Deuteronomy 13:1-5
1. Walk After The Lord
2. Fear Him
3. Keep His Commandments
4. Obey His Voice
5. Serve Him
6. Hold Fast To Him
Deuteronomy 13:1-5 with Pastor Tom Ruiz
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Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:00:00]:
Amen. Let's all turn to Deuteronomy chapter 13. We're going to be looking at five verses, verses one through five. Okay? As we look at this portion, we're going to see that we are not to listen to a person who tries to lead you away from the Lord, but follow Him in these ways. And really the purpose of this message is that we would follow the Lord in these six specific ways. So I'm going to focus in as we read this portion that we're to follow the Lord in these six simple ways, okay, through the word. All right, so we're in Deuteronomy chapter 13, verses one through five, right? Well, gang, I remember during the Jesus movement, so did a majority of you see the Jesus revolution? Did you? If you saw it, raise your hand, okay? If you saw it, okay? If you didn't see it, you really should just take the time to see it, because a lot of it is our Calvary Chapel history. It really is.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:00:54]:
And some of the things that Pastor Chuck Smith did and that were unseen, that nobody knew about, but there's so much about him that even I know that I've seen with my own eyeballs. The things that, you know, the young kids in our Bible college, sometimes they're like, oh, man, you guys just worship Pastor Chuck. You guys are all this and no, no, you just don't know the example that he was for us, right? I saw things personally with my eyes that really just like, wow, that's pretty cool. And he wasn't doing it for show, but anyway, so I remember that when I was a little boy at the Hacienda del Rey, just kind of hanging out with my brother Terry and his friends. And I wasn't right there during that Jesus revolution, just right there in the very beginning, but I was right at the end of everything that was happening. I was too young to really understand it, but I saw it all. Like, I remember going to Calvary Chapel, Riverside, and when Greg Glory was at the little building, the little chapel, and his hair was down to here and it was long. And I remember sitting there, up in the balcony, and the church was so filled and people were sitting in the aisles, and I thought, wow.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:02:09]:
Nowadays, the fire department would never let that stuff happen. I remember going to not the tent. By that time, Costa Mesa was already built, and I remember going to the Bible studies there and things that were happening and the things that I saw the Lord was doing and everything, and the people were just so on fire for Jesus Christ, though. So I remember that at my dad's restaurant at the Hacienda. I remember I was a little kid just hanging out there, and one of our friends who was saved, he was washing dishes for my dad. And it just so happened that he went outside. And when he went outside, he saw these group of people walking and they were like disciples. There was a group of disciples and they were all kind of in white robes, and he was a Christian.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:02:55]:
So he went out there and said, hey, what are you guys doing? And the guy turned around and he looked at him and said, Come, follow me, right? And I remember he looked at him and then he explained this to me what he was thinking. Then he looked back and he saw the restaurant and he looked at him and, you know, I'm not going to follow you. And then he went back inside the restaurant and he realized how he was almost deceived into following this false prophet who was acting. He was like Jesus, and he had these followers who were with him. It was really peculiar. So during also the Jesus movement, there was a lot of weird stuff going on with some false prophets and everything happening like that. But he was almost deceived, right? He was almost deceived by this guy who was really a false prophet. And here we're going to see in this portion that Moses will tell us this evening that we are not to be deceived, but to follow the Lord in these six ways.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:03:58]:
Okay? Let me read for you verses one through five. So we're in Deuteronomy, chapter 13, verses one through five. Follow along with me, okay? Deuteronomy, chapter 13, verse one. If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder. Verse two, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass of which he spoke to you, saying, let us go after other gods which you have not known, and let us serve them. Verse three. You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord with your God, with all your heart and with all your soul. Verse four.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:04:39]:
You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice. You shall serve Him and hold fast to him. Verse five. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you. From the house of bondage to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk so you shall put away the evil from your midst. Right? That was Deuteronomy again, chapter 13, verses one through five. So as we look at this, we see that Moses warns the children of Israel. What does he warn them? Verse one, the rising of a prophet or a dreamer.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:05:30]:
It begins by verse one, by telling us if there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams. The word arise there in the Hebrew means to live or to rise up. There would be those who would proclaim themselves as prophets or dreamers. It is very interesting that there are always those false teachers who rise up out of nowhere, right? It's amazing. On the Internet you can see these false teachers come up and all of a sudden next you know, it within weeks they're just famous and they're just all spreading their lies, right? Well, they are self proclaimers who start teaching and sharing false doctrines. So Moses tells the children of Israel that these guys are just going to arise out of nowhere. They're going to come out of nowhere and what are they going to be? They're going to be dreamers of dreams. Very interesting.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:06:28]:
In the Hebrew, that word means seller of dreams. Seller of dreams. Those who prophesy or dream dreams for sale. It's the idea of those who promote their ways for money or for know. In Okinawa we have kind of these dreamers or these false prophets who charge a lot of money to kind of tell the future. And in Japan they're called Yutas, someone who for hire is hired to tell the future or even the past for money. We call them here in America, fortune tellers or again, false prophets who people who ransack the church for their money. Well, he says if he or she, they give you a sign or a wonder, which means that they give you some kind of meaning.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:07:29]:
Or even the word wonder here speaks of a wonderful thing. And those wonderful things that they tell you come to pass. So maybe they say something wonderful to you or some kind of prophecy that means that you are to go after other gods or do these things. Moses tells the children of Israel, do not do it. Well, look what he says in verse two. They say, let's go after other gods, let's serve them, he says, and the sign or wonder comes to pass, which means again the meaning or the wonderful thing comes to happen. Their words actually come to pass. They give you a sign or a wonder and it happens.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:08:16]:
Well, I'm reminded of Moses. Remember in the book of Exodus when he turned Aaron's staff turned into a serpent. So what ended up happening? Well, so did the Egyptian prophets. They copied the Lord's miracles. And if you want to know where that portion is from, it's actually out of Exodus, chapter seven, verse eleven. Right. Some of these false teachers will copy the ways of the Lord. Look at verse three.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:08:49]:
You are not to listen to them for God is testing you. You shall not listen to the word of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. The scripture says specifically, do not give them a listening ear. The Bible says don't waste your time listening to them. But I don't want to be rude, pastor. I don't want to be rude to people again. What if someone came up to your children and wanted to give them some rat poison? Hey, kid, you want some rat poison? What would you do? Oh, Pastor Tom, I don't want to offend them, though. I don't want Know to be offended.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:09:32]:
No. You're going to look at that guy and get out of here. Don't give my kid that junk. Are you crazy? You might even physically throw them Know, because you know what they're doing is they're teaching poison. The prophet says, don't even put up with them. Don't listen to them. Don't waste your time. Don't give them a listening ear.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:09:55]:
Don't let these false teachers don't give them even a listening ear. Why? Says, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God. God is testing you. That's heavy. He's not tempting you. Remember that. But he's giving you a test. A test to know if you love God with all your heart and with all your soul, which means again with the seat of your emotion, right.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:10:27]:
With your life. Yes. I don't know about you, but I really don't like tests. But they are a part of our lives. Right. I just didn't do well in tests in school. Maybe you're one of those who are just an excellent test taker. I was not that person.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:10:45]:
I would rather do an extra assignment than take a test. Right. I just didn't do very well with tests. Right. But God is using that situation to test your heart. He's using that situation to test where, you're know, there's a famous show in Japan and now it's in America. I don't know if you guys have seen it on Netflix or like, you know, the Japanese parents give their kids, like, a little test. I mean, this is the little kids.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:11:18]:
It would never swing here in America, right? Because it's kind of more dangerous here. But they get their little kids and they send them with instructions to go to the store. Have you seen that yet? On Netflix? Or is it on Netflix, Joanna, or what's? It on it's on Netflix, right? What's it called again? Old Enough. That's right. Okay. And so they give these little kids like they're like five years, like, give them three years old, give them instructions, go down to the market, and I want you to get milk, and I want you to do this and go do these things. And the cameras follow them. The cameras are kind of like regular people and stuff like that.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:11:51]:
But these little kids are given tests if they can go do it. And it's kind of cute because the kids get sidetracked, and all of a sudden they're looking at flowers, and suddenly they're realizing, what am I supposed to get? But they never get lost. It's nuts. They have them crossing the street. I'm like, this is nuts. But it's Japan. It's a lot different, right? So the kids will do that and they'll go and sure enough they come back like 2 hours late. One kid's coming back and it's dark and they're on a test.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:12:21]:
It's a test to see if they'll follow the instructions, right? And then usually they do. I mean, I don't think they would show someone or some kid never comes back or something. But it's big in America now, people are watching the show, the Japanese show, and they have American subtitles and stuff like that and it's kind of interesting. Just give them tests. Well, the Bible says that here that the Lord says I'm testing you to see if you really truly do love me. I'm testing you, not tempting you. Because the Lord does not tempt anyone. But he uses situation to test us that we would grow, that we would grow in our faith and strength and what's going to happen in our lives.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:13:04]:
It's just something that I think about, I think about often that the Lord uses all our difficulties in our life to grow us, to test our faith. You guys know this. How many times you pray god, give me more faith or God give me more patience. I've shared this with you too. God isn't going to give you fairy dust. Patience. Like all of a sudden you just get the googlies. The googlies, the googlies.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:13:31]:
What is the word for it? I don't know, the right. The Christian. Yummies. You know what the Christian yummies are? It's so funny because even though we have them, you know what, I'm teaching someone's all they got. The Christian yummies, just anyway, so God's not going to give you the Christian yummies. I guess whatever the right. But if you pray for faith, if you pray for patience, god's going to have your wife get on your nerves a little bit, right, or whatever. Or you husbands will get on your wife's nerves because then they're going to learn, oh God help me to be I'll be patient with my husband, Lord or whatever, or vice versa.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:14:13]:
God uses difficulties in our life to grow, right? To grow and strengthen him. And you guys understand that. We all know this. The mountaintop experiences are very beautiful, aren't they? Right? You're up there and you see the trees and you see all this stuff and you see everything. But where does the fruit grow? The fruit grows in the valleys, right? It's in the valley where the vineyards grow and all the fruit is growing in the valleys, right? You guys know that. But we just don't let it sink into our brains. It's in the low spots. It's in the valley where the real growth and the fruit comes.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:14:49]:
Mountaintop experiences are great, we all need to have them, right? But it's the day to daily grind that God is shaping us and molding us and doing his work. So God says, I'm going to test you this is going to be a test in your life. Do you really love me? Is that relationship with me real? And so that's where God's going to grow, you and me. It's through our difficult times, it's through our testings that we grow closer to Jesus. And for some of you, you might be like in the midst of some testing and some trials. Well, understand that God is going to carry you through. He's not going to forsake you. The Bible promises he'll never leave you forsake you, right? Is God a liar? No, he is not.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:15:34]:
He's a good God, he's a good father. He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. So allow him to continue to teach you. Well, then Moses tells the children of Israel, you shall do these six things. Look at verse four. You should be following the Lord in these six ways that Moses tells us. Number one, let's look at these. Number one, you shall walk after the Lord.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:16:02]:
And each one of these are different gang. You shall walk after the Lord. The word walk here means to go forth. It means to travel, to go, to depart, to proceed. How you shall walk after the Lord, you shall travel with the Lord. Where he goes, you need to go. We are to go where the Lord leads, we need to travel with Him and after him. Where the Lord leads, I will go.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:16:38]:
Must be our motto. It really must be. Where the Lord leads, I will go. Must be our motto. He leads and we will follow. That's what Moses first of all tells the children of Israel, listen, you guys shall walk after the Lord, which in the Hebrew is so interesting to go forth, to travel, to depart, to proceed. I think about it. Zach was telling me, I don't remember these things, you guys, I'm nuts.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:17:11]:
Some of the things I don't remember I don't remember the process of Zach moving to Montana and why I even let him go, because I let go. My know, I'll never forget. Oh, my goodness. When Carolina Catalina was crying when her daughter Bergie was going to daughter, don't worry, Bergie, I'm mom, Bergie will be okay. And she looked at me well, tears in her eyes. She looked right in my eyes, said, pastor Tom, will you let your daughters go one day? And I remember inside I went, right, because they were little. I remember shaking inside and I said, yes, I'll let them go. And I've stayed true to that promise.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:17:59]:
It was hard. I remember when Hannah was going to go to Bible college. Michelle remembers that we couldn't even talk for six. Want to talk? I don't want to talk about know. But when the time came, she went and she never came back. Pretty, you know, even with Michelle going out and she went to Miria and then she went out to Italy and stuff and Ace is now gone and he's serving with Zach out in know when it was, he went in like all of a sudden, God uses circumstances to lead. You know, the process of Zach leaving Japan was not his initial process. I mean, initially he was leaving to take over John church.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:18:46]:
You know, I could share the whole thing with you guys, but we don't have time. But John comes to me, asks me, he's going to ask me I knew he was going to I felt like he's going to ask me to take over his church. He's going to ask me to take over his church. Sure enough, John sits me down, he says, hey, I really feel I was already thinking how I'm going to turn him down, right? He goes, I really feel that Zach is supposed to take over the church. And I remember it was another shocker inside. I was all and I was thinking, no, my grandkids are with me. Finally we have one of them there. But it didn't turn out that way.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:19:18]:
I remember Zach looking at me and going, hey, I've got this ticket that they paid for, what am I going to do? I said, just go out, spend three months out there, travel all over and visit everybody and just see what God is saying to you. And then when he came back and he told me, god's calling me to Montana. Who's out there? My sister's out there. Only, why? And he goes, I don't know. And he used analogy that I don't have time to talk about. But it was just like God sent him where he leads, I must go. Is that your motto, gang? Is that your motto here? For those of you who are listening online too, is that your motto? Are you so stuck in your life right now that you're not willing to go? You're not willing to go where God wants you to go, you're not willing to walk where he wants to lead you? Boy, that's a dangerous place, people. We must all be willing to walk where he leads us.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:20:12]:
And it was through circumstances know, god led Zach where he is right now. But that's a half dozen situation. I could tell you about other Japanese pastors who are now in different parts of the world or different parts of Japan, just serving Know. I was just talking again to Mike Ramsey. I'm trying to get him to come visit in. I don't know if I can say anywhere where he's at right now I'm living, but anyway, he's in. But, you know, I want to get him to come back to Okinawa to come and do some stuff with me, a conference and stuff. But the thing is that I look back and here's Mike still know him and his wife.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:20:51]:
Excuse me. Here Moses says, you shall walk after the Lord. Where he leads you shall go. Right? Secondly, look at the second thing that we are to do as Christians, you shall fear Him, which means that you are to revere, to hold him sacred. That's what the word means in the Hebrew. To fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The scriptures tell us, right? We are to hold the Lord as someone who is important, who we would honor and not be late or even disappoint. It's interesting.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:21:28]:
It's interesting to revere, to hold sacred. None of us want to miss an important meeting with someone, right? If you had a job interview, you would be there even early and not forget. But it is amazing that church meetings are really important. It's amazing. Wednesday and Sunday when we gather, it's important. I thank God that you guys and you're here. But more of us need to be here on Wednesday night. We need our weekly feeding.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:22:03]:
We need it just our bi weekly feeding. And I'm saying that's above my daily devotions with Jesus. I come to church not because I'm the pastor, because I even did when I was first there. I'd come all with Wednesdays and Sundays, even when I wasn't pastoring in Japan. But it was just I needed this to get me over the hump. I needed the things. The Lord was speaking to me during the week to be confirmed on the week, the midweek, and on the weekends. It's amazing to fear him.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:22:36]:
It means to reverence and to hold Him sacred. You know, our fellowship time is so important, I can't stress it enough. And that's something that we need to do. We need to remember that that the Lord is important. We need to revere him. We need to hold Him sacred. Well, the third thing it says is, you shall keep his commandments. Moses tells us keep his commandments.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:23:01]:
Which means very interesting in the Hebrew. It's different than in the Greek. The word keep here means specifically to stay awake, to watch, to protect, to observe, and even to beware. We are to keep the word of God. Specifically here. Moses is saying the Ten Commandments. We need to be awake to them. We need to be watchful over them, to protect them and to observe them.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:23:31]:
We are to obey the word of God. We are to observe, watch, and protect the commandments. Why do you say that, Tom? Because we are specifically living in a time where wrong is right. And if you speak up for the truth, you are in the wrong. You are the persecuted one. And how many of us Christians are taking too much of a wimpy state because we don't want to offend people around us? But we are being offended by people who are saying wrong is right. And if you don't believe the way I believe, you are wrong and you're going to go to jail for it. One day.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:24:17]:
The rapture is going to happen, folks. It is. And after the rapture happens, persecution is going to happen like never, ever before. But I don't have to go into specific reasons, specific situations. I could spend the rest of our night getting on a high horse or whatever and just preaching against all these bad things. You know what the world is telling us? That you know what is wrong, but the world is telling us it is right. And get with our program, because you're wrong for thinking what is wrong is not right. Does that make sense? Yeah, I think so.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:24:54]:
I was getting myself confused there, right? Do you know what I'm talking about? And here, Moses encourages us to keep the commandments to stay awake, to be watchful, to protect, to observe, and to beware okay. And are you speaking up for the truth? Are you afraid? Are you? Stop being afraid. You are the salt of this world. You are God's light bearers, right? And we need to proclaim it, because I'll tell you what, the way of the west is the way of the rest of the world, and we're getting all that junk in Japan now. It blows me away, the things that are happening. It's like they're just following, man. And you know, we have to speak up. We need to speak the truth, right? Look at this.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:25:44]:
1234. All right. You shall obey his voice. Moses says in verse four, which means, to hear and to hearken unto to hear. To hearken unto what? His voice. We as believers must hear. Listen to hear his voice. To hear what he is speaking to us.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:26:11]:
To hear what he is speaking to us. When we were little, we all remember the voice of our mothers when they called us, right? I don't know about you guys and what's it like now, because now we're so worried about our kids, we don't want them to leave our sight. When I was little, here in Norco, I'd be running around the kids in the neighborhood, and all of a sudden, I'd hear my mom's voice. Tommy. I knew his voice. I'd get embarrassed, too. Their friends are all, Your mom's calling you. I'm all like, and I'd try to play longer, but I hear, Tommy, time for dinner.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:26:42]:
And at that point, I'm a chubby kid. I'm all like, I'm out of here, boys. See you later. Okay? So I'm running home, and I would get busted sometimes. I'd be having fun with the kids. We were playing on what we called the whale rock. It was kind of shaped like a whale rock, and you'd have to climb up it. And again, I was such a chubby kid, I could never climb it.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:27:01]:
And finally, when I got to climb it, I thought I was king, right? But anyway but you would ignore your mom's voice. And you know what would happen when I ignore my mom's voice? When I got home, I got a whipping. I got spanked, right? We get in trouble if we did not listen. Hearken unto her voice. We are encouraged here by Moses. He tells us we need to hear his voice. How do we learn to hear his voice? By listening to him. By reading his word.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:27:34]:
As we read the Word, we get to discern the voice of God. Fifth thing, let's move on. You shall serve Him, which means that you shall follow. Do what he wants you to do. That's what it means to serve the Lord. It means to follow Him and do what he wants you to do. Do what he tells you to do. It's not enough to hear we must do what he is telling us to do.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:28:02]:
Again. Growing up there was not an option. When my father told me to do something, my dad told me to do something, there was not an option. I had to do it. How much more gang? When God, the God of the universe, gives us instruction, we need to do it. You shall serve him. You shall do what he wants you to do. That's what it means in the Hebrew here.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:28:33]:
Interesting. Lastly, you shall hold fast to Him. Hold fast. In the King James version you might be reading it right now, it says you shall cling or excuse me you shall cleave to Him, which means to adhere to go over to his side. You shall cling to God again. You shall cleave to him. That means to stick close to Him. The world pulls us from different directions, doesn't it? Doesn't it? I got to do the work stuff.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:29:04]:
I got to do this other stuff. I got to do these other things. I got to take my kids to soccer. I got to do all these things. I got to do all this stuff. We need to stick close to the ways of the Lord, not the ways of the world. We need to go to his side. That is a motto for all of us.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:29:29]:
His way, that's another one. His way. We need to follow him. We need to follow the you know, it's kind of know, looking back on me and Joanna's life, you know, I was thinking, man, we don't have a lot of regrets because we've always followed the Lord, what he's told us to do, we've always followed Him. It's been hard at know, look back and go, wow, remember that time? Wow, that was really hard. But it was the best thing for our lives. Follow hard. After him.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:30:00]:
Hold fast to Him, cleave to him. That's the 16 that Moses tells to do well, because in verse five he then finishes off for us the false prophets or dreamer of dreams should be put to death. OOH, that's heavy. Why? Because he has spoken in order to turn you away from God, to purposely lead you away from the Lord. Remember what God has done for you. Then Moses goes on to say that prophet needs to be put to death because remember what God has done for you. He. Brought you out of oppression, out of Egypt.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:30:39]:
He has redeemed you. He has purchased you out of the house of bondage. It says that here. The devil does not remind us of what God has done for us, right? The devil never reminds us what God has done for us. Remember, God has delivered each and every single one of us from bondage. Some of us were strung out on drugs. Some of you were into alcoholism. You were on the wrong path of life.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:31:04]:
But God has delivered each one of us in different specific ways. I was never into drugs, or I was never into drinking. Thank God. God is so good. I mean, my dad owned a bar, you know what I mean? But I never got into that kind of stuff. But what was sucking at me, what was always driving at me, was wealth and the prestige of a path of life, right? But when the Lord delivered me from that falsehood, that's when my life changed. It was a dead end path of life. The deceiver entices you away from the way you should walk, because you and I know how we should walk.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:31:49]:
We need to walk close to God, obeying his words, putting away evil from our midst. What God is saying is, get rid of that evil dude. Put him to death. Put to death that false prophet. Now, the question is, should we be killing people? No, not at all. They're like, yeah, kill those people, right? No, but what is the word of God telling us to do really, today? Put away the flesh. Put away the things of the flesh. Listen, some apps need to be destroyed.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:32:27]:
Listen, some of your apps on your phone, your smartphone, they need to be destroyed. Stop listening to the oppressor. I used to be a news junkie. I mean, man, I was listening to news all the time, reading news all the time. I was always doing that. But you know what I did? I just focused that into now, listening to Bible teachings and stuff. So when I work out, I'm able to listen to Bible teachings. I'm able to listen to different I jerry knows.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:32:59]:
I follow him all the time, and I'm all like, hey, that was a good message. Whatever. And he's all, yeah, whatever. No, I'm just kidding. Sometimes he'll message me back, and sometimes he won't. And I'm all, you know I need a friend, Jerry. I'm just kidding. I'm just no, no, I do.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:33:14]:
I message. I say, hey, that was a really good message, really like that and stuff like that. But I had to put to death some things. I had to put some things to death because they were false prophets. They were leading me away from God. And I go, you know what? I got to get rest. If I need to focus my attention on other things that are so much important and just letting your spirit getting uplifted and growing. So put to death some of those things in your life.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:33:45]:
You get what the Word is saying. We're not to put to death any physical false prophets right now. You're going to go to jail. But what's the word saying? Put to death those things in your life that are drawing you away from God. Get rid of them. Get rid of that stuff, people. Strong words and judgment for the deceiver of God's, people, right? That's what this portion is telling. There's strong words and judgment for the deceiver of God's.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:34:13]:
People have nothing to do with these type of evil things. Have nothing to do, if anything's, drawing you away from the Lord, anything that's deceiving you and drawing you away from God have nothing to do with that. Put it away. What do you have to put away in your life today? Honestly? What do you have to put away from your life today? Is it an ungodly relationship? Is it I don't know, you guys. I don't know anybody. Are you in a dating relationship that is ungodly? Put that stuff away. It's going to lead you down a path that you thought you would never go. I'm experiencing that in people that I love and know that they've just gone down the path because of an ungodly relationship.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:35:02]:
But, you know, that also has to do with some of your friendships. You have some of you have ungodly friends. I'm not saying that you shouldn't have non Christian friends, because if you don't, you're defeating the purpose of reaching them. But, you know, there's some friends that are just ungodly, and you got to cut that relationship off. Another thing, too. They're never going to come to know Christ if you don't take a stand. It's like, hey, Ralph. Hey, Joe, I can't hang with you anymore because your life is ungodly.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:35:31]:
You need to repent of your sins. Oh, you think you're no, no, I just love you. I don't need this in my hmm. Unlike I already told you, do you need to put away that ungodly app on your smartphone? How about your job, you guys? Is your job pulling you away from the things of the Lord? And you're listening to a lie that tells you that you've got to keep on working there. You need to pray. You need to get back into the things of God. You need to take stand, and you're like, Tom, you don't know my job. You don't owe my dad.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:36:09]:
You know what I mean? When I was working in the hacienda, you know, stories, I left, you know, went to back to Bible college. I got into trouble when I was working my dad. I left and I came back, and I was running my dad's restaurant and I mean running to my dad's store. Remember. Don. Leon tortillas. Some of you guys remember the Tortilla factory? I was running for my dad, and my dad would tell me, I know my dad would tell me, I'd say, dad, I've got to preach on Wednesday nights. I need to close a little bit early.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:36:35]:
You know what my dad told me? You can close five minutes early. So from over there, where Del Taco is, I had to get there. Over here. And back then, it was like I remember I'd mop, I'd count the money and everything, and then all of a know, I'm ready to just close the lights and lock the door and leave. Jump in my car, drive down here, park, get out of the car, come straight up here and start leading worship. You know what I mean? I remember those days because my dad didn't let me. But you know what? I had to take a stand against him. And I told my dad, I am not going to work on Sunday.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:37:13]:
And he said what? You I always got mad at him. I thought, dad, you never cussed out my brothers. You never cussed out my sister. Of course, because my sister never talked to him. And then he would anyway. She was the only girl, so she was special. My dad would cuss me out. He would use words.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:37:33]:
I go, you should be ashamed of yourself using those words. I don't even hear my friends use it because whatever. But it was like he would tell me, you're lazy. That's why you don't want to work on Sunday. And you're this and you're that. And I said, dad, I am not going to work on Sunday. That's it. And I didn't.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:37:52]:
And it was hard. It was hard. But I took a stand, man. That was it. Some of you guys, you're letting your work dictate your life, and you need to take a stand, and you need to make some Godly stance for the Lord and not let these things interfere with your life. I know what it was like. I do. You're like you don't know.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:38:15]:
I do. I knew what I had to do. I knew the stances I needed to take. I remember when I was working with Jerry too, that the enemy lie. They'd tell me, hey, you got to call call back at Wednesdays at 07:00 or 730 to make that deal. And the temptation was, either call that call or say, I leave it in your hands. And you know when I did that? The next day I would land the deal. I did.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:38:37]:
They'd tell me to call at seven. I wouldn't call because I knew I had to go to church. And then the next day I'd call and they'd be like, oh, yeah. And I go, that those are things the Lord taught me. Put him first and he will bless you. And he did. God was awesome, right? But listen, just kind of wrapping this up real quick. Hold fast to him, please.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:39:01]:
Hold fast him again. Look at verse four. How do I hold fast to him in four different ways, right? And not in four different ways. Not in these six ways. Not these six different ways, but in these six ways. Hold fast to him. Number one, you shall walk after Him, go where he leads you. Be in the scriptures.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:39:22]:
Secondly, you shall fear Him means you shall honor Him. Honor him with your life. Hold him sacred. Continue to make church your commitment to come and bring your family to come and hear the Word of God. Thirdly, you shall keep his commandments. Don't just read the Word, but you have to keep the Word. Guard it. Stand for truth, people.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:39:45]:
Right? Stand for truth. Don't be like, oh, I don't want to offend these guys. I don't want to fit. Stand for truth. You know that is wrong, and I don't believe that way. And if you want to persecute me, that that's okay. But this is what I know the Word of God is teaching. Right.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:40:02]:
You need to keep his commandments. You shall obey his voice. Number four, spend time with Him, hear Him. Do whatever he tells you to do. Fifthly, you shall serve him. Serve him to wait on the Lord. Wait upon the Lord and serve him. You think about that, and I've said this before that.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:40:25]:
What do waiters do while you're waiting? Right? Wait upon the Lord. Wait on him. What do waiters do? They serve. Serve the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Serve Him. Waiters. Wait on other people right.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:40:39]:
Serve the body of Christ. Obey Him. Do what he tells you to do. Serve the Lord. Fifthly. Right. Serve Him. And sixLY, you shall hold fast to Him.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:40:51]:
Cling to our God. Cling to God like a child. Clings to his parents. Cling to the Lord. In that way, you'll never go wrong. Clinging on to your heavenly Father. Right. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak to your hearts.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:41:09]:
Let's pray. Lord, your word is heavy. Your word is awesome. Your Word is like sometimes we just have to digest these things and chew on them for a while. And, God, I pray that we would meditate on this message and allow it to just speak to us even in a deeper way. Lord, you're so good. Lord, bless Your wonderful people here and their families they represent. Lord, continue to pour out Your Spirit upon us.
Pastor Tom Ruiz Jr [00:41:37]:
We need you. And so we thank you so much for this night, and we pray all this in Jesus beautiful name. Amen.