
-
and can say and give lip service to the right gospel.
-
They can get up and, you know,
-
it's obvious the Muslims are unsafe.
-
It's obvious the Gateway Church is unsafe, right?
-
It's obvious, you know, that Hindus
-
or, you know, some of these other religions
-
or Catholics, they're not saved.
-
Like we can obviously see these are false prophets.
-
But you know, there's also people
-
who put on sheep's clothing, right?
-
They come in as a sheep.
-
They wouldn't need to put on sheep's clothing
-
if it was just obvious that they are a wolf, right?
-
They put on sheep's clothing and they appear righteous.
-
They appear as if they're one of us,
-
but inwardly, they're ravening wolves, right?
-
Inwardly, they're very wicked.
-
In fact, these are probably more wicked
-
than the outward ones, right?
-
Those are the people that are more dangerous,
-
the ones that creep in and, you know,
-
want to destroy good men of God.
-
And Balaam, he kind of fits this model
-
because he's saying something that's right.
-
He's preaching something that's true,
-
but he obviously is a false prophet.
-
Now, he finishes this prophecy
-
if you skip down to verse 25.
-
Notice what the Bible says.
-
And Balaam rose up and went and returned to his place
-
and Balaam also went his way.
-
Chapter 25, it says,
-
And Israel bowed and shed them,
-
and the people began to commit hordom
-
with the daughters of Moab.
-
And so directly after this, what ends up happening,
-
the children of Israel,
-
they go and they commit fornication with the Moabites
-
and God slays thousands of them.
-
And on the surface, you just read these,
-
you might be kind of confused about this story,
-
but we're going to kind of clear some of this up.
-
Go to second Peter chapter number two,
-
second Peter chapter number two.
-
The Bible says in Revelation,
-
when Jesus is writing to the seven churches,
-
he's bringing up an example of somebody
-
that's causing sin to happen in the church.
-
And he says that the sin that they're causing to happen
-
is the same sin that Balaam basically used
-
or the same deception that Balaam used
-
to teach Balaak to cast a stumbling block
-
before the children of Israel
-
to eat things sacrificed unto idols
-
and to commit fornication.
-
So the Bible just clearly spells it out for us
-
that what Balaam did is instead of,
-
he couldn't curse the children of Israel,
-
that wasn't going to have any effect,
-
it wasn't going to have any power
-
because God wasn't going to curse them.
-
He didn't have any power in that one.
-
So what did he do?
-
He used deception to basically entice
-
the children of Israel to sin, right?
-
And so that's what the Bible just tells us
-
and this is the reason why Balaam is a false prophet.
-
He's not somebody to be trusted,
-
even though he might have said some things
-
that were true, some things that were right.
-
Notice there in verse number 14,
-
having eyes full of adultery
-
and that cannot cease from sin,
-
beguiling unstable souls and heart
-
they have exercised with covetous practices,
-
cursed children.
-
When the Bible says cursed children,
-
we're talking about false prophets here.
-
You know what that means?
-
That they're cursed.
-
They have no hope of salvation.
-
Just like Paul said,
-
if any man preached another gospel,
-
let them be accursed, right?
-
These people have no hope of salvation.
-
It says in verse 15,
-
which have forsaken the right way,
-
notice this, and are gone astray
-
following the way of Balaam,
-
the son of Bosar, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.
-
So Balaam, the son of Bosar,
-
he is a false prophet.
-
Why?
-
Because he didn't actually believe
-
the things that he was saying.
-
He didn't actually believe
-
in the prophecy of Jesus Christ.
-
He didn't believe any of the things
-
that he was saying that were true.
-
He's just exercising himself
-
in a way to where he can get gain, right?
-
And notice how it's interesting
-
how the Bible words this.
-
It says that these false prophets,
-
their heart, they have exercised
-
with covetous practices.
-
So this is something that they've
-
thought a lot about, right?
-
They're sitting around thinking,
-
you know, I know I don't believe these things.
-
I know I don't actually,
-
you know, have any conviction
-
about these things,
-
but I'm trying to get some gain
-
out of this, right?
-
How can I get some gain,
-
some personal gain?
-
So what will they do?
-
They'll exercise their heart
-
in covetous practices.
-
Means in which
-
that they can get some type of
-
benefit out of their preaching, right?
-
Whatever it is that they're saying,
-
whatever they are trying to
-
convince somebody of,
-
they're just trying to get gain.
