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Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music His name is wonderful Jesus my Lord He is the mighty king Master of everything His name is wonderful Jesus my Lord He is the great shepherd A rock of all ages Almighty God is He Bow down before Him Love and adore Him His name is wonderful Jesus my Lord Amen. First announcement is somebody lost their shoe. Is this anybody's shoe? I'll just leave. All right. Brother Alex, you've got small feet. All right. If you need a bulletin, would you raise your hand and then one of the ushers will bring you a bulletin. On our front cover, we have our verse of the week. It says, But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them. Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. Psalm chapter 5, verse number 11. And our service times are Sunday morning at 10 30 a.m. And our evening service is 3 30 p.m. And our Thursday Bible studies at 6 30 p.m. We're in 1 Peter chapter 5 this week, and so I'm not sure if I'm going to finish the whole chapter or not, but we will be in chapter 5. And our soul winning times are listed below. We do have soul winning today. I'm not sure who's running that, if Sean Collins is running it or not, but I don't see him here. Huh? Oh, hey, there you are. Where's Sean? He's right in front of my face. Anyway, we have soul winning today. We had a good week's soul winning. I think we had 10 salvation last week. So praise God for that. God is rewarding your hard work. I think there was three saved yesterday, but anyway, yeah, soul winning. So today at 1 15 and obviously we are having some food afterwards, so it might be a little late getting out, but we'll try to make everything flow as smooth as possible. And then our praise report, you can see the salvations and baptisms and all those stats there. And then the upcoming events today, we have the chili potluck dinner. It'll be after the morning service. And then we'll have a men's preaching night tonight at the 3 30 p.m. service. I wanted to give a little instruction about the chili. So there's chili, there's hot dogs, there's other stuff, but for safety reasons, all the chili that's spicy is clearly marked. There's one that has nuts in it and that, you know, if you have a nut allergy or something like that. So just keep those things in mind. Any child 13 and older can get their chili on their own if they're 13 and younger. Do not let your children get into the chili because I don't want anybody getting burned or anything like that. So because, I mean, obviously chili is not only spicy sometimes, but it's actually hot. So just please help your children get the food or just get the food for them. Have them sit down. But we don't want any incidents. You know, red hot preaching is supposed to burn out our chili. So anyway, that'll be, I think there's some desserts. I just want to appreciate everybody for bringing something. Maybe next year we'll make it a competition. I just didn't want to have to give everybody a trophy this year, so people are whining about it. But we'll try to figure out what other people do and maybe implement that system. We maybe will have a competition next year. So also, the daylight savings time is going to be next Saturday night at two, or actually it'll be Sunday morning at 2 a.m. So you're going to, your cell phones will automatically roll back, but your house clocks won't. So just keep that in mind that we're going to be losing daylight, but you're going to be gaining an hour of sleep theoretically. November 8th we have a homeschool field trip at Pioneer Farms at 10 a.m. There'll be a one and a half hour tour. Then the sack, you're going to need to bring a sack lunch and then there'll be another hour and a half tour afterward. Please sign up with Miss Rachel Woods or in the WhatsApp group. If you have any questions please ask her. And then November 9th is the rescheduled men's leadership class. That'll be November 9th at 7 p.m. That's on a Wednesday. So hopefully that's doable for everybody. And then November 20th I'll be preaching in Spokane. November 22nd we're going to move our midweek service to Tuesday and have a high social after the service there. And then November excuse me December 25th is Christmas Day. There'll be an altered schedule of 10 a.m. for the morning service and 1 p.m. for the afternoon service. I'm trying to make it easy on people that are trying to spend time with family that day or whatever also. And we do have Miss Annie is going to be taking pictures and that schedule family photos or single photos. You can get this pose going on right here like CJ's old school single photo. But yeah I mean if you're you can just mail that that could be your Christmas present. Everybody wants a picture of their children or whatever or family members so especially those cool ones. We got to get the laser background one of these years. You know what I'm talking about like the old 80s or 90s. Anyway school picture and backgrounds. Anyway so but I didn't put that in the bulletin but it is starting this Thursday. I think the schedule is starting to fill up. We put the schedule in the WhatsApp group so you're able to sign up for those times and that goes from this Thursday this next coming Thursday and it'll extend to November 27th and then it's too late for you. It's too late for some so but anyway we'll have the backdrop set up and so just make sure you're on time for those pictures because it is a tight schedule so and I realize if you have a big family that it's hard to get everybody organized and all the clothes looking the same and all that stuff but just keep in mind that people are waiting for you and it's usually before service between services or after a service so that's pretty much the only times we can do it so and then let's see what else is going on that's I know we're going to have the start doing the children's choir for Christmas I'm not sure exactly when we're going to start practicing for that but then we're also going to have a cookie exchange and I'm not sure for the date for that. They're supposed to be in the bulletin. No I'm just kidding they are but we don't know what days those are. I forgot which one what date Miss Julene put in. Do you remember the oh it's the 10th okay. Isn't it your husband Ryland? Doesn't he do the bulletin? Okay I just want to make sure. I'm just kidding I have to beat him up every once in a while so like every service but anyway we're a family integrated church that means the children and infants are welcome during the church services. Please utilize the mother baby rooms if your child is screaming please take them out and take them to the mother baby room or the dad baby room if it's so loud that it's distracting other people even in the mother baby room or dad baby room please just take them outside for a little bit and then when they calm down bring them back in and the rockers or gliders are for pregnant nursing mothers and elders only please make sure you're reserving the back rows for families with young children and no unattended children in any area of the building at any time and please no food in the assembly area that will not necessarily go for today but if you are going to eat out here please just make sure that you keep it as clean as possible so and then please silence your cell phones if you would. Escorts to the vehicles your vehicles are available by the ushers and they're the guys with the pens and the radios and all that stuff and they'd be happy to walk you to your car especially now that it's starting to get darker sooner so the giving you can give at the local church or you can do online donations or text giving that information is in the bulletin and then the ties and offerings so far for the month of October is written down there below and let's see we have a couple birthdays that we're going to sing for and one of them is Nia my daughter and so she's going to play her own song but her birthday is the first she was like 15 minutes away from being a Halloween baby so I mean that's why she's saved because she was born on All Saints Day instead of October 31st so she would have been the devil's child and I'm just teasing but Liberty Liberty Harrington's birthday is on the 5th that's this week also and that is Guy Fawkes Day so I'm sure Roshan planned that he's like just hold out for one more day it's Guy Fawkes Day so anyway let's sing Happy Birthday Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday God bless you Happy Birthday to you to me and I also wanted to make sure to mention that the Conlin family welcomed Julia Elizabeth Conlin into the world and basically she did all the work so Miss Chantel's recovering still right and the baby's very beautiful she's a very beautiful girl and she was she weighed 10 pounds and 4 ounces she is the heavyweight champion of the world so far in our church for kids born I think I think she's the biggest baby but she doesn't really look like she's 10 pounds in that picture you guys did you zoom out a little bit or oh he was how big was Elias oh wow big babies alright and 20 and a half inches long so congratulations to the Conlin family make sure that you wish them well and congratulate them on the birth of their daughter so that's all I have for announcements let's sing another song and then we'll receive the offering alright for our next song we'll be doing a psalm Psalms 117 you guys got those folders me and my wife and my mother-in-law spent last night putting those together so you don't have to turn in your Bible so if you have an IV you're safe for now Psalms 117 and your little psalm folders you got there psalm 117 let's sing it out together praise him all ye people for his merciful kindness is great toward us and the truth of the Lord on earth forever praise ye the Lord praise ye the Lord praise the Lord all ye nations praise him all ye people for his merciful kindness is great toward us and the truth of the Lord on earth forever praise ye the Lord praise ye the Lord and our next song will be song number 12 in your blue hymn book Heavenly Sunlight now that you're depressed we're gonna lift your spirits back up with a happy song song