The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Hebrews 13:1-16primary passage for the sermon, practical application after the book's argument that Jesus is better
1 Let brotherly love continue.
2 Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for in doing so, some have entertained angels without knowing it.
3 Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you are also in the body.
4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
5 Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.”
6 So that with good courage we say, “The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
7 Remember your leaders, men who spoke to you the word of God, and considering the results of their conduct, imitate their faith.
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
9 Don’t be carried away by various and strange teachings, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not by food, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.
10 We have an altar from which those who serve the holy tabernacle have no right to eat.
11 For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside of the camp.
12 Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside of the gate.
13 Let us therefore go out to him outside of the camp, bearing his reproach.
14 For we don’t have here an enduring city, but we seek that which is to come.
15 Through him, then, let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which proclaim allegiance to his name.
16 But don’t forget to be doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
urging believers to watch those who cause dissensions contrary to sound teaching and turn away from them
17 Now I beg you, brothers, look out for those who are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and turn away from them.
Paul warning about false apostles and deceitful workers disguising themselves as apostles of Christ, noting Satan disguises himself as an angel of light
12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them that desire an occasion, that in which they boast, they may be found even as we.
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles.
14 And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light.
15 It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
warning against being children tossed by waves and carried by every wind of doctrine through trickery and deceitful scheming
14 that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;
warning against being taken captive through philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men
8 Be careful that you don’t let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Christ.
warning not to be shaken or deceived about the day of the Lord having already come
2 not to be quickly shaken in your mind, and not be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter as if from us, saying that the day of Christ has already come.
3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction,
warning about those who advocate different doctrine and have morbid interest in disputes, supposing godliness is a means of gain
3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine, and doesn’t consent to sound words, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness,
4 he is conceited, knowing nothing, but obsessed with arguments, disputes, and word battles, from which come envy, strife, insulting, evil suspicions,
5 constant friction of people of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. Withdraw yourself from such.
appeal to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, warning of ungodly persons who crept in and deny Jesus Christ
3:3 Beloved, while I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I was constrained to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
4:4 For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into indecency, and denying our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ.
describing false teachers as hidden reefs in the love feast, clouds without water, autumn trees without fruit
12 These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
On this last Sunday of 2025, Pastor A brought a message from Hebrews 13, stepping away from the ongoing minor prophets series to close the year with a word about staying grounded in the gospel. The practical section of Hebrews 13 framed a call to love one another, show hospitality, remember prisoners, hold marriage in honor, and rest in contentment rather than financial fear. The heart of the message was a warning: do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings, and a challenge to keep Jesus central as the new year begins.
What was said
The message opened in the practical tail end of Hebrews, where the writer moves from the great argument that Jesus is better than everything in the old covenant into how that reality should shape everyday life. Love the brothers and sisters. Show hospitality to strangers. Remember prisoners. Be content with what you have. These are not suggestions layered onto the gospel, Pastor A said, they flow out of it. The anchor underneath all of it is the promise quoted from the Old Testament with five negatives stacked together: God will never, no never, forsake you.
From there the sermon zeroed in on the command not to be carried away by varied and strange teachings. Pastor A was careful to say he was not targeting any particular denomination or theological tradition. What he was after was the broader pattern of letting something other than Christ and His word become the lens through which everything else gets filtered. Confirmation bias, he said, is when we read the Bible to find what we already want to find, and it is one of the subtler ways people get carried off.
To show how seriously the New Testament takes this danger, Pastor A walked through a long string of warnings from across the letters, from Jesus in Matthew, to Paul in Acts, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, and both letters to Timothy, and then Jude and First John. The pattern in all of them was the same: false teachers come in from the outside, rise up from the inside, use persuasive arguments, and pull people away from the simple gospel. The answer each time was not a better argument but a closer eye on Jesus.
Pastor A told a story from his time as an intern at First B, when a woman from a senior center Bible study asked him to come because a man was disrupting it week after week with arguments that had the ladies in the room slowly nodding along. He went, listened, told the man plainly that the group was there to study the Bible and his arguments were unsettling them, gave him the floor to say his piece, and the man never came back. The point was not the confrontation but the clarity: when the gospel is what holds a room together, persuasive noise from outside it needs to be named for what it is.
