Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton,
the official podcast of Cross Christian Fellowship,
Route 66, in the heart of Albuquerque, New Mexico,
where Burton is the lead pastor. We're glad you're
here. Father, we thank you for bringing us together
today. We thank you for this time together, this
time in fellowship, especially the fellowship
we're looking forward to after the message. We
ask that you open our hearts, open our minds.
Give us knowledge and understanding and how to
apply what you have prepared for us to our daily
lives as we leave here. All the Jesus people
said, amen. All right. So again, good morning,
everybody. Welcome to the sanctuary. Welcome
to everybody who's following us online on the
live stream and on the podcast. It's great to
have you all with us. Now, last week, we were
really kind of looking more so at kind of slowing
our roll, right? Knowing when to bite our tongue.
and not just erupt. And we started looking at
the smart way to address a lot of the issues
that are going on in the world as opposed to
just kind of getting caught up with our pride
and our emotion, right? So, you know, not being
in such a rush to open our mouths and be the
biggest dog in the yard. That's quite the task
for a lot of us, isn't it? Sorry, my mic is kind
of wobbling all over on me today. I hope you
can hear me okay. But anyway. We got to a point
in time where we had to kind of stop. We're going
to pick up from where we left off there in 2
Corinthians 2. So for those of you who are eager
beavers, that's where we're going to be at if
you want to go ahead and start opening your Bibles.
As we get started, though, I want to share an
anecdote. It's going to be like the therefore
moment. Remember, when we're looking at the Bible,
it says therefore. It says don't forget everything
we just went through is going to pertain to what
we're going to be looking at next, right? So
this is going to be kind of that therefore moment.
So during the service in an old synagogue years
ago, when the Shema prayer, Shema, Shema, I always
mispronounce, I don't know. It's one of those.
I get confused on that one. But yeah, this prayer,
it was being said, half the congregation stood
up and half of them stayed seated. Now the ones
who were standing, they started barking at the
ones who were seated. Stand up, stand up. The
ones who were seated are like, no, no, no, you
sit down. It got into this big uproar. It was
this constant thing week after week after week.
So eventually a number of the congregants, they
came to the rabbi and said, hey, we have one
of our old leaders. Why don't you go and talk
to him to find out what it is that we should
be doing it and how we should be doing it. Say,
okay, that's a good idea. Here's the rabbi. He's
a teacher. He's studying the law and everything,
and even he doesn't know what to do. So he goes
to find this elder. This guy, he's like 98. He's
living in a nursing home. He's kind of crotchety.
He just wants to be left alone. So here comes
the rabbi, and he has one person kind of representing
the group that's standing. He has another person
who's representing the group who's sitting. And
they all go in together. And they get up with
them. hoping that he can tell them what the actual
answer is. And as soon as they go in, he says,
hey, we need you to address an issue for us.
We go in, we start doing this prayer. Half the
people stand, half the people sit. It's turned
into a big argument. So what is it that we are
supposed to do? And the guy representing the
people who sit says, oh, we're supposed to sit,
right? The old man says, no. So the guy who represents
the people who stand goes, oh, so then we should
be standing. And he goes, no. That's not it at
all. And the rabbi says, well, what is it? What
are we doing wrong then? Because we get together,
half of them sit, half of them stand, and everybody
starts fighting every time. That's the tradition.
That's what they start doing. That's the whole
point. So it gets them talking. It gets them
talking. And that's the point. You know, we love
to argue. As people, we love to argue. Everybody
loves to argue. It'd be hard -pressed to find
somebody in here who hasn't argued over something.
In fact, most people in here probably have argued
over something in the last week, I'd venture
to say, right? I mean, I'm not a basketball fan,
but even I've heard some arguments over March
Madness. There have been some people picking
teams, talking about players in here, right?
At least one or two? Yeah. It's okay, I won't
put you on the spot. But it happens. And the
Bible is something, it gets people worked up,
right? It really gets them revved. It gets that
blood pressure boiling. And we've all heard the
rule of etiquette, right? It's like when you
get together with people, you don't want to upset
people. You don't want to go against the status
quo. So there's two things you're not supposed
to talk about, right? What are those two things?
That's right, politics and religion. Every time.
