Man, the title of my sermon this morning is chest pounding and fighting, chest pounding
and fighting.
Now when I say chest pounding, I'm referring to this gesture right here.
And I'm talking about basically this kind of big ego, macho, I'm going to kick your
butt kind of attitude right here.
And we as Christians should not be involved in physically getting in fights.
This is a carnal, sinful, wicked thing to do.
And we're there in Titus chapter 1, but also in 1 Timothy chapter 3, we have a parallel
passage about the qualifications for the bishop, the qualifications for the pastor of
the church.
And in 1 Timothy 3, it says, not given to wine, no striker, right?
So one of the qualifications for the pastor is that he be no striker and that he be
not a brawler.
Now you might say, well that's just for pastors, but the idea here is that a man
is supposed to be found having these attributes before he's chosen to be a pastor.
This is something just all Christians should be living up to certain standards of morality
and then when we go to choose a pastor, we're going to pick someone who meets these
particular criteria because obviously God doesn't want any of his people to be strikers or
brawlers.
Look down at your Bible there in Titus chapter 1 verse 7, the Bible reads, for a bishop
must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given
to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre.
And of course, a lot of these things are connected, aren't they?
You know, the self-willed person is probably going to be the same person who loses his
temper and gets violent.
Also alcohol tends to lead to violence.
Not given to wine, no striker, okay?
Soon angry is a recipe for getting in fights, right?
What does it mean by soon angry?
Like, you know, just blowing your top because someone supposedly looked at you the wrong
way or something stupid like that or someone said something that you didn't like or whatever.
Someone hurt your ego or your pride.
Look, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, the Bible says.
The weapons of our warfare are not carnal.
We are not to be physically fighting.
Now obviously, there may come a time when you actually need to defend yourself from
a dangerous person or a dangerous situation.
And obviously, I am certainly not against martial arts as a sport or as military training.
Like I'm not against that type of thing.
However, brawlers, they're not acting in self-defense.
Strikers, what are they doing?
They're based on ego, okay?
They pick fights with people to show what a big man they are.
It's all about pride, arrogance, and ego.
Now if you would turn to 1 John Chapter 2.
While you're turning to 1 John Chapter 2, let me just read you some scriptures on
pride and arrogance.
The Bible says in 1 Samuel 2, 3, talk no more so exceedingly proudly.
Let not arrogance come out of your mouth.
For the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed.
We shouldn't go around just talking in a prideful, arrogant manner about how bad
we are, how tough we are, how I'm going to kick your butt and I can beat the crap
out of you.
That is not the right attitude for a Christian to have.
It's arrogance, it's prideful, it's wicked.
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.
Pride and arrogance in the evil way and the froward mouth do I hate.
Isaiah 13, 11, I'll punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity.
I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of
the terrible.
Jeremiah 48, 29, we've heard the pride of Moab.
He is exceeding proud, his loftiness and his arrogance and his pride and the haughtiness
of his heart.
Folks, these are not the attributes that Christians should have in their lives.
We need to be humble.
Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Look down at your Bible there in 1st John chapter 2 verse 15.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the
pride of life is not of the father but is of the world and the world passeth away
in the lust thereof but he that do with the will of God abideth forever.
What do we mean when we talk about being worldly?
We don't want to have the values of this world.
We don't want to go after the pursuits of this world.
Specifically when we talk about that which is worldly, we're talking about the lust
of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life.
What are we talking about here?
Obviously the lust of the flesh, that's things to do with, for example, fornication,
adultery, or also drunkenness, also gluttony, right?
This is gratifying your physical flesh with sinful things, right?
So fornication, adultery, gluttony, whatever, okay?
Lust of the eyes, this is covetousness.
This is the love of money.
This is desiring things that are not rightfully yours.
This is coveting your neighbor's wife.
This is coveting your neighbor's vehicle or his house or anything that is thy neighbor's,
right?
The lust of the eyes, looking out there and desiring these things that are not rightfully
for you.
And then of course the third one that we don't really think about as much or talk about
as much perhaps is the pride of life, right?
This is the worldly mentality which is maybe not necessarily living for money or physical
enjoyment but for power and glory and glorifying yourself and having all this ego
and pride and arrogancy and this is how worldly people are.
This is what they live.
If they're not living for money, if they're not living to gratify the flesh, then what
are they living for?
Many times they're living for their ego.
Hey, look at me.
Look how smart I am.
Look how athletic I am.
Look how cool I am.
Look what a big man I am.
Look what a bad dude I am.
This is not godly.
The pride of life is one of the three major lusts that God is warning us about
in this passage.
That lust for power, that lust for glory, that lust for being cool or being powerful
or whatever.
And look, this is a trap.
And if you would flip over to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, this is a trap that junior hires
and high schoolers often fall into, am I right?
