Beware the False Prophets and Take Seriously God's Wrath

0:00 I just love this church. I just love hearing testimonies. I just love hearing people that are just madly in love with Jesus. You know, this morning in my time with the Lord, I just, for some reason, the Lord just kept leading me to pray the Lord's prayer over and over. Because sometimes you want to make up and create something new to say every day. But Jesus gave us some pretty powerful words that he says, hey, when you pray, pray like this. but as I was praying it I was thinking gosh it doesn't really work alone because it says our Father I mean it works but you know it's really our Father it was meant to be something that was prayed in community with a church together just like you know we're reading in the Old Testament in Jeremiah and it was always about the people of Israel it wasn't about a person or an Israelite it was about Israel And it's interesting, even in our prayers, even with what Malu was saying about community, that it was God's desire that even when we pray, there's a sense of community to it.

1:13 Where we don't just me alone going, hey, dad, but our father. Like we together acknowledging we've got one father who's in heaven in this high and holy place. and that we all acknowledge, you know what, God? We want your name lifted up, not ours. I don't want my name lifted up. I don't want our church name lifted up. We want your name to be hallowed be thy name. And collectively for us all to look at God this morning and say, God, your kingdom come. We would love it if your kingdom came and your will would be done on this earth as it is in heaven. Because we know today the things that are happening on the earth this very day. The rebellion.

2:09 The pride. We're saying, God, we want your will here on earth like it is in heaven where you reign and you're the king. We want your kingdom here. We want your will to be done on earth just like it's done up there. And today we just want our daily bread. We're good with that. Just provide for us. We need you to provide for us. Forgive us our sins Our trespasses As we forgive those who trespass against us Where we go, God Just as I want your forgiveness Right now, I'm just letting go of everyone Who's hurt me All the deep, deep bitterness, God Forgive me as I forgive them And lead me not into temptation I don't want the temptation I want it out of my life Get it out, whatever it is Get it out deliver me from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever Amen So this is what people have prayed for 2,000 years Can you think about how millions of people have prayed the same prayer over millions of years and I just want to join with them right now So would you guys pray with me?

3:36 Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

4:13 Amen. Amen. I've just, I've had an amazing weekend. Gosh, I don't even know where to start. There's so many things I want to do today. All right, let me just go with it. I don't know if you've had those times with God where it's just, you feel so close. Like you're going, God, did I ever even know you? Because I feel so close to you right now that I just wonder if I've even been praying for the last year. Because this is like at another level. You ever have those times where your mind is clear and it's like, oh my gosh, I am in the presence of God.

5:14 I'm acknowledging no one else. I am just so stinking close to him. It's scary. That was Friday night for me. Friday night. And I don't know if it's because my wife and kids have been gone all week. And so the house is a lot quieter. I mean, Mercy was there. I guess you count as a kid. But, you know, and so just, I don't know if it's because I've had my cell phone off for a month So those of you who tried to reach me, sorry But I just wanted to connect I don't know if it's because I've been eating better And just getting all the junk out And just like, you know, we have this competition with the guys who can lose the most weight in a month But so anyways I just feel like all these things led to like this clear-mindedness when you're just not constantly texting or emailing or looking at this, this, this, this, this, and just focused and the noise and everything else.

6:14 and I don't know if it's because it's the book of Jeremiah, and as I was reading Jeremiah, it was just reaching out to me Friday night, and the crazy thing is I remember feeling like this like 20 years ago, where I was so like just focused, but what happened was I decided, you know, I just want to be alone with the Lord. And so I just grabbed my Bible and a bunch of water and I headed out into the mountains just to see how long I could survive, you know, and not talk to another human being. And so for four days, I was in the woods and never talked to another, never even saw, I saw one hiker and I just ran the other way. And I just wanted to be alone where it's just you and me, God, you and me, God, the whole time. And I did one of those flip open the Bible and see where it lands, Trix. And it landed on Jeremiah chapter one. This is 20 years ago. And that Jeremiah one passage, I just stared at it for four days because I never noticed it before where Jeremiah says to God before, or where God says to Jeremiah, before you were born, before I formed you in your mother's womb, I already knew you. And before you were born, I already declared, I already, you know, decided that you were going to be a prophet to the nations.

