["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Good morning. I want to welcome you to Verity Baptist Church this morning. We're glad you're with us.
We have a wonderful service, of course, lined up for you today.
We'd like to begin the service with a word of prayer, so let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer together.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do thank you for allowing us to gather together today.
Lord, we pray that you would bless the time that we have set aside for singing, for preaching, and of course, for fellowship.
Lord, we pray that you'd meet with us this morning.
I pray, Lord, that even now you begin to prepare the hearts of all of us, Lord, to be able to receive the things that we'll learn today.
Lord, help us to be able to leave here different than we came. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Turn to song 246.
Song 246.
Redeemed, song 246 on the first.
Redeemed, how I love to proclaim Him.
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
Redeemed, my diversity is found and forever I am.
Redeemed, redeemed.
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
Redeemed, redeemed.
He is found and forever I am.
Redeemed and so happy in Jesus.
The language my rapture can tell.
I know that the light of His presence with me doth continually dwell.
Redeemed, redeemed.
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
Redeemed, redeemed.
He is found and forever I am.
I think of my blessed Redeemer.
I think of Him all the day long.
I sing for I cannot recite.
His love is the dream of myself.
Redeemed, redeemed.
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
Redeemed, redeemed.
He is found and forever I am.
Sing it out on the last.
I know I shall sing in His beauty.
The King in you is why we lie.
You have made me gone in my footsteps.
And given me something that I.
Redeemed, redeemed.
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
Redeemed, redeemed.
He is found and forever I am.
Thank you.
A improvement,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, I come to love the universe this way.
And sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee.
With thou art, thou great thou art.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee.
O great thou art, O great thou art.
Sing it out on the second.
When through the woods and forest glades I wander, and hear the birds sing smoothly in the trees.
I look now from the blue mountain brandy, Lord, and hear the brook, and feel thy hand every day.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee.
O great thou art, O great thou art.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee.
O great thou art, O great thou art.
Sing it out on the third.
And when I think that God is gone, not sparing, turns him to die, my tears can't repeat.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee.
O great thou art, O great thou art.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee.
O great thou art, O great thou art.
Sing it out on the last.
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home, the Lord shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow in humble adoration and then proclaim, my God, how great thou art.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee.
O great thou art, O great thou art.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee.
O great thou art, O great thou art.
Amen.
Good singing.
We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time.
And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do thank you for allowing us to gather together.
This morning, Lord, we pray that you would bless the offering.
We pray that you'd bless the gift and the giver.
And of course, we ask that you meet with us this morning as we open up your word.
Say the Bible together.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Thank you.
Amen.
We're going to go to Mark later here in a little bit, and you'll notice that the word disputed
or disputation is used.
And I want you to notice that in Verse 46 there we see that the disciples are are the
arguing and they're really arguing amongst themselves.
There are rows of reasoning amongst them.
Which of them should be the greatest?
But if you look down at verse 49,
you'll see that then there is another argument
between the disciples and another group.
In verse 49, the Bible says,
"'And John answered and said,
"'Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name,
"'and we forbade him because he followeth not with us.'"
So in verse 46 through 48 there,
we see that the disciples are arguing
and fighting amongst themselves.
In verse 49, we see that they are fighting with others.
They're really, in verses 46 through 48,
they're fighting amongst themselves
with their fellow believers.
In verses 49 through 50,
they're fighting with other believers.
And then you'll notice in verses 51 through 56,
they're fighting with unbelievers.
Just quickly there by way of introduction, verse 54,
notice the Bible says,
"'And when his disciples James and John saw this,
"'they said, Lord, with thou that we command fire
"'to come down from heaven and consume them,
"'even as Elias did.'"
So I want you to notice that there's a theme
in verses 46 through 56,
and it's this theme of the disciples,
and they are not getting along really with anybody.
They are having these three different scenarios
that we'll see this morning
where they are fighting, they're contentious,
they're not getting along with anyone.
Now, keep your place there in Luke.
That's obviously our text for this morning,
but go with me if you would to the book of 1 Corinthians,
1 Corinthians 11, just real quickly by way of introduction.
In Luke, you have John, Acts, Romans, then 1 Corinthians,
1 Corinthians 11, 1 Corinthians 11 in verse 16.
And you know, sometimes you'll notice that kids,
if you have children, they can be like this,
where you'll have a kid, my wife and I will say,
you know, so-and-so is just not having a good day,
and it's this thing where everyone they get around,
they're fighting with, you know?
It's like they're fighting with this sibling,
they're fighting with that sibling.
If you have children, you'll probably have experienced this
where you have one kid come in to your room or something
and say, you know, and they'll name a sibling.
"'So-and-so pulled my hair,' and then a minute later,
another child will come in and name the same child.
So-and-so kicked me, and then a minute later,
another child will come in and name the same kid.
So-and-so, you know, slapped me," or something,
and it's like, okay, you're not having a good day, you know?
It's everyone you're getting around you're fighting with.
I'm not talking about one kid.
I mean, kids will just kind of go like this,
and it seems like that's what's happening
with the disciples in this passage.
They're just not having a good day.
They're fighting amongst themselves.
They're fighting with other believers.
They're fighting with unbelievers.
They're being contentious.
When I was growing up,
I don't know if this is the case anymore,
but you would get, in the lower grades,
you would get a report card,
and one of the things that you would be graded on
or that your teacher would comment on
is whether you had the ability to play well with others,
and sometimes, I know for many of you,
your report cards will say,
"'Does not play well with others.'"
And that's what's going on with the disciples.
They're just not getting along.
They're not playing well with others.
Notice there in 1 Corinthians 11 in verse 16.
1 Corinthians 11, 16, the Bible says this,
"'But if any man,'" notice these words,
"'seem to be contentious.'"
The word contentious means that they like to fight.
They're causing arguments.
They're causing problems.
They're likely to get into arguments.
Notice what Paul says.
He says, "'We have no such custom,
"'neither the churches of God.'"
Paul said, look, we as Bible-leaving Christians
should not be contentious.
We should not be people who are just causing fights
or causing problems,
who are trying to pick arguments with people.
We should be the type of people
that are trying to get along.
Now, obviously, from time to time,
we're going to have to contend.
The Bible says that we should earnestly contend
for the faith.
So there are times where we have to stand up,
we have to fight,
we have to stand up for what's right, of course,
but there's a difference between being contentious
and contending for the faith.
There's a difference between being someone
who just likes to argue and fight and cause problems
and debate versus someone who's standing up
and earnestly contending for the faith.
And here, Paul tells us,
look, if any man seemed to be contentious,
you didn't get that from Christ.
You didn't get that from the example
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
"'Ye have not so learned Christ.'"
He says, "'We have no such custom,
"'neither the churches of God.'"
Go back to Luke chapter nine.
So I want to speak to you this morning
on this subject of not playing well with others,
not getting along sometimes.
And here we see the disciples
that they're just not having a good day.
We obviously believe in the biblical way
of disciplining children,
and I don't believe that time-outs
are a biblical way of disciplining children.
The Bible does not teach that.
I'm not preaching on the home this morning,
but sometimes you do have to take a kid and tell him,
you need to just sit down for a while,
because you're just, everyone that you come across,
you're just hitting them, you're fighting them,
you're arguing with them, you know.