Coming back to Hebrews 13, Pastor A landed on the positive side of the warning. The good thing for the heart is not more tradition, not more religious practice, not more food laws, but grace. The old covenant sacrifices all pointed forward to Jesus, who suffered outside the gate, outside the camp, to sanctify His people. So the call is to go out to Him there, outside whatever is comfortable or conventional, and follow where He leads.
The sermon closed on what Pastor A described as the sacrifice that remains for Christians: a continual offering of praise and thanksgiving to God, along with doing good and sharing with one another. He connected it to the woman who had come into the building the day before with roses for the altar rail, wanting to thank God publicly for rescuing her from a desperate situation. She had called on God in her trouble, he had rescued her, and she came back to honor Him. That, Pastor A said, is what God is pleased with, and it is the right posture to carry into a new year.
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Pastor Adam talked about contentment, quoting the line 'I will never desert you nor will I ever forsake you' and referencing Paul's statement about learning to be content in any circumstance. Where in your own life right now is contentment the hardest thing to hold onto, and what does trusting God actually look like in that specific situation?
The sermon walked through a long list of New Testament warnings about being carried away by varied and strange teachings, including the idea of confirmation bias, hearing only what we want to hear. Can you think of a time when you realized you were reading Scripture through what you already believed rather than letting it challenge you? What shifted that for you?
First time. Good morning. Great to be here. Amen? Let's worship the Lord.
Let's feel his presence in this place. And I would like to ask you, please, if you do not wanna sing, that's fine. Close your eyes and have a beautiful conversation with our saviors. Amen? With our savior Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Send him to die I scarce can't take it in
that
my burden gladly buried he when Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation and take me home what joy shall fill my heart the
Amen. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. Have a few announcements and baby dedication this morning.
Oh, amen.
So here we go. The announcements to begin with. No Awana until January 5. That's when it starts back up again. It's January 5.
That's when school starts back. That's when Awana starts back. We try to match the school calendar on that. Great program for kids. Men's lunch study is not on this week, right?
It's back on the eighth. It's on the eighth. So this is New Year's Day, we're gonna wait until the eighth to start up the men's lunch study. Angel Tree, thank you all. And can I just say thank you?
It's amazing to see how many people and how many families were touched, blessed and helped this year, and I just wanna say thank you. It was it was amazing to be a part of it. Tanya and Pascal were the ones that were kinda administrating everything. And I didn't see all that, but then when it comes to the distribution of the gifts, it's amazing to see the blessings. Speaking of that, these roses on the rail are from somebody that just wants to say thank you to God for providing.
It wasn't necessarily through the angel tree, but it was something where God delivered them from a very, very desperate situation, and she came in yesterday too. Latina mamas and a son, and came in and said, I just wanted to bring this back to say thank you to God for delivering me. So amen. I'm thankful for that too. Our missions moment this morning, don't forget about them.
Dave and Kim Hatfield, they're serving in Nakuru, Kenya. And if you're not on their email, it's pretty amazing. You ought to You probably wanna be on there. It's a lot of encouragement and a lot of really difficult situation, but God's shining through in those dark places and dark situations. So for staff, for drivers, for sponsors, for the children, for development funds, all of that stuff, Livingstone Global is the is the stateside organization for that.
But Dave and Kim have been here multiple times before and spoken, and they came out and just kinda lived here for a few months before they ever were sent out permanently to be in Nacuda, Kenya, but that's where they are now, and I wanna pray for them. Lord God Almighty, I thank you for Dave and Kim, our friends, and I pray that you'd bless them, Lord. Them and their family, their extended family of people in the school and in the in the surrounding community around there in Hilton near Nakuru. Lord, in London, Hilton area of Nakuru. In Jesus name, we ask that you'd bless them with the expansion, lord, and the expansion of the new campus that they have been given, that you'd use it for their good, the the good of the community, and for your glory, lord.
We want to see your will done in your way. Would you show Dave and Kim how to walk that path? They do it well but lord, I pray that you'd strengthen, encourage, and comfort them in this. In Jesus name, amen. Amen.
