Beware of the Exvangelicals

Pastor Corey delivers his weekly message titled "Beware of the Exvangelicals"

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I want to bring a message today that's a little different than I normally do. I'm doing something today that I typically don't do. I'm calling out some people. Now, you're okay. I'm not going to call any of you out. I already call Robbie out, but other than that, I don't think I'm going to call anybody else out. Guys, if you'll put the uh title page to the message up, you're going to see a word you may not have seen before. If you're kind of up to date on what's going on in the world of Christ in the Christian world, you may notice this word. And I've titled the message today, Beware of the Exvangelicals. The ex-vangelicals. You say, what in the world is that? Well, you know, you may not realize it, but we are categorized as a Baptist church and as Christians, we are, we are categorized in the world that we live in as evangelical Christians. An evangelical basically is a person who believes that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation, that you must have a personal relationship with him. And I'm not trying to call anybody else out on this, but you know, as opposed to Catholics who have a different view, even though they they have a high view of Jesus Christ, you know, they have a different view of salvation. I know I was raised Catholic, and um and and so, you know, they're not considered evangelicals. We are, uh, and it encompasses a lot of different denominations. And so what you have is you have a movement going on today where people are denying their faith and they're coming out and they're proudly proclaiming that they are now ex-vangelicals, and they're happy about it, and they're they're going out on social media and and and proclaiming it. Um even had uh one guy, I think, I don't have, I'm not, I'm not using his name today, but uh he was uh I think one of the lead singers uh of Hill Song. Um and he came out a while back, about a year, year and a half ago, and proudly proclaimed that he is no longer a Christian and he's happy about it. And one of these that I'm gonna mention today who came out and said that uh, you know, he's never been more happier. I want to say this, and I'm gonna say it from the from the get-go. If you can meet the true Jesus and walk away from him and think that your life is better, you didn't meet the true Jesus. Because I know what it was like to live a life outside of salvation. And I know what it's like to live a life today inside of salvation. And I'm telling you what, I never want to go back to that way of life. And I'll never be proud of that. So I want to bring a message today, and so what I like to do is let's do this. Let's read the scripture, and then I want to read a short article to you about John Cooper. John Cooper is the lead singer of the Christian rock band Skillet. And of all people, John Cooper has come out, and John has taken a hard stand against exvangelicalism. It's a hard word to say. In other words, John Cooper kind of is where I got some of the inspiration for what I want to say today. That John Cooper, a Christian rocker, is calling out pastors who are walking away from the faith and Christian musicians who are walking away from the faith, and he's identifying what the problem is. And so I'm not a skillet guy. Uh isn't it crazy? Before I became a Christian, I was into hard rock. Now that I'm a Christian, uh I'm not in the that genre of music, even if it is Christian, but I I like it because I know it appeals to other people, right? I'm not a Christian rapper, but I know that some people like that style of music. I can't understand the words. They talk too fast. So I have a genre of style that I like, but I like the fact that we've we're touching all areas of the of the musical sphere. But with that said, I want to read the scripture to you, and then I want to read what John Cooper said, and then we're gonna go back to the scripture and take it apart as to how and why we need to be aware of what the ex-vangelicals are saying. And by the way, John Cooper has a book. Um Pastor Cameron gave me this book this morning. Um, it's titled Awake and Alive to Truth: Finding Truth in the Chaos of a Relativistic World by John Cooper. Short book, pretty cool looking book, and um and I hope you get it and read it because I'm gonna do the same. All right, so take your Bibles and go with me to Galatians chapter 1, and let's stand together. Galatians 1, beginning in verse 1. We'll read verses 1 through 10, and it says here, Paul, an apostle, sent not from men, nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead, and all the brothers and sisters with me, to the churches in Galatia, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Now let me say this in his opening remarks, in his salutation here, Paul talks about the evil present age that they were living in all those years ago. Folks, I want to tell you, you know, the world we live in today, relativism, if if if the scripture today, if our world doesn't relate to what scripture is saying today, man, I tell you, maybe you and I are not reading the same thing. But the scripture is talking about Paul was saying, hey man, we're living in an evil world. And I'll tell you what, he was right then, and he's right today. And Jesus is the only hope in this evil world that we live in. In verse 6, he says, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all. Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preach to you, let them be under God's curse. I'll tell you, I've had people tell me, hey, Pastor, listen, I saw an angel, an angel appeared to me, and an angel said this. And boy, when they tell me that, my ears perk up because if what they're telling me is contrary to the word of God, it's not an angel sent from heaven that they saw, it's a demonic spirit they saw. Because any angel that you see and that speaks to you will speak humbly according to the word of God that's already been spoken. Right? And you're not going to get some new revelation from God because it's already been given to us and it can't be added to according to the word of God. And so he says, even if an angel from heaven comes to you and preaches anything other than Christ Jesus, let him be accursed. And then verse 9, as we have already said, so now I say again, if anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God's curse. Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the clear presentation of your word. Thank you that in light of what's going on, it's nothing new what we're seeing today. It was happening in those days. People walking away from the faith, people claiming to preach another gospel, perverting the true gospel, which was no gospel at all. We know that there were some who were part of them, who went away from them. They never were of them to begin with. We know there's nothing new under the sun. We can come up with new names for certain things, but what this is is pure and unapologetic satanic unbelief that's coming against the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. May we be aware of it and may we not fall for it. And I prayed in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Now you might be wondering why I want to bring a message like this to you and how this is going to help you in your day. Because I'm going to tell you, these people that have come out recently have influence over us. We have gone to Winter Jam and seen some of these people. We have gone to Night of Joy and listened to some of these people. We have gone to Rock the Universe and taken what they've said and gone, man, that's good stuff. And we look to them as spiritual leaders. Who are some of these people? Well, let me give you some of these people here that just recently have come out as exvangelicals. The first one I want you to see, well, this one is not the one who came out. This is John Cooper of Skillet, who uh is the one calling them out. And so just so you know, John Cooper is with us, all right? Then there's Paul Maxwell. Paul Maxwell wrote the book uh Desiring God, and he has come out against Christianity, claiming not to be a Christian anymore and calling himself an ex-vangelical. Then Joshua Harris, Joshua Harris wrote the book, I Kiss Dating Goodbye. As a matter of fact, when Brother Gary, our youth pastor at the time was here, we took our kids through that book, I Kiss Dating Goodbye. He came from the idea that dating is not a biblical concept. And here's what God requires, and here's what God says through God's word. And he now, Joshua, says he repudiates everything that he wrote in that book. You know why? Because he comes from a biblical perspective. And so he is one of those who's come out as an ex-evangelical. And then one that many of you, especially our younger people, may know, he came out this week. Kevin Max from DC Talk. Kevin, I'm not telling you don't listen to their music because if their music at the time glorified God and you want to listen to it, listen to it. But what I'm telling you is that Kevin Max has come out and basically said everything that he sang about, everything that he preached, everything that he said is a lie. That's what he says. And so these people have come out. They're ex-evangelicals, and they proudly declare their atheism or their unbelief. And I want you and I to be aware of what's out there. Not only these guys, but I didn't do enough research to get even more of them. But these are the ones that are in the news recently. But pastors, some of the pastors are coming out. Um I think Bell, what was his name? Um you know what I'm talking about. Up up north. Um, oh gosh. And he preaches this new age philosophy now. Um not Rick Bell, but Rob Bell. That's who it is. That's right. Rob Bell came out, who's a pastor of a major growing church up in up in the Midwest, up in the north. And and uh, you know, he came out a few years ago and is no longer a believer. But here's the thing that's going on, too. What some of these are saying is some of them are saying, we haven't rejected Jesus, we've just rejected the church. Well, you can't have one without the other. Or they're saying, we still believe in Jesus, we just don't believe the word of God. And this is serious, this is going on in our midst. And um, you know, recently, and I'm not saying he came out as an ex-vangelical because he hasn't, but Max Luceto apologized. He's the greatest