You know, and you probably remember this unless you were homeschooled, probably even
if you were homeschooled, but you know, but if you were not homeschooled and you went
to school, you probably remember the type of grandstanding and chest pounding and trash
talk that happens among teenage boys in the locker room, right?
When you're in junior high, when you're in high school, and there's a lot of smack
talk and I'm going to kick your butt and I can beat you up and blah, blah, blah.
It's stupid.
It's immature.
It's juvenile.
It's something that you're supposed to grow out of.
Okay.
What does the Bible say?
Look at 1 Corinthians 13, 11, when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood
as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
You see young people, their brains aren't necessarily fully developed and they obviously
need to be taught in the ways that are right.
They need to get some life experience and mature and grow up.
And this is why that mentality is so pervasive in junior highs and high schools because it's
just, you know, boys are just by nature at that age, immature, myself included.
You know, I got involved in it when I was in junior high.
I got in fistfights.
When I was in high school, I got involved in fistfights, but you know what?
When I became a man, I put away childish things.
And it's pretty sad when you have these overgrown man children in their 40s going
around picking fights, going around talking about how they're going to beat up this
person and beat up that person.
It's embarrassing and stupid and immature and you're a loser.
Look, I'm 42 years old.
Can you imagine me just going around talking about who I can beat up and, you know,
how tough I can take on anybody and whatever?
It's an embarrassment.
It's stupid.
It's ridiculous.
You say, Pastor Anderson, can you beat up everybody?
No, I can't.
I can't beat up everybody.
You say, can you beat up everyone in this room?
No, I can't.
You say, can you at least beat up your whole staff?
No.
Brother Segura could kick my butt.
Okay?
I'm just saying.
And you say, well, oh, man, that's so embarrassing for you to say that.
No, because I'm not a man child.
I'm an adult.
I'm an adult, so I don't actually measure my manhood by whether I can kick Brother
Segura's butt or whether he can kick my butt.
I already know that he can kick my butt, and I don't feel like less of a man because I'm not 12.
I mean, it's stupid, my friend.
You know, people today that are acting that way as adults need to grow up.
We should be seeking to avoid fights, not starting them.
Now, this morning in the sermon, I'm going to give you some points.
I'm going to give you eight points on how to avoid fights, and if you would, turn
to Proverbs chapter 13, how to avoid getting in a physical fight, because that should
be the goal.
I know you're 40 years old, still watching Marvel movies or something, but it's time
to grow up and realize that that's not how the world works.
That's not how we solve our problems.
We don't use violence to solve our little ego problems or daddy issues or whatever
you have.
So point number one is be humble.
Number one, be humble, because the Bible says in Proverbs 13, verse 10, only by pride
cometh contention, but with the well-advised it is wisdom, right?
Contention comes from pride, and we already talked about this earlier, but it's going
to keep coming up because it's just the reason.
It's what it is.
Here are some verses in Psalms, you don't have to turn to these, where they associate
pride and violence, because the two go hand in hand.
Psalm 73, 6, therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain, violence covereth them
as a garment.
You see that association there?
Psalm 86, 14, oh God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent
men have sought after my soul and have not set thee before them.
Notice the violent people and the proud people are the same people in these verses.
These two things are associated.
So number one, be humble.
Number two, don't blow off your mouth.
Don't go around blowing off your mouth to people.
If you would flip back to Proverbs chapter 10, while you're turning there, Titus 3,
verse 32 says this, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all
meekness unto all men.
It's funny, as I go through these eight points, some of these verses, I didn't know
which point to put them under.
Some of these verses have like three points in one verse.
And so it's like I had to just pick where they fit best, but honestly, you're going
to hear these points being reviewed over and over again, because point number one
was being humble.
Point number two is don't blow off your mouth, but in the verse about not blowing
off your mouth, it tells you to show meekness, which is humility.
There's going to be a lot of crossover in these scriptures, okay?
To speak evil of no man, to talk crap to no man, you know, and don't say things
that are provoking a fight.
Don't be a brawler.
Be gentle, right?
Show all meekness unto all men.
So number one, be humble.
Number two, don't blow off your mouth.
Look at Proverbs chapter 10, verse 11.
The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life, but violence covereth the mouth of
the wicked, right?
You've got the healthy mouth and you've got the violent mouth that stirs up violence.
Hatred stirreth up strife, but love covereth all sins, right?
You say, well, this guy, he did something I didn't like.
He did wrong.
He did something I don't approve of.
Does that mean that you're going to go beat him?
No, because hatred stirreth up strife, but love covereth all sins, right?
Let it go.
You don't have to write every wrong in this world, you overgrown superhero wannabe.
Let it go.
Chill out.
Be cool, which leads me to my next point.
