Institutionalized Giving (Tithe)

 

Institutionalized Giving (Tithe)

Well, praise Jesus today, everyone. I wanted to speak a bit today about institutionalized giving. It's the idea that you need to pay an organization or a club of other men 10% of your income as the Bible speaks of. Now the Christians use one particular verse over and over again to justify the biblical concept of tithing, and they make people feel very guilty for not paying their 10% of their income to an organization. They do this even to the extent that they will say you cannot pick the group of people that you want to give to. It can't be your mom, it can't be your dad, it can't be your brother. It has to be an institutionalized, legitimate organization in their eyes. It has to be a 501c3 church, a legitimate club. So I want to bring out three main points that will help expose what is going on around the deceptions of this whole institutionalized giving and this whole guilt tithe that is happening in church. Because there's a lot of Christians that really mean good. They really do want to see the blessings of God. They really do want God's blessings to be poured out in their life. They want to give, but Satan is fleecing the flock, and he is using a lot of Christians' good attitudes to get their money and use their money for evil. And that is what I want to expose today. I don't want to discourage anyone from giving, but I do want people to see the truth that if they are part of this institutionalized guilt giving of tithe, your arm is being twisted and you're being manipulated by Satan. So here are three really good points that I want you to take into consideration. These points aren't in any specific order. They're just three points regarding this institutionalized giving.

Point number one, the verse that we find that the churches are always quoting is Malachi chapter 3, somewhere around verse 8-12. And keep in mind that this verse is Old Testament. And almost 100%, if not 100% of the Christian organizations that are promoting this idea that tithe is biblical and that you need to give your 10%, these exact same Christians say they support the New Covenant and that they are not Old Testament Christians. They are not under the law of Moses. They like to say that they are once saved, always saved, we're not saved by works of the law such as the Old Testament. But then when it comes down to tithing in particular, they pull out this one commandment from the Old Testament, not the New, and then they make their congregation feel guilty as if they're going to hell if they're not keeping this one particular Old Testament law out of Malachi. So obviously guys, that is hypocrisy. So that's point number one. I want to read this verse to you because it is true that God will bless us if we tithe, but the way the Christian church, the institutionalized guilt givers and guilt receivers are asking for this is out of manipulation from Satan. So let's read it.

This is the verse that they use to make you feel guilty. This is found in the Old Testament prophet Malachi chapter 3. I'm starting in verse eight. It says,

“Will a man rob God?

Yet you have robbed Me!”

The churches love this because they want you to think that you're robbing them if you're not giving to them on a weekly basis your 10%.

“But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’

In tithes and offerings.

You are cursed with a curse.”

That's also what they want you to think. You're cursed, brother, if you're not paying your tithe to our church.

“For you have robbed Me,

Even this whole nation.

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,

That there may be food in My house,

And try Me now in this,”

Says the Lord of hosts,

“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven

And pour out for you such blessing

That there will not be room enough to receive it.”

 So you can just see how these manipulators fleece the flock with this verse. So if you're not paying tithe, they say you're robbing God. If you don't know how you're robbing God, it's obviously because you're not paying your tithe. If you're not going above and beyond 10% and doing your offerings, you're also robbing God. So not only do we want you giving 10% of your income, we want you giving maybe $1000 every other week just to support the pastor because he deserves it. So they make you feel super guilty if you're not, but look, if you are paying your tithe and giving offerings, then God will bless you. He will give you everything that you need.

So you can see it's extremely manipulative. Obviously God wants us to give us, you know, he wants our whole heart and he will bless us if we are giving our whole heart to him. But clearly the Christian church is making people feel guilty and they've institutionalized this Bible verse out of complete hypocrisy because this is Old Testament, which they say they don't believe in. They say they're a new covenant and anything of the Old Testament law is a work of the law for you to try to do. So clearly point number one exposes the Christian hypocrisy.

So if this wasn't enough, if this first point is not enough, that it's hypocritical, that brings me to my second point, which is that Jesus Himself specifically talked about the hypocrisy of tithing institutionally. And I want to read for you specifically what Jesus said, because it is exactly what the Christian churches do today to fleece their flock. And it's so ridiculous that it's hard to understand why anyone in church doesn't see the plain truth right in front of their nose when Jesus says it loud and clear. He obviously speaks against this institutionalized guilt kind of tithe and giving. But I want to read to you what Jesus says. This is found in Mark chapter 7, and I'm going to read you starting in verse 6.

6He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘This people honors Me with their lips,

But their heart is far from Me.

7And in vain they worship Me,

Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

So these people teach it's a doctrine to tithe, but it's actually a commandment of men, not a commandment of God. So then Jesus says,

8For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”

9He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. 10For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 11But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban”—’ (that is, a gift to God), 12then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, 13making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

So do you see what Jesus is pointing out here? The Christian church, they say, any extra money you have, you need to give it as tithes and offerings to the church. So you might say to your own parents, “You know, I know that you need money to pay your electrical bill. I know you need money to take out your trash, but I can't give that to you because my church wants my 10% and I don't have any money to help you take out the trash or to help you with your medical bills. I can't help you with that, mother and father, because any extra money I have needs to go to my church to pay tithe and my offerings”. So you make the natural laws of God of helping your parents and your family of no effect by the traditions of men, of giving tithes and offerings to the church. So Jesus spoke specifically about this hypocrisy and the Pharisees were doing this all the time. In fact, they would make people feel guilty if they were helping their own parents because you're not helping out the church. That money that you're getting a little bit extra should be Corban. You should be giving it as tithe and offering. You shouldn't be helping your natural neighbor or your natural children. You shouldn't be helping your blood. You shouldn't be giving to people that you just think need money out of love. Oh, no, no. You need to be giving institutionally out of guilt. That is, I mean, if that doesn't get your attention, I'm not totally sure what will because this rebuke was specifically to the religious order and the Christians today are doing ironically the exact same thing. So ridiculously identical that it should just make you scratch your head. How Christians don't see this? How do they feel so compelled to tithe these organizations and not be helping out their family when Jesus Himself clearly speaks about this whole Corban and when He clearly rebukes the Pharisees for this? I'm not sure how deceived they are, although I am because I was in their position at once. People get very deceived by listening to people and not to Jesus.

 So guys, this brings me to the third point. One more thing before we get to the third point, though, about Jesus rebuking the Pharisees. You can also see His rebuke specifically against the institutionalized tithes and offerings in Matthew chapter 23. Jesus speaks quite specifically and directly to this topic of tithing to institutions. Jesus says, Matthew 23, I'm going to start in 23. He says,

23“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

So Jesus goes on and on about this sort of hypocrisy. Now there are some people that say, well, I'm already paying my parents way. You know, I'm giving enough to them so I think that I can pay my tithe. Man, you need to be warned where you're giving your money because these church organizations are robbing you. They will rob you and make you feel guilty. I would pray and just ask the Lord where you need to give your money because the Lord has put people in each of our lives that are naturally in our life and the people that want to take your money, these institutions are not part of the natural laws that God set up. Unatural laws are these institutions and these governing authorities that say you need to put your family underneath our teachers and our leaders and we will control your household and we will control your money. But the very natural laws are the natural laws of love that God put in families, Loving your wife, loving your children, taking care of things around the house. So this is the third point in regards to this whole deception around institutionalized giving. The third point is it's against natural laws of love to support an unnatural law of institutionalized giving.

