1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,280 So, I have been strongly convicted by the message that we are about to hear today, 2 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:10,720 in that I realized that I have done some things wrong in my life and even as a pastor. 3 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:15,600 And so, I will try to point out my mistakes when I get there, 4 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:17,840 but that is not what it's about. This message is not about me. 5 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:21,600 It is about God's Word. It is about how God is working in believers. 6 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:27,120 The message, as you see up on the screen, are you looking? 7 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:31,680 Is how to make a stand without becoming a take a stander. 8 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:36,080 Are you paying attention? Okay. 9 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:40,640 The first verse I want to read to you today comes from Proverbs chapter 27. 10 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:41,520 Amen. 11 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:43,360 Somebody else give me an amen over here on this side. 12 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:43,920 Amen. 13 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:45,520 All right. Thank you very much. Very good. Okay. 14 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:49,440 So, Proverbs chapter 27. It's not a very fun verse to preach out of, 15 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:54,080 and we'll use a variety of verses, but it will cut to the quick if you're not careful. 16 00:00:54,080 --> 00:01:00,640 Proverbs 27, 15, and 16 says as follows. So, if you're trying to get the book of Proverbs 27, 17 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:05,040 you're not going to get Proverbs any easier way probably than just kind of go into your Bible 18 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:08,960 and then go into the right, and then you're going to kind of find chapter 27. 19 00:01:08,960 --> 00:01:12,960 So, you'll probably in the middle of your Bible will be Psalms and slide it to the right as Proverbs, 20 00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:15,200 and then you get 27. That way you can mark it. 21 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:18,720 I won't be able to do that with all of them, but a number of the verses I'm about to read 22 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:22,320 do come out of Proverbs. So, if you have a paper Bible and you do that and you're in the book of 23 00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:26,240 Proverbs, you can mark all the verses that I'm about to read as we go over them because you'll 24 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:30,320 be able to get through the different chapters pretty quickly. Electronic Bible workers, 25 00:01:30,320 --> 00:01:33,040 if you're really good using your Bible a lot, you'll be able to do the same thing, 26 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:36,960 but it'll be a little harder for you because you'll have to go back to Proverbs every time 27 00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:40,880 and then select the right chapter and the right verse. Yeah, you know, some things are good, 28 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:44,800 some things are a little harder. Proverbs 27, 15, 16 says this. 29 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:52,160 A constant dripping on a day of steady rain and a contentious woman are alike. 30 00:01:55,120 --> 00:02:01,440 He who would restrain her restrains the winds and grasps oil with his right hand. 31 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:07,280 So, before we go any further and look at other verses, I wanted you to see a couple things in 32 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:12,240 here. The first thing is a constant dripping is something like that just nags at you, 33 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:19,120 just bothers you, right? It's like it's always, it keeps dripping. I had a variety of nightmares 34 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:25,920 for about a year and a half about our house and how the roof had begun to leak and I was up there 35 00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:30,480 trying to repair the leaks and the more I repaired the leaks, the more new leaks would come and I was 36 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:33,120 in the attic and I was looking, there's a drip here and a drip there and a drip there. None of 37 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:37,680 them were pouring down like waterfalls, but there were lots of drips and I was trying to fix the 38 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:43,200 drips and you know when that went away? The nightmare stopped when we got a new roof on our 39 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:48,400 house. Now the truth is there was no dripping. The roof was not leaking. I was just thinking it 40 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:53,280 was leaking, but I can say to you that a constant dripping on a day of steady rain is annoying, 41 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:57,840 okay? It's a difficult thing to deal with and he makes that clear in this text. He says a 42 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:05,760 contentious woman and a constant dripping on a day of steady rain, they are alike. They continue on, 43 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:11,760 they're not easily stopped and so on. Before anyone in the room goes, oh I'm kind of escaping this 44 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:15,360 sermon a little bit today because I don't happen to be a woman and I don't think I'm all that 45 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:20,640 contentious. I think I may show before we are through that the teachings I'm going to give today 46 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:26,960 or that I feel like the Lord has given me today apply to men and women alike and you may be more 47 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:34,160 contentious than you think. So be careful before you dismiss the sermon. To restrain the woman who 48 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:40,080 is contentious is like restraining the wind. How easily is that accomplished? Pretty much not, 49 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:45,360 right? You cannot restrain the wind, pretty much. You're more likely to be blown. The better you do 50 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:49,760 at restraining the wind, by the way, the more likely you are to be blown. If you put up a big sail 51 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:54,080 and stop the wind in a 10 foot by 10 foot area, you will be swept backwards unless you anchor 52 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:59,680 yourself to the ground and so on. That's how sailboats generally work. And grasp oil with his right 53 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:04,960 hand. How easy is it to grasp oil? RJ, you ever pull the oil plug and it starts to drain? You put 54 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:09,120 your hand up there try to stop it? No, it doesn't really work, does it? I mean you can put your 55 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:13,280 thumb in the hole or something. Yeah, you could, you could, yeah, you're going to get a mess no 56 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:17,680 matter what. Restraining oil, catching it in your hand, not really easily. And then, and by the way, 57 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:21,360 oil doesn't even wash off easy. So after you're all that's done, you've got that huge mess, you've 58 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:26,000 got a big mess to clean up and it's not that easy. All in all, it seems like a contentious woman is a 59 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:34,160 problem. Proverbs 26, 21 then, so you're going back a chapter, says this, like charcoal to hot embers 60 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:40,800 and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. So let's take it backwards. 61 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:45,520 Strife is problems, right? Strife is when life is not going well, you're really struggling, 62 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:48,640 you're having a hard time getting through, you feel like you could just die on the spot. That's strife. 63 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:56,400 Strife. To kindle, there we go, to kindle strife is to kind of bring it about, get it going really 64 00:04:56,400 --> 00:05:00,800 good, right? So sometimes we do this, we're having a bad day. You ever been having a bad day and 65 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,640 something's not quite working right? And so you break it and now you've got a problem from now on, 66 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:08,480 right? It's not, it's like, I'm not liking what's going on with my phone. So you dash your phone on 67 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:11,760 the ground, oh crud, now my phone is broken. So now you've got all these problems, replace your 68 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:18,880 phone, whatever. Or could be, you know, your day is going horribly and so you just jam the gas pedal 69 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:22,240 down and go 20 mile an hour over the speed limit, next thing you know you're getting a ticket. So now 70 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:27,120 you've added the ticket on top of the bad day, right? And you can go on and on. There's lots of 71 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:31,920 ways to kindle strife, to make it bigger and badder than it was before. This verse says that a 72 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:38,160 contentious man does that very, very well. If you are a contentious man, you have a tendency to make 73 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:45,360 things worse when they're already kind of bad. That's what you're good at. Charcoal to hot embers 74 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:50,480 and wood to fire means you take it, you just keep it going. You're fueling it, you're keeping going. 