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Honoring now and still to conquer, Pride is the king in his might. In the host of all the faithful, Into the midst of the pride. See the marriage at last seen, By her kingdom's array, Sharing the name of their leader, Here in exulting we say, Not to this song is a barrel, Not to this wind is a waste, Yet to the true and raw faithful, Into his promise through grace. Josiah, go ahead. Song number one. Song number one. ["Jesus, I My Ghost"] On the first. Jesus, I My Ghost have taken Home to leave and follow Thee Destined, stirred, despised, forsaken, Thou from this my all shall be Perish every fond ambition, All life sought and proved and known, And knowledge is like a mission, God and the Lord still my own. Lexi, go ahead. Song number 36. Christ arose. Song number 36. On the first. Lo, in the grave He lay, Jesus, my Savior, Waiting at coming day, Jesus, my Lord. Lo, from the grave He arose, With the light He died for us all. He arose, a victim from the dark domain, And He lived forever with His saints to reign. He arose, He arose, Hallelujah, Christ arose. I want to sing that one again. All right, Miss Faith, go ahead. 81. Song number 81. Song number 81, When we see Christ on the first, Of times the day seems long, Our trials are to bear, We're tempted to complain, To murmur and despair, God Christ will soon appear, To catch us right away. All tears forever offer, In God's eternal name. It will be worth it all, When we see Jesus, Life's trials will seem to toil, When we see Christ, Life's trials will seem to toil, Our trials will seem to toil, Our trials will seem to to toil, When we see Christ on the first, Of times the day seems long, Our trials will seem to to toil, Our trials will seem to to to toil, The day seems to to to toil, Where we are at the time of the And now I am on my way home. Should the goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life. Should the goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life. And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and I shall feast at the tables with me. Should the goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life. All the days, all the days of my life. And Brother David, go ahead. 247. 247. This will be the last one this evening, so let's sing it out on the first. I found a friend who is all to me. His love is ever true. I love to tell how he lifted me and what his face did for you. Say, I is power divine, safe to life's sublime. My fear is sweet and my joy is complete, for I'm safe, safe, safe. Amen. All right. Well, let's take our bulletins this evening. We'll look at some announcements. If you do not have a bulletin, just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you. If you need a bulletin tonight, just put your hand up and we'll get one for you. The verse this week, James 4-7, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. And that's a good verse there. We learned about that this morning. If you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service time, Sunday morning service, 1030 a.m. And we had a wonderful service this morning. We're glad you're back out for the evening service at 6 p.m., of course. And then we invite you to be with us on Wednesday our Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 p.m. We're continuing through the book of 2 Corinthians on Wednesday night. If you look at our soul-winning times, our main soul-winning times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. and then we have additional soul-winning times on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays at 2 p.m. So, if you are a soul winner, don't forget to add your salvations on the communication card on the back. There's a place for you to let us know if you had anybody saved so we can update the bulletin. If you have any maps that you did not finish, if you finished the maps, you can just discard them. And that's fine. We count them as done. But if you did not finish them, clearly, Mark, please, what was done, what was not done, and put them in the bin in the foyer so that we can have those ready to be finished later on. And if you're running late, please don't forget to call us or text us at the number there, 916-868-9080. If you let us know you're going to be there for soul-winning but you're running late, then our team captains will make sure that you have a partner and you have a map and you have everything you need. Thank you so much for being our guest and you're with us tonight for the first time at Ready Baptist Church. We're very glad you're with us. We have a gift we'd like to give you. As you walk out of the church building this evening, as you go through the foyer, you'll see a little table set up. And on that table, you'll see these little gift bags. Please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest tonight. There are several things in this bag we'd like you to have, but the one I like to highlight is this documentary that our church made. It's called Being Baptist. It's very well made, very interesting. It's a gift from Jesus Christ to the present day. I tell people it's entertaining and it's educational. So we want to give this to you as a gift. So please make sure that if you're here for the first time that you don't leave here tonight without grabbing one of these gift bags on your way out. And if you are a guest, we'd ask that you please take a moment and fill out the communication card which is inserted in your bulletin. And if you need a pen, just raise your hand and one of our ushers can bring you by Ready Baptist Church pen. You're welcome to keep the pen as a gift from us as well. And we're not going to do anything odd with your card to you, but we need your information to do that. So please take a moment and fill the card out. And when we're done with the announcement, we're going to sing a song. When we're done singing, we're going to receive the offering. And as the offering plate goes by, you can drop this card in the offering plate or you can hand it to me after the service. I'll be standing at the main door greeting people on the way out. If you look at the bulletin there, you'll see that we are a family integrated church. What that means is that we keep the entire family together for the church service. We do not separate children from their parents for the service. So we're family integrated. However, you may have a child that's being distracting during the service, so you may need some privacy. And we do have mother-baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience. All of the rooms have comfortable seating. They have monitors set up so you can watch the service and listen to it. If you're not sure where those are at, you can look at the back of the bulletin and it'll give you a layout of our church building and it'll show you where the mother-baby rooms are, where the daddy rooms are, where the daddy room is, and it'll show you where the restrooms are. So please take a moment to look through that if you need that. If you're here tonight and you need to be baptized, please let us know. We'd love to baptize you. We've got a couple of baptisms lined up for tonight after the preaching service. And if you would like to be baptized or you need to speak to someone in regards to that, while we're singing the last song after the preaching, if you step out that door, one of our staff guys will meet you there and we'll get you situated for baptism tonight. If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, you should have one of these cards. We're going through a series called Journey with Jesus. It's a verse-by-verse study of the life of Christ in the Gospel of Luke. And we've made it into Luke chapter 4. This morning we talked about the temptations of Christ and we learned about temptation and how to have victory on those. And we want to encourage you to continue with us next week. We'll continue that series on Wednesday night. We're going through the book of 2 Corinthians tonight. We have a special guest with us, Pastor Joe Jones from Shield of Faith Baptist Church in Boise, Idaho. And he's going to be preaching for us. Of course, it's nice to have the entire Jones family with us. We've had members here of our church for several years. And, of course, we enjoyed having them as part of our church family. We trained them here. We ordained him. And we sent him off as the pastor of Shield of Faith Baptist Church in Boise. And he can give us a little testimony and update in regards to that. But he'll be preaching for us. So we're glad that you're here. And I'm looking forward to his sermon tonight. And then we want to let you know about an upcoming big date we're having. It's called I Love My Church Sunday. And you're invited for that on Sunday, February 13th as we show our love for the house of God. And we're going to have several special things on that day. We're going to be giving out bags of pink vanilla and caramel Valentine's Day popcorn for every family in attendance at the Sunday morning service. So if you're here for I Love My Church Sunday in the Sunday morning service, we're going to have those bags to give out. And we gave those out last year for this big day. And everybody had a good time with that. The choir is going to be singing for us that Sunday morning. And then that evening, that Sunday evening service, we're going to have a potluck after the service in our fellowship halls. We want you to make plans to be here with us for I Love My Church Sunday on Sunday, February 13th. Nine chapters a day challenge. If you're taking the challenge, stick with it. The chapters are getting easier. So you should be getting through those a lot faster now. If you need to catch up, this is the time to do it. You can catch up now with the chapters being shorter. Choir practice. Practice day at five. Homeschool group. If you're part of our homeschool group, they've got PE class on Thursday, January 27th at 10 a.m. Upcoming cleaning crew, you can check for your name there. We appreciate your faithfulness. There's other things there for you to look at. Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service so that they're not a distraction to anybody. If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of January, we had Jocelyne de Dios' birthday on January 18th. Juan Torres' birthday on January 18th. Ms. Tamara Cervantes' birthday on January 19th. Celeste Cruz' birthday on January 21st. Montel Johnson's birthday on January 21st. And then my dad Felix Jimenez' birthday on January 22nd. All of those this week. Praise report. Money matters. All those things are there for you to look at. I think that's it for all of the announcements. So let's go ahead and take our songbooks. And we're going to go to page number 24 as we prepare to receive the offering this evening. Page number 24. And we'll sing. And can it be that I should gain. Let's go ahead. You've been singing well tonight. Let's lift our voices and sing this out like a mighty choir on the first. And can it be that I should gain an interesting love. The Savior's blood died before me. For me. For me. For me. For me. For me. For me. For me. For me. That's how I'll wind up. He's out for me. Amazing love. How can it be that so my God should start for me. Good. Let's sing it out even better on the second. He left his father's throne above. So he saw infinite disgrace. It did sound the home of God. And heaven for Adam's helpless praise. Tis merciful, immense and free. I know when I get back I'll now be amazing love. How can it be that so my God should start for me. Good. How can it be that so my God should start for me. How can it be that so my God should start for me. How can it be that so my God should start for me. I know when I get back I'll now be amazing love. How can it be that so my God should start for me. How can it be that so my God should start for me. Amazing love. How can it be that so my God should start for me. Amen. Good singing. We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time. And let's go ahead and have a word of prayer after the offering we'll have the reading of the text and then we'll have Pastor Joe Jones preach for us tonight. Make sure you encourage him. Say amen and sit up straight, listen to him, take notes. Let's fire our heads together. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do thank you for allowing us to gather together today. We thank you for Pastor Jones and his family and their friendship to my wife and I and to our church and who they are and what they represent. Lord, I pray you'd fill in with your spirit tonight as he speaks to us. I pray that you'd bless the offering. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's open our hearts to Judges, Chapter 12. Judges, Chapter Number 12, if you need a Bible, put your hand up and an astral might bring you a Bible. Judges, Chapter Number 12, if you need a Bible, keep your hand up, an astral will come by. Judges 12, we will read the entire chapter as our custom. Judges, Chapter Number 12, beginning in Verse Number 1. And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passest thou over to fight against the children of Ammon? And didst not call us to go with thee? We will burn thine house upon thee with fire. And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon. When I called you, you delivered me not out of their hands. And when I saw that you delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into my hand. Wherefore then are you come up unto me this day to fight against me? Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassehites. And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites. And it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over, that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said nay, then said they unto him, Say now, Shibboleth. And he said, Sibboleth, for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan. And they fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand. And Jephthah judged Israel six years, then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead. And after him, Ibsen of Bethlehem judged Israel. And he had thirty sons and thirty daughters, whom he had sent abroad, and taken thirty daughters from abroad for his sons, and he judged Israel seven years, then died Ibsen, and was buried at Bethlehem. And after him, Elon, a Zebulunite, judged Israel, and he judged Israel ten years, and Elon the Zebulunite died, and was buried in Eijelon in the country of Zebulun. And after him, Abdon the son of Hillel, a Parathenite, judged Israel. And he had forty sons and thirty nephews, that rode on threescore and ten ascolts, and he judged Israel eight years. And Abdon the son of Hillel, the Parathenite, died, and was buried in Pyrethon, in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of the Amalekites. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening. God, I thank you for your word, for our church, for others here. As you please be with us, thank God. Please be with Pastor Jones to strengthen the Lord and fill in the spirit. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And great wedding yesterday. Amen. Great time, great service this morning. Every time I come here I learn so much. It makes me wonder, why did I even go to Boise, you know what I mean? I could have saved so much heartache for myself and so much trouble for myself, but that's being selfish, that's not good, that's not right. But things are going well in Boise. We just expanded our building, so we've got a break room now, a little fellowship hall, so that freed up some more space. But more importantly than that, this last year we had a brother from our church and his family go to South Africa. And we sent him with some Bibles, and he couldn't get rid of them fast enough. While he was there, they had 25 soul winners that went out through the community and got a total of 79 salvations in a very short time. So I told our church, if we don't have at least 160 salvations by June, we're all going to South Africa. Yeah, it's getting rough out there here, but apparently overseas it's good to go. So with that being said, next month is also our three-year anniversary, and Pastor Mendez is going to come up and preach for us, so we're all excited about that, looking forward to that. It's going to be a great time and a blessing. So with that being said, we're in Judges Chapter 12. We're going to get into the sermon here in just a moment. But I want to start off by making a couple of statements, okay? And the first one is this. We all want to be known for something, everybody. We all want to be known for something, or we all want to be perceived a certain way. So for example, when you think about yourself, there's words, there are adjectives that come to mind. This is true for everyone. For example, you know, when I think about myself, what I want to be known for is really what our church vision statement is, which is to evangelize and to edify. So everything that I do, every sermon that I write, every decision that I make, needs to point back to those two things, soul winning and discipleship. It's the same thing for you guys here. I mean, what's written on the wall behind me? That all the earth may know. Right? That's a bottom line. That's a summary of a much larger mission statement. But when someone asks you, why do you go to Verity Baptist Church? That all the earth may know. That they may know what? Verity, which means truth. Okay? That's why we are here. That is why we are Bible believing Christians. That's hopefully what we all want to be known for. But here's the thing. When you think about yourself in that way, and things come to mind and they're pertaining to the old man, right? And you start, well, I want to be known for being a professional athlete or being the next CEO. Look, there's nothing wrong with having material goods. There's nothing wrong with wealth. There's nothing wrong with promotion. Okay? But when that becomes who you want to be known for, trouble is at your door and chastisement is coming. Much trouble is coming. But here's the question before we get started. What happens when we realize that how we want to be perceived, how we want to be known, what happens when we realize in our hearts that we're not living up to that vision statement? We're not living up to that standard. Okay? That's what we're going to start to talk about here. So you're in Judges Chapter 12. Before we get to the title, look at verse number six. So the Bible says, Then said they unto him, Say, now, shibboleth. And he said, Sibboleth, for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him and slew him at the passages of Jordan. And there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand. Okay? So we just read the chapter. What happened in verse one? The children of Ephraim were like, Hey, we will we will burn your house down. Okay, now, is that true? No. Okay, we'll see that here in a second. So think about this. Forty two thousand people lost their lives because they didn't have the password. Forty two thousand people lost their lives because they perceived themselves a certain way. And when they got checked on that, when they realized they weren't living up to that, it hurt. It hurt tremendously. It hurt bad. And the result was a loss of life. So the title of the sermon this evening is The Dangers of Being a Poser. The Dangers of Being a Poser. Yeah, I changed the title like five times on this. You know, these things have to just hit me. You know, it's weird. It's just a thing. I can't sit down. If you ask me, hey, come up with a title, I probably wouldn't be able to do it. It's just something that has to come into my mind. And usually it's on the