And if there's anything else that should be on the church website, there's a lot going on but the the holiday season throws a lot of what's happening off on the normal pattern but we'll be kicking back in the gear beginning of the year. I'm gonna invite up a whole row of people for a baby dedication. And this is for Westbrook Johnson Parker the third. And what part of Virginia are you from is the next question. And they are from Virginia.
Actually, the grandparents are.
I'm gonna invite everybody up. So this is Westbrook Parker Johnson the first, Westbrook Parker Johnson the second, and this is Westbrook Johnson Parker the third. Okay. And Abby, I've known Abby her whole life, not my whole life, she's younger than me, but I've known her since she was born. She grew up seven miles away in Manchester, Georgia.
I grew up in Shiloh. And this is Penny Meadows Hale, who is my aunt Laura, who one of her best friends. And so it's kind of for me, it's really, really cool combination to be up here with you all for this. Today, Brooke and Abby are coming alongside the grandparents and aunt Caroline to give thanks for Westbrook Johnson Parker the third. We're gonna dedicate him to the Lord praying that he would come to know and serve him.
We also dedicate Brooke and Abby also to God asking that he would give them the wisdom and the understanding and the knowledge and the ability to raise West is what we're calling this little one. Alright? This is West. So it's Westbrook, and then it's Brook, and this is West in order. As a church, we dedicate ourselves to setting a godly example for West that he might one day come to trust in Jesus as his lord and savior.
We're also dedicating this little boy to the Lord, praying that he would come to know and serve him wholeheartedly. We're dedicating these parents to the Lord and praying that they would be given the wisdom and understanding and we're dedicating ourselves as a church family. Y'all are representative of the body of Christ. And so dedicating ourselves as the village to help raise this child. So thank you.
Can I pray to begin with? Thank you, Lord, for the gift that West is to this family and this community and this world. We thank you for these two parents and for the extended family and for this church community who will nurture this little guy. Lord, you direct us to direct our children onto the right path and when they're older, they will not leave it. You say in Psalm one thirty nine, Lord, you've examined my heart, you know everything about me, you know when I sit up and when I stand up, when I sit down, you know my thoughts, you know, even when I'm far away.
You see me when I travel, you see me when I rest at home, you know everything that I do. You know what I'm going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and you follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge, Lord, is too wonderful of me.
It's too great for me to understand. Lord God Almighty, I pray that that kind of intimate relationship is what West would have with you in his prayers, the things that he loves, carrots, broccoli, and Jesus. Lord, I I pray he gets the order right. Thank you. In Jesus name, lord, we ask your blessing on this little boy.
Amen. Amen. So, Brooke and Abby, do you recognize that Westbrook Johnson Parker the third is a gift from God? And do you both thank God and glorify gift for the for the gift of your son? Alright.
Do you accept the joys and the responsibilities of parenting, promising to give proper love and care to West throughout his life?
Yes.
With the help that God provides, you commit to teach West the fullness of God's word and demonstrate through your own example and witness what it means to love God with your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Alright. Well, will y'all offer up ongoing love? Some of y'all know these folks better than others and I realize that. But will y'all offer up ongoing love, support, and prayers, and encouragement to Brooke and Abby and their role as West parents, will you?
Yes. Will you also be faithful in praying for West as much as you're able to help teach and set a godly example for him so that he might one day come to trust in Jesus as his savior. Will you do that? Alright. Well, may the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord make his face to shine you upon you, all of y'all, and be gracious to you, and may the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace. In Jesus name, I ask for his blessing on this family, on all the travels, on all of the concerns of life, lord, that you would bless West through them and through us. In Jesus name, amen. Thank you. Thank you.
Alright. Love y'all. Y'all could stand. Absolutely. Y'all can stand up.
We're gonna sing another song here. Miss Anne and miss Caroline, thank you for coming up.
Let's worship the Lord. Amen. The beauty when I have to lead worship, not only that I of course, I love to sing. I love to play the instrument, but also I get to choose the songs that I like, and that's that's a blessing. So I like this one.
You are the only king forever. No matter what, God, you are in charge. Amen? Amen. And as we this is our last Sunday in 2025.
