Okay, thank you, Sherry. Now open your Bibles to the book
of Galatians, Galatians chapter 1. I want to do something tonight
that I've to do for some time now, and I've been waiting on the
opportunity to present itself, I don't If you read things and talk about
things, merely things and issues and what's going on in the world
and religion and all that merely by itself, don't like to deal
with any issues by themselves, I don't believe a message is
of any value to God's people that is not taken from God's
Word. I believe this is how I know this is how to speak, and anything
we want to interject must be in keeping with or in context
of God's Word. So I've been waiting for an opportunity
from a passage of Scripture to do, to share some things with
you tonight, just briefly, and this, these verses are just,
well, they just fall right, well, they weren't that difficult.
What I'm going to show you a little later is Paul's right in with
what Paul was talking about here in Galatians 1. Oh, Paul, many
might think that we speak too much, too harshly against religion
today. I know that. I'm aware that many
may think that we are too harsh against modern religion, the
things that we say. I know there have been some come
here. I can think of one family in
particular that's obviously very religious who came for a while,
and I believe they were offended by the very straightforward denunciation
of what's going on. But that's all right. It's not all right. I didn't
want to be offended. However, the language of the
Apostle Paul here in Galatians 1 is much harder than, well,
it's as hard as can get. And you'll recall John the Baptist,
when he had a Sabbath morning crowd before him, he called them
a bunch of vipers. That's a pretty hard language,
Roy, isn't it? You snakes, vipers, hypocrites. Well, what did they say on Sunday
morning, you know, to all these nice people? But he did. Our Lord came to hear him, and
he said, Whoa, you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites. Paul says, If anybody preaches
anything other than what I'm preaching, let him go to hell. He calls them perverts. I know now what we should call
Paul's preaching, perverts. All right, let's look at it.
This is exactly what he says here in Galatians 1. And so I'm
going to quit apologizing for what Paul has told us to say. Verse 6, he says, I marvel that
you're so soon removed from him that called you into the grace
of Christ unto another gospel. Now, the Galatians were not preaching
and believing right Arminianism. Everyone in here knows what right
Arminianism is. They always call it right. Like bad cheese, you know, it's
rank. That's what rank means. Arminianism, I guess. Arminianism
being all that you're hearing today, all this powerless God
and all-powerful man and weak sissy named Jesus, you know.
It's an absolute blasphemous thing, what it is. They weren't preaching and believing
that. That's not what was going on. Paul is not saying that.
What happened? Let me tell you what happened.
And he writes this whole letter in addressing this. There were some religious Jews,
Pharisees, false brethren, who were deceiving the people. They
crept in and they were deceiving the people by mixing works and
grace. Okay? They were mixing works
and grace. They were also trying to discredit
Paul. Trying to tell people that Paul
was not an apostle, like Peter is and like Bartholomew and so
forth. Paul is dealing with this subtle,
subtle legal, legalism, mixing Moses and Christ, circumcision
and grace. That's what he's dealing with.
That's the whole book he deals with that. All right? It goes
into great detail. So what he said, so, and this
is how Narrow the gospel even. This is how defined the gospel is, that the
slightest mixture of law is another gospel. That's how serious it
is. Just the slightest mixture of
law or Moses, slightest bringing in of something we must do, For
God is another gospel. That's how serious it is. So
we're not too harsh when we denounce blatant and obvious false religion,
right? This, that the Galatians had
followed me and Brother Dan was so subtle. I mean, it looked
good, it sounded good. You're supposed to keep the Ten
Commandments. Yeah. He said it was real suffering,
he said. So he was dealing with that, not just this ridiculous
stuff that I'm going to show you some examples of. Read on. I marveled, which is not another. Now, the grace of Christ, this
is the gospel. He said it in just a few words,
the grace of Christ. That's the gospel. The grace
of Christ, the gift of Christ. Remember we said up there, who
gave himself for our sins? The gift of God is eternal life.