number 12 in your blue hymn book Heavenly Sunlight let's sing it out together on the first walking in sunlight all of my journey over the mountains through the deep veil Jesus has said I'll never forsake thee promise divine that never can fail heavenly sunlight heavenly sunlight flooding my soul with glory divine hallelujah I am rejoicing singing his praises Jesus is mine shadows around me shadows above me never concealed by savior and God he is the light in him is no darkness ever I'm walking close to his side heavenly sunlight heavenly sunlight flooding my soul with glory divine hallelujah I am rejoicing singing his praises Jesus is mine in the bright sunlight ever rejoicing pressing my way to mansions above singing his praises gladly I'm walking walking in sunlight sunlight above heavenly sunlight heavenly sunlight flooding my soul with glory divine hallelujah I am rejoicing singing his praises Jesus is mine Amen Steve, could you bless the offering for us? Thank you. you you you Alright, go ahead and open your Bibles to Psalm 26 Psalm 26 if you do not have a Bible raise your hand and one of the ushers will bring you one Psalm 26 Psalm 26 Psalm 26 Psalm 26 the Bible reads judge me O Lord for I have walked in mine integrity I have trusted also in the Lord therefore I shall not slide examine me O Lord and prove me try my reigns and my heart for thy loving kindness is before mine eyes and I have walked in thy truth I have not sat with vain persons and neither will I go in I have hated the congregation of evildoers and will not sit with the wicked I will wash mine hands in innocency so will I compass thine altar O Lord that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all thy wondrous works Lord I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honor dwelleth gather not my soul with sinners nor my life with bloody men in whose hands is mischief and the right hand is full of bribes but as for me I will walk in mine integrity redeem me and be merciful unto me my foot standeth in an even place in the congregations while I bless the Lord Brother Drew will you pray for us? Amen. Amen. Well I forgot to mention in my announcements that we just got back from Canada last night we just did like a two day trip so it was pretty rushed but we had a great time with the brethren up there I think we had like thirty people in the services or whatever had some sick people but it was really great to go up there and just hang out and see everybody and preach and Pastor Brzezinski was there and he preached a really good sermon so if you have a chance to smash the subscribe button for Sure Foundation Baptist North it's just S-F-B-C-N if you just type it into your YouTube and then you can find them whenever they're preaching or having a service there but Pastor Brzezinski preached a really good sermon about disguises so it was kind of a unique view on like Halloween and stuff like that so it wasn't exactly about Halloween but he did bring some of that up but it was a really good sermon we had a great time and there are great hosts up there so we really appreciate our leadership up there appreciate all of our church members up there a couple years ago I did some Bible studies where I went through Psalm chapter 1 and then went up through chapter 25 so obviously I wanted to have a break in my Psalm teachings but what I've decided to do is every month that there's a fifth month in there I'm going to preach a sermon and go in order so it might take me a while to get back maybe someday I'll just go back to it I'm sure I will but 150 weeks in a row and especially if you have to break up Psalm 119 it's a little tough but I'm going to be preaching from Psalm 26 today and the title of my sermon is I will walk in my integrity I will walk in my integrity let's have a word of prayer thank you Lord so much for all these people who come to church on a Sunday morning I pray that you bless them for that pray that you bless the food that we're going to fellowship with this afternoon and our time together our soul winning time thank you Lord so much for all the people that were saved this last week and we thank you for the blessings in our lives and I pray that you fill me with your word in Jesus name I pray amen so I basically have like seven statements or seven points but the points aren't long hopefully unless I go up on some kind of a tangent but I'm going to try to get us done at a reasonable hour here what time is it it's exactly 11 o'clock okay so point number one this morning is we need to be able to walk in our integrity walk in our integrity look at verse 1 it says a Psalm of David judge me O Lord for I have walked in mine integrity I have trusted also in the Lord therefore I shall not slide so you know when he's talking about sliding you know I guess I would just figure like backsliding and and that that type of situation because David also talks a lot about walking in the paths that God's provided for him and when you're out in the mountains it's nice to have trails that are marked right so that you can just not get lost and you know you don't want to go on trails that are real rugged and you don't know the area very well so it's kind of that picture of the trail to walk through is like kind of like going through the old paths and making sure that you're walking on a path that's not going to get you lost so when you stray off the path you're kind of lost aren't you and there's a lot of people in the mountains around the surrounding areas that we live in and they people get lost a lot and so we don't want to get lost so obviously we need to stick with the things of the Lord but it says I have walked in my integrity and integrity is something that we as Christians should have and what is so what is the meaning of integrity well integrity means being honest and having strong moral principles so you know someone without integrity would preach that they have strong moral principles but then they don't have they don't have them behind closed doors or you know they say that they believe something and then they really don't practice what they believe so and so a person with integrity behaves ethically and does the right thing even behind closed doors when nobody is looking and so that is integrity you know integrity isn't just you know pretending to be holy but it is actually something that is ingrained in your life and something that you actually practice so David said I have walked in my integrity judge me oh Lord and you know sometimes it is good to have God judge us and you know the Bible says that he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth so obviously we are always doing something wrong because every son whom he receiveth that means every person that has ever been saved and ever will be saved is going to get spanked by God they are going to get scourged by God at some point in their life but you know the more we walk in our integrity the more we try to live a sanctified and holy life the better off our life on earth is going to be because obviously we believe that if you are sinning in this life God is never going to throw you in hell he will never throw you in hell for any sin that you commit after being a Christian but he will punish you on this earth for the sins that we commit. Turn to Proverbs chapter 11 verse number 3 Proverbs 11 verse number 3 just to show you a few verses about integrity so again having integrity is basically doing and practicing the things that you believe even when nobody is looking it's a good way to sum it up. Proverbs 11 verse 3 says the integrity of the upright shall guide them but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them so Proverbs you know it likes to there's a lot of wisdom in the Proverbs and so it's teaching here and I just have 3 Proverbs I'm going to have you turn to but you know the integrity of the upright is going to guide you so whatever you believe and that you actually believe in your heart and you practice you're going to practice that even when no one is looking look at Proverbs 19 1 Proverbs 19 1 says better is the poor better is the poor that walketh in his integrity than he that is versed in his lips and is a fool so there you have the contrast between someone that actually walks in their integrity there's a difference between saying I have integrity and then actually doing it and walking in it and being guided by it so one more verse here Proverbs chapter 20 verse number 7 Proverbs chapter 20 verse number 7 the Bible says the just man walketh in his integrity so what is the just man a just man is somebody that's saved somebody that's justified we're not justified because of our doings or justified because of what Christ did for us he's imputed his righteousness upon us and so the Bible says the just man walketh in his integrity so the things that you actually believe are things that you walk in the things that you walk in or are guided by are the integrity the things that you actually believe because there's a lot of people that say they believe something but actually don't really believe it or they go along to get along or maybe in their life they're just not doing that but I would just say this if you're having issues with your integrity then you need to get that right with God and you know have him judge you and that's a scary thing to ask for in prayer you know because David's saying judge me oh Lord you know that's a scary thing because if you're really not walking rightly then and you ask God to judge you be careful you know maybe you want to get something right before you let him judge you right and maybe just ask for mercy because obviously nobody's perfect there's times when our integrity fails you know God's integrity is always there God always does the right thing but we don't always but you know basically you want to be somebody that's that's your way of life obviously if your integrity fails from time to time that doesn't mean you have no integrity it just means you failed that time but if you're someone that generally follows after the integrity the things that you hold right and true then it's going to be something that kind of sums you up kind of like the qualifications of a bishop