Thank you very much.
All right, sing it out.
The comforter has come, the comforter has come.
The Holy Ghost from heaven, the Father's promise given.
Oh, spread the tidings round wherever man is found.
The comforter has come.
The long night has passed, the morning breaks at last.
And in the husband's room of bread, the drip of the vast.
And oh, the golden hills, the day advances fast.
The comforter has come.
The Holy Ghost from heaven, the Father's promise given.
Oh, spread the tidings round wherever man is found.
The comforter has come.
Oh, the kings with healing in his wings.
To every captive soul, a full deliverance rings.
Oh, through the vacant cells, the song of triumph rings.
The comforter has come.
The Holy Ghost from heaven, the Father's promise given.
Oh, spread the tidings round wherever man is found.
The comforter has come on the last.
Oh, boundless love divine, how shall the tongue of mind
to wondrous mortals tell the matchless grace divine?
That I, a child of hell, should in his image dwell.
The comforter has come.
The Holy Ghost from heaven, the Father's promise given.
The Father's promise given.
Oh, spread the tidings round wherever man is found.
The comforter has come.
All right, amen.
It's a great song.
Let's go ahead and start with a word of prayer.
Lord, Heavenly Father, we pray that you please be with us here in this service.
I pray that you please bless the preaching and all your people gathered here together.
Please fill, Pastor, with your Holy Spirit and guide us and help us to praise you through your name.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, the next song we're going to sing is just back a couple pages.
Song number 343, revive us again.
Song number 343.
All right.
We praise thee, oh God, for the Son of thy love, for Jesus who died and is now gone above.
Hallelujah, thine the glory, hallelujah, amen.
Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again.
We praise thee, oh God, for thy spirit of light who has shown us our Savior and scattered our night.
Hallelujah, thine the glory, hallelujah, amen.
Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again.
All glory and praise to the land that was slain, who was home of our sins and has cleansed every stain.
Hallelujah, thine the glory, hallelujah, amen.
Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again.
Revive us again, fill each heart with thy love, may his soul be rekindled with fire from above.
Hallelujah, thine the glory, hallelujah, amen.
Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again.
Amen.
Good evening, thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church.
If you need a bulletin, just ask brother first, slip your hand up real quick and he can get you one.
On the inside we have our service and soul winning times, as well as we have our list of expecting mothers.
Exciting to see Miss Bree Gillum in there, congratulations to them.
And also we have our Bible memory passage, 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, we're on verse number 4.
And then another Bible memory challenge, and during our anti-pride month campaign,
if you can quote Romans 1 to a non-family member, there will be a special prize for that as well.
Also we had a sign up sheet, I looked at it, there's lots of people signed up,
I'm really excited about our Ardmore Soul Winning Marathon this Saturday.
And there's going to be a lot of people coming out there, we're going to have a lot of fun.
We'll be meeting at the park there listed, Ardmore Regional Park, from about 9, 10 a.m. with breakfast.
And then we'll go out soul winning for a little bit and we'll come back, we'll have lunch there at that same park.
And then we'll go out for another couple hours of soul winning, and so I'd really encourage you to participate.
And if you've never been soul winning, these are great events to go to because it just really helps you as a silent partner
to get acclimated and to get to see a lot of good presentations over and over.
And it's one of the best ways to learn how to go soul winning is to go to a marathon,
and we love silent partners, even if you never say anything, you can still eat the food,
we're not going to ask you, you can still hang out and fellowship, and in fact we love silent partners.
And so that's exciting. Father's Day is coming around the corner too, and there will be a special gift for all the fathers.
There's a wedding on July 31st. Are they inviting everybody I guess? Alright, cool.
I'm going to be there too, and so God willing, and it's going to be a lot of fun, weddings are a lot of fun.
And then also we have our Firebreathing Baptist Fellowship, October 6th.
And so that's pretty much all I had for announcements. We have our prayer request sheet here also.
Looks like we were praying for Verdi Baptist Church.
Pastor Menes, he's been a huge blessing to our church several times in the past, and so we want to continue praying for them.
And also they have an evangelist, Brother Matthew Stuckey, who's in the Philippines,
and they definitely need your prayers. I haven't heard very recently, but not that long ago,
they still have very restrictive policies where children are not allowed to leave the home and everything like that,
so they've just been locked up for like over a year.
And it's like living in Goshen over here in Oklahoma, compared to what a lot of the world is going through right now,
with all those severe lockdowns and everything else. I mean, I didn't even like wearing the mask for five minutes, let alone.
I mean, I can't imagine being cooped up in the same house and all the restrictions that a lot of these countries
and a lot of people are under right now. And so definitely be praying for him as well.
Also, other special prayers, Brother Jeremy Gore, with upcoming surgery. When is that surgery exactly?
Okay, all right, I was just curious. All right, just continue to pray for his health.
And maybe we also have Brother Cameron Hall, also another health concern with his leg.
And then Miss Cindy Furr, she was in here for cancer concerns, just pray for her salvation.
Who exactly is that? It's your grandmother. It's on your mom's side or on your dad's side, all right?
And then Miss Janelle Faithhead, an unspoken, Miss Nikki's mom with heart problems,
Brother Daniel O'Connor, Achilles tendonitis, Miss Isabella Reed with health, lip surgery.
Apparently an update, she is doing much better. Let's continue to pray for them.
And then just other church-related prayers, some more soul winners and everything like that.
Let's just say a quick word of prayer for those that were mentioned. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for our church.
Thank you so much for this opportunity to come here and to sing songs and to glorify your son.
I pray that you would just bless all those that were mentioned, you bless all the expecting ladies,
that you would also help all those that have the various health concerns, that you could give them favor,
give them wisdom, and by your grace, if you could just give them healing.
I also pray that you would just bless those that have other issues or concerns, that you would just give them favor,
continue to bless our church with wisdom and add more soul winners so that we can give you more honor and glory.
And in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Let's go to our third song for the evening, 208, Grace Greater Than Our Sin, song 208.
Brother Matt's going to lead for us.
Alright, hymn number 208, Grace Greater Than Our Sin.
Alright, sing it out.
Marvelous grace of our loving Lord Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt
Yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled
Grace, grace, God's grace Grace that will pardon and cleanse within
Grace, grace, God's grace Grace that is greater than all our sin
Sin and despair like the sea waves cold Threaten the soul with infinite loss
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold Points to the refuge, the mighty cross
Grace, grace, God's grace Grace that will pardon and cleanse within
Grace, grace, God's grace Grace that is greater than all our sin
Dark is the stain that we cannot hide What can avail to wash it away
Look, there is flowing a crimson tide Wider than snow you may be today
Grace, grace, God's grace Grace that will pardon and cleanse within
Grace, grace, God's grace Grace that is greater than all our sin
Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace Freely bestowed on all who believe
You are longing to see His face Will you this moment His grace receive
Grace, grace, God's grace Grace that will pardon and cleanse within
Grace, grace, God's grace Grace that is greater than all our sin
Amen. As the offering plates are being passed around,
go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 12.
Proverbs chapter number 12, the Bible reads,
Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge, but he that hateth reproof is brutish.
A good man obtaineth favor of the Lord, but a man of wicked devices will he condemn.
A man shall not be established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.
A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.
The thoughts of the righteous are right, but the counsel of the wicked are deceit.
The words of the wicked are to lie and wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them.
The wicked are overthrown and are not, but the house of the righteous shall stand.
A man shall be commended according to his wisdom, but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised.
He that is despised and hath a servant is better than he that honoreth himself and lacketh bread.
A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread, but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.
The wicked desire at the net of evil men, but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit.
The wicked is a snare by the transgression of his lips, but the just shall come out of trouble.
A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the recompense of a man's hand shall be rendered unto him.
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.
A fool's wrath is presently known, but a prudent man covereth shame.
He that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness, but a false witness deceit.
There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise is health.
The lip of truth shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment.
The seat is in the heart of them that imagine evil, but the counselors of peace is joy.
There shall no evil happen to the just, but the wicked shall be filled with mischief.
Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are his delight.
A prudent man concealeth knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.
The hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be under tribute.
Heaviness in the heart of man maketh its stoop, but good work maketh it glad.
The righteous is more excellent than his neighbor, but the way of the wicked seduceth them.
The slothful man roseth not that which he took in hunting, but the substance of a diligent man is precious.