Oh, you don't want to get in a fight. You don't
want to offend anybody. I know. But underneath
it all, that's the point, is people should be
willing to talk, have a civil conversation. And
that's the key to it, though, a civil conversation,
not an argument, not beating our chest. Oh, I'm
right. I'm wrong. Right? Because all that other
stuff comes into play. You know, discussions
are warranted on everything, even politics and
religion, anything especially those areas, right?
And we need to have these discussions. They're
hard discussions. But we need to have them in
order to foster a better understanding of what
the problems are. We need to discuss them to
have a better understanding of what's right and
what's wrong. We need to discuss them so we have
a better idea of how to live our lives. But nobody
wants to do that. We let things like emotion
start creeping in and pride, and it starts clouding
the subject matter, and it doesn't become about
the subject anymore. You can have the subject
there, right? But what are we actually doing?
We're sparring for who's right, who's the better
person, right? It turns into a fight. That's
not the way it's supposed to be. We let these
things get the better of us. So with that said,
we're going to go ahead and we're going to jump
into our scripture here. I had it here in my
notes. I'm glad I put it in the slide because
I cut it half off. Oops. Happens. So 2 Corinthians
2, verses 5 through 11. But if anyone has caused
grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you
to some extent, not to be too severe. This punishment,
which was inflicted by the majority, is sufficient
for such a man. So that on the contrary, you
ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest
perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much
sorrow. Therefore, I urge you to reaffirm your
love to him. For to this end I also wrote that
I might put you to the test, whether you are
obedient in all things. Now whom you forgive,
anything I also forgive. For if indeed I have
forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one day
for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest
Satan should take advantage of us, for we are
not ignorant of his devices. Again, we let our
emotions and our pride cloud our judgment. We
become angry, resentful, vengeful, and we start
thinking irrationally. We start lashing out irrationally
instead of loving others the way that we're supposed
to, instead of treating people the way we're
supposed to and talking to them the way we're
supposed to. And in doing so, we actually become
the source of the pain. We lash out and we fall
into sin ourselves and become the source of the
hurt for this person or these people. And that's
what Paul's talking about here. The last time
we got together, last week, we were talking about
this. Paul had already talked about how he was
heartbroken because he had actually already gone
and talked to them and told them, hey, this is
what's going on. This is what you're doing. This
is what you need to be doing. He had already
told them, but they refused to do it. They didn't
want to listen. They didn't want to repent. They
just wanted to keep spinning that circle. So
when they wrote to him and they wanted him to
come back, he thought about it for a second and
was like, no. He's like, I'm not going to keep
coming and beating a dead horse. We've already
talked about this. You know what to do. Are you
going to do it or are you not? And here, what
he's talking about, because one of the issues
that was going on is there was a person who had
sinned. And it was a big enough issue that this
person was subsequently punished by the church
and asked to step out. So it must have been a
pretty big issue because it's a pretty hard thing
when you have to ask someone to leave. So the
right thing for the church to do is to actually
take a look at this person when they came back.
And this person, they acknowledged their sin,
they went out, they prayed, they repented, they
made changes, and now they're coming back a changed
person, as we all should. But what they were
doing was they were still staying very hard of
heart. Like, nope, they didn't want to give them
another chance. The same thing that Christ went
to the cross for. was so that we could all have
another chance. The right thing that they should
have done was to forgive, accept, and comfort
this person, not ostracize them. Yet that's what
they've been doing. As the bride of Christ, as
the body of Christ, we have an obligation to
hold each other accountable. Inside these walls
and out, we have an obligation to hold each other
accountable. To address the sin when we see it.
To take action when it's needed. Especially when
someone is so entrenched in their sin. You know,
they keep coming back, yeah, I know I shouldn't
be doing it, and they keep going back to it anyway.
Smokers. Smokers are a great example of this,
aren't they? Ah, these things are going to kill
me. I know I need to quit. Maybe next week. Right?
Smokers are a great example of it. Drunks, kind
of the same thing. Yeah, I know, it's killing
my liver. Right? We see that one a lot too. That's
how a lot of people act though. And so when it
happens, we have to take, A more stern stance.
