 Good afternoon everybody and welcome to unfiltered pastor David. Welcome. Thanks John Today this is our second part to what we had posted a couple of days ago on how culture has started before and cultures defining the church and What I wanted to bring up for the second part pastor is You know the this culture defining the church has it Brought the church to a place where the church is now it has plateaued and Now beginning to decline because the influence of culture in the church I think that the influence of sin in general. There's a there's a war against truth Has really taken a toll on those who are unsaved on the one on the one hand because It has become commonplace today to believe that there's no such thing as truth there's no such thing as an absolute truth and You know, that is the current way that many think when you actually extricate God from your culture when you when you diminish the The veracity of scripture when you call into question whether or not God can Give us his word that is Israel an actual word and all of that when when that becomes something that is more generally mocked than accepted then you've undermined the foundation will say of Of What truth actually is and how truth is to be Presented by the church which Paul refers to as the repository of truth We are we are the ones whom God has given truth to and we are supposed to safeguard that truth And we're supposed to present that truth So when you have the the world who is mocking truth and remember the very first one to ever question God's word was Satan himself when in the book of Genesis he asked Eve as God said so the originator of argument against and resistance to truth is Satan himself and and He's the one who energizes The people of this age and so that's why you need to be regenerated. That's why you need to be born again That's why you need to have what would be referred to as the mind of Christ. You need to have in other words a new nature to receive those things that God has as Given to us and that that that truth has been safeguarded in the church. And so when the church stops preaching the truth when the pastors Stop presenting the gospel as it actually is the very word of God when the pastors no longer trust that it is or when the pastors begin to look to Culture to dictate what the message ought to be or when they begin to look to the pseudo Sciences such as psychology, which is not a science at all I was a behavioral science major not that I graduated with a degree I didn't that I was a behavioral science major and I still remember one of the first lectures in a secular college that I received By a certain well-known professor who said if you're here in behavioral science, you need to understand There's no such thing now. That's what the professor said in a secular college There's no such thing as behavioral science because science can be repeated It's verifiable and he began to speak concerning what made science science He said what this is is the best guess that we can make as it pertains to To you in nature or what causes people to act in the way they do and so you know We have given ourselves over to what the mood you blew is let me throw something of blasphemy fast called Scientist priests descended from the apes as scientists scientists priests all think will they save us in the end? We're trembling on the break, right? I mean that was well known back in the 60s that you cannot trust Science that that changes and all and you cannot trust the declarations of man that Vassalate and so you need something foundational and for us as Christians We know that the word of God is truth Jesus says sanctify them in truth your word is truth And so the word of God is obviously something you can depend on so when the church stops preaching the truth culture will If a father and mother do not teach their children who Jesus is the world will teach him what Jesus isn't That's how it works and that's why we need to be as pastors and teachers and Servants of Christ we need to be well versed in scripture and we need to hold fast to it So yeah, culture has a way of undermining of eroding Foundations, but we stand on the sure word of God And so if a pastor is not teaching the Bible and here's something John that I really believe is is true And to be we ought to be aware of there are many places that you can you can see even on TV or you know the radio or whatever in print That aren't teaching the Bible they'll open up the Bible and they'll begin to speak, but they're not teaching the Bible They're teaching their own opinions. They're teaching what they think they're teaching Ideas of man and they may even read something from the scripture But they're not teaching the Bible and I can I can't tell you how many times I've listened to someone who's speaking and not like I'm a doctor of theology by any means But I've I've been in the word for a long time and and I have the ability to discern truth from error And when I hear some things that are being presented and then to see the people getting so excited at what they're hearing It's truly a tragic tragic time in the church So culture has a way of forming us and like I was sharing recently Be not conformed to this world. Don't be pressed into the world's mold But be transformed and that comes to the renewing of our mind and that comes through the word of God And we're just passing through well at the end of the day We need to realize that we're passing through we we pack lightly because the trip is short And we shouldn't be carrying things that we don't need amen. Well, thank you pastor David for sharing that with us Want to do encourage you to come join us on it for a Sunday morning services at 8 30 and 10 45 as you're taking us through acts chapter 12 Yep versus seven to remember seven to twenty seven to the conclusion of it Great opportunity to invite your friends and family to come join us for worship Getting into God's word and to fellowship afterwards. So thank you again pastor. Thank you guys for tuning in We look forward to seeing you and God bless you