75 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:54,480 The hot embers, they're just kind of burning out. If you just left them go, they'd just burn out. 76 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:59,520 But now you put coal or charcoal, burnable charcoal on there, up it goes. Yes sir? 77 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:06,160 What was the reference? This is Proverbs 26-21. Yep. And so charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire 78 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:10,720 means not only do you keep the bad stuff going, but you make the bad stuff bigger and worse 79 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:16,240 if you are a person who is contentious. Proverbs 21-9 now, so we're going back a little bit further, 80 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:24,800 back, says, it's better to live in a corner of a roof than in a house shared with a contentious 81 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:30,640 woman. So if you're in a house with a woman and she's contentious, and remember if she's 82 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:35,440 contentious, it's hard to hold her back. That's what Proverbs 27 told us. And I'll just say that 83 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:41,120 is not only that, grasping her is like grasping oil with your right hand. It's pretty much not 84 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:46,000 going to happen. Now we learn that it's better to live in the corner of a roof than in a house 85 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:54,880 shared with a contentious woman. Ouch. The truth is, man or woman, contentious people are hard to 86 00:06:54,880 --> 00:07:01,840 deal with. A contentious person is a person not only as we see here who sparks up strife or makes 87 00:07:01,840 --> 00:07:05,520 it worse, but they're just a person who's ready to fight. They're ready to fight for, maybe ready to 88 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:11,040 fight what they believe in, maybe ready to fight for what they stand for or what they think is right. 89 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:16,160 I've known a lot of people in my life, and some of them are in this room, who have what I would call 90 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:21,840 a high sense of justice. They know what they think is right. And when somebody does in their 91 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:28,400 presence what is wrong, that gets them worked up. And you would say, well that's not contentious, 92 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:33,360 that's just standing up for what's right. Well that remains to be seen. I'd like to stick a pin 93 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:38,160 in that for a second if we could and come back and say, is it or is it not contentious? Just take a 94 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:44,400 stand for what you believe is right. That's the question. Because if it is contentious, then 95 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:49,280 someone would be better off living in the corner of a roof than sharing a house with you if you 96 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:54,720 believe in standing up for what's right. Right? We sang about standing up for what's right just today. 97 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:59,280 We'll take a stand. But if you listen closely to the words of that song, there's more to it than 98 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:06,720 simply taking a stand for what you believe is right. Notice also that contentiousness is often 99 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:12,800 about how you come across or how you do what it is that you're doing. To kindle strife, 100 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:19,840 like a contentious man is very capable of doing, has something to do with whether when they're 101 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:26,080 standing up for what they believe in, how they're doing it. Right? Proverbs 27 14, so you're right 102 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:31,200 in the neighborhood, go to the right six chapters, says, he who blesses his friend with a loud voice 103 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:37,200 early in the morning, it will be reckoned a curse to him. In other words, if you come by Josh's house 104 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:41,680 about 5 a.m., and I picked a particularly early time because Josh does tend to get up fairly early 105 00:08:41,680 --> 00:08:45,760 most days, but if you come about 5 a.m. and he's sound asleep and his alarm hasn't gone off and you 106 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:51,200 go, hey brother Josh, I just come to bless you, just want to say how much I appreciate you, and he's sound 107 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:55,520 asleep in his bed. Now there might be some blessing in that, he might be grateful that you stopped by, 108 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:59,520 he might be grateful that you're trying to bless him, whatever, but he was sound asleep a minute ago, 109 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:05,360 you know, and he's got to get up for work. That turns your blessing into something that may not 110 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:12,320 be so much of a blessing. Okay? In fact, according to Proverbs 27, your blessing is reckoned as a 111 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:18,960 curse. What's that fool doing yelling at my door at 5 a.m.? Right? It could be anything. You come to 112 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:24,720 bless a brother or a sister and you come in a way that does not. Example, you're hanging out with 113 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:28,720 somebody and they do something that's clearly wrong, they make a mistake, or they tell a story 114 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:32,560 that they did something that's wrong. Now would a brother, if they're in the wrong, want to know 115 00:09:32,560 --> 00:09:36,400 they're in the wrong? Well sure they would, but you're sitting at the table with them and there's 116 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:41,200 a half dozen other people there, and they say it, and it just kind of slides by, nobody really knows 117 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:45,360 what, but you noticed it and you notice it's wrong, and you say to them in front of everybody else, 118 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:49,600 hey I just want to stop you right there for a second. I just heard you say you did this, 119 00:09:50,560 --> 00:09:55,120 is that right? Yeah, that's what I said. Well the Bible says do this instead. Clearly you're wrong, 120 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:59,280 right? And now you've got this whole crowd of people that's watching you, and even though you're 121 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:05,040 bringing the truth, the way you're bringing the truth is not right. It's hurtful. Now they publicly 122 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:09,920 told the story, but it was, it's pretty clear that everybody just kind of let it slide, right? Now if 123 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:14,320 they want to be truly correct, after you correct them in private, they would have to come back in 124 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:19,600 public and say without naming you at all, hey I realized I told you this story, but you know 125 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:24,080 actually I see I made a mistake there, right? And then they have the opportunity to correct themselves. 126 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:31,120 Okay, so how you bring the truth has a big impact on whether you're telling whether you're a 127 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:35,360 contentious person, or whether you're just really trying to help, whether you're really trying to 128 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:40,080 bless or not. If you come with a loud voice early in the morning, or by any other means that's 129 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:46,080 considered atrocious, it will be reckoned as a curse to the person who does so, not as a blessing. 130 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:52,880 Proverbs 13 10 then says, through insolence. So that's pride. Now it's interesting because the 131 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:58,160 King James translates this a little differently, and both have to be correct, because they're both 132 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:02,480 translations of the original language. So the King James says essentially, and I'm quoting from 133 00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:11,920 memory here, that only by pride, or only through pride, does contentiousness come, right? And then 134 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:16,880 the New American Standard translates it this way, through insolence, which is kind of like pride 135 00:11:16,880 --> 00:11:21,040 in yourself that doesn't take into account what anybody else thinks, through insolence comes 136 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:29,520 nothing but strife. So one says only by pride comes the contentiousness or the strife, and one says 137 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:36,720 that nothing but strife or contentiousness comes from being prideful or insolent. I submit to you 138 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:42,000 that both are correct. This is a one-way street that starts where you are, and when you start 139 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:46,080 to think, I'm right, I'm okay, I'm good, I'm going to be fine, no matter what anybody thinks, 140 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:50,160 and we've even heard it said in this room at times, and I've even preached it, we don't have 141 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:54,560 to worry about what other people think. Now I've always clarified that and say, you do kind of have 142 00:11:54,560 --> 00:11:59,440 to worry a little bit, not worry, but be concerned, because what reflects on you, reflects not on you, 143 00:11:59,440 --> 00:12:05,680 but the Lord whom you serve. So what you do does reflect on Jesus. You want to be a little concerned, 144 00:12:05,680 --> 00:12:09,840 right, that's why we are a light before men, to be a little concerned about what they think about you, 145 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:13,840 but as Christians get grown up a little bit, we start thinking, I don't care what other people think, 146 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:18,800 I don't care what anybody thinks, I only care what God thinks, I'm