Like, you know what? We've discussed this. You
know what's wrong. You know what you need to
do. But you cannot be here until you've fixed
it. We need to ask you to leave. Once you've
fixed it, you're welcome to come back. See, that's
the thing. We have to give them that time to
go pray, repent. And repentance is true change.
True change. And it can take a while. It really
can. However, once they've done so, like I said,
we need to welcome them back. We can't encourage
people to continue to sin, nor can we just accept
it. That's what the world wants us to do. We
see that a lot these days, right? We have holidays
and parades that are suddenly being created to
recognize certain sins or other sins are being
legalized. Just because something is legal doesn't
necessarily mean it's good for you. Look at alcohol,
right? You have to be a certain age, but it's
legal. You can get it. They stop prohibition.
But is it good for you? Here's a more painful
one that might strike a little closer to home
for some of us. How about McDonald's? Or some
other fast food joint. That's legal. We can go
out and get it. There's no age limit on that.
Moderation, yeah. How many of us actually moderate
when we go in? and get that meal. I was like,
no, I want a medium. I want a large. What was
the big thing? Supersize me. Supersize me, yeah.
I remember the day when you'd go to Taco Bell
and they had a 64 -ounce extra -large drink.
Yeah, I know. I aged myself a little bit there.
I see my niece in the background, right? She's
got this big, like, oh, my Lord. Be running around
like Beavis and Butthead, right? It's legal.
But is it good for us? No, not at all. Not at
all. But the world wants us to accept all this
stuff and just like, hey, this is good. Let's
do it. Let's roll with it. I'm not saying McDonald's
is a sin. The gluttony and the way we eat and
the way we treat fast food, there's a sin, right?
So don't take it out of context there. However,
this is where we fall short ourselves. Instead
of trusting in the Lord and looking to see if
repentance has taken place. We just push people
out. We harden our hearts. We close the door.
Get out of here. Don't let the door hit you where
the good Lord split you, right? That's how we
treat them. But we have to remember when we put
people out, when we ask them to step away, and
we talked about this last week, we have to leave
them a lifeline. We have to leave them a lifeline.
Now think of it this way. Somebody falls off
the ship. You guys have probably seen this in
TV shows and movies, what happens. They get to
the life preserver on the ring and it has a rope
and they throw it out to them so they can grab
it and they can start pulling them back in. Leave
them a lifeline. Because at some point we all
hit rock bottom and we all need to know the Lord.
And for a lot of people, there's a lot of people,
they come into church all the time. All around
the world. They're there, they're doing their
stuff, they're looking good, they come in their
three -piece suit and all that. They know the
words. They don't know Christ. They don't know
Christ. And eventually something happens, they
have to go out, and they finally come to that
point where they know, hey, I need help. I can't
do this alone. Can you help me? Ah, the lifeline.
Yeah, absolutely. Come on in. Let me introduce
you to Jesus. Let me tell you about my God. Let
me tell you what the Holy Spirit's done for me
and share my testimony with you. That way you
know what he can do for you as well. The lifeline
is important. We can't leave people out. When
they're ready for that help, we have to give
it to them. You have to remember, we're called
to be fishers and men, are we not? How do we
fish? Take the man part out of the equation.
You got your rod, you go down to the river, you
fish. What do we do? There you go. There's our
first step. You take your fishing line, you've
got your bait, or you take your net, If you're
on a big ship, you're out in the ocean, right?
And you cast out. You throw it out there. You
throw it wide. You throw it far. Like, ah, I
believe there's fish over there. And then you
wait patiently. And eventually what happens?
You get a little nibble, right? You see a little
bobber where it just goes down. You're like,
ooh! And we start reeling them in. And eventually
they come in, provided that you've got a good
bite or you've got a good heavy net. It's doing
what it's supposed to. And you pull all this
in, you pull it out, and you have your fish.
Hopefully not a dolphin, right? I don't know.
Sharks are okay. As long as they're not eating
you, right? Shark fin soup. I'll disagree with
you on that, but, you know. I've tried it. I
didn't find it very tasty. That's just me. We're
not agreeing on every food, though, are we? Some
of you all love blueberries, and I'm disgusted
by them. But the point is, we bring in the fish.
We have the fish. You have your fish on your
line. You're holding it up. You're so proud.
