Beware - Kingdom Discernment Part Two with Pastor Marci Glisson

You know, we started talking last week about taking heed, you

know, and it all happened, you know, back around March, I think

it was when we were just reading the word and a lot of things

going on. And, and that scripture just

popped out, you know, out of Let me read that main text that we

read last week out of Mark 4 and 23 and 24.

It says if any man has ears to hear, let him hear.

And he said unto them, take heed what you hear.

Take heed what you hear. And I really didn't camp in on

the hearing side of it. And Pastor mentioned something

about, you know, the scripture that talks about being dull of

hearing. There's lots to say about

hearing, but most of us in our circles understand Romans where

he says what faith comes by hearing and hearing from the

word of God and how important our ears are.

Our ears are in our life to be able to hear what the Word is

saying so that faith can arise within our life.

And he tells us, listen, we need to even take heed.

We need to be beware of what we're hearing.

So there's a lot of things in different directions we could

talk about here where he talks about taking heed.

What you hear, you know, it's not just hearing the word.

You know, we hear things constantly all day long.

We hear bad reports right from the doctor.

Maybe we hear bad reports on the news, maybe right.

We hear gossip. We hear all kinds of, you know,

all kinds of things that are happening in the world, good,

bad, ugly, disgusting, all kinds of things.

And he's saying, listen, you better be a person that takes

heed to what you hear, not just about hearing God's word and the

good things, but you need to take heed on the other things

that you're hearing. Because we know the Scripture

says life and death are in the what power of the tongue?

Because what you hear is delivered through speech or

through the word right from hearing the word of God or from

a word. There is life and death in

words, words. And the thing about it is, is

that we need to think about these things and what we're

listening to, right? We need to think about it.

We need to beware about what, what are the things that we're

listening to? He tells us.

We need to take heed. We need to discern some things.

We need to have some understanding of some things,

right? So there is a good side of

hearing, but then there is a terrible side of hearing if

we're hearing the wrong things, because the wrong things that we

hear can affect our heart because we made the connection

that the ears or what you're hearing is connected to your

heart. Because as the word is sown, any

word, any word, not just the word, the parable of the sower,

any word, as the word is sown it what is sown into a man's heart.

And that's where then it can begin to take root if you don't

take heed, if you don't take heed.

And so we talked about being a person that will take heed is a

person that is a person of discernment, full of

discernment. They're awake, they're paying

attention to what they're hearing, and then they're not.

They're going to take captive every word that they're hearing

and they're not going to listen to some things that they're

hearing or people may be trying to say because they don't want

that to affect their life, their heart.

And actually, we know the Scripture.

I don't even, none of this is even in my notes.

We know the Scripture, see, But when you live the word, it's in

you. It's richly dwelling within you.

So then you have the scripture that tells you what to guard

your heart with all diligence. You know how you guard your

heart. One way to guard your heart is

to put some stoppers in your ears.

What are those things called? Earplugs.

Put some ear plugs in your ears so that you don't hear some of

the things that the enemy's trying to say come on through

someone else. Or you know, whatever it may be,

that is not going to be profitable for your life.

It's not going to be profitable. It's actually going to cause you

harm, right? So He lets us know we need to

not be a heedless person. We need to take heed of some

things that we're hearing. Well, as I was meditating on

this and going through scriptures, I realized that

there was 28 places where He actually tells us to take heed.

And aren't you thankful that we have a heavenly Father that

wants to warn us? Because another word for take

heed or beware is a warning. So not only does our heavenly

Father want to show us everything that belongs to us

and how much we are loved and how much you know we have been

given all of these wonderful promises, He also in His word

will warn us. And that's a good thing.

Warnings are a good thing, right?

He'll warn us. He'll let us know, hey, there's

some things as a believer that you're going to need to beware

of. You're going to need to take

heed of some things. And we talked about obviously,

that we're to take heed of what we're hearing, right?