living for an audience of one. 147 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:24,000 No, you are not living for an audience of one. In fact, in some sense, you're not living at all, 148 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:29,200 right, you were dead, and you're trespassing sins brought to life, but now we live not for ourselves, 149 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:34,880 but for the one who lives through us, who is Jesus Christ, right, we live for Jesus. Jesus is living 150 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:40,960 in you, Jesus is helping you live, and Jesus cares about the way Christians act, because it reflects 151 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:46,560 on him. You are his church, his bride, I care about the way my wife acts, and I'm very blessed 152 00:12:46,560 --> 00:12:51,920 mostly by the way she acts, almost all the time, because she represents Jesus, not because of me, 153 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:56,640 right, it doesn't matter, like she can misrepresent me, and we'll talk about it, we'll work it out, 154 00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:00,400 right, or I misrepresent her, she'll talk to me about it, we'll work it out, but really what we 155 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:07,760 don't ever want to do is misrepresent Jesus, and so you have to be careful about being okay, because 156 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:10,640 when you think you're okay, and you're going to be okay no matter what, and stop caring what other 157 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:18,960 people think, realize that leads one way street to nothing but strife. Just think for a moment 158 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:21,760 about the story of Stephen, not going to go there and read it, but it's going to give you just a 159 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:27,760 tiny synopsis of it, Stephen was an apostle and a deacon in the church very early on, and he preached 160 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:32,560 to the Jews on the temple, on the Jewish temple steps, he preached to them that they had crucified 161 00:13:32,560 --> 00:13:39,920 the Messiah, and in response they did what? They stoned him, they killed him dead, now he got to go 162 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:44,560 to heaven, he's a martyr coming to the kingdom of God before you or I, that's wonderful, but I don't 163 00:13:44,560 --> 00:13:47,840 think Stephen was really looking to be stoned that day, he didn't go out and say I'm going to preach 164 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:51,840 it so that everybody's truly offended, the bottom line is if you tell the truth in a crowd of people 165 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:57,120 don't want to hear the truth, you might wind up stoned, or any other kind of attacked, right, so 166 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:00,720 do you stand up for the truth? Yes, you stand up for the truth, do you stand up for the truth in 167 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:06,320 an obnoxious way so that you will be attacked for standing up for the truth? No, you don't need to 168 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:10,640 solicit the attack, if somebody says they don't want to hear it, then you say okay, I'm not going 169 00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:14,880 to tell you, right, you honor their request, and say no I'm going to keep telling them, I'm going to 170 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:18,000 keep telling them, I'm going to keep telling them, because they got to be saved, I desire them to be saved, 171 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:22,640 you can't save them, only God can do that, and if they don't want to hear what you're saying, 172 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:27,360 and you keep telling it, you need to understand you're stirring up strife, you're a contentious person. 173 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:34,880 The verse was, through insolence or pride comes nothing but strife, or only through pride comes 174 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:40,560 contentiousness or strife, but wisdom is with those who receive counsel, you need to be willing 175 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:48,000 to listen, willing to grow from your experiences, now Proverbs 6 16, so now you're going back 176 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:54,800 quite a bit to the left, another seven chapters, says this, verse 16, there are six things which 177 00:14:54,800 --> 00:15:01,120 the Lord hates, now listen, anytime the Bible says God hates something, you take that super serious, 178 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:06,720 right, because God literally is love, so if it says God hates something, I mean it's a big deal to him, 179 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:13,120 all right, and it says this, there are six things that the Lord hates, yes seven, which are an 180 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:17,760 abomination to him, and that word abomination there means like he would spit it out of his mouth as if 181 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:24,240 he accidentally chewed on poop, that's what it means, so in other words, God really does not like 182 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:29,680 these things, and then I skip down a little later on the list, and here it is, a false witness who 183 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:37,040 utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers, and now we're getting to the heart of the matter, 184 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:44,400 here's where contentiousness really becomes a problem, okay, so first of all, there are those who 185 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:49,360 contend because they're essentially bearing false witness, and God really doesn't like that, in fact 186 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:53,840 it's so much so that he put in the Ten Commandments, right, that you can't bear false witness, 187 00:15:53,840 --> 00:16:00,080 but then it says, and one who spreads strife or contention among brothers, so people who are supposed 188 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:05,680 to be united, but now are coming up separate because somebody is causing something to happen between them, 189 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:10,560 I'm going to give you a story from the New Testament that speaks about this, and I've cheated 190 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:15,280 and turned my Bible already there, so you'll have to race to catch up to me, in Mark chapter 14, 191 00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:22,080 Mark chapter 14, it is a story that you may not be completely unfamiliar with, it says in Mark 14, 192 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:26,160 one the Passover and unleavened bread were two days off, and the chief priests and the scribes 193 00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:31,680 were seeking how to seize him, that is Jesus, by saying not during the festival lest there be 194 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:37,920 a riot of the people, and while he was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, and reclining at 195 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:45,120 the table there came a woman with an alabaster vial, a very costly perfume of pure nard, and she 196 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:50,320 broke the vial and poured it over his head, but some were indignantly remarking to one another, 197 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:57,040 why has this perfume been wasted, for this perfume might have been sold for over 300 denarii 198 00:16:57,040 --> 00:17:02,640 and the money given to the poor, and they were scolding her, so notice there's there are people 199 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:07,360 amongst the group, and we know that Judas is one of the very outspoken members of this group from 200 00:17:07,360 --> 00:17:13,760 the other gospel, and there are people who are speaking against her for pouring the perfume on 201 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:20,960 her head, and then now others begin to scold her, so there is dissension in the ranks. Now let me ask 202 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:27,760 you for a minute, is this woman a follower of Jesus? I mean we have every reason to believe that 203 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:33,120 she's a follower of Jesus, right? She's there doing this for Jesus, in fact later Jesus will say, 204 00:17:33,120 --> 00:17:36,800 and truly I say to you wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, and also which this 205 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:42,560 woman has done shall be spoken of in memory of her. She has never been forgotten, thousands of 206 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:51,280 years later we are reminded of what she has done, you follow? So there they are scolding her, 207 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:59,680 talking bad about her. Jesus replies to them and says, let her alone, why do you bother her? 208 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:05,840 She has done a good deed to me, for the poor you always have with you, and whenever you wish you 209 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:11,920 can do them good, but you do not always have me. She has done what she could, she has anointed my 210 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:16,800 body beforehand for the burial, and truly I say to you wherever the gospel is preached in the whole 211 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:23,440 world, that also which this woman has done shall be spoken of in memory of her. And Judas Iscariot, 212 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:29,200 who was one of the twelve, went off to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. See Judas 213 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:34,640 was offended, took a stand about the waste of the perfume, took a stand about what she was doing, 214 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:43,360 and now goes out to make arrangements to betray Jesus. I submit to you that sometimes people who 215 00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:49,760 are contentious and bringing about strife, they are nothing but betrayers. So let us be careful 216 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:56,000 that as we stand up for what we believe is right, that we do not become a betrayer ourselves of the 217 00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:02,080 faith. Should you stand up for what is right? Well that is the question, that is the one that we put 218 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:08,720 a pin in, if you will, and we are keeping it there. In the book of Titus chapter 3 verses 10 and 11, 219 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:14,240 we are almost done with the verses for the day. Titus chapter 3 verses 10 and 11, it says this, 220 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:22,560 reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and 221 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:29,280 is sinning, being self-condemned. I like it when I see that he is self-condemned because we know that 222 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:33,680 Jesus did not come to condemn people, but rather they are condemned already by what they have done 223 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:42,000 with the Son of God. That is John 3 verse 17. This tells us to reject, in other words, put out, 224 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:48,000 or put aside, or be done with a factious man. A factious man is, who as we mentioned in the previous 225 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:52,880 verses, creates division or strife between brothers or sisters who are supposed to be at peace with 226 00:19:52,880 --> 00:20:00,000 one another. And now we are told to reject a factious man after a first and second warning. 