Look at this guy. This is Danny. He weighs like
10 pounds. You know, you got your net. You're
like, man, I don't even have anywhere to stand
over here. That fish you caught, is it clean?
No, not even a little. But as fishers of man,
when somebody comes in, we expect them to already
be clean, don't we? We expect them to already
be clean. We don't want to accept them because
their clothes are a little ratty. They got a
little dirt on them, right? Maybe they haven't
showered in a while. Like, no, get away from
me, you unclean thing. We treat people like lepers.
We don't treat them with the love that they deserve.
We don't give them the love that we're commanded
by God to show them. It's like, yeah, come on
in. I got a sink over here. You want to clean
yourself up a little bit? Are you hungry? Got
a TV dinner in the freezer. We'll warm it up
for you. Are you thirsty? Get you a bottle of
water. See, people come in, and we see it in
churches, and they come in, and they're asking
for help. Oh, no, this is for members only. Sorry.
Maybe you could have better luck down the road.
Bye. It's not right. It's not the way we're supposed
to act. It's not the way we're supposed to treat
people. As fishers of men, we're supposed to
be pulling people in and then cleaning them.
How do we clean them? We introduce them to Jesus.
The blood of Christ cleans every sin. So what
if they got caught up in a little murky water?
That doesn't make them a bad fish. If it did,
we wouldn't see anybody out here in the Rio Grande
fishing ever, would we? What we can't do is we
can't leave people in a permanent place of separation
to be, you know, we don't want to be guilty of
pushing them out of the light of God and back
into the darkness. We're supposed to be pulling
them in and showing them the light. When we do
this, When we push people out and we leave them
to the darkness, when we don't give them a lifeline
and we're not willing to open the door back to
them, we give Satan and we give his ministers
the upper hand. Every time. We give them the
upper hand, which is why we need to forgive and
we need to restore. That is what we need to do.
And it comes down to biblical discipline. And
it's not just biblical. We look at this as church
discipline, but it's not just in the church.
It's not just the walls. Remember, we are the
church. The people are the church. The building
is a building. We can move. The building can
burn down, right? We can live in a zombie movie
and have to flee to the woods. We are the church.
So when it comes down to these things, we have
three reasons. Why we need to stand firm and
we need to apply these things when it comes to
how we treat people and when we have to take
corrective measures. Instead of barking at them,
getting angry, getting frustrated, and falling
into sin ourselves, we need to, one, make sure
that we're not too lenient on how we're correcting
mistakes. Sometimes that's the case, huh? Sometimes
it's like, ah! But in contrast, we also want
to make sure that we're not too harsh. Because
we can be pretty harsh. And third, and most importantly,
we have to forgive. We have to forgive. All too
often, people get upset, they push people out
of their lives, and then they hold a grudge.
My little brother had a falling out with our
dad years and years ago before he passed away.
Held that grudge for years and years and years,
refused to talk to him. No matter what he did,
talked to him once right before he died, like
literally weeks before he died. You could talk
to him now. He still holds on to part of that
grudge. Yeah, he has regrets, which he should.
Those regrets come because of the conviction
of the Holy Spirit in him. But he still holds
a grudge. The man's been dead over a decade now.
My little brother still talks about wanting to
change his last name. How sad is that? But it
happens. And we all know people who have done
it. We ourselves have been guilty at one point
or another. of doing the exact same thing. We
see someone who's down and out, coming up, looking
for a handout, and what do we do? We start rolling
up our window and locking the doors, looking
straight ahead, acting like they're not there,
pulling our phone. Sounds familiar, yeah? Guilty?
Yeah. Yeah, all of us. We need to... Remember,
part of forgiveness is comforting people. We
have to comfort people. And we need to remember,
hurt people hurt people. My wife and I, we've
talked about this quite a few times. In fact,
we were talking about this recently, just this
week. Hurt people hurt people. So we have to
tread carefully, and we need to respond to the
hurt of the world the way Jesus would have us
do. Because otherwise what happens is Satan and
his ministers will take that pain, they will
take that hurt, and they will use it to their
advantage to create resentment. And resentment
brings people to unjustly enact disciplines and
act in an unforgiving way. And the people who
are hurt start seeing the church. as self -righteous,
holier -than -thou hypocrites. We've all run
into them too. We've had them inside these doors
coming and looking at us the same way because
they group all churches together because of the
hurt that they've had at some point in their
life. Our discipline should be to restore people
to the body, not to get rid of them. Not to tear
them down or to cancel them. That's a big one
today, right? Cancel culture? It's a big one.
