Do Pharisees Exist in the Modern Church?

Speaker: You are service today.

Speaker: The danger of being self righteous self righteousness

Speaker: rarely announces its arrogance.

Speaker: It usually arrives dressed as certainty.

Speaker: It whispers I know better.

Speaker: It reassures.

Speaker: I am on the right side.

Speaker: It comforts.

Speaker: At least I'm not like them.

Speaker: And that's the danger.

Speaker: When we become self righteous, we stop listening.

Speaker: Not because we don't care, but

Speaker: because we believe we've already

Speaker: finished learning.

Speaker: Curiosity dries up.

Speaker: Nuance feels unnecessary.

Speaker: Complexity becomes an inconvenience.

Speaker: Other people turn into symbols instead of souls.

Speaker: Self-righteousness builds a quiet wall between us and them.

Speaker: And once that wall is built, empathy has no door.

Speaker: The irony is this the more

Speaker: convinced we are of our moral

Speaker: clarity, the less clearly we see

Speaker: ourselves.

Speaker: Our flaws are renamed as principles.

Speaker: Our fears get framed as virtues.

Speaker: Our unhealed wounds put on the costume of righteousness and

Speaker: call it justice.

Speaker: Being bright, being right starts to matter more than being kind.

Speaker: Winning replaces understanding.

Speaker: Correctness replaces connection, and slowly, almost invisibly, we

Speaker: trade humility for superiority.

Speaker: History is crowded with people

Speaker: who absolutely certain they were

Speaker: right and absolutely blind to

Speaker: the human, or blind to the harm

Speaker: they caused.

Speaker: Self righteousness is dangerous

Speaker: not because values are bad, but

Speaker: because it removes

Speaker: self-examination from the

Speaker: equation.

Speaker: It forgets that moral growth

Speaker: requires doubt, reflection, and

Speaker: the willingness to say I might

Speaker: be wrong.

Speaker: The antidote isn't moral apathy, it's humility.

Speaker: It's remembering that having

Speaker: convictions do not require

Speaker: contempt, that holding truth

Speaker: does not require hardness that

Speaker: being principled does not excuse

Speaker: being cruel.

Speaker: Wisdom sounds less like I know

Speaker: and more like teach me what I'm

Speaker: missing.

Speaker: Thank you Nicole.

Speaker: Today's scriptures are up there

Speaker: on the board for you, but I have

Speaker: them also throughout the

Speaker: service.

Speaker: We're going to jump right in today.

Speaker: If you want to have your Bibles, I pray you got your Bibles.

Speaker: Turn to Romans ten, verses three and four.

Speaker: Now I've got the NIV up here,

Speaker: but I'm going to be reading out

Speaker: of the new King James Version

Speaker: for this one, the Romans ten,

Speaker: verse three.

Speaker: We're starting with.

Speaker: For they being ignorant of God's

Speaker: righteousness and seeking to

Speaker: establish their own

Speaker: righteousness, have not

Speaker: submitted to the righteousness

Speaker: of God.

Speaker: Go to verse four, for Christ is

Speaker: the end of the law for

Speaker: righteousness to everyone who

Speaker: believes.

Speaker: Brothers and sisters, let's

Speaker: start out this morning with a

Speaker: simple question.

Speaker: How many of you have encountered in your life a self righteous or

Speaker: holier than thou individual, either out in the world or right

Speaker: here in a church or a church?

Speaker: Their fakeness is so intense that it makes your head hurt and

Speaker: your stomach become nauseated.

Speaker: And I'm going to add a Jim ism here on this one.

Speaker: Or if you could get away with it, you'd like to smack em some

Speaker: sense right into em.

Speaker: Take them down a step, a peg or two.

Speaker: How about a church?

Speaker: Have you ever encountered someone like that?

Speaker: And can we agree this morning?

Speaker: These type of people can do more damage, more harm than good in

Speaker: life, especially for people who are on a very fine line

Speaker: pertaining to hope or wanting to have someone to genuinely love

Speaker: them just in a way.

Speaker: Or better yet, to just know God.

Speaker: True, we can really mess it up and let us not forget the

Speaker: damage, the destruction, that good old self righteousness.

Speaker: Termites, as I will call them, can do to a church and its body

Speaker: of the people.

