You're listening to the Miracle Word Podcast. We believe that the Word of God gives you the power to experience never-ending increase in every area. If you're ready for revelation that will take you to the next level, you're in the right place. Here's your host, evangelist, author, and founder of Miracle Word University, 10 Shuttlesworth Jr.
I want to start on this today. I'm dealing with something that I feel like is very freeing for people, and that is I'm highlighting slash exposing five deadly relationships that you must avoid as a believer. And I'm sure you know this by now, but the relationships in your life can make you or break you. And I don't mean that in an insignificant way.
I mean, you can literally miss the entire purpose of your life because of relationships that are around you. Morning Joanne, Christine, Tony. Thanks everybody for sharing the broadcast as you're jumping on. When I say literally make your break you, I mean, I mean that in the most extreme way, because what you'll find out is your relationships are guiding forces.
Whether you know it or not, you allow the people in your life to guide you in one way or another. And I'm going to explain that because I know there's people that think that's not true, but it is true. And I'm going to explain what I mean by it in a moment. Morning Ralph, let me just say something.
Ralph and I and Jenna went to the Pickleball courts last night, the City courts. Where's that? Margate, Florida Ralph. And then Jenna split up onto the other sides, and Ralph and I teamed up and played seven straight and didn't lose one match.
We came in like a couple of pickleball monsters and destroyed. So I'm feeling very good this morning. I'm feeling very victorious, very victorious. And I know Ralph was feeling very victorious this morning.
And let me just say, I may get like a pickleball crown to where next time I go out there, stay on top of the hill and just point my paddle and everybody down below and challenge the whole group. That's right. We had no breaks. Log that miracle word athletic.
Ralph burned like 1500 calories. I burned 1300 calories and we had no breaks and we went at it. We went at it. So you're looking at a victorious pastor here this morning on the broadcast.
Very victorious. Just thought I'd slipped that in case any of our opponents were watching this morning and wonder what a little bit more. Jenna was also very victorious. She said she played five of her best games.
I'm old enough to play pickleball. Trust me. Actually, it was kind of a young group over there. It's going to be a young group.
Ralph said my ankle does not feel victorious. Oh, we had the eye of the tiger, all right. But case in point, I've got some relationships that pulled me out at 8.30 at night to play pickleball. And as a result, look at that.
Burned 1300 calories. Why? Relationships that pushed me to go hard. But it's true.
You know, I've quoted it often and I'm sure you've read it or heard it, but they tell you that you become the average of the five people that you hang around the most. When you watch relationships, watch groups of people, watch groups of people, what you'll find is they usually live in the same types of places. They usually drive the same types of cars. They usually go on the same types of vacations.
They usually like the same types of things. They usually have the same types of spending habits. And so when you watch people, people hang around people for the most part. And I mean by default, that are like them.
People mainly hang around people that are like them. There's no question that that old school phrase is true. Birds of a feather flock together. There's no question about it.
People by default fall into these categories and find people that are like them. And you say, well, why is that? Why do people do that? Well, there's one reason they do it is because there is a comfort in being around people that are like you.
Do you understand what I mean by that? So for example, let's talk about financially. If there are people that are at one level of success, right? Let's say you're at one level of success and I'll just make it very basic.
This three people are three families. They all make like $100,000 a year. Let's just use that as a basic round number. They make $100,000.
It's very unlikely that they're going to have close friends that make like $4,000 or $50,000 a year. It's very unlikely. Now, the only difference here for the most part is I find church is kind of a weird unifier in that way because you'll have people from all walks of life come to church and then they'll make their friends, which is a good thing. They'll make their friends in the house of God and the friendships really aren't based upon financial status, education or anything like that.
It's actually based around their experience with Christ and with God. That's actually a good thing which we'll talk about today as well. But in the world for the most part, you're hanging with people. Why is that?
It's not because that people that have more or are doing more wouldn't hang out with others. It's that one thing people don't like at all is feeling like the odd man out. So if you're the guy making $50,000 and you're hanging around people that make $100,000, $150,000 and you see every day you're seeing the gap between your lives and most people can't take that. It's a frustration.
