Next slide, we have our service time, soul winning times, and our church stats.
We have the 5th Sunday fellowship, October 2nd Tex-Mex, you know, everybody needs a little
bit of Texas in their life, so there you go.
And then also we are in prayer for the Reeds, who are expecting.
Upcoming events, we have the Shreveport Louisiana Soul Winning Marathon this Saturday.
Even if you're not able to make it, we would appreciate your prayers.
We have the chili cook-off, October 31st, and heresy is apparently welcome, I mean beans,
sorry, is apparently welcome in the chili.
Also November 5th, we have a Midwest City Soul Winning Marathon, it's not too far from
here.
We have the Thanksgiving service being moved to Wednesday, November 23rd at 7 p.m.
And Thursday we're not going to be having service, that way you can have Thanksgiving
with your family or whatever you would prefer.
Friday we have Christmas caroling, December 9th, and that's always a lot of fun to go
out and do some Christmas caroling.
I don't think I've ever done Christmas caroling before going with a church group, and honestly
it's a lot of fun, it's an enjoyable experience.
People are really appreciative of it, and I feel like it's going to be just as receptive
or even more so every year.
I think people really appreciate that kind of stuff because it's kind of rare to see
people going out and singing and having some Christmas spirit, thinking about Christ.
Upcoming guest preaching, I'll be coming back in October as well, October 20th, which is
another Thursday.
Brother Fur is not here this evening, he's doing like a family vacation this week, so
just be a prayer for him.
We also have our prayer requests, we're in prayer for Mrs. Dillman for health, also Brother
Matthew Pendleton, he's got brain cancer, he's a friend of ours from Bayford Baptist
Church, and definitely a serious issue, he's got a lot of children, and so we're just praying
for him and his situation.
Brother Cameron, we're continuing to pray for him, which sounds like things have been
getting better and going the right direction, so praise the Lord for that.
Let's praise the Lord that even knows kind of what's going on, because I'm sure that's
just even, that might even be more suffering than the actual pain that at times is kind
of the uncertainty of it all.
Pray for the halls also vehicle, pray for Brother Joel Johnson, who's recovering from
intestinal surgery, also be praying for his salvation, I guess they're moving to Mexico.
That's definitely an intense move, so we'll be in prayer for the Adair's father on that,
also Jim Bushfield, New Mexico, I'm sorry, I was like man that's intense, I was like
what part of Mexico are they going, so, well we definitely need bigger prayers going to
New Mexico, no I'm just kidding, and so we'll definitely, yeah we'll be praying for them,
so brother Jim, or James Perry's boss, Jim Bushfield, you know, it says salvation here,
but I'm pretty sure the last time I talked to Brother James he told me that he did get
saved, or his kids got saved, that's what it was?
Not the boss yet, okay, that's right, he texted me and he said his kids had gotten saved recently,
but he's praying for him as well, so we'll be praying for Mr. Bushfield, also for missionaries
evangelist Matthew Stuckey's in the Philippines, pastor Kevin Sepulveda, he's in the Australia
area, and then also just pray for your pastor there, we can say a quick word of prayer as
a church family for those that were mentioned, thank you Heavenly Father for our church,
thank you for our expecting ladies, and thank you for those that are going through health
concerns, I pray that you would just give them a speedy recovery, please give them strength
while they go through this affliction, I pray that you would just give them a peaceful
attitude, that you would help encourage them, I pray that you would help those that need
to hear the gospel, that you would soften their hearts, that you would fill the mouth
of a soul winner, that you'd give him the boldness to preach the word of God, and that
those people would be saved, I just pray that you would just continue to use our church
for your honor and your glory, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
That's pretty much all I have as far as announcements are concerned, we can go ahead and go, we
have another song or are we going to our Bible reading?
Let's just go to I Corinthians chapter number 12, we'll go and we'll pass the offering plate at this time.
Good evening, I Corinthians chapter number 12, I Corinthians chapter number 12, the Bible
reads, now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant, ye know that
you were Gentiles carried away into these dumb idols, even as you were led, wherefore
I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God called Jesus accursed
and that no man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost.
Now, there are diversities of gifts by the same Spirit and there are differences of administrations
but the same Lord, and there are diversities of operations but it is the same God which
worketh all in all, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit
with all, for to one is given, for one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to
another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit,
to another gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another
the prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, and to
another the interpretation of tongues, but all these worketh at one and the self same
Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will, for as the body is one and hath many
members and all the members of the body of that one body being many are one body so also
is Christ, for by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, rather we be Jews or Gentiles,
rather we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit, for the body
is not one member but many, if the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not,
I am not, I'm sorry, let me start that over, if the foot shall say, because I am not the
hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body, and if the ear shall say,
because I am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body, if
the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing, if the whole were hearing, where
were the smelling, but now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body as
it hath pleased him, and if they were all one member, where were the body, but now are
they many members yet but one body, and though I cannot say unto the hand, I have no need
of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you, nay much more those members
of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary, and those members of the body
which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor, and our
uncombly parts have more abundant comeliness, for our comeliness parts have no need, but
God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which
lack, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the
same care one for another, and rather one member suffer, all members suffer with it,
or one member be honored, all members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ and
members in particular, and God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily
prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments,
diversity of tongues, are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers
of miracles, have all the gifts of healing, do all speak with tongues, do all interpret,
but covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I unto you a more excellent way.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we just thank you so much for this day. We thank you for this church
that we can gather together to hear your word preached, to be edified, Lord. At this time
we just pray that you'd be with Pastor Shelley, fill him with your spirit, give him the words
to speak, be with the congregation, and just help us focus on the message. We love you
and thank you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
So I wanted to focus here on chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians a little bit to kind of get
the essence of our sermon. And the title of my sermon this evening is Differences Can
Be Good. Differences can be good. And we have in chapter number 12 a mentioning of the various
gifts and offices and administrations that would exist within a body of Christ within
a church. It says in verse number 4, Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities
of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all and all. Now, it brings up a few
different ways here. It brings up diversities of gifts, differences of administrations,
and diversities of operations. Really, when I say differences can be good, it's kind of
here in context of these three verses where it's bringing up the fact that not everybody
is going to be the exact same when it comes to Christianity. Some people have a different
gift, some people have a different job, and then some people have a different role even
within those particular administrations. That's where you kind of have the different operations,
administrations, and you have these giftings. Now, when it comes to differences, not all
differences are good, yet some differences are good. And specifically, though, according
to the Scripture, differences can be good. So, I don't want you to always think that
while I always have to be in lockstep or exactly like somebody else, God made you different
and unique on purpose. And really, the essence of the sermon is for you to be yourself. You
need to be the person that God has designed you to be. And you need to be comfortable
in your own skin, be comfortable with the talents and the importance that God has given
you, and realize that no matter who you are, no matter where you find yourself, you have
a role to play in Christianity. But there is a tendency to try and believe there's only
one role that's important, or for people to feel as if they have no significance because
they don't have a particular role, whereas this is a fallacy that's really only in our
human mind. It's one of often envy, or it's one of not true humility. And we need to be
humble in the sense that we realize whatever role we have is what God has ordained for
us to do and for us to be, and we should be pleased with that role that He's given us.