Christian author of our day, so more books than anybody else, other than Rick Warren. And he just came out, just recently, apologizing for some of his biblical views on same-sex marriage. So I wonder about these people and what they're all about. Here's the thing I want you to see. Um I'm not gonna read the whole article to you, but I want to read a couple of things to you. So, Skillet's frontman, John Cooper, says moral relativism, woke ideology are permeating the church and is wrecking Christianity. Now, I'll disagree with that, with that, but I understand where he's coming from. I don't believe it's wrecking real Christianity, but I think what it is, it's wrecking those who think they're Christians and are not. But it can affect what we're it can affect the church. So skillet frontman John Cooper has issued a blistering condemnation of woke ideology and moral relativism, and he warned has seeped into the church, urging Christians to be extremely vigilant about the word of God to combat such false doctrines. During a recent episode on Abby Johnson's uh hit podcast, Politely Rude, Cooper revealed that a few years ago he was shocked to find that people didn't believe in absolute truth anymore. In other words, Cooper was saying that he was shocked that some of the people that he believed in, that he trusted, didn't believe that the word of God is truth. He said, I didn't even know that would be a possibility, he said. I studied postmodernism in college, but I never thought that anyone would actually build a society or try to build a society upon it because it is so untenable. But that is what we have now built society on, the Grammy nominated singer said. And what's really scary is how that philosophy has entered into Christianity. It doesn't even make any sense. You can't believe in God but not believe in absolute truth because one negates the other. Yet that is what's actually happening in Christianity. Now, the rocker said he's outspoken about what he believes are scary changes unfolding in culture. He said we need to be extremely vigilant, again, about God's word, he stressed. We need to be extremely vigilant about what the Bible says, because if we are not, then we will begin to read the Bible with that same sort of relativism. And when you do that, you're not starting from a premise that the word of God is absolute, that God's word is supreme. He says, what happens in relativism is you say this. You go, no, I am supreme. My feelings are supreme, my experience is the brain. I can find truth in my heart, he explained. The Bible says that that man is heart, man's heart is desperately wicked, right? And who could know it? Then he says, then that person goes on and says, I look through that filter at the Word of God, and then I shape the Word of God to meet my needs, so we need to be extremely vigilant about this because it is wrecking Christianity. Cooper, who recently pinned the book, Awake and Alive to Truth, noted that one of the tenets of postmodernism is deconstructionism and skepticism. He reflected on the number of high-profile Christian leaders that have left the faith in recent years, from the author of I Kiss Dating Goodbye, Joshua Harris, and the author of Desiring God Contributor, Paul Maxwell. He says here, I do think it is a pretty big warning to all of us to build your life on top of the words of Jesus Christ. He said, We need to continue to build our lives upon that, or we will get destroyed. And I do think that that has happened to a lot of pastors, he says. Here's the warning to all of us it can happen to any of us if we are not vigilant with the word of God because the ideology of the day is so ubiquitous ubiquitous, he says. A singer said, adding that the woke culture claims to be more Christian than Christ. That's what we have to watch out for, he declared. Now, how many of you have heard the word woke recently? You've heard that we live in a woke world. How many of you have not? You want to admit to that, you have not. Okay. Kelly, you haven't you haven't heard the work woke the word woke? Oh, okay, I'm sorry. Woke. The woke culture. And that is that today, let me say this. The woke culture, in my opinion, is everything that stands against God. Uh it's like apologizing for everything that everybody else did wrong. The woke culture uh says that the Bible isn't the word of God, but what John Cooper explained is really the is really truth. And woke culture says, well, you can't say that uh a man who wants to marry a man is wrong. Who are you to say that? Love is love after all, right? The woke culture, and it's seeping into evangelicalism, it's seeping into churches. So, with all of that said, by way of introduction, let's jump right into the message here. And I want you to see, according to this passage, what we need to be careful of. Because Paul talked about these people. Now, the people he was talking about primarily were Judaizers and Gnostics. Now, what and who were Judaizers? Judaizers were the ones who came in and said this. Why Paul is preaching about Jesus Christ. Yeah, yeah, that's true, but that's only part of the gospel. There's something else you have to add to it. In other words, you have to continue to follow the Old Testament law and