you're not always going to make sure not every single thing to the T and some of those things are subjective obviously but you know you want to make sure that you're walking in your integrity the things that you believe you know because your children see it your family sees it your friends see it your co-workers see it you know are you walking in your integrity are you actually living what you say you believe and number two this morning so number one is walking in your integrity number two is let God examine you and examine yourself this is a key to not getting judged super harshly is that you let God examine you so you know you David said judge me oh Lord for I've walked in my integrity but in verse two he says examine me oh Lord and prove me try my reigns and my heart so that's something that we should ask God to do examine me is there something that's glaring that we don't see because a lot of times we deal in self-deception we think that we're better than we are we think we're more holy than we are we think that we're walking in our integrity more than other people you know but people see who you are like Pastor Pazarski was preaching about that that you can deceive yourself all you want but you know for sure what you do and if you don't then you know ask God to examine you but basically people walk around with disguises on all the time we always put on our Sunday best and I'm not saying not to do that but we put on our Sunday best we have our nicest talk you know but maybe you're not necessarily always doing that behind closed doors or when you're in your daily life so but we should constantly be self-examining ourselves we should constantly be saying hey what's wrong with me right now what can I get fixed because you don't want to walk around deceiving yourself like James 1-22 says you know let's turn over to James 1-22 real quickly it goes Hebrews, James James chapter 1 verse 22 says but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves see a lot of people you know like they're like hey that was a great sermon that really helped me but then they just walk off and just forget all about it because it says in verse 23 for if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer he is like a man beholding his natural face in a glass so you see yourself for what you are the word of God is you know when you're hearing the word of God of praise or when you're reading it in your Bible you're looking at yourself you see what you're doing but then it says in verse 24 for he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was so we don't want to just be hearers only we should be doers of the word not just hearers and that will help us but you know it's going to help us not be self deceptive you know and we don't want to deceive our own selves because nobody else is being fooled by what you're putting on so that's one of the things he preached yesterday I'm not going to preach this whole sermon but I just thought it was a really great point that we think that nobody sees how we're failing in our lives but we do other people do see it and you can try to cover it up or put a mask on you know you're going to the costume party you know you got all your new costume put on but everybody sees who you really are underneath that costume and you can't hide it forever so but the Bible says here in verse Psalm chapter 26 let's go back there examine me O Lord and prove me so and that is a hard saying though because when you're asking God to do something like that be ready to actually take what he gives you and get rid of that stuff just chop that stuff out of your life if it's at all possible for you you know and God can help you overcome sins that you're having a hard time with you know nobody here again is perfect we all have some sort of sin so but the purpose of having God examine you is so you can continuously get those things out of your life in John chapter 15 it talks about how God purges you so that you can bring forth more fruit what's he purging the things out of your life that are not necessary the things in your life that need to go away so he can use you better than he did before and that is called sanctification you'll be going through a sanctification and pruning process for your whole life as long as you are desiring that as long as you're actually trying to do that God will help you get the things out of your life that you need to get out and he'll help you to become a more complete Christian because it is possible to be the complete package otherwise God wouldn't tell us to be perfect you know and I'm not saying perfect as in we walk on water I'm saying perfect as in complete so so obviously it is possible to become the complete package Job was the complete package obviously Job was probably the greatest man you know one of the greatest men that ever walked the face of the earth not the greatest John the Baptist was the greatest Jesus was better than him but what I'm saying as just a regular man Job was one of the greatest men that ever lived and went through all these trials and went through all this purging and we you know we can attain to be God says be perfect you know be holy for I am holy so holy is sanctified so if God set apart and God is holy and God is sanctified then that means that we can be it too because otherwise God wouldn't ask us to do that he wouldn't say hey do something that there's no way you can ever do so obviously there is a way to attain those things and it starts by allowing God to judge you allowing God to examine you and your life and the things that you're doing and he says prove me try my reigns in my heart you know and so you have to get your heart right by allowing God to examine you but you should also examine yourself so you know sometimes we you know you want God to examine you but it's a scary situation isn't it because if he really gets down to the details the Bible says for the word of God is quick quick powerful sharper than any two edged sword piercing even through the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart so when you're reading God's word when God's word is being preached to you it's going to start chopping stuff and you might not like that chopping effect but again that's part of the purging process what do you purge plants and trees and stuff with a sharp object right so you know if you want God to examine you the first thing to do is to get into his word but then take God's word and examine yourself with it too because you know we always should be in a point where we self diagnose what are we doing right now because we tend to go backwards and get worse but if you apply the scriptures to your life if you apply God's word to your life that is going to help you examine yourself look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 28 1 Corinthians 11 verse 28 so allow God to examine you allow God to prove you allow God to try your reins in your heart but the Bible does teach for us to examine ourselves look what it says in 1 Corinthians 11, 28 it says but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup every year we do the Lord's supper and I personally believe that we are supposed to examine how we're living our life if you're in really gross sin a sin that would get you kicked out of church I always tell people don't partake if you've never been baptized before don't partake why does God say here to why does the apostle Paul through the Holy Spirit tell us to examine ourselves because we don't want to get punished for partaking in something that we shouldn't be partaking in because we're not right with God for whatever reason and obviously I've preached about that before I'm going to preach about it again this year like I do every year but we should examine ourself so that we don't get punished right that's the point that's what he's saying to examine yourself for look at 2 Corinthians chapter 13 2 Corinthians chapter 13 2 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 5 says examine yourselves whether you be in the faith prove your own selves know you're not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except to be reprobates so you know he's talking to this Corinthian church and there's some people that are calling him into question they're going against him saying he's not a real apostle and they're really just kind of giving Paul the business but yet he still loves this church he still loves the people there but he's saying examine yourself whether to be in the faith and so obviously the Bible does teach the concept of examining yourself now if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and trust him only for your salvation and believe that he's going to eternally save you then you are saved so that's you know people like have doubts about their salvation sometimes and think that they're reprobates well if you believe the truth and you know that you're saved you've called upon the name of the Lord then that's an examination you can make so there were some people that were calling Pastor Bruce Mejia a false prophet that were in our church and they were saying that that he you know that basically he was teaching that if you ever doubt your salvation that you're not really saved and you know the Bible actually doesn't teach that at all but they were taking stuff he said but then also he made a video just to make sure that people understood what he meant by that when someone doubts their salvation and you show them in the scriptures all the verses you cover all those things with them and they still say well I still don't know if I'm saved or not that means that they don't believe the word of God they're not trusting in what God said they're not trusting in the truth and so then yeah they probably aren't saved but the Bible does teach us to examine ourselves in those ways so there's nothing wrong with examining yourself and obviously you know it's usually the time you would doubt your salvation is when you've committed some big sin you're like how could I do that if I'm actually saved but there's a lot of sins that people could commit and still be saved so you need to trust in what the Bible says the promises of God's word and you know I just want to