It says in verse 7,
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all, for to one
is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge, by the same
Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same
Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning
of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
But all these worketh that one and the self same Spirit, dividing to every man severally
as he will. So the Bible's talking about the Holy Ghost. The Bible's talking about the
Holy Spirit, how He will give people different giftings, different spiritual blessings here,
as it were, to function as a Christian. And of course, in the book of Acts, we see even
the really diverse giftings here where people were able to speak with other tongues, people,
some apostles were able to lay hands on people and they just recover immediately. But not
everybody had the exact same giftings here. Not everybody could do these things. You know,
the Bible talks about how when Philip the Evangelist is going out and preaching that
after these people hear that they've heard the gospel and got saved, they send Peter
and John so that they specifically can lay hands on them and that they can receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit. Because not everybody could just lay hands on people and they could
receive the holy, the giftings of the Holy Spirit, like in the book of Acts. One man
in particular tries to buy this gift. You know, he, he's so interested in being able
to have this gift, he's willing to buy it, showing that he's not really content with
who he is. He's not really content with just being simply a Christian or in the body of
Christ. He has to be in a position of power or having a particular gifting and, and that's
not really how it works. You know, if you think you can buy the gift of God, you're
not going to get it. And, and of course, when we say the gift of God, there's many gifts
according to scripture. One gift, the most important is salvation, right? Eternal life.
You can't buy that. You know, you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the free gift.
But then beyond that, there's other giftings that the Lord has for us. Those also cannot
be purchased with money. Those who think they can be purchased with money are only
fooling themselves. But it says, notice in this verse, in verse 11, dividing to every
man severally as he will. It's not like I can just sit here and just, man, I just really
want to have this particular gifting and I get it. It's, it's however the Holy Spirit
sees fit, is he going to bless me with certain giftings in the Bible. But kind of, you know,
I don't necessarily have three points for this sermon, but I do have three checks when
it comes to this particular differences can be good, because while differences can be
good, they also need some things in similarity. And number one is that they are coming from
the same spirit. Okay, so I'm all for having differences, as long as those differences
have the same spirit. Now, what does that mean? Well, if we think about it, we have
one Bible, we have the King James Bible. Now, some churches use a multiplicity of Bibles,
that's going to give you a lot of different spirits, that's going to give you a lot of
different ideas. That's a lot of different Jesus's in the room. You know, we have one
Jesus, and we have one Holy Spirit that lives inside of us because we're saved. So in order
to have one spirit of church, you have to have a couple things. Number one, you have
to have the same Bible, you got to have the same Word of God. Number two, though, you
also have the same gospel, because if you have varying Gospels, then some people aren't
going to be saved, some people will. So you're not all going to have that same spirit, you
have to have the same gospel all believe in salvation by faith. And so you have that unity
of having the Word of God and having the Holy Spirit. How does the Holy Spirit communicate?
Well, he brings all things to remember. So he brings the Word of God remembers. That's
why it's also important to have the King James Bible. So if you're in a church, and
you have a group of gifts, amongst your congregation, some can interpret tongue, some could speak
with other tongues or speak in other languages, you have some people can lay hands on people
and they recover, right? Well, here's what's important, though. If I get up and preach
in English, and brother Cameron gets up and interprets in Spanish, which is unrealistic
to him, let's say Salvador, okay, Salvador gets up and interprets in Spanish, it's going
to be the same gospel, like I'm not going to get up and teach salvation by faith. And
Salvador is going to get up and interpret it and it's going to be my works, because
that's not the same spirit. Right? There's a diversity here. And of course, you know,
I do speak a little bit of Spanish, but someone like Cameron maybe doesn't speak any Spanish,
if he got up and preach to a congregation of people that speak Spanish, and Salvador
is delivering that message in Spanish, we see how they both have their own gifting here,
one's gifting is a preaching and wisdom and understanding. The other one's the gift of
the interpretation. But if they're saying the same thing, with the same spirit, that
is what's really important. So differences are good, as long as they have the same spirit,
right? It's not beneficial to have someone that's really good at interpreting, if they
interpret the wrong message, because they have the wrong spirit. It's not beneficial
to have people that are really smart, but yet have the wrong gospel. That's not the
same spirit, either. We have to have the same spirit in order for our differences to
come together and make sense. This is the same as just any team. You know, football
team, they all need to have the same goal, like we're going to the same end zone, because
you want to have differences of talent, you want to have a quarterback, you want to have
wide receivers, you want to have a running back, you know what you want them all running
in the same direction. Because if they're going to run in different directions, it doesn't
really matter how good a running back you are. If you run in the wrong direction, I'm
never going to want to hand you the ball. You know, if you run it as a wide receiver,
if you're going to run in the wrong direction, I don't want to throw you the ball. So and
if you're the quarterback, I don't want you to throw it in the opposite direction to me
or throw it to the team. So we have to make sure that we're all in the same spirit, we
have the same goal, we have the same vision, we have the same game plan. You know what
we want to have differences on that team. It makes us really strong when we have a different
team. If we had a football team, and just everybody was a quarterback, you know, everybody
runs I saw this video, and it was Eli Manning or something. He was pretending like he's
a college student going and like going to try and make a college squad. And so they
make them run 40s. And Eli Manning run a 40 in 5.49 seconds. I don't know if you know
anything about this, but a 5.49 40 yard dash is horrible. Like it's really awful. But see
for a quarterback, it's not as big a deal because the quarterback maybe doesn't necessarily
need to run that fast. Whereas if that's your running back, you're in big trouble. You know,
you would not be doing very well. So if you have 12 Eli Manning's on your offense, you're
going to go down really hard. You know, he's not gonna be able to he's gonna be terrible
on the o line. He probably can't catch you know, he can in it again, throwing it to himself
isn't going to work that well. You know, if you had 12 o lineman, you have 12 running
back 12 wide receivers, your team is going to lose. You know, the team that does the
bass is the one that has giant o land o line, a quarterback that can throw really well,
wide receivers that can run and catch really well, you got to have all these different
diversities in order for it to go smoothly. The same as what the Bible is describing about
Christianity, for a church to run, well, we need a diverse group of people with diverse
abilities, giftings, and we shouldn't all just desire to be the exact same person. You
know, a church of only pastors, isn't going to be that great. Oh, it's great. No, it wouldn't
do very well. Because, you know, maybe they're not all going to be very good at like, submitting
or following or, you know, you don't want to have this all 12 leaders stacked up with
the one another. I mean, in fact, God brought heavy persecution on the apostles when they're
all stacked in one church, because they're not doing as much for the Lord, as if he spreads
them abroad, and he kind of picks them out and causes them to go and do more works, right.
And more can be done for the gospel sake, you know, having 12 people and no pastor is
not necessarily good either. We want to have as much division amongst our talents and the
giftings that God has given us, yet always maintaining that same spirit. If we keep reading
here, it says in verse 12, For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the
members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit
are we all baptized into one body, whether we Jews or Gentiles, whether we bond or free
and have been all made to drink into one spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.
If the foot shall say, Because I'm not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore
not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I'm not the eye, I am not of the body,
is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing?
If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now God said the members, every
one of them in the body, as it pleased him, and if they were all one member, where were
the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body? The eye cannot say unto
the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble, are necessary, and
those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more
abundant honor, and our uncomly parts have more abundant comeliness. For our commonly
parts have no need, but God has tempered the body together, having given more abundant
honor to that part which lacks, that there should be no schism in the body, but that
the members should have the same care, one for another.
