James chapter 4, we're continuing our series on the fruits of the spirit and we're going to be talking about meekness and this is actually my
Favorite chapter in the Bible is James chapter 4
So every time I get an excuse to have us read James 4, you know for the main text, you know, I'm gonna go there
I love this chapter and I want you to see here in James 4 verse 10 as we're talking about meekness
But the Bible reads in James 4 verse 10
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up
I love this verse because it teaches us the principle that the way up in life is down
The way up is down
Humble yourself and he shall lift you up
I heard a great sermon a long time ago from a preacher in Pennsylvania and the name of the sermon was the way up is down
And I've never forgotten that sermon as an awesome sermon
It comes from this verse in James 4 verse 10
But if you remember when I talked about meekness before because a lot of people have this question
What's the difference between meekness and humbleness being meek and being humble and when you look throughout the Bible?
What you see is humbling yourself. It's always an individual thing being humble humble yourselves
Okay
Meekness is how you deal with other people. So if you want to be a meek person
You must be a humble person if you are arrogant if you're my avang or suplato
Then you are not going to be meek with other people
You must humble yourself and the result is going to be meekness with others
So meekness and humbleness are not the same things
But basically humbleness comes first and then your relation to other people is going to be a meek manner
Okay, if you're not meek with other people, it's probably showing you you're kind of arrogant. You're kind of prideful
You're not humble
So in James 4 10 what it said is humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord
Look, you do not want God to have to humble you for you. Just humble yourself
You don't want God to destroy your life and destroy your job. Take away all your money. Just humble yourself
Don't get arrogant or he's gonna have to humble you because everyone who goes up will because the way up is down
The way down is up you lift yourself up. You're gonna come down pretty hard turn to numbers 12 numbers 12
Now let me say this this sermons probably be a little bit shorter the last sermon was a pretty long sermon
So you guys kind of get some free time here the sermons to be a little bit shorter
But what we see here with the fruits of the Spirit first as I mentioned you must humble yourself
If you want to be a meek person in the way you relate to others
But there's a lot of confusion on what does meek mean? Okay, let me show you a few characters in the Bible
And show you how the Bible says very clearly they are a meek person
Numbers chapter 12 verse 3 now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth
And so the Bible lists Moses as the most meek person in the entire world
The number one meek person, okay
And when you look at the life of Moses it kind of makes sense because Moses would have the people
You know we're turning against God
They were threatening to kill him and Moses would always beseech God for them and say just spare them
Don't kill them give them another chance and so Moses was a very meek person and in numbers 12
This is in the context of a conflict with his brother and sister
Okay, now he's not trying to get in a fight, but basically this is his response
He says now the Moses the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth
Okay, turn to 1st Corinthians 4 1st Corinthians 4
And so when it says he's meek what it's saying basically is he didn't fight his battles he let God fight his battles
He let his brother and sister criticize him
He let them do that why he was meek and he figured if this is something where you know
They're gonna reap what they sow or God's gonna requite this then God's gonna do it. I don't need to do it
Okay, so basically Moses was a meek person
He humbled himself the result is he's meek when he deals with other people Paul the Apostle was the same way now
It says in Paul about Paul the Apostle 1st Corinthians 4 verse 18
Now some are puffed up as though I would not come to you
And so Paul is saying there are people that are kind of arrogantly saying well Paul doesn't have the guts to come here
He's not gonna come, you know, we can do whatever we want
You know a man has his brother's wife and there's some people in the church that are bragging about it
Now look, I would hope that our church because in the Church of Corinth
It's a church of saved people that used to be a good church
I would hate to think that a church would end up going down this road
You have to assume that the leadership is just not getting the job done in the Church of Corinth
Okay
But in 1st Corinthians 4 verse 18 Paul is saying some people are kind of arrogantly saying that Paul's not going to come here
Verse 19
But I will come to you shortly if the Lord will and will know not the speech of them which are puffed up
But the power and so what he's saying is basically if it's God's will I am going to come and
We're gonna you people that are puffed up and say how strong you are and we're gonna see how powerful you actually are
You've got those strong words. Let's look at the power behind that when I come face to face
Are you gonna basically say the same things like basically all we can do whatever we want
We'll see if you have the guts and the reality is a lot of people that talk a big game
They don't back it up. Isn't that true when people talk a big game like man
I mean, I've literally not at this church, but I've had people at other churches before tell me man
I'm gonna read through the Bible once a month this year every single month cover to cover and
It's just like they never end up doing that
It's just like cuz yeah
That's like four hours of your day three or four hours of your day every day and after a while
We'll become like kind of a chore to you
It's like we'll see if you read through it 12 times in a year
See the person who actually reads the Bible a lot. They don't go around bragging about it and saying hey, you know
I'm gonna read I'm gonna I'm gonna spend five hours every morning in prayer. It's like
We'll see. We'll see
Good luck with that
We'll see how much power there is behind your words verse 20 for the kingdom of God is not in word but in power
What will ye shall I come unto you with a rod or in love and in the spirit of meekness?