7:40 I remember staring at that and going, what? Before you formed me in my mother's womb, you knew me? What does that mean? God, you knew me before you made me. I wasn't a mistake. And before you were born, I already determined that you were going to speak to these nations. Like, God, so all of this, you knew me before you made me. You made me for a purpose. I just freaked out about that and just thought about that for four days, praying to God about it.

8:13 And then it was crazy as I was reading Jeremiah. Friday night, I'm going, man, this is intense. I just started praying and praying and praying. And I just got so close to the Lord. I mean, I just, it was like I was in heaven, you know, just me. and God. And then I realized, ah, it's Jeremiah again. I don't know if that's coincidence. I don't know what. Maybe it's just something about this book speaks to me. But it was talking about the pastors or the shepherds back then and the prophets back then and how they weren't really He's saying what God told them to say. And God was so angry with them. He says, both the prophet and priest are ungodly. Even in my house, I found their evil, declares the Lord.

9:10 And then he says this in verse 16 of Jeremiah 23. Thus says the Lord of hosts, do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, it shall be well with you. And to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, no disaster shall come upon you. For who among them has stood in the counsel of the Lord to see and to hear his word? Or who has paid attention to his word and listened? Behold, the storm of the Lord. Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest. It will burst on the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart.

10:08 In the latter days, you will understand it clearly. I did not send the prophets, yet they ran. I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people. And they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds. Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord? Am I not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him, declares the Lord? Do I not feel heaven and earth, declares the Lord? I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal.

11:09 Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. Oh man, that is intense. God is saying there's false prophets everywhere.

11:29 And they're just, what are they declaring? They're declaring things that are coming out of their own heart. Well, here's what I think. Here's what I feel. In fact, I had a dream about this. And God's saying, I didn't send them. You think I said that? I didn't say that. They're prophesying lies. He's telling Jeremiah, don't you do that. You say what I say. It doesn't matter. Let them tell their dreams. In verse 17, they say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, it shall be well with you. And to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, no disaster shall come upon you. He says, these people, these prophets are claiming to speak for God. And they're telling people who are deep in their sin, who are stubbornly following their own heart's desires.

12:31 Hey, it's okay. Just follow your heart. just follow your heart this is what all the prophets are saying just follow your heart and no harm will come upon you but what does God say? God says hey who of them actually stood in my counsel?

12:54 He says because the storm of the Lord behold the storm of the Lord wrath has gone forth a whirling tempest it will burst on the head of the wicked The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. In the latter days, you'll understand it clearly. I want to ask you something. Do you guys believe like in God's holiness? Yeah. Do you understand what holy means? It means set apart. That means he's not like us. Okay. Yes, we were creating his image, but nonetheless, the Bible makes it clear he is holy. That means he's different. Like he's way beyond us. I mean, in fact, he's so different that the Bible says he dwells in unapproachable light. Hi.

13:52 Somehow he dwells in unapproachable light. So the Bible talks about how, is this someone's kid? Oh, okay. I thought maybe you wandered in. But, It's crazy that there's a being in heaven right now, that the Bible says he shines brighter than the sun. Like the sun would be like a sparkler to him. Okay, do you believe that? Do you believe like he's just so holy? Like it's to an extreme that we don't understand. How can the sun, I mean, I can't even think about embracing the sun, and how could it be so far beyond that, the creator of that? Do you believe that God is omniscient?

14:49 Like his knowledge is off the charts. Like Isaiah 55 verses 8 and 9, he goes, you know, my thoughts aren't like your thoughts. My ways aren't like your ways. He goes, you know how the heavens, like the stars, the planets are so high above the earth. That's the way my knowledge, that's the way my ways and my thoughts are compared to yours. Like, do you believe his thoughts are incomprehensible? Like our minds just can't think like God's.

15:19 You believe that? Do you believe that his love is to an extreme that you can't understand? I mean, the Bible says that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. Like it's not like he just kind of liked us. But he said there was so much love in him that he gave his one and only son.

15:52 Man, who does that? Who with that much power gives like that? I don't love like that. I mean, do you believe his love is just on another level? you believe his mercy is on another level. Like what he says about, you know, in Psalm 51, how he has this abounding mercy. And though our sins are red as scarlet, he'll wash us white as snow. you believe these things about God. Do you believe in his power? Do you believe right now God can cause us all to just stop breathing? Do you think he's that powerful?