So the Bible is describing the body of Christ like a physical body. It's simply saying
your body has so many different parts to it, and all are very necessary, and we don't
want to belittle any aspect of that body, whereas we say, well, the eye is the only
important part of the body. That's not really true. The hand is the only important part.
That's not true. The feet are the only part, or the head. You know, we all need all of
these parts. I'm glad I have all these parts. I'm glad I'm not just, you know, a hundred
eyes. I would look weird. I'm glad I don't have hands in place of my eyes, right? All
of this is real easy and obvious. It helps us kind of illustrate a carnal aspect of our
physical body, but a spiritual truth that the same exists in church. We wouldn't want
our church to just only be 80-year-old men, or 5-year-old boys, or 13-year-old girls.
You know, that would be a lot of drama, okay? We wouldn't want it to just be all just one
specific thing, one specific type of person, one specific gifting. You know, what makes
a great church is when you have everything. When you have children, you have toddlers,
you have teenagers, you have married couples, single people, old people. The more you have,
the healthier you're going to be as a church. And some people would think, well, I'm not
that important. But that's not true because even if you're, in your mind, a less desirable
demographic, there's going to be other people just like you, and when they visit church,
they're glad that you're there. You know, people like to go to a church where there's
other people like them, they can fellowship with them, they have some unity, they have
some common ground, and there's nothing wrong with having common ground with people, even
on a physical level, having a similar family, or having a similar hobby, or having a similar
interest, or whatever it is. You know, these things help a church and cause a church to
be healthy, and we should not downplay those things, we should rather realize we need every
single person. We need all the people, all the body parts, and what makes us, our differences
good is that we still have the same spirit, though. We're still of like mind, we still
have the same gospel, and of course, when it comes to differences, we want to make sure
that our differences are still scriptural. So, what keeps these differences good is that
they're the same spirit, but also that they're scriptural, meaning that I have a talent,
quote unquote, or I have this difference than you, but it's not like a sinful difference,
or it's not something that's going against scripture per se, you know, where you're a
humble guy, but I'm a prideful person. It's like, well, that's not a good difference,
because being prideful doesn't really actually help you whatsoever. Okay, oh, you're, you're
a pure person, but I'm really, you know, you, you don't drink alcohol, but I'd like to drink
alcohol, you know, that's not a good difference. You know, these, there's going to be differences
in people's lifestyle, but that doesn't necessarily make them good. It's good as long as it's
scriptural. Okay, some people just want anything and everything to walk through the door of
a church. We want everything that's scriptural to walk in through the doors of our church.
Okay, so not every difference is good, differences continually be good, or continually are good,
as long as they are scriptural. You know, people bringing in heresy. Well, you believe
in the King James Bible, but I believe in the NIV. That's not a good difference. Because
that's not scriptural, because the NIV has errors in it. I mean, the NIV twists the Word
of God, it changes scripture, it changes doctrine. So you know, that's not a positive difference.
So we want to make sure that all of our differences are scriptural. And thirdly, we want our differences
to be selfless. And if you think about it with this part of the body, it makes a lot
of sense because for your eyes to work properly, you need every other part of your body. Because
if you think about it, your eyes are kind of at the top part of your body. The eyes
aren't down here in the knees or in the feet. And that's good because the higher you're
up, the more visibility you have, the more that you can see. Whereas if your feet and
your legs and your body are propping up your eyes where they are in your body, you're going
to be able to see less, it's not going to be as effective. Now think about it from this
perspective, what have your feet said, you know, I'm tired of holding the whole body
up. I'm only going to hold my weight up. That's not going to work, because you'll never stand
again, right? You need the feet to not only bear its own weight, because my feet, of course,
they're holding their weight, but they're also holding my leg, they're also holding
my knees, they're also holding my thighs, they're also holding my abdomen, they're holding
my head, they're holding my whole body, all the weight of my entire body is on my feet.
And that feet is saying, you know what, I'm not just strong enough to hold my weight,
I'm strong enough to hold the whole body's weight. And so it's selflessly using its
talent for the benefit of the whole body. What if I said, you know what, I'm only going
to make sure that nothing bad happens to the eye. But I don't care, you know, the information
that I'm receiving, and seeing, I'm not going to tell the feet or the knees or the elbows.
So you're going to constantly run into things trip on things and falling, as long as it
doesn't affect the eye, I don't really care to let the rest of the body know what I'm
looking at. That's not really nice, is it? Or what if the hand said, you know what, I'm
not interested in protecting any rest of the part of the body, as long as it doesn't hurt
the hand. So be it, I'll let it hit the knee or whatever. I mean, what if when you trip,
the hands like, well, that's not my fault. That's not my problem. And then you just face
playing, right? The face is gonna be really mad that the hand didn't jump out and catch
the brunt of that force. Now, is it really the hands fault that the feet trip? Nope,
but the hand comes in selflessly, and catches the rest of the body and takes a lot of the
brunt force so that the face doesn't why, because the face can't handle that, as well
as the hand. And you know what, there's going to be things in that happen in a church that
are the same way, where maybe you are supporting the church more than everybody else. Because
you're the feet. And you know what, the church really can't support itself. Financially,
it can't support itself. Spiritually can't support itself with preaching. It couldn't
support itself. You're just being fun. Maybe you're like the only fun person. Or maybe
you're the only social person. Or maybe you're one of the best soul winners. Or maybe, you
know, whatever it is that you have a talent. And you know, if you do three quarters of
the soul winning, you're really carrying everybody on your back. Well, okay, but don't be a bragger
about that. You know, realize that your role, that's your job and do it. You know, even
that doesn't exist. But I'm just saying even if it did exist, that someone is carrying
the weight, then so be it. What if there's some kind of evil that happens to the church
or some kind of issue some kind of problem, and you didn't cause it. But you can fix it.
And yeah, it'll be a burden to you. Yeah, it'll cause you some problems. But if you
let the other people fix it, it's gonna be worse for them. Kind of like the hands, right,
the feet trip. And instead of making the face pay for it, I grab it. Why? Because I can
handle that more than the face could, you know, there's going to be weaker, rather in
weaker people, you know, just like in a in a situation where my family and I are at risk,
you know, I'm going to put myself ahead of my children, my wife, because I'm better at
defending my family than them. And if I get injured, if I get hurt, I can handle more
stress, pressure or evil than they could, it makes sense for me to put myself in harm's
way, and in danger rather than just allowing them because they can't handle it as well.
It's more dangerous for them. And they're a really important aspect of the body. So
we have to realize that when it comes to differences, a differences can be good, as long as they
have the same spirit, as long as they're scriptural. And as long as they're being used
in a selfless way. Also, perhaps you are a really great part of the body. Let's just
argue for her sake. You're some you're the you're the head or you're the mind or you're
the eye. I don't even know. I don't really know what's the best part. But just for whatever
reason, you think you're a better part than another, you're the hand or something like
that. Then don't brag about it. You know, don't don't think that you're better than
other people, or don't believe that you have some greater significance than the other parts
of the body. Don't think as a hand like I'm better than an attack. Or I'm better than
the armpit. Right? I mean, the armpits not really the most glorious part of the box.
Right? Nobody's just like, man, I wish I was the armpit. You know, it's like, well, but
I need armpits. You know, they're really beneficial. I, if I didn't have an armpit, I'd look weird.