So clearly the people that are naturally in your life are the ones that were born of your own blood. So Jesus calls us to love our own family, to love our own wives, to love our neighbor as ourselves. But he's never said go out and find an institutionalized religion and make sure you join the club and pay enough money to keep your membership up. That's not natural, guys. So I hope that these three points can open someone's eyes to the truth. Maybe you're wondering how you should spend your money, how you should give and maybe you've been made to feel very guilty by the devil for not giving to an institutionalized religion. So don't let Satan try to manipulate your finances or your readiness to serve God outside of the institution. I want to just encourage you to give where you felt led out of love, not out of manipulation or guilt.

In the world everyone tries to make you feel guilty or pressured. That is what business people do all the time, salesmen all the time, they try to make you feel guilty or pressured and that's the same thing the false institutionalized church has been doing for years. Don't fall into their prey, don't be manipulated by them any longer. Give as the Lord gives you and of course He will pour out His blessings on you as the prophet Malachi says. But don't let that verse be a form of manipulation any longer by these false institutionalized religions.

So that's all I have today guys. I want to pray for those of you that want to hear from the Lord and want to be led by Him, that want to be set free from false guilt, false religion and the bonds of the world.

 “Lord Jesus I pray for your true church, for those sons and daughters of your kingdom that want to be guided in their finances and in their hearts and just in their lives in general to go the right way. I pray that they will not be distracted by false religion or the lies of Satan or those that want to steal their money in order to control their life. I pray they can give their hearts and their minds and their souls fully to you Lord Jesus that they be led in righteousness and that they would take back what is rightfully yours or rightfully theirs that you have given them so that they can use these things that you have given them for your kingdom purpose and no longer for the purpose of the devil. I pray you unshackle people and set them free in your name that they can be free to serve you as your bond servants living for you Lord Jesus all the days of their life. So I pray for my brothers and sisters that are part of the true church. I pray in your name Lord Jesus. Amen.”

Fear God or Die

 

Fear God or Die

Well, praise Jesus today, everyone. I have just a quick message that I wanted to speak about today, and it's in regard to fearing God vs. fearing men.

There are not too many men today that fear God, not many Christians that really fear God. Most Christians fear people. They fear their peers, their contemporaries. They fear what people think, and there's a reason for that. Likely the people they fear, they feel that they are the ones supporting them. So they don't want to undermine those that support them, even if their support comes from an evil area. So they will never stand up for the truth at their workplace because they fear they might get fired. They won't stand up for the truth around their parents, their family members, because they might be outcasts in the family. And at the end of the day, they fear men and what men think way more than they fear God.

Now a lot of Christians I know belittle or they speak down against those who have the fear of God in them. They say, we shouldn't really fear God, we should love Him. And we shouldn't fear going to hell. We shouldn't fear because, you know, we should have love in us. And they say the fear of God is only the beginning of wisdom. And they say, perfect love casts out fear. So they pull these Bible verses out of the Scripture to try to convince you that you don't really need to fear God anyway. But the hypocrisy of it all is, these same Christians that say that fear men to no end. That is why they always compromise with their religion to what people will say. They're always molding their religion to the pattern of the world and not to what God thinks of them. And that proves that they have fear of men over the fear of God.

But the interesting thing here is, Jesus Himself, it says in the Scriptures, had the fear of God. Now Christians will say, well, perfect love drives out fear. So if you are made perfect, you won't fear God anymore. You don't have to. It's just love. And they go through the words of the Apostle Paul and all these different Scriptures that say you don't really have to fear God. Well wasn't Jesus perfect? Yet the Scriptures say He had the fear of God in Him. Did Jesus ever sin? No, He didn't, yet He had the fear of God in Him. And that's what the Scripture says. If you don't believe me, go look it up for yourself. It's Isaiah chapter 11, specifically verse 3. It speaks prophetically that Jesus would have the fear of God in Him. And Jesus was perfect. He was without spot and without blemish.

So if Jesus being the Messiah and Lord and perfect Lamb of God, had this reverent fear in Him of His Father in Heaven, then how is it that we can say "We don't need fear. We're being made perfect and then once we're perfect enough. We don't have to fear God. We don't have to really obey Him. We can just know we're safe and secure and going to Heaven. And it doesn't really matter what God thinks anyways, because we can twist His arm at the end of our life to let us go into Heaven because,  we prayed a prayer years ago"?

That's obviously rubbish. It's a false doctrine. We have to fear God and we have to put this into practice. I was thinking about this the other day, how the fear of men leads so many people. They call it peer pressure in school. So when you're in junior high and high school, the word is peer pressure. You feel peer pressure to do things and that is fear. You fear that people might not think you're cool. And so you dress a certain way. You fear when you get older that you might not be intellectual enough. So you read more books or you research certain things so you don't look ignorant. And obviously we don't want to be uneducated. A lot of people are led by fear of their contemporaries or their peers or the people at their workplace. And at the end of the day, they care a whole lot more about what the people around them think of them, you know, ten times as much as they care of what God thinks. If people were to really care what God thought of them more than anything, they would be scared to be looking at pornography. They would be fearful to be lusting after the neighbor's wife because they know God would smite them, that He could send them to hell for that. They would fear that God has all power and all authority and He could deal with them in a horrible way if they didn't serve Him and obey Him.

So both of these things have to lead us as Christians, fear and love. Jesus truly had the fear of God in Him even though He wasn't thinking about disobeying God. And so if the prophet Isaiah wrote this about Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, then we also have to fear God because if we don't daily work out our salvation with fear and trembling, then we're bound to become lukewarm, complacent, not caring about our neighbor, not loving others as ourself, not picking up our cross, all those things that we need to do as a Christian we will not do, if we're just thinking, “well I don't need to fear God, I was saved 20 years ago and now I can just sit back and do whatever I want, it doesn't matter, God has to let me into heaven.”

See most Christians have absolutely no fear of God and it shows in our towns and in our cities and in our nation. People really, really care what others think of them but they don't care what God thinks and that's going to be the demise of a whole lot more families and nations, it's going to be the demise of our world. The whole world cares about what people think but they don't care about what God thinks. So I want to encourage you to get the fear of God in you. Jesus Christ has the power and authority to send you to hell or to welcome you into his kingdom so you better get to know him. And whether you think that is a good thing or a bad thing, if you are scared of God and you know that you're on the wrong side of the law, if that leads you to repent, that is a good thing but then don't stop there, then start having the reverent kind of fear towards God to loving him.

You know as parents, our children should fear us but they should also love us. There are parents and there are governments and ruling authorities that only rule by fear. And they make everyone their subjects and they force people to do things out of fear. And fear is ultimately not as powerful as love. It also turns people away and it makes people hate a tyrant government. So ultimately what needs to lead us is the love of God, loving our neighbor as ourselves, but of course we need to have a reverent fear towards God knowing that he has all power and all authority and that he is a just God.

If we don't believe that God is just, and we think that he is just love, only love, then we will be like the complacent Christians that think that we can go on sinning and that there is no, that God doesn't have morality, that he's going to let paedophiles into heaven, to be molesting people in heaven and it's absolutely ridiculous. What Christians think will be allowed into heaven because they're allowing it into their church. So God is just. He will not allow perversion, he will not allow hatred, murderous thoughts and impure heart into his kingdom. So we have to fear God but then after we learn to fear him, we have to learn to love him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and walk forward in faith with him and teaching others to do the same.