Speaker: If we look in the Bible, even before Jesus walked this earth,

Speaker: while Jesus walked this earth, and even after Jesus's death,

Speaker: here comes a big word we're going to be talking about a lot

Speaker: the Pharisees again, you're going to hear this word a lot.

Speaker: Pharisees.

Speaker: They were a very powerful group.

Speaker: Now, in today's terms, the Pharisees, my own words, they

Speaker: were the heavy hitters, the OG's, the movers and shakers

Speaker: when it came to religion and the law of that time.

Speaker: Now, this Sunday morning, as I said, we begin a series on who

Speaker: and what the Pharisees were and what they represented in their

Speaker: time, as well as our society.

Speaker: Our world faces today.

Speaker: Dealing with those in the church are behind a pulpit who love to

Speaker: tell you the rules.

Speaker: They love to enforce the rules,

Speaker: but they got no stinkin idea on

Speaker: how to live and love without the

Speaker: rules.

Speaker: Do you understand what I'm saying?

Speaker: Oh, they can strut their stuff and walk the walk.

Speaker: But they sure ain't loving.

Speaker: They sure ain't showing what they need to show.

Speaker: To live and love like Jesus.

Speaker: And that's exactly what I am talking about this morning.

Speaker: To live and love like Jesus.

Speaker: What he did on this earth.

Speaker: Not how the world tells us to live and how to live.

Speaker: I don't know about you all, but

Speaker: I pretty much got a deaf ear to

Speaker: the way the world speaks to me

Speaker: on how to live, how to love, how

Speaker: to raise my child, how to be a

Speaker: pastor, how to be an efficient

Speaker: pastor.

Speaker: Can any of you agree with me on that one?

Speaker: Pretty much got a deaf ear on that one.

Speaker: I don't want to hear what you have to say.

Speaker: Now, I'm not saying that out of meanness.

Speaker: I'm saying that out of love.

Speaker: Because again, as I said in our prayer, my commitment should be

Speaker: number one on Jesus.

Speaker: O church.

Speaker: Do you understand what I'm talking about this morning?

Speaker: Referring to the hypocrites of religion and of the church, the

Speaker: self-righteous of the church, and self-righteous of religion.

Speaker: Modern day style.

Speaker: Those words sound true.

Speaker: So true.

Speaker: We could probably have a reality TV show on that one.

Speaker: David, start lining up the TV and social media personalities.

Speaker: Get em lined up, and I'm sure if

Speaker: we get the board's approval, Mr.

Speaker: Jim Downing, we could do a show

Speaker: on this.

Speaker: And I bet you it'd be a number one hitter, too.

Speaker: People love drama.

Speaker: People don't like to follow the rules, boy.

Speaker: Think of what we could do with that.

Speaker: But before we get there, we

Speaker: better fix ourselves first,

Speaker: shouldn't we?

Speaker: We better fix our church, the

Speaker: churches, but especially our

Speaker: relationship with Jesus Christ

Speaker: first.

Speaker: Everybody loves to point out and talk about those old hypocrites

Speaker: of the church.

Speaker: Now come on, let me be honest.

Speaker: How many times have you invited somebody to church?

Speaker: And what do you hear?

Speaker: Those people are a bunch of hypocrites.

Speaker: That's right.

Speaker: And I love what pastor pastor Bob Mathias used to say.

Speaker: Come on in, brother.

Speaker: Sister, there's always one more.

Speaker: There's always room for one more.

Speaker: For the end of the pew.

Speaker: Come on in.

Speaker: And isn't that true?

Speaker: Now, allow me to flip the script for a moment.

Speaker: My friends, in doing this series we're starting, I pray that we

Speaker: see the hazards of pride, self righteousness, and the

Speaker: destructive nature of one who and listen to this word who

Speaker: positions religion before God, including what God has called

Speaker: you and I to do here in our very own lives position.

Speaker: And I love that word how we position religion before God.

Speaker: Oh, and church that especially includes pastors.

Speaker: And the church.

Speaker: I'm not leaving myself out on this one.

Speaker: No, no, no, I'm not leaving the calling, if you will.

Speaker: Out.

Speaker: No no no. Because what has so

Speaker: many pastors from the pulpit

Speaker: done?

Speaker: They made a mockery of the church because they're afraid or

Speaker: own personal gains.

Speaker: And I'm just calling it like it is.