And what I want you to see is Paul saying you've got two options when I come
Do you want me to come and lay down the hammer?
Do you want me to come down with a rod?
Do you want me to humble you or do you want to just humble yourself so I can come in love with meekness?
And just have good fellowship with you. He's like there's two options here
It's better you just deal with the problem and I can come to you in love and meekness
What you're seeing is that Paul the Apostle he doesn't want to have to lay down the hammer
What he wants is just be able to come and have fellowship in love and the spirit of meekness
He doesn't want to have to come and lay down the hammer and set things in order
He'd rather just come and have a good time and fellowship. Okay and turn to 2nd Corinthians 10 2nd Corinthians 10
And it shows us how we ought to be, you know, there are times you need to preach sermons like the sermon
I just preached you need to preach the whole Bible. There's times there's problems at church
You got to deal with those things from time to time
Unfortunately, you have to ask people not to come to the church anymore because they're trying to steal money from the church or whatever
The reason is but I don't like in having to do that
I'd rather just see in our church has good fellowship. You know, we all love God. We're just fellowshipping over lunch
We're going soul winning together. That's what I'd prefer
I don't want to have to lay down the hammer and thankfully I haven't had to you know, our church is going fine
But unfortunately, sometimes you do and Paul is kind of giving them those two options
Okay, and so I'm not saying there's never a time to be strong in leadership
But I'm saying the default position is meekness. The default position is not like okay
I'm ready to throw down and the default position is like hey, you know, I just want to shake your hand
You know, I don't have a problem with you. I don't want to fight, you know
2nd Corinthians 10 verse 1
Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ who in presence and base among you
But being absent and bold toward you and so Paul speaks about the meekness and gentleness of Christ
Now a lot of this sermon you can see is kind of a carryover
From the sermon on gentleness because gentleness is in the fruits of the Spirit and they're often it's often linked with meekness
So a lot of these verses
We're turning to a lot of the same ones and so I suppose it's a topic that God thinks is important enough to
Preach a few times because in the fruits of the Spirit you have gentleness and you have meekness these things are together
But what I want you to see here is that Christ was meek
Christ was gentle now oftentimes we remember the stories where he's preaching hard against the Pharisees in Matthew 23
That wasn't how he normally handled people though, right?
When he's preaching the gospel to people he can lay down the hammer if he wants in them on the sin in their lives
But he doesn't do that
His default position is one of love and meekness and gentleness and notice how Paul said in presence and base among you
Being base is basically things that are rejected the base things of the world
And so Paul basically saying that when I talk to people I just acted like a normal person as I mentioned
When are we preaching on gentleness if Paul the Apostle lived in today's world?
Paul the Apostle the greatest soul winner we would say of the New Testament who started all these churches
He would walk in here be at church and you would never know. He was the greatest Christian
You'd never know it. You'd never know that he read the Bible more than anybody else
You know why because he'd be dressed like us. He talked like us. He just be friendly and say, you know
Oh, how are you doing? It's nice to meet you. You know, what's your name? You know, how'd you hear about the church?
He just be a normal person
Why because he wasn't trying to make himself he didn't walk in a room and say I am an apostle of the Lord. I
was
Hand-chosen by God
it was probably one of those things that if he was around people and they didn't know exactly who he was like three months later is
Like that's Paul the Apostle
The guy I was sowing with is the guy who on the road to demand
I mean that's Paul the Apostle why because he wasn't trying to make himself something special
Okay now turn in your Bible to second boy. We're in 2nd Corinthians 10, but I want you to see something that meekness
Oftentimes you get accused of being weak if you're meek, okay, we see that yes
It's good to be meek, but oftentimes when you're a meek person and you don't elevate yourself
People will accuse you of being weak see if you don't walk around and say, you know, hey I read the Bible
You know for three hours every day, then people can say well, you know, so-and-so doesn't really read the Bible that much
Why because he's not going around bragging about it people will accuse you of being weak when you're actually being meek and look
You know, it actually takes a lot of strength not to always fight sometimes. Is there a time you have to fight one fortunately?
Yeah, I mean if somebody somebody broke into our house and tried to harm my wife or my son
There's a time to be a man and step up and fight and defend your family
Absolutely. Amen
But I want you to tell you I want to tell you I don't go down the street and try to fight with people
I've had people curse me out before you go so many sometimes people get mad at what you say
You know what? You just be nice to them. You just be friendly to them
That's not a time to start a fight you say why because you shouldn't want to walk around always getting in fights
Okay, now that's what it says in second Corinthians 10 verse 1
It said who in presence and base among you but being absent and bold toward you
So Paul preached really hard in the book of 1st Corinthians when he was absent. He wrote a whole book
Basically saying get that sin out of the church. I don't want to have to come and deal with this
He was bold. But what he says is I don't want to have to be bold
I want to just come in meekness and love
Okay
Verse 2 but I beseech you that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence
Wherewith I think to be bold against some which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh and what he's saying is
I don't want to have to be bold. I want to be humble. I just want to be a nice person
I just want to fellowship. Okay, we ought to have the same thing today
Now look, I understand that, you know, there's false religions
There's people that hate us
But when you read about David in the Bible because that we preached a whole sermon about enemies of God
But realize David had a lot of personal enemies that he did not hate
Did David hate King Saul?