way to church, you know, or, you know, five minutes. Hey, what's the title? And it's blank. And I'm like, don't be a minion about your opinion. You know, Calvin and the Chipmunks. You know, something like that. That's how it happened. So, you know, a funny story Pastor Mejia asked me. He's like, man, you know, you probably could have been a rapper. And I was like, yeah, I was like, you know, I thought about it back in the day, but I'd only be able to come up with a title for the song, and the rest would be, you know, whatever it is. So, anyways, don't be a poser. What is a poser? Well, a poser is a person who acts in an affected manner in order to impress others. Or basically like it sounds, somebody who just acts a certain way because they want glory without doing the work. Okay, that's what a poser is. Someone who pretends to be something that they are not. And I just want to state this again, that everybody struggles with what could lead us to becoming a poser, which is insecurities. We all have them. That's what we're going to be talking about. So, going back to our verse there, metaphorically speaking, you could say Sibileth was really obviously the wrong password, but that's kind of like the password to insecurity. Okay, they couldn't give the right password. What was the right password? Well, it was Sibileth, which is what? Metaphorically speaking, it's security. Okay, that's how we want to be. We want to be secure in the new man. We don't ever want to get to this place where we're all of a sudden ashamed to be Christians. We're ashamed to be fundamentalists. I see it happen all the time though. In my short time in the ministry, I have seen it happen more than I thought I would. Okay, and that's why this is on my heart to preach this sermon. Now, keep your place there in Judges because we're going to come back and break that all down here in a moment, but go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 10. And while you're turning there, I just want to mention a couple of roads that insecurities, if unchecked, could lead you towards. And obviously the first one is it can lead you into becoming a bully, just like the Ephraimites, because what we're going to do tonight is we're going to follow the children of Ephraim throughout the Bible and just glean insight on how to deal with insecurities, how to not be like they are. Okay, because they were God's people. They had the word of God. They had the Levites. They had the priests. They had the truth, but yet 42,000 of them, I mean think about that, 42,000 people died because they were upset that they were not given the glory in the day of battle. Let's make sure that we never get to that state. And so what I'm trying to say is if we don't check our insecurities, we could possibly wind up becoming bullies. Just think of a bully that's been in your life, you know that coworker that likes to mess with you, that person in your family that wants to bully you because you're a fundamentalist, because you're just a Bible-believing Christian. Think about those people. You know what? They're the ones that are insecure. They are the ones that have the problem, not you. You have the truth. But here's the thing. It can wear on you. It can wear you down. And the next road that I want to mention is that insecurities could lead you to living a life being fearful because you're always wondering what are other people thinking about me? If I give that person the gospel, if I say that, if I say, yes, I support my church, what are they going to think about me? And the next thing you know, you are caught in a web, in a snare of just absolute trouble and fear, and we don't need that. Now, while I was studying for this, I ran across this article that was talking about dementia, and I was reading it, and it actually brought up insecurities. And I just want to read that because I think it's very important, and it speaks to my life. I just want to share this with you. So just listen to this. It says that those who have difficulty forming relationships or meeting others because of chronic insecurity may become too shy or anxious to face anyone at all, which can lead to a distancing from people in general. This distance can lead to isolation, which is associated with mental health issues such as depression, social anxiety, and dementia, as well as low self-esteem. And the reason why that spoke to me is because we take care of my father who has Alzheimer's and dementia. And I mean, he's pegged out on both of them. I mean, he's done. It's terrible. It's bad. But after my mom died in 2008, you know what he did? He shut the world off, didn't want any friends, didn't want to talk to anybody. He would obviously let us come over and see the kids a little bit here and there, but didn't really care, turned on the TV and just channeled after channeled after channeled. And now his mind is completely gone. And all he talks about is wanting to kill himself, and he's complaining that no one wants to talk to him. It's so weird. It's so bizarre. But I honestly believe it was that combination that actually led that disease to take over his mind. And I'm not saying that's going to happen to anyone here, but obviously I'm living with a person who's definitely been a result of insecurities. Looking back at my dad's history, he was always afraid to talk to people. And part of that goes back to his government job, because when you work for the government, they're always constantly telling you, hey, don't say this, don't tell people this, and everything's a big secret. And this has had an effect on me. Sometimes Jessica will be planning a dinner with somebody, and she'll be like, oh, I told them to come over at this time. I'll be like, why'd you tell them that? She's like, what are you talking about? So they know what time to come over, and I'm like, oh, yeah, of course. You know? Of course. What am I thinking? But I'm always like, don't tell people how much gas we have to take. Don't tell people that we just bought a car. I'm always doing that, and I have to fight that. Why? Because if I don't let that go, guess what? I'm going to be insecure. I'm going to shut people off. And I really think that that really went to his mind. Because after 30 years, if you let it, the government will compartmentalize you. So just understand that. But going back to what we're talking about, talking about insecurities, I would be lying to you if I said, oh, I've got this under control. I've got this under wraps. That would be a lie. I'll be honest with you. When I first started preaching, there was this unwritten or unseen pressure to act in a certain way, maybe that will attract views and attention and influence. When I first got to Boise, there were people there. I call them template pushers. They walk around with a certain template, and if you don't fit exactly into it, they put this pressure on you. Well, you should do this. Why don't we have all this money? Why don't we make documentaries? It's like it's the first week of the church. Have you read the Bible? Have you read Mark? Have you read Matthew? Have you read anything? We need to kind of get a foundation going here before we start doing all of that stuff. Those people are few, but they're out there. If you ever want to go into the ministry, be an excellent soul winner, disciple for Christ. You have to keep these insecurities in check. It's natural. It's a natural emotion. This is what a lot of people don't want to talk about. You're not going to go to the mega church and they're going to tell you this. They're going to be like, hey, you sign that check, you sow that seed of faith, you write that $10,000 check, and God will just erase this. He will cancel that for you. You will never feel insecure again. Look, that's a lie. You're going to have that emotion. As long as you have the old man, you're going to have these emotions, but it's what you do, and it's how you manage them that's going to determine your success for Christ. That is the difference, and that's what I'm talking about. Jessica will always throw her under the bus. When I first started soul winning, I'm trying to get her on board, and come on, you've got to start talking. She had a real fear of talking with people, especially strangers, the fear of rejection. That's what she was afraid of, but after time, God basically put her in a situation where she could no longer ignore it, and she had to go through with it. Finally, over time, she just learned that they're not rejecting me. They're rejecting the message. They're rejecting Christ, and we're in Christ, so of course they're going to reject us. When you realize that, and you become okay with that, and you deny self, and you realize, I need to get that insecurity turned into humility, then guess what? Now you're on the right track. Everybody in here should be able to relate to that. Maybe you're in here today, and you're like, you know what, I'm still a silent partner. It's been a very, very long time. Look, I'm not trying to beat you up, but you need to start to let go of that insecurity. You need to force yourself to be a little bit uncomfortable. Because if you don't, then that emotion is winning, and it's controlling you. And we ought not to be controlled by the old man. Maybe you're in here today, and you're like, yeah, but my family life, the way I grew up isn't the best. I come from maybe a blended family, or I'm older, and I don't have much time left. It doesn't matter. You need to let go of that. Because if you're still living, you're still breathing, you're still breathing, you can work for Christ. You can go out there, you can learn how to give the gospel. Look, don't be living in the past. Don't be feeling sorry for yourself. We've had this attitude in our church from a couple people this last year. And it's just, I don't know if it's just the spirit that just came