 The topic getting difficult, what it really is, it's noticing what's happening in America, really not just America, but all over the world. It's what's happening in Christendom. It's what's happening in churches and it's evening happening to some of the more admired pastors in churches as well as some of those that aren't admired so much. You can look at a Mike Todd or Todd White. You can look at a TDJ, you can look at Benny, you can look at some of these people and you say okay, we expect certain things. You don't expect certain things from people who maybe let's say are more educated, who have been trained, who at least started off sound. You don't expect certain things from them and what we're seeing is you've got those that are clear and obvious who do things they should not do and then you've got some over here who are kind of more subtle. Now every pastor is going to do something and I do mean every single pastor is going to do something that they ought not do. That's just not in lines or in leagues with the Bible. They're gonna say something that is not always correct. Why? Because they are human beings. The Bible even records godly men saying and doing things that aren't always godly. So that's gonna happen. What it is though is we're seeing a pattern more and more of people promoting things that just should not be seen. It'd be one thing if the issue was a pastor who preaches against eternal security. There are some men who love the Lord, who are sound men who also feel like, you know what, you could forfeit your salvation. Okay, fine. Now I disagree as a matter of fact, I vehemently disagree but I would not put them in the category of a false teacher or a heretic. Although I think that's the core of what our salvation is about but still. There are some that differ in terms of eschatology, how they teach certain things. And that's probably, that's fine. That's fine. Clearly a premillennial pre-tribulation rapture is obviously the best few. I'm joking but those that are post meal, I'm meal, those that are pre-trib, post-trib, none of those things are gonna, are so much of an issue to where we can't sit together. And so if a person teaches that, even if something that you teach might be false, then make you a false teacher. It's the promotion of what is false. It's the promotion of heresy or not so much the promotion of heresy but the promotion of heretics. That also becomes a problem because we're not in a world where we can afford to allow certain things to creep in. Remember, we're governed by one thing and one thing only. That is the word of God. As a matter of fact, before we get started, let's go ahead and I wanna kinda use this to really piggyback off of everything that we covered tonight and that is 1 Corinthians 4-6. It says, now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and apostles for your sakes so that in us you may learn not, look what he says, that you may learn not to exceed what is written so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. What ends up happening is, and I like how he put that, one, if you do these things, you can become and you will become arrogant. You can get so big for your britches. Starting off the right way and then because you've done a lot of things or a few things the right way and you get recognized for doing those things the right way, hats on the back, other esteemed colleagues might say that, hey, good job, you're this, you're that and you kinda feel as though that you know what you're doing. But Paul does warn even for those people, be careful if you think you stand, be careful lest you fall. But notice what he says, so that you may learn not to, and here it is to exceed this word hyper means to go beyond more than what is written. In other words, what is written is what we go by, no more than, no less than. Amen? Well, sometimes it's just not that easy. As a matter of fact, the difficulty in calling out bad doctrine or saying some forth is when a person can do it and I don't mean subtly in terms of their style, their charisma, but they can put together some truth with some falsities or with me. Somebody can say some things that just, that's not right. You can mix truth with sin. Well, if you mix truth with sin, if you mix truth with bad doctrine, it is still bad doctrine. And I don't mean certain doctrinal beliefs, but I mean promoting it. It's a pattern of promoting it. One such person who, I'll be honest, when I first heard him and I started listening to him, this guy's pretty good. He's interesting, didn't know much about his church, but I found out they've got a pretty nice sounding choir. Didn't know a lot about the different heretical things that were said because those things weren't always put on TV when I was doing my federal tour. And that is Stephen Ferdic and that is Elevation Church. And so I would hear some things from time and time. Okay, yeah, God had a pretty good sermon. And what he'll do is he'll mix some truth with some sin. Mix some truth with a lie. And it sounds good. It feels good. The audience is ginned up. And he's not one of those guys that are so outrageous like a Benny Hinn. Like even nowadays, Mike Todd. He's not one of those guys. And so you would think, hey, this guy, he might be all right. But no, but just carefully listen to what he says. These subtle ways of bringing in heresy because again, who is ultimately behind heresy? Satan. And the reason why this is important is because at the end of every heresy is a soul that matters to God. It's really easy for a straight person to talk about what a gay person ought to do. But till you spend a day in their context, you'll never understand the feelings that they have associated with the church because of people who quoted scripture at them, but they quoted it out of. Well, no, now it sounds good. As we would say, sounds good. Sounds good, feels good. Why? Because, what did he say? It kind of piggybacks off of an old saying. You never judge a man unless you've walked a mile in his shoes. Well, listen, we don't need context or we don't need to get an understanding of how someone has lived. If they're living or engaging something that's sinful. No, there's the Bible for that. So you tell me in what way, in this case, he's talking about homosexuality, what context is it not sin? That would be the point. In what context would sin not be sin? And so that's a way that you can kind of subtly. Now for some people, it's not subtle. Someone's like, wait, hold, wait a second, wait. What'd