No, he didn't. King Saul was trying to kill him
Did David hate, you know, any any of the characters that were causing him harm?
No, he didn't. He had a lot of people that wanted to kill him or wanted to harm him and he didn't personally hate them
Okay, and he was still meek in his relation to them. He could have killed Saul if he wanted to
He decided not to kill Saul though. Why? Well, because he said that's the Lord's anointing. Look down at verse number eight, verse number eight
2nd Corinthians chapter 10 verse 8
It reads, for though I should boast somewhat more of our authority which the Lord hath given us for
ratification and not for your destruction
I should not be ashamed. And what he's saying is if I need to boast or brag
About our authority I can do it. I don't want to have to I don't want to have to tell you
Yes, I'm an apostle of the Lord
But if you're sitting here saying well who do you why do you have a right to say anything?
It's like well because maybe because I kind of founded that church and baptized and brought all these people to your church
It's like maybe because I was the leader of that church and and I have some sort of authority
He's saying I don't want to have to do that
But if you're gonna make me then I guess that's what I'm gonna do verse 9
That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters for his letters say they are weighty and powerful
But his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible
So what they're saying is Paul you sound so tough in your words, but you're actually really weak
Do you notice they're actually accusing him of exactly what they're guilty of they are really tough in their words
But there's no power behind it
But what do they say to Paul you sound really tough when you wrote that letter and now it's like but you seem really weak
In person they're actually accusing Paul of what they're guilty of
But Paul is just meek he doesn't want to have to fight if he doesn't have to he doesn't want to have to yell
At anyone he doesn't have to say hey this person got has to be kicked out of church
He wants to just come and fellowship. Okay. What do you see when you are a meek person like Moses or Paul?
People will accuse you of being weak
Okay, look you don't have to be the most hardcore person in the world the Bible doesn't say that should be your goal
There are certain false prophets. You will never hear me preach against you say why?
Because you know honestly, it's just not a battle worth fighting and in life. There are a lot of battles
That is not worth fighting now if somebody wants to say well
You're weak because you don't have the guts well they can say what they want
But you know our church is a very successful church. We get tons of people saved. We already started a church
We've got a missions trip people are growing our churches churches growing people are spiritually growing
It's like people can think whatever they want from the outside. That's fine
I don't care, but what I want you to realize is they say the same thing about Paul
They're like wow you know you're weak. Well. No. It's just Paul. Just chose not to fight every battle
Okay
Now notice what it says here in verse 11
Let's such in one think this that such as we are in word by letters when we are absent such will we be also indeed
When we are present he says if you're thinking this that we're just gonna be you know pushovers
And you can just shove us around
Basically, they're saying Paul you have all these rules and standards and then when we come to you
We just say well, we're not gonna do them, and you just say oh, okay
I'm afraid and what is Paul saying well. He's like if I need to in person
I'll be the same way verse 12 for we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves
but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise and
What Paul says in verse 12 is we don't try to compare ourselves with other people we don't try to commend ourselves
We don't try to measure ourselves versus other people because Paul realizes that if you really want to just write things down
Let's see how many times you've read the Bible. Let's see how many times
I've read the Bible let's how many see how many people that you've gotten saved versus how many I've gotten saved
Let's see how many people you've brought to church and gotten baptized versus how many I have Paul's would be so much more and
Without stating this he says I'm not going to compare myself. I don't care
I don't need to compare myself if you think you're better than me. That's fine remember about meekness the first part is being
Humble you humble yourself, and then you're meek in relation to other people Paul was a humble person
Paul was probably the most successful Christian of the last 2,000 years
I mean John the Baptist would be the other one, but even more so than Peter Paul was extremely successful
He wrote over half the books of the New Testament 14 out of 27 books and yet Paul was just a normal ordinary person
And he didn't lift himself up
turn in your Bible to
numbers 12 numbers 12
Oh
You say brother stuck yeah, I want a more hardcore sermon didn't you weren't you here for the first sermon I
Mean not not every single sermon am I am I just gonna preach on it's like you know
We need a balance of things and yeah, we got the fruits of the Spirit and we got you know the psychopath series
We got everything because the Bible preaches and talks about everything okay, and so in point number three
Not only do we see that that great people of God
They are meek and what we see in the first point is really you must humble yourself to be meek
And we see that if you're meek they'll accuse you of being weak
But you know if you are meek people all also accuse you of being arrogant
They'll accuse you of what you are not
See if you humble yourself the result is meekness and so if you're meek it means you're not arrogant
You're actually humble okay, and Paul was the exact opposite of being weak
But being meek they accuse you of being weak you say
Why do people do this because they know they can kind of get away with it if you're a meek person?