How come I don't live and what they live in? How come I don't have what they have? Why don't I drive what they drive? And so I'm just showing you a financial example.
What ends up happening is instead of it being a blessing, it creates a frustration for people. And so they would rather say, you know what, I'm just going to hang around people that are about more my speed. And so what do they do? They hang around people that kind of work like they work, have what they have, do what they do and the birds of a feather start to flock together once again.
And so a point I was making a couple of days ago on the broadcast was I know people, I was mentioning Brother Ben as one of them, I know others. Brad Strobel, who's on my board, same thing, who actually will seek out those that are far more successful and glean from them, become friends, glean from them. That takes a certain confidence, that takes a certain maturity and you've got to be, you can't be an insecure person and live like that because you've got to be able to understand, I got to surround myself with people that are at a higher level than I'm at to go higher. A great example is like what we're doing.
You know, it's like Ralph and I are trying to find people, same with Jenna, whoever else plays with us, Alex, Jonathan, you know, if we go play, I'm not trying to go find a middle school where I can play fifth and sixth graders in pickleball and then crush them every day and you know, talk trash. I made one comment last night. I mean, one comment and Ralph looked at me like, that kid's like 14 years old. But he happened to just show up because his brother was there.
He was actually a pretty good pickleball player. But you know, you're not trying to go to the kindergarten and play basketball and take every one of those five year olds to the hoop. You know, nobody does that because they're not on the same level. And so people also don't do it in life.
They also don't do it in life. They're trying to find people that are around their comfortable, you know, place of living. And so here's what you got to be careful of. Some people will continue on in relationships simply because and here's a mistake, please, please, please write this down.
Some people will continue on in relationships simply because they've had the relationship for a long time. And that is a huge mistake. Well, you know, I've known this person since I was in eighth grade. Okay.
What does that have to do with anything? You know, people allow loyalty over time based relationships to destroy their life because okay, what if you do have a friend that you've known since eighth grade and they have no desire whatsoever to serve the Lord? You do. And they don't.
So you're sticking to this relationship with huge loyalty simply because it's been around for a long time to your own detriment because that person has no desire to serve Jesus. And so there's a great tension in the relationship because of that fact. And you can still love people without keeping them in your close circle of friends. I'll just say this plainly.
I don't have anybody in my close circle of friends that doesn't want to serve the Lord. I don't have anybody in my close circle of friends that doesn't believe in the power of God, for example, doesn't believe in miracles. You know, I don't have anybody in my close circle of friends that, you know, it's just, you have to govern it. You have to guard it.
You have to guard it very, very tightly because relationships will make you or break you. And I'm very, I'm very specific. I'm very specific about who I allow into my life and who I don't allow. Kelly said, what about those that don't have friends?
Lots of acquaintances, but no friends. At that point, I'd ask, why do you have no friends? Why do you have, why is there no one in your life that you can be close to? That also starts to become a problem.
It's like, why is there no one that you can trust enough to be your friend? What's that about? And so I would examine yourself and say, why do I have no friends? I have acquaintances, but no friends.
Now, I have acquaintances too, but I have friends and you need friends. God gives, gives people friends. The Bible says in Proverbs 27, 17, as iron sharpens iron. So a friend sharpens a friend.
Kelly said they died or God pruned them. Well, if God pruned them, then they weren't the proper person to be your friend. If they died, you know, I'm sure you'll see them again if they're a Christian, but you need to make new friends, make new friends. So they'll make you a regular.
So the key being as iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend, Proverbs 27, 17. And it's, and hear me. It's okay to have acquaintances. I have a ton because not everybody can be your close friend.
It doesn't mean you don't love them. It doesn't mean you don't care about them or pray for them or believe in them. It just means not everybody. And it's not even a function of, well, they're not qualified.
It's like you actually only have time for so many people. Yeah. You only have time for so much in your life. And so I want to kind of outline because when I throw these up today, it should give some red flags to you.
If there's anybody like this in your life, let there be recognition. Let there be recognition that I need to rethink this. I need to rethink this. I was laughing because, you know, I've always thought this and then I heard Bishop Dag preach it.