The world cancels. The bride of Christ restores.
And this is why we have believers coming together
from different parts of the world. The world
does things differently no matter where you go.
We like to think it's just us. Heck, if we leave
from here to New Mexico and we go to New York,
guess what? Life's lived a little differently.
We go out to California, it's lived even more
differently. Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas,
Florida, Missouri. Yeah, we're one country, but
man, we got a pot of different things going on,
don't we? Different ways of doing things, different
beliefs. So when we look at the world, we need
to remember Romans 12, verse 2. The word says
in Romans 12, 2, And do not be conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind, that you may prove what it is that
is good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
We are different. And people should see that
difference when they look at us, because as believers,
as Christians, they should see God in us, not
us in the world. It is a firm difference. So
let's go back to 2 Corinthians 2 now. So 2 Corinthians
2, verses 12 through 17. So 2 Corinthians 2,
verses 12 through 17, Paul continues to write.
Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's
gospel and a door was opened to me by the Lord,
I had no rest in my spirit because I did not
find Titus, my brother. But taking my leave of
them, I departed for Macedonia. Now, thanks be
to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ
and through us diffuses the fragrance of his
knowledge in every place. For we are to God the
fragrance of Christ among those who are being
saved and among those who are perishing. To the
one, we are the aroma of death leading to death.
And to the other, the aroma of life leading to
life. And who is sufficient for these things?
For we are not, as so many, peddling the word
of God. but as of sincerity, but as from God.
We ask in the sight of God in Christ. Here Paul's
giving thanks to God. Things haven't gone according
to plan. He showed up to this place. He's looking
for his brother to continue on with, right? They
miss each other. Doesn't get to hook up. He's
like, you know what? It's okay. God's got me.
Thank you, God. It's all right. I know you got
your reason. This is in your will. So I'm going
to just keep on continuing on. I'm going to keep
on keeping on. So even though there's obstacles
in front of him, he realizes God is still using
him to share the gospel, to reach people. And
we tend to take that for granted today. The simple
fact that we actually get to share. Jesus with
people, and we have opportunities to do it every
single day, to go out and share the gospel, to
share our testimony. I'll remind you, our testimony
is all some people will ever see of God. So you
are standing in front of them as a Bible. God
working in your life so that you can take that
and share it with others, to share his life and
his glory. And it is all to his glory. Because
it's not us. Without him, we're all nothing.
But we take it for granted instead of seeing
it as the blessing that it is. We're called to
be fishers of men. We have a mission, and that
mission is sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Here in the church, though, we have a different
name for it. This is where we get that little
bit of legalese. What's our mission called? The
Great Commission, that's right. Matthew 28, verses
18 through 20. That's exactly where we could
find it. And Jesus came back to them saying,
All authority has been given to me in heaven
and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples
of all the nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, things that I have commanded you, and
lo, I am with you always, even to the end of
the age. Amen. And following Christ, we're in
a parade of sorts to show the goodness of God
to the world. When we look back on our passage
here, it talks about fragrance, and this is important.
Fragrance is important. One, I mean, it's one
of the strongest smells. A little whiff of something,
you talk to anybody with PTSD. Just the slight
smell of something can actually take you back
in time, like you're there, right? Smell's important.
That's why when COVID happened, it's like, oh,
I can't smell. I can't smell my food. What's
going on? When you lose your smell, you start
losing your sense of taste. When you start losing
that, other things start happening, right? And
none of them are ever good, are they? So fragrance
is important. And here it's talking about being
a parade. And it's especially important because
when Roman generals would go out and they would
go and battle and they'd conquer an area, right?
They'd come back and there'd always be a big
parade and they'd come trotting back in with
all the troops in tow and everything. But directly
behind them, the generals have a number of carts.
And different things pulling along, all sorts
of stuff with them. First would be the treasures
that they took, right? The trophies, the wealth,
all that kind of stuff. And then following behind
that, the people whom they had taken captive.