Do we fear God? Do we love Him, and do we obey Him? Or do we just have a love for this world, We just have a carnal love for those in this world, the sort of love that says, I will love you as long as you love me back? I will give you money as long as you give me money back. I'll be your friend as long as you do good things to me back. Remember Jesus said, what reward do you have in heaven if you just invite rich people who can pay you back? But when you invite people over as your guests, then invite people that can't repay you, the blind, the poor, those that are lame and then you will have treasure in heaven. We want our treasure to be in heaven because where our heart is, there our treasure will also be. We want our treasure to be in Jesus, in eternity, not with things that are perishing in this world.

So we got to be introspective with this and look into our own hearts. Do we really fear God at the end of the day? Can you say with certainty that you fear God more than anything and you love him more than anything? Or are you being led by peer pressure? Are you being led by fear of what people think? Are you being led by ultimately the fear of men? So look into your own heart and into your own life and answer that question. And if you realize you do have the fear of men like how most Christians do, then you need to repent of that and say, “Lord Jesus, help me to fear you and to love you more than anything so that I can be set on the right path, and not on the path that leads to destruction that most of this world is on.”

So I want to pray for those of you that want the true fear of God in you that you may be set on the right path. “So Lord Jesus, I pray for those that are part of your true church, for those that are wanting to come out of the world. I pray that the fear of God will enter them, the same kind of fear that was in you, Lord Jesus, when you were walking this earth. I pray that you can pull your sons and daughters out of the world, purge them of worldliness and ungodliness and let them be separate and severed from those of the world that are polluted with sin and ungodliness. Let them be separate because we know that you are separating the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares. Let us be separate from this world so that we can follow you and obey you in complete righteousness and with the fear of God and the love of God in us that we may walk in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life and endure with you to the very end. May more children of yours come out and be separate from the world so that they can proclaim the truth and be salt and light and bear good fruit for you. In your name we pray, Lord Jesus. Amen.”

Hypocrisy of Church Denominations

 

Hypocrisy of Church Denominations

We’ll praise Jesus today, brothers and sisters. I wanted to make a message about just the hypocrisy of church and the denominations that are in the world today. A certain brother brought this up to me again, and I've made some messages regarding this in the past, but this certain brother also brought up some very good points which all of us have seen that are Christians, but many of us look over. And so what I wanted to touch on in this message is the hypocrisy regarding denominations that in the Bible is also called sectarianism. And we know from the Scriptures that Jesus condemned this, and so did Paul, and it's quite obvious. And anyone that is a Christian that knows their Bible, such as a Catholic or any Protestant, should know this if they've ever read their Bible. So it's pretty hypocritical that we have so many church denominations and pastors and the leaders in church uphold this as if God wants it, yet in their own Scriptures, obviously, Jesus condemned denominations, sectarianism, and so did the Apostle Paul.

I want to point this out to you because so many people are deceived into thinking they cannot give up the fellowship with their denomination, they think that they have to be in church giving tithe, and all of these things are actually clearly manipulation, fleecing the flock. The pastors are hirelings who make their congregation feel like they have to go and be loyal to them, to their denomination, and they encourage people to be baptized only because baptism in our modern times equates church membership. So the more people that a church baptizes, automatically they become members of that church, and of course you have to go through their doctrination, their Bible study, to become a member. I also, when I was very young, about 8 years old, was baptized into a certain church. It was technically non-denominational, but it was essentially Baptist, and of course I became a member of that church due to baptism. That is pretty much how it works, but interestingly enough, this idea that if we are baptized under a certain man, we're part of that denomination, goes all the way back to like 2,000 years ago when that happened during the time of the Apostle Paul, and this was strictly forbidden. The Apostle Paul spoke against it clearly and loudly, and Jesus also spoke against this, yet the ridiculous and hypocritical thing is, the churches today still partake in this hypocrisy to no end.

So let's get started in talking about this topic, and hopefully your ears and eyes can be opened to the truth, so that you can see the difference between the true children of God that have love in their hearts for the truth, versus the wolves in sheep's clothing that are pretending to be leading God's flock, yet they're really just fleecing the flock and hirelings.

So the first thing I want to bring up is the fact that there are over 45,000 sects of Christianity globally. So the three main big sects of Christianity, they narrow down to basically three different groups or three different churches, and it would be mainline Protestant, it would be Protestant Evangelical, and then of course Catholic, Roman Catholic. Now under each of these big organizations are hundreds and hundreds of other smaller denominations, but pretty much all of the sects come down to you are either Catholic, that has a hierarchy that comes down to the Roman Catholic Church and their priests, or you're Protestant. The Protestants, as we know, they broke off from the Roman Catholic Church, the reason why they're called Protestant is because they were in protest against the Catholic Church. We know about the Wittenberg door and Martin Luther that posted those 95 theses against the Catholic Church. One of the big reasons guys that the Protestants broke off and started baptizing in full water immersion was because the Catholic Church was not doing this. So that became one of the first dividing factors in the church, that the Catholic Church was not baptizing and they were doing a bunch of other things like keeping the scripture from their congregation, only teaching in a language that people didn't understand. So they were keeping the scripture from the laity, the people in the church, and you know it was a good thing that people broke away from the Catholic Church to protest against those ungodly things. But then what ended up happening is there's all these different sects. You have mainline Christianity, that basically they are not like evangelicals because they don't really care to spread the gospel. Mainline Christianity says this is what I believe but you can be whatever you want. These sorts of Christians don't really care what you believe, they just claim to be Christian from birth. Many of them are once saved, always saved, but they don't really care to evangelize anyone. They're happy just being lukewarm Christians.

And then you have Protestants that are evangelicals. These are your Christians that are very dedicated to going door to door, knocking on people's houses. Many of them have a workspace gospel that they think that the more people they bring into their church, the more godly they will be. And so they are very set on evangelizing the world, going on mission trips. That's why they're called evangelical, is because they are trying to evangelize. The only problem is they're making proselytes that are serving the churches of men and they're bringing people into churches of men rather than into the kingdom of God. But that is a discussion for a different time.

And then of course you have the largest group of Christianity, the Catholic Church with over one billion adherents. They make up a huge portion of Christianity, false Christianity of course. You know, up to like 25% of the world's population is Catholic. And so out of these three main sects of Christianity come an enormous amount of religions. Yes, of course, also Orthodox, not just Catholic. But that's also a discussion for later. There's Eastern Orthodox which broke off from the Roman Catholic Church in 1054 AD. So that was the first, they call it the Great Schism. But anyhow, we have all of these different denominations within Christendom. And you have basically a brand of Christianity for whatever you want to believe. Now if you're homosexual, they have homosexual churches. If you're right-winged American, they have a church for you that they go out and they shoot guns on the weekend. And if you're, you know, whatever you want to believe, they have the perfect religion for you. So all of these different groups to the world sound great. And in order to be part of these groups, you have to be baptized into them, you have to pay your tithe to them, and become part with those specific groups. Pay your homage to them in other words.

 Now first off, I want to read what Jesus says and what is recorded in the scripture that is against these sort of churches and this sort of idea because it's pretty plain and clear that all of this sort of thing is, it's counterfeit and it's false. So let's just read it because it's pretty plain and clear in the Bible that these sorts of churches are condemned. So the first one we want to look at is what Jesus said against sectarianism and this is found in Mark chapter 9. And we're going to look at it starting in verse 38.

38Now John answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.”

So in other words, there's a different sect of people, there's a different denomination, and they're not part of our disciples. So we told them, no, you can't do that. You have to be walking around with us 12. So what does Jesus say to that?

39But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me. 40For he who is not against us is on our side. 41For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.