In the way of righteousness is life, and in the pathway thereof there is no death.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we just thank you so much for this day.
Lord, at this time we just pray that you would fill pastor with your spirit, Lord,
and just give him the words you'd have him to speak.
Lord, just pray you keep distractions to a minimum, and just open our hearts and our ears to your word.
In Jesus' precious name, amen.
Amen.
Look at verse number one here in Proverbs chapter 12.
The Bible reads,
Loveth instruction loveth knowledge, but he that hateth reproof is brutish.
And this verse is making it very clear that it's important that we desire instruction, that we desire knowledge.
And they kind of go hand in hand that in order to truly gain knowledge or to gain wisdom, we have to be instructed.
And really a lot of times instruction is not just learning something new, but it's often correcting things that you have wrong.
That's why the opposite phrase mentioned here, notice it says, but he that hateth reproof is brutish.
And so it's illustrating someone that's liking instruction versus someone that hates reproof.
Well, a reproof would be someone telling you that you're doing something wrong, or you believe something wrong,
or they're giving you some type of a correction.
A reproof is not as strong as a rebuke, but they're both corrective.
And a reproof would just simply state, you know, that you're doing something wrong, you believe something wrong.
And the Bible is just saying someone that hates reproof or does not desire to be corrected on anything ends up being brutish.
Brutish would be similar to the word stupid in our modern vernacular, just being someone who's foolish or someone that's just not smart.
And really the way I look at this verse is you kind of have two options, either number one, at times you can feel stupid or you can just be stupid.
But you can't really escape that. I mean, essentially, you're just going to either feel stupid sometimes when you're wrong,
whenever you're being corrected or instructed, or you can just actually be stupid because you're never willing to actually be challenged with any new information or are being reproved or corrected in any way.
And it's important for us to desire correction, to desire instruction, to desire to be reproved or rebuked if we're doing something wrong.
And some people look at this as, you know, a word that we use often today would be disagreement.
And here's the thing. It's okay to disagree. It's okay to disagree at times.
And the thought of my sermon this evening is this healthy disagreement, healthy disagreement.
And I want to kind of illustrate before I kind of get in this sermon just the benefits of disagreement in general.
And we have to understand is that I'm not going to take this application and say that necessarily disagreement is better than unity.
Obviously, the Bible teaches that, you know, how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell in unity.
And obviously, we want to be unified. And as a fundamental Baptist church, it's really important that we're unified and rallied around the fundamentals of the faith and the core doctrines that we have.
What we have to understand is when you start venturing outside of just the very basic core essentials of doctrine, people are going to disagree.
There's going to be a wide range of beliefs, viewpoints, perspectives, and ways that people approach every situation, whether it be the scripture or their life.
And what we need is an environment or an attitude of healthy disagreement so that we can be corrected, so that iron can sharpen iron and that people can gain information.
A lot of times there's an environment or a culture in a church or amongst a group of people where whenever someone says something or someone's in a position of authority, that can never be challenged, that there's no level of disagreement that's tolerated.
And because of this attitude, what ends up happening is certain false doctrines, certain bad ideologies or bad ideas are allowed to perpetuate themselves because disagreement is not accepted.
Because there's no level of healthy disagreement, essentially just shut up and believe it because we said it. No one's allowed to ever ask any questions.
And really this just causes a lot of problems in your life, in a church or in any group or establishment where certain things can't be challenged or where there can't be healthy disagreement.
Now, go if you would in your Bible to Galatians chapter 2. I want to show you a story where we kind of have some disagreement here.
We have somebody being corrected and really that it's very healthy in the situation that it's being basically explained in.
But here's something that I like. I like being challenged. I like someone challenging my ideas, challenging my thoughts.
And oftentimes, whenever I'm trying to think about something that's maybe a little bit newer to me or something that I'm learning or I'm studying,
I often like to call pastor friends of mine or I'll talk to people that I know know the Bible really well.
And I'll essentially just try to ask them to challenge my idea. Basically, I'll say, play devil's advocate with me for a moment.
Is this statement true or is there any way to really argue against what I'm saying?
Just so that way I can understand if what I'm believing or thinking is actually right.
Without that healthy disagreement, without that enabling of being challenged, you don't ever know if you're right or you're wrong necessarily.
And when I talk to these people, especially people that I really respect, they'll tell me oftentimes you're wrong.
Or they'll say, no, that's a bad idea or this is you know, this isn't right. And I like that person.
I want a person in my life that can tell me, no, that's not right or that's bad or this is not a good idea.
So that way I can come to better ideas.
If I just surround myself with people that are just going to always be like everything you do and everything you say is always right and it's always great.
Then essentially, I'm just going to never fix the flaws in my life.
And I could end up believing bad things or doing bad things because I'm not interested in being challenged.
Why would I not want to be challenged? Because it goes back to my beginning statement.
They don't want to feel temporary stupidity.
They'd rather just be stupid because you can't escape it.
Either you're going to feel a little bit of embarrassment or a little bit of that, that that pressure of being wrong.
Whatever that feeling, you know, comes to you of being wrong rather than just actually correcting the issue.
But I would rather feel stupid than be stupid.
OK, now I had you turn to Galatians chapter two.
Look at verse eleven. The Bible says this.
But when Peter was come to Antioch, so Paul is recanting or basically revisiting a scenario or a situation that happened in the past.
But when Peter was come to Antioch, I was stood him to the face because he was to be blamed.
For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles.
But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them, which were of the circumcision.
The other Jews assembled likewise with them in so much that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
When I saw that they walked not uprightly, according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all,
If thou, being a Jew, liveth after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compelest thou, the Gentiles, to live as do the Jews?
We who are Jews by nature, not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law,
but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ,
and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Now this is a really important passage to understand in the Bible for a lot of reasons.
Number one, Paul is correcting Peter. Okay?
Both are great guys. Both are really pillars of the faith.
So whenever someone disagrees, or they even point out that someone is doing something wrong,
that's not challenging the idea of whether or not this person is a great person or not necessarily.
Peter's a great guy. You're not going to read this story and be like,
Oh, I thought Peter was great, but now Peter's just, I'm going to throw him out the window.
I can't even read 1 Peter or 2 Peter. He's not a great person to model after your Christian life.
Obviously, he made a mistake here. But does that mean that Peter is just a bad guy,
or that Paul's like, Peter's just such a bad guy or something?
No. And the reality is, the reason why some people get really upset about disagreement,
is because by pointing out something they did wrong, they then instantly say,
Oh, so you think I'm a bad person then? What if Peter's like, Oh, so you don't even think I'm saved now?
But think about what's being talked about. He is saying you're an offense right now about the gospel specifically, isn't he?
He's saying you're mixed up on something that's confusing the gospel.
You're trying to make it seem as if these Gentiles have to do something extra,
or become a Jew, or act like a Jew, which has nothing to do with salvation.
This is really attacking salvation at its core.
I mean, this is a pretty serious offense that the Apostle Paul is having to address here.
And it's even a little bit mixing up salvation a little bit.
Not that Peter is mixed up on salvation per se, but his actions could be interpreted as attacking the gospel.
The things that he's doing is an offense into the gospel.
And so he needs to be called out. That needs to be addressed.
This is what I would call healthy disagreement.
Whenever you realize this guy is doing something wrong, and so I called it out in front of everybody.
Here would be another thing. Why is he calling out in front of everyone?
Because it's publicly affecting everyone.
What Peter is doing is affecting Barnabas. It's affecting other people.
And so it's not just for Peter's benefit.
If Paul goes and talks with Peter privately, and says,
Hey Peter, you know that Gentiles and Jews get saved by faith. It's not by works of the law.
And Peter's like, okay, I got it.
But then they come back in public, and then he just continues to not eat with the Gentiles.
Nothing's fixed. It's a public issue, so it needs to be publicly addressed.
So what would be a modern example of this?
I think just any preacher mixing up terminology about salvation.
They should be called out and addressed because their congregation is getting confused on this.
And people end up believing wrong about salvation.
And so we should clean up our terminology.
And just because someone's wrong on their terminology doesn't mean that you're just attacking everything about that person.
But you're saying clean up your terminology.
Now obviously someone that's not cleaning up their terminology, they might just be a false prophet.
And that's a whole different issue. I'm not really addressing that.
What I'm trying to address is the idea of healthy disagreement.