-
And, you know, our mind
-
probably goes towards
-
the prosperity preachers,
-
the Kenneth Copeland,
-
Joel Olstein,
-
Jesse Duplantis,
-
like all these guys,
-
these are guys with hearts
-
that have exercised,
-
they've exercised the heart
-
to covetous practices, right?
-
They're teaching things
-
so that way they can get gain
-
from their congregants.
-
They can make merchandise
-
of their members.
-
And I want to kind of highlight
-
this idea that
-
false prophets,
-
they will pretend to speak
-
true things or
-
they will say things that are true.
-
They will agree with things,
-
they will go along with certain doctrines
-
just to get
-
some gain out of it, right?
-
And again,
-
our mind goes with
-
the prosperity preacher.
-
They twist the Bible
-
to basically fit their model
-
so they can get rich
-
off of their congregants.
-
But, you know,
-
there's other ways
-
to even think about this, right?
-
I mean, how many people
-
have attached themselves
-
to our movement,
-
to our, you know,
-
to our church
-
and our friends of our churches
-
or of our church
-
where they say,
-
oh, well, I'm pre-trib,
-
or I'm sorry,
-
I'm no longer pre-trib,
-
I'm post-trib,
-
pre-rat, right?
-
Or I'm anti-Zionist,
-
or they'll say,
-
hey, I believe Jesus
-
went to hell, right?
-
And they'll preach that
-
for a period of time, right?
-
But the reality is
-
they're only trying
-
to get some type of gain
-
out of that, right?
-
They're just trying
-
to manipulate,
-
they're trying to deceive,
-
they're trying to
-
get people to come
-
over to their side
-
so then later on
-
they can have
-
gain from that person,
-
they can make merchandise
-
of them,
-
they can get,
-
you know,
-
in their mind,
-
they can be the prominent one,
-
they can get all the fame,
-
all the glory,
-
and this is why
-
people do these things
-
is for covetous practices,
-
right?
-
That covetous heart,
-
the, the,
-
they love the wages
-
of unrighteousness.
-
And their motivation
-
is to get gain.
-
Go to Jude,
-
the book of Jude,
-
verse 16.
-
The book of Jude,
-
verse number 16.
-
The Bible says
-
verse 16,
-
these are murmurs,
-
complainers,
-
walking after their own lusts
-
and their mouth speaketh
-
great swelling words,
-
having men's persons
-
in admiration
-
because of advantage.
-
Now notice the,
-
the Bible is kind of
-
bringing out this point
-
that the false prophet,
-
the person who
-
pretends to speak
-
the word of God,
-
truly,
-
what do they do?
-
They try to,
-
they,
-
they give admiration
-
to people
-
because they really
-
just have an
-
ulterior motive.
-
They want to get some type of
-
an advantage
-
of that person.
-
I mean,
-
they're using
-
great swelling words,
-
words of flattery,
-
words of vanity.
-
Why?
-
So they can take advantage of people.
-
They're not sincere.
-
They don't actually
-
believe the things
-
that they're saying.
-
Right?
-
They're trying to
-
get some type of
-
clout
-
or they,
-
some type of recognition.
-
You know,
-
and I think
-
the probably
-
a really
-
prominent application
-
you could come up with
-
on this
-
is somebody who
-
tells the
-
the richest person at the church
-
all the things that
-
they want to hear.
-
You know,
-
they won't preach on their sin.
-
They won't,
-
you know,
-
they'll do everything
-
that they can
-
to make them feel comfortable.
-
Why?
-
Because they know that
-
they're the person
-
that's supplying
-
a lot of their salary.
-
Right?
-
A lot of their,
-
their means to,
-
you know,
-
to,
-
for the church to
-
thrive and to,
-
to,
-
you know,
-
to get gain from them.
-
Right?
-
And that's wrong.
-
That's wicked.
-
A pastor or a preacher
-
should not be somebody
-
who is giving respect to persons.
-
Right?
-
They shouldn't just be
-
flattering somebody
-
so they can get
-
something out of it.
-
They should be preaching
-
with sincerity and truth.
-
Right?
-
Preaching things that are right
-
and not just saying
-
a bunch of things
-
to make people feel good
-
that,
-
that to make people
-
be your friend
-
or to be on your side.
-
They could preach things
-
that are wrong
-
so that way
-
they could be
-
lifted up in people's eyes.
-
That they could be
-
the prominent preacher.