you say? But because he said other things that we like, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Not realizing he's building something. Y'all do realize that I don't care whatever the building is that you're building, it didn't start off that tall. What's the tallest building in the world? The Burge, Khalifa, whatever it's called, 2,600 feet? Well, it didn't start off that tall. It did not start off that tall. It started off pretty small. As a matter of fact, about this big, matter of fact, it didn't start off tall at all. It started off going down. So you really couldn't see it. And then you just build on top of it. It seemed like a snowball. And that's what happens. This is the truest thing, like, you're attracted to something because it's different. And they even say it's a marriage that before marriage opposites attract and then opposites attack because you're attracted to what's different. You're drawn to what's different. Not at first. At first, you fear it. That's why they had to take the Old Town Road off of the Billboard charts on country music because it was too different. They couldn't find a category for it. And they said, it's not country enough, but it's not rap enough. And we don't know what it is. It's different. That's why they crucified Jesus. You know, you don't have many preachers. They can put Lil Nas X in Jesus. And it's not how God... Now, on that, I'm not even sure what the point he's trying to make. It's a goofy point. But you try to be relevant. You try to be culturally relevant. You try to fit, you know, cool. You wear certain clothes, certain pants, certain outfits, talk a certain way, speak about certain things because you attract a younger audience. Well, why not just attract an audience who recognizes that they're falling instead of appealing to people who love the fallen world? I can promise you, you're gonna get a big following if you appeal to the masses, if you appeal to the world. And so what he's saying is, it makes no sense. But again, you put a little bit of truth here and there. Sounds good. Sounds like you're saying some wise stuff, but it also, it kind of moves me. I can relate. Now, I don't know who it is in that audience that relates to Lil Nas X. Lord help him if they do, but that's still his approach. And it's working for him. God sees you that determines where your life ends up. If it had been, Moses wouldn't have died in the wilderness. Jesus. It's not how God sees you that determines where your life ends up. If it had been, Moses wouldn't have died in the wilderness. It's not how God sees me. It's how I think God sees me that determines where I end up. That make any sense? It's not how God sees me that determines where I end up. Well, wait a minute. So how I see me determines how I'm gonna end up. So if I see myself as a prophet or a apostle, if I see myself as somebody great or something that I'm not, then that determines. No, no, it actually is how God, no, no, I think it is. Now he's gonna try to prove it to us. I prove it to you, all the way from Genesis chapter one. Remember, let us make man in our image. God needed someone to show the world what he looked like or else he would have just been a concept. God didn't need anyone to show anybody anything. That's just true. We can leave it right there. We can, matter of fact, I can push the red, I can push the red button and end it off of that statement. God didn't need anybody to show anybody anything he's got. Goodbye. There's nothing else needed to be said. I'm not sure what he's after, but he's trying to appeal to people to get them to feel like that, however you feel, however you think, you can be that. You can be that because again, this is him saying, remember, he's the guy that says, I'm God Almighty and God can't do anything unless you have him to do so with your faith. That's him. But he also promotes some other things that is just as bad. And some things that seem kind of small, but a little bit of sin is never small. It's always been in you. It's always been in you. That teaching gift has always been in you. You just had to get past what you would put on yourself. The idea that I'm not a preacher, I'm just a little girl. I don't have anything to say. Well, no, wait a second, wait a second. What he's saying is it's always been in you now. What he's trying to do is he's appealing to maybe a woman can preach. Well, I think it's okay. It makes sense if he says so. It makes sense if he says so because he's cool with women preaching. How do I know? Well, he's got his wife there. We'll get to her in a second. Say, that was always in you. It was in you when you were sitting at Life Action Revival. Listen to Steve Canfield six nights a week and God was filling you with this work. It just took the right brain to bring the seed out of the soil for what God put in you. We were just a little girl. Yeah, but the problem is girls can't be those preachers. I know it bothers some people. I know it bothers some people, but girls can't be the preachers. They just can't. Again, it goes back to the passage. It goes back to the passage. 1 Corinthians 4-6. So that in us, you may learn not to exceed what was written. May Hapeir Ha get grabbed high. I just had to put that out there. So that you can't go above or beyond what has been written. Well, for us, we have even better to work with than what Paul is speaking of because what's written for us is even more so than what they had. And so you should not, and a pastor, know better, you cannot go beyond what has been written. But it's okay with him because again, not just him, but also his wife being a preacher. And just people were everywhere. It was like the hold your purse kind of crowded. And I turned around to say something to Stephen and there was another man. Now, by the way, I have no idea what she's talking about. Don't even care. Don't even care. But what I wanted you to show you was that, yes, she's a preacher. She preaches before the people, a mixed audience, but does that not go counter to what the scripture say? And I'm not anti-woman, but again, the scriptures say I do not permit a woman to teach over a man or to use her authority. Well, she's not a serpent third, but she's teaching over them. She is literally, you just can't do that. You just can't do that. But wait a second, Corey, there are all the other good things that he said, because what we'll do is we'll apply something to this. We'll say, well, you shouldn't throw out the baby with the bath water. I'll eat the