And, you know, how is Jeremiah going to get rescued out of the dunk pit if he didn't have
any armpits? You know what I mean? You know, they they had old class rags and clout rags
that they basically tied and put them under his arm holes, as the Bible says, and they
lifted them up, you know, right there out of that dunk pit. I'm sure he was really appreciative
of those armpits in that day. You know, you don't really realize that until you need it.
Also, sometimes you don't realize parts of your body until they hurt. But one thing that
we all know is for a fact, it doesn't matter what part of your body hurts. It just sucks
when any part hurts. There's never like a part of you like that's fine. You know, the
knee hurts, but no big deal. I got a splinter in my finger, but I don't really care. It's
like you can just have one small part of your body hurts and it's just frustrating to the
whole body. The whole body is, you know, frustrated by it. The whole body can experience trauma
and pain and suffering and affliction because of even just one minute, you stub your toe
and the whole body's aching about, you know, the mouse screaming, you're crying, whatever.
It's it's because it affects everything. And the same should be viewed in church where
if one person suffering, we're all suffering with that person. We care for that person
we love on that person, instead of being selfless about, well, I don't have any problems. I'm
the hand and I don't have any problems. Who cares about my knees being shot? No as a hand,
you know, think about this way. If one part of your body itches, you know, your hand goes
there and scratches. Why? Or, you know, even in fact, obviously, this goes beyond your
own personal body. But you know, what if your back's hurting and your spouse rubs your back?
Doesn't that kind of help? And even you could do that a little bit to yourself, you could
have a part of your body that's kind of hurting and you kind of rub it and you kind of try
to help make it feel better. How's that any different than in a church when one part of
the body is hurting a little bit, and you go over there and you kind of give them a
little bit of back rub, kind of get over there and you kind of try to help that part of the
body? Is it really the hands fault that the back hurts? Not necessarily. But you know
what the hand doing is going over there and he's giving it a back rub, or he's touching
it, and he's trying to help it with its problem. You know, the one hand, the right hand, taking
a splinter out of the left hand, or the left hand taking a splinter out of the right hand,
or the right in taking a moat out of the right eye, you know, so there's all these parts
of the body, they're working together. And, and one part's not saying, haha, you suck,
you can't touch anything or do anything about it. I could solve all my problems by myself.
But it's like in the right hand really solve its own problems, kind of needs the left hand
and the left hand can't really solve its problems and needs the right hand. And so
it's like, we can't sit here and just only be selfish with our talents, selfish with
our giftings, selfish with what we have, and think, Oh, I don't need you. In a church,
you could have people that have a lot of money, but they're not that spiritual. And you can
have somebody that's really spiritual, but doesn't have a lot of money. And you know,
both of these people can benefit, because the guy with a lot of money helps you have
a decent church to show up to. And the guy that's really spiritual takes the rich guy
out soul winning, and helps him be a little bit more spiritual. And you see that the both
of them actually can help one another, edify one another, you know, one guy is really good
at singing, and other guys really good at reading, one person's really dedicated and
can show up, you know, all of these different giftings that you have, you can use to bless
other people with, rather than just being selfish with whatever giftings God has blessed
you with. And we need that in the local church, we need for the church to realize, you know,
it's not about what you get out of church, what can you put into, you know, obviously,
we all want to get stuff out of church, you know, I want to get edification, I want to
get companionship, I there's a lot of things that are important to me when it comes to
church. But at the end of the day, you know, the thing that's most important is that I'm
here to serve Christ. It's not so much what I'm getting out. It's what I'm giving to church
because God's demanding me to go to church, and to give of myself first. And then of course,
if I receive things out of that, then that's a blessing. You know, I don't want to go to
church, where, you know, if I get the pick, where I'm not going to receive anything back,
as opposed to church that I'm going to receive a lot back, right? I don't want to go to a
church that I'm not going to be edified by the word of God, where there's nobody of like
companionship, where there's just nothing I'm going to get, you know, if I have to pick
like, well, here's a place where I'm going to get a lot of friends, and I'm gonna have
a lot of fun, but I'm not going to really get any doctrine, I'm not gonna really serve.
That's not really the best church to pick, you know, the best church to pick is the one
that you're going to serve Christ the best. And sometimes the church that you're going
to serve Christ the best in isn't necessarily the funnest. It's not necessarily the most
rewarding to you personally, or on a carnal way. But it's rather what is going to be what
you need, you know, just kind of like even food, you know, when it comes to food, the
foods that are going to give you the most nutrition, and going to give you the best
results for your body are often not the ones that you enjoy eating the most. We say, Pastor
Shelley, what do you enjoy eating? Like the Linda's fudge cake. Who knows what I'm talking
about? Okay, when you all are missing out, okay. Of course, you'll put beans in your
chili here. So I have to get done food. But here's the thing. There is a chocolate cake
that is called Linda's fudge cake. And it is delicious. So it's like a chocolate cake,
and it's layered with chocolate icing. And then just to make it even that much better.
They put chocolate chips on the back of the ice and they layer the whole thing in chocolate
chips. So it's just like extra chocolate. It's so good. And they'll give you whipped
cream and stuff with it. But you know, the thing is just is delicious. I love it. It
tastes really good. You know, I can't eat a lot of that because then I'll really start
to grow. Okay. And, and here's the thing, while that may be the most satisfying, it's
not even really satisfying, it might be the most enjoyable bites that I would take, it's
not really going to benefit my body, my body's not going to really get that much edification
out of it. Whereas celery, carrots, these type of things would give me a lot of edification
for my body. But I don't really enjoy eating celery. I don't ever think like that sounds
really good. I want to eat a bunch of celery and carrot, or I want to eat a lot of vegetables.
You know, it's not necessarily the most appealing thing, but it's the most beneficial. And this
is the way I look at church when I go to church, you know, am I going to go to the church is
going to give me you know, cheesecake and candy, and all of the sprinkles on top of
it. And it's a fun party. Or do I want to go to church, maybe it's gonna give me some
carrots and some celery, and some things that I need. And what's going to make me a better
person, when I leave, you know, when I leave, am I gonna have to be in a wheelbarrow? Or
am I going to be able to leap for joy as I leave the institution. And so the same really
goes with the body of Christ, that sometimes the things that we need, are not always the
most enjoyable, right? Some parts of the body are the same way, some parts of the body that
we absolutely need, are just not the most flattering parts of our body. Like I said,
the armpit is not necessarily the most flattering part of your body. It's not the most enjoyable
part of the body. It's not the most desired seat, you know, part of the body to be seen.