So all of us could suppose that if there was the perfect church on earth, and the perfect leader, obviously, it would be Jesus. So if anyone could condone the perfect group of people and condemn everyone else, it could have been Jesus. Yet Jesus did not do that. In fact, he did the opposite. He told his disciples, if some other guy is, you know, baptizing in my name or calling others to follow me, even if they're not with us, don't condemn, don't condemn him. So right there, right in the scripture, we see Jesus forbidding sectarianism. The next obvious passage against this would be the Apostle Paul that speaks about this in Corinthians. So if you do have your Bibles, you could look with me at 1 Corinthians, chapter 1. I'm going to look, starting in verse 10. And this one is interesting, because this goes all the way back, you know, this whole deception of saying that if you're baptized by a certain man, then you belong to that organization, and now you're Baptist, or now you're Catholic, or whatever religion you're part of. So let's look what the Apostle Paul says on it, because it's so plain and simple. So Corinthians, 1t Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 10.

“10Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you…”

So again, condemning denominations, condemning sectarianism,

“…but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

Now obviously, the worldly church is in great disarray. They're definitely not in the same mind, or the same heart. All of them have different ideas, and different spirits, even though they say they all belong to the same God. But clearly, the only way it's possible not to have sectarianism, or divisions, is if we really are in the true church. If we really have Jesus as our head, then all of us bow down to Him, and whatever Jesus says goes. But as soon as you put a man as your head, and your pastor, and your leader, then there's going to be divisions, because that man is going to say, well we believe in baptism like this, so we believe in sprinkling, we believe in doing the Eucharist like this, so we believe in doing communion on this day, or that day, or we believe in doing worship on Saturday, the Sabbath. So you have suddenly all these denominations.

11For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. 12Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” 13Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

This exact same thing happens today. If people get baptized in one church, and if they listen to one pastor, then they are a disciple of whoever that pastor is. Maybe John MacArthur, maybe you have gone to some specific church, maybe you were under Billy Graham, and you were baptized into his ministry, so now you say, well I follow the Jesus Billy Graham taught, or I follow the God that John MacArthur teaches, or I follow this pastor, or that pastor. And again, obviously the Bible and those who spoke truth during the biblical times, all were against this sort of denomination and sectarianism. So the apostle Paul says,

13Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. 16Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. 17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

So right here you see Paul condemning people for making a man on earth their pastor, or the one that baptized them as their leader. This is forbidden by Jesus, it's forbidden by the early church leadership, and we should also be against it as well. It's false.

So why do you have pastors and denominations today who adhere to this? It's because they are money preachers, or it's because they are prideful and they want you to be a notch on their belt. I had someone in my family that loved to baptize people. He wasn't paid to do it, but he wanted to baptize my sisters, he wanted to baptize us, and the main reason this particular person in my family wanted to baptize all of the grandchildren and all of the people in my family was because it gave him spiritual authority over those members of his household. He didn't really care to do it, obviously, for money, he wasn't making a dime, but it was spiritual power and authority. He wanted to be their spiritual father. And when we started realizing this, we knew that it was from the pit of hell.

A lot of Christians are this same way. They are baptizing because as soon as they baptize you, they feel that they have ownership over you. Churches do the same thing, and that is why one of the main ways to become a member of whatever church is out there is to be baptized by that pastor. So let's say you walk into a certain church, you talk to the pastor, and you say, I'd like to be a part of this organization. He may say to you, well, welcome here. Are you from this neighborhood? And if you say yes, then he'll ask you, well, do you already have a group of people that you fellowship with? And if you say no, then immediately he says, he says in his heart, perfect. This family doesn't belong to another group of people, so I can win them over and I can make them my slaves. They can belong to my organization. I can baptize them. Then I will have power over that husband of that family and that wife, and they will be my members. So what he's done right there is he's made disciples of his own sect. That's sectarianism, and that is against what Jesus taught. It's against what everything in the Bible teaches. But that is what the churches do because it gives them money. It secures their livelihood in the world.

Now suppose that you were already part of a church organization in one area, and you decided to visit a church in a different area, and maybe you drove, you know, a couple hundred miles, but you already belonged to a certain Baptist church, and for a week you decide to visit this other church, you know, in a city that is a few hundred miles away. So you walk into that church and the pastor says, welcome, how are you? And he's very nice to you. He talks to your wife. What happens as soon as he figures out you're an out-of-towner? He says, oh, well, why are you here? And this happens all the time, guys. And you might say, well, I'm out of town just visiting, but I would like to, you know, visit this church for a while. And that pastor may say something like, well, do you have a congregation back home that you're part of? Now why would he care if you have a congregation back home? Why would he care that you're part of a sect or part of this sort of sectarianism? Why would he care? If the body of Christ is undivided and we're following Jesus and not men, why would he care that you're following a certain sect a thousand miles away? The reason why, guys, is because if you belong to an organization already, then he cannot win you over. He knows that you're already taken. You're off the meat market. So if you don't belong to an organization, he may ask you, well, are you planning to move here? And if you are, we'd love you to join. But if you already live a thousand miles away and you're part of a church over there, then we're glad to see you for today. And then he's not interested to speak to you much more because he knows that you're not going to make him any money. He knows that you're already owned by a different pastor.

So that's how the pastors and organizations treat you. If you belong to church, you're basically their slaves, guys. You belong to religion. If you put yourself at the feet of these false lying pastors, you become their slaves and they treat you as if you're just a warm body in a pew and they will collect tithe from you. They're glad to see you in church because you're going to help the pastor pay his bills and you support that pastor's livelihood. But they don't care about you if you already are part of a different sect. Now all of that is obviously wicked.

So why is it that Christians don't see this? A lot of Christians don't see this because they are not following Jesus. Even though they've read the Bible their whole life, they've just played church, they've been distracted by people, they have been listening to the lies of the pastor, and they haven't opened their hearts and minds up to the truth of Jesus. They've only been playing religion and so distracted with the world, they can't see what is clearly hidden right under their nose. Every day when they go to church, right there below their nose is the Scriptures. And the pastor is probably even reading to them from 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and they still don't even see this deception right in their church. They're blind, they're spiritually deaf, they're being stolen from, they feel condemned if they are not giving their loyalty to these wolves, and they feel guilty if they're not part of these false organizations.

But I'm here today to help your eyes be open. Not that I can open your eyes, but Jesus can open the eyes of the blind. Jesus can open your ears, He opens the ears of the deaf. And if you ask Jesus to open your ears and your mind to the truth, then He will do that for you, and He will show you the difference between His true church, the body of Christ that is undivided, that are all in unity by the Holy Spirit, compared to the false churches that believe in this kind of sectarianism. So I think that's pretty much all I wanted to speak about today. Either we are loyal to men, either we're loyal to these organizations, or we are loyal to God. And at the end of the day, we're either pleasers of men, or we're pleasers of God.

If we really become pleasers of Jesus Christ, we become enemies of the false church. That doesn't mean that we hate Christians or hate people that are spiritually blind, but we become enemies of the false church organization. We stand against it, we oppose it, because we know that it is leading people to hell. Sectarianism and the wolves that call themselves pastors are leading people to hell every day. They come with really nice smiles, they tell people that they will be your friends and that you can join this club and they will help support your family, they'll put these tools in your hand, but at the end of the day, they're pushing people out the back door straight into the lake of hell. So you can either put your faith in Jesus, who is the good shepherd, who loves you, and you can bow yourself at the feet of him and place yourself and your family, your children, at the feet of Jesus, or you can be loyal to these wolves, this sort of denominationalism and sectarianism and these prideful men that only want to baptize you and only want your membership for your money and for them to gain more power.