And then he talked about the fact that we were to take heed

of ourselves. We need to be concerned about

ourselves. We don't need to be a believer

that's going around being concerned about what everybody

else is doing and how they may be growing or not growing or

what they may be doing in there. That's none of our concern.

Our concern is to take care of what he could take heed to

ourselves. Yes, we care for people.

Yes, we want to be there for people.

Yes, we want to help people grow in all of those things.

But we don't want to allow other people's problems to become our

problems, right? This is what I'm saying.

We don't want their issues to become our issues, right?

No, we want to take heed to ourselves.

We want to be concerned about where our spiritual walk is and

where our life is spiritually and what God is doing in and

through our lives so that we can be the best benefit for others

that we come in contact with, right?

But he says that we're to take heed unto ourselves and then

take heed unto doctrine, right? So we need to be people that

are, you know, making sure that we are hearing the right

doctrine or the truth, right? The truth of God's word.

And then he goes on to say again that we are to take heed in how

we're building our life. What are we building our life

on? What is the foundation of our

life being built on? Is our foundation being built on

the philosophies of this world? We better take heed.

We better take heed that we're not allowing traditions of man

to be built upon, right, nowhere to be building our life upon the

what unadulterated word of God, the truth of God's word, right?

And let him do it. And then we talked about where

he says that we need to take heed ourselves to be people that

will be those that will always offer forgiveness to people.

Because if you choose not to forgive, how many times 70 * 7?

He's letting us know you need to take heed because who are you to

withhold forgiveness when you've been forgiven much, right?

So we need to take heed to make sure that we're always staying

in a position of a believer that you are easily able to forgive

people and let it go and move on, right?

And that should be your heart. And so we talked about that.

Well, today I want to talk out of Hebrews chapter 2, Hebrews

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, verses one through 4. I want to start with it.

I was going to start with Hebrews 3, but I want to start

with Hebrews 2. Hebrews 2, Chapters one through

4 or not chapters one through 4, verse one through 4.

It says this. Therefore we ought to give a

more earnest heed. Say a more earnest heed.

OK, so in all the other scriptures that we read about,

he just said we need to just take heed.

But now in Hebrews 2, he's saying now we need to even take

more heed, a more earnest heed. We need to take it more serious

right now. Look what he says, that he tells

us that we ought to give a more earnest heed to the things which

you have what heard here, now he's letting us know.

Listen, we need to take heed to what we hear.

But now in Hebrews, he's reminding us you need to take

even more earnest heed in what you've heard and what you've

heard, lest any at any time we should let them slip.

That means you can sit in church for 30 something years and if

you are not giving heed to the Word of God and what you've

heard, it can slip. We are never in a place that we

can just coast. We're never in a place that we

can just say, well, I've heard enough of that.

No, he's letting us know. Listen, you need to take an even

more earnest heed to the things that you have heard so that

these things don't slip, that these things don't slip.

Say, Don't slip, don't slip, don't let them slip, lest at any

time we would let them slip. For if the Word spoken by angels

was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience

received a just recompense of reward, how shall you escape if

we neglect so great a salvation which at the first began to be

spoken by the Lord? This is important because you

have to remind yourself when we are up here as people, human

beings, pastors in the fivefold ministry, and we are speaking

forth the Word of God, it is not just our words, it is the spoken

Word of God from Him and what He is saying.

And so many people say, oh, well, that's just Pastor Earl or

oh, that's just Pastor Mike saying, no, it's not.

It is the word of God. It's the word of God and he's

letting us know it was spoken to you, what happened, You received

it and made Jesus the Lord of your life because the word was

spoken to you and revelation came on, the light came on that

you needed salvation. And he said, and it was

confirmed unto us by them that heard him, God also bearing them

witness, both with signs, wonders, with miracles, and the

gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will.

So he's letting us know there was something spoken to you for

you to be able to get into a great salvation.

But he's letting us know the things that you've heard.