meat and spit out the bones. And so we'll apply that with people like them because I got some good things out of it. Yeah, okay. You got some good things out of that, but it's time to grow. I got some good things out of my little Gerber bottle or Gerber, whatever it is when I was a little kid. Could you imagine, could you imagine a grown man walking around eating out of a Gerber bottle or whatever? How bad would that look? You would expect this man to eat food that is nourishing to his body or her body. And so I don't care that he said some good things. I don't care that he said some truthful things. Satan can say some truthful things, but his goal in the end is destruction. And there's a problem. And the reason why it's a problem, and this is why it bothers me. Matter of fact, I had just recently talked about people that have influenced me in my life and in my walk and the first two more intimately. But the last one, just his pattern of life, just his humility, the way he runs the church and so forth, being there for a short time, but still just to see him and to be around him. Tony Evans is really, has kind of in many ways been a model. There have been some things that he said, that wait a second, I disagree with. I disagree with the whole trans-dispensational argument that he makes. Does that make him a heretic? That didn't make him a heretic because the point that he's trying to make, he's trying to figure out something that the Bible doesn't talk about. I won't go into that. I've covered it before. And if you want to just send a comment and I'll put a link to that video, talking about that, why he's not a heretic for that, although that's false teaching. Because he's trying to explain something that the Bible doesn't tell us about and he's trying to do with 1 Corinthians 4 success, not to exceed what was written. Don't say what was written. And so some case you have to say, I don't know, what would God do? I don't know. Now, most of you need to know that 90% of what he believes, I believe and you believe as well. He believes in internal security and things like that. He believes in elections and so forth. So 90% of what most of you guys believe, he believes also, but there are these little things that I'm not filming. My biggest issue, my biggest issue. And by the way, I'm not even so bothered at the fact that he has made some statements that I would agree with in terms of some social justice things. But now at the same time, you all need to know though that he's also fairly conservative when it comes to the political arena. He actually is, he actually is. And so if he holds a certain view social justice wise, I'm not gonna impugn him on that either because it's not even really a big question, not that much. At least I don't think it is. But what's bothersome would be the fact that here you are sound over here, but then over here, you are promoting or even platforming some people that you shouldn't know. To show you how sound he, Tony Evans is not shy when it comes to speaking out on certain political issues or hotbed hot button issues, things relating to homosexuality, abortion and so forth. I mean, he is a defender of the biblical stance. That part is no one can dispute that. Even you just did this clip here of him talking about the role of women. This concept of womanhood has become something other than the owner and the creator has defined. But there is a biblically defined definition and role of a woman. One of our Supreme Court justices needed help. She was asked, what is a woman? She said, I don't know. Well, you should know. You should know who you are and what God created you to be, why he created you to be that and how you ought to function if you are that. Oh, you hear the con, my body, my choice. That's a con. You hear the con when you hear women decide that they don't want to be women anymore, they want to shift genders. That's because they've been conned. You find women in homes that are conned when they want there to be two husbands. They're not willing to identify and apply the biblical role. So that there, we can all agree with that. We can all literally rock with that and we can get down with that. That's fine. Amen, amen, and amen to what you just said. The issue is some of the people that you have been kind of involved with and it bothers me. Guys, it bothers me because I love Dr. Evans and I love the church, but some things are just, it is just wrong. It's just wrong. I don't like the affiliation, honestly, with TBN or some of the people with TBN. And then one of his buddies who, and maybe he's just too close to it to call out because they actually did a conference together in I think it was 0607, definitely, where the word I've got the truth of God, I forgot the name of the conference, but it was about making sure that we promote truth in the pulpits and calling out people like Joel Osteed and T.D. Jakes, those kind of people. The Benny Hens, the Jesse Duplantis calling those, and they mentioned those people by name. And so he and Robert Morris, they were on that same track. Robert Morris has left the range. Robert Morris to me is full-blown, he's a full-blown heretic because of what he's espousing, even as it relates to the deity of Christ. I just, I feel comfortable saying that I might be wrong. I might be wrong, but at least what he's saying, at least the doctrines that he's espousing is heretical. And so when Tony Evans is with these people, it becomes a problem. This concept, the, you know, Psalm 89, verse 14, says, from God's throne comes righteousness and justice. So therein lies a problem because you're not necessarily platform because you're on TBN, but it's almost like you're giving aid and comfort. You are, if I see you with that person, it makes us feel like, hey, because I trust you, I think your sound and that person also must be sound. It's kind of in reverse being guilty by association. There's sound by association. That's not the case. And sometimes you have to be able to say, that's wrong. I think you have to be able to say, that's wrong. I'll be honest, I've been more hesitant than anything else even say, hey, the issues with his daughter. And in truth to be told, I'm more apt to give any preacher a little bit of grace, a little bit of mercy when it comes to their children because you're not, how hard would it be? Now, it's easy for us to say because it's not our child, but how hard would it be for us to call out our child publicly? My child is this, my child is that. Now, I will say