227 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:06,400 We do that because we know that this man is perverted, he is twisted, he is messed up in 228 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:12,480 his following of Jesus, and he is in sin, it says, and is sinning. He is not doing what God would have 229 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:20,320 him to do, being self-condemned. In other words, his own actions condemn him. Ouch, this hurts, 230 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:24,800 doesn't it, a little bit? You have to be careful here. Have you ever spoke against the church? 231 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:29,360 Have you ever spoke against another believer? Have you ever said, well I am mad at so and so 232 00:20:29,360 --> 00:20:34,160 because they did this or did that, or Mr. Tremont, let me tell you a story. Two separate stories, 233 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:41,200 I will not name names. I had a woman come to me and she said she was angry. She was angry with 234 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:47,760 another woman in the church because of something that she had done. She had made her feel bad, 235 00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:55,440 named her in a particular act, and it made her look bad, mocked her, she said. And I said, well, 236 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:59,680 have you talked to her about it? She said, no, I don't want to talk to her about it. I want to 237 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:03,760 avoid trouble. I don't want any trouble. I said, well, you know, Scripture says in Matthew 18, 238 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:08,240 you got to talk to her about it. No, I am not going to do that. And I said, well, until you are ready 239 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:12,160 to do that, there can be really no peace. You have to be ready to forgive and then you get peace by 240 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:16,720 talking to her about it. She said, well, I am not going to do that. Now I stopped there. That is as 241 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:20,400 far as I went. I had already told her what the Bible said, what she was supposed to do, whatever. 242 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:27,280 But according to Titus 3, what should I have done? I warned her one more time. She said, this is your 243 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:31,760 first warning. This is your first warning because you are unwilling to reconcile with this person 244 00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:35,040 who has supposedly wronged you. You are not teaching them what is right and you are not going to 245 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:38,160 reconcile and you are not going to forgive. That is what you are saying, right? Right. So what you 246 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:42,080 are creating then is a division, a division that you are in the church, she is in the church, 247 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:45,920 you are creating a division. This is a contentious woman who created a division with another woman. 248 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:50,720 The other woman did not actually even do wrong the thing that she thought was wrong because I 249 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:54,640 did talk to both of them separately, privately, quietly and figured out that really what she 250 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:59,200 thought she did, she did not even actually do. There was a misunderstanding. What she did might 251 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:02,960 have been wrong, but it was not wrong in the way that the woman was blaming her for. So there is 252 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:08,480 contention there. What I should have said was consider this your one warning. Then going back 253 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:12,160 later and said, okay, we need to talk about this. You have a problem with this? Are you willing now 254 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:18,000 to, nope, then consider this your second warning. Okay, now I come back still later. Are we ready to 255 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:23,760 solve this problem? Nope, we are not going to do it. Okay, wash my hands of you. I am done with you. 256 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:30,160 The church is done with you. Do you not understand that the unity between God's people, 257 00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:35,840 we are literally supposed to be ready to die for one another. If there is somebody in this room 258 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:38,720 that you have contention with, somebody in this room that has bothered you, somebody in this room 259 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:42,720 that acts in a way that you cannot stand and it is getting under your skin, and you would allow 260 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:47,120 that to create division between you and them, or you would allow them, there to be division between 261 00:22:47,120 --> 00:22:50,880 that person and another person because you think, well, they kind of deserve it. They are doing it 262 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:56,560 themselves. If you would allow that, you are not living the church that Jesus Christ died for. 263 00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:05,600 You are not the bride of Christ if that is the way you are. Paul said to Titus, wrote to Titus, 264 00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:12,960 if a factious man, you could insert woman there, after a first and second warning, reject them. 265 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:22,240 You cannot divide me from the church because I am the church. You take me out of the body and put 266 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:28,640 me on a sidewalk, I will die because I am the body of Christ. And when factions develop because of 267 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:32,160 somebody that is in the church, it says, well, they are wrong. I am just going to let it go, 268 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:36,800 but I am still going to stew on it. I am still going to remember it. That is contentious and 269 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:41,760 it is wrong. And Paul said, be done with that person, not the person who originally was being 270 00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:46,720 corrected, because that person might be willing to be corrected, but the person who is unwilling 271 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:53,920 to do the correcting. So are we supposed to take a stand? That is still our question. Are we supposed 272 00:23:53,920 --> 00:24:01,920 to take a stand? Still the question of the day. Galatians 5.15 says this, but if you bite and 273 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:07,600 devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. So in other words, 274 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:14,240 in the church, as believers, it could be, and I will leave this door open if you want to use it, 275 00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:18,240 but there could be a believer that is in the world and they do not come to church, and they claim to 276 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:21,920 be a believer. And they say, well, I do not need to go to church. Church has got problems. Church 277 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:25,280 has got hypocrisy. Church does not do this right. So and so and that church hurt me and I have not 278 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:27,840 gone back since and I am not going to church anywhere because I am just going to go to church 279 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:34,800 and get hurt. Whatever. That is a factious person. That is a contentious person. And living in a house 280 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:38,480 with them, you would be better off living on the edge of a roof. Fixing their problems is going to 281 00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:43,680 be like catching oil in your hand. It is not going to happen. So what do you do? You say, okay, I am 282 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:48,480 done with you. I am not going to keep coming begging on behalf of the church, whom Christ already died 283 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:52,560 for, by the way. I am not going to keep coming begging on behalf of Jesus that you would repent. 284 00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:57,440 I am not going to keep doing that. I am done. We have been here three times already. Every time, 285 00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:01,040 all you do is tell me how much is wrong with so and so who claims to be a believer. But you are not 286 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:04,000 doing anything about it. If you will not get in the church and do something about the problem that 287 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:10,400 the church has, then you are the problem that the church has. That is what we are learning in the 288 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:18,320 Word today. But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. 