upon our church or what it was where people were just feeling sorry for themselves. And I want to drive that out as far as possible because all it does is hinder growth. That's all that it does, you know? Sometimes people will have this idea, you know, okay, well, I've been saved for so long, and I don't really know much about the Bible. And that makes them insecure. And they'll go one of two ways. They'll either say, well, they'll start being a poser, start acting like they know everything, or they'll just go the fear route and just let it put their works in the ground. And they won't do anything for Christ. And that's a shame, and that's sad. That means the enemy wins. That's not how we grow churches. That's not how we do business. That's not how we need to be. So you're there in 2 Corinthians chapter number 10. Look at verse number 12. It says this. If we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves, but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are what? Not wise, okay? So what is the topic? The topic today is dealing with insecurity because insecurity is going to lead you down a road of either becoming a bully, poser, or just caught in a web of complete fear. But really, what's at the heart of that, the reason why we go down that road is because we compare ourselves to other people. What is Paul telling the Corinthians here? For we dare not. This was his attitude here. This should be our attitude, that we dare not compare ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves. So when you get around those people and all they do is talk about how great they are, how wonderful they are, how smart they are, how this, how that, don't let that infect you because the Bible says that that's going to lead you to a road you don't want to go down. And so really, I want you to remember these three words because this entire sermon, it's kind of long, but it can be boiled down into these three words, which is this, comparison compromises security. Comparison compromises security. So go back to the story there in Judges chapter 12. Go back to Judges chapter 12. Again, what was the cause? What was the reason for the Ephraimites being upset? It's because they were insecure. A group of people known as the Gideonites, or the Gideonites, I'm sorry, the Gileadites, these people all of a sudden get some glory and the children of Ephraim are like, wait a second, what about us, right? They feel in their hearts and in their minds that they, since they're the largest tribe, since they have a lot of mighty words, well, no, no, we should be the ones who are responsible for saving our nation. And when reality caught up to them and they realized that they were living up to how they viewed themselves, what happened? They became bullies. They became very immature. To go up to somebody who just saved you from bondage, saved you from this tyranny and said, hey, we're just going to burn your house down with fire. So again, let's look at verse number one. You're there in Judges chapter 12. We're going to get to the first point here. Look at Judges chapter 12 in verse number one. The Bible says this. And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together and went northward and said unto Jephthah, wherefore passest thou over to fight against the children of Ammon? And didst not call us to go with thee? We will burn thine house upon thee with fire. Well, what do we know about the children of Ephraim? Well, again, they were a very large tribe in Israel. They had a lot of mighty warriors. They were actually a tough people. And they liked to fight in battles. We also know that it's written in the Psalms that the children of Ephraim turned back in the day of battle. Interesting when you think about that. Let's keep reading. Look at verse number two. Now we also know this, what Jephthah says. Verse two, and Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon. And when I called you, you delivered me not out of their hands. Kind of funny that they didn't say that at the beginning. Right, the children of Ephraim were like, hey, you didn't call us to fight. You didn't call us for that missions trip. You didn't invite us to that. Look at verse three. And when I saw that you delivered me not, I put my life in my hands and passed over against the children of Ammon. And the Lord delivered them into my hand. Wherefore then are you come up to me this day to fight against me? That's a good question. That's a question I'd be asking. Like, wait a minute, I called you. You didn't answer. And now you're accusing me? You're accusing us of not asking for your help? Look at verse four. Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim, and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim because they said, ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites and among the Manassehites. So what did the Ephraimites resort to? Insults, bullying, threats. Isn't that what people do to us? Isn't that what people do to this church? All the time. Probably on a weekly basis. I know if they're coming at me weekly, they gotta be coming at you daily. So, right? Think about this. Think about this. These people actually believe their lie. And so the first point that I want to make is this. Insecurity in the mind can eventually create lies that we believe. As I read this, I believe that they honestly thought, felt that they weren't called, even though they were. This is a possible road that you could go down if you do not check your insecurities. Insecurity in the mind can eventually create lies that we actually believe. Now, keep your place there, but go to 1 Samuel chapter number 18. 1 Samuel chapter number 18. So the Ephraimites ask Jephthah why he didn't call them to the battle, but Jephthah checks them and says, I did call you to the battle. Okay, and what do they say? Well, you guys are just fugitives. So they probably had this view like, we're not going to go help them out. They're too small. They're weak. They're not going to do anything. They're not going to be effective. But was that true? No, it wasn't. So what does that tell us about the Ephraimites? They're not in it for the glory of God. They're in it for themselves. Okay? When the Ephraimites, and not every single one of them, obviously, this is just a problem sown in this tribe's culture, okay? But a lot of people there probably had this idea, you know, we just want to be known. What they would say is, hey, when people say Ephraim, they want to think mighty valiant warrior, okay? Seal team six. That's how they wanted to be viewed. That's it. Not, hey, we're fighting for the Lord. Right? Now we're standing up for the word of God. It was about the physical. It wasn't about the spiritual. And I'm telling you, this is a huge problem. This is a problem that we all get faced with from time to time. You know, the Bible says that the devil wants to wear down the saints, that he will wear out the saints in the end times. I believe he's obviously been doing that forever and is going to only increase doing that. You know, especially with social media, and I'm not against social media. I'm not against all that stuff. But look, if you struggle with insecurity, that's the last place you need to be spending a lot of your time. Okay? Because think about this. When people go on Twitter or Facebook, they're not thinking, let me put the last mess up I did. Let me put some of my faults on there. No, they're going to put their best foot forward. Okay? And if you're down in the dumps, and you're not feeling good, and you know you've got some issues, and we all do, and you go there, and you just, oh, they've got to put it together. They've got to put it together. Look, it's going to hurt you. So all I'm trying to say is you've got to be careful with that because your mind will start lying to you. And you could possibly go down this road. Oh, the reason why they've got to put it together is because they've been gifted everything in their life, and they're a bunch of liars. You know, you never know where that could go. It happens all the time. In fact, it happened to a king named Saul. Let's take a look at it. 1 Samuel chapter 18, look at verse number 6. 1 Samuel chapter 18, look at verse number 6. So it says, And it came to pass, as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistines, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing to meet King Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music. So obviously this is before David's reign, and they've finally got revival in the land. David has already killed Goliath. People are starting to step up and actually want to fight the enemy now. And so they're coming back from battle. If you look at verse 7, it says, And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. Verse 8, And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him, and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands. Now don't miss this here. And what can he have more but the kingdom? You see where his mind goes? He hears a part of a song, he hears a part of a song, and all of a sudden he's like, Oh, he's just going to take the whole kingdom. You see how insecurities can make you believe lies. That's not what's going on, because what does the Bible tell us about David? That he was a man after God's own heart. Okay? Obviously, Saul was a man after his own glory. He started off good. He started off alright, but eventually the power got to his mind, and that's all he saw. When he saw David come back with that great victory, instead of saying, Good job, I'm so glad that you're on our team. What did he say? Oh, now he's going to have the whole kingdom, because the people are following him. He's got more subscribers than I do. He gets more comments than I do. This is destroyed. I believe that this has destroyed many people. Think about it. There have been people who've