Number three, go to Proverbs 15.
Number three, try to diffuse a situation.
Try to diffuse a situation.
Number one, be humble.
Number two, don't blow off your mouth.
Number three, try to diffuse a situation.
And, you know, speaking of Brother Segura, he and I, we made a video about this many
years ago.
We made a video about this as part of our Landmark series, and we were talking
about, it's still on Rumble, it's called like fighting and nonviolence or something,
and Brother Segura and I are talking about this, and Brother Segura tells several stories
about situations where people try to start a fight with him, and he was able to diffuse
the situation.
It's funny, I was just talking about this with Brother Segura a couple days ago.
He literally told me a story from like less than a month ago, where a homeless
person tried to pick a fight with him and was getting violent with him.
And he basically just comforted the feeble-minded and didn't take the bait.
Why would he?
Like, yeah, I showed that homeless guy what was up.
I mean, look, we could all just go around the whole city and probably just beat the
crap out of every homeless person that we find.
But what would be the point?
And would God be pleased?
No, it's wrong.
So try to diffuse a situation.
Look at Proverbs chapter 15 verse 1, a soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous
words stir up anger.
Right?
Soft answer.
Hey, man, sorry I cut you off.
You know, I kind of cut somebody off in traffic the other day by accident.
And then we both ended up in the same parking lot.
And I thought to myself, you know what?
This guy might say something to me, because I made a mistake in my driving.
Maybe he's going to say something.
And I already just decided that if this guy says something to me, I'm just going to
say, hey, man, I'm sorry, that was totally my fault.
Right?
And most of the time, it's going to be over at that point.
Most of the time, that's going to fix things.
You know, now, obviously, every once in a while, you're going to have that person
where you say, hey, man, it's cool.
Let's not do this.
And they're just going to attack you anyway.
Obviously, that's out there, my friend.
I'm not saying that if you follow these rules, you're never going to get
attacked.
I'm not saying if you follow these rules, you're never going to get in a fight.
That's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying these are ways to avoid most fights.
Right?
I don't want to blame victims who get assaulted.
I'm just saying that we want to make sure that we do what we can.
It's sort of like driving.
You know, you drive defensively.
Now, sometimes you could do all the right things and still get in a horrible
accident.
Right?
You know, you could be riding your motorcycle, you know, down the road and some guy
is just on the wrong side of the road and runs into you.
You know, one time I was just sitting at a red light and somebody just plowed into
me from behind.
What was I doing wrong?
Obviously, things are going to happen, but if you will be humble, if you will not
talk trash, if you try to diffuse the situation, this is going to get you out
of a lot of bad situations.
Number four, have self-control.
Have self-control.
Right?
Don't just lose it.
Don't just lose control.
What does the Bible say?
Proverbs chapter 25, and then after this point, I'm going to get to one of the most
important points of the whole sermon for all the chest-pounding little hothead junior
hires out there.
But before I get to that, let's do point number four, have some self-control.
It says in Proverbs 25, 27, it's not good to eat much honey.
So for men to search their own glory is not glory.
That means when you're talking about how tough you are and how cool you are, that
ain't cool.
Searching your own glory is not glory.
Let another man praise thee, not thine own mouth.
But then look at the very next verse.
He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down
and without walls.
Have some rule over your spirit.
Have some self-control.
Flip over to Ecclesiastes chapter nine.
You're in Proverbs, so you're close.
A couple pages to the right in your Bible, you'll be there.
Ecclesiastes chapter nine.
Point number one was be humble.
Point number two was, what was point number two?
Don't blow off your mouth.
Point number three, try to diffuse the situation.
Point number four, have some self-control.
And point number five, this was pretty important.
Realize that you are never guaranteed to win a fight.
I don't care how tough you are.
You are never guaranteed to win a fight or to get out of there unscathed
or to get out of there alive.
This is never guaranteed.
Nothing is guaranteed.
Look if you would at chapter nine verse eleven.
I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift,
nor the battle to the strong.
Neither yet bred to the wise, nor yet richest to men of understanding,
nor yet favored to men of skill,
but time and chance happeneth to them all.
Right?
It's not always going to be the strongest one who wins the battle, is it?
No, it isn't.
And you say, why do you include this point?
Because you know what?
In case anybody's too much of a dummy
to understand all the spiritual points I'm giving
about being humble,
about pleasing God,
about using a soft answer to turn away wrath,
having self-control.
In case they're just glazing over on that point,
well here's a point that should be able to resonate with everyone.
You are not guaranteed to win any altercation.
I don't care how good of a fighter you are.
I don't care how much training you have.
I don't care how strong you are.
I don't care how fast you are.
You are never guaranteed to win or even come out alive
of any of these situations.
Never.