289 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:25,520 So are we supposed to take a stand? Well, already you know the answer to the question, right? 290 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:29,040 We have to stand up for what is right. We are required in Scripture to stand up for what is 291 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:34,160 right. But what about sin and the lives of other believers? Well, you know Matthew 18. Well, guess 292 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:39,760 what? There is a little something in Matthew 18. As I read it today, now I preached this. This was 293 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:44,800 my senior sermon and I studied it. When I did that, I studied it for probably a month and a half. I 294 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:48,800 was really super thorough to study this. I preached it just the way it is written. In fact, I 295 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:53,840 preached a larger portion of Matthew 18 than I am going to read today. Today, as I studied it, I 296 00:25:53,840 --> 00:26:00,880 discovered something in the Word. Can you believe it? I discovered something in the verse. After I 297 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:05,840 studied it for like two months back in the day, preached it several times since then, and I read 298 00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:09,520 these verses that I am about to read to you, and I discovered something. I am going to show you what 299 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:13,120 I discovered. Because if I discovered it, my guess is you probably haven't seen it even if you have 300 00:26:13,120 --> 00:26:20,480 read it before. And so we are looking at Matthew 18 verses 15 through 20. And it says, and some of 301 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:24,880 this won't be new to you if you have read this before, but I expect some of it will be new to 302 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:27,840 you. And somebody in here probably hasn't read this before. So we are all going to go there together. 303 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:34,080 Here we go. Matthew 18, 15. It says, And if your brother sins, go and reprove him in private. In 304 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:38,480 other words, if you see a brother who claims to be a Christian and they sin, you go and correct them 305 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:43,280 or tell them about their sin in private. Not publicly, but in private. If he listens to you, 306 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:48,800 you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, 307 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:53,920 so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every fact may be confirmed. Now the purpose of 308 00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:58,880 the two or three is multi-fold. One is so that there is a record. Everybody knows. There are no 309 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:04,320 questions about what was said, what was done. But the other is because you could be wrong. You could 310 00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:08,320 be correcting somebody and you are actually wrong. And they go, why are we here again? No, you are 311 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:12,240 saying this person is in sin. That is not really a sin because of these circumstances or whatever. 312 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:15,600 It doesn't line up with scripture. You are not even talking about the same thing. You are comparing 313 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:21,120 apples to oranges here. So then that two or three others can stop it at that point. So the second 314 00:27:21,120 --> 00:27:26,880 step, take two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every fact may be 315 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:33,920 confirmed. Verse 17, and if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. Notice this phrase. 316 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:40,880 And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. Did you get that? Now we have a spot 317 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:45,920 in our membership mediums built in to do member correction, if you will, to get to this point in 318 00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:49,760 time. So we have membership meetings. Anybody else, anybody been working with somebody, talked to 319 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:52,720 them and they didn't listen, and you talked to them with one, two or three others, they are present, 320 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:57,520 they still didn't listen, and then you are at that final stage so you can bring it here. 321 00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:05,040 But notice it says, tell it to the church. It does not say, bring them to the church. 322 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:10,320 They don't have to be present. That's the problem that has infested this level of accountability 323 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:15,920 for me for the last 20 years because I don't like, I'm very careful to not talk about anyone 324 00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:21,280 when they're not there. Because I understand gossip and slander. Here is Jesus saying, 325 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:27,840 we talked to them, they would not listen, they're continuing in their sin, so we've come here today, 326 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:30,800 I've come here today and there are two or three witnesses with me because they were there and they 327 00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:34,800 can testify that we did indeed talk to them. And I'm not going to lie, I'm not going to lie, 328 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:40,520 I didn't leave them as witnesses and there she is. She came and she talked to them, she's 329 00:28:40,020 --> 00:28:44,660 they refuse to repent, they will not turn back as corroborated by witnesses 330 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:45,520 committed to testify and yet I did not hear what she told me. I do not understand what 331 00:28:44,660 --> 00:28:50,160 because I'm past that stage and I can tell the church without that person 332 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:50,920 she said to me, I don't understand who she says he's talking to, what is his intention. 333 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:56,080 present. That's what I found in the text that I've missed for decades. Nobody's 334 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:56,500 She said it was a words ofibles that have not been read about the science of being early 335 00:28:56,080 --> 00:29:00,160 perfect. Praise Jesus because if we were perfect we'd be in danger of the very 336 00:28:56,500 --> 00:29:01,600 mani. Our very first type of chili is chili gloves. We don't correct ourselves as if we 337 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:08,880 first thing which was insolence always breeds strife, right? So back to 18, we 338 00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:13,020 were in 16, 17, and if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if 339 00:29:13,020 --> 00:29:16,980 you refuse to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a 340 00:29:16,980 --> 00:29:21,480 tax gatherer. And so in other words, I tell it to the church whether they're 341 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:25,940 present or not, then the church has a responsibility. What is the church 342 00:29:25,940 --> 00:29:31,100 supposed to do? The church as a whole goes back and talks to the individual, 343 00:29:31,100 --> 00:29:35,980 right? Because otherwise how is that individual refusing to listen? See this 344 00:29:35,980 --> 00:29:38,980 is the problem that I've had because we've gotten to that point in time and 345 00:29:38,980 --> 00:29:42,420 I'm like why am I the only one? I feel like I'm the only one. I went and talked to them 346 00:29:42,420 --> 00:29:45,180 and then I took a couple people, we talked to them, we got there, and I bring 347 00:29:45,180 --> 00:29:47,820 it, and I don't want to bring it to the church and talk about them so I'm already 348 00:29:47,820 --> 00:29:50,260 stopping myself because I don't want to talk about them when they're not present, 349 00:29:50,260 --> 00:29:54,340 right? And then at least one case I can think of I was forced to do that because 350 00:29:54,340 --> 00:29:57,180 they told me I don't care what you do, I'm not coming blah blah blah. So I come to 351 00:29:57,180 --> 00:30:03,900 the church and talk to them and then the church, that's us all, are supposed to 352 00:30:03,900 --> 00:30:06,860 talk to the individual. You say well how's that possible? Well this is the 353 00:30:06,860 --> 00:30:10,820 problem. Do you not care that there is a brother who served alongside of you a 354 00:30:10,820 --> 00:30:13,660 month ago or served alongside of you six months ago or however long it's been 355 00:30:13,660 --> 00:30:18,140 since they fell away and you don't care that they're walking in sin and could 356 00:30:18,140 --> 00:30:21,100 potentially be headed for hell if they're not truly saved? You do not care? 357 00:30:21,100 --> 00:30:25,060 Here's a person who professed the name of Jesus Christ. You called them brother 358 00:30:25,060 --> 00:30:28,780 and you walked in this building and said hey brother so-and-so and you shook their 359 00:30:28,780 --> 00:30:32,640 hand and that's your brother but now they're walking in sin and you don't 360 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:42,180 even care. Ouch! Why? How could this be? The church collectively all together 361 00:30:42,180 --> 00:30:46,420 should be going after that person. You text them, you call them, you show up at 362 00:30:46,420 --> 00:30:50,220 their house not at 5 a.m. but it's sometime appropriate and you say look 363 00:30:50,220 --> 00:30:56,060 brother we really want you to stop. We really want you to come back and in 364 00:30:56,060 --> 00:31:01,820 this, this is one of the few times in Scripture that it is very patently clear 365 00:31:01,820 --> 00:31:07,180 that the church must be united because it doesn't say that some members from 366 00:31:07,180 --> 00:31:10,620 the church go or the church elects some people to go or the pastor of the church 367 00:31:10,620 --> 00:31:14,300 goes or one of the deacons go or the board of deacons goes. It says that the 368 00:31:14,300 --> 00:31:18,660 church after having talked to them if they still will not listen then let that 369 00:31:18,660 --> 00:31:22,860 person be as a Gentile or a tax collector. Truly I say to you whatever you 370 00:31:22,860 --> 00:31:25,940 shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth 371 00:31:25,940 --> 00:31:29,980 shall be loosed in heaven and don't distance that from the previous text. We 372 00:31:29,980 --> 00:31:34,180 have a job to do. We must restrain the sin in our own lives or really beat it 373 00:31:34,180 --> 00:31:37,980 down if that's at all possible and also in the lives of others caring not only 374 00:31:37,980 --> 00:31:41,180 for our other concern for our own concerns but also for those of others. 