The gift, not an offering. The gift, not a cooperative effort. It's a gift. It's the grace that
God has bestowed upon His elect, which is Christ. an absolute
100% Savior, a perfect righteous impurity, an actual sin blotting
out the blood of atonement. That's the grace of Christ. It's
a full, pre-final, eternal, effectual salvation. It's called the grace
of Christ. That's the gospel in alignment.
And so he says that you're moved to another gospel, which is not
another. It's not another gospel. I mean, it's not the gospel.
It's another gospel. He says, read on. Verse seven, some that trouble
you, and some they would perverse the gospel of Christ. They're
perverse, and they trouble you. How do they trouble? Now, let's
just look at this in light of today, in this other gospel today. Let's not think back then. Let's
not think so much of the Galatians, but let's think about today. How does this relate to us? There's
some that trouble you. How's that? Well, when they say
that you must keep the law, that is, There's certain individuals on
the radio on Sunday mornings that would have you to think
that they are absolutely sinless because they don't wear certain
articles of clothing or have not drunk, how do you
say, drunk certain beverages in their, well, however long. Sinless perfection. Law keeping. That might trouble some people.
Especially if you struggle with sin. It gives you trouble. You see these people, they don't
seem to be... David said they're not in trouble
as other men. You know what he said, John?
Psalm 73. They're not in trouble. My God's
people, they don't seem to be bothered with sin. Maybe there
is something to it. No, there's nothing to it. It's self-righteousness. It's
the snare of the devil. It's God leaving them alone.
And no, they're not struggling with sin. No, they're not. They're
not. They are sinless in their mind.
Paul said that. Didn't Paul say that concerning
the righteousness of the law? He said, I was blameless. Didn't
he? Didn't Paul say that in Philippians
3? I was blameless. He actually
thought he was sinless. But then when he said what God
revealed, the truth, I saw that exceedingly sinful. The chief of sinners. And he
never wore short shorts. Think about Adam. Adam never
drank, smoked, chewed. Adam and Eve, neither one of
them, drank, smoked, chewed, broke any laws. Whoever watched
TV, never... That points the whole race into
death and destruction. What do you see? Well, this other
gospel doesn't have a clue what's in it. That is sin. Unbelief. The other gospel. All
right. Now, how do they trouble? Well, they tell you that you
must be a super Christian. This is very popular today, you
know, and charismatic and all that. Super Christian. Don't
you have it? Don't you have the gift, man? Don't you have it? I've got it. Look at me. I'm
super Christian. Don't you have it? They make
trouble for me. How do they pervert the gospel?
And I've got to hear it. They pervert God's character,
a horrible perversion of the character of God. In the name of holiness, they
bring down His holiness. They really do. They pervert
His character, they pervert His power, His sovereignty, they
deny His power. They have a form of godliness,
but deny His power. They pervert Christ's person
and word. Perverted. They diminish Christ
to nothing but a poor suitor standing at his lover's door,
and she won't let him in. So he goes to someone else. Or he offers a large dowry to
accept him, the lovely husband. You know, it's perversion. It's
absolute perversion. We're going to see some day just
how much God hates this. It's perversion. Simply put,
another gospel is perversion. It says God's not holy, God's
not just, God's not sovereign. Christ did not say He really
did not. He made a down payment. He made
an offer. Man gets up to man. Boy, if that isn't a perversion
of the gospel, I don't know what is. Huh? They got a man doing
his own saving. That's another gospel. All right,
read on. That's a perversion, not the
gospel. Don't call it gospel. It's a
perversion. Read on. Though we, verse 8,
are an angel from heaven, though some angelic creature, some cherub
Whatever, seraphs came down. Preach any other gospel unto
you than that which we have preached. Yes, me, Paul said, me, Peter,
Timothy, Titus, and on and on. Philip. Though it doesn't matter
who it is, if they preach any other gospel than this narrow,
strict, yes, strict, Absolute dogmatic gospel. Let him be accursed. That means
sent to hell, go to hell. Let him be accursed. Read on. He says, as he said before, I'm
going to say it again. I want to be understood, he said.