You know, if you go on the on Google Images, and you're looking at people, they're not
usually not flashing their armpit, you know, they're usually showing off their face, or
they're showing off their body, or they're showing off other parts that are considered
a little bit more desirable to look at back hair is not really the most desirable part
of the body to look at. Okay, there's certain parts of your body that just the inner part
of the ear, not necessarily the coolest thing to look at, right. So when it comes to parts
of your body, they may not be the coolest, they might not be the most exciting experience,
but you know what they're needed. And that's what we have to realize. Sometimes in church,
people that come to church, they're not the most exciting people you've ever met in your
life. You know, it might not be Linda's fudge cake. Okay. But sometimes you need those people
in your life. And they're better to be around those kinds of people, then just the most
enjoyable or the most fun to be around. Hi, people that are light and vain and just a
sugar high. You know, sometimes you need some carrots and some celery and some potatoes
as friends. And you're like, I want cheesecake every single day. Yeah, but when you have
cheesecake as friends, you know what, you're gonna have a crumb your life, you're gonna
have a life filled with problems and issues. Sometimes you need to, you know, have some
some celery conversations with people that just make you your teeth and your body a little
bit better. You know, especially when it comes to women. Women love to gossip, you can go
to a church, and it's a lot more fun to gossip than it would be for a woman to tell you not
to gossip. But you know what, sometimes you need a friend to just be like, Hey, let's
not talk about that. Or Hey, let's not say that. Oh, I don't like that. Well, that's
just because you don't like the truth. You know what, sometimes you need to eat some
carrots. You know, my children don't like to eat everything on their plate. They need
a parent to say, eat that. And even with the church, sometimes you come to church is that
I don't want to hear a sermon on Leviticus, chapter 27. I don't really want to hear Jeremiah,
you know, I don't really want to hear this. This sermon is not the most enjoyable sermon
that I've ever heard in my entire life. But sometimes you just need it. Sometimes you
just have to be fed that kind of a sermon. And you know, you shouldn't expect your pastor
or your evangelist, or just the preacher to get up and just hand you chocolate and strawberries
dipped in chocolate, and cotton candy and all the all the fun little treats for every
single sermon. Because you know, that's not a realistic diet. A realistic diet is sometimes
going to give you celery and carrots and potatoes, and meat and, you know, a little bit of sugar,
you know, a little bit of chocolate here and there. But of course, the internet has ruined
sometimes people's diet, spiritually speaking, because if you go online, you can you can
pick whatever you want. You look at a sermon, you're like carrots, man, celery, man, cheesecake.
Yeah, yeah. I want that one. Right. But that's you're doing yourself a disservice. This is
why it's also important to have a local church that you show up Sunday morning, Sunday night,
Wednesday night, because you're not always going to get the exact same meal. And sometimes
you're going to get meals they wouldn't just like a family. Sometimes mom makes meal that
you're not as excited about. You know what you just eat it. Okay. And that's the same
when it comes to church is you just eat your meal, you just do what you have to do. And
it's okay. These differences can be good because when you have a variety of a diet, you have
less vitamin deficiencies, you have less issues in your healthier overall as a person in the
same to the church, the more diversity we can bring in this church, that has the same
spirit is scriptural and selfless, the healthier our church will be. Whereas many churches,
they only want one thing, you know, cowboy church, why would I want a church that's only
filled with cowboy? You know, that doesn't really make any sense. Or you could have other
churches where it's only one demographic, you know, where it's only a lot of churches
are just kind of racist by nature. You know, it's only like white people or it's only Asian
people. Like I pass churches in the Dallas where there it's free in church, or it's some
Indian church or missionary Baptist churches and notorious for being only black churches,
or you even have churches that are basically only white churches. You know, that's not
necessarily good. We want as much diversity as we can bother them. Now being in Oklahoma
City, it's hard to naturally come by as much, you know, as much diversity. But you know,
you go to places like Houston, our pure words Baptist Church, I mean, talk about diversity.
I mean, we have all kinds of crazy things walking into the door. You know, what I like
about it is the same spirit. And there's nothing wrong with coming here and having a lot more
the same demographic, but it's still having that same spirit. But I'll tell you what,
a church that continually can bring in even more differences, but yet have the same spirit
is going to make it a better thing. As long as it's scriptural. And of course, as long
as everybody's being selfless with the giftings and the talent they have, go view with the
Proverbs 27 for a moment go to Proverbs chapter number 27. So you have verse here. So when
we talk about our church, and really it could be any church that we're talking about, we
want to have that diversity of gift, we want to have as much variance as we can, as long
as it's these giftings of the Holy Spirit, and he's bringing them in, and that'll make
us a healthy church. But this could also be applied to just church is, and what I mean
by that, is it's good, that church is also can be different, that not every church is
the exact same, that not every church is fulfilling the even the exact same role. You know, I'm
glad that we don't have just one church in the world that we get to go through. But rather
there's a church in Oklahoma City, and there's a church in the Dowsport area, and there's
a church in Houston, and there's churches all over. So we all have an opportunity to
play a part, get plugged in, to be used by God in whatever way and capacity that he has.
But even within those churches, sometimes you'll find that churches are different. You'll
find that they, they operate a little bit different, they act a little bit different,
they have different emphasis. But you know, as long as they have the same spirit, that's
good. It's good that there's differences even amongst churches, or, you know, they
may preach on different topics more than other topics. But as long as it's scriptural, that's
great. And churches may even have a different talents, meaning that maybe they have different
ministries that they emphasize over another one, that they're better than another church.
But as long as they're selfless in their ministry, it's still a great difference. You
know, some churches, they have more Spanish speakers than others. So maybe they have a
bigger Spanish ministry than another church. That's fine. That's great. You know, maybe
one church is better musically, and they produce a lot of music that people can benefit and
listen, listen to. That's wonderful. You know, maybe another church is really good with technology,
and they can use technology to their advantage and help other people with that level of technology.
You know, that is a good difference as long as what is the same spirit as scriptural,
and it's selfless. You know, what would be bad is for a church to have a difference is
not scriptural. Like Bible college. I don't believe in Bible college, I don't think that
really matches scripture. But specifically, there's certain aspects of Bible college that
definitely don't, you know, line up with scripture, where they're just, you come to you come to
a Bible college, you just graduate, and you're just a pastor. Like you didn't even get trained
to be a pastor, you don't even meet the qualifications of a pastor, but you got the degree of pastor
and then you're just ordained as a pastor. That's what a lot of Bible colleges will do.
That's not a good difference. You know, if a church wants to have under its authority
an education center, where they're teaching and training people, I'm not going to say
that's unscriptural per se, and they can call it college or whatever they want. You know,
most Bible colleges are modeling themselves after the world, and they're padding themselves
after the world. And they're creating, you know, these masters of divinity, types, degrees
that you can achieve. No one is a master of divinity. On this earth. That is God. God
is the only one that's divine. The Lord Jesus Christ, the only human would have been Jesus
Christ was God manifest in the flesh. But what a foolish title for a church to be handing
out to people, you are a master of divinity. I mean, that is just bizarre. Okay. So we
want to make sure that our differences, while we may have better talents or differences
in between churches, they're still maintaining that scriptural and that selfless attitude.
You know, like for an instance, I did a lot of computer programming throughout my life
and I still do a lot today. But I've been working on creating, you know, a video online
platform where people can screen services and watch videos and do all this kind of thing.
But you know, my vision is not just to help me. It's to help any church that's got what
the same spirit that scriptural because I don't want to take the talent that I have
in that particular and say, Well, we have a we've solved the problem, but rather say,
Hey, we want to help other people be able to solve this problem. Or maybe some churches
they have, they're running hundreds, and they have their own choir and they have their
own ability to produce really great music. They're not even selfish with that they provide
other people. Faith Ward Baptist Church has sent us specifically like steadfast and pure
words and even our church plants, free Christmas CDs to hand out during Christmas of Christmas
CDs they produce. That was great. You know, I we don't have that talent right now. We
don't have the time, the effort, the energy, we can't really produce that type of a thing,
you know, but is Christmas music scriptural? Sure. Is it? Do we have the same spirit as
those people? Yeah. And they're not being selfish with that. They're being selfless.