You need to take earnest heed to them so that they don't slip.

They don't slip, OK. And it's so easy for things to

slip. Haven't you heard the state?

Oh, it just slipped my SO A heedless person is one that

gives no thought to what is being spoken.

I mean, I've been in situations and you tell people something

that's going to help them be able to, you know, have a

problem solved within their life, whatever the situation.

Maybe it wasn't spiritual, maybe it was spiritual, but or maybe

you gave them advice about something else and then you give

it to them and they don't take heed to it.

They just let it go in one ear and out the other.

And then they come back to you and ask you another question

because they're dealing with the same situation.

And you're like, well, let me remind you, we just had this

conversation over a year ago and I gave you the answer to your

problem. Did you not give heed to it

right? Did you not give thought to it?

Did you not do it? You see what I'm saying?

You just let it slip. You let it slip.

I mean, you've heard it. You heard me say it.

You heard me give you the answer to be able to fix your problem.

But here you are back again. You're not heeding.

You're not heeding. You're not yielding to the words

that are being spoken and given thought to Him and meditating on

Him and put Him in action in your life.

You see what I'm saying? Now let me read that out of the

Amplified Hebrews chapter 2 and verse one for this reason.

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

That is because of God's final revelation in His Son Jesus and

because of Jesus's superiority to angels.

We must pay closer attention than ever to the things that we

have heard so that we do not in any way drift away from the

truth. Truth is vital in the hour that

we are living, vital in the hour that we are living.

And we must take earnest heed to the truth.

I mean, pay more attention to it than ever.

The things that you've been taught, the things that you have

heard so that you don't let them slip, because there is a lying

spirit out there that is trying to get lots of people to

apostasize in these last days from the truth, from the faith

of the doctrine. That's why he told her.

You need to take heed yourself and the doctrine.

So if what people are saying doesn't line up to scripture,

you better take heed and not listen with an ear.

Do not be an ear for someone to funnel lies through because it

will affect your life, it will affect your life, it will infect

your life. So don't just give your ear to

anything and anyone. Amen.

We have to be smarter than this, and we would be if we actually

took heed to the Scripture that we've been reading for years and

if we're not allowing it to slip.

The things that we've heard, you see that what the things that

we've heard through doctrine, through Scripture, Amen.

So that you do not drift away from truth.

Now go to Hebrews chapter 3, Hebrews chapter 3 and verses 12

Hebrews 3 · chapter mention Hebrews 3 · chapter mention

through 15. Here we see He's letting us know

this is what happens when you are a person that will not give

earnest heed to what you've heard.

You will slip and then slipping is going to develop into what

we're getting ready to see right here in Hebrews chapter 3.

Hebrews 3 · chapter mention

This is the process. Hebrews chapter 3, verses 12

Hebrews 3:12–15

through 15. Take heed, brethren.

Who is He talking to? Believers.

This is very important that you realize this.

Take heed, brethren. He's talking to the believers.

He's talking to, brethren, he's talking to the church in

Hebrews, lest there be any of you with an evil heart of

unbelief. And when you look at this word,

what does it say in departing from the living God?

When you choose to be a person that will not give earnest heed

to what you've heard, earnest heed to yourself, earnest heed

to truth when you allow yourself to slip from the truth that you

know which the Bible says. I don't even have this in but

see the Word lives in me. The Bible says that he who knows

what to do, that means you've heard in Scripture what to do

and you didn't give heed to it, so it became what to you sin?

So a person who will not take earnest heed to what they've

heard to themselves through doctrine, through teaching,

through the truth of God's Word, if we allow it to slip, then

it's going to move us into a posture of unbelief.

So I don't care if you're sitting in church and you keep

hearing, if you're not doing what you've heard, you're

slipping. You're slipping.

And where are you slipping into unbelief because you don't

believe the word that you've actually heard.

You're slipping into unbelief. All right.