They know that you're not gonna fight fire with fire
You know and you ever met people in life where they'll they'll always have like these
Backhanded comments to really kind of criticize you really harshly, and they know
You're not gonna say anything back
Why because you're just gonna be nice or you're not gonna fight that battle
And it's like why do people do that because they know they can get away with it
And so I mean you think of you think of and I'm not gonna turn there
but think of David's older brother Eliab right how he's going in first Samuel 17 to fight Goliath and
He's doing nothing wrong, and what does his brother accuse him of he's like who did you leave those sheep with in the wilderness?
It specifically says he left a keeper with the sheep
It says that and remember when they were picking a king all of David's brothers went
But David did not go why because his job was to keep the sheep
And he stayed with the sheep and then in first Samuel 17 his brother accuses of him of you know
Who did you leave those sheep with in the wilderness? It's like well? Why don't you go fight Goliath?
If you got so much guys if you're so bold if your words are so powerful
Let's see how powerful they are when you fight Goliath
And he wasn't doing it and what does he accuse David of he tells them that he's arrogant
That's what he's saying. He's like basically. He's arrogant David was the exact opposite
Why do people do this well sometimes when people are guilty of something themselves?
They accuse someone of being guilty of it
That's what you see sometimes in life and sometimes when people are arrogant
They accuse you of being arrogant and so what we see here though is in point number three that meek people are sometimes accused of
being
arrogant Mayabang suplato notice what it says in numbers 12 verse 1 and
Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married
pre had married an Ethiopian woman
And they said hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses hath he not spoken also by us and the Lord heard it
now in verse 2
They're basically accusing Moses of being arrogant because they're saying are you saying God only spoke to you didn't he speak to us also?
Now what's interesting about this is that Aaron had his shot to be a leader for a short time you guys remember?
What happened the golden calf?
Aaron was the leader in
Exodus 32 for a short time
Moses gets down from the mountain with Joshua and Joshua's like man
It sounds like the the sound of war in the camp and he's like oh, it's actually music. They're listening
It's actually rock music
They're listening to basically and so they get back and they're worshipping a golden calf
And then Aaron's like oh, it just kind of came out. It's like Aaron you you had your shot to lead you failed
You're done
Okay, you got your shot
Just be a helper and look there's nothing wrong in life when it comes to a spiritual sense people think of like the pastors the
Head of the church and yeah
We believe in pastor run churches that doesn't make the members less
And it doesn't mean the members are gonna get less rewards in heaven either
Okay, you don't have to be the leader and quite honestly
Aaron was really good at being number two in command of being a helper. He was great at that
He was right there for his brother Moses, but he was not good at being the leader
Some people just aren't gonna be in the leader King Saul
Before he took the leadership the Bible says he was a very meek person
He was little in his own sight as a reference to being humble
He was a great person a great man of God before he was the king, but did he make a good king?
No, he didn't there's nothing wrong
It's just being a great member of church. Not everybody is going to be great as a leader
That doesn't mean they're gonna get less rewards in heaven. It's just different roles
Okay, and so Aaron had his shot and he failed and yet hasn't God spoken to me
Well, yeah, you're a great helper
Just let Moses lead as that was God's plan verse 3 now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon
the face of the earth and
So basically it mentions Moses being very meek
Why does it mention that in the context of this argument because Moses is meek how he deals with his brother and sister
Moses could say hey, you know what Aaron and Miriam God chose me. Do you remember the golden calf in Exodus 32?
He could have said that
He doesn't do that. You say why well for one they already know that it's it's pointless
They're already aware of that and it's just like one of those things like if people you know want to criticize you just let him
Criticize you it is what it is and this is going to take place in life
And if you're always worried about people criticizing you you're not going to be that happy of a person
Just let people criticize you and it is what it is and God fights the battle for Moses
Okay
verse 4 and the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses and unto Aaron and unto Miriam
Come out ye three under the tabernacle of the congregation and they three came out
So God is basically going to deal with the situation now look once again
If in your life you get in an argument with a co-worker and you say God comes down from heaven to deal with it
I don't believe you. Okay. There's a Pentecostal church. Where's the closest Pentecostal Church, which which it's one of these directions
All right, they're gonna talk about something that we don't believe that obviously but here God actually deals with the situation
Okay, God spoke to Moses as a friend
The Bible says verse 7 my servant Moses is not so who is faithful in all mine house with him
Why I speak mouth-to-mouth even apparently and not in dark speeches and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold
Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses and the anger of the Lord was kindled against them
And he departed and so God gets very angry at Miriam and Aaron for criticizing Moses
Verse 10 and look what they're criticizing Moses for what starts it is they say you married an Ethiopian woman
I don't think this is Zipporah because this is all the way in numbers and all of a sudden
They're just like we married an Ethiopian woman. I mean if that was a poor that happened a long time ago. I
Think it's somebody else and we don't really know what happened to Zipporah
I mean Bible doesn't say I really don't know but here's what I want you to understand that they're basically
Criticizing Moses for something in your personal life if you feel like somebody's guilty of something
You don't have to criticize them if they are then God will deal with it if Moses needed to reap what he sowed
God would deal with that you don't have to make it a point to say well so and so did this
Because if God feels it's necessary to lay down the hammer on that person. It's gonna happen if not
Then that was God's choice
And so they criticize Moses now verse 10 and the cloud departed from off the tabernacle and behold Miriam
Became leprous white as snow and Aaron looked upon Miriam and behold
She was leprous and so they basically have this argument and the result of this is God strikes Miriam with leprosy
Okay. Now I feel like if I was Moses, I'd be like, all right, you got what you deserve, right?