Well, you don't know how tough I am.
This is not a comic book, my friend.
This is real life.
And in real life,
strange things happen
and time and chance happeneth to them all.
Let alone, how about when somebody has a weapon?
Right?
You're so tough
and you're ready to just take on anybody, right?
Are you going to take on a bullet?
Right?
Are you going to take on a gun?
Are you going to take on a knife or a sword
with your bare hands?
No, you're not.
And how about this?
Multiple opponents.
Oh, I know I can take this guy right
until his buddy comes
and feeds you with the lead pipe
in the library with Colonel Mustard or whatever.
But the point is
you don't know
if somebody's going to pull a weapon
you don't know if there are multiple opponents
involved
and you don't know if you're just going to make a dumb mistake
and somebody just gets lucky.
Every once in a while somebody might just get a lucky punch
and they just hit that
right spot or whatever
and you're just going to go down.
You never know.
You're invincible.
I mean, look, let me tell you about a guy in the Bible
who thought he was invincible because he was the biggest, toughest, baddest
dude on the battlefield.
What was his name?
Goliath!
I mean, nobody can beat this guy in a fight.
He talked trash for 40 days straight
and nobody challenged him for 40 days straight
but you know what?
If you talk trash, you can get away with it for a while
if you're grandstanding
and chest pounding
and you know, think you're unbeatable
and you get that 40 times
but it's that 41st time that really gets you
and you end up
being decapitated
by a teenager.
Right?
I mean, that's what happened.
You don't know what's going to happen.
So number five, realize that you're never guaranteed
to win a fight.
Number six, abstain from alcohol.
Here's what the Bible says in Proverbs 23.
You can turn there if you want.
Verse 29, you're close.
Who hath woe?
Who hath sorrow?
Who hath contentions?
You hear that?
Contentions.
Who hath babbling?
Who hath wounds without cause?
Who hath redness of eyes?
Proverbs 23, verse 30.
They that tarry long at the wine,
they that go to seek mixed wine.
Right?
The drunkard has contentions
and he has wounds without cause.
Isn't that simple?
Right? That's why you have the proverbial
bar fight.
Because somebody drinks a bunch of alcohol
and here's one of the reasons why alcohol
leads to violence is because of the fact
that it boosts the ego.
It boosts the pride.
It makes you bold
and you will start fights that you wouldn't normally
start if you were not under the influence
of alcohol. Alcohol,
of course, for a long time has been associated
with violence.
I'm going to turn to Matthew, chapter number 5.
Matthew, chapter number 5.
Point number 7, turn the other cheek.
Turn the other cheek.
How do you avoid a fight?
Number 1, be humble.
Number 2, don't blow off your mouth.
Number 3, try to defuse the situation.
Number 4, practice self-control.
Number 5,
realize that you're never guaranteed
to win any fight.
No matter how tough you think you are.
You're just going to go to the gym
and get so huge that no one can ever defeat you.
Okay, Goliath, but guess what?
Somebody might have a weapon
and then you're doomed.
Number 6,
abstain from alcohol.
Number 7,
turn the other cheek is what Christ taught.
Turn the other cheek.
Look what the Bible says in Matthew 5, verse 38.
You have heard that it has been said
an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
But I say unto you that ye resist not evil
and turn the other cheek, turn to him the other also.
And if any man will sue thee at the law
and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile,
go with him twain,
give to him that asketh thee,
and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
What is the Bible saying when it says
turn the other cheek?
Look, you don't have to right every wrong in this world.
If somebody does wrong to you, let it go.
Go, if you would, to Luke chapter 6.
Now look, I do not believe that this is telling us
not to defend ourselves
if we're actually in danger.
I don't believe that for one second.
I think that if you're actually in danger,
you have every right to defend yourself.
Okay?
But here's the thing.
Someone slapping you on the cheek
is not always putting you in danger.
Right?
Because who would say here,
Pastor Anderson,
I've been slapped in the face before.
At some point in my life,
I've been slapped in the face.
Virtually everyone. Most people.
And the rest of you, I don't, you know,
you guys are living a peaceful life.
Okay, now raise your hand
if you've been slapped on the face before
and it did not lead to a fist fight.
Did not lead to any kind of,
it's all the same hands virtually.
Guess what?
Getting slapped across the face
is not typically
what violent people do
in order to, you know,
initiate
their destructive,
you know, assault on you.
Typically,
the slap of the cheek
is more about
humiliation,
arrogance, ego, pride,
am I right?
Or just someone's offended and they slap
you across the face or, you know,
or your parents slap you across the face
because you said something stupid or obnoxious
or blasphemous or whatever.
Okay. But, again,
you know, I mean,
I know this is a stupid example,
but, you know, the memes abound.
That Will Smith, right?