When you notice someone's doing something wrong, and you're calling it out.
And it's good both ways.
Because what if Peter then gets up in this chapter and he doesn't?
But what if he got up and said, no, we're saved by the works of the law?
Then all of a sudden you'd be like, whoa, I'm afraid of you.
Like, I thought you believed by faith now.
But if Peter gets it right, then it's like, oh, okay, that's good.
You know, we can keep moving on.
And why would Peter want to continue down this road of making Gentiles confused,
making them feel like they have to be a Jew or something, mixing up salvation.
You know, obviously this needed to be corrected.
It needed to be dealt with.
But some people, they really don't want to go outside of their little echo chamber that they've created for themselves.
Because they just never want disagreement.
They just never want anybody to challenge them on any idea.
And this is where you see churches end up, their deciding factors on fellowship fall way outside the bounds of foundational core beliefs.
You know, for us, for me, pretty much, I mean, my fellowship standards are about King James only, soul winning, and salvation by faith.
Now, obviously there's going to be other factors as far as if I want to hang out with someone.
Obviously, if someone believes all that, but they like hate me personally and like are attacking me first, I probably wouldn't be their friend.
But I'm just saying in general, that's kind of my basis.
That's my parameters for whether I'm willing to be someone's friend or reach out or have fellowship as a church or something like that.
Whereas a lot of other churches, they'll put their standards at like the pre-trib rapture.
You know, you have to have the exact timing of the rapture.
You can't be friends with us.
What are they doing?
They're creating an echo chamber where essentially they can't disagree on that particular issue.
They can't be corrected on that particular issue.
Or they'll say you have to do communion exactly like we do communion.
And look, it's out there.
There's all kinds of churches that say if you don't do a community exactly like we say, we won't have any fellowship with you.
You know, you have to have the exact same friends.
You have to go to the same Bible college.
You have to have the same eschatology after the same.
I mean, there's all kinds of weird parameters that people are putting on their fellowship, on their relationships that they have.
And what they're doing is they're creating an echo chamber to where they cannot be told that they're doing anything wrong.
They can't be instructed.
They can't get any reproof.
And by creating these little echo chambers, what they end up doing is they become brutish.
They become stupid because they're not willing to be challenged.
They're not willing to be corrected.
That's why, you know, it's good to have a wide viewpoint, to have a wide array of viewpoints.
And have lots of different people challenging you and addressing your issues so that way you can make sure that you're right.
If you're never being challenged, you know, it's very difficult to know if you're right.
Very difficult to know where you stand.
You know, I use this carnal example for me.
It's golf, okay?
And golf, I could go to the golf course with you and we could go to the driving range, okay?
And I could just sit there and pipe it.
I mean, I can just sit there and I can just hit it.
Because there's no pressure.
You know, if I shank one on the range, it doesn't matter, you know?
It's not like they're going to affect my score or anything.
So usually it's a lot more relaxed.
You can get in a good rhythm because you're just hitting ball after ball.
You don't have to wait.
You don't have all these other factors.
You're standing on a perfect line.
You can set up the ball exactly how you want.
So there's like very little pressure.
The circumstances are very low.
So you can just sit there and just pipe them.
Just hit them just perfect all day long.
But that's not necessarily a good test of how good a golfer you really are.
Really, if you want to see, you have to actually go and play around.
You have to go to the golf course and see, oh, can you actually hit it on the hole?
And can you hit on the green?
And can you hit it around the course?
You know, can you miss the hazards and miss the bunkers and miss out of bounds?
All these different things.
You have to actually challenge yourself, okay?
And then beyond that, just playing around at the golf course, playing in a tournament itself.
Where there's actually pressure and there's someone keeping your score.
And there's all these other elements that are at play.
Where you're actually competing against other people and it matters what you do.
That's really when you get to see how good someone is at golf.
I can sit there on the range and tell you I'm the best ever.
But how do you know unless you see me play in an actual tournament against other people?
Then you actually get to find out how good a golfer that person is.
Why? Because they're being challenged.
Because there's something there to kind of tangibly affect them.
And this is the same with doctrine.
It's like, we have perfect doctrine.
Can I see your statement? No.
It's like, we hide all of our doctrine.
We hide all of our beliefs.
You have to come into the inner circle to be able to hear it.
What are they doing?
They're creating this kind of an echo chamber where they're not going to be challenged.
They're not going to be exposed to other viewpoints, to other ideas.
Therefore, they end up just sticking with lots of false doctrine.
By actually putting it all out there.
And letting lots of different people look at it and mull it over and come up with their own viewpoints.
Then you can actually establish the right doctrine.
You know, when someone comes up and says, why do you believe that?
You know, it's like, why do you believe that Jesus coming before the rapture or before the, you know, is coming before the, you know, second coming of the I'm sorry.
Why do you believe the second coming is before the tribulation?
How about that?
And it's like, sure.
Show me Bible verses on that.
They can't because there is nothing.
Nothing that mentions it.
You know, the Bible says the opposite thing.
It talks about the fact that there's going to be a great falling away first and that there's going to be the man of sin revealed before the coming of Christ.
I don't know what they do with those verses.
So you start showing people those verses.
What do they do?
Oh, you're in Anderson.
I get out of my church.
You know, why?
Because they want an echo chamber.
They don't want there to be what?
This agreement.
And then they'll go under the guise of, oh, we're supposed to have unity in the church.
You know, we're supposed to have.
Look, obviously, we want unity in the church.
I'm not trying to say let's just all, you know, get it on Bible and let's all get our own doctrines on salvation.
We're not talking about the fundamentals here.
We're talking about just everything else.
We should have some level of healthy discipline.
Go if you went to Titus, Chapter three.
And look, even on the fundamentals.
This agreement is going to be good to some degree.
Let me explain this.
Because don't we run into people all the time?
That are wrong on the fundamentals.
And how would it work if they said, I'm not willing to be challenged on the fundamentals?
There is a level of disagreement that's accepted on the fundamentals, but it has a limit.
OK, look at Titus, Chapter three and look at verse number 10, a man that is in heretic after the first and second admonition reject.
So notice there was still an acceptable level of disagreement on fundamental issues for what the first time and then the second time.
But then once it gets to a certain point, if you're not going to agree on the fundamentals, then you just need to move on.
But notice there is an acceptable level of even healthy disagreement on the very fundamentals themselves.
And praise the Lord that when we go out and show people that what we believe the Bible says about salvation is different than what they believe.
They're willing to listen, aren't they?
They're willing to say, OK, you know, I ask you, well, hey, if I could show you the Bible says something different about salvation, would you like to hear like, sure.
And really, we should have that same attitude no matter what it is, we should all be willing to hear what the Bible says.
Now, obviously, we read it cover to cover multiple times and someone's like, Jesus isn't even God.
You're like your heritage. You know, I already know that I've already established that I've already proven that.
But it's not that I wasn't willing at first to hear what the Bible had to say or to address those type of issues.
It's just they've already been settled. OK, and we already know where we stand as a church.
Now, to me, this works in the same way when it comes to the online world.
The online world, especially in the last few months or in the last few years, has really radicalized itself and has become an extreme echo chamber where only certain viewpoints,
only certain ideas are allowed to exist on social media platforms or even just in a Google search itself.
I mean, they used to think that Google was just as great access to a library of information.
But look, the Google algorithm is very heavily manipulated.
It is very I mean, the results that are coming up are defined on a very specific criteria and a specific agenda.
And it's starting to become an echo chamber where a disagreement is not allowed.
You can't have healthy disagreement. And what happens when you don't have healthy disagreement?
People become stupid. People become foolish.
People become brutish because they don't have that healthy level of disagreement.
The more disagreement that you allow in a healthy culture, you're actually going to get the most wisdom.
You're going to get the most knowledge because the best ideas are going to come to the top.
You know, the truth fears no investigation. The truth fears no scrutiny.
I'm not worried about my children hearing about lies as long as they've been exposed to the truth as well.
I'm not that worried about them finding out about evolution after I've already shown them what the Bible says on creation because they're going to laugh.
They're going to be like, people believe that we came from rocks.
I mean, I'm not thinking like, oh, no, my kids might actually start believing that.
You know, it's like, no, you don't have to worry necessarily about the lies, you know, defeating the truth.
Really, the battle is just expose people to the truth.