Let me say this, not only do they give it to us, I mean, it literally, I didn't pay
$1. They produced it, manufacture it and shipped it 100% free to me, and allow me to just hand
out this great resource of a free Christmas CD to people that I didn't even do anything
at all. I'm doing is just getting used to that's a great difference where a church is
being used by God to be able to bless another church. You know, we don't want to look at
a church and say like every church has to be the exact same with the same ministries
with the same activities with the same people. No, we can be different. Let's take whatever
talents or whatever gift things we have and let's use those for for the glorification
of Christ. And even if a church believes a little bit different, you know, sometimes
churches will believe a little bit different. They will practice things different. Some
people may observe communion on a regular basis, like all the time, like every month
or something, or maybe even every week, I've heard of some churches, some churches may
do it once a year. You know, that's okay. Because even if someone's a little bit different,
you know, the Bible has this principle in Proverbs 27, look at verse 17. Iron sharpeneth
iron, so a man sharpened the countenance of his friend. If someone's a little bit different
than me, number one, that's fine. But number two, if I'm, let's say I'm different than
somebody, but in fact, I'm wrong, and they're right. Well, them being right could actually
help sharpen me and cause me to get something right, or to get something a little bit sharper
in my life, you know, maybe I'm dull in an area, and the other irons going to come sharpen
me up, right? So maybe there's a part of the scripture or my understanding or my Bible
teaching that's a little dull by another church being a little different, and maybe a little
sharper in that area, they can come along and sharpen me. And then maybe there's an
area where I'm a little sharper than they are, and I can come and sharpen them. Some
people have this idea that like every church that you fellowship with has to believe exactly
like you, or be exactly the same, or have everything in lockstep. This is kind of a
immature attitude. This is a, this is kind of a poor attitude to think that you just
can't be friends with someone because they're a little different, a little different. It
seems like sometimes people will always try to take me and my friends, pastor friends,
and point out differences. So as to say, like, Oh, why are your friends there? Or
to say, like, this guy believes different than you. It's like, okay, what are you going
to do? What I believe? It's like, it's okay that they believe different, I can still be
their friend, you know, as long as what we have the same spirit, as long as it's still
scriptural. And as long as you know, we're both being selfless about it, right? If they're
if they're being prideful, or, you know, being something that's anti scriptural, then
maybe I don't want to be their friend for that difference. You know, I'm not friends
with the Pentecostals. Why? Well, number one, they don't have the same spirit, they have
a different gospel. You know, they're also not scriptural. It's not scriptural for me
to be friends with a church that has a different gospel. Okay. Or out of a church was involved
in just the pastors involved in open fornication. What if they have the same gospel, but the
pastors and open fornication? Is that scriptural for me then be friends and have fellowship
with that individual? No, because first Corinthians chapter number five is telling me, there's
certain people that you're not supposed to be having fellowship with, when they're in
particular sin. You know, I'm not gonna have fellowship with other churches when they're
violating first Corinthians chapter number five, I'm not going to be in fellowship with
other churches when they have a different spirit. And, of course, you know, if they're
being really prideful, arrogant, or having some other kind of attitude, I may also decide
to withdraw from that person and decide not to have fellowship with them. You know what,
just because they're a little different, doesn't mean I'm not going to have fellowship. One
difference that I've noticed some churches have that makes me mad that I don't agree
with is on the on communion specifically. And it's funny because there's a big church
here. It's Southwest. Okay. And, you know, I like that. And I even I went to a church
in the Amarillo area, that is really good friends with them. They really like heartland
Baptist Bible College, they have fellowship with Southwest. And, you know, what's what
I've heard, and I know through other people, that if you don't believe in communion, the
exact same as them, they, that's a deal breaker, they won't have fellowship with you, based
on your community preferences. And, you know, I think that there could be a dividing line
of communion, you know, if you believe in transubstantiation, you know, if you literally
believe you're drinking the blood of Christ, and you're eating the body of Christ, and
that Christ is being crucified every single week. Yeah, I don't, I don't want to have
those with that person. Hey, I don't have those with Catholics. Or perhaps, you know,
you do something really weird, like maybe you're drinking like alcohol for your communion
or something. Okay, maybe, maybe you're like, yeah, there's something about you guys. Okay.
And I've seen Baptist churches have beer and hymns as a part of their service, where they're
a Budweiser, while singing Jesus paid it all or something. How ironic is that? I mean,
that's bizarre. Okay. And yeah, I get it, that person, if they believe in Christ, they're
still safe. That's a dumb attitude to bring alcohol and dirt, or to try and get drunk
while you're singing praises under the Lord, you're supposed to be filled with the Spirit,
not that spirit. That's, that's having a different spirit. Okay. That's not the same spirit.
But you know, Southwest and some of these churches that fellowship with them, they say
if you have open communion, then they won't have fellowship. You have to have closed communion.
And it's like, is that really scriptural? Do I really see in the Bible where it says
like, hey, if you if this church doesn't have closed communion, you can't be buddies with
them, you can't be friends with them. That's kind of a silly dividing line. You know, people
have dividing lines over end times eschatology, people have dividing lines over all kinds
of manner of minutia, you know, what Bible college you came from, sometimes a dividing
line, or what friends you have, or all these kind of things. I don't have that kind of
dividing line, you know, my dividing lines have always been King James only salvation
by faith. And that you're not at least attacking solar, you know, if you're if you're pro solar,
even if you're not that great at it, even if you're not really doing it, but at least
as long as you're not against it. I mean, hey, I can be your friend that it's a possibility
that we can be friends here. But it's so funny that most people won't have fellowship with
us or like a church like ours for a multitude of reasons. And that's silly because why I
aren't a sharpened iron. You know, if we really were off on something or, or they're off on
something, what could happen from us fellowshipping is that iron was sharpened iron, and then
we can get better, they can get better. But as opposed to just saying, you know, I'm gonna
stay away from people from unscriptural reasons, it actually precludes you from sharpening
yourself and embracing good differences. There's been times where I've heard a friend of mine
or a pastor friend that I respect, read something that I disagreed with, and then realized,
you know what, I think they're actually right. And I changed my mind, or I improved. And
you know, God willing, the vice versa would be true, where if I taught something that
they disagreed with, but then they end up seeing like, oh, actually, I think that's
what the scripture teaches, they would change their mind, and they would agree with scripture,
you know what, I'm not going to be in a cult, where I have to be in just 100% lockstep,
there's no possible disagreement, there's nothing that we could vary on no possible
interpretation, then you're going to eventually have a church of one. Because no one will
ever agree. 100% always has all the truth, all the knowledge, everything locked in, you
know what differences can be good sometimes, because it challenges us whether or not we're
right. And one attitude that just really loving people is the attitude that you're wrong.
That's not that you think you're wrong, because if you think you're wrong, you would change
your mind is that you're potentially wrong. And if you if you always allow yourself to
be potentially wrong, what that allows for then is for healthy discussion, so as to end
up improving and getting better and stronger. Now, there are certain things that I would
say, okay, I'm not going to put this in the category of possible. You know, salvation
by faith, I'm not possibly wrong. Okay, the King James Bible being the Word of God in
English, I'm not possibly wrong. I had an interview recently, and it's for our film.