this though, even with his daughter, she does not, she's not preaching at the church in front of me at the church, but still, I think there needs to be kind of some reigning in on some of the things, but even more than that guys, before I get to where else I'm gonna go, even that one of the people that, one of the things I might have about Tony Evans is that at the church, he's not trying to spread out. He could have easily had a second campus, a third campus. Could have done that, but what does he do? He trains the men and will have them go out and plant churches elsewhere. One of the people that had planted churches that was under him was Conway Edwards. He was, at the time that I was there, he was over the singles ministry. And so he goes and plants a church out in North Dallas, the North Dallas area, Plano, Frisco. He's got several campuses now, one community church. Okay, well, let me check on one community church. Well, one community church has got a problem now. I don't have a problem with, he likes to use props, fine. But we've got a situation here where Conway Edwards has put his wife in a position to where she's not technically the co-pastor, but fall into the purpose kind of functions that way in terms of her preaching and so forth, and so that's a problem. Well, you do me a favor, she gets real nervous. I don't know why on Wednesday night, when it's her girlfriend, she just be like, whatever, whatever, whatever. But on Sunday, she get real nervous. So will you help me by, if you're in the house, by standing, are you only doing this because I want you to make her feel comfortable and make her know she's gonna be all right and God's got a word for her. Will you help me honor her, everybody? Thank you, everybody. Thank you, thank you family online. Light up the chat. Come on, let's do it for the glory of God. Come on, somebody. And so her preaching before the people, that just can't be, but you're seeing more and more people who are maybe either protégés or people that were mentored under Dr. Evans, who also are now friends with Conway Edwards, Conway and his wife, Jada. Even, even somebody like an Andy Stammer. Can you believe it? I'm here with somebody I've learned from, watched, listened to, been mentored by from a distance, and I'm in the same room with them today. Isn't God great? Yeah, but see the Bible, there's a problem. One, one, we are supposed to do one thing, certainly, if you are in leadership and you can pick men. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 2, the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these two faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You are to give this mantle, so to speak, this passing the baton, so to speak. I hate using the word mantle because it kind of conjures up some sort of charismatic imagery. But you are to give it to people that are gonna be faithful to what? To the doctrine. Faithful to sound teaching. As a matter of fact, as the Bible say about sound teaching, he says, but for you, he's saying, teach what accords with sound doctrine. By the way, the word teaches acts not, teaches acts is the word, la lay, which is to speak. So speak or teach, give or say what accords with sound doctrine. Why is this a problem? Well, because if you're gonna keep platforming women and having women either in the name, the named offices, or without having a name or title to it, it's still the same thing. And when you start chipping away this aspect, even if it's a small aspect of doctrine, well, this is okay. Well, if that's okay, and the Bible is clear on that, but we're still gonna reject that. Well, then what else in the scriptures are we gonna reject? What other doctrines are we gonna reject? Remember guys, and I believe this wholeheartedly. It's not like I got a vision. The Lord didn't come and visit me one night to tell me this, but just look at the world. Here is sound doctrine. Here is bad doctrine. What's gonna happen? Sound doctrine is going to decrease in our churches. Unsound doctrine, false doctrine is going to increase. That's gonna happen. You are not going to find any piece of sound doctrine that is going to grow in popularity. I'll take it back. There is one, there is one, but it's a distortion of it. That is grace, forgiveness. That'll grow in popularity, because hey, I don't mind grace. Lord knows I need grace, we all do. But it gets distorted in the sense that do what you wanna do, live how you wanna do, whatever, and no one is to judge me, because I'm under grace. Well, no, that's not how that works. But whether you think no one can judge you, God will and he'll deal with you. But you pick the doctrine. Whatever is sound, whatever is sound, it will go this way. Whatever was considered orthodox, whatever was filled, now fundamentalism is considered a bad thing, but whatever was part of the fundamentals of faith, it's going down. Whatever we used to reject, whatever we thought was heresy, whatever we thought was maybe something that's outlandish, it's going up in popularity. Why do you think the deity of Christ is under assault? Because it's a sound doctrine, it's going down. Why do you think the role of women that whatever is taught is going down? It's going by the wayside, because it's sound doctrine. Why do you think the clarion call for strong men is going by the wayside, because it's sound doctrine? You pick the sound doctrine, we don't need it, we don't need it. We can make it up as we go. I haven't decided if I'm gonna say the person's name just yet, because I kind of don't want to, but to hear a person say, it was just funny, a person was being interviewed and was asked about demons and he literally made the statement. Yeah, I'm gonna say the person's name later. Literally made the statement that demons don't lie, have no reason to believe that demons lie. Demons do lie. People say some things like, wait a second, have you not read the scripture? What's happening is you're adding things, you're making them things as you go, why? Because it might make you feel good. It might help your purpose, it might help your cause. It might attract more people in the doors, because guess what we want. Can I just be honest with you guys? Can I just be honest with you guys? Every pastor, just like every preacher, just like even every person on YouTube are concerned about numbers. Now, how concerned are they is gonna be the issue. What do I mean? Everybody who opens their mouth to say something, you want people to hear it. Every last one of you. What