practice the Old Testament law in order to be a true Christian. Yes, you receive Jesus as your Savior, but if you're Jewish, you have to become circumcised. If you're Jewish, you have to follow all the dietary rules. You have to do all of those things. Uh, there are certain things you can eat, certain things you shouldn't eat. And so, in other words, you've got to continue to live by the law for God to accept you. Well, we know that the Bible says that no flesh is justified by the works of the law. That's what the word of God says in Galatians. And that we are made right with God, not by the works of righteousness that we have done, but we're made right with God because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. And then by our faith in him, by putting our trust in him. And when we receive him as our Lord and Savior, we know that he paid the price for us. He is the propitiation for our sins. He paid the ransom. And it's in Christ alone that I receive Christ that I'm saved and that I'm born again. Nothing else. It's not Christ plus reading my Bible, it's not Christ plus going to church, it's not Christ plus being Jewish, it's not that at all. It's Christ and Him only. Now, these other things follow. I want to go to church because I'm part of a family and I need nourishment and I need the body. I want to live clean and right now because now I have Christ living within me and I'm a new creation. That's the gospel. So the first thing about ex-evangelicals is they preach a different gospel. They preach a different gospel. In verses 6 through 7, it says here in verse 6, he goes on and he talks about I'm astonished that they're so quickly deserting. The one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. And then he says this in verse 7, which is really no gospel at all. No gospel at all. What is the gospel? The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ, right? It's the good news. What the evangelicals are preaching is that you can find God in your That you can be good enough, and that your human emotions and your human intellect are more important and take more precedent over the Word of God, and that your belief system should be based on the times, it should be relevant to what we're going through. Relativism in a postmodern world that we live in, and they preach a different gospel, but it's the same spirit as the Judaizers. But it's no gospel at all. That's not good news. That's not good news. I mean, the Bible tells me that my righteousness are as filthy rags before God. Before I became a Christian, I tried to be good enough and I couldn't. I failed at every turn. The good news is that Jesus, God's only Son, was sent for us, and that I don't have to try to earn my salvation because I can't. And the other thing is this is that those who preach a different gospel preach a different Jesus. They preach a different Jesus. Well, they say, well, Jesus loves everybody. I'll never forget this. A few years ago, we had a young lady who visited our church with a friend. And I mentioned something about marriage being between one man and one woman. And, you know, about homosexuality is sin. And I made a statement and I said, it's a disgusting lifestyle. I said that. She was waiting for me outside after, and she wanted to have a private conversation with me. And I said, Well, first of all, I don't meet with women alone, but I tell you what, we can meet right out here. People are talking, people are out here. And she said, Do you really believe what you said? And I said, Well, I hope I do, yeah. But what in particular? And she said, What you said about homosexuality. And I said, I absolutely, and I stand by it. And she goes, Well, I can never come back here. I said, Okay. And she said, Because my God is a God of love, is what she said. And I let her talk, and I said, you know, and I wanted to be very careful because I'm a pastor. She was a teenager. I wanted to be very tender in the conversation. And I said, look, and I called her by name, and I said, now, here's the thing you have to understand. Yes, our God is a God of love. The Bible says that love does not rejoice in iniquity and sin. And because Jesus loved us, he died for us so that he can make us into new creations and change us. And listen, it's not just homosexuality. But the word of God teaches that sex before marriage between one man and one woman is sin. The Bible says that adultery is sin. It's all sexual immorality, it's all sin. And I had that conversation with her, and I said, but because Jesus loved us so much, he died for us. And I told her about the woman at the well who was caught in adultery. And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you, but he said, Now go and sin no more. He changed that woman's life from the inside out. He wasn't saying that her adultery was okay. He was saying it's not okay. But you have forgiveness in me. You have found the Messiah, and now I'm giving you a new way to live, and you don't have to live that way anymore. Now go and sin no more. You can live a new life. But you see, the Jesus that the ex-evangelicals want you to believe in is a Jesus that doesn't exist in Scripture. Jesus said, Unless you hate your mother and father, you cannot be my