And the disciples, that's the issue they're having,
and you'll notice that the Lord Jesus Christ,
and Luke, of course, gives us these stories back to back
to emphasize the fact that they're just not getting along,
and we see the Lord Jesus Christ dealing with this
and trying to help these individuals.
So if you're taking notes this morning,
you can write these points out.
Number one, we see the disciples fighting amongst themselves.
We see the disciples fighting amongst themselves,
and what that means is that they're fighting
with their fellow believers.
They're fighting with their fellow brothers in Christ,
and you say, what is the reason for that?
Well, notice that it's a product of pride.
Luke 9 and verse 46, notice what they're arguing about.
Then arose a reasoning among them,
which of them should be the greatest?
They're talking along the way, and of course,
we know from the context that Jesus is getting ready
to go to Jerusalem in order to be able to die on the cross.
He's making his way there, and as they're going there
to really fulfill the purpose of Christ coming
to this earth, they're reasoning amongst themselves.
They're debating amongst themselves
which of them should be the greatest.
You're there in Luke 9.
Go back to Mark, if you would, Mark chapter nine.
You just go back one book.
Mark nine, you'll find a parallel passage
of the same story, Mark nine and verse 33.
Mark nine, 33, notice what the Bible says,
and he, this is Jesus, came to Capernaum,
and being in the house, he asked them,
because they're going by the way,
and there arose a reasoning, Luke tells us,
among them, which of them should be the greatest?
Now they get to Capernaum, and of course,
Jesus is hearing this, he's overhearing this.
They're not involving Jesus in this argument, of course.
They're arguing amongst themselves.
The Bible tells us in Mark nine, 33,
and he came to Capernaum, and being in the house,
he asked them, what was it that ye disputed
amongst yourselves, by the way?
Notice that Jesus used the word disputed.
The word disputed or dispute means
argue or argument, to debate about.
And Jesus asked the disciples, he said,
what was, I heard you guys talking,
what was it that ye disputed among yourselves, by the way?
Look at verse 34, and they held their peace.
For by the way, they had disputed,
they had argued, they had debated amongst themselves,
notice, who should be the greatest?
So these guys are literally walking down the road,
and they're having an argument about,
no, no, when we get to heaven,
I think I'm gonna be the greatest.
No, no, you suck, I'm gonna be the greatest.
And they're arguing, no, I read the Bible more.
No, I've cast out more devils.
No, I've won more souls to Christ.
And look, before you get to start thinking
the disciples are silly,
get around some church people.
Because this is a common thing
that we often argue as a result of the product of pride.
See, it is human nature to want to promote yourself.
It's human nature, and look, isn't it true, we all,
don't we all want to be admired?
Don't we all want to be acknowledged?
Don't we all want to be appreciated?
This is something that is in our human nature,
and it's something that we need to understand
that our human nature is to want to promote ourselves.
Go to 3 John, if you would.
It's a very small book towards the end of the New Testament.
If you start at the book of Revelation and go backwards,
you have the book of Jude, which is one chapter.
Then you have the book of 3 John,
which is one chapter, 3 John.
And while you go there, let me just say this.
This is why the Bible often cautions us
about letting our pride get out of control.
The Bible says, let another man praise thee
and not thine own lips.
The Bible says, let not him,
this is one of my favorite quotes,
because look, we like to argue, right,
about how we're the best, how we have all the ideas.
We've got it all figured out.
You know, but be careful about trying to tell everybody
how, no, I'm gonna be the greatest.
You're not that great.
I'm the better X, Y, and Z, fill in the blank.
I'm the better soul winner.
I'm the better Christian.
I'm the better this, I'm the better that.
You know, the Bible says, let another man praise thee
and not thine own lips.
And one of my favorite quotes in the entire Bible
is actually, one day I'm gonna preach a whole sermon
just out of this one quote.
It's actually given by a guy that's not that great,
but the quote is, I love the quote, and it's this.
Let not him that putteth on his harness
boast himself as he that putteth it off.
And you say, what is that, what does that mean?
Well, the context is about people going to war,
and he says, look, be careful about boasting
while you're putting on your harness,
while you're putting the harness on the horse.
You have not yet gotten on the horse.
You've not yet ridden into battle.
You've not yet fought the battle.
Be careful about how much you boast going into battle.
He said, let not him that putteth on his harness
boast himself as he that putteth it off.
He said, now look, once you've won the battle,
once you finish your race, once you've won the course,
then yeah, let us know how great you are.
Let us know how you had all the right thoughts and ideas.
But when you're going into,
that's why I'm always very careful.
I try to preach the word of God to you,
but you know, and tell you, hey,
this is what the Bible says for your marriage.
This is what the Bible says about raising your children.
This is what the Bible says about your finances.
This is what the Bible says about your health.
I try to tell you authoritatively
what the Bible says, but I try to be very careful about,
you know, we're just raising the best children
in this church.
You say, why?
Why don't you say that?
Here's one reason is because it's prideful to say that.
Another reason is because you know what?
Let him that putteth on his harness boast himself
as he that putteth, be careful about boasting himself
as he that putteth up.
We're still raising our children, you know?
And we're still having a marriage
and we're still living the Christian life.
But these guys, they're acting as though
they've already came to the end.
They're like, no, no, no, it's a done deal.
When we get to heaven, I'm gonna get the most rewards.
When we get to heaven, I'm gonna be the greatest.
And it's human nature to want to promote yourself,
but here's what you need to understand.
Self-promotion often hurts others.
Because the truth is, is that we often promote ourselves
at the expense of others.
3 John 1, look at verse nine, notice what John wrote.
He said, I wrote unto the church,
but diatrophes who love it to have the preeminence
among them, that's the pride, notice, receiveth us not.
See, diatrophes can't promote himself
and just promote himself.
No, he has to hurt John
in the process of promoting himself.
Diatrophes who love it to have the preeminence
among them receiveth us not.
So we see that this argument
of the disciples amongst themselves,
it's a product of pride.
We often, as human beings, want to promote ourselves
and our promotion of selves
will often hurt others in the process.
Go back to Luke chapter nine, Luke chapter nine.
While you turn there, let me just read this verse,
Proverbs 13, 10.
Proverbs 13, 10 says this,
only by pride cometh contention.
Only by pride cometh contention.
Look, mark it down.
Anytime that we engage in any sort of contention,
anytime we engage in any sort of argument,
anytime we engage in any sort of debate,
just mark it down, pride is involved.
One or two or all members involved
are allowing pride to enter into them
because the Bible says only by pride cometh contention.
So if you're arguing with your spouse,
just realize pride is playing a role.
You're arguing with your kids, pride is playing a role.
You're arguing with your coworkers,
you're arguing with your boss,
you're arguing with your pastor,
you're arguing with your neighbors,
you're arguing with fellow church members,
whatever it is, just realize whenever we are engaged
in contention, pride is present.
Now maybe it's just pride in one individual,
usually it's pride in both individuals
because the Bible says only by pride cometh contention.
So we see that the disciples,
they're fighting amongst themselves
with these fellow believers and it's a product of pride.
It's human nature to promote yourself
and they're promoting themselves,
they're disputing among the way,
arguing about who should be the greatest.
Now why don't you notice Jesus responds to this.
He sees their product of pride
and Jesus responds with an example of humility.
Notice Luke 9 and verse 47.
And Jesus perceiving the thoughts of their hearts.
Aren't you thankful that Jesus is not just a man?
He is God in the flesh?
He asked the question but he doesn't need
to ask the question, he already knows
what they were arguing about.