So I just want to encourage you not to give your money to them, don't give your time to them, don't listen to their lies when they say, you can't give up the fellowship, brother, you need to give up the fellowship with the devil. These people are devils, they're worshipping the devil, they don't have your best interest in mind. Jesus called them hirelings, and a hireling runs when the wolf comes because they don't care for you, they don't care for the flock, they only care to make money. They're hired by the devil. And so we want to point people to Jesus, we want to be in the hands of Jesus, we want to be in his care, and we want to be loyal to him, and we want to have fellowship with Jesus, and we don't want to give up the fellowship, the true fellowship of the brothers and sisters who really love the Lord.

But certainly, give up fellowship with the apostate church, give up fellowship with dead religion, give up fellowship with sectarianism, give up fellowship with false denominations.

And so I want to encourage you as your brother in the Lord, don't be part of any of those 45,000 sects and denominations that are in the world. Get out of there, be separate, don't let them steal your money, don't let them deceive you or your family. Come to really know Jesus, worship him, and live for him with all your heart. So I want to pray for you today if you want to be separate from the harlot church system, if you want to be separate from ungodliness, and if you really just want to follow the Lord by his Holy Spirit. “Lord Jesus, I pray for my fellow brothers and sisters that are part of the true body of Christ, or even those out there that want to join your true body but they are deceived by the world and by false religion. I pray that the scales will fall off their eyes, that their eyes may be opened to the truth today, that their ears may be opened to hear you, and that they would set you up Lord Jesus as their one and only teacher, and that they would tear down all the idols, that they would tear down the idol of the false pastor, that they would tear down the idols of sectarianism and the false denominations and the false churches across America and across the world. I pray that they tear that down and that they come out of false religion and that this sort of false denomination and false sectarianism also comes out of their hearts and minds so that they can really be your pure children wearing their white robes and ready to walk into your kingdom. So I pray that you bless my brothers and sisters and let them be set apart and divided from false religion and worldliness. I pray this in your name Lord Jesus, Amen.”

Being a Good Christian Republican won't Get You into Heaven

Well, praise Jesus today, everyone. I just wanted to make a short message here while I'm driving to my next job. And what I wanted to address is the fact that being a good Christian churchgoer, or being a moral person, or being a good Republican that wants to see our country turn around, will not help anyone enter into the kingdom of God. See, Donald Trump does stand for a lot of things that are true. And all of us know that he has character flaws, and he's not a godly man. He does stand for things that are traditionally good for Christians. He's against abortion. He's even against alcohol and tattoos and things that are not traditional for Christians. And that is wonderful. But it is not good that Christians are not really putting their faith and their hope in Jesus.

If you're putting your faith and your hope in a country or in a person or in a kingdom of this world, you can know that your empire or your president or your earthly king is going to let you down. And secondly, even if we do achieve a Republican presidency, where there are primarily Republicans in office, and the churches can have freedom, and all of those things that we want as Christians, you know, even if we can uphold the sanctity of life and be against abortion, even if we can achieve all of that, guys, that doesn't mean that we have entry into heaven. It will likely help the economy, and less babies will be aborted, and hopefully they will make some laws to keep homosexual agenda, LGBTQ, out of the curriculum of the United States, and all that kind of stuff. But even if that is achieved in America, and we hope it is, that does not mean that people are now saved and entering into the kingdom of God.

I hope this message makes sense to someone, because this is a really critical thing to understand. It seems that a lot of Christians suppose that because they're good moral people, and because they prayed a prayer in the past of salvation, and because they go to church or read the Bible, they suppose that they're going to be given access into heaven. That's not how it works. If we want to be accepted by Jesus Christ, we have to daily deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Jesus every single day to the very end of our life. And very few Christians are doing that. Most Christians want to have religion. They want to listen to their pastor, they want to go to Greg Laurie's church, or they want to listen to whoever the latest, most popular pastor is. They like all of these Hollywood sort of preachers, and people that sound good.

But who is standing up for Jesus? …that follows men, that follows the traditions of man, that follows all these ideas of the churches that are not true…Sadly, the American church at their core is following men. They're following their traditions, and they're following God their way, and they're not following God the way of the Holy Spirit, they're not following God Jesus' way. Very few Christians hear from Jesus. They do hear the preacher on Sunday. They hear the prophets, they listen to the 700 Club, they read the books that are coming out in the Christian culture, and they watch the movies that are being put out by the Christian pastors, but they're not really hearing from Jesus, and because of that they are spiritually lost. The men can't really be men, the women can't really be women. Families are broken, and that is because people are putting their faith in church, they're putting their faith in the Bible, they're putting their faith in Christian pastor, Christian doctrine, and all these Christians that are in this deception think that as long as they get Donald Trump back in, then their churches will be empowered to have more powerful worship sets where more powerful people are playing guitar up there, and they think it's all about their church ceremony, they're very deluded.

Following Jesus is not about going to church, it's not about doing worship in church, it's not about reading the Bible, following Jesus is about knowing Jesus, hearing His voice, and then going everywhere that He leads you to go. That's why Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice and they do not listen to strangers. Today we have a whole generation of Christians, a whole nation, a whole church of Christians that don't hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. And that is very sad because these Christians, even though they may get Donald Trump re-elected, even though they may get a powerful speaker at their church, although they may sing powerful worship hymns in church, they're still headed to hell because they're not following the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. They're following God their way. They're worshiping God their way. And because of that they can't follow Jesus, they can't truly be washed clean, and sadly they will not enter into the Kingdom of God. They are the five foolish virgins that have a lamp but it has no oil. Not only do we need a lamp, but we need oil in our lamp. It's like having a flashlight without batteries.

 And these Christians proclaim Jesus, they proclaim the Bible, they say they believe in the Scriptures, and they believe that Jesus died on the cross, resurrected from the dead. It's as if they have that lamp and they want to shine but they have no oil. So the question that I have for you today is, is there oil in your lamp? Do you really know Jesus Christ? Or are you like the nation of Christians that are just trying to get Donald Trump elected so they can just get back in church and just do worship and do Bible study as they always did in their churches?

Are you deceived by religion like most of this nation? Or do you really know Jesus Christ? Are you His lamb that is following the lamb wherever He leads? Do you follow the Good Shepherd? So that's my question for you guys.

If you call yourself a Christian, do you really hear Jesus Christ? You know, Christians all pray, but not many Christians are hearing Jesus back clearly. They hear their imagination, they hear the pastor, they hear the celebrity preachers, they hear the movie actors, and they hear the devil. All the time Christians are reporting that they hear Satan. They hear evil spirits in their minds. But they don't hear Jesus. That is a big problem. I want to encourage you to have a prayer life, to learn to hear Jesus Christ, to learn to obey Him, to dedicate your life to Him. And that way you can be saved. You can put your faith in Jesus Christ and obey Him and walk with Him to the very end of your life.