375 00:31:41,180 --> 00:31:45,340 This is again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth about anything that 376 00:31:45,340 --> 00:31:49,900 they may ask it shall be done for them by my Father who is in heaven for where 377 00:31:49,900 --> 00:31:53,380 two or three gathered together in my name there I am in their midst. That is 378 00:31:53,380 --> 00:31:56,780 the verse that is so often misquoted to say we're gonna still worship God today 379 00:31:56,780 --> 00:32:00,940 even though we only have a couple of us which is not the way it was meant at all. 380 00:32:00,940 --> 00:32:07,940 We are supposed to be united. Are we supposed to stand up? Yes! The answer 381 00:32:07,940 --> 00:32:14,540 isn't unabashed. Yes! Stand up for what you believe in in every context. The 382 00:32:14,540 --> 00:32:18,220 question is how does the Bible teach us to stand up and as we come to the 383 00:32:18,220 --> 00:32:22,620 conclusion I'm going to share that with you today. The synopsis I'm about to 384 00:32:22,620 --> 00:32:28,540 share with you is amended from an incorrect synopsis that I got from 385 00:32:28,540 --> 00:32:32,940 BibleKnowingJesus.com and I'll probably get a nasty hate mail or something. I 386 00:32:32,940 --> 00:32:36,380 won't actually because they're probably for us to be Christians but they have an 387 00:32:36,380 --> 00:32:40,060 outline that you can look it up on there and if this will hit Facebook and 388 00:32:40,060 --> 00:32:42,340 somebody will probably go there and tag them and whatever and that's fine I hope 389 00:32:42,340 --> 00:32:46,100 they do because that'd be good publicity. But the bottom line is some of the points 390 00:32:46,100 --> 00:32:50,780 that they had in the outline of how to stand up, how to correct, how to do what 391 00:32:50,780 --> 00:32:54,440 it is that we're talking about doing, were not complete. They were not actually 392 00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:59,020 biblical or accurate and so I went back in after studying it and I amended it 393 00:32:59,020 --> 00:33:03,940 slightly and it's not that it's it's not that anything they said was wrong it's 394 00:33:03,940 --> 00:33:09,580 that they were sort of missing some key points in the words that they chose. 395 00:33:09,580 --> 00:33:14,020 And so the first thing is a person who wants to stand up for what they believe 396 00:33:14,020 --> 00:33:18,660 in but does not want to be considered contentious. They want to stand up for 397 00:33:18,660 --> 00:33:26,300 what they believe in but not become a person who's just a take a stander. 398 00:33:26,300 --> 00:33:33,780 Are you looking at the title? First of all that person must have peace with God. There's 399 00:33:33,780 --> 00:33:38,100 a lot of fighting and strife going on in the world. There's a lot of disagreeing 400 00:33:38,100 --> 00:33:43,100 politics all over the places about making the other person look a little 401 00:33:43,100 --> 00:33:49,340 less fit for office than you are. Fighting over laws, fighting over rules and 402 00:33:49,340 --> 00:33:54,300 schools, fighting over rules on the job, fighting over the boss man says I got to 403 00:33:54,300 --> 00:34:01,620 do this but I don't agree, whatever. You're probably not going to have peace 404 00:34:01,620 --> 00:34:06,100 with the world or the world system. In fact if you strive to have peace with 405 00:34:06,100 --> 00:34:09,980 the world system, if you become a friend of the world you're no friend of God. 406 00:34:09,980 --> 00:34:18,500 What you must have if you're going to be a take a stander, if you're going to take 407 00:34:18,500 --> 00:34:22,660 a stand without becoming a take a stander, there we go, is peace with God. You 408 00:34:22,660 --> 00:34:27,420 must first and foremost have peace with God. So if God says go and talk to that 409 00:34:27,420 --> 00:34:31,940 person about their sin then that'll be easy. But if God's Word says go and 410 00:34:31,940 --> 00:34:34,740 talk to that person about their sin which is what it says anytime you 411 00:34:34,740 --> 00:34:38,500 recognize that a brother or sister has sinned, then you're supposed to go. 412 00:34:38,500 --> 00:34:43,980 And you don't, don't think you have peace with God. Don't intentionally sin against 413 00:34:43,980 --> 00:34:48,540 God and think that you have peace with Him. Peace with God is established through 414 00:34:48,540 --> 00:34:53,860 Jesus Christ, it's true. But the same wrath of God that was against us as 415 00:34:53,860 --> 00:35:00,140 sinners before Jesus Christ paid the price also can oppose your course, not 416 00:35:00,140 --> 00:35:03,500 you personally, not send you into hell because you're saved in Jesus, but oppose 417 00:35:03,500 --> 00:35:07,860 your course when you choose a course that is sin. And the Bible says if you 418 00:35:07,860 --> 00:35:10,120 know that a brother is sin you're supposed to go and confront them 419 00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:14,700 privately. So to do anything other than that is sin. Think not that you have 420 00:35:14,700 --> 00:35:18,980 peace with God. So here's what I see happening. We refuse to go and confront a 421 00:35:18,980 --> 00:35:24,300 brother or sister privately because of their sin, but we let the knowledge of 422 00:35:24,300 --> 00:35:27,940 that sin affect us or affect our relationship with them or affect our 423 00:35:27,940 --> 00:35:37,020 relationship with other people in the church. So that person is supposed to be 424 00:35:37,020 --> 00:35:41,100 a person that has peace with God, the person that's walking around carrying a 425 00:35:41,100 --> 00:35:46,700 grudge, refusing to forgive, whatever, because they didn't go and correct them 426 00:35:46,700 --> 00:35:53,300 in person one-on-one in private. So who's in sin? Well in that case both parties, if 427 00:35:53,300 --> 00:35:56,380 the original sin, the original offender is in sin, then they're in sin, that's 428 00:35:56,380 --> 00:35:59,220 true. But the person who knows that they're in sin and didn't do anything 429 00:35:59,220 --> 00:36:04,820 about it, they're in sin. So now you got a church that's all screwed up. And where 430 00:36:04,820 --> 00:36:09,380 is the peace with God that we're supposed to have? Peace with God allows 431 00:36:09,380 --> 00:36:14,580 you to confront somebody for one primary reason. You do understand if you confront 432 00:36:14,580 --> 00:36:18,660 somebody. Like if I say, hey Curtis, I saw what you did and that's wrong. Now Curtis is 433 00:36:18,660 --> 00:36:22,460 going to listen to me because Curtis has respect for me. Nothing about Jesus, 434 00:36:22,460 --> 00:36:25,700 nothing about the Bible. He might listen if I say, well the Bible says, he might 435 00:36:25,700 --> 00:36:28,860 listen to that, or he might not, that's his choice. But he's going to listen to me 436 00:36:28,860 --> 00:36:33,260 because I have respect. I say, I saw you did something wrong, right? But if I see 437 00:36:33,260 --> 00:36:36,380 Curtis did something wrong, I let him continue in his ignorance and then I go 438 00:36:36,380 --> 00:36:41,140 over here and I say, hey Kareem, you see what Curtis did wrong? Don't ever do that. What am I? 439 00:36:41,140 --> 00:36:50,420 I am contentious. I am bringing a writ. I ought to be warned. That's where I'm 440 00:36:50,420 --> 00:36:57,820 supposed to be. And I had no peace with God. Moreover, if I say, hey Curtis, how 441 00:36:57,820 --> 00:37:01,780 you doing man? You're looking good today. I'm really glad you came today. It's 442 00:37:01,780 --> 00:37:05,220 great to see you. And I walk away and in the back of my mind is the whole time, 443 00:37:05,220 --> 00:37:09,420 the whole time, is something that I saw Curtis do that was inappropriate and I 444 00:37:09,420 --> 00:37:14,700 never said a word. I never said a word. Now I'm supposed to have peace with God, 445 00:37:14,700 --> 00:37:19,900 but Matthew 18 says, I should have confronted him in private, right? That's 446 00:37:19,900 --> 00:37:23,740 what it says. So now we've got all these people walking around going, well I got 447 00:37:23,740 --> 00:37:27,460 peace with God, but they don't, but he doesn't, and she doesn't, and he 448 00:37:27,460 --> 00:37:30,700 doesn't, and he doesn't, and I know they don't because they don't do what they're 449 00:37:30,700 --> 00:37:35,220 supposed to do, but I've got peace with God. What? That's not biblical. You get 450 00:37:35,220 --> 00:37:38,340 peace with God when you walk with the Lord and do what the Lord would have you 451 00:37:38,340 --> 00:37:42,300 to do and you're obedient and faithful and peace just grows because the Holy 452 00:37:42,300 --> 00:37:45,220 Spirit gets to do what he wants to do and that's when the fruit of the Spirit 453 00:37:45,220 --> 00:37:49,660 grows in you. So do what you are supposed to do and stop worrying about whether 454 00:37:49,660 --> 00:37:52,940 somebody else is doing what they're supposed to do or not. And I use that 455 00:37:52,940 --> 00:37:58,260 phrase very particularly, stop worrying about it. There's no worry because if you 456 00:37:58,260 --> 00:38:01,500 know, if you discover along your road that they're doing something they're not 457 00:38:01,500 --> 00:38:05,180 supposed to do, then you go and talk to them privately and say privately, look I 458 00:38:05,180 --> 00:38:07,220 know you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing and I want you to 459 00:38:07,220 --> 00:38:10,500 repent of that. And what if they won't? What if they don't? Well if they won't and 460 00:38:10,500 --> 00:38:13,580 they don't and they blame it on the church, then they're a factious brother 461 00:38:13,580 --> 00:38:17,300 who gets two warnings, or sister, you get two warnings and then you're done. And if 462 00:38:17,300 --> 00:38:20,540 they say, well no, I know it's sin but I'm going to continue in it, then you go 463 00:38:20,540 --> 00:38:25,540 with two or three others and if they listen, great, and if they don't, huh, you 464 00:38:25,540 --> 00:38:31,540 take it to the church. And if the church still can't correct them, then they're 465 00:38:31,540 --> 00:38:36,540 done. We don't got to worry about it. We still just keep presenting the gospel to 466 00:38:36,540 --> 00:38:39,380 them because they may or may not be saved to keep presenting the gospel to 467 00:38:39,380 --> 00:38:43,700 them, but we don't have to worry about trying to get them to do the right thing. 