But I've always thought like it's interesting to me when certain people call your phone and you immediately see their name, you're like, Oh, what do they want? There's a problem. If someone's name annoys you enough to where you don't even want to answer the phone, that should be assigned to somebody. This person calls me and their name is enough for me to be like, Oh, what do they want?
Why are they calling me? Why are they calling me? Couldn't they have sent a telegram? What's going on?
Something about that person irritates you to the point that you don't want to even hear from them, let alone spend time with them. I was laughing because Bishop Dag said you need to change their number in your phone. If any of those people are in your phone, don't answer one. Don't answer two.
Don't answer three. Don't answer four. And I agree. Don't allow toxic people to ruin your life just because they're persistent.
I want to go in. I want to Kristen hear that. Don't allow toxic people to ruin your life just because they're persistent. Well, you know, she calls all the time.
Don't answer. I've actually blocked people from my phone. It's all right to do that. I've blocked people from my phone.
So they can't call me anymore. They can't text me anymore. Why would you do that? Because I don't want to hear from them.
I don't want to hear from them. Every time they call, there's some negative thing or they're upset with some person. They got some more drama. And so I want to deal with this because I've boiled it down to five types of people that you've just got to guard yourself against that type of a relationship.
You have to. Good morning Houston Texans in the house. The number one, and these are no particular orders. Not like this is the number one that we want to know.
But I look at people that I would call them containers. They're full of doubt. You can just write doubters in your notes if you want. Extreme doubters.
The reason I call them containers is because they will contain you so that you can't do what God's called you to do. They will literally contain, you know, that's like a sports term. If you're on defense and you can contain, you're containing the offense or you're containing your opponent or the guy you're guarding, you're containing them so that they can't, you know, either score, they can't make any receptions if it's football, whatever. It's a defense that contains the offense.
It can't make anything happen. There's people that will do that to you. These containers, these doubters, if they attach themselves to you, they will do everything they can. And you know what's crazy is sometimes it's not even like they're not, it's not like they're doing it on purpose or knowingly.
It's like that's how they live and they don't know any difference. But if you allow them in, this is what will happen. It's not like they've come in with like an evil intention to block your destiny. But they will whether they know they're doing it or not because they won't change their life and they live in this doubting, unbelieving attitude and it contains you and it contains them.
And I don't need anybody coming in, you know, they're like dream killers, literally. They're like dream killers. Every time you have an idea or something, you know, you speak, God's speaking to you to do, well, you know, I don't know, I don't know about that because, you know, it's just, it's a very, that's kind of a very hard thing to get into. And I just don't know if that's going to, like every time you have something, it's like they're pouring water on your fire all the time.
I don't need people who are pouring water on my fire. I can't, I can't deal with that. And I'm not allowing it because my future is too important. And what God's called me to do is too important to have some person.
I was going, I don't know about that. I just don't think that, you know, are you even ready for something like that? I don't, I can't live like that. So if I got people around me just talking like that all the time, just full of doubt, full of unbelief, God hates that.
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Let not that man think he'll receive anything from the Lord, not anything, nothing from the Lord, unstable. I refuse to allow people to try to make me double minded. The Bible says, believe all things are possible to him that believes.
Mark chapter nine verse 23, all things are possible to him that believes. Remember something, without faith, it's impossible to please God. You don't have faith or not, or, you know, it's like, you don't, you don't kind of have faith. Well, I kind of have faith.
You either have it or you don't, either have it or don't. You're not kind to pregnant. You're either pregnant or you're not. You know, I think I'm kind of pregnant.
You're not kind of pregnant. You're pregnant or you're not pregnant. You don't kind of have faith. You either have it or you don't have it.
And so I don't allow doubters in. Remember this too, Romans chapter 14 verse 23. The Bible says whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. Romans 14 verse 23.
Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. Why? Because if you don't have faith, you can't please God. And so I don't want to live in a way that's displeasing to God because my faith is just not there.
And I refuse to let people steal my expectation. There's people that will do that. They'll steal your expectation. Well, and it always comes in the form of like care.