it's for and it's for some people if you listen right now. Every last one of you, when you type something in the chat or when you say something to somebody, you want people to hear what you say and to take and regard what you say. You just do. If I push play, hit record, do I want one person to hear it? Sure. Am I happier when 1,000 hears it? Sure. If what I'm saying is true, I want the message to get out. I want, if what I'm saying is truthful and it's biblical, the more the merrier. So, oh, by the way, push the like button. Therefore, more people hear this. Go ahead, push the like button. But that being the side, if I have a church, if I'm a pastor, if I'm preaching, what do I want? We want more and more people to come to the, think about it. When the gospel actually fell for the first time and the spirit fell, the church was added to in a tremendous fashion in terms of numbers. God is okay with more people. That part God is clear with, but if you have that at the forefront, we need more people. We need more people so much so that we'll do anything to get them to come in. Let's have this show. Let's have some life. Let's have these prop. Let's do this. Let's say that. Let's make people feel comfortable, even in their sin. No, if a person can leave in their sin just as comfortable as when they came in, you didn't do your job, but you did the devil's job. You did his bidding. And that's what's happening. The problem is we do have a number of people who are out there with it. We can, that is crazy. They say some things like what? Even a non-believer can catch it. But it's the subtleties. It's the kind of smooth way of putting something in. It's like, okay, all right, that makes sense. That's why a person can say 85% of Jesus's life he was out of order. Because he says some other things that the audience liked. That's why somebody can say that when God spoke to Adam, Adam didn't have a body. Because he said some other things that God, I mean, that people liked. Remember what the Bible says. The Bible is clear on this. He says preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove. There's the word guys, reprove, convict. Let people know that what you just said is wrong. This is the right way. Prove to them what's right. Rebuke at some point in time. Hey, no, you are wrong for that. And you need to be called out. You need to be dealt with because of that. Exhort, keep doing it. You keep doing it. How? With great patience and long suffering instructions. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. That time has certainly come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But what's the issue? But wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires. So it's happened. It's happening. And it will continue to happen at an alarming pace. And so folks are going to turn away from sound doctrine and they'll listen to all these different weird crazy things that kind of creep in. Such as the person called himself a prophet and saying the third eye is biblical. God wants you to access the third eye. Well, that's clearly seen. Consorting, consulting with mediums and spiritists. That's clearly seen. And as a matter of fact, when I was listening to it, when I was listening to this interview, anyone that calls out that kind of stuff, they're called heresy or heretic hunters. You mean to tell me, you mean to tell me I cannot call out Sam without being called a name? I'm just saying, this is wrong. Let's have a conversation about it. No, no, no. If you point that out, you are a heresy hunter. Mind your own business. Well, no, my business is the gospel. My business is the Bible. Let's talk about it. But we'd be wrong because Jude says that we need to contend for the faith. And so you've got these people who are being promoted and even the folks that are being promoted, even the heretics, so to speak. They say things sometimes like, huh, because you say it in an intellectual fashion, you don't run through the scriptures, you don't break the scriptures down. And so people who aren't as discerning will take what you say, something like this. People don't go to hell for sin because of sin. They go to hell because of unbelief. Jesus did not say the ones that don't sin go to heaven. And the ones that sin go to hell. Let me read you exactly what he said, John 3.36. He who believes in the sun has everlasting life. He who does not believe in the sun shall not see life. Okay, there's two things. One, did you notice the size of the crowd? That's a huge church. Gateway Church in Southlake is a gigantic, ginormous, enormous church. And weekly they are getting fed with a bunch of junk. This is where sometimes you want a choice, a profane word to come out, kind of at the point, I'm not gonna cuss, I don't cuss. But they're getting fed a bunch of a lot of it. Yes, because this man is teaching here. People don't go to hell for sin. Yes, they do, sir. Everybody is on their way to hell because of sin. We go to hell because we have this debt that's owed. What is that debt called? It's a sin debt. The debt is there because of sin. You go to heaven, you make it to heaven by faith. People that are going to hell are going to help because of sin and they have not placed their faith in Christ. They're not going to hell for unbelief, they're going to hell because of sin. It's the belief portion that will get them to heaven. But you distort that because again, I can do what I want to live, I want to, I don't have to call this stuff out. But it's not just him. It's not, by the way, by the way, can we just, this is what Pastor's supposed to do. This is one of the pastoral epistles. This is Paul speaking to Timothy and he says to him, Timothy, young man, be diligent, present yourself approved to God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. Well, Mr. Robert Morris is not handling the word of truth accurately. He has become the very person that he railed against 17, 18 years ago. And let's say it, because he says it in an intelligent fashion. He really does. He doesn't seem like he's so super charismatic. Now, by the way, he is, but he didn't come off that way. He didn't come off cross as a philanthropic charismatic person. He does not, but he is. And there's the problem. This is what's happening with the church. This is where we can say now we've got a problem. See, it used to be one thing when you can find the person that was just so out there, they would do outlandish things. They would punch somebody in the chest and say that person's