show you an example a couple examples of how we should examine ourselves examine yourself whether you're right with God examine yourself in your life how am I doing as a dad how am I doing as a mom how am I doing as a son or a daughter how am I doing as a worker these are all things that we can examine ourself on and say hey am I cutting the mustard here am I like up to par am I doing what's right am I doing the best that I possibly can be or is there some blind spots that you know that God's word points out to me that I can get fixed because if you have blind spots then fix those things and then you know it's just on to the next challenge you're like well why is the Christian life so challenging it just is we live in a sinful and fallen world and we're fallen people that are actually saved we have two natures within side of us you know we have the flesh and the things of the flesh that want to do wicked and we have the things of the spirit the new man that wants to do right and they're constantly doing this they're constantly doing this and whatever whichever one you feed the most is going to be the more powerful one so examine yourself and then God will and then ask God to examine you and you know your life is going to be better off for that number three walk in his truth not yours this is an important point walk in his truth and not in yours let's turn back to our text Psalm chapter 26 verse 3 walk in his truth not yours look what it says for thy loving kindness is before mine eyes and I have walked in thy truth see notice how he said thy truth not my truth see a lot of people a lot of Christians think that it's like buffet Christianity where you can just pick whatever parts out that you like and then you just leave the other stuff that you don't like or you can just eat all the goodies on the plate but you never eat the vegetables or things that are good for you that have vitamins for you and things like that so a lot of people like to pick and choose what they say they believe in the Bible or what they're going to follow in the Bible because a lot of times pastors will get up and preach or preachers will get up and preach and people know they hear it they know that that applies to them and yet they still continue to say well I'm just not going to show up for church I don't care what he says I don't believe the Bible says that you should be there three times a week well a three fold cord is not quickly broken my friends and if you're coming to church three times a week it's going to help you and strengthen you and you know if you have one one you know thread basically you have that one time that you've come you know that's good but you know two times is even better but three times is even better than that and then you also have all your brethren here to help you and encourage you and things like that and obviously I know there's people that live out of town or live far away and couldn't make it for a third service or whatever like that but you know we should try our best to walk in God's truth and not just say you know it doesn't matter what what the Bible says in this point because I'm just going to choose to believe something else we shouldn't be like that we should walk in his truth when we read the word of God that's his truth our truth is often sometimes skewed or our interpretation of a verse is skewed because we don't want to accept it we don't want to accept certain things in the Bible because of our situation you know it's just like a lot of people try to use like 1st Corinthians chapter 7 to say well you know if someone wants to get remarried you know because the the unbelieving spouse leaves then that just frees you to be able to get remarried that's not what it's teaching it says they're not in bondage in such cases but the bondage it's talking about is in the context of the first parts of that chapter where it's talking about how you have to render unto the wife due benevolence that means you're taking benevolence is taking care of someone isn't it so a husband is supposed to take care of their wives you know that's due benevolence when you make a vow tell death do us part there's certain things that the husband says I vow to do these things and there's certain things that the wife vows to do and one of those things is tell death do us part not tell you get sick of them or they left the toilet seat up too many times or you know rolled the toothpaste up wrong or didn't make you dinner the house wasn't perfectly clean that's not what it says so we're supposed to be with our spouse tell death do us part obviously there's people that are outside of that and have chosen to get remarried or whatever but don't use the Bible to prop up your false belief because in Matthew chapter 5 Jesus says if you marry someone that's committed if you marry someone that's been divorced you're committing adultery already you're committing adultery with them not already but you're committing adultery with them and it says in Matthew chapter 19 it says the same thing so what Jesus is just wrong and you're right well I go with what Paul says Paul agrees with Jesus you know we're not this isn't a Ruckman church this isn't a Ruckmanite church where every single chapter is divided and supposedly for somebody else and different times and we're saved in different ways or whatever so we've got to walk in his truth and whatever he says goes don't try to twist things to your own benefit because you don't want to believe what the Bible says turn to John chapter 17 verse 17 John chapter 17 verse 17 what is God's truth? what is the truth we're supposed to walk in? well Jesus explains it for us really simply here in John 17 verse 17 he says sanctify them that means set apart, sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth so what is the truth that David's talking about? I have walked in thy truth Jesus said sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth not sanctify them through your own truth but through God's truth thy word is truth so the Bible is true your opinion is not your interpretation is not, it's not a private interpretation, it's an interpretation of what the Bible says and if you're saved you can read the Bible and figure it out for yourself because the Holy Spirit is going to guide you and help you and guide you into all what? Truth so we don't walk after our own truth, we walk after God's truth so, you know, don't live a life of self-deception don't live a life without integrity you know, walk in God's truth and what it says, that's what you should believe and if it hair-lips your predisposition for anything, then you've got to just say, you know what, I know that I used to believe this or that people outside or other Christian churches say this but what does the Bible actually say? and that should be what you believe, no matter whether it bothers you or not, no matter whether it upsets you or not because people will say, well you guys are just a hate, you're a hate church, you're a hate group and all this other stuff is like you're calling God a hate preacher and sometimes He is, sometimes the Bible says the Bible says there's a time to love and a time to hate but you know, it's funny how people that say that there's, God never hates anybody we're never supposed to hate anybody isn't it funny how you know, they, that's another thing of self-deception that they do they're saying something that you could throw that verse and say that verse and they'll say, well that's not what it really means that's not what it really means and that's what I'm talking about is that people will walk in their truth and not God's truth because the word hate is in the Bible quite a few times and look, we love people, we go every week, we want people to be saved our main goal at this church is to get people saved, not to make people hate us people are going to hate us because we preach the truth people are going to hate us because we believe the truth but that shouldn't change how we perceive things so, number four this morning is steer clear of vain people and dissemblers steer clear of vain people and dissemblers look back in our text at verse number four, it says I have not sat with vain persons neither will I go in with dissemblers and these aren't really things that we say in our normal vernacular you don't normally say, you dissembler not that it's not a good word, it's the Bible, right? but we should sometimes try to figure out, because a lot of times we'll gloss over things when we're reading, like lists of different sins and maybe we kind of have a picture of what they are, but sometimes it's good to learn the definition of words there's nothing wrong with being smart there's nothing wrong with learning right and true words and so that term vain persons, well, vain just means it has no purpose, it's empty it's useless and a person that's a vain person would be someone that's excessively proud or concerned about one's own appearance qualities or achievements now, this is the plight of the human race you know, I mean we were in Vancouver, B.C. and we went up to this lookout point where you could see the whole city and all the bridges and like the park and I don't know if anybody else that was with us noticed this but it was me, my wife, Pastor Bierczynski and his wife, brother Nguyen and his wife, and brother Jim Weeb and we're all up there, we're just looking at this and obviously, you know, we took some pictures of couples and you know we tried to get Jim to do like this this picture, but he wouldn't do it but I noticed that there's a lot of people all dolled up and taking pictures of themselves or people were taking pictures of them by themselves where they're trying to look you know, provocative or just like, you know, I don't know people just, that is vanity it's one thing to take a picture with your wife because you love her and you want to remember the moment but it's another thing to just be constantly doing this for the camera, the duck lips look or the fish scape that one why do people do that? you know, they're just people that they're just vain in their own deceit they're vain persons and they're excessively concerned about their appearance they look