I'm thankful for all that he has done in our lives. There were moments when I was in the valley. There were moments when I was on top of Snow King, feel God's presence, keep hold his hand, my hand in his hand, you know, and I feel him right there. So in every moment, he is there with us. Amen?
And he's in charge. So let's trust him. Amen. Heavenly father, we praise your name, God. We are thankful that we are here in your house worshiping you, feeling your presence in this place in our hearts and mind.
Lord, I'm thankful for what you have done for us during this year, 2025. Thank you, Lord, for your provisions. Thank you for your love. And above all, Lord, thank you for your mercy. Your mercy, Lord.
Oh, your mercy is so good. Every morning, it's a new new mercy in Jesus' name, Lord. Thank you for that. Lord, I also pray that as we go to the New Year that you will bless us, keep us, and help us to stay focused on you, Lord. We know.
We are very much aware that Christian life is not easy, and it won't it was never intended or meant to be easy. It's it's tough, but we have the Holy Spirit with us who is always there to help us, to guide us, and to to give us the directions that we need, Lord. And above all, lord, help us to stay focused on your word. That's the only sword that we have that we can fight in this world. In Jesus' name, pray.
Hallelujah. Amen. Amen. Oh, you're gonna love this one. Calm down funk.
Right? Amen. I'm gonna do it Romanian style, so I'm gonna invite you, Leta, to come up front and pray for us. In Romania, you're called. You're not asked to do things.
You're just called on the spot. So thank you.
Let that be a lesson to you.
Our heavenly father, we're so thankful for your goodness. We're so thankful for your grace that you give us every single day. We need it, and we're very thankful that you always provide the grace for us. You're always merciful. Thank you for all the people that have gathered here this morning.
I would like to ask you this morning that you give each and everyone peace in our hearts so we can focus our minds on you, so we can worship you, and also to hear from your word. We'd like for your word to touch our hearts, to touch our life, to be something good that we can use throughout the week in our life. Please bless this church. Help us to love you and to serve you. In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen.
Amen.
Thank thank you, Violetta. In our house, there is a at least me and Violetta, we always have this conversation, and she's here as a witness. Every week, least, right, we say, we love first b. We love pastor a. And I love the the fact that when I come on the stage, you know, I'm different.
I'm funny, weird, whatever. And I I have the freedom and the the to say whatever I feel at the moment. And pastor, I never question never asked me, why you say that? He said? No.
He'll he gives me the freedom to worship and to say the things that the Lord puts on my heart on the spot right here. And for that, I'm very thankful for him and for you all. As from our family, we love you very much a lot. Thank you. I love you, Lord, for your mercy never fails.
Amen.
Y'all can have a seat.
I love you, Lord,
I've known you as a friend I have lived in the goodness of God all my life
Amen. Amen. I think our ushers are already up here and I would pray. Lord, would you bless this offering to do your will? Gathering at the end of the year and looking forward to the next year, lord.
We want to we want to just be in step with you. We want to keep the main thing the main thing. We want to avoid, lord, as much as possible. Any ugliness. Yeah.
We want to live at peace with all. We want to spread your peace and your love and your joy. I know. I know that Jesus said he came to bring a sword and it will divide lord but may the gospel be winsome on our lips. May it be winsome on our lips because our lives are following after you.
In Jesus name, lord, we pray and we operate. Would you allow us to be the body of Christ? In Jesus name, amen. Amen. And it is time for children's church downstairs.
And that is happening and there they go. So we have been going through for some time now a study of the minor prophets and on this last Sunday of the year, I couldn't go back to the minor prophets. I'm sorry. I will. I'm gonna go back to them and I'll finish them, but I wanted to have a little bit of New Testament here and I feel like it goes from what we have been studying in the minor prophets and with Christmas coming on, old covenant, new covenant sort of stuff.
It seemed appropriate to me to go from the book of Hebrews this morning, so that's where we're gonna go. It'll be Hebrews 13 and I say one through 16, I'm really gonna concentrate on the latter half of that, but Hebrews 13 is after the full argument of the book of Hebrews. Right? We've had Jesus is better than is the whole book of Hebrews. So I'm I don't know if it'll turn into a refrain, but there is something that I quote from there's a friend of mine that when he got saved after he was transformed by Jesus and people would see him crying usually and say, what is different about you, man?