People who are going to become slaves. And all
along the while, up and down the roads, they
would be burning all sorts. of incense now to
the romans and to the locals this incense it's
not really good this is a good thing it's very
sweet the sweet smell of victory right you ever
wondered where that phrase came from there you
go but to the others to the slaves to the people
who are taken captive It did not smell like victory.
It did not smell like life. It smelled like doom.
It smelled like death. Because everything that
they knew had been taken away and their life
as they'd known it was done. It was done. To
us, That smell is Jesus. It's his word. The gospel
is that same aroma to every believer out there.
Psalm 34, verse 8. So Psalm 34, verse 8, the
word says, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is
good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him. When
I say smell and taste, they go together. But
just the smell alone. To every believer, we know
the smell. We know the taste. We know just how
good it is. We know that this is life. However,
to nonbelievers, they don't see it that way.
We look at the word and we know this is something
that's going to help us grow. This is going to
give us nourishment. This is going to sustain
us. This is going to give us strength. But to
the nonbeliever, it smells foul. So much so that
they don't even want to taste it. Now, We've
been talking about being a fisherman. So let's
go back to that a little bit. To a nonbeliever,
the word is like cooking certain fish. You go,
you get your fish, you clean it. You're probably
going to want to take it outside and throw it
on the grill. You're not going to want to cook
it inside most of the time, right? Because you
take it inside, you're in your kitchen, you start
cooking it up. What happens? I see I'm seeing
nods and I'm seeing smiles and giggling because
they know it's true. The house smells horrible.
Right? It's absolutely disgusting. You could
clear the house, not just the kitchen, the whole
house. I remember there was a time when my mother
-in -law back here, she actually cooked up some
fish. She wanted to bring it over, and my wife
was like, no, I don't want that in my car. Absolutely
not. They're laughing because, yeah, because
she did not want her car smelling like that fish.
Because the smell, it's strong. It's overbearing.
You know, from a distance, once it's going all,
it might smell okay. But once you're up there,
oh, no. Absolutely not. It's a turnoff for a
lot of people. However, what happens once you
start eating that fish? Mm -mm, good. Yes. Yes.
Absolutely. Give me some more. We got some fries
to go with that. Have some fish and chips. Right?
Maybe some veggies. Hey, how'd you prepare this?
Oh, now we're into the fish. We have questions.
We want to talk about the fish. The Bible is
the same. The word of God is the same. You go
from being an anomaly, oh, something's not right
here, but then you get that little taste. Mmm.
This is good. What about this? What about that?
How do I do this in my life? What's God trying
to tell me here? Oh, the questions start coming.
And we're hooked. We're in it. Right? It changes.
Things change. Fish is just one example. There's
lots of stuff like that. Kimchi is like that
for a lot of people. Anybody here don't know
what kimchi is? Yeah? Okay. It's basically cabbage
that's taken, it's spiced up, and it's fermented.
It's an Asian dish. To a lot of people, it's
very strong, and it smells absolutely horrible.
But I think it's absolutely delicious. I guarantee
there's people in here, if they've ever tried
it, they'd try it and they'd disagree, but that's
okay. Like I said, I'm on the same wavelength
with you on blueberries. It's the same thing,
though. The point is, to a nonbeliever, the word
smells horrible. However, if we could just get
them to taste just a little bit, just a little,
they'll realize that smell isn't so bad anymore.