So I want to pray for you, if you are someone who is out there that does want to put your faith in Jesus, maybe you know that you're not hearing from the Lord. Maybe you know that you're just playing religion and that you're lost in church. Maybe you've been going to church for, you know, 3, 4, 5 decades and you know that you're not right with the Lord. I want to pray for you that you might come into a real relationship with the Lord, that you might be baptized in water and baptized in the Holy Spirit. And in these times that we live that you might really walk with Jesus. “So Lord Jesus, I pray for your true church, the true body of Christ. I pray that people can come out of darkness and out of the deception of dead religion that leaves people void and empty even though they continue to read their Bibles and continue to go to church and continue to listen to sermons. We know that you Lord Jesus are the only one that has the power to save, not these pastors that are writing books and making movies and trying to build mega churches and kingdoms on this earth. We want to worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And I pray Lord Jesus that you bring your flock into you that they may hear your voice and worship you alone and be led by you alone. So I pray for the true body of Christ. I pray for my fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord that they may come out of dead religion, that they may come out of sin and be unshackled from anything that binds them to worldliness and deceptions of dead religion. I pray this in your name Lord Jesus. Amen.”

 

True vs. false Christian testimony

 

True vs. False Christians Testimony

We'll praise Jesus today, brothers and sisters in the Lord. I wanted to speak a little bit this morning about the difference of true and genuine Christian testimonies versus the false version of a Christian testimony that happens as a pattern in the false church. I recently got an email from a brother in the Lord who was discussing this with me a little bit. It was very true what this brother was saying. In church they have a pattern that everyone falls into when they are asked to share their testimony. So if you are in church and someone says, Hey brother, tell me your testimony. What they expect is for you to share the exact moment in time in your life, maybe when you were 10 years old, which happened back in 1989, of when you gave your life to the Lord at the Christian camp. Your testimony would go something like this. “Back in 1989 I went to a Baptist camp. I was really touched by the preacher's message. I really felt the Lord moving in my heart. I was led to just lift my hands in praise. I was led to walk down to the front of the church and give my life to the Lord. My pastor encouraged me to do it. I went down to the front and I gave my life to the Lord that night. I gave up my addictions. He prayed over me and I became a changed creation that night. I remember that day was 1989 of March 3rd. My life hasn't been the same since because I used to be an addict and now I'm free.”

 They have basically made your entire Christian testimony into this one small isolated incident that happened at one particular point in history in your past. Everything that happened before that time, you were not a Christian and you were not saved. Everything that happens after that moment, they believe that you're now eternally saved. Everyone who listens to these testimonies in church starts to build their own testimony after this pattern. A lot of these Christians, they hear really epic sounding testimonies of drug dealers who were doing drugs themselves and they were all mixed up in the world. They do 10 years in prison. They get beaten by their fellow inmates. They have this really crazy testimony of their past life and then they meet Jesus and now they are in church living as a good Christian. It basically contrasts this old life of who you were in the world and how crazy and how cool your life was in the world and now you're just a Christian in church and you're a good boy.

 So, everyone gets this idea that my testimony has to be this one snapshot in my life's history and that's all it is. I remember I also went to a Christian Baptist camp that was about a week long and at that point of my time, it was kind of the very beginning of me starting to hear from Jesus. My wife and I, I believe we were barely just married and I was just starting to hear from Jesus and I was starting to realize things in the church were false. There was a Baptist preacher there that was preaching to all these high school and junior high students and I was at this particular camp a mentor. So this camp was a family camp where kids from anywhere from junior high up to high school were there with their parents. But after the preacher would preach, you would get together with a few other different congregations from potentially different states. This was an out of state event. I believe it was in Glorieta, New Mexico. So we were from California and there were people from different areas there. One of the high school kids, he was probably only a freshman or a sophomore, he happened to be in the same group as my junior high and high school kids. We were asked to go around and share our testimony. This kid, who was obviously a son of a Baptist preacher and he'd been around church his whole life, he gets up to share his testimony. And I'm telling you, his testimony, the whole thing sounded like an absolute joke to me. No passion when he told his testimony. I was convinced that he himself didn't even believe what he was saying. He basically said, you know, “my name is Billy Smith and I've been a Christian now for five and a half years. I used to be a big sinner. Now I'm a saint, you know, I'm a Baptist preacher's son, grew up in church, but I used to be a big sinner, used to be doing all the big sins, thinking all the bad things. But one day in church while the preacher was preaching, I got convicted. I thought, Lord, I need to repent of my sins. So I said, hallelujah, I need to repent. And I walked myself as a sinner up to the front and I said, sinner, you need to repent. You need to have mercy on my soul. And I pleaded before the Lord that he wouldn't let me, that he would let me into heaven and not into hell and praise the Lord. I'm saved from my sins now. I'm on my way to glory, brothers and sisters.” And his testimony was so trite and so ridiculous that I just could not believe that it was genuine even to one percent of a degree. But when he got done sharing his testimony, to my surprise, nobody else thought his testimony was disingenuine. And I kept that to myself. I didn't question this high school student because obviously I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings or point out the obvious at that time. But everyone else just was saying things like, “amen, brother”, you know, “that was, thank you for sharing that testimony. Let's go on to the next testimony”.

But it was ridiculous. My point is, it was not a genuine testimony and it's obvious by your actions and your words if you really have a testimony for Jesus or you don't. Now I know where Christians get the idea of being a testimony or being a witness. The main verse that they get for this is in 1 Peter chapter 3. I want to read it for you. It says, “And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. Do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense or to give an account or a testimony to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear, having a good conscience that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”

 So you have these verses in 1 Peter that were told to always be ready to have a testimony of our faith in Jesus. Always be ready to stand up for the truth if someone approaches us and asks us why we are a Christian. So it makes sense. Also we have the words of Jesus, of course about being a testimony. At the very end of Matthew chapter 28 we are told to be a testimony to the world. Also in Matthew chapter 24 Jesus says, he who endures to the end shall be saved and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness or as a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come.

 So we as Christians are to be a light and a witness and a testimony to the nations of the world and beckon people to repent. We are to be fishers of them. You have this story of Jesus casting out a demon, a demoniac, a demon possessed person in I think how you pronounce the town name is Guderianese. You can read it for yourself in Mark chapter 5. And at the very end of this story of Jesus casting out this demon, the demon possessed man that has now been set free, he wants to follow Jesus but Jesus tells him that he shouldn't physically follow him. In other words he is not going to be the 13th disciple following Jesus around like Peter and the other disciples. And Jesus rather says to this man that has been set free, go home to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he has had compassion on you. And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him and all marveled.

 So we know that Jesus wants us to be a testimony, a witness for him, and being a testimony doesn't just mean that Jesus did one thing for us in the past. Imagine if that demon possessed man who was set free by Jesus continued to think of the one time Jesus had set him free, even though he had allowed demons back into his life. Imagine he goes back to drinking, he goes back to beating his wife and beating his children, but he continues to go back and say, but Jesus set me free 36 years ago so I'm going to heaven. That is basically the attitude that many Christians have today in church and their testimonies are not true, they are disingenuine. A lot of it has to do with their false doctrine of OSAS, once saved always saved. These Christians in false religion are convinced that following Jesus just means saying one prayer, going to the altar in church, confessing your sins that one time and after you have that one experience, that one emotional high or that one spiritual high, then you're once saved and always saved and anything that you do after that moment doesn't really matter or count. Don't worry about it being a testimony after that because you've already had your experience. So it's absolutely ridiculous guys if you break this false Christian testimony down. It's actually not a real and genuine testimony at all. I'm not saying that all Christians in church have never met Jesus because there are a lot of really wonderful testimonies, a lot of Christians have shared their testimony on YouTube and a lot of them did genuinely have an experience with the Lord, but sadly from that point they have got wrapped up in religion, they have forgot to continue to walk with the Lord and now they're trying to build on that foundation of Jesus with wood, hay and stubble and all of the sinking sand. And because of that they don't have a genuine testimony. Their testimony is false.