Jesus, you know, whenever he asks,
he already knows the answer before he asks the question.
And Jesus perceiving the thoughts of their hearts,
notice what he does, he took a child
and sent him by him and sent him to them.
Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me.
And whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me.
Now I want you to notice, we're gonna come back
to that statement here in a minute,
but I want you to notice why Jesus took a child
and sent him, the child, by him, by the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he takes his child, because the disciples
are fighting amongst themselves.
Which should be the greatest?
They're fighting about, no, I'm gonna be the best.
No, I'm the best, no, I'm the best.
And Jesus takes his child as an example of humility
and he says, look, the Bible says he took a child
and sent him by him, look at the last part of verse eight.
For he that is least among you all,
the same shall be great.
See, we have this example of humility.
Go back to Matthew chapter 18.
You're there in Luke, just go backwards.
Mark and then Matthew, Matthew chapter 18.
Matthew 18, we have the parallel passage,
Matthew 18 and verse 44.
Notice what he says in Matthew 18, verse four.
The Bible says, whosoever, this is Jesus again,
taking a little child and sending them
in front of the disciples who are arguing because of pride.
And here's what Jesus says,
whosoever therefore shall humble himself as a little child,
the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And you say, what is it that Jesus is teaching
with this example of humbling yourself as a little child?
I want you to notice that in Matthew 18,
he emphasizes, the Bible emphasizes the fact
that it's a little child.
You know, it's not a teenager, all right?
It's a little child and I believe that he's probably
referring to like a toddler, a three-year-old,
a four-year-old and he's using this child as an example
because the truth is this about little children,
we're talking about two-year-olds and three-year-olds
and four-year-olds, don't they just naturally
submit themselves?
And you're saying, you don't know my two-year-old.
I'm not saying that they're not well behaved,
you know, obviously kids need to be spanked and all that.
But what I'm saying is children have no problem, you know,
asking you to hold them, asking you to get something
for them, ask or demanding that you do something for them.
Why?
Because they have no problem with the idea
that they are helpless and that they need help
and that they can't do it on their own.
And in fact, as your children get older,
sometimes what you need to do is start teaching
your children, hey, you're not a baby.
You can do this yourself.
You don't need somebody to just do everything for you.
You need to start taking some responsibility.
You know, you're 16 years old, all right?
You don't need me to pour your bowl of cereal,
you know what I mean?
I mean, you know, at some point you gotta start
telling your kids, hey, you're not a baby.
But the thing is when they're babies,
when they're babies, they're comfortable with the idea
that I'm weak, I need help, and I need you to help me.
And Jesus is using that as an example
because the disciples are arguing about who's the greatest.
And Jesus says, you know what, it'd be better off
if you were more like this little child
who doesn't wanna argue about how strong they are,
doesn't wanna argue, is very aware about the fact
that they are the least and they need help.
You say, what is the message that Jesus is teaching?
Here's what he's telling his disciples
and here's what Luke is telling all of us,
is that we should not put ourselves at the top.
We should put ourselves at the bottom.
We should not put ourselves as first.
We should put ourselves as last.
We should not argue about who's the greatest,
but we should all be running to be the least.
He's teaching us that, look, it's human nature,
the product of pride to have contention amongst us,
but just know, whenever there's contention, it's pride.
It's you or somebody you're arguing with
putting themselves first, putting themselves on top,
arguing the fact that they are the greatest.
But Jesus says, why don't you take the example
of a little child, for he that is least among you all,
the same shall be great.
Go to Philippians, if you would, Philippians chapter two.
The apostle Paul kind of teases this out in Philippians two.
Like you to see it, Philippians chapter two and verse three.
You're there in Luke, you can go past John, Acts, Romans,
1st, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians.
Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st, 2nd Corinthians,
Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians.
Philippians chapter two.
I remember years ago when our missionary,
Brother Stuckey, our evangelist to the Philippines,
he was on staff here and he would often preach for me
when I was out of town or something like that.
I remember he made the statement at least once,
I think he made it several times, but he said,
Philippians two, three is the most quoted verse
from the pulpit of Verity Baptist Church.
And it's a verse that I would just often be quoting
and going back to and I want you to see it today.
Because it's really about life.
It's about our life and our relationship with others.
Philippians two, three, notice what Paul said.
He said, let nothing be done through strife.
What's strife?
Contention, arguments, through not getting along.
Or notice the connection, vainglory.
What's vainglory?
Pride.
Why does Paul connect strife and vainglory?
Here's why.
Because by pride cometh contention.
Because only by pride cometh contention, the Bible says.
Because often when we are fighting and arguing
and debating, it's a result of our pride.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory.
Here's what he says.
He said, instead of having strife and vainglory,
here's what you should have.
He says, but in lowliness of mind.
What does that mean?
It's referring to humility.
Lowliness of mind.
Not putting yourself first, but putting yourself last.
Not putting yourself as the greatest,
but putting yourself as the least.
Not putting yourself at the top,
but putting yourself at the bottom.
He says, but in lowliness of mind,
let each esteem other, notice, better than themselves.
That's the example of humility.
The example of humility.
Go back to Luke chapter nine.
So we see the disciples fighting among themselves.
It's a product of pride.
We see the product of pride.
They're promoting themselves.
Who should be the greatest?
And as a result, they're hurting each other.
Because often when we promote ourselves, we hurt others.
Then we see the example of humility.
And the example of humility is this little child
who is very comfortable with the realization
that they're not the first, they're not the greatest,
they're not the smartest, they're not the strongest.
They don't have it all put together.
And Jesus says, look, we should be like this child.
Paul said, let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind,
let each esteem other, better than themselves.
We should not be putting,
we should not be fighting to put ourselves at the top.
If anything, we should be fighting
to put ourselves at the bottom.
Should not be fighting to put ourselves as first.
We should be fighting to put ourselves as last.
We should not be fighting to put ourselves as the greatest.
We should be fighting to put ourselves as least.
And let me tell you something,
your marriage will revolutionize.
Your child, your relationship with your adult children
will revolutionize.
Your relationship with any other human being in this world
will revolutionize when you've got two human beings
that are not fighting and racing and running
to the front of the line,
but when they're fighting and racing
to the back of the line.
And they're fighting and racing to say,
no, let me esteem you better than myself.
Let me, in love, prefer you over myself.
Let me, you go first.
Let me put you first.
If one of us has to lose in this situation,
I want you to win and I want to,
because I want to esteem myself,
I want to esteem other better than myself.
So we see the product of pride.
We see the example of humility.
But then I want you to notice that Jesus,
it's so interesting to me.
We see the product of pride in the example of humility,
but then we see that Jesus gives us the secret to greatness,
which is interesting to me
because that's what they're arguing about.
They're disputing among the way which should be the greatest
and they're getting it all wrong.
And Jesus says, you know what?
Let me tell you something.
You want to figure out,
you want to know the secret to greatness?
You want to know the secret to success?
You want to know the secret to actually being the greatest?
Look down, Luke 9.48.
And said unto them,
whosoever shall receive this child
in my name receiveth me.
And whosoever shall receive me
receiveth him that sent me.
In that statement, in those two statements,
you find the secret to greatness.
You say, I don't get it.
Go to Matthew 25.
You're there in Luke.
Go past Mark into the book of Matthew.
Matthew 25.
See, they're arguing about who should be the greatest.
And the Bible tells us he took a little child.