16:39 Daniel 4, he says, who can hold back your hand? No one can stop you. Whatever God wants to do, he can do. Isn't that crazy? See, I can't do whatever I want to do. I'm not in control. But God's totally in control. I was thinking about this this week. All the things about God, we pretty much affirm. We believe what the Bible says about His holiness. We believe what the Bible says about His love. And when He talks about His mercy, we go, we believe that. When He talks about His knowledge, we go, no, no, I get that. When He talks about His power, and it's just off the charts, like incomprehensible, just so extreme. Everything's so extreme, extreme, extreme, extreme. But then when we read the verses about his wrath,

17:31 suddenly we're like, well, I don't know if he means that. Wait, when he talks about his wrath, why suddenly do we question that? We don't question his holiness. We don't question his power. We don't question his love. We don't question his mercy. We don't question his knowledge. But when he talks about, you know, there's going to come a day of judgment, and that judgment is going to be extreme. I mean, listen to what he says. I was reading this this week in Nahum. Listen to what he says about himself. Chapter 1, verse 2. The Lord is a jealous and avenging God. The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.

18:25 Do you believe that? Listen to this.

18:57 Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him. That's an extreme wrath. Just like I don't love like him, I don't get angry like him. I don't have a wrath like that. I get mad, but not like that. See, just like he's able to do all things, just like he loves and shows mercy and forgiveness, like I can't do. Just like he dwells in this unapproachable light, well, I can't do that. In the same way, he has a wrath that I'm just like, man, who can stand before his wrath? That's what the Bible says. Who can put up with that? and that's why Jesus over and over in the New Testament, he says, don't you understand, there's going to come a day of judgment, and he talks about this place of torment where he says the worm will not die.

20:05 He talks about this outer darkness that people will be thrown into. Over and over again, he says this. So read the Bible, and he says there's going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And then you get to the end, the very end in Revelation. In Revelation chapter 20, and he says this. In verse 10,

20:58 books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Hallelujah. Man, I... I was on my face Friday night just going, God, I've worshipped you and have believed in other things that you say so much easier than this. But let me take this at face back.

21:53 Let me take it for what it says. I mean, this is written black and white. Jesus' words in red, you know, over and over again. Like, his wrath is no joke. and just like I trust his holiness, just like I trust his love, I'm going, God, I mean, it's just one of those times where I'm just going, God, if I never believed, man, I just don't want to come to the end and deceive myself.

22:22 Like God, okay, right now, just have mercy on me, okay? I think I get it. I think I get it, man. With everything in me, I think I get it, but show me if I'm fooling myself because I don't care. I don't care about anything right now. I've just got to be right. I don't want to face your wrath ever. Okay. Best I understand your book, God, is that I can be saved from all of that through Jesus. That's what he died on the cross for. Otherwise, I would be facing your wrath forever and ever. I get it. I get that I've broken your commands. I get that I sinned against you. Man, here's everything, everything I can remember, all the garbage, God, have mercy on me. But I do believe your son died on the cross for that. Because just as your wrath is off the chart, so is your love and your mercy. And I'm running to that God. And God, if the spirit has never been in me, man, put him in me now. I want to live how you want me to live. I don't want there to even be a doubt.

23:25 Man, I had a whole message prepared by Thursday for today. But after Friday night, I thought, you know what? Number one, I don't want to be one of those prophets that Jeremiah was talking about that just tells everyone, oh, it'll be fine. It'll be fine. You're good. and just go along with what everyone else is saying because it's popular. Man, Jeremiah, as you read on, he gets thrown in prison. He gets thrown in, you know, he gets beaten, thrown in a well. He's just, and I'm like, God, whatever. I'm going to follow. I'm going to follow. I want to be like Jeremiah. Whatever it takes, I don't know what the future is. But God, I've decided to follow you. There's no turning back. That song we sang, you know, I'm not turning back.

24:18 And God, I don't even want there to be a chance that I face your wrath. So if I have not been sincere, show me. Make it real. And I know that's not a popular thing to talk about, but I'm just telling you straight out, God is a God of wrath. Man, He is. When I read this book, we've been reading through the book of Jeremiah, we've been reading through the prophets, everything this book says.

24:51 God is clear. There's a day coming. And I just, as I just continue to enjoy my time with God and just have peace with Him, And again, it was just this confirmation. No, he loves me. He loves me. He knows me. I know him. You know, that old hymn kept coming to my mind. You know, my Jesus, I love thee. I know thou art mine.