Because Jesus is alive, He's constantly speaking to His children and because we are alive in Jesus, our testimony is fluid, our testimony is moving because Jesus is moving.  He's constantly doing new things in our life. So it's not an isolated event of a testimony that we had 32 years ago, but our testimony continues to evolve as the Holy Spirit continues to speak the Word of God into our life. He tells us new things and our testimony continues to emerge. I've been on YouTube now over 10 years, I think around 13 years and I have many different testimonies of what the Lord has been doing over these years in my life. He's given me dreams and revelations, interpretations of things, words of wisdom, all sorts of things the Lord has shown me since the time I have put my faith in Jesus years ago.  Now I first put my faith in Jesus when I was about 8 years old, but what if I continue to go back and I never had any of these videos of what the Lord is doing in my life, what if I never shared anything that the Lord was doing in my life after I was 8 years old? There would be no edification of the church, I wouldn't have allowed the Holy Spirit to be a light in me, I'd be hiding my bushel, hiding the light under a basket. There wouldn't be any testimony in me to share. All I would be saying on YouTube right now is, guys, back when I was 8 years old I felt convicted when I was lying in my bed one night and I knew I was going to hell, I had the fear of God in me, so I told my dad, Dad I want to be baptized. So my dad talked to the pastor and the pastor said, well the next baptism we're doing is next month, so take a few baptism classes and get ready for baptism on baptism Sunday. And then sure enough, baptism Sunday came around and I was baptized by Pastor Matt Calucci and that was back in 1994. And so there you go, there's my testimony guys. That would not be leading anyone to Jesus, but that is the kind of testimonies that you hear in church. It's not that my testimony or my faith in Jesus when I was 8 was disingenuine per se, but what happened in my testimony after that, because that is what is critical.

 If you get married and your vows are genuine, but then 5 years later or 10 years later you break your vows and you get divorced, then what relationship do you have with your wife? If you get divorced you don't have any relationship with your spouse anymore and your vows are broken. So it doesn't matter how genuine your vow was back in 1989. If you don't have faith today and if you don't have a testimony today, then your soul is going to be lost and people are not going to be seeing your light as a testimony for Jesus. You'll just be looking like the most disingenuine person. So I want to encourage you today not to buy into the false testimonies of church or the false OSAS, once saved always saved doctrine. The teachings in church that basically make the Christian into this do it once and done idea. If we are alive in Jesus because Jesus is alive, our testimony is alive, and we need to daily be walking in the Lord. Not just walking in the world, not just following preachers, but we need to have a testimony that is alive because Jesus is alive and He wants to walk with us. 

How I see this in dead religion is, it would be like if you said your wedding vows and then after that day you decided not to talk with your wife, but to go off and live life for yourself. Imagine you as the husband go off and you're kind of doing your own thing, your wife is doing her own thing. And then one day you as the husband speak to your wife and you say, hey I would like to actually conversate with you and grow with you and love you. And imagine your wife says, well we got married years ago, we got married 20 years ago honey, we don't need to talk anymore, we're already safe and secure and our marriage is going to be good forever. You as the husband, if your wife said that, you would know that you're already headed to disaster with your marriage, if you didn't already know that. We know as relational beings that we have to daily be communicating with people in order to have good relationships. With our wife we have to be communicating, with our children, with our parents, whoever we want a good relationship with we have to be daily in connection with.

And why would it be any different with God? So what we need to do as Christians is constantly be in prayer, constantly asking Jesus to help us to have a testimony, that he would speak his words to life into us. That way when we're around other people, whether they are brothers or sisters in the Lord or people in the world, we have something to bring, we're not coming empty. A lot of Christians are always spiritually empty, they're always looking for some spiritual nugget for them to eat, but they don't have anything to bring to the congregation of God, they don't have any truth or any enlightenment from the Holy Spirit for others. They're always empty. And because of that they can't encourage fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord, they can't be edified themselves because they're just drained and empty all the time.

The churches gather these sorts of people, everyone talks about they're going to church to get fed. That should not be. If the true church is meeting together, brothers and sisters in the Lord, each of you should have a spiritual song, each of you should have a revelation from God that you're going to share a dream or a vision. You should have something, because after all, God sent his son Jesus to be with you through his Holy Spirit. And if Jesus is with you, you do have life, you should have something. So why are Christians running around totally empty without any knowledge of the truth, no love, no joy, they don't have any revelation from God, they have nothing. That is because they don't really have a testimony, they have rejected Jesus and they've rejected it for their ridiculous religion that is damning them.

I want to encourage you to have a true testimony today. Have a testimony like that guy that Jesus set free, that demon possessed man. Have a testimony like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all of the apostles, all of those disciples that walked with Jesus. Nothing was too special about them except they decided to walk with the Lord and as they walked with him they grew in their faith and in this understanding of God. They listened to the parables, they listened to the teachings about the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. And they were convicted and as they walked with the Lord and received his Holy Spirit, they gained a testimony and power to be able to share with even educated men that knew more about the Bible than them. And they were given a mouth that no one could shut up, no one could speak against their wisdom because they walked with God.

I want to pray for the family of God, the children of God, my fellow brothers and sisters who want to have insight from the Holy Spirit. I want to pray for those of you that want a true testimony and for people that want to put their faith in God for their salvation. So “Lord Jesus I pray for my fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord. I pray that someone listening today may truly come to you and that you would come into their heart and dine with them, that they may be saved from their sins, that they would come out from false religion and not be deceived by the lying pastors that come to people in sheep's clothing but are wolves, who pretend that we don't have to really repent, who pretend that we don't really have to walk with you. These are those that say that we can just have one heightened experience in the past and then we don't have to walk with you after that and we know that that's a lie. We want to hold your hand Lord Jesus and walk with you every step of the way and endure with you to the very end of our life. So I pray for my fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord that they would pray and seek you with all of their heart and that they would find you and that they would walk with you in faith and that you would teach them as their only teacher and lead them as their only leader and that they would not be misled and misguided by false brethren or wolves on the internet or anywhere else Lord. Keep us in your hedge of protection and lead us and guide us by your truth and your light. And we also want to be lights for you. Let us shine for you that other people may see the truth and give our Father in heaven glory. In your name we pray Lord Jesus, Amen.

 We'll continue to praise Jesus guys. Continue to have a testimony for the Lord and be a light shining for Him. That's what Jesus has us on this earth to do. Those that continue to sin, they get cut off. But those that want to follow the Lord and cut evil out of their life, the Lord prunes them and He disciplines them in righteousness and in the way of the gospel, that we can bear more good fruit and encourage more people in the kingdom of God and do what is right before our Father in heaven.

 Well thank you for being here this morning everyone.

 

Works of Yesterday Don't Guarantee Tomorrow

 

Works of Yesterday Don't Guarantee Tomorrow

We'll praise Jesus today everyone. I have just a short message that I wanted to talk about today. And that is the fact that our works or what we did in the past, do not guarantee our well being for the future. Now in the world, we understand this concept. But many Christians do not receive or understand this concept spiritually. In other words, they believe that if they have said a prayer in the past and done a good work in the past, such as put their faith in Jesus and believed in Him, then that good work or that act of faith in the past will guarantee their future entry into heaven. So they bank on the fact that they did good in the past, and then they think that everything else from that moment of time into eternity doesn't matter. Praise Jesus today everyone.