He took a child and set them among them,
took a child and set him by him.
And he taught them for he that is least among you all,
the same shall be great.
He said, he gives them this child as an example of humility.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself
as this little child,
the same is the greatest kingdom of heaven.
But then he also, while giving them that example,
he gives them the secret to greatness.
He says, be mindful of how you treat this child.
Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me.
You say, I don't understand.
Well, maybe you'll understand once we read Matthew 25.
In Matthew 25 and verse 35,
Jesus is giving a different parable at a different time,
but teaching the same principle.
Matthew 25, verse 35.
Notice what he says.
He says, for I,
and this is the Lord Jesus Christ giving a parable.
And in this parable, the king is speaking,
but it's Jesus.
Jesus is the king, if you don't know that.
He says, for I was hungered and you gave me meat.
He said, I was hungry and you gave me food.
The word meat means food.
I was thirsty and you gave me drink.
I was a stranger.
He said, you didn't know me and you took me in.
Naked, he's saying, I was naked and you clothed me.
I was sick and you visited me.
I was in prison and you came unto me.
He's commending these people.
He's saying, look, thank you because when I was hungry,
you gave me food.
When I was thirsty, you gave me water.
When I was a stranger, you took me in.
When I was naked, you clothed me.
When I was sick, you visited me.
When I was in prison, ye came unto me.
In verse 37, then shall the righteous answer him saying,
they're confused, the righteous that he's referring to.
They're confused.
They said, Lord, when saw we thee in hungered and fed thee?
Or thirsty and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in?
Or naked and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick or in prison and came unto thee?
They said, we're confused.
When were you naked and we gave you clothes?
When were you in prison and we visited you in prison?
When did we do all these things?
Notice verse 40.
And the king shall answer and say unto them,
I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the,
don't miss the word, least of these my brethren,
ye have done it unto me.
You know what the secret of greatness is?
The secret of greatness is how you treat others.
I read recently in a book, this quote, I love it.
It says this, people will not remember what you said
and they will not remember what you did,
but they will remember how you made them feel.
And the secret to greatness is not climbing up
the corporate ladder, pulling people off
as you make your ascent unto greatness.
No, the secret to greatness,
according to the Lord Jesus Christ,
is how you minister to others.
Because the truth is that greatness is found
in how we treat others.
You say, why?
Because how we treat others is a reflection.
The Lord Jesus Christ takes it personally.
He says, whosoever shall receive this child
in my name receiveth me.
And whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me.
He said, when you're kind to others, when you serve others,
when you help others, he said,
I take it as though you've done it to me.
And look, let me tell you something.
The secret to success, the secret to success,
whatever area, it doesn't matter if you're a husband,
it doesn't matter if you're a husband
ministering to your wife, if you're a wife
ministering to your children,
if you're a boss ministering to your employees,
if you're a pastor ministering to a church,
it doesn't matter if you're a governor ministering
to a state or a president, it doesn't matter.
The secret to success is this.
When we help others succeed, we succeed.
When we help others get their life in order,
get their act together, get things going
in the right direction, the way that
when we minister to others, when they're naked
and we clothe them and they're hungry
and we feed them and they're thirsty
and we give them drink and we bring them in
when they're strangers and we help them out,
we visit them when they're in prison,
when they're sick, hey, as we minister to others,
that is the secret of greatness.
Because living in this dog-eat-dog world
and trying to just fight to be the greatest,
that just brings contention.
So we see the disciples fighting amongst themselves.
They're fighting with fellow believers,
with their own fellow brothers.
It's the product of pride, it's the example of humility
and we see the secret of greatness.
But then I want you to notice secondly this morning,
not only do we see the disciples fighting amongst themselves
we also see the disciples fighting amongst,
fighting with others, other believers.
Notice there in Luke 9 and verse 49,
now we have a different story.
Luke, and the Holy Spirit has done this
through the writer Luke, has put these stories
back to back to give us a theme of the disciples
just not playing well with others.
They're fighting amongst themselves.
And then I want you to notice in verse 49
we begin a different story with the same theme, Luke 9.49.
And John answered and said,
Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name
and we forbade him because he followeth not with us.
So now we have a different story, you know,
and in verse 49 we begin this new idea, new story,
same theme, different story.
And now it's not the disciples fighting amongst themselves
with their fellow believers,
it's the disciples fighting other believers.
Because here John says,
Hey, Jesus, Master, we saw one casting out devils.
Remember, Jesus just gave them power
to go out and cast out devils.
And as they're out there casting out devils,
he says, we saw one casting out devils in thy name.
Somebody else is out there
who's also a follower of Jesus Christ,
who's also casting out devils in thy name.
And we forbade him.
We told him, you're not allowed to do that.
You've got to stop, why?
Because he followeth not with us.
They said, we were out there,
and this would be the equivalent of us saying,
hey, we were out there knocking doors and soul winning
and we saw somebody else knocking doors and soul winning.
And we told them to stop.
Why?
Because they're not in our church.
Because they weren't with us.
Here we have the disciples fighting
not with their fellow believers,
but with other believers.
And look, again, we see that this is human nature.
It's human nature to take the attitude
that we're the only good ones.
It's human nature to want to form cliques.
It's human nature to want to exclude those
who are not within our circle of, you know,
cliques and friendships and influence.
It's human nature to want to just fight
with other people that are not,
and it's interesting because this is highlighted
in other places in scripture.
You're there in Luke chapter nine,
go to Numbers in the Old Testament, if you would.
Numbers chapter 11.
In the Old Testament, you have Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, Numbers chapter 11.
Do me a favor when you get to Numbers,
put a ribbon or a bookmark there,
because we're going to leave it
and we're going to come right back.
Numbers chapter 11.
And look, this can happen with other believers
outside of our church.
And it can also happen just within a church.
You know, a church itself can divide itself
into these little groups and cliques.
The apostle Paul talks in Corinth about the fact
that they are carnal and they are contentious.
He says, I hear that there are contentions among you.
And he talks about the fact that the people
have divided themselves into these groups.
He says, they're saying that some are of Paul
and some of Apollos and some of Cephas,
and they're divided themselves into these groups.
And it's human nature to take this attitude that says,
we're the only good ones.
No one else is good.
Everyone else is bad.
And to want to exclude those that are not in our group
or in our clique or in our camp.
Go to Numbers 11, look at verse 27.
Here's another story with the same concept.
Numbers 11, 27.
And there ran a young man and told Moses and said,
Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.
So someone runs up to Moses, the prophet of God,
and they're telling Moses, hey, there's these two guys,
Eldad and Medad, and they're prophesying in the camp.
Notice verse 28.
And Joshua, the son of Nun.
By the way, Joshua was a great man of God.
I mean, at this point, he's ministering to Moses.
He's not the leader.
Obviously, he's the servant of Moses.
But Joshua goes on to become a great man of God,
a great leader.
But I want you to notice, it's human nature.
And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of Moses,
one of his young men answered and said,
my Lord Moses, forbid them.
I mean, he sounds like the disciples, right?
Forbid them.
You're the prophet, Moses.
You're the one that prophesies.
Don't let Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp.
Forbid them.
And here we have, John, keep your place there in numbers.
Go back to Luke 9.
We have John saying, we saw one casting out devils
in thy name, and we forbade them,
because he followeth not with us.
And look, it's human nature to want to exclude those
that we perceive as not being in our camp.
And look, please understand something.