I want to be heard. If any man preached any other
gospel unto you than that you have received, than what you've
heard, the gospel you've been hearing, The gospel you believe. Paul said, not just my gospel,
but your gospel too. You know the gospel. Any man preach any other gospel
than what you have received, the gospel you have believed,
the gospel you trust, the gospel you absolutely know to be true. Let him be encouraged. Let him go to heaven. I'll never forget when I heard,
you know, well, Jim James is known for his striking statements. Some of them, well, we don't need to be too striking
all the time. But anyway, this one was striking and it's really
the way this is written. I'll never forget when I heard
him say it, it shocked me. This is what this is saying.
If any man preach any other gospel unto you that you have received,
let God ban it. God ban it. That's what he's
saying there. The only way that can be used
in glory to God. That's what he's saying. Pretty
hard, isn't it? Hard as you can get. That's hard as you can get, but
it's not as hard as falling into the hands of an angry God. It's
a fearful thing, Paul said, falling into the hands of a living God. Men don't know it. Well, read
on. He says now, here's the purpose,
the intent of a true preacher, as opposed to these perverts.
That's what we need to start calling people, okay? Really, verse 10, Paul said,
Do I now persuade men, or God, the word persuade means seek
to please, do I seek to please men, or if I yet please men,
I should not be the servant of Christ. If I am in any way, shape,
form, or fashion a man pleaser, if it's men I'm seeking to please,
I am not the servant of Christ. As a matter of fact, the opposite.
Paul said the opposite. He said, I have become many people's
enemy, but tell them the truth. Remember when he said that? He
was pleading with the church at one time, the first Corinthian
church. He said, I have become your enemy,
but tell them the truth. Or he said, so be it. I don't
have to seek to please men. I'm not trying to win friends
and interest people. Who is it that we serve? Look
real quickly at 1 Corinthians 2, this persuading men. 1 Corinthians 2, persuading men. He says this again over here,
similarly. 1 Corinthians 2, look at verse
4. He said, Verse 4, 1 Corinthians 2, my
speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's
wisdom. See that? The margin says persuasible
words. Persuasible words of man's wisdom,
but in demonstration of spirit. Power. Persuasible words, enticing
words. You know what that means. Seraphy, psychological, sociological,
what was the word? I don't even know what else to
put. Persuasive methods and ways and words and so forth. Persuasive,
enticing, trying to woo, like a wolf, a silver-tongued That's
what our Lord called Pilate. You can go tell that Pope. Silver tongue. Silver tongue. Smooth words of the parish preachers,
what Paul said. These persuasible words, and
it can be in the form of what's going on today, religious cheerleading. Boy, I listen to them, these
guys. There's one black man that, man,
he is sweeping the world. And, man, he's an entertainer
all right. He can persuade, he can sway
the crowd. Persuasible words that pump people
up into an emotional frenzy with fiery talk and boasts of power
and glory and all that. But that's all it is, is talk.
When Paul said, we preach in demonstration of the Spirit and
power, he said there, my preaching was not with this, not, you know,
trying to move the crowds and with persuasible words and pumping
people up and cheerleading and firing and all that, but with
demonstration of the Spirit and of power that your faith should
not stand in the wisdom or abilities of men, but in the power of God.
If your faith is to stand in the power of God, what's the
power of God? The gospel is the power
of God. He said over there in chapter 1, he said, we preach
Christ. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. He
said, we do speak wisdom among them that are mature. Not the wisdom of this world.
The world thinks it's foolishness. This thing, what we're doing
is standing up dead, dry, cold, dead, dry. Man is standing up
reading from the Bible. Man is standing up preaching
word verse by verse. That's dead. No, it's alive. Demonstration of spirit and power.