25:22 To thee all the follies of sin I resign. God, my gracious Redeemer, my precious Redeemer, my Savior art thou, if ever I love thee, my Jesus tis now. I love that last phrase, if ever I love thee, my Jesus tis now. It's like, God, okay, I don't know if I've ever really loved you, but I know I do right now. Okay, if I've ever loved you, it's this moment. I don't think there's a moment I've ever been closer than right now, Jesus. Thank you. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for saving me from the wrath of God. And I didn't want to be afraid to proclaim that to you, because I believe there's a lot of false prophets in your life. And you say, well, my mom told, well, your mom lied. But all my friends, they say, you know, God's not a, well, they're all lying. But they say it from their heart. They had this dream, Isn't that what he said to the prophets back then?

26:28 It doesn't matter. What does the word of the Lord say? Go ahead, say whatever you dreamt about last night. I had a weird dream. I had a weird dream last night. I don't know why. Me and my brother were pouring gasoline out of a plane, and then it landed on this road, and then we lit the road on fire, and that was it. It's weird.

26:51 What does that mean? It doesn't matter. It was a dream. Okay, so we can have thoughts, we can have weird things pop into our head, but what does the Word of God say? That He says a day is coming. And some of you, man, you've bought into some lies. I'm just telling you. I'm telling you because I care about you. I'm deeply concerned for some of you. I really am. Man, I just started praying, going, God, I think there's people that show up on Sundays and they don't get it. I can tell by their lifestyles. It's like, gosh, I don't. And it's not like I'm judging. I'm just concerned. It's like, gosh, you know, it's like someone saying they're cured from cancer, but they're dwindling down to nothing and their skin starts turning yellow. I'm like, it's not that I don't believe you. It's just there's signs that concern me.

27:45 And in the same way, I'm like, man, there's people here that just kind of casual about God and you just keep going back and forth. And man, I'm not here to judge you. I'm here like deeply, deeply concerned because God really is a God of wrath. I mean, I would hate for that day to come where if this was the last day of your life and you're standing before him, then you realize, wait, he really is a God of wrath. There really is a lake of fire. It really is forever and ever. And I never said anything to you. and I didn't beg you to just pull your head out and think about what really matters and the fact that, man, our heart could stop beating any second you're going to stand before that God and he is a God of wrath. Man, I didn't make this stuff up. I'm just reading out of the book. Man, I didn't want to, like, not be real with you and warn you and tell you that I'm terrified.

28:46 for some of you. The right words might come out of your mouth. But man, are you ever just alone with him, adoring him? Do you really know him? In the Old Testament, there are people, he says, you know what, they praise me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

29:09 Man, I just felt like I needed to throw that out there and let you know that everything can change in a second. That's the beauty of the cross. That's the beauty of what he can do. Like, he can wash it all away. That's how intense his mercy is. That's how off the charts his love is. But you've got to make a decision. You've got to make a decision to really believe and to follow him. maybe this is the first time you understood what was happening on the cross. The Bible says that he made Jesus, who knew no sin, become sin on our behalf. That through him, we might become the righteousness of God. So it was like on the cross, God, remember I said his love is off the charts.

30:08 I mean, who does this? He looked at us who all were sinning. And Ephesians 2 says we're by nature objects of wrath. Think about that. By nature, we are objects of wrath. That's just what you are. That's what you're born into. By your nature, objects of wrath.

30:33 He says, but God. being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us. Yes, man, you were one of those objects of wrath, but what he did was he sends his son who did no wrong, who deserved no wrath, and he became sin on the cross. On the cross, Jesus became sin. He took all of our sin there, and it was nailed to the cross, and he says that we might take his righteousness, that we might become the righteousness of God.

31:13 And so at that point, you decide, God, I want that. I want your righteousness in me. And the Bible says that he puts his Holy Spirit in you. and you actually then begin to desire what is right, and you become a slave to what is right, and you spend the rest of your life pursuing what's right because you can't help it. It's like His Spirit is in you, and if you've never made that decision, I want to encourage you make today the day I thought God what an awesome thing it could be if on the day when our city is celebrating pride that we would be celebrating humility the humility of Christ the humility that doesn't say you know what everything I'm doing is right but saying, no, God, everything I've done is sin, and I need your forgiveness so badly.