And I don't know if you'd agree with this,
but this is how I feel about it.
And it's not because of me.
But I believe that Verity Baptist Church
is the greatest church on planet earth.
I think that this is the best church.
I mean, literally, my wife and I set out 12 years ago
to start the kind of church
that we would want to be a part of.
And I believe that God has brought us,
obviously all of you, and God has brought us
the right people and the right ingredients
to just have this amazing church
called Verity Baptist Church.
And I believe that this is the greatest church.
I believe that you are the greatest people.
I think you could probably have a better pastor,
but I'm working on that.
But I mean, I think this is a great church.
With that said, let me say this.
I don't believe that this is the only church.
And you say, oh, yeah, well, there's other new IP church.
No, I don't even think this is the only good church
in Sacramento.
Look, I believe that there are other even good churches
even in the same city.
Now, are they as cool as us?
No.
Are they as awesome as us?
No.
Are they as great as us?
No.
Are they wrong on some things?
Absolutely.
But are they believers and saved and right with God
and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Yes, they are.
And I don't think that it's our job to go
and just pick fights with other believers.
You say, well, they're in a different camp.
I understand that, but you know what?
Let them do what they're going to do
if they're serving God.
Notice the response from Jesus, Luke 9 and verse 50.
In verse 49, John answered and said,
Master, we saw one casting out devils in thine name,
and we forbade him because he followeth not with us.
Verse 50, and Jesus said unto him, forbid him not,
for he that is not against us is for us.
Now you say, well, how do you know these guys
were good guys?
Well, here's how we know, and I won't take the time
to go through this, but in another passage,
Jesus states that those that are not scattering with us
are against us.
So the fact that he says, hey, these people,
they're not against us.
Jesus knew who they were talking about,
and he said, those are good people,
but they're not in our camp.
They're not in our group.
They're not part of the 12.
They're not here.
He says, forbid him not for that,
for he that is not against us is for us.
And look, it is human nature to take the attitude
that we're the only good ones.
No one is as good as we are, and everybody else stinks
and want to exclude those that are not in our camp,
but we just have to realize that there are other good guys
out there even in other camps.
Go to Numbers 11.
Remember Joshua?
A young man came and told Moses,
Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp,
and Joshua responds, my Lord Moses forbid them.
Notice what Moses says to Joshua, Numbers 11, verse 29.
And Moses said unto him, Moses said unto him,
notice the word, envious thou for my sake.
He said, are you envious for my sake?
Moses says, would God that all the Lord's people
were prophets, and that the Lord would put
his spirit upon them.
Moses said, look, if somebody else was prophesying,
he, you know, Moses added to us, we need more prophets.
If somebody else is preaching, we need more preachers.
If they're not, now look, if they're false prophets
and they're preaching heresy and they're damning people
to hell, then yes, we must earnestly contend for the faith.
But if they're good guys, if they're fellow believers,
if they're saved and maybe they're not right
on other things, maybe they're not right
on dispensationalism, maybe they're not right
on the preacher of rapture, maybe they're not right
on Zionism, maybe they're not right on some of the doctrines
that we know the Bible teaches and we believe correctly,
but they're saved and they're ministering
and they're getting people saved, then you know what?
God bless them.
And our job is not to fight with them,
our job is not to try to stop them.
Go to Philippians if you would, Philippians chapter one.
Philippians one, if you're there in Luke,
you have John, Acts, Romans, 1st, 2nd Corinthians,
Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Philippians chapter one.
Do me a favor, when you get to Philippians,
put your ribbon there or something,
we're gonna come back to it.
We already went to Philippians,
I'm not sure if you kept your place there,
I meant to tell you to keep your place there,
but go to Philippians.
I was recently telling the story to brother Oliver,
we were traveling somewhere else,
somehow this came up and I'll tell him the story.
When we first started Verity Baptist Church,
when we were getting ready to start,
we were literally like maybe,
my wife probably remember better,
but we were like two, I wanna say maybe even one month
from launching Verity Baptist Church.
And I get a call from a pastor in the area,
he wasn't even in Sacramento,
but he was just in a town close to Sacramento.
And he calls me and he tells me,
you've got to cancel all your plans to start the church
that you're starting.
And I'm like, why?
He's like, well, we got this other guy,
pretty much what he said was, we've got this other guy
and he's thinking about starting a church in Sacramento
and we like him more than you,
so you can't start the church.
And I remember thinking to myself like,
well, I never asked you, I'm not asking permission,
but their whole thing was like,
well, he's gonna start in Sacramento.
I said, well, where is he gonna start in Sacramento?
And they're like, well, he's not sure,
he's still praying about it, but you need to not.
And I said, well, you know what?
God bless you, but we're already in motion
to start this church, we're gonna start this church.
Well, the funny thing is that like eight months later,
this other guy started a church,
first of all, he started a church in Roseville,
which is like 30 minutes from us.
And within six months, this independent funeral Baptist,
King James only, soul winning church,
within six to eight months, they were using the ESV,
they dropped the name Baptist,
and they were just liberal rock and roll music
within like a year of starting.
And I remember thinking to myself like,
that was the guy I was supposed to not start it
because that guy was coming.
And over the years, then they started a church in West Sac.
And I remember getting messages about that
and they're like, oh, now we have a church in West Sac.
And that church, and look, I'm not against them,
but two years later, they were gone.
And then they literally started another church
just down the street from us.
We were on North Gate, another church on North Gate.
And I'm just saying, we're here 12 years later,
we're still here, we've made it through persecutions.
We had 106 soul winners or something out yesterday.
And like you say, what's your attitude
towards those other churches?
My attitude is, I remember when we were starting,
one of the things my dad has given me
a lot of wisdom through the years.
I remember when we were starting Verity Baptist Church,
he told me, because we were talking about the fact
that this pastor called me, told me,
and what my dad said to me was, never get envious
and never get insecure of other churches.
And he said, look, there's enough unsafe people out there
that we couldn't start enough churches.
I remember my dad telling me like,
look, McDonald's can start a restaurant selling hamburgers
and Burger King can start a restaurant
down the street selling hamburgers
and Wendy's can start a restaurant
down the street selling hamburgers.
And they'll all sell hamburgers.
And he was just saying like, look,
it doesn't matter if they start a church in West Sac,
it doesn't matter if they start another church in Natoma.
So it doesn't matter if they start, it doesn't matter.
He said, you know, there's enough unsafe people out there
to just get them safe.
I remember he just encouraged me
to not have the same attitude as these people
and to not be against those people.
And you know what?
Over the years, we've not had that attitude.
When we've ran into people out preaching the gospel,
we're always happy to do, to see them.
We always want to encourage them.
We always want to help them.
Why?
Because look, envious thou, like Moses told Joshua,
envious thou for my sake.
What God?
That all the Lord's people were prophets.
We need more preachers.
We need more churches.
We need more soul.
And look, maybe they're not in our camp
and maybe they don't even like us.
But if they're serving God and they're getting people saved,
then praise God for them.
And it's human nature to want to take this attitude.
And look, you say, what about the old IFB?
The old IFB still doesn't like me.
And you say, how do you feel about them?
I love them.
I got nothing bad to say about them.
If they're preaching the gospel and they're not heretics,
praise God for them.
I just think it's funny that all these guys,
they've failed or not made it.
And it's like, we were supposed to cancel our plans.
You know, praise God we did it.
Philippians 1 in verse 14.