disciple. Did he not say that, Church? He said it. Now, when you look at the context and you understand all of Scripture and you understand everything that Jesus ever said, you know what he meant. That your love for him has to be so powerful and so strong, he has to be first in your heart and life more than anything else. The Bible says that if you don't give up all that you have, you cannot be my disciple, Jesus said. Jesus said that if you don't obey his commands, you are not his disciple. And he said, My commandments are not burdensome. In other words, the fact that you and I live according to his word reveals that we have received Christ as our Savior and our hearts have been changed from the inside out. So the exvangelical, they preach a different gospel about a different Jesus. Be careful what they say. Look at what Acts 13, verses 10 through 12 says. This is about this dude named Bar Jesus that Paul ran into on his first missionary journey. And Paul told this guy, because Paul had been summoned by a political leader who wanted to know about the gospel. And this guy was there, and he was trying to pervert everything Paul was saying. And Paul told this guy, he said, You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right. You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun. Immediately, mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about seeking someone to lead him by the hand. So here was a man that Paul said, You're deceitful and you're perverting the gospel that I'm preaching and teaching. They preach a different gospel. Number two, ex-vangelicals are deserters. They are deserters of the faith. Look at what it says here in verse 6. It says, I am astonished, Paul says, that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ. They are deserters. Look at what 1 John 2, 18 through 19 says. It says here, dear children, this is the last hour, and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrist have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us, but their going showed that none of them belong to us. If you can become an exvangelical, what that's telling me is that you never were an evangelical to begin with. You never were truly saved, you never truly gave your heart to Christ, like I said in my introduction. How can you walk away from the one who knows everything about you? How can you walk away from the one who brings peace to your heart, peace that passes all understanding? How can you walk away from the true gospel and the word of God that brings life to your bones? How can you do it? The Bible calls them deserters. That's what Paul said. Quickly deserting the one who called you. Now look, I know this sounds very judgmental in the way I'm bringing this message, but I'm just preaching the truth here. You just take it up with the scripture. And I'm not trying to be. But I've been a pastor long enough now, 34 years, 35 years, somewhere around there. I lose track. And I've been here 26 years. There are some people that over the years have left our church and gone other places, and they are Christians. They love the Lord, they serve Him, they found a different place of service for whatever reason. God saw fit, they needed to be elsewhere, whatever. Those things happen. Correct? That happens. I mean, I think it's very immature and selfish of any pastor to say that everybody who leaves that church that he's a pastor of is some kind of helion or something like that. That's not the truth. And to be real honest with you, if you if you're if you look at it, you know, you say in light of what was going on, in light of maybe their belief system or where they were going or what whatever, it was the right time for that to happen. That happened. They're not deserters. That's not the ones I'm talking about. What I am talking about are those, and there are some who have left every church I've been a part of, who at one time claimed to be saved, went on mission trips, taught vacation Bible school, became Sunday school teachers, filled the pulpit for me. Who not only maybe left this church, but they have deserted the faith. And the Bible tells me that if you can do that, you really never were part of the faith. So to be honest with you, there are people that have stood up here and preached the gospel who weren't even saved. Now, you say, How did you not know that? Well, I'm not God. You can only live in where you are at the moment and at the time, and you can't you can't make a judgment about everybody and say, Well, I bet you they're gonna be a deserter. So, I mean, then you're judging everybody. And you you wouldn't want to be treated that way, but they are deserters. And I'm gonna say it, Paul Maxwell, Joshua Harris, Kevin Max, I pray for them, I pray for their souls, but they have deserted the faith that they had an opportunity to fully be engrossed in. They tasted a little bit of it, but the cost was too high. They were not willing to give up their life for his. He who seeks to save his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake will gain it. That's what Jesus said. Number three, they cause confusion in the body of Christ, they create confusion. It's a confusing time for some younger Christians who've read these people's books, who listened to their music, who've listened to their sermons. And it's a very confusing time. Let's take it away from the from the popular people. Like I mentioned earlier. Uh, it's a confusing time. I've had people come to say to me and come and say to me over the years, Pastor, what happened to Brother So-and-so? I mean, he preached one time. What, you know, I saw him doing this, I saw him living like what is going on? And it creates confusion in the young believer's heart. Verse 7 says it. Truly no gospel at all. Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion. 1 Corinthians 14, 33, very popular passage. For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace. He's not a God of confusion. As in all the congregations of the Lord's people, he's not a God of confusion. God doesn't create this kind of confusion. Man does. Man's unbelief creates it. And they cause unbelievable confusion. Listen, you may not like what Pastor Corey preaches from time to time. But that's between you and God. You say, no, it's between me and you. No, it's not between no, because if I believe I'm preaching the word of God, you take issue with God. Now listen, be one thing for you not to like something I'm preaching as long as it's based on the word of God. But it would be another thing that if I took the word of God and said, well, the word of God doesn't really mean this. For all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. That's what the Bible says. And for me to confuse you would be to say, well, all doesn't mean all, it means some. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever shall believe in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. For God so loved the world. There are some who believe that he's not talking about the world, he's talking about Christians, and it's not for whosoever, it's for just the select few. They cause confusion in the body of Christ. And then one last thing. Do not follow them. Do not follow them. Verses 8 and 9, Paul says why you shouldn't follow them. Even if an angel from heaven or myself preach a different gospel to you, you don't believe it. Guys, listen. Either God's word is all true or none of it is true. You either believe the truth or it's all a lie. I'll tell you something. And again, I'm not talking about those who had some legitimate issues or had dis not disagreements, but who had who had a point of view, maybe, maybe they they were a high risk category. But this COVID thing, I'll tell you what it's done. It's sifted some things. I say this with with and you may somebody may be watching me, and and you might fit in this category, but I'm not I love you, but I'm telling you the truth. If you can stay gone this long from the church and not miss it, what's going on, my friend? Why were you coming to begin with? Well, it's risky. Oh, get over yourself, okay? Risky? Risky. I saw you driving your truck the other day. It was a Ford. That's risky. Found on road dead. Oh, oh, I'm sorry. Man, I was having such a good message until that point, huh? No, be honest with you. Hey, listen, I used to be a Chevy man. I'm not a Chevy man. I'm gonna tell you what. Here's what I believe. I drive a truck I can I can afford. That's number one. I hated Dodges. That's right. Yeah, whatever. It cost me $2,000 about four months ago to get a computer chip fixed. So who am I? He who lives in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. No, I'm just kidding. No, no, seriously. I saw somebody driving the other day, and I thought to myself, and I and it's somebody who doesn't want to come to church because they're afraid they're gonna die from COVID. And I just thought to myself, because that person told me that directly. I said, hmm, does he know that he has a greater chance of dying in a car accident than he does from catching COVID? And again, I I had a meeting with somebody a while back, and and you know, they said, Man, we come to church, well, we we we want to escape this whole COVID talk. And I get it. I get it. I've tried real hard the last few weeks to not say anything about it, but it came up today. All right, so it did. But but listen, at some point, the church has to mean something to you. At some point, the truth has to mean something to you. You gotta follow an ideology of some kind you're going to. It's gotta mean something to you. Your brothers and sisters in Christ have to mean something to you. Now I'm gonna let you in on something that I struggle with and I have over the years. But God has God has healed me in that area, and and he continues to bring healing when it happens again. You ever thought about this? You have a brother or sister that you served with in the church alongside of you for several years. And all of a sudden, they quit after two, three, four years. But not only do they quit church, they don't speak to you anymore, they don't associate with anybody. It's almost as though the whole time they were here, they said they were our brother and sister, but they really weren't. Because they walk out and they you never hear from them ever again. And you wonder who are they following? What ideology are they following? Because when the word of God speaks about the church, it speaks with a lot of tenderness. My