So I want to give an analogy of this from just the world, from something that happened in my life, just to kind of bring this down to earth to help us understand. So some years ago, about half a decade ago, I was working a maintenance job at hotels. I did this job for about six or seven years on and off. And during that time, praise Jesus everyone. During that time, I was working as maintenance and construction. They put me in a position where I was to demolish and help renovate a hotel. So there was a hotel that had, I don't know, say 45, about 45 to 50 rooms. And they wanted these rooms to be demoed, specifically the bathrooms. So they wanted the whole entire bathroom ripped out, the shower, the toilet, the walls, even the studs and everything taken out, all the way down to the floor, even the concrete taken out. And they wanted the whole thing redone to reshape the rooms and make the hotel better.

 And I was actually put in charge of this job. So for about two years, guys, my main job was to demolish and rebuild these bathrooms. So about 40 to 50 rooms at this hotel. It took me two years. When all of this was said and done, after the whole, you know, after everything was done, after I had demoed everything with a team, and then, you know, taking everything to the dump, and after new people were hired, and after we put everything back in all the way down to the tile, it was finished. And I think it looked pretty good. I learned a lot from that experience. And it was truly just an amazing experience that God allowed me to have to develop as a man in learning how to do something in the world.

 Now imagine that I, still being hired at that particular company, said to them, you know, half a decade ago, I renovated your bathrooms. And I was able to bring a hotel from making, you know, grossing 1 million a year to 1.3 million dollars a year, or whatever the case was. And so I, what if I had a bit of pride in that? But the bad kind of pride, the pride where I thought that I was entitled to not just make more money, but to do a whole lot less. So what if I said to them, well, because half a decade ago, I renovated this building, and I did all this stuff, I don't really have to do anything anymore for you guys. In fact, I don't think I need to lift a finger. I don't need to build fences. I don't need to take out the garbage. I don't need to pressure wash the sidewalks. I don't have to help guests. I don't have to do anything with my job related to maintenance or construction, because five years ago, I renovated this hotel, and now you're making more money because of me. What if I had that attitude? Do you think that the employer or the owner of that hotel would continue to pay me as his employee? What do you think? Just honestly.

So in reality, we know how things work in the world. If you get arrogant in the world, and you stop performing, you'll be fired. You'll be canned immediately. It's not about what you just did in the past. Maybe that helps you in an interview get a job, but if you can't perform in the workplace, the things that you wrote down on paper of what you did in the past, you'll be fired. And so we understand this as men in the world. You have to perform, and it's not just about a performance that you did a half a decade ago or a decade ago, but it's about how you can perform this minute, this hour. So whatever your job is, whether you're an accountant or whether you're a construction, you need any build houses, whatever you do, you have to currently be able to make money and do a good job and prove yourself worthy of whatever job that is, whatever career you have. If you can't do it, you should not be paid. And in fact, your employer should fire you because you're worthless to the company. It's just plain and simple how the world works.

So why do we as men understand this concept so well, but then when we transition to faith, we say that we can achieve things in the past, like we can just have a faith experience in the past. And now we're accomplished because we have believed in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. We're accomplished and we know we're entitled to heaven and the boss can never fire us because we're tenured. So we think we could get really prideful thinking that God has to keep us as his employees, even though we don't want to work and we don't want to work out our salvation every day for him. So if this concept of not working today doesn't work in the world, it certainly will not work with God. Men are imperfect, but men also think like God, even if they are ungodly people. All of us want to be treated fairly. All of us want respect. And when it comes down to it, we prove by our own feeling of wanting to be deserving of something that there is morality. God is perfectly moral and it is perfectly just of him to fire us if we are not his workers, if we're not doing work, if we're not enduring with Jesus and bearing good fruit, we know that he will cut us off.

Now, this gospel that I'm displaying for you today is not openly preached in church because this gospel will not make money. The gospel that makes money says, “come to my church. You don't have to do anything. You don't have to really repent. You don't have to have an ongoing progressive testimony where you're hearing from God daily. You can be homosexual. You can be trans. You can be whatever you want. Just be you and just know that you will be accepted in our church.” That sort of false gospel makes money because it's very inclusive to all religions and all beliefs and it gets a lot of people involved in that church and wanting to pay money to have their ears itched.

The other day I was thinking about the concept of AD and BC. Now, BC used to stand for Before Christ and AD anno Domini. I don't know if I'm pronouncing it correctly, but basically it means in the year of our Lord. This stood for a long time. But at some point fairly recently, and this may go all the way back to the 16th century, but fairly recently within the last 10 or 20 years, a lot of people wanted to be, they say, more inclusive. So all our textbooks in California and actually probably in the whole United States, they went from saying BC when talking about something before Jesus to calling it BCE, which means Before Common Era. Instead of saying AD, which means in the year of our Lord, now they say CE, which means Common Era. And the main reason, if you look up why they did this, is because they're trying to be inclusive to all religions, which totally denies the fact that Jesus did the work of dying on the cross and resurrecting. It wasn't the Muslim god. It wasn't the Buddhist god. It wasn't any other god that died on the cross and separated history from history. No other god separated the Common Era from Before Common Era. That was Jesus. So to try to be inclusive and deny the facts that Jesus is the one that did this, it shows hypocrisy and it shows that people are trying to be inclusive to demons and to lies.

Now as men of God, we are not inclusive to lies. We exclude lies from our life. We exclude liars and everything that is not true from our life that we can walk in purity and in righteousness and accept Jesus as our Lord and the God of our life. So I hope this message makes sense to somebody that, you know, someone that's out there that wants to truly put their faith in Jesus and not just be cowardly because a lot of Christians are just deceived in religion. They're trying to be inclusive. They don't think they have to work out their salvation with fear and trembling. They're just wanting their ears tickled. They want a kind of a church experience where they're just told they're okay, they're going to heaven, they don't really have to repent or get sin out of their life. They don't really have to have a relationship with Jesus. And this kind of religion, guys, we have to reject because it is bringing people to hell. It's bringing children to hell. It's bringing families to hell.

And unless we reject false church, then God will also reject us. We have to have genuine faith and we have to have a testimony that is current today. So again, all of us understand this concept in the world. We can't prove that we're worthy of keeping our job in this world by just what we've done in the past, but we have to be daily proving that we're worthy to get the money that we're making every day. And if we can't do our jobs, we'll be fired. And it's the same in the kingdom of God. If we are working for Jesus with pure attitudes and right hearts, then the Lord's covenant stands in our life. His blood covers over us. But if we're a coward, if we're rejecting Jesus, if we're not standing for His truth, then it also stands that He will also deny us and be ashamed of us in front of His holy angels.

So are we standing with Jesus or are we standing with men? Are we trying to please Jesus and live for Him? Do we have a genuine relationship with Him? And are we working for Him every day, working out our salvation with fear and trembling? Or are we just trying to appease men and live for men? Anyways, I hope this message encourages you in the Lord, and I hope that we can go in faith today. “So Lord Jesus, I pray for Your true church. I pray for people to come out of false religion. I pray for people to come out of the lies of our culture that says that they can continue to sin and just pay tithe to the church and they'll be good in the end. I pray people will come out of this satanic church system that binds them to sin and ungodliness. I pray that people throw off their witchcraft, they throw off their lies, and they sever themselves from the ungodly, and that they touch nothing unclean. We pray to just be holy and pure before You, Lord, and walk the straight and narrow path and endure with You, Lord, to the very end. I pray this in Your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.”