What is it? He would say, Jesus, man. And that was his testimony. For years, it's still his testimony. It's still my testimony.
It's still your testimony. If Jesus is your savior, then this is what has changed everything. So old covenant, new covenant, the book of Hebrews argues that Jesus is better than angels. Jesus is better than Moses, the law. Jesus is better than Aaron's priesthood.
Jesus is better than all those old covenant sacrifices. Jesus is better than the law and all traditions. And so Jesus is better than is the argument of the book of Hebrews. And then we get to practical application. Here we are.
Hebrews thirteen one through eight. I'll just read and then I'll preach from nine through 16. So the practical advice which follows Jesus man is this, let love of the brothers and sisters continue. That is a given. It's already happening because you're in Jesus.
You've been called out of whatever group that you were affiliated with. Whatever people group you were brought into this world in, you've been called out of that and into the body of Christ and so let love of the brothers and sisters continue. Doesn't matter what their former stripes were. Here we are together. And don't neglect to show hospitality to strangers.
For by this, some have entertained angels without even knowing it. Angels, we talked about last week being messengers. They're also angels. Alright? Angels just like you know them.
But sometimes when you open your home or open up a meal or offer a meal to somebody, you end up receiving a message from God that you had no idea you needed. Right? So, yeah, you've entertained angels unaware or without even knowing it. Remember the prisoners as though you were in prison with them and those who are ill treated. Since you yourselves are also in the body, all over the world, there are folks who are suffering.
I think we'd be we would do well to remember that and to pray for them and to continue continually be paying attention to what's going on. Now, I famously don't pay any attention to the news. Everybody knows that. I'm just saying, have your have your finger on the pulse of what's going on in the world around you. There are prisoners here.
There are prisoners all over the world that are suffering, and we should acknowledge that, pray for them, do what we can to be helpful. We actually have recently started Jeff, particularly Jeff Brown, has started going to the jail here in Jackson. And I'll go when I get the call, but he's starting to go regularly. And if you want to be a part of that, reach out to Jeff. He'd love to take you along.
Remember the prisoners as though in prison with them, as those who are ill treated since you yourselves are in that same body. Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled. For fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. Prioritize marriage, if it's your marriage, or prioritize marriage. Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, don't be greedy.
Being content with what you have. Do we hear that, Jackson? Be content with what you have. I think of Paul in his statement that I've learned how to be content whatever the circumstances. Lord God Almighty, would you help us with that?
As we look to this new year and the financial fear that a lot of us have, Lord. Would you help us to just trust you?
Amen.
And to be content in the midst of whatever the circumstances. Be grateful in the midst of whatever circumstances. Amen. For he himself has said, I will never desert you nor will I ever forsake you. That passage, the Old Testament passage he's quoting right there, the the Greeks and the Hebrews don't have a problem with double negatives like we have a problem with double negatives.
We say, oh, that negates the negative so we don't do that. We don't do that. It's not good grammar in English to do that. This is a quintuple negative. He says, no, I will not ever, no, never, never forsake you.
If God says something five times in the same sentence, that's pretty heavy. So that we can confidently say, hey, the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. I think of in what do you call the rights when you do the when you ordain someone? Ordination ceremony.
The ordination ceremony, a lot of times, the proper response to the candidate who is being ordained is, will you serve God for the rest of your life? Blah blah blah blah. The question and then the answer is, as the Lord is my helper. Yes. Right.
Because the Lord is my helper, I can say yes to that. Otherwise, I'd be just a miserable failure at it, but I will do it because he is my helper. I will not be afraid. What could anyone do to me? Remember those who led you, those who spoke the word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct conduct imitate their faith.
Amen. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. He doesn't change. There's no shadow of turning with him. Great is his faithfulness.
And then it starts off with what I where I wanted to really concentrate today. Do not be carried away. Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings. My goal up here upfront is not to give you the denominational line of what Baptist think. It's not to give you the denominational line of what any particular denomination thinks.