Well, you know, I'm just, I'm looking out for you because I'd hate to see your hopes dashed. I hate to see you build up your hopes and your expectation and you know, it doesn't come to pass. So I'm just, and then you know, people always say, this is like their thing. Well, I'm just being a realist.
I'm just being a realist. No, you're full of unbelief. You're full of unbelief. Full of doubt.
I'm just being a realist, brother. That's not what you're doing. You're full of unbelief. You're full of doubt.
And it's displeasing to God. I identify that stuff very quickly. And let me tell you, if I notice that in someone, let's say for example, I didn't know them that deep. You know, we're meeting and we're forming and I tell them something or talked about something.
And I notice that that pops out. Let me tell you, I'm not sharing stuff like that with them ever again, not ever again, because it's too important for me to move forward with what God called me to do to start, for lack of a better term, putting my pearls before swine. As the Bible says, it is one of the types of God will prune. If people allow him to prune them, see, that's the other thing.
Kelly said, that's one of the types that God prunes. True. If people allow God to prune people like that, because what you'll find is God will start trying to prune these relationships and people run back to them, start pulling them back in. God will do that and then it's crazy that people don't want to let go.
So they'll run back and start trying to reconnect. Hey, I haven't heard from you forever. What have you been doing? It's like God's trying to remove that person from your life.
Just let them go. Let them go. Let them go. Let them go.
And not hold your back here anymore. I want to hear the Frozen song sung by Creed. Let them go. Doubters, they're full of doubt, full of unbelief.
They're containing you. Number two, the second type of relationship that's extremely damaging is people who are constantly complaining about stuff, constantly complaining about everything. That also I can't deal with it. I can't deal with it complaining about everything.
Where especially when we live in number one, the greatest time there ever was with more advantages and more conveniences than we've ever had in the history of the world ever. And we're living in a nation that is far more blessed than the majority of nations on the face of the earth. And yet you still have people who find a way to complain about things. Never mind.
I tell people, there's people that they're always complaining. I wish they would just have an opportunity to travel around the world at least once. Travel to different nations like I have. I know I'm starting to sound like an old guy, but I'm not young, but I'm also not old.
I'm somewhere right in the middle. But I wish they would travel. Travel to some nations and see what it's like. We got a team going with us to Cuba.
You're going to come back from Cuba and say, man, thank God for what we have in the United States of America. You go places and there's not power for eight hours a day. You go places and there's resources not available. Finances are a wreck.
I'm talking about nationally. Go to India. Go to portions of nations in Africa. Hannah said, that's one of our main team rules for our Cuba missions team.
No complaining. Hannah, I'm getting a little tired of the street witnessing. Can we go, where's the nearest Starbucks? Could somebody find the nearest Starbucks?
You're in Cuba. There's no Starbucks. You're not going to find Starbucks. Maybe there is.
I don't know. I've never been there. Maybe there are no Ruby Tuesdays. Is it in Havana?
Complain. People complain about everything. Yet they eat more than three hot meals a day. They live better than 99% of the people on the face of the earth have more than enough in their closet, in their refrigerator.
You know, it's like people, I would almost have to say it this way. People in the United States of America, for the most part. I mean, there might be a select few. But people here don't even know what poverty is.
People don't know what poverty is in the United States of America. So get the tip. That guy's homeless. He's homeless and he's like 130 pounds overweight.
So you're not impoverished. Let me tell you, you're not impoverished if you're homeless and you're 130 pounds overweight. Go to nations where you truly see poverty or there's nothing to eat and you walk around and you see everybody's ribs sticking out. People look like skeletons with skin stretched over the skeleton.
That's poverty. I guess homeless. People don't know. They don't know in America what poverty is.
They don't know. They think they know. They don't. You know, can you pray for me?
I'm not going to be going through poverty. How's it affected you? We've had to cancel our Netflix subscription and our Amazon Prime subscription and we've not even been able to go out to eat or anything like that. That's not poverty because you can't have three subscriptions to streaming services and you can't go out to eat.
That's not what poverty is. And I'm telling you, people in America don't understand how good it is and how much God's blessed this nation. And for people to complain, it's mind blowing. There's people that will type complaints.