and that it's worth it. You'll quickly see how
wrong they were and how wonderful, how loving,
how graceful, and how merciful our God is. This
is why when Paul says that we are an aroma that
brings death to one and life to another, it's
because everybody has to make a choice. And we
have to do it now. We don't get to do it after
we die. We have to do it beforehand. We're either
for God or we're not. Even if you're sitting
on the fence, I don't know. Guess what? That's
already a decision. It means you're not. In the
server's world, some of you have probably heard
this term before. If it's not an automatic yes,
it's a no. Sometimes I take that in sales and
I try to take that and spin it around. Like,
it's a no, but we can turn it. Nope. You have
to do it. You have to do it now. That right there
is part of why we're here. You're either for
God or you're not. And Satan and his followers
know how to parry this. They understand how to
counter. They're very well versed. They've been
doing it for a long, long time. And we touched
on this briefly, so we're going to go back to
it. We touched on this briefly last week. We
go to 2 Corinthians 11. And don't worry, we're
heading for home here, guys. It's not going to
go on too much longer, I promise. I know we're
a little long -winded this week. But 2 Corinthians
11, verses 12 through 15. I'll tell you what,
this right here is something I could probably
do a whole series on. Brian and Albert have probably
heard me go on at length about this. Albert's
laughing because he's already reading it. He
knows where I'm heading. But I won't get long
-winded on this one, I promise. 2 Corinthians
11, 12 through 15, Paul writes, But what I do,
I will also continue to do that I may cut. off
the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity
to be regarded just as we are in the things of
which they boast. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into
apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan
himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers
also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness.
whose end will be according to their works. And
this is directly related to what we just read
in 2 Corinthians 2 .17. I'll refresh your memory
on it. It's been a minute, so maybe you forgot.
2 Corinthians 2 .17, we read it again. It says,
For we are not as so many peddling the word of
God, but as of sincerity, but as from God. We
speak in the sight of God in Christ. Satan isn't
afraid of people going to a church service. He's
not even afraid of people picking up a Bible
and maybe taking a little look here and look
there at a couple of scriptures. He has no problem
with that. He has no problem with churches because
he's already infiltrated. He's been there since
the beginning. And his ministers are standing
in pulpits, and they're peddling things like
health and wealth instead of sacrifice and love.
And people fall into these traps regularly. We
see it daily. And we're actually warned of it
in 2 Timothy 4. So in 2 Timothy 4, verses 2 through
4, here's the warning. Preach the word. Be ready
in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke,
exhort, and with all long -suffering and teaching.
For the time will come when they will not endure
sound doctrine, but according to their own desires,
because they have itching ears, they will heap
up for themselves teachers, and they will turn
their ears away from the truth and be turned
aside to fables. It was itching ears. People
don't always want to hear the truth. They want
to hear what's going to make them feel good.
They want to walk out with this happy, happy,
joy, joy. You know, God loves me just as I am.
I'm perfect just the way I am. No, if that was
the case, Jesus would not have come and died
on the cross for each and every one of us. Would
not have happened. Wouldn't need it to have happened.
Nor are we little gods in our own little realm.
All right? I said I've gone a little long today,
so I'm going to try to summarize this a little
quicker here. These are people who are in the
business of selling Jesus. And when you're in
the business of selling Jesus, you turn him and
the church into a prostitute. That's a hard word,
right? That hurts. People don't want to hear
that, but that's the truth. When you sell Jesus
and you sell the church, you're prostituting
them. So we need to be very careful. We need
to be very discerning of who we're listening
to. This is why we need to be like the Bereans,
and we need to dive into our Bible on a daily
basis and read it for ourselves and pray on it,
ask God questions about it to reveal things that
we're having trouble understanding. We need to
open them constantly and see what it says, pray
on it, learn from it, and apply it to our lives,
and then share it with others. Not only that,
but when we read it and we learn it, we need
to take that scripture and we need to write it
on our hearts. For those times when we're hurting
and we need the word the most, then we might
not necessarily have a Bible or a Bible app on
us to pull out. We as believers, we can go out
into the world as fishers and men, and we can
be confident, and we can be empowered. because
of Jesus and what he's done for us, that empowerment
comes to us through the Holy Spirit, God in us,
not us in the world. So we need to pray for knowledge,
we need to pray for understanding, and we need
to pray for the ability to discern when to confront
people and when to comfort people. We need to
stand firm, but we need to know when to hold
our tongue and when to let it loose. And with
that said, let us pray. Lord, we thank you for
being with us and speaking to us. We thank you
for the sweet smell and taste of your hope, love,
mercy, and grace. We ask that you help us to
apply all this in our lives as we leave here
today. We ask that you continue to minister to
us as we minister to others. Guide us in your
ways to become fishers and men and to become
the fishers that you intend us to be for your
glory. and for your kingdom. Amen and amen. Remember,
when you leave here today, you are loved and
you are blessed, so go and be the church. Until
next time, take care and God bless.