I think Philippians 1, 14, verses 14, 15, and 16
are just such an interesting passage.
Because here the apostle Paul talks about the fact
that sometimes people preach the gospel just to upset us.
Philippians 1, 14.
And many of the brethren in the Lord,
waxing confident by my bonds,
are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
Here Paul is talking about the fact that he's in prison.
And the fact that he's in prison has caused other people
to wax more confident in his bonds.
Verse 15, notice what he says.
Some, referring to some of the brethren in the Lord.
Remember in verse 14 he said,
and many of the brethren in the Lord,
waxing confident by my bonds,
are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
So he's talking about brethren in the Lord, save people.
That's the context.
He says some of the brethren in the Lord,
Paul is talking about believers.
He said indeed preach Christ even of envy.
We would use the word jealous,
but the biblical word is envy.
Even of envy and strife, and some also of good will.
Paul said, you know that some people
are preaching Christ out of envy and strife?
I mean they're literally going into the ministry, Paul says,
because they're envious of me, Paul said.
And they're doing it to just try to make a point about me.
And you read that and you think to yourself,
how could that ever be?
But then after 12 years of ministry,
I realized there are independent formal Baptists
who literally started a church in West Sacramento
just so that there would be
another independent Baptist church
that's not there already in this area.
And when that one failed,
well first of all they started one in Roseville.
When that one went liberal and that has now since failed,
then they started one in West Sacramento.
When that one failed,
they literally started one down the street from us
on Northgate Boulevard.
They say, how's that one doing?
I don't know.
I think they're fine.
I really, I have no idea.
I don't concern myself,
but I'm interested in what we're doing here.
But I just realized, hey,
some people actually go into the ministry
even of envy and strife and some of good will.
Verse 16, the one,
he's talking about the one that went in for envy and strife,
preached Christ of contention.
He's preaching Christ just to fight with Paul.
Just say, well, we can do it better than Paul.
We don't like Paul.
Not sincerely, not genuinely,
supposing to add affliction to my bonds.
Paul said, look, there are some people
that are preaching Christ out of envy and strife.
And he said, they're literally what motivates them,
what gets them out of bed in the morning
is the fact that they want to add afflictions to my bonds.
They're trying to start a church down the street from me
and steal our church members, what Paul's saying.
He said, they're not preaching out of sincerity.
They're not preaching because they love the work of God.
He says, the one preached, verse 16,
of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add to my bonds.
Then in verse 17, he says, but the other of love.
He said, there's other people that do preach Christ
out of love, not knowing that I am set
for the defense of the gospel.
He says, what then, verse 18?
Notwithstanding, you know,
because he's talking about this and Paul says, what then?
What about that?
What about the fact that some people just serve God
just out of envy and strife?
He says, what then, notwithstanding, everywhere,
whether in pretense, look at the word pretense,
same word that we get our word, pretend,
whether they do it, Paul says, in pretense,
whether they're doing, they're not genuine,
they're just pretending,
they're just doing it out of spite for us.
He says, whether in pretense or in truth,
Christ is preached and I therein do rejoice,
yea, and I will rejoice.
Paul says, I don't care, here's what Paul says.
Paul says, I don't care if somebody is starting churches
just to compete with me and just to show
how great they are and how bad I am.
He says, whether they do it in pretense
or whether they do it in sincerity,
he says, I therein do rejoice, yea, and I will rejoice.
And you know what, if somebody starts another church
in Sacramento, California, just so that there would be
another independent Baptist church
other than this new IFB, Verity Baptist Church,
if that's their whole motivation to start a church,
to literally start a church down the street from us,
just so there would be another church
for IFB people to go to, you say,
what is your response to that?
My response is, I rejoice!
I rejoice that there's another place preaching the gospel,
even if they're just doing it to compete with us.
Because here's the thing, that's gonna get old after a while
when what drives you is competing with other people,
that'll get old.
And eventually the ministry gets hard,
eventually the fights come, eventually you have to,
the ministry is hard, and one of the reasons I believe
that these churches have failed
when they literally started just to compete with us
is that you get to the point
where the ministry gets difficult
and you gotta ask yourself this question,
why am I even doing this?
And if the question is, why am I even doing this?
I'm just doing this to compete with that other guy,
and he's like happy we're here.
Then they're just like, let's just quit,
or let's just go ESV, let's just become liberal.
You know, over the years, my wife and I
have had to ask ourselves the question,
why are we doing this?
And the answer to the question has always been,
because of Lord Jesus Christ.
But the point is this,
it doesn't matter why someone else is preaching the gospel.
If they're preaching the gospel,
well, they're just preaching the gospel
because they're trying to compete with me,
and they're trying to show that they can get more people
saved than I can.
You know what, that's a bad motivation.
But if they're actually getting people saved, praise God.
Now, should they get their hearts right?
Yes, they should.
Should they have the better motivation?
Yes, they should.
Are they gonna last as a soul winner?
Probably not, unless they get their heart right.
But the point is this,
it doesn't matter why someone's preaching the gospel.
If they're preaching the gospel,
Jesus says, forbid him not.
For he that is not against us is for us.
Moses said, envy us not for my sake.
Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets.
So we see the story where the disciples
are fighting amongst themselves, fellow believers.
We see this other story where they're fighting
with other believers, other people in ministry.
And then thirdly this morning,
go back to Luke chapter nine, look at verse 51.
We see a third story.
Remember, these stories are all put next to each other
because they have the similar theme,
and the Holy Ghost is trying to teach us something.
We see the disciples fighting amongst themselves
with fellow believers.
We see the disciples fighting with others in ministry,
other believers.
And then thirdly, we see the disciples fighting
with those who reject Jesus.
In this story, they're fighting unbelievers.
Look at Luke nine and verse 51.
Now, to understand the story,
I wanna give you a little context here.
What we find is that Jesus,
remember Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem.
And he's going from Galilee,
if you look at one of those Bible maps
at the end of your Bible,
you'll find that the way that the nation of Israel
is separated, you have the northern part of Israel
and the southern part of Israel.
Judah and Jerusalem are in the southern part of Israel.
The majority of Jesus' ministry has happened
in the northern part of Israel,
in the part that is known as Samaria and Galilee.
He has been preaching around the Sea of Galilee.
He's been in the towns around Galilee.
He's making his way down into Jerusalem.
And as a result of that,
he has to go through this region called Samaria.
Notice Luke nine 51.
And it came to pass when the time was come
that he should receive, that he should be received up,
he, Jesus, steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.
So Jesus determined to go to Jerusalem to die there.
Verse 52.
And sent messengers before his face,
and they went and entered into a village of the Samaritans
to make ready for him.
So as Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem,
he decides to stop in Samaria on his way to Jerusalem,
and he sends messengers before his face,
before him, to enter into the village of Samaria.
Why are they there?
Last part of verse 52, to make ready for him.
So he sends some staff guys down first to, you know,
get a hotel and get things situated
because he's coming with the disciples.
He's got this group.
They're gonna stop in Samaria.
Look at verse 53.
And they, the Samaritans, did not receive him.
Why?
Why did they not receive him?
Here's why.
Because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.
You say, well, I don't understand what's going on here.
And I'm gonna take a little bit of time to explain this
because this is gonna set us up for tonight
as we continue and finish up Luke nine.
So I want you to understand this.
Go to John chapter four, if you would.
John chapter four, just real quickly.