attached themselves, if you will, to the new IFB, and I believe that this is part of their problem. Seriously. You know, they attach themselves. They like the doctrine. They like teaching. They get invited to a couple of conferences. You know, then all of a sudden they're like, Wait a second here. How come I'm not number one? How come I don't have 10,000 subscribers? How come I don't get invited every year? And the next thing you know, they start believing lies. Everyone in the new IFB is garbage. They're all, what do they say? They're all a lynch mob or something like that. Then they start believing those lies, and then it starts coming out passive aggressively, at first. And then when that doesn't work, and they get checked on that, what happens? They start spilling out the whole lie. They basically just start acting like this. Go to Mark chapter 5. Here's the thing. Other people's success doesn't mean your failures. I mean, think about it. Just because another church has a successful missions trip, or all of a sudden they just get blessed with a bunch of new families, that don't mean you're failing. If we could just get this and understand this, this would save us from so much trouble. Relationships are lost. Friends are gone. And people are fighting all because of their own insecurities. Because they don't check them. And then what happens is they start believing lies. Their mind starts playing tricks on them, starts playing games. And then guess what? That's the perfect ground for the devil to come in and be like, oh, gets that ladle out and just starts spinning these people up, stirring the pot. Next thing you know, we have a bunch of fights and battles that we really didn't need to have to begin with. We've got enough enemies that aren't saved. Now we've got to deal with all this other stuff, because people are insecure. Mark chapter 5. So, we're going to start reading about this individual that was possessed with a lot of devils. Now, this guy is not exactly insecure. If you're possessed with devils, being insecure is probably the least of your works. But the principle that I want you to see here I think is very powerful and will help us out tremendously. Look at verse number 14. Mark 5, look at verse 14. So, we don't have time to read the full story, but we're just going to pick it up right here. Look at verse 14. It says, and they that fed the swine fled. So, this is after Jesus cast the demons out of these guys here. It says, and they that fed the swine fled and told it in the city and in the country, and they went out to see what it was that was done. Verse 15, and they come to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion sitting and clothed in his right mind, and they were afraid. Now, jump if you would real quickly to verse number 20. And he departed and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him, and all men did marvel. Now, go back to verse 15 real quick. Okay, now again, this guy's not insecure. He was possessed. He's been free, okay, and now he can see clearly. But I want you to look at the last part of verse 15. It says, and they come to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion, and don't miss this, sitting and clothed in his right mind, not in someone else's right mind, in his right mind. This is what you will experience when you realize what I'm talking about here and you start to check yourself and get rid of these insecurities and you start to realize, hey, just because so-and-so gets, you know, a certain amount of people saved per month and I don't, amen. Praise God because that's who we serve, okay. In his mind, we need to be secure in our mind. This is what happens when we realize the dangers of comparison that leads to insecurity and is gonna cause you to be opposed, just like the Ephraimites. It says clothed in his right mind, not someone else's. This is a big deal here. We need to make sure that we are in our mind. Look, we all have different experiences. We've all had different lives, but we've got the same word of God. You preach a message, it's gonna come out a little bit differently maybe. You have different stories to tell. You have different experiences. You have a different family. There's only one of you. You need to be in your mind. So what happens when you are in your right mind? Well, look at verse 20 again. And he departed and began to publish into capitalist how great things Jesus had done for him and all men did marvel. So when you're in your right mind, guess what? What does it say at the end of verse 15? All were afraid. Now they were afraid because they were like, is this real? Are these guys gonna come back? Is it gonna tear us apart? But I've noticed this. When you let go of the template pushers and you let go of that insecurity and you're able to start maturing and you're able to be okay with who you are, who God made you, when you start to be okay with that, other people will begin to be afraid. And that's not your fault. That's not your problem. We need to be us. We need to be in our right minds because then when we're no longer afraid, it starts to expose the enemies. But it doesn't matter because what does it say again in verse 20? And he departed and began to publish the great things that Jesus did. This is how we should be. You say, I want to be better. I want to be a better solar for Christ. I want to be better at making disciples. Guess what? You better make sure that you're being you. You better make sure that you're in your right mind, not someone else's. Otherwise, you're not going to grow. Look, this is just the reality here. You cannot grow. You cannot mature as a Bible-believing Christian as long as you are trying to live in someone else's mind. It's not going to happen. You need to be you. You need to be real. You need to be honest. All of us do. Go to Judges chapter number six. So point number one, insecurity in the mind can and will eventually lead to you believing lies. It will cause your mind to create lies, just like it did with Saul, just like it did with the Ephraimites. So again, we're going to continue on here following the children of Ephraim. And I kind of did this out of order, so we're going to go back in time a little bit here. And we're going to look at the Ephraimites some more. So you're there in Judges chapter six. Look at verse number 11. So this is the story about Gideon. And of course, you know the cycle of the children of Israel. They follow God for a little bit and then they get complacent. God delivers them up into the enemy and then has to raise up a judge and a prophet to deliver them. So verse number 11, look at what it says. It says, And there came an angel of the Lord and sat under an oak which was in Orphah. That pertained unto Joash the Abzirite, and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. Now why was he doing that? Because the Midianites were now oppressing the nation of Israel. Look at verse 12. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. Look, if an angel of the Lord came to you and said that, what would your reaction be? I'd be like, what? Really? Okay. But look what Gideon does here. Look at verse 13. And Gideon said unto him, O my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? And where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. Now jump, look at verse 13. I'm sorry, look at verse 14. It says this. And the Lord looked upon him and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent thee? Okay. So what's the road that Gideon goes down here? He's told by the angel of the Lord, Hey, you're a mighty man of valor. He's automatically going down the fear route. Okay. And I mean, if you could imagine the way he grew up, you know, it's probably not hard to understand why he would act that way. Okay. He's fearful. He's like, I'm not mighty. I've never done anything mighty. In fact, you're telling me I'm a mighty man right here, and I'm trying to hide from the enemy. I'm trying to hide this stuff from the enemy here. But look at verse 15. It says, And he said unto him, O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. Verse 16. And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. Now Gideon here, he obviously starts out insecure. We're going to watch him move from insecure to humble. Okay. So I want you to see this here. But before we move on any further, let's jump to chapter number eight. So look at chapter number eight, verse number one. So we're going to fast forward here. He finally goes through with his calling. Actually, he asked God for a sign and all that and starts to conquer and go forth to war. But I want you to see this here. Chapter eight, look at verse one. It says, and the men of Ephraim, so after they have this battle, we'll look at it here in a second. I just want you to see this. It says, and the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou callest not when thou winnest to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide with him sharply. So by the time you get to Judges chapter 12, this is not the first time that the children of Ephraim have had this attitude or have done this. You see that there? Now, again, is what they're saying true? Did they really have just cause to go up to Gideon and start to chide and to argue and to bicker about anything? Well, no. If you would, look at chapter seven and verse 24. Look what it says. Look at chapter seven, verse 24. And Gideon sent messengers throughout all Mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites and take before them the waters unto Beth, Bara, and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together and took the waters unto Beth, Bara, and Jordan. Wait, what? Why are they saying that they weren't called again? Look at verse 25. And they took two princes of the Midianites, Orob and Zeb, and they slew Orob upon the rock Orob, and Zeb, they slew at the winepress