And that's why God wouldn't have picked me to be the leader there, right?
But Moses his reaction is actually he cares about his sister even though they criticized him
He he didn't want her to have leprosy
He didn't dislike her and look if some other believer criticizes you because they have a bad attitude
They get backslidden. Just let them criticize you you just serve God yourself. This is just part of life
Okay, and this this has nothing to do with church even outside of church people will criticize you
People complain people will backstab you people will lie about you to your boss and your friends. This is just part of life
If you leave this church the same thing will happen in the world
It's part of life. You have friends that true prove not to be real friends. This is part of life
Okay, and so Moses just gets over it. No big deal verse 13 and Moses cried under the Lord saying heal her now
Oh God, I beseech thee you see if somebody is guilty of something your reaction should be to pray for that person
Okay, that's what the Bible teaches now. Let me say this
Obviously, we need a balance in what we're saying
I'm not saying that if you find out that so-and-so murdered someone let's just pray for that person
Don't turn them into the cops. Just pray for them. Let's just deal with it in church
Oh, they killed seven people now. It's just it just a church matter. Just pray for them
Look, obviously, we're not saying that look if it turns out somebody this church you molest somebody you murder someone
Look, we're gonna call the police and do everything we can to get you put away and hope that they deal with it as they
Should okay, but when we're just talking about people committing sins
Like if let's say for example, you catch somebody like oh so and so, you know, I saw a picture they were drinking online
Look, you don't need to tell me that I don't care
That doesn't make them a drunk where they get kicked out of church
That just means they committed to sin if so and so you say man
I heard so and so listening to rock music
I called them up on their phone and they were listening to Guns N' Roses or Led Zeppelin. Don't tell me about that
I don't care. I'm sure there's people in this room that listen to rock music. I'm positive of it
You say why because people are growing?
Okay, it is what it is
If you find out somebody's guilty of something and it's not a sin that's gonna get you kicked out of church
I don't want to know about I don't want to know people's dirty lunch
I so so and so, you know, she was wearing pants or whatever. I don't care. Don't tell me about it
Okay, it's like you don't have to tell me about everything that takes place people do whatever they make their choices. That's fine
Okay, just have a reaction like Moses, you know, if you feel like somebody's really guilty of something at church just pray for them
Okay, turn to number 16 number 16
So Moses the Bible makes very clear was the meekest man upon the earth, right?
I would say that means he was probably the most humble person in the earth because meekness is a result of
Humbleness if he was not the number one most humble person. He was right near the top
Probably the humblest person as a result
He's meek and is dealing with with other people and yet you see multiple times in the Bible where people accuse him of being
arrogant in fact four chapters later
You see basically the same thing number 16 verse 3 and they gather themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said unto them
Ye take too much upon you. What are they saying Moses? You've lifted yourself up too high
Moses Aaron you guys are arrogant and it's like well Aaron you're you're reaping what you sow
You did this four chapters ago
Now you're being accused of the same thing because notice how it says ye take too much upon you
They're not just talking to Moses. Ye and your King James Bible is plural. It's a plural version of you
See the words we have in today's language
They the language is basically becoming dumber and dumber as time goes on in the King James Bible
Ye is plural and you is plural the in thou and thy those are singular
Okay, ye and ye and you are plural thee and thou are singular you say brother suck you man the King James Bible so confusing
I just cleared it up in 30 seconds. Ye is plural. Okay, it's plural for you. And
So it says here ye take too much upon you. So they're criticizing Moses and Aaron
Okay
now let me just say this that even in the
Context you could tell what the word ye means because notice how they they gather themselves together against Moses and against Aaron
You can tell in the context ye is plural
See the Bible defines itself
Even if you don't know these these things in grammar the Bible defines itself
Ye is referring to Moses and Aaron is plural seeing all the congregation are holy every one of them and the Lord is among them
Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord
They say everyone's holy and you're lifting yourself up now. This is a sermon in a couple weeks because this is the Korah
Okay, that's what's going to be in the psychopath series. Korah is the one mentioned in Jude. Okay, this is the example
But I want you to see how they say every one of us in the congregation are holy. What a stupid statement
Every single person there's not a single church in the world where everybody's holy. Are you kidding me?