Speaker: But on the other hand, you got men and women who are bleeding.

Speaker: Oh, they are on fire for the Holy Spirit.

Speaker: But it's you that need to be aware of the lies and the truth.

Speaker: How many men and women, how many men and women can say that they

Speaker: have been burned?

Speaker: Here we go, here we go.

Speaker: How many men and women across this country can say.

Speaker: Or even here in this church,

Speaker: they have been burned by the

Speaker: church.

Speaker: They have been burned by a pastor.

Speaker: You don't have to raise your hands.

Speaker: But I know some of you,

Speaker: including myself, yes, we have

Speaker: been burned, especially dealing

Speaker: with the self, the issue of self

Speaker: righteousness or hypocrisy,

Speaker: which leads.

Speaker: Here you go, my friends, which leads to a very serious problem

Speaker: that I, in my calling, that I have to deal with a lot that I

Speaker: faith, face the issue of trust.

Speaker: Think about that for a moment.

Speaker: The issue of trust.

Speaker: Because once you're hurt, once you've been slapped around

Speaker: belittled, it's hard to gain that back, isn't there?

Speaker: It's hard to put trust into

Speaker: somebody, especially somebody

Speaker: that's brand new and you don't

Speaker: know.

Speaker: Which then leads to people saying, I am not ever setting

Speaker: foot into a church again with all those hypocrites.

Speaker: The man or woman up there

Speaker: leading the church is the

Speaker: biggest.

Speaker: You know what?

Speaker: Walk in God's green earth?

Speaker: Nope.

Speaker: Not happening Jack, I ain't coming back to church.

Speaker: How many have heard that?

Speaker: Heard that a lot, a lot.

Speaker: Trust, my friends, is hard to earn.

Speaker: Especially when that other person has been hurt.

Speaker: Now let me add a little extra to stir the pot.

Speaker: Throughout history, look what man has done in the name of God

Speaker: for religion, rape, murder.

Speaker: Murder of the innocent.

Speaker: Infidelity.

Speaker: Genocide.

Speaker: Genocide.

Speaker: Bribery.

Speaker: The stealing from the poor.

Speaker: From money to lands to titles.

Speaker: Just to name a few.

Speaker: Power and greed.

Speaker: From which man has used the quote.

Speaker: God wills it.

Speaker: So we're going to do it.

Speaker: Do we steal that?

Speaker: Do we still have that in today's church?

Speaker: My friends, people of authority

Speaker: or people of self righteous

Speaker: beliefs, using God in their

Speaker: warped ideas of religion and the

Speaker: Bible to destroy others,

Speaker: especially in the internal

Speaker: eternal aspect of God and

Speaker: salvation.

Speaker: Now it's just my opinion here this morning.

Speaker: You do with it what you want,

Speaker: but do we have some warped and

Speaker: just plain evil ideas of A

Speaker: legend and it's going on at this

Speaker: very moment.

Speaker: Think about that.

Speaker: Yes we do.

Speaker: We got a lot going on.

Speaker: Authority and power.

Speaker: The seeking of it will never end.

Speaker: Will you agree with me on that this morning?

Speaker: The seeking of authority and

Speaker: power will never end in man's

Speaker: time.

Speaker: Now, speaking of authority, the

Speaker: Pharisees were a religious group

Speaker: going back to the Pharisees in

Speaker: ancient Israel, known for their

Speaker: strict adherence to the laws and

Speaker: traditions and the New

Speaker: Testament.

Speaker: Jesus challenges.

Speaker: Oh yeah, he does.

Speaker: He challenges their legalistic

Speaker: practices, calls for a deeper

Speaker: understanding of the faith, not

Speaker: the rules, not the law of their

Speaker: faith.

Speaker: Their story teaches us valuable Lessons about humility.

Speaker: Sincerity in our faith and the

Speaker: importance of love over

Speaker: legalism.

Speaker: Now, when you have the nature of the Pharisees, we come to learn

Speaker: that they often focused on the external aspects of religion

Speaker: while neglecting the internal.

Speaker: Oh, and here's that word I love transformation.

Speaker: The internal transformation of the heart.

Speaker: They failed to see that.

Speaker: They failed to acknowledge that the Pharisees were seen as

Speaker: guardians of the law.