being delivered. They're being healed. They can take people who are, they just got a hang nail and they're walking with a limp with a hang nail. You touched him and all of a sudden that hang nail feeling is gone. Lord of God, they've been healed. That kind of stuff, the tend to, I got three toes missing. They all grew back overnight. Praise God for it, but there's no evidence. There's no proof. That stuff is easy to call out. It's this kind of stuff that we're talking about, the subtlety. That's the problem. And that is going to be the downfall of the church. The Lord commands us to meet. The Lord commands us to meet. He does not. I gave her, now by the way, you notice this is Andy being Andy. You notice that Andy, how the arrogance, the confidence is, come here, come on, let me help you out. He does not. Yes, he does. Yes, he does Andy. And shame on you to say something that backwards, that ignorant and that stupid and people fall for that. First of all, we have the pattern of the disciples, the apostles at the founding of the church, what do they do? They met every week and they had everything in common. So you have to meet. Plus, we have the pattern of Jesus and the disciples. They met, they stayed meeting. But even that, we have literally the writer of Hebrews says not to forsake the assembling. That's some of you have done. Now again, this is Andy who did have a problem with churches being closed. Had a problem with churches opening too soon, but that's Andy. Andy being Andy. The person, when I say a gay of men and women, okay? A gay person who still wants to attend church after the way the church has treated the gay community, I'm telling you, they have more faith than I do. They have more faith than a lot of you. Well, first of all, Andy, speak for yourself. Speak for yourself. Why? First of all, if a gay person wants to attend church and be gay, that gay person's still going to hell. That's just the Bible. We didn't write it, Andy. God did. That's literally what his word says. Because of the way that pastors have leveraged, the Bible says, the Bible says, the Bible says, it's like saying the Constitution says, the company handbook says, we've said that the Bible is the authority, the Bible says the Bible teaches the word of God. Because of that language, consequently, most Christians, most thoughtful Christians believe what's in the Bible. Are you ready for this? Because it's in the Bible. Well, shouldn't we believe what's in the Bible? Andy? And by the way, I'm not, let me just say this also. I'm not bothered by his father, Charles Stanley, at all. People say, well, Charles Stanley's son was a heretic. Okay. What did you want Charles to do? His son is his own man. He's doing his thing. He's not going to. So, again, I'm not going to get upset with Charles Stanley for not calling his son out. But Andy Stanley is a nutcase. I'm not your daddy. I'm not your brother. I'm not your father. Andy Stanley is a nutcase. What he just said, just because the Bible said it. Andy, please explain. Do tell. And you have to help them change that. Illustration. Ask the average person in your church or your uncle or your aunt or your grandmother who loves Jesus. Hey, do you believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins and rose from the dead? Yes, I do. Why do you believe that? Because the Bible tells me so. Because it's in the Bible. That is the wrong answer. We do not take the New Testament document seriously because they are in the Bible. These documents were included in the Bible because of who wrote them, when they were written and what they contained, right? I mean, we believe that we take those documents seriously because of who wrote them, not because they're in the Bible. No. What Andy Stanley tries to do? He tries or attempts to be the cleverest man in the room, the smartest guy in the room. Some things he gets right. Some things he gets wrong. And so if you fashion yourself to be more of an upscale, professional, business-minded person who's not gonna go for the foolishness of people hanging off the rafters and lights and stuff like that, what have you, although he does have a kind of a concert atmosphere there, but you wanna be kind of more of a thinker as though the people that hold the sound doctrine aren't. He wants to be the guy that tells you that, yeah, that's not quite it in this. And then you say some dumb things. And then you turn around and say some literal dumb things that people without a seminary degree can just break that down because we have literally the scriptures. We literally have the scriptures to tell us that no, we do rely on the Bible. Yeah, it's important who wrote the Bible so that we can have faith in it. But I can promise you this, whether Paul would have written it or not, as portions of the Bible or Peter or James or John or Isaiah, God just used those men. The Bible was going to be written with or without them. If it wasn't Moses, it would have been somebody else. If it wasn't Ezra, it would have been someone else. If it wasn't John, it would have been, God didn't need them, God just used them. God didn't need them, they needed God. And so the only reason why we believe what Peter said, the only reason why we can believe Paul, the only reason why we have confidence in John, the only reason why we trust Moses is because of the Bible. As Hebrews 11 tells us, we weren't there. The only reason why we believe what the Bible tells us about the world is because the Bible tells us. If the Bible didn't tell us that, then we wouldn't believe that. We believe what it says because it's in the Bible. The Bible is born out to be trustworthy. And so we trust it. Can I just go ahead and just end with Paul said, Paul is saying, this is Paul on his deathbed. Paul is at the end of his life. And so what is Paul saying? Verse number six of 2 Timothy chapter four, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering. And the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight. How cool will it be? How cool would it be? If the pastors in the churches today could say I have fought the good fight. I've lost some members. I've lost some the opportunity to make more money when others did, I could have, but I didn't. Maybe some people have ostracized me, criticized me, but guess what? It's good to be criticized. It's good to be attacked for the sake of the gospel. What if, what if people actually, or pastors, churches actually could say that they fought the good fight? I mean, fought them. And I