32:21 I need you so desperately to come into my life. Here's what I want to do. Actually, can I have the elders come forward? Kevin and Kevin. And then also I want to bring a couple other guys down. Justin and Rob.

32:44 Just come down to the front real quick. You guys, I understand as a church, it's not like I lead the church I'm not the head of the church the Bible says to appoint elders to govern the church so it's not just I get a weird thought one day I have a weird dream one day and suddenly I can just take it somewhere but the Bible says and read 1 Timothy 3 sometime talks about the qualifications of elders that there's this group that leads together. Just like those shepherds that, you know, it's like the idea is that these men are supposed to guard the truth and guard the flock. And the two guys on the end, Kevin and Kevin and myself, are the three elders. And a little over a month ago, a month or two ago, as the three of us were meeting, we're like, man, who are the next two guys that we feel live this out. Like we're convinced they love Jesus and they're not going to back down. Like it's the real thing. And who would the other pastors say are the guys that should be the next elders?

34:00 And as we asked around and, you know, the two names that kept coming up were Justin and Rob. And, uh, and so we just started asking her, Hey, what do you guys think about Justin and Rob as elders? And because the Bible says that the elders must be above reproach. Um, that means, that means as the people view their lives, they can't point something out that says, no, that guy shouldn't be an elder. And so what I'm doing is I'm bringing Justin and Rob in front of you because, man, we feel like we know them pretty well, but there could be things we don't know about them that you go, okay, well, here's what I know about them in secret. Or maybe there's just a sin in their lives that you feel like would disqualify them from being an elder. then we're asking you in the next, you know, in the coming days to talk to one of us or talk to your pastor. Otherwise, you know, we really feel like God's called this group to lead the church.

35:00 And I don't know, it's been cool because as I've talked about it to people, I've heard so much excitement where they go, man, that's so cool to be under this group of guys. And you rarely hear that because we live in a world that's anti-authority, right? Every authority is bad. But God in the church wanted to be a thing where we actually obey the elders and respect the elders and make their position a joy, Hebrew 13 says. And we want to be the one place where the people look at authority as a good thing because we go, you know, we think God's authority is a great thing. We love the fact that he's the king of the universe And in the same way we want to represent that And so I also want you to think about this Man, I trust these guys And so when the five of us are in a room Praying about something And then we go to our homes and think about it And pray it some more And then we come back And the five of us come to a collective decision Okay, these are supposed to be some of the godliest men in the church, and we gather together and we're all unanimous on something we're supposed to do or whatever.

36:20 Think about this. We're all in agreement. Now put yourself over there by yourself, and you come up with a thought. Like, whose thought are you going to trust? And how arrogant do you have to be to go, I know you five prayed about this and thought about this and looked through scripture on this, but I know better. See, we all have the temptation to do that. But that's why I'm asking you now, if you see something in our lives that isn't right, that you go, man, I can't come under that type of elder, then tell us now. Tell us this week so that we don't make that mistake. But on the other hand, if you believe that these are godly men up here who love the Lord, and you trust that God has ordained us to be elders, if we come to a decision that may contradict how you think, just try to consider you might be wrong.

37:27 Just make it a possibility, okay? All right? Just consider possibly that you could be wrong. Because I've seen a lot of people live their lives just, they're always right. The church is always screwed up. Everyone else is always screwed up. And I just don't want us to fall into that. But I also have these guys up here because I thought, are we doing communion and a little worship next? I just thought, we're about to take communion.

38:04 And the communion is the bread and the cup. And the bread represents the body of Christ. and the cup represents his blood, then the idea is we're taking of the bread and the body of Christ. Okay, like people have been doing for 2,000 years because Jesus did this on the night he was betrayed. And I was just thinking, as we take of that, there may be some of you that are saying, you know what, I don't know.

38:34 I don't know if I've been forgiven. Man, you talk about knowing God. I don't know if I know him. You talk about his wrath, and I don't want to face that. I want to be right with him. And maybe you need to just talk it through with someone or pray with someone. I mean, whatever you don't take of the communion,

38:58 you know, if you're not sure, I'd love for you to talk to one of these guys. You know, no shame. Just as the worship's going or the communion is being passed, just come down and talk to one of these guys.