Speaker: Yet they sometimes, and a lot of times they missed the focus of

Speaker: what it means to follow God.

Speaker: And if we're honest this morning, my friends, can you and

Speaker: I say there at times it is easy for us to get caught up in our

Speaker: action and especially our routines, forgetting the true

Speaker: essence of our journey in this life, this journey of faith.

Speaker: Just think, if we would all

Speaker: strive to engage deeply with our

Speaker: beliefs rather than merely going

Speaker: through the motions, how many of

Speaker: us go through the motions every

Speaker: day?

Speaker: I hate going through the motions.

Speaker: You're a robot.

Speaker: You're on autopilot.

Speaker: You become dead inside, do you not?

Speaker: As you and I dive into this sermon series, let you and I

Speaker: remember that truth.

Speaker: True, true, true faith is more than just following rules.

Speaker: It is about nurturing.

Speaker: Say that with me.

Speaker: Nurturing a loving relationship with God and with others.

Speaker: And Luke eighteen eleven the

Speaker: Pharisee stood by himself and

Speaker: prayed.

Speaker: I love this one.

Speaker: God, I thank you that I am not like other people robbers,

Speaker: evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

Speaker: Pretty bold, is it not?

Speaker: Pretty arrogant, is it not?

Speaker: First off, brothers and sisters.

Speaker: We're going to add a little bit more to what a Pharisee is.

Speaker: This is kind of like pregame, if

Speaker: you will, for the upcoming

Speaker: Sundays.

Speaker: But number one, they were a member of an ancient Jewish

Speaker: group in ancient Israel around two hundred BC to seventy AD.

Speaker: Number two, they were known for

Speaker: being very strict about

Speaker: religious laws and traditions,

Speaker: and number three, influential

Speaker: teachers and Interpreters of

Speaker: Jewish law.

Speaker: Now, if you and I were to break

Speaker: it down in today's terms, we

Speaker: might say that it is more often

Speaker: used in a negative, negative

Speaker: format.

Speaker: We might say an individual who

Speaker: is self righteous, as we've said

Speaker: before.

Speaker: Ever heard this saying, rules for thee but not for me?

Speaker: I really want to go there, but I'm not going to.

Speaker: It's political, so I'm not going to.

Speaker: How about this one, my friends?

Speaker: It's the oldie but a goodie.

Speaker: And as I mentioned before, a

Speaker: hypocrite who cares more about

Speaker: appearing moral than actually

Speaker: being moral.

Speaker: This negative meaning comes mostly from the New Testament,

Speaker: where Pharisees are criticized for focusing on outward behavior

Speaker: instead of inner values.

Speaker: Now, let me ask you a question this morning.

Speaker: Can the church and members of

Speaker: the church, or let us just say

Speaker: Christians in general, still

Speaker: fall into this category by the

Speaker: world or even other Christians

Speaker: focusing?

Speaker: And here it is focusing on

Speaker: outward behavior instead of

Speaker: inward values.

Speaker: What are you more concerned with?

Speaker: Church?

Speaker: Your outward appearance or your internal transformation?

Speaker: Your investment?

Speaker: Think about that.

Speaker: Outward behavior instead of inner values.

Speaker: When are we not critiqued by the world?

Speaker: And if you're a Christian, yeah,

Speaker: you're going to be critiqued by

Speaker: the world.

Speaker: True.

Speaker: One way or another, you're going to get it.

Speaker: But yes, It's very possible to be critiqued.

Speaker: It's very possible to be called many names.

Speaker: Even the pastor basic one

Speaker: hundred one education this

Speaker: morning.

Speaker: Historical meaning for Pharisees equals religious scholars.

Speaker: Okay, today's insult fake, holier than thou person.

Speaker: Mark seven six to seven he

Speaker: replied, Isaiah was right when

Speaker: he prophesied about you

Speaker: hypocrites.

Speaker: As it is written, these people honor me with their lips, but

Speaker: their hearts are far from me.

Speaker: They worship me in vain.

Speaker: Their teachings are merely human rules.

Speaker: So how about it, Rockford?

Speaker: How many of you, including myself in this question.

Speaker: Honor Jesus with those big old lips.

Speaker: But our hearts, minds and souls when it comes to honoring,

Speaker: obeying, and loving Jesus.

Speaker: We might as well say, well, Jim, we're on different planets far

Speaker: from him now.