at themselves in the mirror any chance they get, they're like, hey what's up you know, it's just it's just a strange phenomenon but David said I have not sat with vain persons that's not just necessarily someone that's concerned about their appearance they're also concerned about their qualities and how people view them and their own human achievement Pastor Jones preaches about the human achievement a lot but isn't that what most people live for? look at me and what I have done look at my, you know, posterity look at my appearance, look at my quality and they always want to look perfect and all these different things but that's a vain way to live your life and people that like, you know, these sports stars like, when I played football our coaches would scream at us if we spiked the football or if we did some kind of stupid touchdown dance we'd be doing push-ups and up-downs and bear crawls until we puked our coaches were like had the whistle the polo shirt the shorts they're tucked in and tennis shoes I mean they were like serious guys they went to Linfield College and they were good coaches but you know what they didn't like us doing? they didn't like us celebrating ourselves and how great we are you know, it's about the team when you play a team sport it's not about you, it's about the team you know, maybe in college sports professional sports you know, someone does something really great a great move or whatever and then they do some kind of stupid dance or they all like celebrate in the end zone and, you know, pretend to shoot them all and they all fall down and all this stupid stuff I mean it's kind of funny sometimes but really it's just it is vain or you'll see like a defensive guy hit somebody and make a big hit or it could just be they just tackled somebody and then every time they're like yeah, woohoo you know, they're like, dude, you just tackled somebody I mean, like, that happens on every play you're not that great, okay so, but people we don't want to be around people that are like this because that kind of stuff rubs off on you you are who you hang around with you know, you kids, you're like, why can't I hang out with so and so? Because you don't want your children to learn the things that those other children are learning so that's why it is important who your kids hang around with and it's important who you hang around with so if you're hanging around vain people you're going to become vain yourself because you can only look at someone taking selfies for so long before you join in the selfies you know, I mean God forbid that should happen you know, if you have a selfie stick I'm not like judging you, but like if you have a selfie stick and you have like a thousand pictures of yourself on Facebook just different poses you know, all that stuff it's weird it is weird it's a problem, it's a character defect it's a personality defect and if you're just so proud of all your achievements you know, what about God's achievements? God's the one that actually achieves stuff we just got made we just got born into this world and we didn't ask to be born in this world it just happened, right? so we need to steer clear of vain people because we don't want our life to be vanity we don't want our thoughts and everything that we pursue something that's vain you know, the main theme of Ecclesiastes is talking about everything is vanity you know, vanity of vanity, say it the preacher you know, and he just goes on and talks about this is also vanity, you know and Solomon had it all right? he was probably a good looking guy, he was the king of Israel he had more wisdom than anybody on the planet, people came from far and wide to hear him speak to hear him talk about the peacocks and the apes and you know, whatever kind of flowers or whatever, he was just a really wise man, but then he became vain, didn't he? he started to, you know, just pick all these different strange wives and then what happened at the end of his life is that he ended up dying not right with God because what do you think that the princesses were like that he was marrying? probably vain, probably vain in their appearance and he just, you know in Ecclesiastes, Solomon talks about how he just pursued after knowledge, pursued after all pleasures and enjoyment and entertainment and all these things and in the end he's just like, I'm really sorry that I even did that this is vexation it's vanity it's meaningless, it's nothingness, it's useless turn to Proverbs chapter 30 verse number 8 Proverbs chapter 30 verse number 8 the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 30 verse number 8 it says, remove far from me vanity and lies give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny thee and say, who is the Lord? or lest I be poor and steal and take the name of the Lord God in vain so what's he saying in this proverb he's saying, hey, just let me have as much as I need let me just have the things that are useful to me and convenient for me remove vanity from me because isn't that vanity to just like have too much riches and then, you know, the poor sometimes can be just as bad as the rich you know, with their entitlement programs, you know, we live in an entitlement society, folks big time, I mean the government just basically wants us to be on their teeth from the time we're born to the time we die they want us to you know, they got this college what is it, the forgiveness of your student loans thing that Joe Biden just proclaimed laws because he thinks he's the emperor or something but in reality it's probably just his MK Ultra training that he's, you know, saying all this stuff or whatever, but it's just ridiculous I had to pay student loans off and it took me years to do it and now all of a sudden these people are going to college and racking up $200,000 or how, I mean some colleges are $200,000 a year probably more than that, I mean, I don't really know because I'm kind of out of the loop of that, but there's people that go to college for underwater basket weaving or whatever and it's some useless thing and they just use, you know, the government's money to basically play beer pong and play the whore outside of their father's house or play the whore monger outside of their parent's house and basically just wasted their lives on something and now they're just professional protesters professional you know, scroungers just, you know, give us everything for free because well, because we were born into this world and we didn't ask to be you know, it's just people are just weird but you know, the Bible says that we shouldn't be around these vain type of people and it also says dissemblers, turn to James chapter 4 verse 4 I'm just going to read that verse again in our text, it says I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers what is a dissembler? actually go to 2 Peter chapter 2 I'm sorry, 2 Peter chapter 2 what is a dissembler? well, a dissembler hides under false appearance a dissembler is to put on the appearance of and to simulate something to put on a false appearance to conceal facts and intentions or feelings under some pretense and there's a lot of people that we have seen that are like this right, that they're dissemblers and David said I'm not going to go with those people when I find out someone's a dissembler some kind of a phony, some kind of a false brethren, crept in unaware some kind of false prophet, I'm not going to go with that person, so he says I have not sat with vain persons neither will I go in with dissemblers 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 1 you know, the Bible warns us multiple times that people will creep into churches, people will rise up in congregations teaching false doctrine, teaching lies and heresy, and damnable heresy, look at 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 1, you're like why are you always trying to make it about the false prophets, what did I say the dissemblers meant? it means someone that hides under a false pretense someone that hides under a false appearance, someone who simulates, what does simulate? well it means that you're copying something and pretending that it's something that's you know, you're just simulating something that somebody else has done you're pretending, it's like the hypocrite in reality they don't really believe those things, in reality you know, they are pretending so it says but there are false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you so Peter's saying here that there are false prophets, there were false prophets in the Old Testament, and what were they? among the people, what was Korah? he was one of the people, he was famous in the congregation, Korah, Dathan, Abiram they were in the congregation and then they waited for their chance to what? try to you know, they pulled, there were dissemblers that tried to pull and overthrow Moses and the leadership, and by doing that they were just saying, well we're holy too the whole congregation is holy and so like basically they were just saying, we need to have a voting system, and you know we're not going to just accept who you think should be lighting the incense Moses we're not just going to accept who you think all the holy people are, but God said everybody was supposed to be holy but just because God says for people to be holy doesn't mean that everybody is there's people that creep in, and they want to cause problems, and Peter is saying that here, he's saying there was false prophets among the people and there shall be false teachers among you so we shouldn't be surprised by this happening, ever when it happens, we should just be like well, there's another one, who's the next one? you know it shouldn't be like, you're wrong, you're wrong for kicking them out, you're wrong for preaching against them they're the people of the Lord you know, just like the people, you know when Koradath and Abiram and all that pertained unto them dropped down into hell what did the people say the next day? you've killed the people of the Lord well number one, Moses didn't kill anybody, God killed them and number two, God opened up hell, right? and dropped them in, and they died and went to hell they didn't go to heaven