don't mean that you fought, you fought for 10 rounds, and then the 11th round, you gave up the 12th round, you gave up, now you know what, and then got knocked out. What will you be remembered for? Getting knocked out. Yeah, he'd laugh, but he got, if you're gonna get dropped like that, you should've got dropped in the first round. That's what was happening to pastors. I was seeing a lot of pastors doing that. I'll never forget that one pastor told me, he said maybe the reason for, now he was just speculating, and I thought about it, maybe there's some truth to it, because there are a lot of men that were used in history to do that, not necessarily biblical, but who did certain things, and as they got to a certain level, they were taken out, and so the question was, maybe God had something to do with that, because as they got bigger and bigger and bigger, their fame and their influence was growing to where they would've led more people astray. And so maybe that's also happening with a lot of these men of God who they get to a certain point, and then you know what, your purpose has served. You need to go on, because they start saying, and espousing, how many men do you know, good godly men who for the first 10, the first 20 years of their ministry were sound, and then later ended up saying some things that were ungodly, kind of departing from the norm. That happens a lot, and so what does he say? I have fought, and this is Paul saying, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. This word right here, I need you to see this on the street. I have kept the faith. Can I just give you guys some Greek? Would you mind if I give you some Greek? I'm sorry if I have to, but look what he says. This word right here is tetereca, which is the perfect tense of I've guarded, I've kept. I have kept what? Kept, now it says the faith. Notice this is not I have kept having faith. This is I have kept the faith, not the verb, but the noun. I have kept the faith, the tenets of the faith, the core aspects of the faith, what the faith teaches. What remember what he says over here in 1 Corinthians 4-6? He says, he wants us to learn not to exceed what has been written. That's what he's speaking of, of the faith. So going back to this, he says, I have kept that faith. Wouldn't it be good if pastors have done, would do that. They get a little older, they start to think, pontificate, hum, I wonder, hmm, let me rethink some things. This is when you know it's time to retire as a pastor. When the core essential Christian doctrine inside of you, you say to yourself, let me rethink those things. At a certain point in time, there are some things call me stubborn, call me arrogant, call me prideful. There are some things I'm never changing from. I'm not departing from. I don't care. Well, what about the way you feel about, I don't know the deliverance ministry. I'm not departing from that, you know how? Because I know exactly how people are delivered. Yeah, I know exactly how people are delivered. I ain't talking about folks that come on stage and hey, let me walk down so you can take this demon out. No, I'm talking about guys that really want to hurt themselves and hurt other people. Yeah, a real demon, real demonic influence and how they're handled and how were they delivered by Jesus, the gospel. Yeah, I'm not departing that. And you can call me hardheaded, stubborn, whatever prideful arrogant, you come and whatever you wanna call me. But I know what, I know it works, plus I know it works in the Bible. Some things I'm just never departing because I want to be able to say I want, I want the last half of my life to be better than the first half of my life. I want the last half of my walk with Christ to be much better than the first half. I don't wanna start off strong and then fall off. Have you guys ever watched Track and Field? Matter of fact, I tell you what you do. This year, sometime this year, go to a junior high Track and Field meet. Go to a junior high Track and Field meet. And I want you to watch a particular race. I want you to watch the 400 meter dash. And you guys know Track and Field, you know what I'm talking about. Go to a junior high, not high, it's because at this point in time, there'll be more adept at running the race. But go watch a seventh or eighth grader run the 400 meter dash. And you're gonna watch one kid is gonna take off and he's just killing everybody. Oh, this kid is going to the Olympics. By the time he's at the first 100 meters. Matter of fact, even the second 200 meters, this guy, let's give this kid a scholarship. Then he dies. The last 200, everybody has passed him. Even that fat kid that wasn't supposed to run Track, even that kid has passed him. That's why he started off fast, ended slow. That is what's happened. And you don't want to get no more gas, Lane Jane. You don't want that to be you. You don't want to be the person to where you start off fast in the ministry and you move away. That's not what you want to have happen. That's why Paul could make this statement. I have fought the good fight. I have finished, look what he says. I have finished the course. I have finished it. I have kept the faith in the future. There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness. And so the person like that, that pastor is looking for the reward in heaven. Not looking for the reward today on earth. Not trying to get their best life. Not trying to make sure that they have the largest church, that they've got several campuses, that they can write several books. Not having a problem with you, necessarily if you've written books and so forth and you've got different campuses, although I would prefer that you didn't have several campuses, take care of the ones that you have and train men like the Bible tells us to do. But that being said, I would rather that you finish the course with 500 members versus the person with 5,000 members who has sold their soul. Who has said whatever they want to say, they have not done the right thing. I don't, I don't, I would much rather be that person that's found faith. Remember, the Bible says about David that he rested with his father's once his purpose was fulfilled. That's what you want to do. Once your purpose is over with, then you're out of here. But don't try to prolong something because of your legacy and don't, because how come you never see, this is what you really see. You rarely see a pastor with a great name hobnobbing and promoting someone of a lower level. Here's Pastor