468 00:38:43,700 --> 00:38:47,660 We need to just keep presenting the gospel back to when they were in the 469 00:38:47,660 --> 00:38:50,900 world, which is where they may actually be. You need peace with God. I need peace 470 00:38:50,900 --> 00:38:56,820 with God. Otherwise we could just be contentious brothers and sisters, which 471 00:38:56,820 --> 00:39:03,620 Jesus does not favor. That is not the way he wants his church to live. Moreover, 472 00:39:03,620 --> 00:39:11,780 peacemakers initiate instead of ignoring or following the bad example. In other 473 00:39:11,780 --> 00:39:16,020 words, when you see a bad example, you go and you correct it in private as you're 474 00:39:16,020 --> 00:39:21,140 supposed to, right, you initiate the contact. You don't wait and go, well 475 00:39:21,140 --> 00:39:24,300 someday when there's just the right time I'm going to talk to him about that and 476 00:39:24,300 --> 00:39:28,900 they come out and talk to you, hey, you see that football game? Oh yeah, by the way, I saw you lied. 477 00:39:28,900 --> 00:39:34,580 When's that right time come, by the way? It doesn't. Peacemakers initiate. They 478 00:39:34,580 --> 00:39:39,500 step up. They stand up. They stand out. They are a light. In fact, this is the 479 00:39:39,500 --> 00:39:43,180 great blessing. If you would just step up, stand out, and be a light in the world, 480 00:39:43,180 --> 00:39:48,900 the Holy Spirit of God provides the same conviction to all men. And so when you do 481 00:39:48,900 --> 00:39:51,820 the right thing in front of a person who knows that they're doing the wrong thing, 482 00:39:51,820 --> 00:39:53,860 or maybe they're ignorant and don't even know that they're doing the wrong thing, 483 00:39:53,860 --> 00:39:57,780 they will see you doing the right thing and they'll go, oh yeah, I'm not sure about that. 484 00:39:57,780 --> 00:40:00,900 Am I doing the right thing now? I thought I was doing the right thing. I've been 485 00:40:00,900 --> 00:40:04,300 letting it slide. Didn't think it was a big deal, but there they just, they keep 486 00:40:04,300 --> 00:40:09,180 showing up. They keep doing the right thing. Peacemakers initiate. You're not 487 00:40:09,180 --> 00:40:15,860 fighting against. You're fighting for, if you're fighting at all, for what? For the 488 00:40:15,860 --> 00:40:20,780 gospel. For what's right. For the Word of God. We stand up for what we believe in 489 00:40:20,780 --> 00:40:25,940 and we follow Jesus. We don't follow those examples, or well they did it and 490 00:40:25,940 --> 00:40:30,060 they got away with it, so it must not really be wrong. No. Initiate doing the 491 00:40:30,060 --> 00:40:34,020 right thing. Initiate the conversation about what the wrong thing might be and 492 00:40:34,020 --> 00:40:39,500 whether it's happening in that person's life. Peacemakers walk in the fruit of 493 00:40:39,500 --> 00:40:43,900 the Spirit when performing their peacemaking duties. You're going to have 494 00:40:43,900 --> 00:40:49,460 to be love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, kindness, 495 00:40:49,460 --> 00:40:53,020 faithfulness, and self-control in that person's life. There's a good chance that 496 00:40:53,020 --> 00:40:57,860 they're missing one or maybe all of those fruits because they're in sin. Now 497 00:40:57,860 --> 00:41:00,260 if you go there and find out they're not in sin, you may discover a lot of that 498 00:41:00,260 --> 00:41:04,300 fruit and wouldn't that be awesome? But if you go there and they're in sin, you 499 00:41:04,300 --> 00:41:08,620 have to be the fruit of the Spirit in that person's life. So when you go to 500 00:41:08,620 --> 00:41:11,380 them and you say, look I want to talk to you about this thing that I see 501 00:41:11,380 --> 00:41:15,700 you're doing, I think it's wrong. I just want to be sure what I'm seeing is what 502 00:41:15,700 --> 00:41:18,820 I'm actually seeing and I ask you to repent of that and turn back to the Lord. 503 00:41:18,820 --> 00:41:21,980 And they get mad and they want to throw a punch or they get yelling or whatever. 504 00:41:21,980 --> 00:41:25,940 What do you do? You come back with peace. You come back with patience. You're okay. 505 00:41:25,940 --> 00:41:29,020 You're walking in peace with God. You're doing what you're 506 00:41:29,020 --> 00:41:32,620 supposed to be doing. You're initiating the contact as you're supposed to. And so 507 00:41:32,620 --> 00:41:36,420 you can literally bring love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, 508 00:41:36,420 --> 00:41:40,700 faithfulness, kindness, and self-control into that situation because you're taking 509 00:41:40,700 --> 00:41:49,460 care of. You're gonna be fine. Also we persevere in the truth. So we just keep 510 00:41:49,460 --> 00:41:53,980 standing firm. Keep believing what's right. Keep doing what's right. One of 511 00:41:53,980 --> 00:41:57,060 the young girls, this is the back row today, she said I got a boy in my class. 512 00:41:57,060 --> 00:42:02,660 He doesn't believe in God and he doesn't believe in Jesus. So I tried to tell him 513 00:42:02,660 --> 00:42:05,420 but he doesn't believe in God and he doesn't believe in Jesus. I said yeah 514 00:42:05,420 --> 00:42:08,820 you're gonna run into some of those. I said you know what's funny about that is 515 00:42:08,820 --> 00:42:14,180 someday that person may be more adamantly a follower of God than you or I are. They 516 00:42:14,180 --> 00:42:18,680 may keep going and people just keep living in front of them and witnessing 517 00:42:18,680 --> 00:42:22,340 and telling about God and someday they may accept Jesus in earnest and become a 518 00:42:22,340 --> 00:42:26,220 Christian and they might be a bigger preacher or a bigger servant, a deacon, or 519 00:42:26,220 --> 00:42:32,580 pastor, or a mom, or a dad that raises their family in a godly way and and won't 520 00:42:32,580 --> 00:42:39,100 brook any nutsness. Right? It's all Jesus all the time. They may be more fired up 521 00:42:39,100 --> 00:42:41,900 than you or I but right now you see that they don't believe in God. They don't 522 00:42:41,900 --> 00:42:45,780 believe in Jesus. So what do you do? We just live it out before them. Persevere 523 00:42:45,780 --> 00:42:51,060 in the truth. If you are right you will always be right. If you are right 524 00:42:51,060 --> 00:42:57,300 situationally you are probably nitpicking. You are probably being contentious but 525 00:42:57,300 --> 00:43:01,300 if you are right, if it's sin, then it's always sin. It's not like what think 526 00:43:01,300 --> 00:43:05,020 this might be sin for you. That's your own private interpretation of scripture. 527 00:43:05,020 --> 00:43:08,320 You persevere in the truth and walk it out. If you are right you will always be 528 00:43:08,320 --> 00:43:12,820 right and then the final thing is you will outlast all opposition by relying 529 00:43:12,820 --> 00:43:17,220 on the Lord's sustenance. No matter what they do in response to your coming to 530 00:43:17,220 --> 00:43:20,940 them, no matter what they do, if we live for Jesus and they come to arrest us 531 00:43:20,940 --> 00:43:25,060 for coming to church on a Sunday as we fear might be the case during COVID as 532 00:43:25,060 --> 00:43:28,540 has actually happened in a lot of churches during COVID, right? People were 533 00:43:28,540 --> 00:43:31,860 getting arrested for serving Jesus, arrested for leading worship, arrested 534 00:43:31,860 --> 00:43:35,300 for being on the church property on Sundays. Not here in Ohio of course but 535 00:43:35,300 --> 00:43:38,940 in other places. There were laws that were made, executive orders that were put 536 00:43:38,940 --> 00:43:42,140 out. You cannot sing praises to Jesus and there were people meeting every Sunday 537 00:43:42,140 --> 00:43:44,860 still singing praises to Jesus even though they were in a state where they 538 00:43:44,860 --> 00:43:50,100 were not allowed to do that anymore and we will outlast the opposition by 539 00:43:50,100 --> 00:43:54,260 relying on the Lord's sustenance. Do what you're supposed to do. Be who you are 540 00:43:54,260 --> 00:44:02,160 supposed to do. Continue to appeal to the Lord or perhaps just maybe you are 541 00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:07,100 actually the contentious one. Maybe you are actually the one that's judging the 542 00:44:07,100 --> 00:44:10,660 other person on a matter that doesn't, that scripture doesn't talk about. Maybe 543 00:44:10,660 --> 00:44:16,420 you want to come and bring a fuss or a difficulty. I was talking with Ariana 544 00:44:16,420 --> 00:44:18,900 yesterday. We were driving the car and there was something that happened and it 545 00:44:18,900 --> 00:44:24,300 got under her skin. She got irritated and she was teaching the other person that 546 00:44:24,300 --> 00:44:29,220 it was not correct. She said you shouldn't do that. You're not supposed to 547 00:44:29,220 --> 00:44:33,940 do that and she was not totally incorrect in the arena of social mores. 548 00:44:33,940 --> 00:44:38,780 What the other person was doing is sort of not appropriate, right? But it's not 549 00:44:38,780 --> 00:44:42,900 listed in the Bible anywhere and so when they were not listening to her and went 550 00:44:42,900 --> 00:44:47,060 back to doing it a few moments later she was getting upset. She was getting 551 00:44:47,060 --> 00:44:52,160 worked up, right? Does it bother you that I have messed up the title of the sermon 552 00:44:52,160 --> 00:44:56,340 three times since I began preaching? Are you here? Do you even know that I've 553 00:44:56,340 --> 00:45:00,140 messed up the title of the sermon three times since I began preaching today? That 554 00:45:00,140 --> 00:45:05,060 the title on the screen says to you, how to take a stand without becoming a 555 00:45:05,060 --> 00:45:08,700 taker of stands, which is the closest thing to proper English you can get when 556 00:45:08,700 --> 00:45:13,300 you're making a sentence like that I think. And I have quoted it as how to 557 00:45:13,300 --> 00:45:18,940 take a stand without becoming a taking a stander. Does that bother you? If it 558 00:45:18,940 --> 00:45:25,620 bothers you, why? Because it ain't my problem, it's your problem. That's not a sin. 559 00:45:25,620 --> 00:45:31,580 Is it nagging at you? Would you ever get up and preach a sermon in front of the 560 00:45:31,580 --> 00:45:35,280 church and properly preach pastor, dressed pastor Dan, would you ever do 561 00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:41,620 that? What's improperly dressed? Inappropriate, like in your underwear. No, I 562 00:45:41,620 --> 00:45:44,500 would never preach him underwear. I don't think I could bring myself to do it 563 00:45:44,500 --> 00:45:49,020 anyway unless the Lord, you know, that would be weird. It would be really weird. I don't 564 00:45:49,020 --> 00:45:59,380 think God would ask me to do that. No way. Not happening. But would you wear jeans 565 00:45:59,380 --> 00:46:02,980 with a suit jacket? Because some people would never do that. Yes, I would do that. 566 00:46:02,980 --> 00:46:08,940 Would you wear a t-shirt with holes in it to preach the gospel? Yeah, I'd do that. 567 00:46:08,940 --> 00:46:12,980 Because when I get dressed on Sunday morning, I literally spend time in prayer. 