Like every single person is just super godly. I mean first off that's not even a good thing because if you're reaching new people
They're growing
People are not perfect from day one
Look when a person gets saved
They don't make any changes like they're the exact same if and I use this example if somebody was a drunk and they get saved
Right after they get saved. They're still a drunk
You say why?
Because the flesh didn't change they were dwelled with the spirit of God
The flesh doesn't change a drunk that gets saved is still a drunk a drug dealer that gets saved is still a drug dealer
And an 18 year old college student that gets saved still watches tv listens to rock music and the whole nine yards
Okay
So look when people are new they're going to learn and grow when I first started going to church in college
You know, I would often go in shorts and a t-shirt
Now I wouldn't do that now, but you say why did you do that brother Stuckey? Because I didn't like dressing up, okay
Cleanse the inside the outside cleanses itself. Okay, so we don't have to worry necessarily about how people are dressed
So what am I saying? Well, it's ridiculous to say everybody is holy
But that's not even a good thing in a church because people should be growing
You should be reaching new people that just got saved and their lives are not fully fixed
They've got a lot of stuff to change and so it says he take too much upon you
That's what they're accusing him of everybody's holy and they say ye lift yourself up. So what are they doing?
They're accusing moses and aaron of being arrogant when in reality they're just me turn to glation six glation six
glation chapter six
So
You say brother Stuckey, okay meekness is in the fruits of the spirit I want to be meek
How do I do that become a humble person? Okay
Look, if you if you always feel the need to tell people about your accomplishments, there's a problem there
I promise you every single person in this room
There are certain things that they are really good at or there's been things in the past where they were great
Every one of us I promise you every one of us has something in life where you are just like
In the top one percent of people look I I can think of a couple things that I was really good at
You know when I was younger things that I was really good at and you guys have the same things
Here's the thing. We don't need to go around though and tell people man. I am like the expert
At this topic i'm like one of the great i'm like one of the fastest readers in the world
I'm one of the fastest typers in the world. You don't need to tell people that
And you might be because i'm sure everybody in this room
There's something you have because everybody has various skills there's probably something that you're exceptionally good at
We don't need to go around and brag about it. And if you feel the need to brag about it
It shows you're not a humble person. So if you want to be a meek person
You need to become humble first and if you always feel the need to talk about what you do or every time there's a conversation
You are always the one talking
There's a conversation and 90 of the conversation is just you're talking about yourself
Like hayman
In the bible hayman in the bible. He's always just talking about himself like look at all this money
I have look at what god's blessed me with these children all this stuff
That's an arrogant person and if you're always talking about yourself, you know, you might want to change that because people don't like
Always hearing about you
You're saying i'm this i'm that i'm that people don't like hearing that
People don't like being around arrogant people where they're always the one talking and always about their accomplishments
They don't like that and you might be good at everything under the sun
But you're not a fun person to hang out with so
You need to become humble first. And so let's see what it says in galatian six, but you say brother stucky
you know, what's what's the main purpose of being meek because
You know, it doesn't even sound like it necessarily gives you benefits because people will accuse you of being weak
They'll accuse you of being arrogant. So what's the purpose of even being meek?
You have to understand that what the bible teaches is that when you are meek that is act how you actually reach people
By being a meek person, okay
Galatians six verse one brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault
Ye, which are spiritual restore such and one in the spirit of meekness
Considering thyself lest thou also be tempted. It's talking about someone being overtaken by a fault
They committed some sin
Let's say for example, and i'll just use this, you know example of drinking because it's a good example to use
But you know, sometimes people come to church
And in their past they used to drink a lot of alcohol now when someone first comes to church
That doesn't mean they're never going to drink alcohol again
The reality is they'll probably struggle with it for a little while and hopefully being at church. They'll eventually get rid of it
We wouldn't kick somebody out if they're trying to get a sin out of their life when the bible says it's it's it's commonly reported
It was a problem in first corinthians if there's someone who it's it's so obvious that they stumble into church drunk
Then I would have to talk to that person say hey, you know
But if it's someone who just struggles from time to time and nobody's aware of it
That's not what it's talking about in first corinthians. We're talking about blatant sins that everybody's aware of. Okay
So what did you what you understand that let's say somebody has that as a struggle
They basically used to drink a lot of alcohol
They started coming to our church and look I don't know this being a situation but it could be at our church now
I don't know and they say I really struggled with this and i'm trying to get rid of this sin
I'm struggling this thing keeps overtaking me. Okay, say how do you help that person in the spirit of meekness?
What am I talking about? What you don't do is say man, you're so wicked. How could you ever commit that sin?
It's like are you kidding me? You're gonna you still drink alcohol
That's not how you help them get over that. I mean, what is your goal when you talk like that to someone?