so how are they the people of the Lord? so we've got to get on the right side of things immediately when something is going on and some person just reveals themselves to be a wicked person our first our first thing should be I want to be on the right side of something I want to be on the right side of things and if you already know these things are going to happen, then it should never surprise you, but it always does, doesn't it? it always surprises some people but we shouldn't be surprised so it says there will be false teachers among you, who privately that means privately, secretly shall bring in damnable heresies, there's a difference between someone preaching heresy and someone preaching a damnable heresy heresy is the pre-trib rapture, you know it's wrong, it's stupid there's no verses that back it up and right is the post-trib pre-wrath position because Jesus said he's coming back after the tribulation he didn't stutter, and that when the disciples said what's the sign of thy coming they didn't say the third one they said what's the sign of thy coming the next time he's coming let's follow the context you pre-tribbers but that is an example of a heresy but it doesn't make them not saved because they teach that but damnable heresy is when you say the Trinity's not true the Father, the Son, the Holy, you know like the Jehovah's Witnesses will say the Holy Spirit is a force it's like their Star Wars doctrine or something you know, use the force Luke and they also don't believe that Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh, they believe he's Michael the Archangel, so what have they done with the Trinity they deny the Trinity don't they they deny the Trinity, that is a damnable heresy, that means if you believe that and you teach that, you're not saved and if you're going door to door with that stupid message then you're a false prophet you know what there will be no mercy for them on judgment day anybody that they turn aside from being able to be saved because of that stupid doctrine they're going to roast further in hell and deeper in hell for the things that they bring forth so it says who shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction and you know, when people do these types of things, I do pray that God swiftly destroys them now our view of swiftly might not be the same as somebody else's view of swiftly because you know, God does things in his own time you know, a thousand years is like a day to him and a day is a thousand years to us I mean, a day is a thousand years so you know, we we just don't judge and measure time the same way God does when it says swiftly, do it right now God but God's going to do it when he feels like doing it when it's right for him to do it but it says in verse 2 and many shall follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of so these types of people they'll develop followers you know, there's a lot of people that meet in Joel Osteen's church many have followed his pernicious ways and by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of so they're like, he's just a money grubber, all he cares about is money he would let the people from the hurricane stay inside the church building and obviously you know, I understand that to a certain extent but if people are like dying because of a hurricane I mean, that probably would be the time to allow people to come in and help them like sorry, you should have been you should have been at church last Sunday I would have let you in, you know but you know, these people will get people to follow them these false prophets, I mean because if you just look online you'll see like the churches that are that we kind of associate with you know, you'll see like you know, 25, 35 people watching a live stream or something and then you'll look at like T.D. Jakes and there's like millions of people watching at the same time or whatever and it says many of them will follow shall follow their pernicious ways, many of them and so these people their purpose is like to be giant trash collectors and to just gather people to themselves so that they won't get saved because they're not preaching what's right and true, they're preaching damnable heresies, something that you know, will lead them to the lake of fire look at verse 3 it says fake, that's a dissembler, a fake person, fake words feigned means fake so if someone feigns being your friend they're pretending to be your friend but they really are not your friend, it says with feigned words make merchandise of you whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not and their damnation slumbereth not, you know these false prophets are going to hell so you know, you're like well you should pray for them pray for someone that's going to hell they're done God's done with them, they're twice dead, plucked up by the roots they're dead men walking or dead women walking, if they're preaching lies and damnable heresy, there's no hope for that person no hope Job said there's no hope for the hypocrite and a true hypocrite is someone that's pretending to be saved but really they believe something different that is a true hypocrite, we all have capabilities of being hypocrites at times but you know one thing that's funny to say is like when people say well I'm not going to come to church it's full of hypocrites, well so is Walmart so is the bank, so is all these different places that you probably eat, the Golden Corral is probably filled with hypocrites too, but you still go there don't you? you can kick that crutch out from underneath people pretty easily, but there's something different about church because people don't want to go where people are pretending to be something that they're really not and a lot of these churches out there they believe damnable heresy or they don't teach the truth and so they truly are hypocrites they're playing the part of a Christian they think that they're they act like they're saved they pretend like they're saved, but in reality they're not because if you don't believe the truth you're not saved, if you don't believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that he died for all your sins and that you have everlasting life you're not saved, period turn to Matthew chapter 23 verse 14, Matthew chapter 23 verse 14 Matthew chapter 23 verse 14 you know when Jesus is calling the Pharisees hypocrites what is he saying to them? let's take a look at just a couple verses, I mean the whole chapter is probably the hardest sermon in the whole Bible but he's really going after pretenders fakers spurious feigned pretentious people that are dissemblers so David said I'm not going to go and hang out and follow after dissemblers Jesus didn't hang out with them either they hung out with him, they tried to come to him all the time, they showed up at his meetings they showed up at his church services they tried to get him to stumble and fumble on all these different things tried to get him to get himself killed tried to get him for the Roman government to kill him and then tried to kill him themselves, they sent people after him and they're like never a man speak like this man, they're like they sent their temple troops after him and they were just like when he spoke they realized that he was not somebody they should be trifling with and messing around with, look at Matthew chapter 23 verse 14 it says woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you devour widows houses and for a pretense that means they're pretending right make long prayer I was kind of talking about this yesterday how annoying it is at churches I've been before when the pastor calls upon someone to pray and they pray like this super long prayer and usually it's after 20 stanzas of just as I am and 23 altar calls come on there's still room for you come on up here and show your fannies everybody and let's cry and get all emotional and stuff you know and that's how preachers judge their preaching of how many people came up to the altar and like even in independent Baptist churches you see this there's like there'll be pictures on Facebook of some Baptist church that I might like their page or whatever and you see all these people like with their hands upon other people and they're all at the altar and they're crying and weeping it's just like you know God said in Malachi don't weep at my altar it makes me angry so but Jesus said what that if they like make that long prayer therefore you shall receive the greater damnation and that's just pretending to pray he's just describing how these hypocrites are they're pretending to pray what about the Pharisee and the publican you know they're both in the temple and the Pharisee says I thank thee Lord that I'm not like this man this publican over here and you know I give all ties of all and I you know he's just talking about how holy and righteous he is but it says that he prayed within himself he's not even praying to God he's praying within himself what a weird thing for someone to do but you know why he did that probably so that people would look at him and go look how holy he is look at his wizard outfit oh how holy you are and that makes God really angry and Jesus Christ is just giving him the business for it look at verse 15 woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte and when he is made you make him twofold more the child of hell than you are yourselves what is Jesus saying hypocrites this type of hypocrite here the hypocrite that pretends to be saved the hypocrite that loves to make these long prayers the hypocrite that just wants to everybody see his wizard outfit so they can say look at him he must be holy they walk around in public you know and people do this in all these different religions you know the Buddhist monk walks around with an orange napkin on them or something you know what I'm talking about why is it orange were they the great pumpkin or something or the Jews they have the long tassel you know the big long curly locks and the big hats and they like to do this in front of people and shake their head at the wailing wall they wear weird outfits too and they like wrap things around their arms I forgot what the verses of the Torah yeah the