dear children, my brother, my sister, my fellow co-workers, fellow saints. I mean, it these are serious words, but that means something. And I guess I'm just a dinosaur, maybe. Maybe I'm a dinosaur. You know, I was thinking about that, you know. Have any of you seen a dinosaur? Oh, I have. They're all over the place in Florida. They're called gators. They're dinosaurs. Can you imagine the earth being filled with that kind of attitude like with animals? But that can walk, not just like a gator, but that, you know, and can eat you. A gator can eat you. I'm a dinosaur. But dinosaurs can last a long time, right? I'm a dinosaur when it comes to what I believe. I believe that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is still relevant. I believe that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is still on mission. I believe that the the church of the Lord Jesus Christ should still be a part of people's lives. I believe that we can continue to grow. I still believe that the word of God has effectual power in the blood of Christ, effectual power to change people from the inside out. I believe that the word of God is timeless. The Bible says that heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will never pass away. I believe that the word of God, every part of it, will be fulfilled. Now you got to believe in something. I choose to believe the Bible. So don't follow the exvangelicals who want to pull you and me away from the truth. As Peter said to Jesus. Where are we gonna go? Who else are we gonna go to? Jesus, you're all we have. I'm all in. How about you? I'm all in. If I live to be as long, uh to live to be as old as uh Jim Pritchett to be in my 80s, and then what happened to Jim happens to me. Listen, don't be sad for me. Because I hope until my dying day that I will stand for the principles of the Word of God. Absolutely love people, even those who hate me, and want them to come to know Jesus as their Savior. But let it never be said of me can you believe what happened to Pastor Corey? Everything he preached all those years, he's come out and said that he doesn't believe it anymore. But may it be said, maybe you'll come to my funeral one day and look at my my body or look at the casket and say, you know, he got lost sometimes while he was preaching because he chased rabbits. Uh he uh he was this and he was that. And let me tell you something about Pastor Corey. He never wavered on the word of God and the truth of Jesus Christ. And for that, he's a trailblazer. For that, he's someone that I could follow. That's a dream that I have. And I'll say to you, as long as men like John Cooper keep standing for what's right, I'll follow a guy like that because he's following God. Right? But if he chooses to go the way the other people have gone, listen, if I choose to go the way the other people have gone, do what Paul says. Don't follow me or listen to me. Follow Christ. Let's stand together. Heavenly Father, it's a sad state of affairs where we find ourselves in this country and in this world. And these who once proclaim, those who made money in your name, who got fame and fortune because of you, have turned their back on you and proudly proclaim themselves to be exvangelicals. God, my first prayer for them is that they would repent and come back to you and see the error of their way before it's eternally too late. And I pray that those who are close to them will lovingly but boldly call them out. And I know some have, like John Cooper. I pray for men like John Cooper that you would keep them strong as they speak out and stand up. I pray for myself. For the things that I proclaim boldly, that my clay feet would not deny. So I pray for all of us. I pray for our young people who look to others like that, who sing Christian music and are inspiring to them, that those people would not lead astray, our younger Christians. I pray for the Church of Lord Jesus in America that, Father, we'd wake up from our slumber. I pray for these Christians who are here, who are dedicated and committed to you and tired in this post-COVID world that we're coming out of. We're wore out and tired and mentally stressed out. I get it. But Father, may we turn to you and find our strength, our renewal, our sustenance in your word and in your spirit through Jesus Christ. So we thank you. And I want to say it one last time. If you've never received Jesus as your Savior, do like a lot of us in this building have done. Do like what John Cooper did and like others have done. Give your heart truly to Jesus right now by confessing him as your Savior, turning from your way of life, receiving Him as your Lord and Savior, and He will change your heart, and you will never regret it if you truly believe it. It's a call to a different way of life. Though none go with me, I still will follow Him. You've got to make that decision and commitment. I'll be standing here ready to receive you. The altar's open if you want to pray. As God leads you, Father, we thank you. Thank you for what we've been able to sing today. Thank you for your word. Thank you for your truth. And thank you for your son. And I pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. As our team leads us, you worship and follow Him.