568 00:46:12,980 --> 00:46:15,460 You know, like this is stupid. Why does he do this? Well, you got a problem with that? 569 00:46:15,460 --> 00:46:19,020 Take it up with the Lord. I literally pray and ask God what I'm supposed to wear to 570 00:46:19,020 --> 00:46:24,780 come to church on Sunday morning. And nine times out of ten, he tells me which 571 00:46:24,780 --> 00:46:34,060 shirt to wear. You believe that? I don't care. I don't care if you believe it or 572 00:46:34,060 --> 00:46:42,860 not. It's true. Today, I'm wearing a dress you on my left foot and a tennis you on 573 00:46:42,860 --> 00:46:51,340 my right foot. And you didn't even know it. There's more things wrong with us 574 00:46:51,340 --> 00:46:57,740 individually than anyone will ever know. You understand? You don't go and correct 575 00:46:57,740 --> 00:47:04,500 somebody out of pride or arrogance. You don't go and correct somebody because 576 00:47:04,500 --> 00:47:12,420 what they're doing bothers you. Get over it! You go and correct them because it's 577 00:47:12,420 --> 00:47:17,580 sin. And when you go, you walk in the peace of God as a peacemaker, initiating, 578 00:47:17,580 --> 00:47:21,140 following the Lord in that person's life and the same as it is in yours. You walk 579 00:47:21,140 --> 00:47:24,060 in the fruit of the Spirit because when you get there, you may be the only fruit 580 00:47:24,060 --> 00:47:30,020 of the Spirit that's there. And you walk into their lives to do that persevering 581 00:47:30,020 --> 00:47:33,340 in the truth so that if they ignore you and don't want to listen, you can say, 582 00:47:33,340 --> 00:47:39,300 it's okay. Jesus is still the same today that he was yesterday. What you're doing 583 00:47:39,300 --> 00:47:43,020 is still sin whether you believe it or not. And I'll be back with two or three 584 00:47:43,020 --> 00:47:47,580 more people. We'll hash this out and find out because I really believe it is. And 585 00:47:47,580 --> 00:47:50,180 they're gonna go, no don't bring anybody back. I don't even want to talk about it. 586 00:47:50,180 --> 00:47:54,380 I'll just resign my membership. That doesn't work that way. Sorry. I have to 587 00:47:54,380 --> 00:47:58,180 follow the biblical command. So when we come knocking, you cannot answer if you 588 00:47:58,180 --> 00:48:03,340 want, but we're coming. Because you said you're a follower of Jesus and I love 589 00:48:03,340 --> 00:48:07,820 you and I would never leave you in the lurch. I'm not walking. If your clothes 590 00:48:07,820 --> 00:48:14,900 are on fire, I'm jumping on you to put you out. And that's where we're at. And we 591 00:48:14,900 --> 00:48:19,700 all have shortcomings more than anybody will ever know. You're covering it 592 00:48:19,700 --> 00:48:27,980 up beautifully. Nobody knows. But when they do and it comes out, your secret sin 593 00:48:27,980 --> 00:48:33,980 becomes public, comes out into the light, I bet you're just hoping that people 594 00:48:33,980 --> 00:48:39,380 will still love you. People will still stand up for you. People will still be 595 00:48:39,380 --> 00:48:44,300 your brother and sister. They'll still try to haul you back from the fire and 596 00:48:44,300 --> 00:48:52,180 help you live for the Lord the best you can. Now that, that's the church. That's 597 00:48:52,180 --> 00:48:57,420 the church that I got saved into. That's the church that I wanted to plant. That's 598 00:48:57,420 --> 00:49:02,980 the church I preach. And yeah, if I have to, I'll be the guy at the membership 599 00:49:02,980 --> 00:49:12,780 meeting talking about you. Because people need to know. If you're here today and 600 00:49:12,780 --> 00:49:16,500 you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and that big one 601 00:49:16,500 --> 00:49:19,500 has been your thing and you've been covering it up, you've been letting 602 00:49:19,500 --> 00:49:23,180 people think that you're saved. You've been letting people think that your 603 00:49:23,180 --> 00:49:32,900 faith is placed where it belongs. It's time to put it away. It's time to say no, 604 00:49:32,900 --> 00:49:41,260 Jesus died for me and I am now going to live for Him from now on. No stops. Me and 605 00:49:41,260 --> 00:49:44,940 Jesus to the end. And you're gonna cut some things out, you're gonna add some 606 00:49:44,940 --> 00:49:51,180 things in, and you're gonna stand up at times when it's really feels inconvenient. 607 00:49:52,140 --> 00:49:55,680 It's not a calling to preachers. That's a different thing. It's not a calling to 608 00:49:55,680 --> 00:50:01,540 Apostles. That's a different thing. This is a calling to Christians that we would 609 00:50:01,540 --> 00:50:07,580 get good at privately correcting one another so that we can get good at 610 00:50:07,580 --> 00:50:15,020 living for Jesus. Maybe you're here today and you say, I hear what you're 611 00:50:15,020 --> 00:50:18,940 saying, I know it's in the Word, and I know I've not done it. And you say, well 612 00:50:18,940 --> 00:50:21,420 I've not done it because I don't have peace with God. I struggle to have 613 00:50:21,420 --> 00:50:27,020 having peace with God. I don't have the peace of the Holy Spirit, the fruit 614 00:50:27,020 --> 00:50:36,180 growing in me. Listen, it just might be that you're a contentious person. You 615 00:50:36,180 --> 00:50:39,700 stand up when you want to stand up. Because listen, do you ever go get 616 00:50:39,700 --> 00:50:45,700 your fast food and your sandwich comes back to you and it's got stuff on 617 00:50:45,700 --> 00:50:51,220 it that you would never eat in your lifetime? Do you just eat it anyway even 618 00:50:51,220 --> 00:50:58,020 though you're like, avocados? I mean, or, yeah, some of us love avocados. Some of us 619 00:50:58,020 --> 00:51:03,940 would be like, what? Or you order Big Mac from McDonald's and get spoiled 620 00:51:03,940 --> 00:51:09,500 mayonnaise. There's one. Nobody else orders spoiled mayonnaise on their 621 00:51:09,500 --> 00:51:14,620 sandwich. You just eat it anyway, right? No. So you don't get another sandwich 622 00:51:14,620 --> 00:51:18,820 either, but then you go online and leave a one-star review and complain to all 623 00:51:18,820 --> 00:51:22,780 your friends and family for months about the one sandwich that you got from 624 00:51:22,780 --> 00:51:27,860 McDonald's that had spoiled mayonnaise on it. That's how we handle it, right? No. If 625 00:51:27,860 --> 00:51:30,060 you get a sandwich of spoiled mayonnaise, you just take it back and get another 626 00:51:30,060 --> 00:51:32,900 sandwich. And if you can't that day, then you call the restaurant and say, I needed 627 00:51:32,900 --> 00:51:35,660 another sandwich. I couldn't come back that day. And they give you credit. And if 628 00:51:35,660 --> 00:51:39,860 they still won't, then you leave a one-star review and pray for them 629 00:51:39,860 --> 00:51:43,860 because clearly they're walking in ignorance and then you put it away. You're 630 00:51:43,860 --> 00:51:54,020 done with it. You see? The sermon title is wrong just so it could get under 631 00:51:54,020 --> 00:52:01,940 somebody's skin. Shoes are different. The words I chose. The topic may not be what 632 00:52:01,940 --> 00:52:08,060 you wanted to hear today. All that just so it can get under somebody's skin. The 633 00:52:08,060 --> 00:52:12,140 question is when things get under your skin, will you repent and turn to Jesus? 634 00:52:12,140 --> 00:52:17,660 And if what gets under your skin is sin in my life, then you come to me privately 635 00:52:17,660 --> 00:52:25,020 and you say, Pastor Dan, it seems like this a problem. And I'll do the same for 636 00:52:25,020 --> 00:52:32,980 you. At least I hope I will. The question is will you do the same for each other? 637 00:52:32,980 --> 00:52:38,460 That's what it means to be a member of a church. Here or anywhere. And if you ever 638 00:52:38,460 --> 00:52:44,140 go to a church where that's not allowed, get out because Jesus commanded it. Do 639 00:52:44,140 --> 00:52:48,700 you take a stand? Yes, you do. You do so in the peace of God, as a peacemaker, 640 00:52:48,700 --> 00:52:52,700 initiating, walking in the fruit of the Spirit, persevering in the truth, and 641 00:52:52,700 --> 00:52:58,780 outlasting all opposition. And if you overcome in the day that Jesus 642 00:52:58,780 --> 00:53:05,060 comes again, no eye hath seen nor ear hath heard that awesome thing that he 643 00:53:05,060 --> 00:53:11,260 has prepared for us. I ask the praise team to come forward at this time and lead us in our 644 00:53:11,260 --> 00:53:15,420 closing song, but as we sing today, if you're accepting Jesus as your Lord and 645 00:53:15,420 --> 00:53:18,540 Savior for the first time ever, and yes, even while I'm wearing two different 646 00:53:18,540 --> 00:53:22,300 shoes, it's okay, you'll be alright. If you're accepting Jesus as your Lord and 647 00:53:22,300 --> 00:53:24,980 Savior in earnest for the first time ever today, then you come down front and say, 648 00:53:24,980 --> 00:53:28,380 this is me, I want to live for Jesus, I'm tired of the games, I'm just living for 649 00:53:28,380 --> 00:53:34,180 Jesus now. And in a word such as you'll save me, you'll never fail to call on somebody, 650 00:53:34,180 --> 00:53:38,340 to save somebody who calls on him. As you're already here and you say, I'm 651 00:53:38,340 --> 00:53:42,300 already saved, I'm already in the kingdom, I'm glad I've blown this, I know it, I need to 652 00:53:42,300 --> 00:53:46,860 repent and turn back to the Lord and I need to handle this in a Godly way, then you come. 653 00:53:46,860 --> 00:53:51,780 And you say, that's me. I'm gonna handle it in a Godly way from now on. Or maybe just 654 00:53:51,780 --> 00:53:56,420 wherever you are, say, hey that's me, put your hand up and say, yep, that's me today. 655 00:53:56,420 --> 00:54:01,740 Because it could be an awful lot of us if we're a planet divided. You've got 656 00:54:01,740 --> 00:54:09,900 people in your life that you would never confront, I guess if you don't love them enough. 657 00:54:09,900 --> 00:54:13,860 Or maybe it's because you're contentious. 658 00:54:13,860 --> 00:54:21,540 So let's commit to do that. The loving will confront them. 659 00:54:21,540 --> 00:54:23,540 So watch in the peace that we have. 660 00:54:23,540 --> 00:54:27,820 We just stay on with me as we sing this song and then respond as the Lord reads. 661 00:54:27,820 --> 00:54:48,820 Oh, to Jesus I surrender all, to Him I freely give. 662 00:54:48,820 --> 00:55:00,820 I will ever love and trust in Him, because I'm the same.