It's not to give you the dispensational nor the reformed view of things. It's just to say what it says. Okay? Don't be carried away by and I'm not saying any of those are varied or strange teachings. They're valid ways of understanding scripture, but don't be carried away by varied and strange teachings.
The last time I preached through this passage was 03/01/2020. It was one week before we all were flattening the curve. Varied. Various of different colors. Different being distinct and different.
Opposed properly of all various kinds manifold. That's the varied and then strange. Alien new novel, strange foreign. It's to impose on the text something that's not in there. And I think that the strongest way that that happens is confirmation bias is when we see in the scriptures what we wanna see in the scriptures.
Let me put it the way scripture does. When we hear what our tickled when when we want our ears tickled, we wanna hear what we wanna hear, and so we don't hear anything that opposes us. That's tough. Don't be carried away by varied or strange teachings. So are there any other similar warnings in the New Testament?
Can you think of any? I don't know. Let's just hit a list of them. These are warnings. And since we're going into a new year, a warning is for the new year, I would say.
Jesus answered and said to them, see to it that no one misleads you, for many will come in my name claiming I am the Christ. I am the Christ. Now that word Christ Christas is the Greek word translated that was Messiah that they were looking for from the Hebrew scriptures Messiah. It means anointed one. I am the anointed one.
I'm the only one that can solve your problems. I'm the anointed one, and there are many that will come in my name and claim that I'm the anointed one and will deceive many. That's from Matthew, from Jesus himself, from Acts. I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, and they will not spare the flock. Even from your own number, men will rise up and will distort the truth to draw away disciples after them.
They're looking for attention and disciples. Now, I urge you, brother, and keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances that are contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. Turn back towards Christ. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Second Corinthians 11.
Why? Paul. Near the end of this book. Why? Because I don't love you, God knows I love you, but what I'm doing, I'm gonna continue to do so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be guarded just as we are in the matter about which they're boasting, for those folks are false apostles.
They're deceitful workers. They disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. How are we gonna know? How did Jesus say that the world would know that we are his? By our love.
The way we love one another is the way that the world will know that you are truly my disciples. Jesus says, such men are disciples, deceitful workers. They're disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder. Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
Therefore, it's not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds. Galatians. I'm amazed, Paul says, I'm amazed that y'all are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel which is really not another good news gospel. Only there are some of who are disturbing you and they wanna distort the gospel of Christ. Even if we or if an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed.
As we've said before, so I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel that's contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed. Cut off. Anathema. As a result, Ephesians, we're no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried around by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness, by deceitful scheming. Be be aware.
Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, don't be partakers with them. Don't be dragged away to something that's not Jesus, man. I say this so no one will delude you in Colossians with a persuasive argument.
I before coming here as the pastor here, I came here as an intern here and I had a lady invite me to a Bible study and she said, would you come? There's a guy who's disrupting every week. It's at the senior center. And it was Roseanne's Bible study. Was led by Jean DeMarsh at the time, and she said, there's a fellow who comes in.
It's a bunch of little ladies, and we're all sitting together, and we're trying to study the Bible and when we get to any passage, this guy will speak up and he'll keep on talking until all the ladies in the room start doing this and agreeing with him and he's not a true disciple in any way. He's undercutting the word of God. He's undercutting the son of God. He's undercutting God. He does not believe and he's here and he keeps on.
And he's got persuasive arguments to the point that all the ladies in the room would start agreeing with him and she said, it's driving me crazy. Can you come in? So I went in and I listened to what the guy was saying. I said, oh, hey, just a second, man. This is a Bible study.
They're here because they believe the word of God. They believe this and you're here to dispute it. And your arguments are upsetting them. And they're not gonna argue back with you. Right?
So he goes, I apologize for people like you. Exclusive. Exclusive. I said, yes, the gospel indeed is exclusive. It's open to anybody who would partake.
But it is exclusive if you don't and you haven't. So they're here to study. I think it he said, if you just give me five minutes, I would say my peace and I'd never come back again. I said, you have the floor. He said his peace and he hadn't he never showed back up.