So then what does he say? And that you can begin to depart

from the living God, but exhort one another daily while we still

have today, while we can still call today, today we are to

exhort you, we are to encourage you, we are to admonish you.

And all of you that are mature believers are should be doing

that to everyone else you're coming in contact with.

You ought to be right in a position that you are exhorting

one another every day as long as we still have the day least any

of you what become hardened. So when you get into a posture

of slipping and not doing what you've heard, you move into

unbelief. But as a believer, it's more

dangerous because you don't just move into unbelief.

You start hardening. You start hardening, You start

hardening yourself through what? The deceitfulness of sin, of

sin, because you know what to do and you're choosing to allow

yourself to not do what you've heard.

And you've moved over into unbelief.

You move over into a place of sin and you begin to allow

yourself to become hardened through being deceived that you

think because you're here, you're still hearing.

But you're, we know what James says, Be ye, what doers of the

word that you hear. Be ye not hearers only, but be

ye doers of what you heard. So this is very important.

Being hearers of the word is not good enough because you have to

do it. And if you don't do it, you'll

slip from even the things that you heard.

Then you'll walk into a place of sin and deception and unbelief

and begin to start hard. That hardening process will

begin to start happening. For we are made partakers of

Christ. So he's reminding you, listen,

you've been made a partaker of Christ.

If we hold what the beginning of our confidence steadfast until

the end. What was the beginning when we

got born again, when we were in a place of faith when we heard

the word and we became obedient and we became a partaker of

Christ because he was, you know, talking about this great

salvation that we've been given in chapter 2.

And so he's moved on over. He says, listen, you've been

partakers of Christ. And if we hold to the beginning

of our confidence, what steadfast until the end.

While it is said today, if you will hear His voice hearted, not

your hearts as in provocation, you see that here is voice, here

is voice. Another thing you can say is

hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.

Hear what the Spirit is saying through the word of God.

Obey it, do it, don't let it slip.

Be a person that's going to take heed to what's being taught, to

what's being said, and I'm going to apply it to my life and I'm

not going to let it slip. I'm going to actually stay a

person that's constantly in a position of faith and doing

God's word so that I don't fall into unbelief.

And we know this whole chapter in chapter 3 is talking about

given the example of the children of Israel when they

were in the wilderness. And let's read that real quick

just as a reminder because He let us know that they were a

type and shadow of what we could look at in the New Testament as

an example for our lives. It doesn't matter that they were

not born again and have the Spirit of God living in them.

He still used them as an example for a believer to take heed of.

Look what He says, and I'm going to read it out of the amplified.

I'm going to read chapter 3, verses 7 to 19.

It says. Therefore, just as the Holy

Spirit says today, if you'll hear His voice, remember we're

talking about taking heed to what you hear.

Do not harden your hearts as your Father's did in the

rebellion of Israel at Meribah on the day of testing in the

wilderness where your father's tried me by testing my

forbearance and tolerance and saw my works for 40 years and

found and I stood their test. Therefore I was angered with

this generation and said that they always go astray where in

their heart and their art. That's why he's saying listen.

That's why he's given this example.

You've got to, you've got to not let your heart become hardened

because of unbelief. And they did not know my ways

nor become listen to this progressively better and more

intimately acquainted. So they could have known him

better and been more acquainted with him in the wilderness.

And they chose to stay in rebellion and not hear His voice

and harden their hearts towards him, trying to speak to them

while they were there. And then what did he say?

He said in verse 11. So I swore an oath in my wrath.

They shall not enter My rest, the promised land.

Take care, brothers and sisters, that there not be any of you, a

wicked and unbelieving heart. You can have a heart that has

been recreated in Christ, but because of not doing the word,

slipping from what you've heard, continuing to walk into a place

of unbelief and sin and harden your heart.