Speaker: It might depend on the day, might depend on your mood, but

Speaker: does it really matter?

Speaker: You are far from him.

Speaker: How about it, my friends?

Speaker: Is there some personal truth in that statement?

Speaker: If we jump back to the Pharisees over these next few weeks, we

Speaker: are going to be going right into one of the most intense and

Speaker: confrontational teachings Jesus had in the word, which is found

Speaker: in Matthew twenty three.

Speaker: So I encourage you now get your Bibles for the upcoming week.

Speaker: Start digging into the whole chapter, Matthew twenty three,

Speaker: because it is a good one.

Speaker: Matthew twenty three.

Speaker: There is.

Speaker: It's the heart of the chapter that deals with the seven.

Speaker: Or some people will say, eight woes of the Pharisees.

Speaker: The heart of the chapter is a public critique of religious

Speaker: hypocrisy, especially among the scribes and Pharisees, who were

Speaker: seen as the spiritual leaders of the time, as we discussed in

Speaker: Matthew twenty three.

Speaker: There is a concern about the

Speaker: danger of performing

Speaker: righteousness instead of living

Speaker: it.

Speaker: Jesus is not attacking faith.

Speaker: He is not attacking the law.

Speaker: He is not attacking the devotion to God.

Speaker: Jesus, on the other hand, is condemning a mindset of certain

Speaker: individuals where outward religious behavior replaces

Speaker: inner Integrity Authority is used to evaluate one, elevate

Speaker: one instead of serving others.

Speaker: Who ever hear of that one?

Speaker: Very true.

Speaker: In our world today, where rules are enforced on others without a

Speaker: sense or act of compassion.

Speaker: And you put all that together, what do you have?

Speaker: Religion without humility

Speaker: becomes harmful and it can can

Speaker: become destructive.

Speaker: Religion without humility.

Speaker: Is there a decent chance that an

Speaker: individual sitting here this

Speaker: morning, or listening in, has

Speaker: been a victim due to religion,

Speaker: without humility?

Speaker: I'm willing to bet my bottom

Speaker: dollar there's at least one

Speaker: person sitting here who has been

Speaker: a victim of the religion without

Speaker: humility, where somebody has

Speaker: stomped them, belittled them and

Speaker: just went hog wild, tearing them

Speaker: down to make themselves feel

Speaker: better.

Speaker: Think of the damage that a

Speaker: pastor or a false prophet,

Speaker: prophet, a member or non member

Speaker: of a church can do, especially

Speaker: in our society today, to someone

Speaker: specifically their hope for a

Speaker: better tomorrow.

Speaker: Maybe even there is a light they

Speaker: are searching for in the

Speaker: darkness.

Speaker: And that light is Jesus.

Speaker: But and there's that big but Bob Armstrong, what does self

Speaker: righteous Sunday morning perfect attendance individuals do?

Speaker: They steal their hope and pass judgment on that person before

Speaker: the Sunday morning coffee is even ready back in the narthex.

Speaker: Am I hitting home for somebody today?

Speaker: Do you understand what I'm saying?

Speaker: How self-righteous some people

Speaker: can be in a church when you come

Speaker: in.

Speaker: And before you can even say hello to smell.

Speaker: The coffee's done.

Speaker: We're already put them down.

Speaker: Why would I come to church, then?

Speaker: You ever ask that question why?

Speaker: The churches are dying in so many ways.

Speaker: Sorry, I'm getting a little excited about this.

Speaker: It falls on us, our friends,

Speaker: because, number one, we don't

Speaker: have a relationship with Jesus

Speaker: the way he intended it for us to

Speaker: be.

Speaker: Could that be an answer?

Speaker: Because we become so self-righteous, more worried

Speaker: about what we're wearing or how we're smelling, or what we've

Speaker: done the past week?

Speaker: What the kids, the grandkids and all that.

Speaker: And don't get me wrong, that's great.

Speaker: But when we're putting that all above Jesus, when we're putting

Speaker: people down, we got a problem.

Speaker: I don't blame one person for not coming on that.

Speaker: Why would I want to come to a church that treats me like that?

Speaker: Hope, my friends.

Speaker: People need hope.

Speaker: Wake up your stinking eyes and look around.

Speaker: Get out there.