There's people that will type complaints into the comments from a $1,000 cellphone. Hey, just on my iPhone. Need prayer. I'm just in poverty.
It's like people don't. They don't get it. They don't get it. And what people don't understand is, and this is not what this broadcast is about, but maybe it will be at some point, there's some people that are in situations simply because they refuse to not be in those situations.
And it's more people than you think. It's far more people than you think. They're in situations because they refuse to not be in those situations. I know people, listen to me, I know people that would rather be on government assistance than they would to actually work a job.
I'm talking about able bodied people, able bodied people. They would rather just collect unemployment or go on government assistance or whatever than they would to actually get their lazy behind off of a couch and go work a job. People come up with all kinds of excuses. I'm not talking about people with disabilities.
I'm not talking about people that have been injured. I'm not talking about able bodied people that would rather sit around all day and do nothing than collect a check from the government and collect unemployment than they would to actually go work a job. And maybe we need to add that to the list. Let me look at my list.
No, it's on my list. It's the next one. So let's just combine them. You got complainers and it seems like I've already transitioned into number three.
Lazy people. It's true, Nikki. She said the Amazon truck rolling up to public housing is wild. Just getting some prime deliveries here in my government housing.
There's people that I'm going to tell you, I can't even understand it. I can't understand it. Lazy. God hates, hates, hates laziness.
He hates it. Do you realize God through a parable Christ told in Matthew 25, God called laziness wickedness. I want you to put it in the comments, laziness equals sign wickedness. Laziness equals sign wickedness.
God hates laziness. He hates it. He absolutely cannot stand it. Do you know why?
He has created us and called us to produce. He's created us and called us to produce. Let me read this to you. Chapter six, starting with verse six.
Go to the ant. You sluggered. You sluggered. That's such a funny word to say to someone.
You sluggered. You are such a sluggered. I'm going to get the ant. I know what sluggered means.
Let's see what the actual definition of it is. Oh, just a lazy sluggish person. Slow, slow and lazy. The only thing that can be worse than lazy is slow and lazy.
You're not just lazy. You're slow. You're a sluggered. That's funny.
You're not just lazy. You're slow. You're a sluggered. It's true, Ben.
He says, go to the ant. Oh, sluggered. Consider her ways and be wise. Okay, what is it?
What is it about the ant? God wants us to see and copy in our own lives. Verse seven, without having any chief, officer or ruler, she prepares her bread in the summer, gathers her food in the harvest. Caitlin said, even the words sound slow and lazy.
Just like slaw, Ralph. I slaw, almost sluggered. And if you like slaw, don't be offended. I was just inside joking with Ralph.
How long, verse nine, will you lie there? Oh, sluggered uses it again. When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come upon you like a robber and want like an armed man.
Wild. There are people, and listen, it's funny because I said it on the broadcast here and immediately people popped into your mind when I was saying it. Put a hand up. You don't have to say the name.
Just put a hand up in the comments. If I started talking about people like that, immediately people came to your mind. I had people come to my mind immediately. I had people come to my mind.
Pop a hand up if that's you that you heard sluggered and you're like, yep. Tell me about it. Yeah, there is no, it's terrible. It's terrible.
God can't stand it. Lazyness is wickedness. So where do you get that from? Matthew 25.
Matthew 25 says the parable of three servants that the master left talents. The last one, the last servant buried his talent in the ground, sat on it, didn't do anything. And then the master came back and he said, Hey, get your talent here. Just buried it in the ground.
I know you're a hard man and whatnot, etc. So on and so on. Masters, are you serious? You could have at least been a good man.
I know you're a good man. I know you're a good man. I know you're a good man. I know you're a good man.
You could have at least put this in the bank so that I'd have made some interest. Now, think about how lazy this is. Think about how lazy this is. This is insane.
I'm leaving for a long trip and I give you $1,000. Let's say the first servant got $5,000. The second servant got $2,000. The last servant got $1,000.
Think about because this is not some short trip. It was long enough that they could take those talents and multiply with them and the first two servants doubled their investment. So it was enough time for their investment to be doubled. The first one was on a long trip.