He slapped
that other comedian across the face, I forget
what his name is.
He slapped the guy across the face, right?
You know, it wasn't like
he was trying to start a fight or whatever.
It was more like
he was offended about what
the guy said about Will Smith's,
you know, skanky wife or whatever.
Is Will Smith
going to slap me?
Hopefully, he's not here.
But anyway,
I know his wife heard some of my preaching
because his wife's TV show
sent us a request to use some of the preaching
and I'm just like, you could use all of it,
whatever you want.
People are always asking for
permission to use clips from my
preaching and I'm just like, you don't need to ask,
just use it, you know.
Tell it from the housetops.
But anyway,
you know, what was that?
He slapped across the face and you know what?
The other comedian
guy, he just took it.
And you know, the whole thing is probably staged
anyway because it's these Hollywood people.
Everything is probably fake. They probably
planned it. Okay, I'm going to say this, then you're going to
come up and slap me and now we're both going to get
paid more on our next movie because
we need the publicity or whatever.
I wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing
said, I don't know, I don't care.
But the point is, one man
walked up and slapped another man
and the other man just took it and
laughed and said whatever because he knew
that he wasn't actually
in danger
at that award ceremony or wherever
they were. You see what I'm saying?
So, you know, we have to be able to differentiate
between I'm in danger,
this crazy,
unhinged, violent person
is assaulting me versus
just, hey, you
know, this person is trying
to humiliate me, punk me,
or maybe shut my mouth because I said
something, whatever. Okay.
We need to know to
turn the other cheek.
And what's the Bible saying here? That we
don't have to fight back or
right every wrong in every situation.
Now again, I don't think that this negates
self-defense and especially because
you know, the term smiting on the cheek
I believe is referring to a slap.
It's not referring to
you know, somebody actually attacking
you in a way that's violent.
It's more like just
to offend you. It's sort of like when
Jesus is in court
and he gets
slapped in the face during
the trial.
So Jesus
gets slapped in the face during the trial.
Remember? And then later
the apostle Paul's on trial and he gets slapped
in the face, right? What is that?
It's more just a symbolic thing
and that's the idea
that we're talking about here with turning the other cheek.
Okay. Now
obviously it goes beyond the
literal. I'm talking about the literal turning the other
cheek. Like someone literally
slapping you in the face and you just saying, hey
I'm in no danger
whatever. I'm not, you know,
I don't have to because of my pride
do anything or whatever.
But obviously this passage goes further
than that with its symbolic ramifications.
You know, it can be
someone just does anything to you
like as far as just
something that's not even physical. It could just be
somebody wrongs you in some way
somebody at work, you know
does you dirty at work
and maybe lies to the boss
about you or, you know
sticks you with all the bad assignments
and they take all the good assignments for themselves or something.
You know, you could also just proverbially like
turn the other cheek in that situation, right?
So that would be a more
symbolic
implication or interpretation of this.
Okay. Whereas
is there anything I need to do?
Okay.
Whoever's got the handheld, let's give it to Quinn.
So, um
that's what we got here. Did I have you turn to Luke 6?
Look at Luke 6 verse 27
but I say unto you which here love your enemies
do good to them which hate you
bless them that curse you
and pray for them which despitefully
use you and unto him
that smiteth thee on the one cheek
offer also the other
and him that taketh away thy cloak
forbid not to take thy coat also.
Give to every man
that asketh of thee and of him that
taketh away thy goods ask them not again
and as you would that men should do to you
do ye also to them likewise.
Look, what he's saying here is just letting things go.
Let it go.
You don't have to right every wrong.
You don't have to still be mad days later
weeks later, months later.
Just move on.
You don't have to, I know you think you're one of the Avengers
or something, you know, you don't have to avenge everything.
The Bible says avenge not yourselves.
Give place unto wrath.
Vengeance belongeth unto the Lord.
You don't have to right every wrong in this world.
And you know, a lot of people are like,
why did I teach this guy a lesson?
You know what, here's the thing about that is that there are like a million more people
just like him that also need a lesson.
And you teaching
one person a lesson
in the scheme of things, it's a drop of water
on a hot stove.
After you teach that guy a lesson,
the world's still going to be filled with idiots.
And in fact, the person that you teach a lesson
is probably not going to learn it anyway.
Now Jesus is saying this
in Matthew and in Luke
and Jesus practiced what he preached because
Jesus was nonviolent.
He's saying, how do you know
that Jesus was totally nonviolent?
Well, because of the fact that Isaiah 53
talking about Jesus says this,
he made his grave with the wicked
and with the rich in his death
because he had done no violence.
Neither was any deceit in his mouth.
The Bible says that Jesus had done
no violence.
And there was no deceit in his mouth.
And so Jesus preached that
and he also practiced that.