-
You know,
-
Tommy Mamertry,
-
you know,
-
wanting to be
-
the leader of the X new IB,
-
the no IB.
-
Right?
-
So,
-
you know,
-
he's kind of put himself
-
in this position
-
where he says a lot of things
-
he doesn't actually believe.
-
You know,
-
he gets up
-
and preaches a sermon
-
and basically states
-
that men should be spanking
-
their wives
-
like in McClintock.
-
Catherine O'Hare.
-
You know,
-
how she got
-
woofed by John Wayne.
-
And listen,
-
that's a funny movie.
-
I don't know if you've
-
ever seen it.
-
It's a good movie.
-
I like that movie.
-
That's one of my favorite parts.
-
And he,
-
but what did he do?
-
He gets up and fatically is saying,
-
you should be spanking your wives.
-
He didn't actually believe that though.
-
What do you say?
-
He's like,
-
oh, well,
-
I'm just riling up the base.
-
What a phony.
-
What a poser.
-
What a pretend.
-
You know,
-
I don't get up here
-
and say a bunch of things
-
that I don't actually believe.
-
You know,
-
the things that I'm trying to preach
-
and get up
-
and expound from the word of God
-
and use examples,
-
they're things that I actually believe.
-
The things I actually care about
-
that I'm zealous about
-
that I think are important.
-
I'm not just getting up here
-
to rile up the base.
-
Get a bunch of amens.
-
You know,
-
and honestly,
-
the old IB is notorious for this.
-
They just go around.
-
They just say a bunch of crap.
-
Just say a bunch of stupid nonsense
-
just to rile everybody up
-
just so they can get the guy
-
on the front pew
-
to stand up with this Bible.
-
Hey, praise God.
-
Because it makes them feel good,
-
I guess.
-
I don't know.
-
It's like,
-
what a joke.
-
What a loser.
-
What a poser.
-
You know,
-
my favorite example of this
-
is Jeff Owens.
-
Man,
-
this guy,
-
this old IB preacher,
-
I don't really know.
-
I never knew him.
-
I never heard of him before.
-
You know,
-
he was exposed.
-
But I mean,
-
he preached this really fiery
-
sermon about the sodomites.
-
You know,
-
and I can,
-
you know,
-
I can get on board with some of
-
these statements that he said,
-
you know,
-
just a preface.
-
You know,
-
I would agree with these statements
-
if our government
-
was a righteous government
-
and they instituted
-
Leviticus 2013.
-
I'd be right on board
-
with the things he's saying,
-
like,
-
hey, sign me up,
-
I'll volunteer
-
to go and do some of these things.
-
But,
-
you know,
-
obviously we shouldn't take
-
the law into our own hands.
-
So I do want to preface that,
-
that we should not go out.
-
Our goal is not to just go and
-
murder a bunch of fags,
-
right?
-
But listen,
-
if some psychopath murders
-
a bunch of fags,
-
I'm not going to be upset about that.
-
I'm not going to cry over that.
-
It's not going to,
-
I'm going to sleep like a baby.
-
It's not going to bother me a bit.
-
But you know,
-
Jeff Owens,
-
he gets up in his sermon
-
and I'll give him a little bit of
-
credit because he starts
-
each one of these
-
statements off by saying,
-
we need.
-
I would agree.
-
This is something that
-
our country needs.
-
Okay.
-
So he says,
-
we need to stop burning flags
-
and start burning fags.
-
Hey,
-
praise God,
-
let's do it.
-
Hey,
-
bring back Leviticus 2013.
-
Jordan McCormick,
-
I'm waiting.
-
I mean,
-
if I could vote for Jayden,
-
I'd be doing it right now.
-
We need
-
hunt a homo week.
-
I'm thinking like,
-
how about hunt a homo month?
-
Let's just do it like,
-
you know,
-
Jay who did the profits of Bale,
-
just get them all one spot,
-
just make them think
-
like, oh yeah,
-
we're going to celebrate you
-
and just burn the house down
-
on top of them.
-
Let's do it.
-
We need to take them all out
-
and shoot them with a scatter
-
shotgun.
-
Hey,
-
Pastor Oz,
-
he already kind of coined
-
that phrase, right?
-
Just line them up against the
-
wall and put a bullet in their
-
head.
-
Listen,
-
I like these
-
phrases,
-
you know.
-
And again,
-
I don't think we should go out
-
and do these things.