That would be like today, you left me with $1,000. I'm trusting you with this to produce. It would be like me walking into my room and just putting it under my bed, under my mattress. I'm going to hang on to that for him.
And like the bank is down the road. How lazy do you have to be that you're like, yeah, I know the mattress is going to be going for two years. I don't think I'll have time to get to the bank. That is so lazy.
Get back two years later. How about that investment of $1,000? Yeah, I'm just going to give you the $1,000 back. I've had it under my mattress.
You're so lazy. You're a sluggerd. And all the hands going up in the comments shows me I'm not alone in this, that there's plenty of people that you know exactly what I'm talking about. Just lazy people, lazy people.
I'll say it again. I said yesterday, you don't have to quit a job to start a business. You can start a business while working a job and start your business until your business is enough to sustain you and then you can quit your job. I had somebody message me and said, you know, I'm done.
I'm done with it. That's not just one. I've had like now six different people. Tell me the same exact thing.
It's crazy how people will do the exact same thing. I messaged me and be like, I'm done at my job. I don't like how they treat me. I was like, Oh man, all right, we have lined up.
Well, nothing. I'm just believing God's going to provide you quit your paying job with no backup plan whatsoever. No backup. You just quit your job.
You just walk down. You're done. And you've got nothing to go to next. Why would you do that?
Why not line something up first and then quit? Why would you do that to yourself? Why would you do that to yourself? And I have to take my hat off to people that are married to lazy people because they have to work doubly hard.
They have to work doubly hard. They go after it. They go after it. Where'd you send it on Slack?
Tiffany, I'm so happy too, that I've got, I don't have a lazy team. I mean, we wouldn't have any way they'd be gone. But I'm also thankful that I don't have a lazy wife. Oh, there it is.
I don't have a lazy team. I have such a diligent team. And I'm so thankful that I have, I don't have a lazy wife. Cause there are people that have, I've seen the mismatch.
You know, I've seen people that are like very, very hustling wife, like hustler. She's a hustler, but then the husband is like lazy. I've also seen the flip side. Husband is a hustler going after it.
And the wife is very lazy. I've seen both. Then sadly, you wanna know something crazy? I got it.
Thank you. You wanna know some crazy? I've seen marriages where both the husband and the wife are very lazy. And that's sad.
You don't wanna see that. And I'm not gonna ask cause I know there's a ton of people that have seen the same thing. Got it. Got it.
I do. I mean, we absolutely do. Wow. That should be a shirt roll.
A lazy spouse will ruin your house because the other person has to do double duty, double duty. But God loves diligence. He loves diligence. I read those scriptures.
I think it was what yesterday we went through three proverbs on that. The diligent hand will be made, or the diligent hand we met, a slack hand lends itself to poverty, but the diligent will be made fat. There's so many scriptures in the Bible that talk about diligence, faithfulness, and how God blesses it. So I have to say my hat is truly off to, if you ended up linked up with a spouse that is lazy and you're the hustler, my hat is off to you doing double duty.
And let me tell you, I have a new respect more than ever before for single mothers that are doing the work. Because let me tell you, they are getting it. You know, working to provide for their children, filling both roles to the best of their ability, going after it. I mean, I don't know if I've ever, I mean, I'm sure there are some, but I don't know that I've ever seen a lazy single mother.
I'm sure they're out there, but I mean, maybe it's cause the ones I've seen are all in church. But like they are getting it, getting it, going after it, working, hustling, taking care of the kids, providing for the family, spiritual leader in the home, going after it. You know, it's absolutely amazing to watch, absolutely amazing to watch because it makes God happy to see you go that hard, to see you fruitful and multiplying for your next generation. Changes everything.
But I can't abide laziness. I cannot abide laziness and God can't stand it either. And that's a great point Fred. You know, the Bible tells us to do everything that we do as unto the Lord.
It's like I'm doing it for God. And he's in front of me right now, inspecting my work. He is my fruit inspector. I said that yesterday.
He's my fruit inspector. And so that's right. That's right, Rolle. Special anointing and provision over single moms and single dads.