Demonstration of spirit is when the Holy Spirit is called. Not
one who makes you talk like a blooming idiot, but a spirit of truth. He will lead you and guide you
into all the truth. He'll not speak of Himself. He'll take the things of Christ
and show them unto you. It says when the Spirit has come,
the Comforter has come, Christ said He'll convince of sin, righteousness,
judgment, weightier matters, the thought that our Lord said
that they will be light. Our Lord sat on a rock, or sat
on a hill, and taught the people from God's Word. Was He not a
dynamic preacher? No, He sat down and He taught
them. Lying upon lying, lying upon lying. And the Holy Spirit,
through the Word, the power of God, and the wisdom of God, enlightened
them from within. It didn't just make them feel
it. taught them the truth, the truth
that will set them free from the feelings. That way, Dan,
when you don't have feelings, you're still standing on the
rock. When you can't drum up these things, you still know
whom I believe. That's Paul saying. Though all the world's against
you, though things aren't going, you know, though the truth. The Holy Spirit takes the gospel
of Christ and with power operates on the heart. You know, back
to Galatians 1, a true preacher is not a man pleaser, a woman
pleaser. Paul talks about leaving silly
women captive. That's more easy to do. Don't be offended women, it's
just so. Look at religion today, and more women. Why? Because it's so easy to get a
good-looking guy to stand up or pay special attention to some
woman and she doesn't get much done. But he turns on the junk
and he starts smiling. And hers, she's never seen her
husband in anything but a t-shirt. And boy, she is wooed by his
talk and by his walk and by his way. It's easy to win friends
and influence people and bring in members. Just turn on a little
charm, a little charisma, enticing words, and you've got them. Tell
them just how bad you need them. And a little bit, I'm going to
show you some things of this nature. Well, Paul says, if I please
men, if I try to please anybody, I'm not a servant of Christ.
Let me just give you an illustration real quick. There's a young man
who seems to be And some have gotten very excited
over this young man. He's a black man, a young black
preacher, a very handsome former athlete, just a man, he's just,
he's got And some were quite excited about
him, from the present. But my pastor, in wisdom, practically ignored
him like he wasn't even there. And some were offended by that. I just wanted so bad for him
to meet his approval, you know, and for him to, you know, to
make over this young man. We can do him good, and then
he says no. No. We all start as nothing. The way everybody comes to The
way God deals with every single human being that he's going to
reveal the gospel to is bring them down into the dust as nothing,
not somebody, nobody. They were nothing. They were all equally nothing.
But there's none more gifted, more valuable, more important,
none we should make of it. The last should be first, first
last. And he said, you know, you go
in the Marine Corps and what they do in the Marine Corps is
reduce you to being an absolute worthless scum. Because he said,
leaders have to first be a good father. So he said, let's not
build this fella up until he's said something or done something.
He said nothing. I don't know what wisdom. But this is the religious technique. This is the beginning. This is
the way to do this. This is how to keep people. This is how to
get people in and how to keep them. By telling people how valuable
they are to God, and how valuable they are to the kingdom of God,
and get somebody with a little talent, a little charisma, some
young man especially, or some woman that thinks she can sing,
and bring them in and start pumping them up, and give them something
to do, keep them busy, keep them in the church. That's exactly it. Man-pleasing. That's just part of man-pleasing. Telling people just how lovely
they are, how much God needs them. Man-pleasing. That's a
man-pleasing gospel. There's no man-pleasing in having
people sit and telling them they're worms and dogs. That's not man-pleasing. That's
not a man-pleasing gospel. That's an offensive gospel. say that God can, God according
to his sovereign will and pleasure make one a vessel to hold roses
and the other one a chamber pot. Oh, man. Dung, you know what
Paul said? Dung? That is not man's place. They're
an opposite, opposite. You know it. You see, if I have to please