-
You know,
-
I don't think that
-
this is something we should
-
take the law in our own hands,
-
but listen,
-
you better believe
-
I'm going to be rejoicing
-
in the Lord
-
if Leviticus 2013 ever comes
-
back.
-
You know,
-
if our government actually
-
cares about being a Christian
-
nation and instituting
-
biblical laws,
-
I'm going to be rejoicing
-
all the way.
-
You know,
-
I'm going to be all for it.
-
And you know,
-
if I was Jeff Owens,
-
I wouldn't even be upset
-
that I made these statements.
-
You know,
-
and even if,
-
you know,
-
oh well,
-
he didn't,
-
you know,
-
make some,
-
some preface,
-
or he, you know,
-
he didn't state,
-
hey, you shouldn't actually,
-
listen,
-
I'm still okay with him
-
making these statements,
-
quite honestly.
-
But
-
here's the thing.
-
He didn't actually
-
believe this stuff.
-
He's just getting up there
-
to rile up the base.
-
Because later on,
-
when he was confronted,
-
when he was called out
-
for saying these things,
-
this is what he said,
-
nearly 15 years ago,
-
I preached a sermon
-
that promoted
-
physically hurting gay people.
-
He just doesn't call them
-
facts any longer.
-
He calls them gay.
-
What a queer bait.
-
He goes on,
-
he says,
-
I didn't even hold
-
to the belief
-
of hurting people
-
when I wrongly made
-
these comments.
-
So,
-
I mean,
-
there you go folks.
-
He's getting out there
-
and preaching
-
something he doesn't
-
even believe.
-
He had no real convictions.
-
He's just trying to get
-
some attention
-
from his peers.
-
Right,
-
get some amends.
-
You know,
-
and we shouldn't be
-
that type of a person.
-
You know,
-
there's plenty of people
-
you could look at,
-
Joe Olstein
-
did the same thing
-
on Larry King.
-
All right.
-
The Jew asked him,
-
is Jesus the only way to heaven?
-
He's like,
-
uh, uh, uh, uh.
-
You know,
-
why?
-
Because he's a false prophet,
-
Billy Graham,
-
same way,
-
same thing.
-
So,
-
you know,
-
there are going to be
-
plenty of people
-
that are posers
-
and pretenders
-
preaching
-
or,
-
you know,
-
pretending to speak
-
the word of God.
-
The third point I have
-
for you is pretending
-
to be a friend.
-
Pretending to be a friend.
-
Go to Matthew chapter
-
number 26.
-
Matthew chapter
-
number 26.
-
You know,
-
and this one
-
probably hurts the most.
-
Matthew chapter
-
number 26.
-
Matthew chapter
-
number 26.
-
Notice what the
-
Bible says
-
in verse 47.
-
Verse 47,
-
it says,
-
and while he yet
-
spake,
-
lo,
-
Judas,
-
one of the 12 came
-
and with him
-
a great multitude
-
with swords
-
and staves
-
from the chief priests
-
and elders of the people.
-
Now, he that betrayed him
-
gave them a sign
-
saying,
-
Whomsoever I shall kiss,
-
that same as he
-
hold him fast
-
and forthwith
-
he came to Jesus
-
and said,
-
Hail master
-
and kissed him
-
and Jesus said unto him,
-
Friend,
-
wherefore art thou come?
-
Then come they
-
and laid hands
-
on Jesus
-
and took him.
-
And you know,
-
you have the betrayal
-
of the kiss here
-
by Judas Iscariot
-
and you know,
-
what does this symbolize?
-
It symbolizes a closeness.
-
You know, obviously Judas,
-
he wasn't in the inner three.
-
He wasn't like
-
the best friend of Jesus,
-
but he was a friend.
-
Notice Jesus called him a friend.
-
Jesus called him a friend.
-
And that idea of the kiss
-
obviously we're not
-
talking about something
-
faggity or weird.
-
We're just talking about a
-
greeting, right?
-
And in the Bible
-
and the Bible times
-
in their culture,
-
you know,
-
it would have been like a handshake,
-
right?
-
It was something that
-
they, you know,
-
spent time together.
-
They, you know,
-
communed together.
-
He considered him a friend
-
and Judas
-
just stabs him right in the back.
-
He's the one
-
that brings
-
all the people to Jesus
-
to bind him
-
and take him
-
before the rulers.
-
And you know,
-
the reality is that
-
they're going to be people
-
that pretend to be your friend.
-
You know,
-
and this does hurt.
-
This is something that
-
it's not fun to go through.