And this is what it's saying, an unbelieving heart which refuses

to trust and rely on the Lord, a heart that turns away from the

living God. You can be a believer and fall

away from the living God. And that is the progression of

how it works. You see that and then he goes on

to say, but continually. This is why I say encourage one

another every day as long as it is called today and that there

is an opportunity so that none of you will be hardened into

settled rebellion. Rebellion is not just saying I

don't want God. Rebellion is is not doing what

you know God has said to do. See, we just think rebellion is

all this heinous stuff that people do.

Again, no. Rebellion is when a believer

sits here and knows what to do and refuses to do it.

It's sin. It's rebellion.

You can still have rebellion in the house.

Because there's people that will choose not to forgive when we

know God said you have to forgive.

That's rebellion. It's rebellion.

You have to call it what it is. It's not just some person

running around, you know, doing drugs and doing all.

No rebellion in the house is when you know what to do and you

choose not to do it. You're disobeying God.

You're rebelling against what He has said, and when you

constantly do that, you become deceived and you become

hardened, an unbelieving heart which refuses to trust.

You're refusing to trust that God's Word can actually pull you

out of whatever it is He's telling you to do.

You see, you refuse to trust Him.

You refuse to rely on Him, and so verse 13 says, but

continually encourage 1A day at one another.

Then it goes on in there and it says so that none of you will be

hardened into settled rebellion by the deceitfulness of sin.

It's cleverness, right? For we believers have become

partakers of Christ sharing and all that the Messiah has for us.

If only we hold firm our newborn cons confidence.

What is our newborn confidence? The day we got born again and we

were a babe in Christ, That's that newborn confidence.

That's your great day of salvation.

And so he's reminding us, listen, you better hold on with

confidence and faith, just as you did on the day that you

trusted him and believed him that He could save you and

deliver you from hell. Rich originally LED us to him

until the end. While it is said today, while

there is still opportunity, if you hear his voice and do not

harden your heart, as they provoked me in the rebellion in

in the desert. For we were excuse me, for we

were they who heard and yet provoked him with rebellious

acts. Was it not all those who came

out of Egypt led by Moses and with whom he was angry for 40

years? Was it not those who sinned,

whose dead bodies were scattered in the desert?

And to him he did swear an oath that they would not enter into

rest, but to those who disobeyed, those who would not

listen to His word. So we see that they were not

able to enter into His rest or the promised land because of

unbelief and unwillingness to trust in God.

So he's letting us know here we must take earnest heed.

We must take heed. We must not be people that know

what to do and choose not to do it because we will begin to

slip. We will begin to become

deceived. We will begin to partake in sin

and become hardened in our heart.

And those people are the ones that are going to fall away in

the last days. They're going to fall away from

the faith. That's what that means.

They're falling away from the faith.

They don't believe God. They may come to church and sit

here religiously, but they don't do a thing that he says to do.

They don't do a thing. OK?

So we have to take heed. We have to recognize this

because, you know, we've been talking a lot out of First

1 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

Timothy chapter 4, where he says the Spirit speaketh

expressively, that in the latter time some will depart from the

faith. And the reason why they can

depart is because they have been hardened to the truth and they

will become deceived and by the lives of the enemy, they'll be

seduced easily because they refuse to even do the truth that

they've heard. So they'll be easily swayed,

they'll be easily seduced. They'll be easily able to be

talked out of their faith in God.

And who are they being talked out of it with?

The enemy with other people. So I told you that that

religious stuff didn't work. I told you that wouldn't work

with your marriage. I told you no.

He's trying to get you off the truth of God's Word, and He's

trying to get you to rebel against what God has said that

He can do for you. If you'll trust completely in

Him, if you'll have faith completely in Him, if you'll

actually do the things that He tells you to do, then you'll see

these things happen in your life.

Second Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 3 says this.

2 Thessalonians 2 · chapter mention

Let no one in any way deceive or entrap you, for that day will

not come unless the apostasy comes first.

And that is the great rebellion, the abandonment of the faith by

professed Christians. This is what's going to happen.