And when you shut down disagreement, when you shut down, you know, new avenues of information and stuff like that coming in, it can create people that are foolish.
It can create people that are brutish and very stupid because they have not been exposed to good ideas.
And so that's why it's important that we as a church, we don't come, we don't succumb to this mentality of, well, everybody has to be in lockstep on every single item and every single issue.
And there's no disagreement. You know, here's our 50 things that we believe. Do you believe all of them if you don't get out?
It's like that would be a weird culture.
We want to let people come in and grow at different stages and at different levels.
And we want to have an area of our church where we're constantly bringing in new people and we're trying to educate them and help them.
And it's OK to disagree.
It's OK for someone to come to this church and be wrong about the timing of the rapture.
It's OK for someone to come and not believe every single thing that we believe right away or to disagree.
You know, it's not like, well, this person doesn't agree with us on this.
You know, look, it's OK for someone to come to this church if they don't believe exactly like I do on the rubber basis.
If someone's like, well, I think they could possibly get safe.
You know, I'm not going to be like, get out.
If they can tolerate the fact that I disagree with them, then that's fine.
You know, there's going to be lots of people that come to my church and they disagree with me on certain issues.
You know, secondary third type issues.
And it's OK to go to church where you disagree with some things because you can be wrong.
I can be people can be wrong.
And at the end of the day, whenever we study the Bible together and we explore ideas, hopefully the person that's right, that one will come to the top.
You know, I can be challenged.
I can be shown things.
And this is this is what I say.
I'm always willing to change my mind according to what the Bible says.
If you show me something different than what I believe in the Bible, saying it, I'm ready to believe it right now.
There's nothing I'm not willing to change on immediately.
But that makes the Bible our fine authority and it allows us to have a healthy level of disagreement.
I like hearing all the different options.
I like hearing about, you know, different viewpoints and different ideas because it just challenges us.
If I believe something and someone challenges my idea, one of two options.
Number one, I either believe what I already believe better or I'm willing to I could potentially change my mind and believe something even better than I did before.
But in both scenarios, I'm actually becoming smarter, getting more knowledge, more information.
And what we don't want, you know, especially since our church is linked with other churches.
You know, we have the church in Dallas, Fort Worth, the church in Houston.
We have friends that we associate with that come and preach for us.
And, you know, a lot of people would say you're a new IFP church, which it's not a denomination, in my opinion.
In my opinion, new IFP just identifies the doctrine that a church holds.
OK, but there could be two churches that are both new IFP in their doctrine that hate each other, that don't want any fellowship amongst each other.
OK, because what is what is it?
What you said? There's an IFP church. What do you mean by that?
They're probably King James only.
They believe salvation by faith, most likely.
They have more traditional standards.
They sing the hymns. That's kind of what you think of when you hear IFP.
But isn't there multiple IFP churches that don't like each other and have nothing to do with each other and don't fellowship?
Yeah. So the thing's going to exist with new IFP where there's going to be churches that all agree that salvation by faith is a King James Bible.
They believe that the post-Trib rapture is actually what the Bible teaches, not a pre-Trib rapture.
They're going to agree on lots of different doctrines, but they may not end up liking each other or fellowshiping each other.
And that's fine. OK, well, the churches that we do fellowship with are the people that we do have as friends.
We don't want to create this weird mentality, this weird idea that, well, if we don't agree on all 100 issues, then we can't associate.
No, we want to have a healthy level of disagreement.
We want to be able to disagree with each other and still like each other, still hang out with each other,
still have friendship with each other and still coexist in an environment where we have a healthy level of existence.
OK, now, when it comes to this this cult mentality and really it's a cult mentality where you can't have disagreement.
Basically, people go to one of two extremes. This is the extremes that I see.
They'll go to this idea of just no disagreement ever. Like if you don't agree with every single thing that that pastor teaches and every idea and every interpretation and everything he said, well, then we can't be friends.
It's like I can't disagree with you on anything and us be friends.
That's where people take it because they're just so black and white and they're just like, I can't believe that you don't agree with me on this interpretation of this.
If you don't agree with me on communion, we can't be friends. This is like, whoa.
You know, if you don't agree with me on exactly what Daniel 70th week is, if you don't think America's Babylon that you just can't be friends with me, I can't be friends.
I mean, they just take you to these weird extremes. OK, if you if you don't do homeschooling, we can't be friends.
You know, if you've ever had any vaccination, any point can't be friends.
You know, it's just like I mean, they just take the Christian life to an unfun extreme where it's just like you believe exactly like me.
And it'll change on a dime, too, because things are constantly changing, evolving. And then they have to they have to try and figure it out.
It's like last week they believe one thing. This week it's changed, but they still hold you to their opinion of now.
And it's like, what in the world is like Fauci? You know, Fauci is just kind of like it was no mask.
And you just don't even know what to do and you don't know how to be his friend or anything like people do this with new IV doctrine.
You know, things of their viewpoints will evolve. And if you don't have their current level of ideology, then you can't be their friend.
And it's like, well, last week you didn't believe that. And it's like you can't be friends with yourself.
But we don't want to get this weird mentality where we can't disagree. We have to have this lockstep mentality.
Look, it's going to there's going to be healthy disagreement.
Or you go to the other extreme where if someone disagrees rather than saying that I can't be friends, you just they're just a bad person.
Where it's just like, yeah, it's OK for people to disagree. But if you disagree with me, it's because you're not saved.
And, you know, I can't have any fellowship with you. You're probably a snake or a Judas or something.
I don't I can't figure I can't pin it down yet. But, you know, if you don't basically believe America's Babylon,
then we can't have fellowship or friendship with you or something.
And look, some people do go to this weird extreme where if you hear about someone doing something wrong and let's say something they did was legitimately wrong.
Let's say they preach something that was wrong. Let's say they did something that was wrong or they get called out for doing something stupid.
That doesn't make them a bad person. What if we had that mentality here in relationship to Peter?
Oh, well, we can't hang out with Peter now because Peter made a mistake because Peter did something wrong.
Because call because Paul called out Peter. I'm on Paul's team. I'm on Paul's side. I can't associate with Peter anymore.
Peter's in the trash. You know, we don't want anything to do with Peter. We don't have that idea.
Audiology either. Someone can be wrong about something and still not a bad person in general.
Just because someone's wrong about something doesn't mean we just want to attack everything else about them.
You know, let's just focus on the issue on what's really going on now.
Another thing that can happen, though, is people will be called out for something that they did that's wrong.
And then let's say, oh, well, you're not loving. Go to Proverbs chapter 13.
Go to Proverbs chapter 13. So basically they say, well, let's have a disagreement.
But if we disagree, we can't be friends. That's a bad idea. It's like, well, it's OK.
We disagree, but you're just a bad person if you disagree with me.
Like it's just it's already been settled. You're a really bad person. That's a bad extreme, too.
We don't want to go to that kind of extreme. Or they say, if you disagree with me, you're not loving.
It's like, you know, all of these what are all these things attacking? Disagreement.
They just want no disagreement. They want no challenging of their ideas because they view challenging of ideas as bad.
Because it might cost me a friend, because it might cost me a relationship, an association, or essentially it'll be calling me out.
Because if I say that we can all disagree, I'm in that same boat with you.
But because they don't want to ever be called out for anything, what do they do? They basically shut down communication.
They shut down the possible situation where even the leader or somebody else could be challenged.
But here's the thing. Love is not refusing to point out mistakes. Let's see what the Bible has to say.
Proverbs chapter 13, look at verse 24.
He that spareth his rod hated the sun, but he that loveth him chasteneth the times.
Yeah, loving things actually correcting people. The Bible teaches if you don't correct your son, it's because you don't love them.
Flip back to Proverbs chapter 3. Flip back to Proverbs chapter 3 and look at verse number 11.
The Bible says, My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord,
neither be weary of his correction, for whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth, even as a father of the son in whom he delighteth.
And I could show you lots of verses here, but really love is being willing to correct people,
to give them reproof, to point out how they're wrong.
But if I just shut down the idea, you can never disagree with me. We're not going to talk about things.
I don't want to know about it. You're basically not allowing them to ever correct you.
You're not allowing them to ever instruct you. And by doing this, you can become very foolish.
You can become very stupid. We should not despise the Lord's correction.
You know, the Lord, God willing, will correct us every day of our life. We'll continually get better.