-
You have somebody
-
just backstab you,
-
somebody you considered
-
close
-
or somebody
-
that you invested in,
-
somebody who you cared about,
-
and then they just turn right around
-
and just stab you in the back.
-
You know,
-
and I'm bringing this up again
-
because I want us
-
not to be offended
-
when things like this happen.
-
Yeah.
-
I mean,
-
unfortunately,
-
they're bad people
-
in this world.
-
They're pretenders,
-
they're posers
-
and we will see
-
or experience
-
getting stabbed
-
in the back by people.
-
Go to Psalm 41.
-
You know,
-
maybe some of you
-
have already experienced
-
that in this church.
-
You know,
-
we've had
-
you know,
-
different transitions
-
where,
-
you know,
-
you have people coming
-
and going,
-
people leaving,
-
people being disgruntled.
-
You know,
-
people stabbing
-
pastor in the back,
-
you know,
-
not being truthful,
-
going over to his house
-
and taking pictures
-
of his house.
-
What a psycho.
-
What a freak.
-
And I just don't understand that.
-
That's just something
-
that just like
-
does not make any sense to me.
-
But you know,
-
it's just in the heart
-
of wicked people.
-
You know,
-
wicked people
-
are devising.
-
They're feigning themselves
-
just men
-
to get close to people,
-
just like Judas did.
-
Notice in Psalm 41
-
and verse nine.
-
It says,
-
Ye mine own familiar friend
-
in whom I trusted,
-
which did eat of my bread,
-
hath lifted up his heel against me.
-
You know,
-
it really sucks
-
to put your confidence
-
and trust in somebody
-
that you consider a friend
-
and then they just
-
stab you in the back.
-
You invite them over to dinner,
-
you spend time with them,
-
you invest in them,
-
you pray for them,
-
you do all these things for them
-
and then they just
-
stab you in the back.
-
Man, that hurts.
-
That's a terrible feeling.
-
You know,
-
and it can make people jade.
-
I understand why people get jaded
-
when it comes to friends.
-
You know,
-
and we should not be people
-
that are just quick
-
to turn on our friends.
-
You know,
-
we should be people
-
who are loyal to our friends.
-
You know,
-
we look at the people
-
that you consider a friend.
-
Hey,
-
even if they do something
-
that you don't like,
-
hey,
-
don't go around spreading that
-
garbage to other people.
-
You know,
-
if it's such a bad offense,
-
just go directly to them.
-
Just talk to them about it.
-
They're your friend.
-
I mean,
-
that's the person you should talk to,
-
especially if they've offended you.
-
If they're your friend,
-
they're going to understand.
-
They're probably going to feel bad about it.
-
They're probably going to be able
-
to reconcile that with you.
-
How wicked is it for you
-
to just go and just trash
-
that person to somebody else,
-
right,
-
behind their back?
-
You know,
-
and unfortunately,
-
you see this a lot.
-
You know,
-
people are fickle.
-
You know,
-
people are not very faithful.
-
People are not very loyal.
-
And it's a really bad quality.
-
It's a bad characteristic.
-
And something that none of us
-
should want to,
-
you know,
-
to be that.
-
We don't want to be that person.
-
Right.
-
And honestly,
-
you do that,
-
you backstab people enough.
-
Listen,
-
it's going to come back around to you.
-
You're going to get what's coming to you.
-
Go to 2 Samuel chapter 20.
2 Samuel 20 chapter mention
-
2 Samuel chapter number 20.
-
Look at another example of this.
-
Here's another poser,
-
Pretender Joe Wab.
-
Joe Wab is a really famous poser
-
in the Bible.
-
And again,
-
he's one of those characters
-
in the Bible
-
that he's a complex character.
-
You know,
-
he does some good things.
-
He does some things that are right.
-
Ultimately,
-
I don't think the guy is a good guy.
-
I think he's got a bad heart.
-
He only cares about himself.
-
And he's not a very good friend.
-
Now,
-
notice what the Bible says
-
in 2 Samuel chapter 20.
2 Samuel 20 chapter mention
-
2 Samuel chapter 20 verse 9.
-
It says,
-
And Joe Wab said to Amasa,
-
now,
-
Amasa's basically
-
been given the opportunity to be the,
-
basically the general of David's army.
-
Okay.
-
And David had a mercy on him.
-
He had grace
-
because he kind of got caught up with Absalom.
-
And he basically
-
makes him the chief of his army.