of Zeb and pursued Midian and brought the hands of Orob and Zeb to Gideon on the other side. So look at chapter eight again. Look at verse two. So this is Gideon. Look what he says. And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? So once again, the Ephraimites have lied. They believed a lie. Okay? It should be clear by now, they're not in this for the Lord. They actually this time went to fight. Gideon called and they came and they said, Hey, why didn't you call us to fight against the Midianites? Why? Because they want the whole glory. Because they have this view of themselves that they're like the mega powers of Israel. And look, this is how we're going to get. I'm just telling you, this is how we can get if we don't check our security. If we don't check our insecurities. We start leaning towards that old man. Oh, I got this Christian thing under wraps. I'm good. I've read the Bible X amount of times. Get people saved with so many. I need to beef up that old man. I need to start getting a little more ahead in the world. Why are you thinking that? It's because you're allowing the influence of the world to cause you to feel insecure. It's because you're comparing yourself to people you should not be comparing yourself to. The only person you need to be competing with is you. The first time I ever preached for the Red Hot Preaching Conference here, someone came up to me, and I can't remember exactly what they said. You know, God bless them, but it was just like something to the effect of, you know, you've got a lot of big shoes to fill and, you know, how do you think you did, you know, in comparison to everyone else? I said, look, I didn't come here to compete. I came here to contribute. That's the attitude we need to have. When we start competing, what's going to happen? Now we're going to start fighting with each other and start being Ephraimites with each other. You've already seen this happen in the new IFB. Instead of going forward, we're going backwards. And we don't need that. How would this house stand if it was filled with people to compare? If you want to see what that looks like, just go to the nearest megachurch, okay? And there's cliques all over the building there, and they're all competing with each other over worldly things. Just go listen to the conversation. Don't do this. You know what I'm talking about. Don't go in there. You know what they're talking about. They're all competing, you know, with the latest jet ski, boat, motorcycle, lifted truck, whatever it is. You know that. Turn to Luke chapter number six. So the second point that I want to make is this. Insecurity is deafening, but security is silent. Insecurity is deafening. Insecurity is loud. You see, how is it loud? Well, first of all, a lot of insecure people are always, you know, pretty loud, but it's loud in your mind. It's loud in your heart because it's all that you can think of. It's distracting. It's blocking. It's terrifying. It's trying to pull you in the way of the world. So insecurity is deafening. But security is silent. And you can see that because what does Gideon do? He neutralizes the comparison. He removes himself out of the equation in verse two. It says, and he said unto them, what have I done now in comparison of you? And they're like, yeah, that's right. They're like, yeah, that's right. You're nothing. We're the biggest tribe. We're the best. That's right. So you admit that? He's like, yeah, there's no problem. You did the most of the work, guys. You guys are great. They're like, okay, cool. That's why they wanted Jephthah to act. But the problem is Jephthah had made a foolish vow. The chapter prior, it wasn't in the best of moods and decided, well, I'm just going to kill you guys. So, okay. Again, comparisons compromise security. We need to be secure in the new man. Okay. I want to show you what this looks like. Luke chapter six, look at verse number six. It says this. And it came to pass on another Sabbath Jesus entered into the synagogue and taught. And there was a man whose right hand was withered. Verse seven, and the scribes and Pharisees watched him whether he would heal on the Sabbath day that they might find an accusation against him. What do you think the noise level's like in these people's minds? I mean, Jesus is teaching the word of God. Okay. There's a guy with a shriveled up, a withered hand. And what are their thoughts? Pinging around in their brains. We got to get this guy out of here. We got to destroy him. We got to trap him in his words. We need to get him gone. Look at verse eight. But he knew their thoughts and said to the man which had the withered hand, rise up and stand forth in the midst. And he rose and stood forth. Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing. Is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good or to do evil? To save life or to destroy it? And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, stretch forth thy hand. And he did so. And his hand was restored whole as the other. Now, I mean, everybody in here, if you saw something like that, you'd be, wow. This is great. This is awesome. Okay. That's the silent part there. Because you're secure in who you are. You're not like, oh, how come he gets to do the miracles? And I don't. You know, that's how it is in Pentecostal churches. Right? It is. How come they're always speaking at times and falling down on the ground and flopping like a fish and they got all this stuff going on? Well, you know, it's because it's fake. That's why. It's fake. It's not real. But that's a whole different sermon. Look at verse number 11. It says when they were filled with madness. Look, madness is loud. Madness is deafening. When you're filled with madness, that is all you hear in your mind. That is all you are. That is the direction that you are going. They were filled with madness and communed one with another what they might actually do to Jesus. So, again, they kind of go back to the issue of Saul, back to the Ephraimite attitude. Instead of just rejoicing, hey, the Savior's come. They're worried about their religion. Right? They're worried about their paychecks. They're worried about all this different stuff that doesn't even matter. And all they can hear going through their brains is we have to destroy this man who's doing good. And that's literally how the Ephraimites were. And that's literally how every single bully becomes. That's how all opposers become. And this is why we need to check our insecurities. Go to Proverbs chapter number 13. Proverbs chapter number 13. So Proverbs chapter 13. I want to show you what to do about this. Verse number 10. You see, how do you know that insecurities is connected to pride? Well, by this verse right here. Proverbs 13. Look at verse 10. It says this. Only by pride cometh contention, but with the well-advised is wisdom. See, what do I do? Because we all have insecurities. What do I do about this? What's one other thing that I can do about this? It's blocking my thoughts. It's consuming who I am. It's making me make foolish choices. What do I do? You need to get well-advised. This is what Gideon did. Go back to Judges chapter 8, and I'll show you. A lot of times we're insecure because we know in our hearts that we're not living up to the way we need to be. And instead of just getting advice, instead of just getting counsel, instead of seeking the word of God, or seeking help from somebody who's been down that road and becoming advised on what to do, what do we do? We resort to pride. You're going to go one of two ways. You're either going to be well-advised or filled with pride. And with that comes contention. That is the road that it leads down more often than not. So the solution here, when you're stuck in this cycle, is to become better advised with the word of God, become better advised with the entire situation. You need to look back and realize, hey, just because they're having success, that doesn't mean that I'm a failure. Praise God for them. That is humility. Not insecurity, that's humility. You will not move from insecurity to humility without being well-advised. Look, this is exactly what Gideon does. Look at verse three. Look what he says to them. Look what Gideon says to the Ephraimites. God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Orob, and Ziv, and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Sounds like Gideon knew 2 Corinthians chapter 10. It sounds like he understood the danger of comparison. Who's secure in this situation, the Ephraimites or Gideon? Well, it's Gideon. He's the one that's secure. He's the one that's okay with how the battle went. He's the one that's all right. He's comfortable. He's secure. He's making them afraid. That's the position we want to be in. Otherwise, you're just opposing. So he says, what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward them, or toward him, when he had said that. Look at verse 4. And Gideon came to Jordan and passed over. He and the 300 men that were with him faint yet pursuing them. So again, when you learn to deny yourself, and you can move from that insecurity, because that's what he did. When God called him, he was insecure. He kind of had that same attitude that Moses had or Jeremiah had, but he moved on from that and stepped into humility, and that neutralized his threat at this time. And what did he do? Even though he was beat down physically, even though they were thirsty, they were tired, they were hungry, they were still able to push on for the Lord. This is, look, this is what I'm talking about here. Security is silent. We let our works talk more than our lips. Okay, understand it. This is what I'm talking about. So go, let's see here. I'm going to have you guys go to 2 Chronicles chapter number 25. We're getting close to being done. 2 Chronicles chapter number 25. So point number one was