verses of the Torah they you know they have like a it looks like a flashlight a medieval flashlight or something but it's actually just they say wear fontlets between your eyes and it's like this big I think it's the scriptures or something the Torah and they put it on their head they put the dixie cup on there they put you know they dress in all this weird stuff we were flying to the Philippines and at sunrise all these Jews get up that are flying over there dressed in their wizard outfits and all wrapping all the stuff around them and stuff and they're just like you know praying in front of everybody why they're pretending to be holy that's why because you know what they don't really believe in Jesus they're false brethren they're pretentious false brethren that are crept in and they want people to think they're holy and what's the Bible what did Jesus say you're twofold more the child of hell you want to make someone else twofold more the child of hell than you are yourselves so what is he saying they're going to hell how can you escape the damnation of hell so why not hang around people that believe false gospels and all these false ideas or stick with people that came into our church and they've revealed themselves to be false well because the Bible says not to follow after dissemblers that's why and why would you want to hang around someone that believes somehow rank heresy you wouldn't number five hate God's enemies from head to toe like this sermon is taking a dark turn well you know what the Bible look at what it says in verse five in our text you know people I mentioned this earlier people say well God would never hate anybody God never tells us to hate anybody what about verse number five it says I've hated the congregation of evil doers and will not sit with the wicked what is that talking about well there's a lot of different congregations out there isn't there congregation bet Yosef and all these other different places I've hated the congregation of evil doers if they're a false church if they're false prophets why would you go and hang around with them and people are like well Jesus he went you know he went to the bars and he you know hung out with the whores and everything well listen he ate with them because he was trying to reach them and preach the truth to them he's not just hanging out at the piano you know you know playing Jerry Lee Lewis or something okay he's not just you know hanging out and singing the piano man and all this other stuff and drinking beers with everybody because you know Jesus turned water into wine or whatever that's a twisted blasphemous way to look at God we shouldn't be hanging out with and I'm not saying hate sinners that can be saved this is obviously not what he's talking about because Jesus did hang around sinful people he was always being accused of you know he eats and sits with publicans and sinners but yeah there's a difference between someone that is just a run of the mill sinner and someone that is the congregation of evil doers the workers of iniquity the children of Belial and you know David hated them and you know what God hates them too sorry to burst your little you know unicorn church bubble your unicorn belief of you know that God Jesus Christ would never hate anybody he came to save sinners I know I know that's true but you know when he comes back is he going to be nice or is he going to be peaceful he's going to come his wrath is going to be poured out on all of mankind to take the mark of the beast and when he shows back up at the end he's going to kill every single person in that army he's not going to go let me preach the gospel to you I don't hate anybody no he's going to kill them all and throw them in hell and let me just say this to you also you know if you love somebody you don't throw them in hell so there comes a point when God stops loving people he did love the whole world he did give his son for that the world be saved but there's people that won't be saved there's people that it's past the point of no return for them and God will throw and has thrown many people into hell because there's many you know the broad is the way that leads under destruction and many there be that go in there at so not everybody's going to take the narrow way not everybody's going to take the straight gate a lot of people are going to hell and you're like how and people still say well how how dare you say that God hates people let me ask you this question if your children don't clean their room do you throw them in an oven if your children sass you do you throw them into the oven do you throw them into a fire no and you know why God throws those people in the fire because they are not his children and let me just burst this bubble for you too not everybody's God's children only the people that believe by faith according to John 1 12 are actually saved and sons of God and daughters of God not everybody is going to heaven there's most people are going to hell so when I say you know hate God's enemies from head to toe that means with everything you've got hate their false ways hate their false gospel hate their false doctrine hate their evil and wicked things that they do and look obviously again I'm not saying hate all sinners I'm saying hate people that hate God because that's what David's talking about here you know and obviously tomorrow is Halloween and so I got to kick this pony this dog while I'm walking past it but listen you know David is saying that he hates the congregation of evil doers so isn't it weird though how many Christians will still partake in a clearly satanic holiday something that the Roman Catholic Church took from pagans and just said oh this is All Saints Day now it's just like all their saints in their churches and the you know like the icons that are kissed and the pictures of saints that are kissed at these Orthodox churches and stuff all this stuff was dreamed up so they could just integrate pagans into their because the Catholic Church and the Orthodox they're already pagan they just took their gods and made them into saints Saint Christopher I was called brother Chris Saint Christopher when he walked in I'm sorry about that but he's like the isn't he like the saint of travel or something like that and he traveled from a long way so you know the but you know the thing is that Chris actually is a saint because when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you become a saint but yet they call Mother Teresa a saint and she was not saved she was wicked but everybody's like how dare you talk about Mother Teresa like that what do you mean she's roasting in hell right now what are you talking about she didn't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and actually there's a lot of scandal about how she ran that orphanage and the thing the wicked things that she did and she she didn't believe the truth she was in a pagan religion called the Roman Catholic Church but yet she's called a saint on this earth but you know what God's already called brother Chris Saint Christopher a saint in heaven and anybody else in this church that's saved you're already a saint it's not some kind of thing that you do by you know whipping yourself in the back with a leather whip and crawling through crushed glass and crucifying yourself on a cross you know Jesus was crucified already once for us we don't have to literally be crucified to be suffering with Jesus that's self suffering that's self mutilation is weird if you're going to suffer with Christ why don't you just suffer you know the reproach of what it is to be called a born again Christian but the Bible condemns let me just let you in on another little clue the Bible condemns witchcraft, wizards ghosts, evil spirits necromancy, divination magic, sorcery all that stuff is condemned under the biblical guidelines and you know what there's no such thing as a good witch the only good witch is a dead witch turn to Deuteronomy chapter 18 see the nations that the children of Israel left Egypt and God put them into a land and it was replacement he took the Jews and replaced the people in the land with them the ones that were actually believers and he said here's the reason why I kicked these people out and he mentions it multiple times in multiple books of Moses where the practices of the indigenous people is why God kicked them out he said go ahead and colonize these people because I've rejected them look at verse 9 when thou art common to the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations is that me? it is that's my alarm it's my alarm the call to prayer sorry I guess I need to reset that for sorry let me pray real quick I'm going to pray it's only going to be an 8 minute prayer you guys but anyway sorry on a more serious note back to the seriousness of this so he said not to learn to do after the abominations of those nations and there shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or daughter to pass through the fire or that use a divination or an observer of times or an enchanter or a witch or a charmer or a consultant with familiar spirits or a wizard or a necromancer so God is condemning these nations and saying I cast these people out of the land and I'm letting you have it because this is what they were doing and yet Christians will just go out with the heathen and congregate with the wicked on Halloween and just be like oh it's no big deal it's just fun and games what for you to worship the devil one night a year that's just fun and games you're like well we're not literally worshipping the devil well you're partaking with them aren't you it says for all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God for these nations which thou shall possess hearken unto observers of times and unto diviners but as for thee the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee to do so. So he's not allowed his children to partake in these types of things but yet Christians will go out dressed like witches Christians will dress like wizards and Harry Potter and all this other garbage and so I'm going to skip over Deuteronomy chapter 32 but let's turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 10 I gotta