-
And if you kind of study who Amasa is,
-
he's basically the cousin of Joe Wab.
-
It's Joe Wab's cousin.
-
Like their family.
-
Right.
-
It's not just that they're friends,
-
they're family.
-
He's basically the daughter of Zaria's sister.
-
Right.
-
And if you know anything
-
about the Old Testament
-
in the life of David,
-
it's like there were three brothers
-
that were kind of just this burden to him.
-
They're great fighters,
-
warriors,
-
but they're kind of a burden.
-
And he always kept saying,
-
he's sons of Zaria.
-
Right.
-
You're constantly this burden unto me.
-
And he's talking about Joe Wab,
-
Abashai and Azahil.
-
And so for one,
-
I think Joe Wab probably gets a little disgruntled
-
because Amasa is made the chief
-
of the armies of David.
-
And that's probably the position that Joe Wab wanted.
-
Joe Wab liked to be in that position.
-
He liked to have the preeminence.
-
And that's kind of just myself reading into
-
a lot of the texts there.
-
It seems to be that's maybe the reason.
-
Also, just maybe it's envy too.
-
You know, he sees his cousin
-
getting some love from his uncle David.
-
And, you know, he wants to be in that position.
-
But notice what he says.
-
He says, and Joe Wab said to Amasa,
-
art thou and health my brother.
-
So even a family member,
-
like he's coming to him.
-
And he's feigning himself to actually care about him.
-
Right? He doesn't actually care about Amasa.
-
He cares nothing about him.
-
And we're going to see this here in a minute.
-
But he's calling him brother.
-
He's asking about his health.
-
He's seeming to be somebody who is genuine or sincere.
-
And it goes on.
-
It says, and Joe Wab took Amasa by the beard
-
with the right hand to kiss him.
-
Notice again, the Judas Ascariot kiss.
-
This betrayal where he pulls him in close.
-
It's kind of a picture of somebody who is caring for them.
-
He, you know, is trying to act like he's sincere
-
about his love for his family member.
-
So he pulls him in close to greet him, to embrace him.
-
Verse 11, verse 10, it says,
-
But Amasa took no heed to the sword
-
that was in Joe Wab's hand.
-
So he smote him therewith in the fifth rib
-
and shout out his bowels to the ground
-
and struck him not again and he died.
-
So Joe Wab and Abishai, his brother,
-
pursued after Sheba the son of Ikrai.
-
See, Joe Wab wanted to be the guy
-
who brought Sheba the son of Ikrai to justice, right?
-
He wanted to be the guy that went out
-
and did the work that Amasa was supposed to do.
-
And again, maybe I am reading a little bit into it,
-
but to me it seems like Joe Wab
-
was pretty envious of Amasa.
-
He wanted his position.
-
He didn't like it.
-
So what did he do?
-
He stabs him in the back.
-
And this is a brutal killing
-
because the Bible says that a lot of the men saw what happened, right?
-
Masses literally on the side of,
-
he's in the middle of the road,
-
just like bloods just coming out of his mouth
-
and they have to like drag him off the road.
-
So it was a very public thing that he did.
-
He just stabbed him in the back,
-
just no conscience whatsoever, you know?
-
And that's why I don't think Joe Wab
-
was probably a pretty good guy.
-
I don't think he saved.
-
And it seems like he's somebody who had a double heart.
-
He's somebody who, you know,
-
people who like to flatter and have a double heart,
-
those are people you want to really be careful
-
because usually inside they're full of iniquity.
-
They're full of, you know,
-
just a very corrupt sinful nature,
-
just really hating people.
-
And, you know, these are dangerous people to be around.
-
Go to Proverbs chapter number 26.
-
Proverbs chapter number 26,
-
the Bible says,
-
faithful are the wounds of a friend,
-
but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
-
You know, and sometimes this is going to be hard to see
-
because, you know, I believe that we should all
-
give people the benefit of the doubt.
-
You know, and we should want to have close friends.
-
You know, I was thinking about this,
-
it's like we shouldn't let Judas cost you the Jonathan.
-
Right?
-
Jonathan was a great friend to David, right?
-
He was like his, they were of the, you know,
-
they just loved each other greatly, right?
-
They were great friends.
-
I can't, I kind of forget how the Bible words it,
-
but the Bible indicates like,
-
hey, they were just super close, great friends.
-
But, you know, he also had people who backstabbed him.
-
You know, you have Hithafel,
-
Absalom, his own son, Joab.