And I was talking to a guy that's like an expert in history of the Bible and rare Bible
collector, I respect for the Bible, and I was asking him questions about salvation and
things like that. And he was saved. But in our conversation, you know, he's definitely
got some doctors. But he brings up the idea, or I'm sorry, I bring up this idea of if let's
say we unearth some ancient Hebrew manuscript. And it's older than all the existing Hebrew
manuscripts that we have today. But it says something different than your Old Testament
says something different in Genesis, there's some different Deuteronomy, I said, Would
you be willing to change what your Bible says? And he was like, You know what, I would be,
I would be really highly skeptical. I would be really cautious with any kind of new information.
But here's what I would answer. No, I wouldn't just be highly skeptical of it. The answer
is just no, there is no discovery. There is no manuscript, there is no evidence that you
could ever show me that would ever cause me to change this, to say like, you know what,
I think that Deuteronomy has been wrong for the last 2000 years, let's go ahead and update
it to whatever manuscript I'm certain of that, okay. But certain interpretations of Scripture,
certain things that we kind of believe, you know, I'm going to always allow myself to
be challenged about what I believe there, because maybe I could see something a little
bit more doctrines that have already been settled, you know, I'm not going to consider
this on the Trinity, I'm not going to consider this in salvation by faith, I'm not going
to consider this on on the Bible, but exactly the timing of the rapture or the exact timing
of some of these other things, you know, I would allow myself to have a healthy discussion.
Now, of course, once you've done this over and over and over again, with all kinds of
different people, you finally realize you're settled on a particular issue. You know, things
like the timing of the Passover. That was one where I was definitely open to for a long
time. But now having studied it and looked at all the different things. Yeah, I'm convinced
that Jesus died on Thursday. So I'm not going to probably change my mind on that. You don't
all have a discussion with anybody about any verse on that. Because, you know, I'm willing
to be challenged, because I want other people to be willing to be challenged. So we can
have a healthy discussion. There's a guy in my life recently that he's not King James
only, he saved, not really like our stripe. You know, I like about him every time I talk
to him, he wants to hear what we believe, because he's willing to be challenged with
it. And you know, that's a person I look at, and I say, he's going in the right direction.
I wouldn't be surprised if he gets all the way to where we are, because he's willing
to challenge himself. Whereas other people that may be seen to be close to you right
now, but they're just locked off to everything, and they're not willing to hear anything,
and they can't learn anything else anymore. That person's usually headed in a different
direction. And it usually goes into heresy, or all kinds of weird, false doctrine. But
in this conversation I had with this man, he brought up another example, he said, Well,
someone said this is Jesus' bones. I would be highly skeptical about it. I would say,
it's not Jesus' bones. I'm not going to say like, well, we're going to have to research
that. No, no, no, no. I know for a fact it's not Jesus' bones, because his flesh didn't
see corruption, because he went to heaven. Look, my whole salvation is contingent on
the fact that I believe he rose from the dead. Why am I going to then possibly open the door
to say that those are Jesus' bones? You know, of course I don't believe that. Of course
I don't, I'm not going to put doubt on something like that. And I think he was just bringing
up a bad example. I'll give him some grace there. But I was just thinking like, that's
not on the table. Okay. So when I'm talking about being challenged, when I'm talking about
differences, you know, I'm not going to go and explore the Pentecostals and say like,
you know, I don't know, maybe they got it, you know, I'm not going to go and explore
Hinduism. I'm not going to explore Islam with an open mind and say like, Hey, you know,
let's check out their differences. No, no, we're talking about differences between Baptists
who are saved, who believe salvation by faith or the King James Bible. Yeah, they could
have differences that are good. Why? Because they're still the same spirit because it's
still within scripture and because of the selfless attitude being applied. Now go view
with the first Corinthians 14. First Corinthians 14. I have one other kind of real application
that could be made that I thought of. And this is just in general, when we talk about
your family, a church can have differences that are good. Churches can have differences
that are good, but in your family, you should have differences in their good. As long as
what the same spirit, the scriptural and the selfless. What are some of these differences?
Men are different than women. You know what, if you want to have a healthy family, you
need the man to be the man and you need the woman to be the woman. You need the husband
to be the husband and you need the wife to be the wife. Why? Because the husband's not
a good wife and the wife isn't a good husband and the children aren't good parents. You
need everybody to play their particular role and just like the eye shouldn't be the hand
and the hand shouldn't be the eye. Just like the layman shouldn't be the pastor and the
pastor shouldn't be the layman is the same as that. The wife shouldn't be the husband
and the husband shouldn't be the wife and that we want to make sure that we're fulfilling
all the right roles. You know, these differences can be good. I'm not a good mother. I'm a
good father. You know, my wife is not a good father. She's a good mother. Why? Because
you know, I have no capacity to be a good mother. My wife has no capacity to be a good
father. I only have capacity to be a good father. So I need to make sure that I'm content
in that role and that I'm going to fulfill that role. You know, what does a father do?
A father leads. Here's, here's something a father says, no, no. Sometimes the wife
and sometimes the children don't know what's best. And they need a father to tell them
no, to disagree with them. You know, sometimes has, you know, and again, if there's a division,
you know, the father thinks one way and the wife thinks the other. It's for the husband
to do what he thinks is right. And it's for the wife to submit, even though she disagrees,
it's not for the husband to submit to what he disagrees with and for the wife to lead
it's for the husband to lead and for the man to lead and for the wife to follow. Why? Because
that's what God has ordained. These are the roles that he has provided us with. And it's
takes selflessness. It takes humility to do so. Just like if I'm walking, my hands can't
say like, you know, I don't really like the way where you're going. Let me do it. Get
on a handstand. No, no, no, it's not going to work very well. My hands just have to just
go ahead and say, you know what, beat you're in charge of where we're, you know, basically,
you're going to make the movements of where we go. And my feet are going to pick stuff
up. They're going to allow the hands to pick things up and delete and open the door. Okay,
the feet are going to walk through the door. This is the same in a marriage, we need the
man to lead and the wife to follow. This is scriptural. You know, it doesn't mean that
the wife isn't important. It doesn't mean that the feet aren't important. It doesn't
mean that the eyes aren't important. It's just simply stating, you have a particular
job, you have a particular role, and someone has to follow. You know, the rear wheels of
a car are important. I mean, if you don't have any back wheels, you're in trouble. Your
car is not going anywhere. But you know, if the back wheels say I don't really like
the direction the forward wheels are going, you're going to go throw yourself into the
ditch when they try to go a different direction. You know what the what the back wheels have
to do is they have to just follow the front wheel. If the back will say, you know, I'm
gonna go the other way, you're going to your car is just going to split in half, you're
going to have a giant accident, nothing's going to go well, you need those back. It's
not like the back wheels are less important than the front wheel. They both need air in
them. They both need to be bolted in. I mean, you want those lug nuts tight on all of it.
It's not like all these are the back wheels. We don't need to worry about tightening the
lug nuts on these ones. We don't need to make sure that it has air. We don't care if it
has any tread. We don't care what's going on. No, no, we care as much about the back
wheel as we care about the front wheel. But you know what, we're never going to let the
rear wheels lead. Okay, obviously, we reverse the car, I get that. But in general, you're
not going to drive down the highway going backwards. You got you got some major problems
when you're doing so. It's going to be awkward. You don't want to be looking through the rear
of your mirror to try and drive the car. You want to look through the windshield in order
to drive the car. And the same comes with a family. We don't want the wife driving us
around. We want the husband driving us around. He says that literal will maybe but definitely
spiritually. Now, in First Corinthians chapter fourteen, it also illustrates the point,
though, that we're saying everyone still has significance. Look what it says in verse ten.