hurry up here 1st Corinthians chapter 10 verse 20 it says in 1st Corinthians 10 20 it says but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devils and not to God and I would not that you have fellowship with devils. What is fellowship? It's like a kindred spirit it's like you know when we fellowship together it's us as believers hanging out together and join one another's company talking about the Bible talking about whatever but we're fellowshipping together God does not want us to have fellowship with devils and he already I already read you in Deuteronomy chapter 18 that these people that do all these abominable acts are an abomination to God and he drove them out of the land for this purpose so why in the world would a Christian knowing these things still partake in the things that are evil and wicked you know and here's another thing to think about it scares children you know I'm sorry to bring this up but my granddaughter Emmy she's only three years old and she's seen the things that are in people's yards your children will probably see them too and they think that they're scary don't they Emmy goes spooky that's what she says spooky that's because for a whole month out of the year maybe even two months we're bombarded with all this Halloween garbage and nonsense and scary things you can't go into Home Depot or Lowe's or any place without all these spooky things and it's like you almost have to just put like you know blinders on your children for a couple months out of the year so they don't have to look at this stuff but you know what it's teaching it's teaching children to fear the wrong thing it's teaching children to fear the wrong thing well what do I mean by that well they shouldn't be afraid of those those things they should be afraid and have a fear for the Lord but if they're more afraid of some kind of spooky spider or something like that or you know and it gets way worse than that obviously but you know there's a culture of death that the Gentiles the unbelievers will put forth they think it's just normal but to us even going soul winning you can't even walk through neighborhoods without all this garbage up there we were in a neighborhood a couple weeks ago and they like had like severed heads hanging from trees and all kinds of stuff it's just like that's just weird why is that cool you know and it just scares children and Halloween is just a wicked holiday I hope you're not partaking with that with your children it's just an evil holiday and you know God doesn't want us to have fellowship with devils and what do they do they love death all that hate God says all that hate me love death and so we shouldn't love death because the people that hate God that's what they love so number six let's have a clear conscience before God verse number six back in our text says I will wash my hands in innocency excuse me so will I compass thine altar and obviously you know David isn't completely innocent all the time is he but when he's not what's he do see back then there was an altar back then he could go and you know go in front of a literal altar and so what's David saying I'm going to wash my hands and be innocent and how do you do that well you ask God you confess your faults you confess your sins to God and then he washes you clean also now I'm not talking about salvation I'm talking about you know being right with God and I'm not going to have you turn there but I'm just going to read one verse for you 1 John 1 says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness when we sin we should go to God and confess our sins we don't have to go to an altar there's no altar in the New Testament folks Jesus Christ is our high priest we pray to the Father through Jesus the Son and he hears our prayers and when we make things right with God through prayer you don't have to go to an altar and grab the horns and cry in front of people or whatever you just go to God and say I'm sorry God wash me make me clean number 7 develop a love for the house of the Lord develop a love for the house of the Lord look at verse 8 back in our text it says Lord I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honor dwelleth and that is that would be the house of the Lord you're in the house of the Lord tonight the pillar and ground of the truth this morning excuse me and you know we're in a place where we should be and we should he said I've loved the habitation of thy house and when people are in the house they're habitating right in God's house David said I loved it I love the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honor dwelleth you know what God should be honored in this congregation God should be honored in spirit and truth the things that we do for the Lord should be you know obviously worship worshiping him through song and prayer and obviously the true message of God's word being preached and thundered from the pulpit so it says gather not my soul with sinners nor my life with bloody men and whose hands is mischief and their right hand is full of bribes so the opposite of being in here you know if you're not here what are you doing who are you with what type of people are you hanging out with because I just again I can't understand why if you're a saved Christian why you're not in church why aren't you in church if you have a good church to go to especially people who live in this town and go to this church and they just don't show up for no reason I'm sure that you know that's not always the case but obviously people get sick things like that I'm not talking about that I'm talking about people who just forsake the house of God for no reason you should love the house of God you should love being in church you should love the habitation of the saints inside the church and when we sing we should sing with all of our heart to the Lord and when we pray when someone prays in this church we should be praying with them and saying amen and if you're a woman just say it in your heart you know but we should praise God and have a deep love for the house of God it says but as for as for me I will verse 11 I will walk in mine integrity redeem me and be merciful unto me my foot standeth in an even place in the congregation will I bless the Lord see a lot of times we forget that we bless we're supposed to bless the Lord so and obviously sometimes we think well God's we talk about how God blesses us and God's blessing on this and that and those things are great but when you're worshipping God we're supposed to be blessing God also so don't forget to bless God bless the Lord bless the Lord you know it's like well that just kind of seems weird it's why is it weird why wouldn't we bless someone that only that only is blessing that only is you know obviously you know he hates to but but love we should love the fact because we get daily benefits from God he hears our prayers he created the whole heaven and the earth and he's our father think about that we should when we're here we should give him honor we should love his house and he says it's the pillar and ground of the truth so why aren't you here when you can be why it's the pillar and ground of the truth you're going to get the truth here three times a week and you're going to get a chance to bless God and to worship him and all those other things so he said my foot standeth in an even place and you know have you ever heard that term even keel or stability even keel just means stability and consistency David said my feet are in an even place you know you should watch where you walk to a certain extent right but you ever step like there's places where you'll just like step and like all of a sudden it's like drops off and like it kind of hurts you sometimes right so David's just talking you know basically just if you take it like that you know we need to be in an even place where our feet are firmly on the ground or we're watching where we're walking and you know when you're watching where you walk you're not going to run too fast and burn yourself out but just make sure that your feet are in an even keel that your life is in an even keel and you know try to be perfect with the Lord your God because that's what he wants he wants us to just love him and enjoy him and ask things of him and bless him and worship him and sing to him and we do what he says you know that's what most fathers want right they want their children to obey them they want their children to love them him and all those other things so anyway that's Psalm chapter 26 let's pray Heavenly Father we thank the Lord so much for Psalm chapter 26 what a great Psalm it is I pray that you just bless the food as we receive it after the service and that you would just take all those people home that have a long travel home and all the people that attend our church from long distances Lord that you protect them as they go home and just all of our people Lord as they go home pray that you just bless the rest of this day in Jesus name Amen Amen let's turn in our blue hymnals to page number 94 sing our last song this morning and can it be that I should gain your blue hymn books and can it be that I should gain page 94 alright let's sing it out on the first and can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood died he for me who caused his pain for me who him to death pursued amazing love how can it be that thou my God should die for me amazing love how can it be that thou my God should die for me he left his Father's throne above so free so infinite in his grace emptied himself of all my love and bled for Adam's helpless race tis mercy all immense and free for oh my God it found out me amazing love how can it be that thou my God should die for me long my imprisoned spirit lay fast mountains and a nature sky thine eye diffused a quick being rage I woke the dungeon flame with light my chains fell off my heart was free I rose when forth amazing love how can it be that thou my God should die for me Amen. Thank you for attending our Sunday morning service. We'd love for you to stick around for the chili and come back here later this evening for the men's preaching night. Brother Sean Harrington, can you bless the food and end us with a prayer? Amen.