We'll be done in five, eight, 18 minutes,
and I'm just kidding.
John four, we'll be done soon, all right?
You just move quickly, John four, nine.
Jesus, the Samaritans reject him
because of the fact that they,
that he would go to Jerusalem.
Now, just to give you a little bit of background information.
There is bad blood between the Samaritans and the Jews.
John four, nine.
Remember the famous story of the woman at the well,
the woman of Samaria?
John four, nine.
Then saith the woman of Samaria.
This is the woman at the well speaking to Jesus.
Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him.
How is it that thou,
because Jesus walks up to this woman and says,
give me some water from the well.
So she responds, how is it that thou, being a Jew,
askest drink of me, which am I woman of Samaria?
For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
Okay, so the Jews and the Samaritans,
they don't like each other, all right?
Look at, and one of the major contentions
of why they don't like each other
is because of their religion.
And I don't have time to get into this,
but let me just quickly try to explain this
for those of you that like this type of stuff, all right?
The Samaritans are the half-breeds.
If you remember when the nation of Israel was divided
into the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom,
the Northern Kingdom was taken over by the Assyrians.
The Southern Kingdom ended up being taken over
by the Babylonians.
The Babylonians, the way that they took over
is that they took the people out of Judah
and took them into Babylon and different things.
What the Assyrians did is they brought their people
into the land and they occupied the land
and they mixed themselves in
with the people of the Northern tribes.
So the people of the Northern tribes ended up being mixed
with the Assyrians.
So the Jews of the Southern Kingdom of Israel
ended up looking at them as half-breeds, half-Jews,
and they did not like them.
All the way back to the book of Nehemiah,
if you read, I was just reading Nehemiah this week,
and if you read the book of Nehemiah,
you'll see that those that are from Assyria
that are living in the Northern Kingdom,
they come to Nehemiah and say,
hey, we wanna help you build the wall
and we wanna help with the things you're doing.
They tell Nehemiah and Ezra,
and Nehemiah and Ezra reject them
because of the fact that they don't have a lineage
that goes back because they were mixed.
So there was bad blood between these Samaritans,
even all the way back to Ezra and Nehemiah,
and these people, they worshiped the Lord,
but they kinda got stuck on the first five books
of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy, and they pretty much rejected everything
that comes after what's known as the law
or the Pentateuch.
Now, the reason I'm explaining all this
is because the first five books of the Bible
do not mention Jerusalem.
Jerusalem did not become the capital city
of the nation of Israel until the King David.
So as a result, these Samaritans who say they worship Jehovah
they reject Jerusalem as a capital city
or as a place of worship where the temple was
because the first five books of the Bible
do not mention Jerusalem because that happened after David.
I realize I'm giving you probably more information
than you need.
But that's the context that you read John 4.20
when the woman at the well says,
our fathers worshiped in this mountain.
Because she's saying, we don't believe
in the southern kingdom of Israel,
going, our fathers worshiped in this mountain,
and ye say, this is the woman saying to Jesus,
that in Jerusalem is a place where men ought to worship.
That is the difference, one of the major issues
between the Samaritans and the Jews
of the southern kingdom is that the Samaritans
rejected Jerusalem as a place of worship.
Because they really only take the first five books
of the Bible, which don't mention Jerusalem at all,
but they do mention two mountains in northern Israel,
Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim.
And again, I realize I'm going too far into this,
but some of you who actually read your Bibles
know what I'm talking about and you like this.
All right, go back to Luke 9.
They reject Jerusalem.
So what happens
is when Jesus shows up,
his disciples, they're like,
hey, we need to stay in Samaria,
and they're like, great, how long are you staying?
And they say, just a night or two
because we're on our way to Jerusalem.
Well, those are like fighting words to the Samaritans
because they reject Jerusalem as a place of worship.
Remember the woman at the well,
our fathers worship in this mountain,
and ye say that in Jerusalem is a place
where men ought to worship.
So as a result, Luke 9.53,
they did not receive him
because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.
So they said, Jesus, if you're on your way to Jerusalem,
then you can't stay here.
You know, we're against Jerusalem,
and if you're on your way to Jerusalem, we can't stay here.
Okay, that's the context.
Let me just give you some thought.
That's the context to the argument we're about to get into.
And also tonight, when we finish Luke 9,
there's three conversations that happen.
One of the conversations is where Jesus tells somebody
the foxes have holes and the birds have nests,
but the son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Literally, he's saying that because of the fact
that he's like, I don't have,
we were gonna stay at Motel 6 in Samaria
and they canceled my reservation.
You know, I don't have anywhere to stay tonight.
Okay, so for those of you that come back tonight,
that's the context, we'll get into that tonight.
Luke 9.54, Jesus trying to say Samaria,
Samaritans reject Jerusalem.
So when they find out that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem,
they reject Jesus.
They did not receive him because his face
was as though he would go to Jerusalem.
Luke 9.53, notice Luke 9.54.
And when his disciples, James and John, saw this,
they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire
to come down from heaven and consume them,
even as Elias did?
Now I don't have time to go into this.
You can jot this down for your own reference.
2 Kings 1, chapter 1, verses 9 through 15.
There's a story of Elijah,
who Ahab is bringing these soldiers,
these groups of 50, to arrest him.
They said, thou man of God, come with us.
Elijah says, if I be a man of God,
let fire come down from heaven,
and fire came down from heaven and burnt them up.
And then Ahab sends another group of 50.
They said the same thing.
If thou man of God come with us,
he says, if I be a man of God,
let fire come down from heaven,
fire come down from heaven and burn them.
Then the third group, you know,
the guy got a little smart and he says,
please don't burn us up, you know,
have mercy on us and whatever.
That's the story that's being referenced here, okay?
Elijah's literally having enemies come to kill him
and God protects him by sending fire down.
And John and James are equating the fact
that they had their reservations canceled to that story.
And they're saying, the Bible says in verse 54,
and when his disciples, James and John, saw this,
they said, Lord, will thou that we command fire
and come down from heaven and consume them,
even as Elias did, verse 55.
And he turned and rebuked them and said,
ye know not what manner or spirit ye are of.
Said, for the Son of Man has not come to destroy
men's lives, but to save them.
And they went to another village.
See, what happened here?
The Samaritans are not believed, they rejected Jesus.
And look, let me tell you something,
from time to time, unbelievers are gonna reject us.
But please understand something,
unbelievers are not our enemies.
We're not at war with unbelievers.
In fact, the Bible literally says that,
for we wrestle not against flesh and blood.
Now, there are reprobates who we want nothing to do with,
I understand that, but just the average,
look, if you're a soul winner and you're just out there,
you're just arguing with every unsaved person,
screaming and yelling, you know,
and there's something, ye know not what manner
or spirit ye are of.
Unsaved people are not our enemies.
We love them, we wanna get them saved.
And look, arguing with unsaved people
about deep doctrinal issues is a waste of time.
The natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God.
You say, what should we be talking to unbelievers about?
Salvation.
Period, end of story.