When he was reviled, the Bible says
in 1 Peter, he reviled not again.
You know, he turned the other cheek.
And point number eight on
this how to avoid
getting in fights is
number eight, realize
that God will ultimately punish you
for being violent
even if the punishment doesn't come right away.
Go if you would to Matthew chapter 24.
Matthew chapter number 24.
And this is in many ways the most important point.
You know, realizing that if you
displease God, you're
going to be punished. You're going to suffer.
Even if the punishment doesn't come immediately.
Right? When you reap what you sow
but it doesn't always happen immediately,
you give it a little time,
that's going to come back and get you.
Number one, be humble. Number two, don't blow off your mouth.
Number three, try to defuse the situation.
Number four, have self-control.
Number five, realize that you are never
guaranteed to win
any fight. Okay?
Mr. Tough Guy.
Number six, abstain from alcohol.
Number seven, turn the other cheek.
And number eight,
realize that God will ultimately
punish you even if the
punishment doesn't come right away. Look at Matthew
24 verse 48.
The Bible reads, but if that evil
servant shall say in his heart, my Lord
delayeth his coming and shall
begin to do what?
To smite his fellow servants.
Right? So what does this guy, this
evil servant, because he thinks
that he can get away with it in the short term,
what does he do? He begins to smite
his fellow servants.
He's hitting them. He's punching
them. He's fighting with them.
And to eat and drink with the drunken.
Again,
the connection with violence and alcohol.
And just lack of self-control
in general. Right?
Again, these points all connect with
one another. Verse 50, the Lord of
that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not
for him, and in an hour
that he is not aware of, and
shall cut him asunder, and appoint
him as a portion with the hypocrites, there shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth. And obviously
this is a passage that's, you know,
in a greater context
about end times and all
different things. But
obviously we can understand scripture on multiple
levels. You know, obviously it's part
of a bigger teaching about
the end of the world and Christ's second coming
and so forth. But if we just look at the
literal interpretation
of the parable, what's he talking about? You know,
he's talking about the boss is gone
and so the servants that are left behind,
what are they doing?
You know, they're just getting rowdy,
eating, drinking, smiting
their fellow servants and this is not
pleasing to God. And so of course
you know, the boss is going to show
up at some point when they're not expecting
it and catch them acting this way and
punish them. Well in the same way,
we as Christians, if we begin
to fight, if we begin to smite
the fellow servants and be
drunk and do these things, you know, you
could go out and get drunk and you might not necessarily get
punished by God the same day.
But if you're a Christian and you're out getting drunk,
you will get punished.
You know, punishment's coming. That's a major sin.
You know, if you
you know, go out and just
gratify the flesh and you're
just eating and drinking and you're
gluttonous. You know, it's not like you just
wake up the next day and you're obese.
Right? It's a process.
It's not just like,
what? You ate all those candy bars?
You have diabetes?
You may be able to keep doing that, right?
Eventually there are consequences. Well in the same way,
you go around talking
trash, getting in physical fights
and whatever, you're going to get away with it,
get away with it, and then until you don't get away with it.
And what's
ultimately, you know, what's ultimately going to happen
to you? Well, one thing
that ultimately could happen is that
you end up getting beaten badly.
You end up getting killed.
You end up getting arrested,
maybe going to prison, right? All kinds of bad
things could happen because of your
behavior.
And you know, I'm constantly saying, you know,
to people, you know,
don't just blow off your mouth
at random strangers either because
someday you're going to blow off your mouth
with the wrong person.
Oh, that little guy?
Little guy with a big gun.
Little guy with a big friend.
You know, whatever.
Or little guy who
is lucky today
because God wanted to punish you today
with your pride and arrogance
and violence.
How does God feel about violence? Well, the Bible says
in Psalm 11, 5, the Lord tryeth the righteous
but the wicked and him that loveth
violence, his soul hateth.
Right? God hates those
who love violence.
What goes around comes around.
The Bible says, he made
a pit and digged it and has
thrown into the ditch which he made.
His mischief shall return upon his own
head and his violent
dealing shall come down
upon his own pain.
Now in addition, I'll close with this thought,
in addition to all these other things that we should
do to avoid these types of situations,
ultimately
we should also pray for God to
protect us from these situations.
You know, I pray to God
that I never am in a
situation where
I am violently assaulted
or where I have to defend myself
in any way. Like, I'm not just like, I'm not
just, you know, at home just
longing for someone to break in so that I can
blow them away or something.
Right? You know, just
give me a reason or, you know, I'm not just
going to go to the worst part of town
which Phoenix doesn't really have
a really super bad part of town.
But let's say we lived in a city that did have
a really bad part of town. I'm just
kidding. It's just always funny when you're out soul winning in an area
and people are like, oh, be careful. And you're just like, please.