And since I was an intern, when they were looking for a pastor, that little lady wrote a letter and said, hey, I saw him bounce a guy from a Bible study one time. See to it that no one deludes you with persuasive arguments. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy or through empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of this world. The elementary principles of this world, they're probably more than a few, but one of them is that we just divide ourselves, and God is calling us into unity in Christ. So one of the elementary principles of the world is us and them.
So rather than according to Christ, this is see to it that no one takes you captive by anything else. Thessalonians second second Thessalonians two. That you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed, either by a spirit or message or a letter as if from us to the fact that the day of the Lord have already come. Let no one in any way deceive you. Brothers and sisters, you're not gonna miss it.
You're not gonna miss it. I got to write on this one for first being the Bible this week. You're not gonna miss it. Don't let anybody deceive you. Trust in Christ.
Stay closely connected to him and his body. First Timothy. But the spirit explicitly says that in the later times, some will fall away from the faith. Yeah. Paying attention to deceitful spirits and the doctrines of demons by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as they are with a blank, as though with a branding iron.
Men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods and which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. You see that what people believe about stuff, the traditions of men comes up a lot. The traditions of your group comes up a lot. First Timothy or of any particular group. If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, turn your eyes on Jesus.
And with the doctrine conforming to godliness, then he's conceded. He understands nothing. He has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy and strife and abusive language and evil suspicions and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. Oh, Timothy, bless bless your heart. Oh, Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you.
Guard the gospel. Don't let people add to it. Don't let people take away from it. Avoid worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge. Lean on what?
Jesus, man. Yeah. First John, beloved, don't believe every spirit. Test the spirits to see whether they're from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Jude, beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, you hear unity right there, I felt the necessity to write you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all handed down to the saints.
For certain folks have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation. Ungodly folks who turned the grace of God into licentiousness and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. There is the good old gospel way. It is not legalistic. It is not licentious.
There are two ditches on the side of every road. Right? Be careful that you stay on the road. Jude 12. These folks are men who are hidden reefs in your love fests.
Feast, fest, feast. Agape feast. This is communion. These folks are hidden reefs that you might run aground on in your love feast. When they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves, they're clouds without water, they're carried along by winds, they're autumn trees without fruit, they're doubly dead, they're uprooted.
Don't listen to them. Don't let people pull you off of the gospel. So are there other similar writings in the intestine? Yeah, it just keeps on going and going and going. It's saying, be careful what you let into the noggin here.
Pay more attention to scripture than you do anything else. If you watch the news, do it fifteen minutes at a time. Don't do it all day long. Okay? Put it on the golf channel for crying out loud.
Do something. I don't care. There's less damage there. Fifteen minutes on one station. Do fifteen minutes of the opposing view and then read your Bible for thirty minutes.
So yes, there are other warnings. Here we go back to the first verse that we started with. Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings, for it's good for the heart to be strengthened by grace. Unmerited favor. It's offered by God for all of those who would believe.
Grace is central. Grace must be central. It cannot be, you've got to do this thing this way to get the favor of God. It cannot be that. Or hey, just do whatever you feel.
God made you the way that you are. It can't be that. Grace must be central. It's good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, not by traditions through which those who were so occupied were not even benefited. There may be all manner of other sincere religious practices that are not really beneficial to us at all.
The heart with which the lady came in and brought these roses yesterday, man, she didn't care if anybody was here. She came in to give back to God. It was out of a pure heart. Praise God. God's grace must be central.
Grace. It's grace. It's grace. We have an altar, Christians. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.
They didn't do anything by their service to earn Jesus. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, they're burned outside the camp. Those sacrifices pointed to something else. Therefore, Jesus also that he might sanctify the people through his own blood. He suffered outside the gate.
Jesus, man, Jesus did it. Jesus, all that all of those old testament sacrifices were pointing towards the need for an ultimate sacrifice and Jesus was it. So let's go outside the camp with him. Let's get out there with him. Let's don't be afraid to follow Jesus really, and what he taught, and the way he acted, to follow his example.
Let us go out to him outside the camp. I'll skip that. Bearing his reproach, are you willing to suffer for Christ? Not just gain a hearing because you're a believer. I I mean, there's different places, different times.