men, I'm not the servant of Christ. But I certify. Here's a certified
gospel. You want a certified election? Here's a certified gospel, okay? It's going to be certified right
here, by God. Verse 11, I certify you, brethren,
you're going to be certified, and I am certified, and the gospel
is certified, that here it is, the good gospel. which was preached
of me is not after man." Now, you can take this a couple,
three different ways, but it's not after man. In other words,
it's not patterned after what men think. God said, My thoughts are not
your thoughts. Well, what do you think about
that? Well, I think. We say this, we quote this so
many times, don't we? God said, As high as the heavens
are above the earth, so are my thoughts, my ways. Opposite. Backwards. Absolutely backwards. It's not a gospel that is patterned
after what man thinks of God, or man thinks of man, or man
thinks of the gospel. No. It's absolutely according
to what this book says. It's not after man. It's not
after man's opinion, thoughts, ways, gimmicks, techniques, and
all that. It's according Remember what
our Lord said to Moses, He said, You see that you make all things
after the pattern. Isn't it John? After the pattern. Don't vary one jot or one tittle. I made a pattern. That tabernacle
and everything better fit that pattern. This is how this other gospel
has gotten so out of whack. You know, if you ever built a
home, you cut the pattern for like the dresses or whatever,
you make the pattern. Whatever you ladies make the
pattern for the garment, you're going to make all these, ladies
are going to make all these curtains, alright? You've got to make the
pattern. If you just start cutting and
sewing, you know, this will end, the first one might look pretty
good, the last one will end up, You don't pattern it after, keep
pattern after one after the other. You know what I mean? You pattern
everything after the pattern. If you cut everything exactly
like the pattern, everything will be uniform, perfect. And this other gospel today,
all this perversion today came by men adding a little bit or
taking a little bit away or changing, straying from the pattern. I'm a pattern of how God saves
and who God saves. I'm the pattern. I'm the pattern. That's what Paul said. Look it
up for yourself. 1 Timothy 1. I'm the pattern
of how God saves. God saves everybody just like
He saved me, Paul said. And who God saves. God saves
everyone God saves, just like me. A blasphemer, injurious,
persecutor, less than the least, cheap sinner. Bring down off
the high horse into the desert. I'm a pastor. And a pattern, Brother Stan,
means that everybody else will cut just like you. Well, the gospel priest of me
is not after man. It's not after man. Oh, there's
John. We need John. John's got lots
of money. John is influential in the community. And John, boy, this church really
needs his talents. You know, let's go after John.
What can we do to get John? Well, I know John's a proud man.
He's been an independent man all his life. He's a self-made
man and all that. Better cut down his pants a little
bit. He might get mad. We want to
bring him. We're after John. Let's cut her down a little bit.
Well, this fellow's a Methodist. Well, we'd better not say anything
about John Wesley. But this fellow over here, he's
a Presbyterian. Old Mission, infant Methodist.
Oh no, we're going to lose him. We're after him. No, this gospel's not after me.
What's the gospel after? God's glory. And the people that God brings
in, that's what they're after too. They come after, not after entertainment
or, they come, they come after truth. Freedom, it's not after man.
Neither did I receive it of man. Oh no, it's not man's gospel.
I was taught it by the revelation of Jesus. And so is you know,
so is everyone in this room. If they've heard the gospel,
they've heard it from Christ. Yes, sir. Didn't he say, for
example, my sheep shall hear whose voice? Didn't he say that, Nancy? My
sheep shall hear my voice. Personally, I'm the shepherd,
I know my sheep, I call them by, I call them by my name. Oh,
I send one of my other shepherds, but when they hear him, they
hear me. You see that? It's me speaking. Revelation, and boy, what a line
of the gospel that is, the revelation of Jesus Christ. Right there's
the gospel, it's the revelation. The unveiling, the revelation,
the knowledge of, the understanding of Jesus Christ. Isn't that a good definition
of the gospel? It's the revelation of Jesus
Christ, what the gospel is. Having Christ revealed to you.