Speaker: Get out of the pews and get your

Speaker: butts out there and interact

Speaker: with people and see they need

Speaker: hope.

Speaker: They don't need a self-righteous.

Speaker: Tell them how bad they are and how good I am.

Speaker: How easy it is for one to

Speaker: conveniently forget what the

Speaker: Holy Spirit can do in someone's

Speaker: life.

Speaker: Maybe like forgiveness and maybe like transformation.

Speaker: Hello.

Speaker: There's that beautiful word transformation.

Speaker: You know.

Speaker: I really challenge you to look at how you interact with people.

Speaker: Let's just start here in a church.

Speaker: And I know we got some characters, myself included.

Speaker: And a lot of times you can't

Speaker: control the past of your family,

Speaker: right?

Speaker: But how easy it is to be guilty by association.

Speaker: True.

Speaker: My granddaddy.

Speaker: I'm just using this.

Speaker: Not my granddaddy, but my granddaddy.

Speaker: Uh, he was a drunk and a hell raiser.

Speaker: So automatically, you must be a drunk and a hell raiser, right?

Speaker: How many of us think that way?

Speaker: And I'm just being honest.

Speaker: What do you mean?

Speaker: You don't know the words to this song?

Speaker: What do you mean?

Speaker: That's your Sunday best?

Speaker: What do you mean by not covering up your tats?

Speaker: The list goes on and on, my friends.

Speaker: Again, I'm more worried about what's inside here For that

Speaker: person worried because I'm going to have to stand before God one

Speaker: day and answer for that, just like all of us.

Speaker: Hope for a better tomorrow.

Speaker: Hope for a better day.

Speaker: And that is the problem with us so many times.

Speaker: That.

Speaker: We. We steal that.

Speaker: We just plain and out steal that.

Speaker: Maybe not intentionally, but we steal that.

Speaker: I know I've stolen.

Speaker: Didn't mean to.

Speaker: Hey, Jim, shut up and let them tell their story.

Speaker: You ever get so excited you want

Speaker: to interact with somebody

Speaker: because you know what you're

Speaker: going.

Speaker: They're going through.

Speaker: Shut up.

Speaker: Jim.

Speaker: Let them tell their story.

Speaker: I don't want to steal their time.

Speaker: That's just being rude.

Speaker: I can sit there patiently and then I can add in.

Speaker: I know what you're going through, brother.

Speaker: Hope my friend's.

Speaker: Transformation.

Speaker: Is there a chance if you and I

Speaker: look in that self-righteous

Speaker: hypocrisy mirror, we might not

Speaker: like what is looking back at us

Speaker: if we're honest with ourselves

Speaker: and with God this morning or in

Speaker: the evening.

Speaker: So I ask this morning.

Speaker: Are you and I tuned in to

Speaker: religion without humility in our

Speaker: own lives.

Speaker: Matthew seven fifteen out of the

Speaker: new King, James says, beware of

Speaker: false prophets who come to you

Speaker: in sheep's clothing, but

Speaker: inwardly they are ravenous

Speaker: wolves.

Speaker: And then if you go to second Corinthians eleven to thirteen

Speaker: to fifteen, for such are false prophets, deceitful workers,

Speaker: transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.

Speaker: And no wonder, for Satan himself

Speaker: transforms himself into an angel

Speaker: of light.

Speaker: Therefore, it is no great thing if his masters also transform

Speaker: themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be

Speaker: according to their works.

Speaker: And saying all this this morning.

Speaker: You and I, I pray, will be

Speaker: examining our own lives in a

Speaker: very simple but complex way with

Speaker: a question hypocrisy versus

Speaker: integrity.

Speaker: And when it comes to your faith

Speaker: and spiritual activity, which

Speaker: one wins?

Speaker: And allow me to finish this Sunday morning with this.

Speaker: So listen up, I ask and think about it.

Speaker: God cares more about who you are when no one's watching than how

Speaker: spiritual and righteous you look in public, including all your

Speaker: followers on social media.

Speaker: Think about that again.

Speaker: God cares more about who you are

Speaker: when no one's watching than how

Speaker: spiritual and righteous you look

Speaker: in public.

Speaker: Pretty straightforward, is it not?

Speaker: Hopefully.

Speaker: And I pray for this.

Speaker: Our journey as we begin looking

Speaker: into the Pharisees in Matthew

Speaker: twenty three.