-
I mean, you have many people who backstabbed David.
-
But, you know, we should allow the Judas
-
to cost us the Jonathan in our life.
-
You know, I will be honest,
-
this is something that I probably struggle with
-
is I just don't, you know,
-
I struggle with allowing people to get really close to me.
-
You know?
-
And I don't think that's a good thing.
-
Like we should have good friends.
-
We should have people that we're close with.
-
But the reality is, and I don't want you to be offended,
-
but when you do that, guess what?
-
There are going to be some wicked people
-
that will flatter you,
-
and they'll have a double heart
-
and they will stab you in the back.
-
You know, and the more you serve God,
-
the higher those chances become.
-
And that's just the reality.
-
If you make a choice,
-
if you draw a line in the sand and say,
-
hey, I'm not crossing this line,
-
I'm not going into sin,
-
I'm not going to live like the rest of this world,
-
I'm going to be conformed into the image of Christ,
-
guess what?
-
Your chances of being backstabbed,
-
of being persecuted,
-
of experiencing a Judas Iscariot kissing you,
-
if you will, backstabbing you,
-
it only goes up.
-
Right?
-
But we should not allow that to discourage us
-
from making close friends,
-
or being close with people.
-
We don't want to get that attitude.
-
And we just have to have the solace of realizing
-
that God is going to take care of these people.
-
Hey, God is going to take care of the backstabber.
-
He's going to be on our side
-
if we're just doing what's right.
-
If we're sincere,
-
we're doing things with honesty and truth,
-
and we're doing things in the light,
-
hey, God is going to be on our side.
-
Notice what the Bible says in verse number 24.
-
It says,
-
He that hath dissembleth with his lips,
-
so dissembleth just means to deceive.
-
Right?
-
So the person that hates you
-
is going to deceive you with their mouth,
-
with their words.
-
They're going to say,
-
aren't thou in health, my brother?
-
Right?
-
They're going to try to draw close to you,
-
but they're not actually sincere.
-
These are wicked people.
-
It says in verse 25,
-
when he speaketh fair,
-
believe him not,
-
for there are seven abominations in his heart.
-
You see, the Bible is painting this picture
-
of people who flatter,
-
people who have a double heart.
-
They're very wicked people.
-
These are dangerous people.
-
You know?
-
And if you catch somebody
-
with a double heart or flattering you,
-
hey, you should remove yourself far from that person
-
because you need to understand
-
that that person is somebody
-
who has an evil heart.
-
There's somebody that can do a lot of damage.
-
Notice in verse 26,
-
it says,
-
whose hatred is covered by deceit.
-
So they'll smile.
-
They'll act like they like you.
-
They'll come up to you.
-
They'll come and eat at your table
-
and tell you all kinds of good things.
-
But then they're just waiting
-
for that moment to stab you in the back.
-
Whose hatred is covered by deceit.
-
His wickedness shall be showed
-
before the whole congregation.
-
And that's the soulless,
-
is even though they might have a double heart,
-
and they might be able to do some damage,
-
guess what?
-
We're all going to eventually figure it out.
-
We're all going to,
-
they're going to expose themselves.
-
We're all going to know exactly who that person is.
-
You know, I think of this idiot Daniel Hernandez,
-
isn't that his name?
-
What a piece of trash.
-
What a joke.
-
You know, try to get as close to Pastor Anderson
-
as you possibly can
-
and then just stab him right in the back.
-
What a wicked person.
-
That guy, I mean, what I've heard,
-
you know, I listened to the sermons in Massa.
-
That guy sounds like a faggot.
-
You know, he sounds like
-
he's got seven abominations in his heart.
-
What a wicked person
-
to deceive people to symbolize with your lips.
-
Listen, man, these are people
-
that are very wicked people.
-
These are people that are very dangerous.
-
But notice what the Bible says in verse 27.
-
Whoso dig at the pitch,
-
shall fall therein.
-
And he that rolled the stone,
-
it will return upon him.
-
Listen, if you're somebody who has a double heart
-
and just a fake person,
-
a poser, a pretender,
-
and you're backs that many people in the back,
-
guess what?
-
Your antics are going to come back around to you.
-
It's going to come right back around.
-
You dig that pit,
-
you're going to fall in that pit.
-
You're going to be exposed.
-
You know, maybe he'll pull somebody over
-
and, you know,
-
because apparently the guy's a cop, right?
-
Well, maybe you'll pull the wrong person over.