I've been to Chicago. Like,
give me a break.
But anyway, you know,
I'm not just going to go to the worst part of town
and just start, you know,
looking at people and picking fights with
people and just, you know, just give me a reason,
bro. Give me a reason.
Just do something so I can
just have an excuse to beat you
up or something. You know what I mean? No, no, we should be
rather seeking to avoid
these things and praying to avoid these things.
And here's the thing. You know, I've made
a lot of people mad over the years.
You're not going to. I know it's hard to believe.
I've
angered a lot of people.
And yet,
since I've been an adult,
I've never been in a fistfight
since I've been an adult.
And I've made a lot of people mad. I've had
a lot of people threaten me
and get in my face. And yet,
here I am, you know,
and I'm no striker.
Still not a brawler.
Now, maybe someday
in the future, God forbid, some
situation will force me into a situation
where I have to use a gun
or use my fists or use a knife
or use a chair or,
you know, a cafeteria
tray or a shank or
you know, I don't know. But look,
God forbid that I would ever be in that kind of
situation because here's the thing.
I'm 42 years old. I've never been in a situation
like that so far.
And I'll probably go to the grave
never being in a situation like that.
But, you know, I'm going to pray
that I am not a
victim of violence.
Right? We should pray
to be spared from these things, not
be longing for these kind of encounters
to happen, just like
hoping that someone gives me a reason,
you know, so that I can just,
you know,
let out all this whatever, you know.
See, the Bible
says in Psalm 140 verse 1,
Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man.
Preserve me from the
violent man.
Psalm 140 verse 4,
Keep me, O Lord, from the hands
of the wicked. Preserve me
from the violent man
who have purpose to overthrow
my goings. Right? So there are
multiple prayers in the book of Psalms saying,
Hey, Lord, protect me from violence.
Keep me from the violent man.
And, you know, we should
try to avoid
these things. And, by the way,
not just avoid actually
being involved in fighting, but
we should also not even go around
glorifying it as if it's cool.
Like, yeah, so cool, yeah.
We should not
love violence. We should not love the
idea of people being physically
beaten up. You know what I mean?
Like, the only
legitimate, you know, physical
harm that should come to
people is, like, a legitimate prescribed
punishment. Like, obviously,
in the Bible, people
commit crimes and they receive stripes.
They receive a physical
beating. But just going out and
just taking things
into our own hands and just getting violent
because we don't like what people said or we don't
like what they did. Or, 90
some percent of the time, just for our own
pride and ego and much... Look,
you need to just
realize that you
are who you are.
Okay? And,
you know, you have your strengths and you have
your weaknesses. And God made you a
certain way and life has made you
a certain way and you've made yourself a certain way
and this is who you are. And we're all different in
here, right? Some are
big, some are small,
some are short, some are tall. I'm not trying to
be like Dr. Seuss now. But,
you know, you have all kinds
of people. There are people that are
smarter than others. There are people that
are handsome and people that are not
attractive.
Which one are you? You know?
But
guess what? We all
have these different attributes.
Different levels of intelligence,
different levels of athleticism,
different levels
of financial prosperity,
different levels... You know, we're all different.
Okay? But you know what? I'm willing
to bet is that probably
no one in this room is
really like the best in the
whole world at anything.
Like, probably the
biggest dude in this room, there's somebody bigger.
The strongest dude in this room, there's somebody
stronger out there. The prettiest
girl in this room, there's somebody prettier out there.
The smartest guy in this room, there's somebody smarter
out there. I mean, isn't that just
common sense?
You know, and you say, well,
you don't know how exceptional I am. Okay.
You're the exception that proves the rule,
alright? We do
have some world class athletes here, you know.
But here's the thing about that
is that, you know, 99.9%
of people are never
going to be the best at anything in their whole life.
There's always
going to be somebody better.
Okay? And you know what?
Only a prideful person
goes through life
just thinking about how they're so great
and they're the best and wanting to be better
than everyone else, right?
Obviously it's normal to compete in
sports. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking
about this attitude that wants to put other people
down and you're the best
and you're so cool and you're so great.
Don't be prideful like that.
You know, look, I'm trying to be the best pastor
that I could be. I'm trying to be the best
preacher that I could be. But you know what I'm not
going to do? I'm not going to think
about like, well, you know, where do
I rank as far as
like great preachers and, you know,
what do I have to do to move up the
slot or what, you know. It's stupid.
It's wicked. It's carnal.
We should not compare ourselves
amongst ourselves in that way.
So what I mean by that is that make peace
with the fact that you are not the most
handsome man in the world.
Make peace with that.
You're not that smart.
Just make peace with that and just realize like
this is who I am.
And once you actually make peace
with who you are and just realize like
hey, you know what? I'm good at this
thing but I'm bad at this other thing.