In the end, Paul said, verse 15, when, please, God has separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal
His Son in me. Look at these verses here, and
I want to show you something. Verse 13 and 14, he said, You've
heard of my conversation or my life and time past in the Jews'
religion? You've heard of it? They did. You know what the Lord
said to Paul and Sam? He came around and they were
scared. Remember? Paul, this is him persecuting
the church. They heard about it. You heard
of it. He said, I persecuted the church
of God and wasted it. And profited. I never really
looked at it. Verse 14, I profited. in the
Jews' religion, above money, high. He was profitable. Religion was very profitable
to Paul. That's what he said. I profited.
I was high up. Pharisees, Hebrew of Hebrews,
the Pharisees, I was rich. I had it all. It was real gain. He said in Philippians 3, what
things were gained to me. Paul profited greatly from religion,
just like today. Great money in religion. Big money, that's what it's all
about. I profited in the Jews' religion above my equals. I was
zealous. He was charismatic. He must have been a fiery, one
of these cheerily zealous, he was zealous. I'm just speculating
here, but nevertheless. Well, then God taught him, like
some people that God used to be in the music business, singers
or whatever. In fact, I know men that used
to be professional, in professional religious music. God taught them
the gospel. They quit singing. And it took
a long time to get them to sing again. And the next time they
did, it was with humility and meekness. I know many. I believe that was
Paul. Paul was one of these, well,
he knew the law, and, boy, crowds came to hear him, and he was
so zealous, and probably greatly. He said all those things that
were gained to me, I count them now, but lost Christ. As a great prophet, I've had
this little file filed away, junk mail, trash, file 13 stuff
for a long time now. And I've been wanting to just
show you a few things. This is just a portion. This is just a portion. I've
already gone through and weeded out most of it. It was this thick.
And so finally I said, I want to throw this away. I need to
clean out my files. And this opportunity, in context
here, presented itself. I told, and I ran this by my
pastor first. He said, if there's any problem,
show this. I said, this might be a good
thing. People might not realize just how bad it is. I get tons of this stuff in the
mail, okay? These are just some samples of
what I get, all right? And most of them I don't. I can
just glance at them and phew, you can smell it. Right. All right, here's a church financial
seminar. This is for pastors. It says,
this is the most extraordinary event pastors and church leaders
will ever experience. This is a secret. What others
will not tell you. This is going to be the most
extraordinary event that pastors will ever experience.
Think of that. Think of statements like that.
It's about finances. It's all about finances. It's
about how to double your tithes and offerings. This is what you'll
learn, it says. I've got these two fellows, two
experts on this. Best financial seminar in America,
Pastors of the Church. Big business. This was in Roanoke,
Virginia. Number one, how to prove tithing
is in the New Testament. How to double your contributions.
How to double the pastor's salary. How to deal with delinquent tithers.
I guess they got a dungeon or something
about it, and chains and manacles. Delinquent tithers. How to get
sinners to come to your church. How to prove to your church what
you're worth. How to prove to your church what
you're worth. And here's some questions, 20 questions from
various pastors all over, a bunch of them. How can I prove to my
church what I'm worth? Oh, man. You already have, man. Nothing. How can I show my board
of deacons that I'm underpaid? How can my church set up a retirement
plan? I've heard 97% of preachers who
retire at 65 are broke. Good. The board, listen to this,
the board just kicked me out of the church parsonage. I asked
them to give me a housing allowance. They said it's illegal. Listen to this. It's unbelievable,
people. It's just a few, just sampling
of things. When I purchased your system, system for a hundred
and five, however much it costs. Seventy-nine dollars per person,
on sale, holiday. When I purchased your system,
our church went from a hundred and eight thousand dollars a
month to a hundred and eighty-one thousand dollars a month. Seventy-three
thousand dollars more, and the board now wants to give me all
of that. Whoa! I bet they packed them in. Here's
some things that people have said. This is some testimony
by preachers and pastors that attended these seminars. Here's
one fellow. After attending the seminar, I was able to use the
information in the system and increase my tithes and offerings
by 50 percent, 50 or 60 percent per month. My, so his tithes,
huh? So they're tithing to him, huh?