This is what is happening in the hour that we're living, people

that have professed Jesus as Lord, as a Christian, they got

into rebellion and they have pasta sized for their faith and

now publicly proclaimed they're no longer a Christian and a

believer. Many people I know that have

done that. And then you have the people

that say, well, they really weren't a believer.

Yes, they were because I don't believe Scripture can uphold a

once saved, you're always saved philosophy or doctrine that is a

doctrine. Scripture doesn't uphold that

you can reject, denounce, harden yourself, turn away, walk away

from the truth that you know you can do it.

And I know people who have. And so we have to then be people

that recognize there's plenty of warnings in his scripture for us

as believers that say we must take heed and many and multiple

ways of taking heed to ourselves, right?

And so then he goes on to say in Luke 18, because we've said this

Scripture multiple times, This is why, you know, Jesus says, I

tell you that he will avenge them speedily.

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, will he find faith

in the earth? That's what he's coming back

for, faith. Will he find faith in the earth?

Will he find actually a group of people, his body, his church,

that have faith, true, unadulterated faith.

And that's what he's looking for.

And we have to be believers that say, yes, I believe God not just

in Word, but in deeds. I do what I've heard to do in

every circumstance in my life. I may fail, I may not be

perfect, but I get back up and I put the word to work in my life

again so that it don't slip and I don't become deceived or

rebellious or hardened towards what I know I'm supposed to do

as a believer through the word of God.

Amen and see you as a believer. If you have the word of God

because you've meditated in and day in and day out, you have it

richly dwelling on the inside of you.

How can you not do what the word says?

It boggles my mind. If you know what God's Word has

said and you say you read it every day and not let's put the

cherry on the top and you're filled with the Holy Ghost and

then you still don't do it. You are rebellious.

That is just the bottom line. You don't want to do it.

You don't want to do it. Hallelujah, you don't want to do

it and blows my mind. I'm like, how could you not want

to do it? I mean, I just want to do

everything that he says so that I am taking heed myself, right?

Why would you not want to do it when it's guaranteed promise and

victory in your circumstance and in your situation and in your

life, it's guaranteed a promise. Amen.

For those who will believe and those who will do what the word

says to do. Now look at Hebrews chapter 10

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

back to good old Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 38.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

It says now the just shall what live by faith shall live by

faith. But if any man, what draws back?

So here's another scripture that shows that just because you may

have lived by faith, you can draw back and not live by it any

longer. You can draw back, you can slip

away. You can pull back from doing

what you may have once done earlier in your walk with the

Lord. And so he's saying, listen,

don't be one that's going to draw back.

Why? Because my soul will have no

pleasure in him. God has no pleasure in a person

that will pull back and draw back from their faith in Him.

You see that? Now let's look at another.

Take heed. Here we see in Luke 2134 it says

this take heed to yourself again.

We already read it in First Timothy chapter 4 where we

1 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

talked about, he said take heed to yourself and to your

doctrine. Now here's a second confirmation

where he says now you need to take heed to yourself again.

Say again, So he's letting us know, and you know what this is?

This is Scripture letting us know that God cannot do this for

you. He says you are to take heed.

He's not going to do it for you. You are to take heed.

In all these scenarios that we just talked about through

Scripture, You're the one that has to take heed.

God can't do it for you. And so here in this one, he

says, listen, take heed yourselves, lest at any time

your hearts be overcharged with drunkenness and the cares of

life. I don't know how to pronounce

that other word. Y'all can say it.

Dissipation. OK.

My. Yeah.

The suffer it. What is that word?

How do you pronounce it? Huh.

Surfing. I'm just joking.

How do you pronounce it? Nobody's saying it.

Surfeding. Surfeding.

OK, OK, I get it now. I understand it.

OK. And drunkenness and the cares of

life so that the day that day won't come upon you.

What? Unaware, right?

Unaware. What day is he talking about?