-
You know, that'll have a gun
-
and be willing to use it.
-
Some gangster.
-
That's not a poser, a pretender.
-
Hey, I wouldn't be,
-
I wouldn't shed a tear.
-
Lying reprobate.
-
You know, we need to have the right type of mentality
-
when it comes to these people, you know?
-
You know, our eyes should not pity.
-
And we shouldn't look at people
-
that are like this
-
and have a soft spot in our heart,
-
Tommy McMurtry.
-
I mean, what kind of a freak and weirdo
-
is going to have a soft spot
-
in their heart for a pedophile?
-
For a betrayer, for a backstabber.
-
Give me a break.
-
You know, these people,
-
they're going to get what's coming to them.
-
Notice in verse 28, it says,
-
a lying tongue hated those that are afflicted by it
-
and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.
-
You know, these people,
-
they're just out for destruction.
-
They want to cause violence.
-
They want to separate families.
-
They want to do just the most harm possible.
-
The wicked, you know?
-
And we should have the right mentality,
-
realizing, hey, you know what?
-
These things are going to happen.
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These things are going to be evident in my life.
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The more I want to serve God,
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the more righteous I want to try to be,
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the more Christ-like I want to try to be,
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that these things are going to happen.
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We should see these things.
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And when we see them,
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I don't want you to get offended.
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I don't want you to be discouraged
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or to think like, oh, well, now I can't go to church anymore.
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Why would I serve God when there's people like this at church?
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And you hear this a lot from the world.
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A lot of people won't go to church
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because they've been hurt in church.
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They've had somebody do something evil to them
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or backstab them.
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All manner of things.
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And it could be a legitimate reason to be disgruntled
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or to be upset,
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but it's not a legitimate reason to forsake God.
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You know, we should serve God
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and realize that this life is going to be filled
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with a lot of wicked people
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that we're going to have to deal with.
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And we shouldn't allow that to not...
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You know, to put ourselves in a position
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where we don't let people get close to us.
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Go to Matthew 10 in there.
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Go to Matthew chapter number 10.
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Matthew chapter number 10.
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Verse number 16.
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The Bible says,
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Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.
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So think about this.
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Jesus, he's sending...
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And of course we're talking about soul winning here
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in the context.
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He's sending them out two by two.
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But he says that he's sending them out
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as sheep in the midst of wolves.
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He's letting them know,
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hey, there's going to be evil people.
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You're going to be serving alongside of around.
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You're going to come in contact with.
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Notice what he tells them.
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He says, Be therefore wise as serpents
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and harmless as doves.
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We should be wise in realizing,
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hey, these are the things that are going to happen.
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People are going to be wicked.
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You know, they're going to be posers and pretenders.
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But at the same time,
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we should also be harmless as doves.
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Right?
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We should think the best about people
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and tell us just obvious that they're,
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you know, somebody who's wicked.
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That they're a backside.
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We should try to get people to benefit from the doubt.
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We should try to love people.
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We should allow people to get close to us,
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to be friends with them.
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And just realize that, you know what?
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If you get backstabbed,
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you know, it just means that you're in the same company
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as Christ.
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And, you know, that's something to at least kind of
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look back on and be like, all right,
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well, at least I know I'm doing the right thing.
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You know, at least I'm in good company
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and realizing that even Christ was betrayed.
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Even Christ was backstabbed.
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And so I think it's okay if you allow yourself
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to be a little bit vulnerable.
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Allow yourself to think good about people,
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not be jaded, to be friends with people
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and just understand that if it happens,
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hey, at least you're in good company.
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And so, again, posers and pretenders abound
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in the Christian life.
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We're going to see it happen time and time again,
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but let us not be moved by those things.
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That's the end of word of prayer.
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Dear Heavenly Father,
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God, thank you for your word
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and just the comfort that it brings
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and understanding that, you know,
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your son suffered many of these things
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and, yeah, even worse things
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than most likely any of us will ever go through.
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God, I pray that you would help us
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to be wise as serpents on this topic,
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realize that there's posers and pretenders, Lord,
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but that we would also be harmless as doves, Lord,
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that we wouldn't stop trying to be Christ-like,
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that we wouldn't stop trying to be charitable
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and loving and good brothers and sisters
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to our fellow brethren here in the church
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that we would allow ourselves to still make good friends
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and to spend our life together serving
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alongside other good people to give you honor and glory.
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We pray these things in your son's name. Amen.