insecurity in the mind will eventually create lies that we believe. What's the solution to that? To be in your right mind, not someone else's. Point number two is insecurity is deafening, but security is silent. I think it's important that we understand the difference here so that we can recognize this, because like I said, this is an emotion that we all experience, and it's how we manage it that's going to determine the direction that we go, and we need to be well-advised. Don't be blowing off church. Don't be blowing off your Bible reading. Don't do that. It's only, look, like Pastor Mendez always says, you don't get to play by the rules of the world. You give up that advisement, you're going down the road of pride. Deuteronomy 17 talks about that. What happens to the king that doesn't read the word of God? He goes down the road of pride, insecurity, because he doesn't understand the mission that he was called to do. We are kings and priests, and we should learn from the mistakes of all of those kings. So we're done with those two sections there in Judges. I want to bring up the last bit here, the last time that we, not the last time, but pretty close to the last time that you're going to see the children of Ephraim in the Bible. So now we're in the time of the kings. So we're many years removed from the days of the judges, Saul, David, and all that. The nation of Israel is now divided in half, basically. It's cut in two. So Judah, Benjamin, you know they make up the southern kingdom of Judah. They have their king. The northern kingdom of Israel, which is basically ten tribes, they have their king. That's the time that we're in now. We're going to read about a guy named Amaziah here. Now Amaziah decides to take it upon himself to hire some Ephraimites, to hire some children of Israel. And God tells him, hey, I don't want you to do that. And what does he tell God? What does he tell the prophet? He says, well, I already gave them 100 talents of silver. What about that? What about that money? What does the prophet tell him? God is able to give thee much more than this. So let's take a look at something here. Look at verse number 10. 2 Chronicles chapter 25. Look at verse number 10. It says this. It says then Amaziah separated them to wit, the army that was come out of Ephraim to go home again, wherefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah and they returned home in great anger. Now you would hope, you would think after Judges chapter 8, after Judges, especially after Judges chapter 12, 42,000, you would hope that they would have learned their lesson on doing this. But they don't. They never fully rooted that human behavioral problem out of their tribe, out of their culture. Look at verse 11. And Amaziah strengthened himself, led forth his people, went to the valley of salt and smote, the children of Seir, 10,000. Verse 12. And other 10,000 left alive did the children of Judah carry away captive and brought them unto the top of the rock and cast them down from the top of the rock that they were all broken in pieces. Now that's a whole sermon by themselves. But look at verse 13 here. It says, But the soldiers of the army, which Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even unto Bethlehem, and smote 3,000 of them, and took much spoil. Think about this for a second. These guys had a free payday. Because Amaziah was like, hey, just go home, keep the money, and if you get right with God in the future, maybe we can have a deal. Maybe we can work something out. And the Bible's like, no, they went home in great anger. And then they decided to go and do this and take 3,000 innocent lives. They got paid. They didn't have to risk their lives. Right? Look, when I worked for the government, there was times where I'd show up, we'd do something, it'd be a half hour work, and the boss would be like, hey, go home, paying you for 12. All right. I'm not going to argue with you. I didn't go home and be like, I'm going to beat your whole house down. I really wanted to do that job. But that's what these guys did. They're like, oh, you're not going to let us go scrap? We don't care about the money. We're going to go back while you're out doing your own thing, and we're going to take on some of your people. So what does that mean? What's point number three? Poser management costs more than money. Realize that. Trying to maintain an image that you've conjured up in your head that is wrong will cost you more than money. It could cost you your job. It could cost you your family. It could even cost you your life. But it also affects other people, just like it did here. Turn to Acts chapter number 19. Acts chapter number 19. So again, poser management costs more than money. They didn't even care about that. Most normal people are like, cool, I'll take the money. It's no problem. You know, I owe you one. Maybe I'll come down for half price next time. I don't really know. But again, unchecked insecurities will cost you, and it hurts other people. Acts chapter 19. I want to look at this story here. Now again, this involves some devils. This involves an evil spirit. But again, the principle is very valuable to what we're talking about here. Look at verse number 13. So Paul, you know, doing his thing, look what it says. It says in verse 13, Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon themselves, or took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches. You see what these people are? These people are posers. This is your new evangelical Christianity right here. That's how they talk. You know, the Jesus who those other people talk about here, that's who we're talking about. The Jesus of the scholars, the Jesus of the original manuscripts, that's who we preach unto you. Look at verse 14. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. Verse 15, And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye? Interesting. He's like, yeah, Jesus never pretended. Like, Paul, he had a past, didn't he? If anybody had reason to be insecure, it would have been Paul. But he's like, no, Paul, I know, but who are you posers? Who are you Pentecostals? Who are you guys? Verse 16, And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and railed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. Go to Romans chapter 7. And you know what? Again, hey, that's where the Ephraimite road will take us. Wounded and naked. When we get found out, when that false image that we're building in our minds that's not matching reality, when that gets exposed, we feel just like these posers did in Acts chapter 19. Naked, wounded, ashamed, and embarrassed. So we can save ourselves a lot of heartache right now by just learning to be real. Like Paul. I mean, look at verse 19, Romans chapter 7, verse 19. I mean, there's a ton of verses we could talk about in regards to Paul, but look at verse 19. He says this, For the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. You say, why are you reading this? Because Paul was real. Chief sinner that I am. I get it. You know, I know that Paul Washer and John MacArthur and these clowns, they like to say, oh, yeah, Paul, Paul didn't really mean that. Or in the original languages, it didn't come across quite like that. He's just basically saying he used to be like that, but he turned from all of that. Who's ever been around a lot of repenting your sins type people? Yeah. Yeah. You want to talk about posers? Go look at those people. Claiming that they've turned from all these sins like Ray Comfort. Ray Comfort's the biggest poser there is. And he's a devil. And you know what? On his deathbed, he's going to be like these people in Acts chapter 19. Naked without his garment and wounded for eternity. But Paul was real. He was like, hey, yeah, I did those things, but I'm still called and I'm going. And that's a lot of us in here, isn't it? A lot of us have made mistakes. A lot of us have done sins and things in the past. Don't let that control you. Because you will not be able to achieve what God wants from you. Look, if you're here today, God has the mission for you. This statement behind me that all the earth may know applies to every living, breathing human being inside of this room right now. And everybody in here can contribute to that. You should not and you cannot allow your past make you insecure. Go to James chapter number five. And I'm just about done. James chapter number five. This is perhaps the biggest bit of application that I have for you today. James chapter number five. Look at verse 16. It says this. James chapter five, verse 16. Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. You know the reason why at the Red Hot Preaching Conference I preached about relationships? It's because without those, without understanding who's really on your side, we can't do this. Look, I'm not recommending you stand up in church and be like, all right, I was in traffic yesterday and the finger that shouldn't come up dead because someone cut me off. No, I'm not. Look, I've seen that. I've seen that in some churches. I've been through the circuit. I know. I know what goes on. Okay? I've seen where they're like, okay, the Holy Ghost is leading us to start confessing our faults. You know, is there a brother or sister who would like to stand up right now and just tell us everything? And it's like, I need to get out of here. It's bad. But look, when you have that network of people that you can be yourself around and just confess your faults because we've all got them. You got the new man, you've got some faults. And I believe this is a great, this is the, I mean, this is just the place to do that. There are people in here that can help you. I mean, this is a large body of believers here with a lot of different background, a lot of different past, a lot of different knowledge that you can go to to get help. That you can go to to get help for those faults. Confess your faults one to another. And you have prayer. You've got something going on. You need to be on that prayer list on Wednesdays. You need to let somebody know. That's how we get out of this stuff. Go to 1 John chapter 1. 