The day of Christ return so we can get, so he's telling us,

listen, we need to take heed ourselves and make sure we're

not in a position of sin as a believer because the day that he

returns, we could be caught unaware.

I don't want to be unaware of the trumpet because I don't want

to. I don't want to have to live

through the tribulation. I want to be taken up out of

here, so I'm not going to put myself as a believer in any

situation that's going to bring what my heart being overcharged

with drunkenness and the cares of life and that word that we

said so that that day won't come on me unaware.

See that? So he's letting us know we need

to take heed so that we're not caught unaware and actually be

left behind because I believe you will be left behind as a

believer if you're unaware. So we have to be aware because

that's what he means by take heed.

Remember, beware, have discernment, take heed.

Don't be heedless. Don't be thoughtless about this

thing. Think about it, meditate on it,

be able to discern what's going on through scripture and what's

going on with what we're seeing take place in lives, right?

And don't get caught in the drunkenness.

Now, this is not just talking about drunk with alcohol, though

it is for all those that still believe in drinking.

As a Christian we do not one because of this scripture

because he tells us to be sober minded and not intoxicated.

And that's what this scripture is talking about.

You're so intoxicated, not just with alcohol, which it does mean

with that as well, but you are so intoxicated with the cares of

the world, the deceitfulness of riches, the busyness of life,

the things that you have to do just to survive in life, work,

you know, all the things that you get so intoxicated you can't

even think straight. This is what it's talking about

as well, but it also isn't talking about intoxicated with

alcohol. OK, so I don't want anything

now. When I was a teenager, I didn't,

you know, I want, I wanted to drink.

I wanted to do all those things. I wanted to be intoxicated.

But when I got born again, I wanted to have a sober mind and

a clear mind because I know what I did when I was like that.

You'd wake up and not even know what you had done, right?

So this is what he's saying. Listen, don't be deceived, don't

be deluded. You need to be sober minded.

You need to not allow things of this world, the cares of life,

all these things to get you intoxicated that you are caught

unaware of his return. Right.

OK, now look at Luke 21. This is good.

I know this is heavy teaching, and it's not, you know, popular

teaching. But guess what?

It is? It's truth.

It's truth. I'm going to even get closer to

you, Luke. Oh, I want to read that in the

Amplified. That's what it is.

I want to read Luke 21 in the Amplified.

It says be on a guard so that your hearts are not weighed down

and depressed with the giddiness of debauchery and the nausea of

self indulgence and the worldly worries of life.

And then that day when the Messiah returns will not come on

you suddenly like a trap, for it will come upon all those who

live on the face of all the earth.

So be alert, keep on alert at all times, be attentive and be

ready, praying that you may have strength and ability to be found

worthy and to escape all these things that are getting ready to

come and take place. And stand in the presence of the

Son of Man at His coming. See that.

So he's letting us know. Listen, we need to take heed.

We need to recognize the signs of the times.

We need to take heed ourselves. We need to, you know, be a

person that is expecting and ready and staying sober minded

in these last days and not letting things overtake us.

Amen. Now look at this is our last one

we're going to talk about and then we'll close.

And this one is very important because I'm, I'm starting to get

very concerned about no one heeding this scripture.

Matthew 1810. Take heed that you despise not

one of these little ones. For I say unto you, that in

heaven there are angels always. Behold the face of the Father,

which is in heaven, and he's talking about here being a

stumbling block to little ones. And we're not just talking about

little ones as children, though He is.

This is in context. I I don't know why I didn't put

that in full context, but I didn't so y'all can read it.

Despise not one of these little ones.

Little ones is. It could be a child, but it also

can be an immature believer. And you as a believer must take

heed to not being a stumbling block to a babe in Christ.

So that means we should be living what the standard is in

the Word of God before them so that we don't become a stumbling

block them and cause them to sin or cause them to have doubt in

God or to cause them not to be able to trust in the

establishment of God's Word and what He has ordained through His

Word being a stumbling block. And he actually said woe to

those who are stumbling blocks, that you might as well tie a

millstone around your neck and throw yourself into the lake.