Here's another fellow. Boy, he just really comes right
out and says, I didn't realize how underpaid I was. I'm now making three times what
I'm making. Seminar opened my eyes. Listen to this fellow. Here's the father of one of the
fellows that's speaking in this seminar. Here's his father. Here's
what he said. Everything my son knows, I taught
him. He's just great. There's more, and it's worse.
I go from bad to worse. Get the resources you need to
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There's a whole catalog of books. I get beat by these guys. Here's
a book, and I wondered, I used to wonder where some of these,
here's a book, just browsing through, here's a book, where
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I've wondered where they got all those six A's. Got the book. Thousand and one. So here's the Usher's Manual.
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one, listen to this. Here's a book, a must-have for
any preacher. Reinventing Your Church. Reinventing Your Church. You're not going to believe this.
You're not going to believe this. Now, why am I doing that? So
I don't think you know how perfect religion is. I really don't think.
You see some of it. I don't think you know. I get
all of it. We're driving down the road all
the time, my family and I. I notice a building, a religious
building, I notice it. They got a sign, I read it. If there's anything, a bumper
sticker, I don't read it, I just notice those things. I see and
hear. She doesn't. I say, did you see
that? No, I didn't. Okay, that's it. I say, sure, it didn't make
you mad. Did you read that? No, I didn't. I do. I watch some
of these. Listen to me, here's Pastor Frank's
secret weapon. Pastor Frank's secret weapon.
It's a true story. It gives me goose bumps every
time I tell it. That's what I'm reading there.
It gives me goose bumps every time I tell it. All right? It
happened at a pastor's car. A pleasant young pastor's wife
came up and said, These books saved my husband's career and
probably our marriage too. These books. Here it is. There's a story. She told me
the story. Pastor Frank had been pastoring an average-sized congregation
for several years. He was like the most busy pastor.
The pressing needs of his church kept him from preparing sermons. Let me read that again. The pressing
needs of his church kept him from preparing inspiring sermons
he knew they deserved. His preaching was going stale.
He didn't know what to do. The board put him on probation.
Frank was ashamed. He thought he'd failed. He failed
his church. He sounded like a soap opera director. Then something
wonderful happened. A friend of a pastor, Frank,
gave him one single book that dramatically changed his preaching. What book? What is it? The Bible? No. It's a preacher's
sermon Bible. Every week there's two sermons
readily prepared for you for every week. That way you can
do whatever you need to do. Well, he said what he said. He
said, I'm able to spend, now that I have this, it saves me
time. I'm able to spend more time with my wife. That's what
I'm saying. I'm reading this to you. Listen,
wouldn't it be wonderful if you could eliminate all of that page
turning and looking up? And a team of experts has already
done all that for you and laid it out for you. You don't have
to search the scriptures. That's why Carl told Timothy,
you don't have to do that. I'll do it for you. It's by the
book. Pastoring's hard work. It's too
much, really, with all the weddings and funerals and hospital visits
and counseling and committees and fundraising as it goes on
and on. Who has time to prepare messages? I'm reading you that stuff, see?
Do you think these preachers buy this stuff? You better believe
they do. All right, here's something.
How do members of your congregation interpret current events? How
do they keep abreast of issues changing religious life and institutions? How do they identify the moral
principles at stake in decisions about the beginning and end of
life? How do you encourage your congregation to search for meaningful
spiritual practices? How, how, how? Well, by this
book, Religion and Ethics Weekly. And then there's games for children,
lots of games. I get lots of this in the mail.
Vacation Bible School. Here last summer they had Summer
in the Outback. Outback games. You send off and
it's a new, very exciting Bible school curriculum. It will attract
kids like a magnet. It has these elaborate sets like
planes and props and all this so they can get in and actually
do a play. And here are our stained glass
windows. We don't realize how much they mean. Stained glass
windows. And you need to keep them up to keep them clean. Of course, let's remember the
inspiration and hope provided to us by our stained glass windows. They're historic significance
and we need to preserve them for future generations. We get
inspiration and hope from our stained glasses. It gets worse. You know all this
religious rock music and stuff. I get this all the time. That looks like a rock concert. No, no, no, that's gospel stuff. I get four of these a week, let's
see. Who's being glorified here? Who?