If your goal is to restore them
What you do is you talk to them and say you know what we all struggle with things, you know
We want to help you. I want to pray for you
Hey, I can be you know, I can help you out
If you ever struggle just send me a text message
I won't tell them I just want to pray for you and help you
Just give me a call if you're struggling with this, you know desire whatever that is how you help people
In the spirit of meekness turn to ephesians four ephesians four
ephesians four
How do you not help people like job's friends
Like job's friends
I mean, what is your goal? I mean his kids are already dead
He already lost all of his money. Oh, you must not be right with god
Because benny hen told me benny hen told me that you know if you get right with god, you know money's gonna fall from the sky
You know the windows of heaven are open, you know, they're just gonna come down and rain in your house
That's what benny hen told me. That's what my pentecostal preacher told me you don't help people like job's friends now
This is something that's kind of interesting because as I mentioned this is kind of a similar sort of sermon as
The sermon on gentleness. There's a lot of crossover and even on the teaching principles series
There was a sermon on this and it was pretty similar
But you know, what's funny is like I thought about various situations. I was talking to my wife
About various people have asked me for advice on stuff and I I can think of several
Several different examples where people ask me for advice on stuff
And you know when people ask me for advice if you've ever asked me
I I i'm i'm not a jerk when I give my opinion i'm nice about it and you know, I say, you know
I say i'll pray for you about it. You know, this is what my opinion is, you know, but it's up to you
It's your choice. It's your free will you know what my wife and I commented on was
Several different times people actually followed the advice like I gave them
And I did not expect them to follow it in any of the situations and several different times
They followed it every single time
It's funny because I mentioned the teaching principles series and I mentioned how if because this is what the bible teaches
If you're gentle and meek and humble people listen to your advice
But then it actually happened and I was wondering like why exactly is this that people actually responded
I think because when you're gentle and meek it shows that you care about people
See to be meek you must first be humble
and if if I was just a jerk to people then they probably would almost want to not follow my advice because it's like
You know because i'm being rude to them
But if you actually show people you care about them see when it talks about, you know
Being a pastor bishop or elder these represent the same office but different roles within that office
And when I really think of the positions that are like kind of the most
The one that's the most important to me. It's being a pastor
Okay, because i've had churches where the pastor was not right on all this doctrine things that you know, I knew were wrong
But the pastor cared about me
You say what's the result?
I still pray for those pastors because they weren't bad guys because they actually cared about me
the number one thing you want from a church is that
People actually care about you, right?
And if your pastor doesn't care about you, there's a big problem there
And so I I think the main reason why people respond well
And you can help them overcome situations is because they realize they care that you care about them
But realize this is not really something you can fake though
If you're an arrogant person, you can only pretend to be humble for so long
It's like and people are going to say, you know, actually that guy's really arrogant
They're going to be able to tell it and see meekness comes as a result of being humble
And so if you just try to go through the motions and pretend to be humble
It's like oh, yeah, i'll pray for you brother, you know, I understand it's like people are going to see through that
Okay, you have to actually be meek, which means you must first be humble. Okay, you can't fake this ephesians 4 verse 2
ephesians 4
Is in the context of a church the church of ephesus?
But also just ephesians 4 talks about all these problems that are are being dealt with at the church
But in verse 2 or how to not to be bitter, you know
Not to all these different things throughout the chapter
Verse 2 with all lowliness and meekness with long suffering for bearing one another in love
So the bible says when you're dealing with other people you do it in lowliness
Which basically means you kind of make yourself low or base
You humble yourself and you're meek when you interact with them. Why do you do that?
Because you care about them. It's in the spirit of love for bearing one another in love. Okay, colossians 3 colossians 3
3
Colossians chapter 3 and so this is throughout the bible
It mentions this in in the church of galatians church of glacia the church of ephesus and then here in colossians 3 as well
Says in verse 12 put on therefore as the elect of god holy and beloved bowels of mercies kindness humbleness of mind
Meekness long suffering notice how meekness is right after humbleness of mind
So you humble yourself the result is going to be meekness second timothy 2 second timothy chapter 2 second timothy chapter 2
Let me give you an example of something that would not really help
People out if I preached this in a sermon if I preached in a sermon that look and I I preach sermons that if you don't
Read the bible you're not right with god and the bible teaches that
Okay, if you don't read the bible because the bible says read there in all the days of that life
But you know what I also say is, you know, hey, this is something I struggle with as well
Sometimes I don't feel like reading the bible sometimes, you know
I come to the end of my day and i'm thinking man. I didn't even get to my bible. I need to read the bible
You have to understand that when you preach sermons if you preach and say if you don't read the bible for an hour a day
You're not right with god
That isn't actually going to help people make changes in their life
It's going to make people think that you read the bible for an hour a day and maybe you do
But it doesn't actually help people make changes in their life because you don't really seem like you care about them
You just seem like you're kind of like a jerk
because you kind of are
If you're talking like that and so notice what it says in second timothy 2 verse 25 second timothy 2 verse 25
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if god peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth
And so we know repentance means a change of mind