And if you don't, you're just going to stay at a level of being brutish or foolish.
Look at the next verse, verse 13. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom and the man that getteth understanding.
So really, we should actually rejoice when someone corrects us because now we're a better person.
Now we've gained wisdom. Now we've gained understanding.
And we don't want to shut down the communication of someone disagreeing with us because it'll cause us to be more foolish.
Go to Proverbs 29 for a second. Go to Proverbs 29. Let me show you what the Bible says about reproof, specifically.
Proverbs 29, look at verse 15. The rod and reproof give wisdom.
You want to get wisdom? It comes through reproof. It comes through instruction.
It comes from being challenged on your ideas, challenged on your behavior, challenged on the things that you're doing.
And what's silly to me is how people will be challenged on their behavior or the things they believe they'll be called out for something that's wrong.
And they'll be like, you're just not loving. It's like, what are you talking about?
The not loving person won't correct you. The not loving person will never try to challenge your behavior, will never challenge your ideas.
That's why I said at the beginning, I love when I call someone to talk to them about doctrine or something that they're willing to step on my toes and say you're wrong.
That's dumb. No, that's not right. Why? Because the loving person will say that the person that hates me be like, oh, that's no problem.
Just keep going. Yeah, do that. No, we need to be willing to be corrected.
I always use this example. If your flies down, the loving person will tell you.
Why? Because you'd rather feel stupid for that moment than to feel stupid for hours not doing it.
OK, if you got something on your face, you'd rather somebody like you got something on your face.
You might want to like go take care of that rather than just having it on all the time.
You know, they put a kick me sign on the back that they want to last forever.
The loving person will rip it off. The loving person will help you fix the issues that you have.
They won't allow you to just keep making mistakes. And so we should desire to be corrected.
We should desire to be reproved and realize that that's actually real love.
Go to First John chapter four, go to First John chapter four.
And I've heard a lot of people, though, get called out or they'll have someone point out some kind of error that they have.
And they'll basically just vaguely preach against them or vaguely talk about them and say, oh, this person is not loving.
We need to be loving, not like our other brethren.
And it's like, you know, a really loving environment is one that encourages disagreement, is one that encourages a healthy reproof, a healthy disagreement.
And look, obviously there's good ways to do it and there's bad ways to do it.
And I'm going to talk about that in a second. But there's a benefit to disagreement.
What are the benefits that we've learned so far? You get more wisdom, you get more knowledge, you're gaining instruction.
It's actually loving. That's the benefits of disagreement.
Look at First John chapter four, verse 20.
If a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar.
He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he has seen?
And this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also.
So a lot of people point to this and they'll say, well, why are you calling me out or telling me I'm doing something wrong?
You're supposed to love me.
It's like, yeah, I am.
And what kind of a weird hypocrisy is it to go to this chapter in the Bible and say, oh, we're supposed to love people.
That means don't call them out on their issues, don't disagree with them, don't hold them accountable for what they do.
When you look at chapter two and look at verse one, this is the whole this is one of the essences of this entire epistle being written.
My little children, these things write I unto you that you sin not.
He's like, hey, I'm going to write this stuff on you.
So you stop sinning to correct you and to instruct you on the things that you're doing so that you'll fix issues.
Why? Because I love you.
Because if you don't want someone to fix things, if you don't want to correct them, you don't love them.
The people that I'm not willing to correct or help out, it's often because you don't have any real love towards them.
Go to Luke Chapter 17 for a moment.
Go to Luke Chapter 17.
Now, there's obviously going to be different ways in which we correct our brethren or help them.
But the Bible makes it clear that if your brother does something wrong, it's not more loving to just necessarily ignore that.
It's not more loving to just pretend like it didn't happen or to act like talking to them about it is somehow wrong.
Let's just see what Jesus had to say about it.
Luke Chapter 17, look at verse three.
Take heed to yourselves.
If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him.
Did you just read what I just read?
Hey, if someone does something wrong, if someone does something bad to you, love him.
Don't ever tell him.
Just be too kind.
Look, the loving thing to do is actually to rebuke him.
Now, look what it says.
And if you repent, forgive him.
And if you trespass against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day, turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him.
So, obviously, we're supposed to forgive our brethren.
But how are you going to forgive them if they don't even know that you trespassed against them?
In order for someone to be sorry or to repent, you have to be like, you messed up.
You did something wrong.
And at the end of the day, the most loving thing you can do when you're upset with someone is to tell them.
The worst thing you can do is hide that, is to end up using flattery to try and disguise the hatred that you have in your heart or the things that you're mad about with them or that are frustrating you.
Go if you would to Matthew Chapter 18, Matthew Chapter 18.
Now, sometimes people might be unsure of what's the best approach to rebuke somebody.
And here's the thing.
You have to use discretion, OK, when it comes to correcting someone.
Not every time you want to correct somebody in the most public form.
I mean, you don't necessarily need to rent an airplane with a banner telling your brother that you trespassed against them.
OK.
It can be handled with discretion.
You have to think about the scenario.
You have to think about who it's affecting.
If if the problem you have with someone is really just between you and them, then the best course of action is always going to be to tell them in private.
Take them aside.
Try to tell them that they did something wrong.
But we obviously saw with Paul and Peter, you know, Peter's mistake was not a private mistake.
It wasn't just affecting Paul.
In fact, it wasn't affecting Paul at all.
If you think about it, Paul's not a Gentile.
Paul is a Hebrew.
He's a Hebrew of the Hebrews.
He's the tribe of Benjamin.
So Peter not eating with the Gentiles does not directly affect Paul whatsoever.
It has no it's not like a personal offense on him.
It's not like Peter wouldn't eat with Paul.
It's just he wouldn't eat with the Gentiles.
So then why is Paul calling him out?
Because it's a public issue because it's dealing with other people.
He's defending the Gentiles and defending the gospel.
It's not about Paul specifically.
It's not like Peter stole Paul's lunch or something.
And so he's like he's like, hey, Peter, you stole my lunch.
Now he could talk to Peter in private about that one.
But what's the problem?
The problem is that Peter won't eat with the Gentiles.
So he's going to call him out in front of everybody so that everybody realizes salvation by faith.
We're not confusing these things.
It's not like the Jews are better than the Gentiles.
You don't have to become a Jew in order to be saved or something like that.
Now, the Bible gives us more instruction.
You look at Matthew 18, verse 15.
More of thy brother shall trespass against thee.
Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.
So obviously, if someone does me wrong and it's just me and him, they're really aware about it.
What's the best thing I could do?
I could just tell him alone.
OK.
But then this is what people do.
Someone will preach some kind of a weird heresy or false doctrine that does not affect me personally.
And then you call them out publicly.
Like, why don't you call him privately?
And it's like, well, it wasn't a private issue.
It wasn't just between me and him.
It wasn't something that just affecting me.
It's affecting everybody.
You know, this person, if you're going to preach publicly, then you're going to get called out publicly.
OK, that's how that works.
And they're like, oh, you're not loving.
You should go to a private.
Like, what's the conversation going to be private?
Hey, did you preach this publicly that I saw the video and have evidence of?
They're like, yep.
OK, well, I'm going to publicly preach about it, how it's wrong.
I mean, you know, it's kind of a weird thing.
And it's funny because these people will be people you call out publicly and they'll people leave common like,
why didn't you call them and talk to them?
You know, you're just not loving.
And I'm thinking like, well, did you call me and ask me before you made that comment?
How do you even know I didn't call this person?
You know, they're hypocrites about it.
And of course, they love all kinds of videos where their favorite feature called people out.
And it's like, did they call Billy Graham?
Did they call up, you know, the all the people that there did they call John MacArthur and talk to him?
Did Jesus call every Pharisee first up and then be like, hey, guys,
are you preaching some weird leaven?
Do you have some leaven in your doctrine, guys?
Or is he just coming to a public thing and they're showing up and he's just like, beware the Pharisees.
Why? Because they're preaching openly.
OK, so we have to understand there's a difference between calling out a public preacher and settling private issues.
OK, and here's another thing, because myself and friends that I know,
they actually try to do what the Bible says and they deal with private matters privately.
You don't see it. You don't hear about it.
So then some people get confused in their mind.
They think every time I have an issue that I need to deal with or every time one of my friends is an issue to deal with,
we're always making videos about it and calling people out.
Whereas that's like one percent of the issues that we have to deal with.