Speaker: Will challenge the leaders of this church to the everyday

Speaker: believers just like you.

Speaker: Just like me.

Speaker: With this final question.

Speaker: Am I are you using your faith to serve others, including the

Speaker: Kingdom of God, or to protect that ego of yours?

Speaker: My ego and my self-image?

Speaker: Your self-image?

Speaker: Let me say it one more time.

Speaker: Am I using my faith to serve

Speaker: others, including the kingdom of

Speaker: God or to protect my ego and

Speaker: self image.

Speaker: I can't make it any plainer than that.

Speaker: And if that steps on some toes, well, good.

Speaker: Because my toes need stepped on too.

Speaker: You know that we all need to check ourselves.

Speaker: They say before we wreck ourselves.

Speaker: And this.

Speaker: Well, she's already out.

Speaker: Almost.

Speaker: That's a wrecking ball right there.

Speaker: Because we only got so much time.

Speaker: Now you can sit here and you could have paid attention.

Speaker: You could be bored, you could

Speaker: laugh, you could sleep, or you

Speaker: could genuinely listen to the

Speaker: words.

Speaker: And that's the great thing.

Speaker: It's up to you.

Speaker: But you can't say you haven't been told.

Speaker: You haven't been warned.

Speaker: Warned.

Speaker: And my job this next coming

Speaker: month especially is to help you

Speaker: chew on this of be careful of

Speaker: being Self-righteous.

Speaker: The hypocrisy that can come from our mouths, and also the false

Speaker: prophets out there today.

Speaker: Do you think there's false prophets out there, my friends?

Speaker: Do you think there's false teachings going on?

Speaker: Hello?

Speaker: AI. Oh my goodness, Katy, bar the door.

Speaker: That's taken preaching into a whole new.

Speaker: I don't even know what the right word would be.

Speaker: But hang on and beware, because

Speaker: it's amazing what Satan can use

Speaker: AI for.

Speaker: And the cool thing is, there are pastors out there showing that.

Speaker: Be weary.

Speaker: But I'm going to go back to this right here.

Speaker: This is your best resource, my friends.

Speaker: This on your knees is your best resource.

Speaker: My friends and the finals.

Speaker: I asked Miss Nicole to close this out today.

Speaker: You know what our best resource is?

Speaker: To coming together.

Speaker: Steve, would you pray for me?

Speaker: Dave, would you pray for me?

Speaker: Stacey asked.

Speaker: Hey, Jim, can you pray for me?

Speaker: Isn't that one of the greatest resources we have here of

Speaker: protecting one another?

Speaker: Of coming together and praying?

Speaker: Miss Sally, I need your prayers

Speaker: because I'm struggling with

Speaker: this.

Speaker: And I know Sally will say, alright, Jim, I got you covered.

Speaker: Isn't that a good feeling to have?

Speaker: There's no debate about it.

Speaker: You need prayer.

Speaker: You need to go see someone.

Speaker: Yep.

Speaker: On my way.

Speaker: We can do this, my friends.

Speaker: We can do this.

Speaker: I want you to please rise.

Speaker: Grab a hand and I want.

Speaker: See, this is a great thing about this church, too.

Speaker: You don't just have one person.

Speaker: You got people, brothers and

Speaker: sisters in Christ who come

Speaker: together, who share the

Speaker: Responsibilities.

Speaker: Isn't that what makes a family?

Speaker: Isn't that what makes a church?

Speaker: I can turn into coal and say,

Speaker: hey, can you close this out with

Speaker: prayer?

Speaker: Because I want to be back here.

Speaker: I want to be holding hands with somebody.

Speaker: Listen, Nicole, if you would please, Father God, we give

Speaker: thanks today for the words that have come from Brother Jim.

Speaker: May we use them to examine our lives this week and in the

Speaker: coming weeks, as we continue this series, to help us to be

Speaker: more pure in our faith, um, to try to walk closer with you,

Speaker: Father God, and not to look down on those around us.

Speaker: I ask that you be with my family this week as we continue about

Speaker: our way out into the world, Father God, and bring us back

Speaker: next Sunday safely.

Speaker: In your name.

Speaker: Amen.

Speaker: Amen.

Speaker: Thank you Nicole.

Speaker: Have a great week.