I don't know that you gain a whole lot of ground here by by politically by having Christ on your side. In the South, know you do. You wouldn't run for office if you didn't go to church at one time or another. Yeah. But bearing his reproach, being willing to stand up for what is right because of Jesus, but really what Jesus would be standing up for.
Okay? Bearing his reproach. Bearing Jesus' reproach. For here, we don't have a lasting city, but we're seeking that city which is to come. He's looking for a city.
This is about Abraham. He's looking for a city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God, looking forward to that new heaven and new earth, new Jerusalem, where pilgrims and strangers passing through here. Let's live for there Why we're here. Through him then, who? Jesus, man.
Through Jesus then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. Amen. Continually. It's not just once in a while with a yearly bigger one, it's continually. Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God.
That that is the fruit of the lips that give thanks to his name. Oh, what is God's will for you in Christ Jesus? God's will for you in Christ Jesus is that you be grateful in any circumstance. Psalm 50. If I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you for the world is mine and all it contains.
God says, shall I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of male goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of what? This is old testament, Psalm. Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Pay your vows to the most high.
Call upon me in your day of trouble. What this lady brought these things for yesterday? She called upon God in her day of trouble and he rescued her. And she was seeking to honor him. I just got to see it.
It's awesome. Now, y'all get to hear about it. She didn't do it for that. She's not watching. Don't neglect doing good.
Don't neglect sharing. For with what sack with such sacrifices, God is pleased. So I've got one just to build here, a building slide. So don't get carried away. Can I just say that as an application point?
Don't get carried away. There's gonna be a lot of opportunity in the new year. There's gonna be a lot of people pulling this way and that. Don't get carried away by various and strange teachings. They come from every direction.
Just keep your eyes on Jesus. But because of Christ, Jesus man, because you're saved by God's grace and you're sanctified by God's grace, be ready to go outside the camp. Be ready to go I won't say in a sinful manner or a legalistic manner, but in an unconventional manner. Whatever he calls you to do, be ready to go with Jesus outside the camp and because of Jesus, be continually given to God. Do this.
Give him the praise that he deserves. I I love to hear people singing and worshiping God. I heard I love to hear people saying good things about God. I got the opportunity yesterday to hear a a fellow just recently, like this week, hit a place where he hit the end of himself. And he was looking for the higher power.
He was looking for God. Yep. And he praised him that he recognized it. Does that does that make any sense at all? Yeah, man.
It's great. Jesus, man. This is the way. The praise and give him the thanksgiving he deserves. Thank you lord that that didn't kill me.
Thank you that I'm still here. Thank you that I'm still able to listen to you. Thank you that you put your love in my heart. Thank you that you put your spirit in my life. Thank you that you've given me the still small voice that will keep my feet on the right path.
Thank you, God. I praise you for doing that. I did not deserve it and I recognize it, but I'm glad you did. So do good to one another and be sure to share. Don't forget to share.
Take care of one another. Call upon God in the day of trouble. He's going to rescue you. He's the only one that can and then honor him. Do it.
He loves it when we do that. This, I love this. This is something I this is a memory thing. I want to memorize this. This is one I don't have it yet, but it's up there.
I can read it. He loves it when we do that. So as we approach this end of this year and the beginning of the next year, can we can we agree on this? Can we come together and say, lord, help us? That's Jesus, man.
That's it. Would you stand with us? I'm going invite the band back up. The altar is always open for prayer and I mean, always, the doors are always unlocked and open. It's always open but if you want to come forward, if you want to speak to me, I'll turn off the microphone.
I'll be here but there's also an altar open to pray. Lord God almighty, I thank you for this day to praise and to love you. I thank you for all that you've done for us, lord. May we keep you central in our ideas. Would you convict us of the places where we're getting off the path?
Would you allow for a brother or sister in Christ to hold that hand? They might be falling off on the into the other ditch. Can we pull each other up back into the gospel? Encourage one another as we go forward. In Jesus name, amen.
Connor, you stay up here, man. Alright?
Holy God. What other beauty demands such praises? What other splendor outshines in and me. Hold him. The The only son who else invites me to call him father only a holy God only my holy God command
How about this for a benediction? Jesus, man. Alright. Go with that. Amen.