There are it may be so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without
signification, meaning every single voice matter. I remember talking with a young lady
recently, and she's thinking about marriage. And she she said this to me, because we were
talking about biblical roles. And I was saying, Why is this? Well, you know what? I just want
to make sure I have a voice. And it's kind of a it's a sad feminist ideology that tries
to say that a woman's name, her husband loses her voice, because no, she didn't lose her
voice by submitting to her husband. Go into First Peter, chapter number three, go to First
Peter, chapter number three. What you do by in her mind, having a voice is you swap roles,
you end up taking your hand and turning it into an eye, you take your eye and turn it
into a hand. That's not going to be successful. A wife has a voice. But you know what her
voice is not the same voice as her husband. The husband is a different voice and you need
to let the husband be the husband voice and the wife be the wife voice. But look what
it says in First Peter, chapter three, verse one, likewise, he wives be in subjection to
your own husband, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won
by the conversation of the wives, while the beholder chase conversation, coupled with
fear. You know, that sounds like a voice to me. It sounds like a wife can have a great
impact and influence on her husband without saying a word. And don't isn't the old adage
or what everybody will say, actions speak louder than words. And I told her I said this,
you know, what is the fear of a wife submitting to her husband? The fear is that he's making
a bad decision or you think you should make a different decision. And if you don't say
something, then how you know how is how is your voice going to be or how is your desires
and wants to be heard? And I tried to tell her I said this, well, you know what, if your
husband's treating you like crap, you just treat him good anyways, it's gonna it's gonna
make him feel like that way more than you just nagging. Because I said the more that
you nag at him, or the more that you complain, or you try to get your voice or where you're
gonna end up doing is you're going to cause him to feel more justified in the decision
making he made. You know, men don't change their mind because of being nagged. And if
they do, it's not a good one. You're like Samson is going off and killing people or
doing whatever because he gets so nag, or end up making a bad decision of giving a secret
that he shouldn't have given because he got nagged and wore down. You know what that didn't
help the situation that didn't help. And of course, nagging your husband into giving you
what you want, actually not actually. Because you didn't really want your husband, ladies
to just do what you wanted. Because you told him, you wanted him to do it. He said, How
do you know that? I'm married to a woman and every woman is the same. Okay. Women are you
know, women don't want a robot. Women want a prince. Women want a man to come and rescue
them because they want to not because they're paid to have, you know, in Prince Charming
knocks down the door and he's like, he's like, Oh, why are you here? Some guy told me for
50 bucks to knock the door and come in here and get you. Like, that's not that cool. He's
like, I couldn't live without you. I slew the dragon at my own peril to rescue and she's
like, Yeah, you know, that's what she wanted. She wanted you to choose her over the evil
and to defeat the foe for her. You know, women want you to do the things that they want.
But I'll tell you how you get that is you serve him. And then maybe you'll serve you
back. You know, think about Queen Esther Queen Esther's asking King of hazardous for
a great request. You know, before Queen Esther ever asked anything, you know what she did?
She served him a banquet. And then he said, Hey, I'll give you whatever you want. And
you know what she did? She served him another banquet. And then he's like, Hey, what do
you want? Then she told him what you want. You know what? She won him over by the conversation
of the wife. Oh, women don't have a voice. You just don't understand how women work.
Women, of course, have a voice, even within Scripture, you know what that voice, even
though it's different, it's not without significant. You know, that voice is going to be used to
teach the children. And those children are going to be shaped by the voice of women,
they're going to be shaped by the actions of their mother. If you want obedience, and
in your life, you know, from your children, you have to be obedient to your husband, you
have to model obedience, because it doesn't really matter. From my perspective, again,
I my children aren't fully raised, you know, I can only speculate through Scripture and
seeing other people. But I believe that if you want obedient children, it's going to
come through you being obedient to your husband more than you just saying, oh, obey your husband,
do right. But then you don't, your children are often going to pick up on your actions
more than what you actually say. And, you know, even even church, you could take your
kids to a really good church that teaches you right doctrine. But if you don't model
it at home, your kids are going to actually be more like you at home, then they will necessarily
the doctrine they taught they were hurting. I try to help people, I try to give information
and everybody's responsible for their own actions. But at the end of the day, what's
modeled for the children and what's modeled in the home and what's exemplified is often
a much louder voice than I can. Like, oh, you get up and scream and you yell and whatever.
It's important. Preaching is important. But I'll tell you know what the voice of the father
in the home is more important. The voice of the mother in the home is more important.
And you know what, not everybody's going to be the pastor. But that doesn't mean that
your voice isn't important. That doesn't mean that your role isn't important. It doesn't
mean that there isn't these differences that are good. They are. You don't need just a
pastor in your home all day telling you everybody what to do. They need a father and a mother
to tell them what to do. They need grandparents to tell them what to do. They need all the
different people in their life. And you know what, in a family, these differences are good.
Let's not get down on the differences that exist, but rather let's embrace the roles
and the differences that we have that God's given us. Let's be comfortable with who we
are. Let's use our talents and realize you are important. You are going to make an impact
in the people's lives that you have, whether you like it or not. Your children are going
to be obedient based on your actions, whether you like it or not. Your children are going
to love God the way that you love God. Your children are going to do so much like you
do. That's why it's so important to model the right thing and to help them and to love
them. If you want your women to be women, you have to be a woman. If you want your men
to be men, you have to be a man. And you know what, as a pastor, if I want my church to
be godly Christians, I have to be a pastor. If I want my evangelists and I want my deacons
and I want my leaders to be fearless and have great faith, I have to be fearless and I have
to have great faith. And you know what, everything trickles down, but we need all of these differences
that we have. Don't feel like you have to be the pastor. Don't feel like you have to
be the evangelist. Don't feel like you have to be a man. Don't feel like you have to be
a woman. Be who you are because those differences are good. We need all of it. We need a fully
functioning body. We need everybody to realize their value. Everybody really is their importance
and that is true humility. Not saying, you know what, that church doesn't need me or
I don't, whatever. You know what, the church needs everybody to get plugged in and everybody
to find their role and be content in their role. Let's close in prayer. Thank you Heavenly
Father for the word of God that you've given us. I thank you for giving us an opportunity
to have significance and importance no matter where we find ourselves. I pray that we'd
have the humility and the contentness to be satisfied with the roles that you've given
us. That we would step up to the plate in whatever role you have for us. That the people
in our lives that we would think more about them rather than ourselves. Instead of choosing
to fill whatever role we want, we would fill the role that you have ordained for us for
the benefit of others. That we would be the right fathers for our children. We'd be right
mothers for our children. We'd be the right children to our parents. That we'd be the
right Christian for our church. That you would help all of the leadership. You would help
all of those that are just members. That you would help all of us where we find ourselves
to serve Christ to the best of our ability. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
For Jesus, ruler of all nature,
ruler of all nature,
O thou of God and of the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou my soul's glory, joy, and crown.
Fair are the meadows, fair still the woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring.
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing.
There is the sunshine, fair still the moonlight,
And all the twinkling starry oceans.
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer,
Than all the angels that can boast.
Beautiful Savior, Lord of all the nations,
Son of God and Son of Man.
Glory and honor, praise and oration,
Now and forevermore be thine.