And so absolutely amazing. When you see people that are given it, they're all, I've heard this phrase before and I like the phrase, do all that you can do. And then let God do all he can do. Do all that you can do.
And then let God do all that he can do. Amen. So number one, talking about five deadly relationships that you must avoid at all costs. Number one is doubters.
Number two is unthankful people, complainers. Number three, lazy people. How about this? Number four, liars.
Let me say this, as soon as you locate a liar, cut them off. As soon as you locate a liar, cut them off. Liars is number four. As soon as you locate a liar, cut them off.
So why do you say cut them off? Because if they'll lie about somebody else, they'll lie about you. If they'll lie about other people, they'll lie about you. And let me tell you, the moment somebody is just fine with being a liar, they are aligning themselves with Satan himself.
God, listen, I heard a pastor at a boy, I say this one time. He said, God doesn't hate liars because he loves the truth. He hates liars because he is the truth. Think about that.
God doesn't hate liars because he loves the truth. He hates liars because he is the truth. Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth. I am the life.
I am the way, I am the truth. I am the life. And so Jesus didn't oppose lying because he loves the truth. He is the truth.
And the devil is not just a liar. He is the father of lies. Think about that. He's not just a liar.
He's the father of all lies. That's why you hear Jesus say stuff in the gospels. It's like, hold up. He's saying like, you are of your father, the devil.
You are of your father, the devil. People freak out. You know, what? Yeah, you're of your father, the devil.
God can't stand liars and lying. Can't stand it. And so if you locate one in your life, let me tell you, if you locate one in your life, trust me when I tell you, cut them off. Don't release any more information to them.
Don't have anything else to do with them. We take it very, very seriously in our home. We take it very, very seriously in our ministry. If people start being fine with lying and then number five, let me hit this.
Let me hit this. The fifth type of relationship you've got to watch out for is critical people. And I'm going to spend a minute on this one because this is such a wicked thing. They don't just attack other people, but they do.
They attack people, but they don't just attack people. They also bring division in the body of Christ. They bring division. This is very, very bad.
And let me show you a few verses of scripture. If you haven't looked at these already, but let's look at them now. I'm still in Proverbs 6 where we just read about the ants and the sluggers. But listen to verse 16.
Proverbs 16, there are six things that the Lord hates. 7 that are an abomination unto him. Number one, haughty eyes, people that are full of pride. Number two, a lying tongue.
We just covered that. A lying tongue. Number three, hands that shed innocent blood. People that are just killing people.
God hates it. A heart, number four, that devises wicked plans. People that are planning evil things. God hates it.
Feet that make haste to run to evil. God hates it. People that are planning evil things. God hates it.
Feet that make haste to run to evil. People that are quick to run to do wicked things. God hates it. Look at this, a false witness who breathes out lies.
Now, let me tell you the difference because it sounds like we listed the same thing twice, but we didn't. We didn't. There's a difference between a liar and a false witness. A liar is just a person who tells lies.
But a false witness is someone who tells lies about other people. See the difference. The difference between a liar and a false witness. A liar just tells lies.
A false witness is telling lies about other people. God hates both. Whether you're just telling lies for your own benefit or you're telling them about other people, God hates it. God hates it.
It's an abomination unto him. And then finally, somebody who sows discord or division among brothers isn't it interesting that that's on the list. God hates that. Did you know it's because the Bible says God commands the blessing in unity.
In unity. That's where God commands the blessing. So if you see people that are sowing discord among brothers, what does that mean? They're working to bring division among brothers.
And I don't mean blood brothers. I'm talking about people in the body of Christ. Let me tell you, we are strong on that at your core church. If I find people that are actively trying to bring division, you're gone.
I mean, I'll do what the Bible says. I'll call you aside. I'll warn you once I'll warn you twice. After that, goodbye.
Goodbye. Look at Titus. This is an interesting passage of scripture. This chapter three, my grandfather broke this out in a service live once and then kicked a whole family out of the church from the pulpit.
Let's read Titus chapter three, verse number versus 10 and 11. Listen to this. As for a person who stirs up division. Okay, so that's what we're talking about.