Less than one percent of the time is it a public affair?
Usually it is private, but they they presume that you only handle things publicly or something like someone stole my lunch and I have to make a video about it.
Or, you know, someone cut me off in traffic and I got their license plate and I'm gonna make a video exposing them.
It's like, no, most issues are dealt with correctly, privately, alone.
You have to use the discretion to decide when and how to handle a problem.
You know, sometimes you you handle it privately, but they secretly record it and then they share it online with everybody.
But that wasn't you trying to make a big public deal about it.
And then you address it publicly, like, oh, look at this guy attacking him publicly.
It's just like you're just not willing to hear the truth, are you?
Now, go into Proverbs Chapter 27, Proverbs Chapter 27.
Look, if it just affects you and him, just tell him. But, you know, in this passage, it ends up escalating the how public the issue becomes.
Because if they won't hear you privately, then you do escalate to two or three brethren.
And then you escalate to the church, even depending on the severity of the issue and depending on the situation.
Proverbs Chapter 27.
Here's a verse that I guess these people don't really like to hear. Proverbs 27, verse five.
Open rebuke is better than secret love.
And these people, though, vaguely preach about how how loving they are.
But it's like, why do I want this secret anonymous love they never heard about?
I'd rather take the open rebuke.
You know, tell me how. Tell me how you really feel. Don't secretly love somebody from afar.
Tell them. And here's the thing. You know, one of the most loving things you do is rebuke someone.
And at the end of the day, if you really like someone, if you really care about them, you know, correcting them is way more important than secretly loving them from afar.
And not telling them about it. And really, the whole Bible should help you on that issue.
Go to First Corinthians Chapter five for a moment.
Now, one thing you have to understand about the Bible, too, is that the words that it's using are very specific.
You know, some people will try to conflate words in the Bible. What is the word rebuke mean?
The word rebuke means to correct someone harshly.
OK, now, technically speaking, if I rebuke somebody, my rebuke could be true or it could be false.
Right. I could rebuke you in a way I could say something really harshly and it be in a corrective nature.
But what I'm saying is false. You know, I'm just like, man, why did you screw up? Why did you come late?
It's like I didn't show up late or something. But here's the thing. If I'm rebuking someone and it's false, it now becomes railing and now becomes really.
But railing is not always rebuke. OK, and you can potentially rail on someone in a non rebuking manner.
You know, if you're just calmly stating something about someone like, you know, Joe Biden's black.
I'm not really rebuking him, but that will be railing because he's not black. OK, I just assumed since he voted Democrat, he was black.
I thought you had to be black in order to vote Democrat. But essentially, we have to understand these words could overlap, but they don't have to overlap.
But rebuking is different than railing because rebuking can be a positive thing.
Railing is never positive. Railing is always wrong. It's always false.
And so some people, they'll say, oh, this guy rebuked me. He should be thrown out of church for railing.
And I'm like, well, what did what he say was true? And they're like, yeah.
Then he wasn't railing on you. And they try to conflate that and they try to show first.
Oh, this guy, you know, is telling me that I did all this bad stuff and all this wrong stuff and said this.
Like, well, did you? And it's like, yeah, it's like, OK, well, then you got rebuked.
But that doesn't mean you can rail them. Railing is when you can prove that it was false.
Now, that's such a serious problem, though, that that person would be thrown out of church.
Look what it says in First Corinthians, Chapter five, verse 11. Now I have written unto you not to keep company of any man that is called a brother,
be a fornicator or covetous or an ideal idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such a one.
No, not to eat. What have I to do to judge them also there without not each judge them that are within,
but them that are without God judges, therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
So the Bible actually says that the church is supposed to judge certain people,
that certain people that are coming and they're in an extreme,
an extreme, sinful situation, that they're supposed to be put away from the congregation if they fall into one of these categories.
And one of them is railing. So obviously, when we're in this context of healthy disagreement, OK,
it's not like we're allowed to then cross the threshold and say, oh, well, I disagree.
I just think you're, you know, a raging pedophile lunatic. And you're like, what in the world is like?
Is that even true? You can't just rail on people. That's not healthy disagreement.
Healthy disagreement is not end up crossing these boundaries of where you're attacking someone,
saying something evil of someone, making up slander, lying about them, libel.
That crosses the threshold of healthy disagreement. And that person should be separated.
But not even just all of these examples. Right. Fornicator. Someone that's committing fornication should, you know,
is not welcome in the church or committing drunkenness.
You know, and I have these are a whole other sermons in and of themselves.
But at the end of the day, that person would have to correct that behavior if they want to be a part of the church,
because we can't just accept and tolerate every behavior.
You can't just get drunk on Saturday and show up at church and for us to expect us to then just, you know,
oh, it's not a big deal. No, because we're setting an example for the children.
We're setting an example for the rest of the church. And so some things have to be corrected.
And if they're not, that person will be thrown out of church publicly.
Now, go if you would to Proverbs chapter one, go to Proverbs chapter one.
So I've kind of laid a foundation. I just want to quickly address a few other issues when it comes to healthy disagreement.
So that we understand what that looks like. But I believe disagreement can be a very good thing.
It can be a very helpful thing. And without any level of disagreement,
you're really going to limit your ability to have it as much information as you need to grow to be wise to understand things.
Look what it says in Proverbs chapter one, verse seven.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
So notice a foolish person is one that I don't want any instruction.
I don't want ever be told I'm doing anything wrong or to be corrected.
And one way that they do this is by not allowing this room. Think about places that don't allow disagreement from Mormons.
I mean, can you really disagree with them on doctrine and be a Mormon?
I mean, you're going to be tossed out of church quickly. You know, the Catholic Church, you can't really disagree with them on doctrine.
You can't disagree with the pope or with the archbishop or with their leaders.
You can't really disagree with people. And sometimes our church has this reputation of like,
you can't disagree with the pastor on anything and they'll just throw you out of church.
That is false. People disagree with me on all kinds of stuff. And as much as I may even want to throw them out, I can't.
OK, look, you could even be a flat earther and come to my church and look, talk about disagreement.
But, you know, it's good for that person to be challenged on their ideas because they're so stupid.
They need to realize that the earth is not flat so that they are not mocked and ridiculed by every single person they come in contact with.
If they open their mouth and say, I believe there is this fight. I mean, you should be mocked and ridiculed.
And not because you hate that person, because you love that person. If you didn't, you would just be like, cool.
Great. Watch out for the edge. You know, like that would be a really bad attitude.
What would be good is to have that idea challenge. I don't know, with like pictures from NASA, from livestream, you know, uploads.
I mean, they're literally uploading hours and hours of footage of the earth. They're floating around in outer space, just showing you there.
It's like, how are they creating all of these images and all these videos just simultaneously, constantly, all the time?
I mean, it takes like years to produce a two hour film in Hollywood when it has CGI.
But they're just uploading live stream footage of this, just like hours upon hours of footage, just constantly.
It's like you just don't want to hear the truth.
And at the end of the day, you know, we want to be people that desire instruction, desire wisdom.
Hey, if you have a proof in the Bible about the flat earth, I will listen to that person.
You know what they have to say. But I'm going to be able to show them that they're wrong.
And we should be willing to challenge ourselves and challenge ideas. And, you know, after the second ammunition, though, it's just like, look, bro, you're wrong.
You know, you're a heretic. I'm not willing to show you anything anymore.
Let's go to Romans chapter one.
Go to Romans chapter one. We don't want to be someone that is not willing to be corrected or to hear what the Bible has to say or to be challenged on our ideas.
I'm always willing to be challenged because that's going to help you become a wise person.
There are people that are not willing to be challenged. They don't like disagreement.
What does that make them? Prideful.
You know, this country is celebrating what? Pride. Pride month.
Now, look what it says in Romans chapter one, professing themselves to be wise.
They became fools. When you profess yourself already have reached to the level of wisdom, then you can't be challenged.
You can't be instructed. You can't be reproved.
And what ends up happening, you become brutish. You actually become a fool.
We need the desire to be corrected and to be reproved and be told that we're doing things wrong.
But most people don't want to. Why? Pride.
Why? Because they don't want that feeling of being stupid.
You know what? I'd rather feel a little stupid than actually be stupid.
I'd rather feel stupid about the flat Earth theory than just be stupid and believe in the flat Earth theory.