And so when it talks about meekness instructing people
You try to help people get to the knowledge of jesus christ and the truth
And so when we're soul winning the way we go soul winning is we're actually nice to the people we talk to
If you want to get somebody saved and look I knew somebody
You know at church before and they ended up being a phony and a bad guy, but he knocked on a door
And then he would act he would talk to someone they say oh, you know, I go to the roman catholic church
And you know, he would say wow, you know you guys murdered like 50 million people
Through our human history. He's like you murdered all these people. He would like mock them at the door
And he ended up being a phony and I don't know
He has a youtube channel where he makes videos against so you guys probably know who i'm talking
But it's just like that's the way he would talk to people. It's like man. You're just being a jerk
It's like why don't you just be like nice to people, you know, what's the purpose? Okay. Look the average catholic out there
Doesn't know about all that stuff
Everybody before they're saved, you know, we believe kind of foolish things before I was saved
I believed some foolish things and the way you get somebody saved is you're nice to that person
You're meek with that turn to titus three titus three
You say when does this become important it becomes important when we have new people at church
Especially we will have new and honestly one thing that's really encouraging to me is recently over the last couple months
There's been a lot of people that have been visiting our church and sticking around for the services. That's great
And when new people are coming they might not have heard that sermon that you heard
They might not have they might be just started reading the bible
They're going to just get to the I mean, I remember when I first started reading the bible
And you know, I remember the story of moses, you know with a brazen serpent and it mentions it in john
I remember because I just started reading the bible and I was like man
This is so cool like john 3 because I hadn't heard a priest like this is talking about
You know with moses in the old testament and they're like, yeah, you didn't know that
I thought I discovered like the coolest thing ever like when people first get saved all this stuff is brand new
Right, I mean think back to when you first started reading the bible and you're learning all these things
Wow, this is so interesting when people first start coming here. They look it was like six months after I got saved
And somebody explained to me why I need to be baptized. I didn't even know
I thought I got baptized as a baby
You say why?
Because you know newly saved I don't know these things when someone first gets saved. They don't realize they need to get baptized
And their first reaction might be I was already baptized as a baby. What are you talking about?
It's just like that's just the way it is. I mean everything's new to them
They don't they don't realize all these things and so they're not going to know they're like king james only
I didn't even know there's more than one bible
There's more than one bible, why would there be more than one bible?
I mean and that's a good question. Why would there be more than one bible?
Yeah, that's a whole other topic but realize all this stuff is new to people when they first get saved
They're new to church. It is what it is. Okay, say how do we reach those people?
Well realize
I will preach the whole bible from the pulpit and I preach hard and if I talk to that person outside the pulpit
I don't tell them you got to change this this and this i'm just nice to them
They already know if they heard the sermon they need to make changes
You don't have to remind them
What they need to see is because think about when you're raising kids, you know, the bible speaks about
To basically provide nurture and admonition
And the sermon is basically like the admonition, you know get this right
What they need is people that actually care about them and the combination is going to set cause them to make changes in their life
And so we must be gentle with people
We must be meek with people titus 3 2 to speak evil of no man to be no brawlers, but gentle
Showing all meekness onto all men showing all meekness onto all men turn to james 3 james 3 now
Look there with every topic. There's a balance here. There's a time where you got to stand up. I mean moses in number 16
He did stand up to cora he didn't do that with miriam and aaron
But there is a time I understand that
But we're preaching on being meek and this is a good principle to have to be a meek person
It starts with being humble james 3 verse 13 james 3 verse 13
Who was a wise man and dude with knowledge among you let him show out of a good conversation his works
With meekness of wisdom one last place first peter three first peter three will close up first peter chapter three
Three
First peter chapter three verse 15
first peter chapter three verse 15
It says but sanctify the lord god in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a
Reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear and say brother sucky
How do we go about being a meek person first you humble yourself?
How can I tell if i'm not a humble person if you always talk about yourself?
If you always just want to think about yourself if you always are just talking about how great you are at everything
That's how you know
That you're not really a humble person you want to be meek first you become humble
You people could accuse you of being arrogant
They could accuse you of being weak when you're just in reality being meek you say well
What's the purpose of being meek?
The purpose of it is because that's how you help make people change make changes in life
And look I understand when it comes to online preaching the sermons we think about are the sermons that get you know
500 protesters around your church
That's a very small percentage of what pastor menace preaches. I mean quite honestly, he he really isn't all that controversial
He doesn't try to stir the pot. I mean he preaches the whole bible
But it's like honestly there's a balance of everything and there are the sermons like the first sermon today on the violent psychopath
We showed lots of bible. It wasn't just my opinion. We showed a lot of bible, but there's also the sermons on being meek
Okay, let's close in a word of prayer. Dear heavenly father. Thank you for allowing us to be here today
I just ask you to bless the rest of this day help us to apply this to our lives including myself
God help us to constantly be making changes in our lives. Try to stay humble people
God continue to bless our church and help us as we go. So one day god, we pray this in jesus name. Amen