You know, here's what, and look, I think
about this like here's what I'm good at as a pastor.
Here's what I'm not good at.
Here are my strengths. Here are my weaknesses.
Once you make peace with that and realize
I have some strengths.
I have some weaknesses.
It is what it is. I'm going to do the
best I can. I'm going to serve God with what I got.
Once you make peace with yourself
and who you are
and just realize this is
who I am, then you won't
have this weird chip on your shoulder
where you have to go around
and prove to everybody how tough
you are. Right?
I don't feel like I have
to just prove to myself
and to other people how tough
I am. And here's the thing about
that is that when people have to go
prove how tough they are, they're trying to
prove to themselves first and foremost.
You know, so they find
some guy that they outweigh
by 60, 70 pounds
and beat the crap out of him and then that makes
them feel good. Like, yeah, I'm a tough
guy. Yeah.
It's vanity.
It's juvenile. It's stupid.
Okay, look,
I'll just tell you right now,
I'm not the toughest dude.
I'll tell you right now, I'm not the smartest
person. I'll tell
you right now, this is not the most handsome face
ever.
Okay, I'll tell you
right now, my teeth are crooked.
Every time I go to the dentist, they
try to talk me into getting orthodontia
done. And I'm just like,
look, what are you trying to say?
Because you keep bringing this up every single
time I come here.
But you know what? The reason I don't get my
teeth fixed is because I made peace with my teeth
a long time ago. I like my teeth.
This is who I am. These
are my teeth. This is how
I look. I don't care
because I'm not trying to win a
beauty pageant over here.
Okay. And you know what I've also
made peace with? My masculinity.
So I don't have to go around
chest pounding and being
all macho and talking to
big talk and how I can beat
everybody up and I can, you know,
bench press 500 pounds or, you know,
whatever. It's just like, no.
I've already made peace with it. I am who I am.
This is who God made me.
And I'm okay.
I'm going to serve God with
what I got. Some
of my attributes are good.
Some of them are not so good.
But you know what? This is the hand that life
has dealt me. And I'm just
going to do the best I can for the glory of God.
You know, just make peace. If you're short,
just make peace. I'm short.
And that's okay. God
made me short. Don't get the short man
syndrome.
Right? And look, maybe
you're physically weak or something.
You know, my hands are way too
small. I have very small hands.
You know, I'm not just going to go
through life having to prove
something because my hands
are so small. You know, me
and Donald Trump have small hands, okay?
It is what it is.
At least I have big
feet to make up for it.
Who cares?
Right? There's nothing. Look,
which of you by taking thought can add one
cubit to his stature?
You can't. You can't
make one hair of your head white or
black unless you dye it
or something.
But the point is
that we
all have flaws
about ourselves physically.
Right? You know, there are things that are wrong with
our physical appearance. There are things that are
wrong with our character. Things that are
wrong with our brains.
And don't have some weird
chip on your shoulder
where you have to go around
proving to everybody how smart
you are because the people who go around proving
that they are usually the biggest dummies
and then they just go around trying to look
smart or something. Just be who you are.
You shouldn't have
something to prove about your brain.
You shouldn't have something to prove. Just learn
to accept the person
that God has made you
and then you won't need to constantly be
grandstanding. And by the way, also
and this deserves an entire sermon and
we'll get an entire sermon
in the very near future.
Here's another thing, by the way,
if you have a sinful, wicked past
don't feel like
now you have to just
be so uber-righteous and
holy and impose all these strict rules
on other people because you
have such a raunchy past.
That's a little sneak preview on a sermon that's
coming soon to a pulpit near you.
Okay.
And you know what it reminds me of? It's like
these parents who, they didn't
ever really make it in sports.
So then
they have to like push their
kids to like, they have
like a small child that's
already being groomed for like the Olympics.
It's like their 8-year-old daughter
is going to be an Olympian or whatever.
It's just like, look, you know
you didn't,
you made mistakes, you didn't, you know
whatever you did in the past, don't let those
mistakes from your past
you know, make you now
to where you just have something to prove now.
Right?
Lose the ego.
Lose the pride.
Lose the chest pounding.
Be comfortable with who you are.
Live your life according to God's word
and don't go around trying to prove
to everybody what a tough guy you are,
what a big man you are.
Okay? Just be
a Godly Christian and do the
best you can with what God has given you.
Let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank you so much
for your word, Lord. We thank you
that you've given us these
warnings about fighting and violence,
striking, brawling, all these different things,
Lord. Help us as Christians
to not be a bunch
of arrogant,
overgrown man-children
acting like it's a junior high
locker room, going around like a middle
school bully, Lord. Help us
rather to be gentle, kind,
meek, and not to get
violent. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.