That's just what's going on. Here's a fella, this fella just
sweeping the world by storm. Isn't he cute ladies? Isn't he
cute? with his white boots and electric
guitar. Here's what they're saying about
him. It never ceases to amaze me just how much you love the
Lord, dear people. God's gift to you is easy to
see that your heart's desire to make His anointed gifts count
for His service. As you performed, I was impressed
with your ability to connect with your audience, your ability
to sing and play the guitar. Those are testimonies by preachers
that went. Ah, boy. On and on it goes. What's that? There's more. More content. They
want me to put these up on the bulletin board, you know, so
you can go to them. Freedom Blasts coming soon to
your area. You know that? Freedom Blasts.
Boy, doesn't that look like good stuff? Got to see that. And here's a way of really creating
excitement in the church. Create excitement in your church
or youth group with Jesus is the Way t-shirts. And they sent
us one to go ahead and print on the t-shirt. Whoever wants
it, I'll put it right here. Really create excitement. Now,
here's one you're really going to like. I'll save the best for
last. A NASCAR study Bible. Yes, a NASCAR study Bible. You've got to have that. Don't we? Around here,
us racing fans, Kyle Petty gives his testimony in it. various
NASCAR racers, you know? That's just a little bit, folks.
It's just piles, tons. If I saved all that, you wouldn't
believe it. You wouldn't believe it, John. Because the traffic
ends just before all the time. Do you reckon people buy this?
They wouldn't be. Yes, they do. That's what's going
on. Paul said, and let me close with something more profitable,
OK? Something really profitable. And I really apologize for taking
that much time with that trash. But you've got to know what's
going on out there. We're not talking hard enough.
Our denunciations of this is not hard enough. It really isn't.
Nobody anywhere in the world today is saying anything about
religion. Except the men you know and have
confidence in. They're lone women. They're lone
voices. And people hate them for doing
it. Because that's absolute, horrible
isn't it? Absolute blasphemy. Horrible. We laugh, you know, but that
is absolutely a stench in God's nostrils. God's angry. That's the wicked God's angry
with, every day. Well, Paul said, I propheted.
Religion for prophets. Now here's, here's, here's when
a man's saved, here's how he's saved, and here's what's saved
him. Verses 15 and 16, I meet and say this. A man's saved when
he pleases God. When he pleases God. who separates
me from my mother's womb, and calls me by His grace." How does
he say, calls me by His grace? Paul said, He calls you by our
gospel, the gospel of grace. Not by singing, dancing, NASCAR
this, and plays for Jesus, and t-shirts and all that. The gospel
of Christ. Called me by His grace, the gospel
of His grace. All right, what is salvation?
Verse 16, He revealed His Son in me, in my mind. He revealed Christ to my mind,
in me, to my heart, to my affection, my soul, in me. That's what salvation is, Christ
in you, the hope of the Lord. Anything else? Is it perversion? It's another gospel. There's
a lot of it out there. A lot of it out there. How blessed
we are. I just don't think we realize
how blessed we are. Someday we will. We really will. All right. Sandwich. Our Father, thank you for revealing
Yourself to us. Christ in us. To us. We thank you, Lord, for choosing
us, calling us by your grace. We dare not take these things
for granted, though. We know we do, though, and we
ask your forgiveness. We dare not boast of things without
our measure. No, what we have that we have
not received, We dare not, should not, glory as if we had not received
them. We are no better than anyone
else by nature. By the grace of God, we are what
we are, know what we know. Many in here, if not most, were
in the same religion as us, but it pleased God. And how we're
thankful. Thank you that you were pleased
to reveal the truth to us. And we ask that you do it for
more. Save more from this untoward and evil generation. We pray for your glory and for
their salvation. In Christ's name, you've been
here tonight. Amen. you