If you call somebody to stumble, what does that mean?

Somebody to doubt God's word, Someone to think, well, you're a

hypocrite. Why would I want to live for the

Lord? You're living a life of sin.

You're a stumbling and this is to a new believer or even a

child, because a child looks up, looks up to us.

And we and This is why I say the most dangerous thing as a

believer in Christian marriages is that you are upholding the

standard of what your children are hearing in the word in the

church, because they'll know whether or not you're living it

because they're hearing it and they're thinking, well, Wyatt,

mom and dad doing that and you're being a stumbling block

to your own children. And This is why a lot of

children don't want anything to do with God, right?

And it's your fault. You were the stumbling block.

You were to your own child's life.

Look at Mark Mark Chapter 9 and verse 42.

Mark 9 · chapter mention

Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe and

trust in me to stumble, that is to sin or lose faith.

That's this is the amplified reads it like that.

It would be better for him if a heavy millstone 1 requiring a

donkey strength to turn it were hung around his neck and he were

thrown into the sea. There it is.

I already said it, but here it is for you to see with your only

eyes, because it's not me who's saying it.

It's the word of God that's saying it right.

So it's very important that we take heed ourselves and, and,

and we take heed to saying, am I being a stumbling block to

someone in the church? Am I saying something I

shouldn't be saying that's going to cause them to fail?

Am I saying something that's going to lead them down a wrong

Rd. of belief or wrong path or causing them to doubt God's word

because they're not seeing it in my life because I'm saying it's

not working. So we have to be responsible and

take heed. Now look here at Romans chapter

Romans 14 · chapter mention

14 and this is what we're going to close with Romans 1413.

Then let us no more criticize and blame and pass judgment on

one another, but rather decide and endeavor never to put a

stumbling block or an obstacle or an the, the King James

Version says, or an occasion for your brother to fail or a

hindrance in the way of a brother.

We have a responsibility that if we come to this house and we're

saying we're believers and we're knowing what we should be doing

in Scripture when we choose not to do it, and someone that may

be more, less immature than us in the faith sees us not uphold

the Scripture properly, it's going to cause them possibly to

stumble. And you're going to be the one

that's going to be held accountable for that.

That's going to have to stand before God for that.

He said it'd be better for you to go jump into the sea with a

rope and a rock around your neck than to call someone to stumble.

And I'm seeing it happen. Seeing it happen.

And as pastors over the flock, we have a responsibility to

protect the little ones. And so we have to bring

correction to the ones that know better and say, what are you

doing? They're a new believer.

Can you not discern where they're at spiritually?

Why are you telling them that? Amen.

And do you know that's good? Because we're the ones that are

the accountable to that to watch over people's soul to, to, to

make sure that they are going to be able to grow properly and

nothing's going to be able to hinder them for properly seeing

the truth of God's word. That is safety.

That is the pastor coming in and protecting the flock when we

have to bring correction to people and say you, you've been

in the church 10 years. What in the world are you doing

in front of this person and acting like you don't even know

what the Word says? We love you, but you ought to

know better. You know what to do.

Why are you doing this? You know, come on, make an

adjustment. And you know what else?

You need to go ask that person to forgive you.

We've done it to protect little ones.

You need to go ask them to forgive you because what you did

just could cause them to stumble and actually has caused them to

stumble and question their faith.

Question and trust in their trust and ability to believe

God's Word. Amen.

And he lets us know, listen, we all have these responsibilities.

We're all supposed to take heed to these things.

It's not just our responsibility, it's your

responsibility. And as a believer, it's your

responsibility as you read and we read in the Scripture that

every day we, as long as we have a day, we ought to be

encouraging one another, strengthening one another,

building one another up. What in faith and in God's

truth, and speaking the truth in love, and actually doing the

Word so that we don't deceive ourselves lest we slip and fall

away?