You know, I'd rather be having that uncomfortable feeling of being like, you know what?
I was wrong on the preacher rapture and feeling that little bit of shame than just believing a bad doctrine and getting up and teaching a bad doctor.
How much more shameful it is not just to believe the preacher rapture, but to teach the preacher rapture.
I mean, think how much egg. Just think about God in heaven.
Just like, why? Like, why are my preachers so brutish?
Why are they so foolish? Why are they so stupid?
You know why? Because they already think that they're wise.
They already have arrived at the top. They can't be challenged.
They can't be told to do anything wrong. And so they end up becoming stupid today.
And you know what? It seems like some independent fundamental Baptist churches are headed in that direction where they can't be challenged.
You can't disagree with them. You can't tell them to do anything wrong.
Then they'll just mark you as you're not loving. You're not friendly. You're not part of our group.
And they just keep going down this stupid train.
Look, the smartest people are the ones that are constantly willing to be challenged with new ideas.
Constantly willing to be approved. Constantly willing to be instructed.
They haven't arrived. The Apostle Paul says, I haven't attained. And neither have you. Neither have I.
So we need to have a culture of healthy disagreement.
Go to Hebrews chapter four for a moment. Go to Hebrews chapter four.
So when it comes to disagreement, though, here's something that's not helpful is vague complaints.
OK, vague complaints, vague complaints is not going to help anybody.
So I like healthy disagreement. But here's the thing. Whenever you just make vague accusations or vague statements about people, it really doesn't benefit anything.
You're just like, I just I just think you're wrong. Why? Because I don't like it.
It sounds bad. No, that can't be true. It doesn't feel right.
You know, it's like none of these things are real tangible and it ends up not benefiting anything.
We need to get specific. And, you know, the most specific thing we can get is the Bible.
Look at Hebrews chapter four is twelve.
For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword,
piercing even to dividing the center of soul and spirit and the joints of moral and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of heart.
You know, we're talking about Bible doctrine. What we really need to do is just find something real sharp,
like the word of God to settle the dispute, because if we're going to base our disagreements on feelings,
on emotions, on just, you know, these broad, vague complaints, we're never going to get anywhere.
The only way to actually arrive at a conclusion or solution is by having something real sharp, like the word of God itself, to help settle the dispute.
Go to Titus chapter one. Titus chapter one. Just flip to the left. Just a few pages.
Look at Titus chapter one and look at verse thirteen.
This witness is true, wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith.
So notice what actually helps people is being very specific, being really sharp about your correction.
And some people get really mad because they're like, oh, why did you name the name?
Or why did you use the exact statement that they use? Or why did you point out exactly what they said?
Because that sharpness helps you fix the area that you have a problem in.
If you come to church every week and I just get up and say, stop sinning.
Quit it. I don't like the sin that you've been doing. I don't like what you've been saying.
I don't like what you've been doing. Stop it, guys. What's going to happen?
You're going to come to a church and just be like, pastor, really mad at me, but I have no idea why.
You know, like that doesn't help. That doesn't benefit anything. What helps is to make it real sharp.
Make it real clear. Talk about it in a very specific example, using illustrations, using the Bible to make it really sharp.
Otherwise, that correction is just going to go over their head. It's not going to really benefit.
That's why we want to use sharpness whenever we disagree, making it really clear.
Look at chapter two, verse one. But speak the other things that become sound.
So we want things to be sound. We want them to be clear. Look at verse eight.
Sound speech that cannot be condemned. So whenever we talk, we want to use sharpness. We want to be clear.
We want to be precise. We don't want to use these vague statements, these vague accusations.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 13. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 13.
And when you read the Epistles, the Apostle Paul is constantly correcting the churches.
And think about this. It's real public, isn't it?
I mean, is it real private? I mean, I feel like we know all about it.
He's naming names. He's bringing up exact quotes of what people have said. He's bringing up exact sinful situations.
I mean, one guy is labeled as a guy sleeping with his father's wife. That one kind of hurt.
But notice he didn't say, somebody in your church has a sin that's worthy of being kicked out of the church.
Because then people would be like, well, who's that? You know, which sin is that one?
He's like, it's the guy who's with his wife, his father's wife. And it's like, oh, that guy.
It's like, it's like, I don't want to be that guy. Why is he using that sharpness so that they can fix the issue?
We need to be really specific and making things clear so that people can correct things.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 10. Therefore, I write these things being absent, less being present.
I should use sharpness according to the power which the Lord has given me to evocation and not to destruction.
So the apostle Paul is bringing up this idea. He's saying, look, I'm trying to give you some help here.
I'm trying to make some things clear here so that when I show up, I don't have to get real specific.
I don't have to just start like really honing in and naming the name again.
You know, if I have to, I will. But what is the sharpness do?
It ends up bringing it to a head, bringing it to a very clear conclusion.
And he's saying, I can and I would do it what for edification purposes.
The reason why you get really sharp, the reason why you get really specific is to actually help people to build people up, not just to attack them, not just to make them feel bad.
That's why I dislike criticism. That's not something that someone can change.
I don't like criticism where it's not something that someone can change. Go to Proverbs chapter 27.
You know, the Bible in Habakkuk says to make it plain so that you can run that read of it.
So whenever I I give correction to someone, you know, it would be a weird correction if you're like, you know, I don't like your sermon because, you know, you're just too tall.
You know, you know, I just don't really like the sound of your voice or I just, you know, things that are just immutable characteristics that are just like, OK, you know, we need to give correction to people that are things that they could actually change.
You know, they say, well, I just don't like your sermon because you're just not married or something.
And it's like, OK, well, I I can't necessarily change that.
I don't like this sermon because of X, Y and Z about you that you can't really change.
That's not beneficial. It's beneficial to say, I don't like how you said this because this is wrong.
You should say this instead. Or, you know, I don't like the way you're doing this.
You could do something. You could dress better or you could talk better or you could do these things and pointing out a criticism that people can change.
I don't like your sermon because you're a bad person.
It's like, how do I fix that? You know, people just give you weird advice.
I've literally asked people for a correction and they were like, you know, I didn't like your sermon because of the sound of your voice.
And I'm just like, OK, how do I fix that?
You know, like, what do you do differently? It's like, do I have to have to, like, change how I talk now or something?
I have to get a new accent or something. It's like that doesn't really benefit somebody, you know.
And again, when I try to give correction to someone, I'm not going to be like your accent is, you know, I don't like the Jersey accent.
Use a California accent or something like obviously if you can improve on your your your diction or your pronunciation, that's one thing.
But I'm just saying, like, people just don't like things about you as a person.
That doesn't help. What helps is things that people can correct.
And the Bible says in Proverbs 27, verse six, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are disheveled.
So my points for the sermon is this healthy disagreements, a good thing.
There's a lot of benefits to it. But what's not helpful is vague complaints.
And here's the second thing that I really want to just drive in is that we should try to be respectful, though.
OK. And at the end of the day, faithful are the wounds of a friend.
Wounding someone with the truth is not being disrespectful.
Telling someone that they're wrong is not being disrespectful, but we can.
The medium by which we do that could be, you know, better or worse.
Right. Obviously, if we can use discretion, you don't have to necessarily shame them any more than is necessary.
That's why taking them aside privately is often better than making a big announcement about it or, you know, doing it in the open.
But you know what? Still open or better than secret love.
The worst thing you can do, though, is just telling people that they're great when they're not.
Kisses of an enemy or people. And I notice sometimes people, they surround themselves.
They only want friends that will never say anything negative about them, that would never criticize them, that would never do anything against them.
And then essentially what they do is they just have all these kisses from enemies and they're just going to go down a really dark road.
I like being around and having friends that will tell me that I'm wrong if I'm wrong, that will tell me I'm doing that.
They don't agree with me. Go to Proverbs 19. Go to Proverbs 19.
So when it comes to this sermon, there's a lot of applications that can be made.
But just think about this in your life. Do you welcome disagreement?
Do you welcome criticism? Are you willing to be challenged? Are you willing to be challenged in your marriage?
Are you willing to be challenged in your workplace? Are you willing to be challenged with the friendships and the relationships?
If your friend walked up to you and you're talking with them and they start complaining and you say, hey, I wish you would stop complaining.
How would you take that? If they said, hey, your fly's down, you take that one.