1 John chapter number 1. And I'll show you why this is so important. It really goes back to what my mission statement is, what drives me, which is to evangelize and to edify. 1 John chapter number 1, look at verse number 9. It says this, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Look, when these things go unchecked, you get out of fellowship with Christ. He's not saying, oh, you've got to confess before the priest. No, we all know that's a lie. We all know that's a joke. That's not true. But why do we need to do this? Why do we need to be real? Why do we need to be honest like this so that we can restore fellowship with Christ? Because without that fellowship, you're done. You're going to be out of church and you're going to be in all sorts of problems. Bringing the hand of God down upon you. We don't need that. There's enough of that that goes on. You fail to be real and you're going to be out. That's what he's saying. If we confess our sins, look, he is faithful and just to forgive us. But what does the world say? Oh, well, you must not really be saved or you're just a joke. Like I thought. They're going to turn it up on you. And that's not what we need. So he's not saying do this to stay saved. No, do this to restore fellowship. Because look, here's what I've seen. When people fail to do this, they start having issues with other people. Just minor things will start coming up. Start skipping church services, you know, start dropping the things that they signed up to do. If you can't be in fellowship with the body of Christ, you're not going to be in fellowship with Christ. You're still saved. You're still going to heaven. But now you have a different image apparently that you want to portray. And you start talking to these people. Hey, what's going on? Nothing, I'm good. I did the nine chapters a day. Well, what's the problem? They can't even see it for themselves. Because insecurity is deafening. It is loud. It's the security that's silent. So like I said, we're almost done. Point number one was this. Insecurity in the mind can eventually create lies that we believe. So what do we do about that? What's the solution? Well, just like the guy who was possessed with the legion, right, he was in his right mind. And that made other people afraid. And he went forth and published the great things that Christ did. That's how we need to be. We need to realize that and understand that. And point number two, insecurity is deafening, but security is silent. What does that mean? That means when you're secure, you don't have to go around and brag and puff yourself up and try to sell that poser image that you've created in your mind because you're well advised. You say, I'm not quite there yet. No problem. You need to get well advised. You need to get counseled. It's the word of God that is going to change everything. It always goes back to that. No word of God, no edification. No word of God, no salvation. Gideon, right, he was well advised in who he was. He realized at the beginning of his calling, he was insecure. But through the process of time and going to battle and doing what God had told him to do, he learned to turn that insecurity into humility, just like Moses did. And that's how we need to be. That's what we need to do. Well advised. And point number three is poser management will cost you more than money. If you let this go unchecked, just like the children of Ephraim did, it's not going to go away by itself. Right? You've got Judges Chapter 8 with Gideon and then Judges Chapter 12 with Jephthah. Forty-two thousand people lose their lives because they're upset that people are going to find out that they were not as tough as they thought they were. They were not as valiant as they thought that they were. And that drove them to threaten a man of God. And that's terrible. But you know what? We see that happening all the time, don't we? And finally, you know my bottom line is this. Comparison compromises your security. It all goes down to that. If you don't remember anything, remember those three words. Comparison will compromise that security. You start comparing yourself to other people in the world, you will start to feel insecure because you were not called to excel in that area the way that the devil would want you to. And so the last thing that I want to leave you with is this challenge here. Everybody in here, look. Everybody in here needs to make sure that you have people that you trust. And I know that this church is full of them. But you have people that you trust, that you can go to, to get help with your faults and with the things that you're struggling with. Look, that's where it's at. You do that and you will start to move forward. People will ask all the time, hey, I'm stuck in this rut, what do I do? A lot of times I'll say, well, you're taking the right step. You're coming and letting somebody know so that we can pray for you, so that we can get you well advised. You have to do that. Remember those three words, comparison, compromise, and security. And then my challenge for you is that you make sure that you have people, and they are here, that you can tell your faults to, tell your struggles to, and get the prayer that you need. And you will. Look, it's not a might. It's not a maybe. It is a guarantee that you will move forward in your Christian walk. So let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for the truth that you always give us. I just pray for this church, Lord, that it will continue to grow strong and mighty for you, Lord. And I just pray that you would help us to always be a people that never decides to go down the road of Ephraim and become posers. And I just pray you bless the fellowship, Lord. Keep us safe as we all travel back to our homes and our destinations. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Turn to song 252. Song number 252. 252 on the first. Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole. I long before, never to live in my soul. Break out every idle, pass out every foul home. You wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Whiter than snow, yes whiter than snow. You wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. 252 on the second. Lord Jesus, for this I must humbly entrain. Be blessed, Lord, at thy crucified feet. Right we go by printing, I see thy blood flow. You wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Whiter than snow, yes whiter than snow. You wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. On the last. Lord Jesus, how ceas thy patience may weigh. Come now and give me a new heart today. For those who have stuck me, thou ever since grow. Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Whiter than snow, yes whiter than snow. You wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. That's song 260. Song number 260. We'll just sing one stanza. On the first. Tis the grandest scene through the ages come. Tis the grandest scene for a Lord's old tongue. Tis the grandest scene that the world's hair sewn. Our God is not able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Go by sin and rise. Come to him. God is not able to deliver thee. All right. Well, we've got a couple of baptisms this evening. And the first baptism is this young lady, Navea Santiago. And of course, we're happy to have the Santiago family back with us visiting from New York. And Navea is here to get baptized tonight. Navea, have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior? All right, Navea, by your profession of faith, I baptize you my sister. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, buried in the likeness of his death, raised to walk in nearness of life. God bless you. Want to go this way? Go ahead and have a seat. Sit right there for a picture. All right. And we've got Jason Cavett coming for baptism tonight. And Brother Jason's been coming to our church for a while now. And we're excited for him to be baptized tonight. Jason, have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior? I have. All right, Jason, by your profession of faith, I baptize you my brother. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, buried in the likeness of his death, raised to walk in nearness of life. All right, well, thank you very much for being here tonight. And thank you for all of our guests that are with us. And of course, Pastor Jones, great sermon. We appreciate you coming and being here and always teaching the Word of God thoroughly to us. So if there's anything we can do for you, please let us know. Please make sure to go by and say hello to the Jones family and thank them for being here. And then, of course, I want to encourage you to be back on Wednesday night for Wednesday night Bible study. We're going to be back in 2 Corinthians chapter number 6. We're going to be looking at the third list and the three lists that we've been looking at. And I think this is the most interesting of the lists. We're going to be talking about the dichotomy of ministry. And we're going to be talking about these things that we find in ministry that are opposite to each other, but yet they exist at the same time. I think it's interesting. I encourage you to be with us. If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know. I'd ask Brother Matt if he'd mind dismissing us with a word of prayer. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for the sermon that was preached tonight. Help us to apply these things to our lives, Lord. Pray that you be with us the rest of this week. Bring us back safely to church Wednesday. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray. Amen.