Critical people that stir up and sows discord among brothers. This passage says they stir up division as for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful. He is self condemned. He's condemned himself by continuing to stir up division.
Do you realize how rebellious that is to be like somebody stirring up division, you warn them and then they go back and continue stirring up division and then you warn them again by grace and they go back to stirring up division again. That's why I was at that point have nothing more to do with them. Cut them off hard. Well, that sounds like a cult to me.
It's not a cult. That's from the Bible. That's from God's mouth. This is how important it is to have unity.
This is how important it is after warning him once and twice have nothing more to do with them, knowing such a person is warped and sinful. It is demonic. Well, you're right. It's demonic.
How can you have spiritual leadership pull you aside and speak to you and say, Hey, cut it out. You know, quit, quit doing that. Quit, quit dividing the body, quit mutilating the body of Christ and come into unity with your brothers and sisters. Let me tell you, there's people like that that are just, they're not happy unless they're involved in some kind of drama with somebody at some, it's like watching, you know, it's like their whole life is like the real housewives of LA or whatever.
That's your whole life. It's your whole life. You just want drama with everybody and we want to buy it. I don't abide it because you're not going to, it's a cancer.
You're not putting that cancer of division on other people, critical spirit. And that's exactly what it is, Jody. It's pride. Let.
And I like that, Gina. We have rules in our church and this is forbidden. No gossip period. No gossip period.
What is your church gene? Is it FWC? FWC is your church. Let me just help you because I know I've got people from your court church watching today.
Got a bunch of people from your court church. We got a lot of victory tribe on, but, but listen to this, don't become a conduit for gossip. If somebody does that to you, number one, fine. Excuse yourself from the conversation, but let, let you let yourself become the dead end.
I am the dead end of gossip. I am the dead end. It hits me and dies. Here what I'm saying, gossip hits me.
If I ever hear it, it dies with me. I don't spread it. I kill it. I don't spread it.
I kill it. I refuse to be one of the people that God hates. People want favor on their life and they run around gossiping and wonder why there's no favor on their life. How is God going to favor something that he hates?
That doesn't even make sense. How is God going to favor something that he hates? He plainly told us he hates it. He can't stand it.
He's not going to, he's not going to put favor on it. Don't be a conduit for gossip. Let it die with you and don't let it, don't let it go. You know what?
Let there be. I'll tell you, if I heard gossip, I would first warn the person that I heard it from. Don't say that anymore. Don't spread that around.
And then I would tell the person, I don't know if you know this. So and so has been going around saying this and I'm not sure if you, I let them know the truth. Yeah, you can do that, Jody. Ask the gospel if the person gave the permission to share that news.
Let me tell you what, what's so dangerous about gossip? I put this in my book further faster. Think about this for a minute. If you gossip, do you know for a fact that what you're saying is true?
Do you know for a fact that it's true? Because if you don't know for a fact and could prove it in a court of law, then how do you know that what you're saying is not a lie making you also, not just a gossiper, but now you're bearing false witness against your brothers and sisters. You're telling lies. So now you become two of the people God hates.
Think about that. Now you become two of the people God hates. I'm not just someone who is stirring up division. I'm all somebody that's bearing false witness.
Dangerous man. And I'm not going to be that person. I am not going to be that person. I've seen it too often.
I got too much to do to spend my life worried about talking about other people. Too much to do. I got my blinders on. I've got things to do.
Things to accomplish. No question. No question about it. And so check these at the door.
You know, division, the reason I'm spending more time on critical, there are people, if you realize that is, and I know you do. This is a strong form of pride. In order to be critical, to tear others down, you really have to have a high opinion of yourself to constantly be criticizing other people where it's like what Jesus said. Instead of worrying about getting the speck out of your brother's eye, maybe try getting the log out of your own eye.
You're worried about the speck in their eye. Meanwhile you've got a log in your eye, a moat. Get it out. Don't allow that to be your story.
Don't allow it to be your life. And don't allow your life to be contaminated by people who are liars, people who are stirring up division and people who are critical of everybody. How does this work? Well, the devil uses it to bring division among the body of Christ.