OK, but what if you're doing something wrong? What if they said, you know, I don't like what you're saying or I don't like what you're doing or we shouldn't talk about that person that way.
Or if someone comes to me and they're complaining about their spouse and I said, hey, let's let's talk about something else or, you know, I'm sure she wouldn't really want you to be saying that.
Would you just be like, ah, or do you just want to keep being stupid for the rest of your life?
Would you rather feel stupid for a moment or just be stupid and have those issues and have those problems?
You know, it'd be nice to have a culture where you can have healthy disagreement when you're doing something wrong.
You're saying something wrong. There's some kind of issue in your life rather than just being like, oh, I can't be friends with that person anymore.
They told me I was doing something wrong. And look, this happens. It's like, well, I'm not her friend anymore.
Why? Because she told me I was doing something wrong one time. Because they didn't like something I was doing.
You know, the real friend is the person that was telling you to do something wrong rather than surround yourself with people that will always disagree with you, always do everything with you.
They'll rob a bank with you. It's like, I'm not a friend. A friend is not going to let you go down a dark road.
Here's not a friend. Man, my husband's such a jerk. I feel like I should divorce him. Oh, you go, girl.
That's not a friend. A friend would be like divorce. You should never divorce. Yeah, but he's a jerk.
So just love him anyways. That's a real friend. Not a friend is like, yeah, you don't deserve that.
You're so good. You're just wonderful. All your matters are good and right.
Isn't that what Absalom said? Just give you a kiss. Tell you how wonderful.
But that's not a real friend. And the people that are really bad surround themselves with these type of people.
You know, if you look at the really wicked of this world, you look at the Democrats, you look at the government officials, what do they do?
They surround themselves with people that won't disagree with them, that won't tell them doing anything wrong.
They don't like that. And we as God's people should not be like that. You know, me as a pastor, I have people challenge me on things that I preach.
And I don't like, how dare you challenge me? Did you know that I'm Pastor Jonathan Shelley?
It's like, you're not allowed to challenge me. It's like, no, that's stupid. I'm like, yeah, let's hear what you have to say.
I can be corrected on things. I can learn things. But, you know, sometimes husbands are like this.
Well, I'm the husband. How dare you disagree with me, wife? Go cook me a sandwich and don't open your mouth again.
Look down. Wife, you are below me.
You know, it's like that's that's a bad attitude because, you know, it's going to make you a better person.
Your wife is going to help you not be stupid.
Your wife, she helps you with your looks. She helped you with the things that you say.
She helps you with all kinds of stuff. I mean, most of you men that are married would probably look worse if you weren't married.
I'm just being honest with you. OK, we all would. And don't don't think, well, if she's disagreeing, I'm the man.
I'm I make the rules. You know, it's like that's it's OK to disagree.
And that doesn't mean that you always listen to her. Obviously, there's a balance, right?
Every time I get challenged, it doesn't mean I change.
Lots of times I'm showing them actually this is what the Bible says. But at the end of the day, I'm capable of being corrected.
I'm capable of being challenged. And we need some healthy disagreement in our lives.
We need to be challenged on the things that we do and we believe so that we can become more wise, more understanding, having a healthy lifestyle.
Look at Proverbs chapter 19, verse 11.
The discretion of a man to further his anger and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.
Now, all that to say this, just because he disagrees with someone doesn't mean you have to open your mouth either, though.
OK, don't hear me wrong. And like, let's create this culture where we pick on everybody about everything and say everything.
Look, sometimes there's going to be instances where you just let things go.
You just, hey, I saw that I disagree or this and I don't have to have this.
I don't have to correct them. Some people go to a church and it's like, I can't go to a church unless my pastor is right on everything.
You know, and they'll go up and they'll talk to the pastor and the pastor and then disagree.
And it's like, well, I can't go here now because he's not right on everything.
You might not be right. You know, sometimes when you disagree with someone, you're still wrong.
Like I think people don't realize this. It's like just because you disagree doesn't mean you're automatically right or win or you're on the right side.
You could be wrong. And even if you do notice someone doing something wrong, a clear objective transgression, sometimes you pass over.
Now, what would be an example of that? I don't know. A pastor getting up and calling you out publicly and saying that you're stupid.
And then you just like, well, just leave it alone. Maybe just having a bad day.
I don't know what a problem is. And then he preaches against your church and then preaches in your church and then preaches against your church.
You just keep passing over it. But then eventually it gets caught up in public and everybody's hearing about it.
Then you're just like, yeah, that was wrong. Yeah, I don't do that. Why?
Because that's the loving thing to do. Not to be like just, oh, I'm not going to say anything ever.
You know, sometimes we pass over transgression. Sometimes you call it out.
But, you know, the loving person is not the one that just ignores issues.
And if an issue gets brought up, I mean, if you pass over transgression with a brother, but then they ask you about it, don't lie to them.
Yeah, that did upset me a little bit. That did bother me. That was an issue.
Or, yeah, you were here wrong. You should do better next time. That's going to help people.
That's going to help people. And we shouldn't get mad at the guy that corrects us.
Even if it even if sometimes people try to correct you and it's not quite right, I don't want to discourage them from correcting people.
Necessarily, I don't want to discourage them from the idea of challenging someone.
I can say, hey, I appreciate you bringing this to me, but I just disagree.
You know, I think it's not that if someone's trying to correct you, it's usually out of a place of love.
They're not trying to correct you just, you know, to score points or something necessarily.
Not everybody's this weird, you know, narcissistic person that just has this like secret board at home.
Like, oh, prove pastor wrong again. You know, it's like, no, they just genuinely care, don't they?
They're genuinely concerned about you. Your spouse doesn't have a secret board.
I promise. OK. They're not keeping score about how he signs corrected them again.
You know, yeah, it's like, no, they just genuinely care about you.
They're generally concerned. And at the end of the day, we should be willing to take this.
Look at Proverbs 11, verse 22. The Bible says as a jewel of gold and a swine snout.
So is a fair woman, which is without discretion. Look, we need to have discretion.
Just not having discretion is a bad attitude. So I'm not telling you go around and blow your mouth off and say everything's bad.
And as a husband, you don't have to correct every little minor thing that your wife does either.
You won't have a good marriage if that's what you do. If you're just sitting here, just picking her apart and telling her everything that she does is wrong.
Sometimes you can pass over a transgression. And as a wife, don't try to pick your husband apart.
He's not going to like it no matter how beautiful you are. I mean, it's just saying, hey, you're beautiful.
But if you're nagging on me about everything that I do, you know, every single trespass, every single sock that I left everywhere.
And I came home late. It was 531 instead of 530 on the dot.
You know, I mean, he's not going to enjoy being in that environment. So we have to use discretion.
We need to pass over. But at the same time, when someone is going to correct us, essentially, we need to have a receptive attitude towards that.
You know, if you burn the biscuits at home, allow your husband to be like, these are a little burn.
It's OK. Maybe not in the moment, but I'm just saying, like, it's OK.
You want to get better as a person. You don't want to just constantly live your life where you're not willing to receive instruction because then you'll just end up being stupid.
I'd rather feel stupid in the moment. They just be stupid the rest of my life.
Thank you, Father, so much for your word. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to constantly improve every single day.
I pray that we wouldn't get weary of the correct thing that comes from the word of God.
We wouldn't get weary from the correct thing that we receive in church or from our brethren or from our spouse or from our family or from just anybody that we come in contact with in this world.
I pray that we would look at those as opportunities to get better, to gain wisdom, to gain instruction.
I pray that you would just help our church to have a healthy mentality when it comes to disagreement as just opportunities to grow and to gain more wisdom and more knowledge.
And I pray that you would just help our church to understand the Bible even better and that we would continue to be iron sharpening iron and that we would use the discretion the Bible gives us to appropriate, apply disagreement where it is needed.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Our final song. Four hundred and eighteen. Four hundred and eight.
All right. Four hundred and eighteen. Am I a soldier of the cross?
Song number four hundred and eighteen.
All right, sing it out. Am I a soldier of the cross, a follower of the Lamb?
And shall I fear to own His cause or blush to speak His name?
Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease while others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas?
Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?
Is this wild world a friend of grace to help me on to come?
Sure, I must fight if I would reign, increase my courage, Lord.
I'll bear the toll, endure the pain, support it by Thy word.
Amen. All right, thank you for coming this evening. You are dismissed.
Thank you.
Amen.