And when they don't get it, look, we've literally had,
you know, we had some major protests,
I preached a sermon and it went viral or whatever,
a few years ago, and we had, we had,
we were doing the first Red Hot Preaching Conference
just a month later, and we had all these,
I mean, we had all these preachers coming,
we had hotels reserved for them,
we had rental vehicles reserved for them,
we had, my wife was gonna do a couple of weeks
after the first Red Hot Preaching Conference,
she was gonna do a soul winning,
not a soul winning seminar, good night,
a homeschool seminar, I do the soul winning seminar,
she was gonna do a homeschool seminar for ladies,
we had this reservation at a hotel, at a restaurant
where we had this big room all set up,
we had all these things, and we went viral,
all these places canceled our reservations,
and literally, they canceled our reservations,
like, as preachers are coming in,
they're literally flying in, and we're supposed
to be meeting them with these rental cars,
and the rental guys are like, saying, no,
we canceled your reservation, you know,
and that was a really stressful time,
Brother Stuckey was working for me at the time,
and I told Brother Stuckey, you need to go find rent,
you just rent whatever, and I remember,
I remember we had the Red Hot Preaching Conference,
and he comes in with this black Suburban
with these ghetto spinner wheels,
and he's just driving in, and I'm like,
he's like, it's all they had available,
and I'm like, okay, you know, whatever,
and you know, so look, I understand the disciples,
it's frustrating when people just cancel your stuff,
that's one of the reasons that the conference people
often ask me, why don't we just rent another facility
that's bigger, and it's like, because it's frustrating
that people just cancel you last minute,
you know, and it upsets you, but here's the thing,
don't pray that God sends fire down to destroy them.
I remember this one restaurant that canceled us,
I swore in my wrath, like we will never do business
there again, and we haven't, but you know,
I've ate there, okay, since then.
You know, you just have to realize,
unsaved people are unsaved people.
We shouldn't have this idea, you know,
let me call fire down, wilt thou that we command fire
to come down from heaven and consume them
even as Elias did?
Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of,
for the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives,
but to save them.
So we see these stories, they all have the same theme.
Disciples fighting amongst themselves with fellow believers
because of the product of pride.
Jesus gives them the example of humility, a child,
and he gives them the secret to greatness,
how we treat others.
Then we see disciples fighting with other believers
because it's human nature to take this attitude
that we're the only good ones,
and want to exclude everyone that's not in our camp.
But you know what, we need to realize
that there are other good guys out there,
and even if the other good guys are motivated
but trying to hurt us, we have to rejoice
when the gospel being preached.
And number three, the disciples are fighting
with unbelievers, because the rejection of the Samaritans,
the disciples decide to take revenge on the Samaritans.
But Jesus teaches us that the unbelievers who reject us,
they are not our enemies.
We're not here to destroy men's lives, but to save them.
Let me just finish this morning by saying this.
You don't have to turn, I'm already out of time,
but let me just read this verse to you.
You don't have to turn here, Genesis 16, 12.
This is a verse about contention.
The Bible says, and he will be a wild man.
This is just a phrase I want to highlight for you.
His hand will be against every man,
and every man's hand against him.
You know, we need to be careful in our lives
that we are not, this is a verse describing Ishmael,
that we're not like Ishmael, who we described
as our hand is against every man,
and every man's hand against us.
You know, if you're fighting with everyone,
if you're fighting with your wife,
you're fighting with your husband,
you're fighting with fellow church members,
you're fighting with coworkers,
you're just fighting with your neighbors, just fight.
Look, if there's contention everywhere,
obviously there's gonna be contention
from time to time in any relationship,
but if you're just fighting with everybody,
just realize the common denominator is you,
and you're the problem.
Don't be this person who's just,
your hand is against every man,
and every man's hand is against you.
You know, we have to check our hearts,
and my wife and I, one of the things we've learned
over the last 12 years of ministry
is that one of the red flags
that people are not doing well spiritually
is that they have this just disgruntled attitude
with everyone.
They're just not happy with anyone.
They show up to church, they're just disgruntled.
Everything's bad, everything's not good.
Oh, everybody's kids are bad.
Everybody's marriage is bad.
You know, be careful about being that person.
When you find yourself getting into this mode
where you're just, you're fighting with fellow believers,
you're fighting with other believers,
you're fighting with unbelievers,
you're fighting with everyone,
just, you know, your hand is against everyone,
every man's hand is against you,
hey, check your hearts.
There's probably something wrong in your heart
that you need to get right,
because we should not be contentious.
We should earnestly contend for the faith,
but we should not be contentious, people.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you Lord for your word.
Thank you for these stories
and the things that you are teaching us to do this.
Lord, I realize from time to time,
we're all going to have issues and contentions and fights.
Marriages are gonna fight, families are gonna fight.
It's inevitable, and we understand that,
but help us not to be these people
that are just fighting with everyone,
just in every situation, every fellow believers,
other believers, unbelievers, just Lord,
help us to be people that seek peace.
Let us be like Jesus taught peacemakers.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall inherit the kingdom of God.
Help us, Lord, to be those types of people.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
We're gonna have Brother Matt come up
and lead us in a final song.
Just wanna remind you of a couple of things.
First of all, choir and orchestra practice today, 5 p.m.
Not just orchestra, but choir.
If you wanna be part of the choir
for the Family and Friend Day,
make sure you're here in the auditorium, 5 p.m. for that.
Also, don't forget about our Soul Winning Seminar.
It's Friday, September 9th.
We're trying to give you as much heads up as possible.
We'd love for you to come
if you've never came to Soul Winning Seminar.
It is an all-day event.
We're gonna teach you step by step
how to preach the gospel.
Lunch will be provided.
You need to sign up on your communication card,
so please make sure you do that.
And I wanna encourage you to come back tonight, 6 p.m.
We're gonna finish Luke chapter nine.
This morning we saw three arguments.
Tonight we're gonna see three conversations.
And they all regard discipleship,
and they all have to do with roadblocks to discipleship.
Tonight I'm preaching on a sermon
called Three Reasons People Don't Serve God.
And I wanna encourage you to be with us.
Three reasons people don't follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
I wanna encourage you to be with us
as we study that out tonight.
If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know.
We'll have Brother Matt come up and lead us in a final song.
Let's turn to song 293.
Song 293.
["Three Reasons People Don't Serve God"]
293 on the first.
You have longed for sweet peace
and for faith to increase
and ever to see perfectly great.
But you cannot have rest
for the earth you've blessed
until all of the earth is made.
If you're one of the altar of sacrifice,
say, your heart is the spirit controlled.
You can only eat rest and have peace in secret.
Would you walk with the Lord in the light of his glory
where the peace and the tent will dwell?
You must do the sweet work to be free from all ill,
on the edge of the light of the sea.
Is the love of the altar of sacrifice slain?
Your heart must just be a good child.
You can only eat rest and have peace in secret.
You must do the sweet work to be free from all ill,
on the edge of the light of the sea.
You can only eat rest and have peace in secret.
And the world may part in this way.
Is the love of the altar of sacrifice slain?
Your heart must just be a good child.
You can only eat rest and have peace in secret.
Your heart must just be a good child.
You can only eat rest and have peace in secret.
Is the love of the altar of sacrifice slain?
Your heart must just be a good child.
You can only eat rest and have peace in secret.
Amen. Good singing.
Before we leave here, if anybody has questions about salvation, church membership, or baptism,
Pastor will be at the door.
He'd love to talk to you or direct you to someone who's training you to talk about that.
I'm going to ask Brother Matt, would you close a prayer for us?
I haven't thought about it.
I'm going to ask you to join me in calling out the prayer.
We all need you here.
I think you have the heart.
Your heart is going to make a difference in the world.
You can be a star of the day.
You can all face the world on that big tree.
You can go in that public tree.
Amen.