Joe. Yeah, I've got 10,000 members of my church, but let me introduce you guys to Pastor Joe. He's got a hundred members of his church, but this man is solid. You ever wonder why you don't see that? You ever wonder why you don't see this mega church pastor with a small church pastor, he's typically with another mega church pastor or another so-called Christian influencer. You ever wonder that rather than this pastor with this mega church hobnobbing with the guy with the hundred members? Why? Because he can't be secure. He can't be faithful. He's not sound. No, that's, that's no, let me give you, let me give you the biblical term for what that is. That's baloney. That's malarkey. That's fully, that's me not cussing with that is. That's what that is. Why? Because now I'm at a status. Well, that's not you keeping the faith. That's you out for you. And unfortunately, what we're seeing happening is a subtle degradation of the church. I almost wanna say a subtle degradation of the word. And if you look back over time, it has been fairly subtle. It has been fairly subtle, but at the same time though, in comparison over the last two years, it's been pretty quick when you think about it. Where is that, where is that in the Greek? Fui, malarkey, baloney. I don't think it is. I don't think it's in the Bible. I just made it up. I wish, how cool would that have been if they had put malarkey in the Greek? But I want you guys to be discerning, to be prepared. If your church starts chipping away, and I mean chipping away, a little chip here, a little chip there. See, I like people who you see a dent on the car. Like, wait a second, whoa, wait a second. Or you see a little chip off the side of the house. Hey, wait a second. That bothers them. Versus some folks, just a little dent. Oh, it's just tides. Oh, it's just women. Oh, it's just being slain in the spirit. It's the next thing you know, you're a full-blown heresy. Next, you're promoting full-blown heresy. Cause it happened a little bit over time. It's a nibble here, and a nibble there, and a nibble here, and a nibble there. You just nibble, nibble, nibble, nibble, nibble. Next thing you know, you are far away from the Word of God. And you look nothing like you used to look. No one can say that this is a faithful man of God because look at him now. If they have more than one campus or location for a church, does it mean, does it seem more like a business to Syria? Because why? Why? The problem that I've always had with, well, one of the big problems I've always had with a person like a T.D. Jakes. This was even before I got into doctrine, was that half the time he's not at his church, he's out tending other business interests. A movie here, a product over there, preaching over here or there. But you are a shepherd. You have sheep. Y'all do understand, a shepherd without a sheep, a shepherd without a sheep is not a shepherd, nor is a shepherd who neglects his sheep. You said it again. A shepherd without a sheep is not a shepherd, nor is a shepherd who neglects his sheep. And so if you're gonna have this campus over here, that campus, that campus, how in the world are you dealing with these sheep? You need to be able to deal with them personally. When I heard Jamal Bryan say that I don't counsel. Excuse me? You don't counsel anybody? Well, then what kind of shepherd are you? When Peter says, tend to the flock that you've been given. He was told by Jesus to feed his sheep. Do you love me, Jesus? Yes, I do. Well, then feed my sheep, tend to my flock. How do you do so if you're not counseling them? This is the loft topic, BJ, but how do you know you have the Holy Spirit? Well, there's a couple of ways. There's one, you are giving God the glory. You are witnessing, you're testifying of him, like what a pastor do because Jesus says that when the Holy Spirit comes in you, you will testify of me. You'll be grieved of sin. Sin will bother you. So those are the two most important ways that you can know. When do you move someone into the false teacher category? Well, if that seems to be what they're known for, everybody has a false teaching. So it's not that you taught something in error. That's not what it is. One, if you're promoting false teaching, if you are promoting, let's say, if you're promoting the Mike Tides of the world or the Todd Whites, if you're promoting the Benny Hens, the Creflo Dollars of the world, if you're promoting this heretic, Jesse DuPlanus, Kenneth Copeland, if that's who you're promoting, well, then we can just already assume what your discernment level is like. But then you turn around and you do it yourself. That's a problem. That is a problem. Your teachings are known not by the soundness of them, but the unsoundness. There, and that's the hard part. There is no magic number to determine. Hey, you crossed the threshold. That was the last sin. That was a heresy that broke the camel's back. There is no such thing. Ultimately, God knows your heart and we don't. But there's just some people that it's just easy to see. So, guys, this is the most important thing. Be on guard for the doctor. Be on guard, defend, content for the Word of God, even if you're past your church and do it. If your church is not contending for that, if your church doesn't value the Word of God, it is time for another church. I don't care how nice they are or how subtle they've been about it. It's time to move it. And guess what? Let me just say this. There are plenty of good churches out there. And I mean plenty. Don't let people tell you that there are no good churches out there. There are. There are plenty of good churches out there. Do not think that God will leave his people without a place to go. God is a loving God and he knows what we need. So there are plenty of good churches. They may not be the largest church. They may not have the best sound system. They may not have the best choir. They may have a parking lot that could use some help. They might have a usher that we need to get on and we need to retire. Sister Smith, she's running her other than that. Everybody knows Sister Smith something like that. But you may not, it may not be the one that's on TV. It may not be the one that has 4,000 people watching every Sunday on YouTube and another 2,000 in the sanctuary. It may not be that church, but it's one where the Word of God is taught and the love of God is evident amongst the members of the church. And I promise you, there are a bunch out there. Go find it, go be part of one and promote one. Amen.