Afternoon everybody and welcome to said fast path this church we can go ahead and find our seats
We will go ahead and get started and once you find a seat grab a hymnal and for our first song
We will all sing song number three hundred and seventy nine on number three hundred and seventy nine
Something this church is good at bringing in the sheaves song number three hundred and seventy nine
Spirit this evening and that's all these things in Jesus name. Amen. All right for our next song
Let's go to song number two hundred and forty six on number two hundred and forty six two hundred and forty six
We're coming to set fast Baptist Church if you didn't get a bulletin this morning if you need another one
Just lift your hand real quick rushers can come by and get you guys a bulletin on the front
We have our Bible memory passage working in the book of Jonah chapter 2 on verse 4
Any quids any kids that can quote that on Wednesday can get a special ice cream treat
Also, we have on the inside our service times and so winning times as well as church stats
Make sure you're sending that information to your soul winning captain's lieutenants
If you have maps that are done, you can put in the done bin
Help us out with that as well on the right is our list of expecting ladies. Please be in prayer for them
Also, we have a prayer list if you'd like some additional prayer
You can submit that to our email steadfast baptist KJV gmail and we'll add that to our prayer list on the back coming events
Our heritage of the Lord conference is scheduled for October 4th through the 6th
That is Friday Saturday and Sunday and we have a schedule down below
October 31st is a Texas chili cook-off and that's going to be here at the church
The 6 p.m. Is when we would start serving potentially if you'd like to enter in the competition for your chili
You have to bring it for 6 p.m. So that way we can get the samples and everything ready for our judges
we'll pick a few judges that have no family member that's entered in the competition at least direct family member and
Then we will be giving out prizes to those who finish in our top places
in order to
Be qualified there cannot be any fillers in the chili which includes beans
I know that you know this ruffles people's feathers, but I don't think we should split the church over beans folks
Okay, and just just take take my word for it. It's better. All right, there we go
November 16th
Miami soul winning marathon if you'd like to participate you can put that note down
I'll probably try to get a sign-up sheet or something out here so that people that are indicating on wanting to go
I can coordinate with them
as far as our conference just a couple things I want to
Take note of that. We will be doing some some like prizes and stuff and do some like sword drills and
Some just Bible trivia and questions. And so I would encourage you to bring a Bible for your kids
for some of those activities and some of those events for the services and
We do have the kids spelling bee the spelling list is on our website
You can download it and you can review that it's broken up into three separate age groups
And we do give prizes to the top two in each
Category so there should be six winners in and two first and second and three different categories and
Even if your child you don't know that they're necessarily going to win
I still think it's something you can encourage them to do just to help them
With just public speaking and learning and growing and so it's a lot of fun
For those in the oldest age group that are going to compete
I I do have a secret word list in case there is a
Situation where they memorized every single word which has happened in the past so I have to learn from my mistakes
Okay, and I have to realize these kids are way smarter than I give them credit for and that was my mistake
But it's a it's a good thing. I'm impressed so but now I'm ready for you. Okay, so
Be prepared. All right. There we go
Also, we have a couple
Other events there. I'll try to get addresses and stuff like that for some of our locations and events in the bulletin when we get
A little closer or I guess I'll send out an email to the church family as far as what that's gonna be
So that way everybody has it if you don't receive that by Wednesday, just let me know and I'll get that to you as well
That's pretty much all I have as far as announcements are concerned. We're gonna go ahead and sing
our
Psalm of the week Psalm
19 Psalm 119
Book of John chapter number 3 John chapter chapter 13
The Bible said now before the feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this
World unto the father having loved his own which were in the world
He loved them unto the end and supper being ended the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot
Simon's son to betray him Jesus knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and that he was come from God and went
To God he riseth from supper and laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself
After that he poureth water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel
Wherewith he was girded then cometh he to Simon Peter and Peter said unto him
Lord, does thou wash my feet Jesus answered and said unto him what I do thou know it's not now
But thou shalt know hereafter Peter saith unto him thou shalt never wash my feet
Jesus answered him if I wash thee not thou has no part with me Simon Peter saith unto him Lord
Not my feet only but also my hands and my feet and my head
Jesus saith to him he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet
But is clean every wit and you're clean but not all for he note for he knew who should betray him
Therefore said he ye are not all clean so after he had washed their feet and had taken his garments and was set down again
He said unto them know ye what I have done to you
You call me master and Lord and you say well for so I am if I then your Lord and master have washed your feet
He ought also to wash one another's feet for I have given you an example
That you should do as I have done to you
Verily verily I say unto you the servant is not greater than his Lord
neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him if you know these things
happier ye if you do them I speak not of you all I know whom I have chosen but
that the scripture may be fulfilled he that eateth bread with me hath lifted up
his heel against me now I tell you before it come that when it has come to
pass you may believe that I am he barely barely I say unto you he that receiveth
whomsoever I send receiveth me and he that receiveth me receiveth him that
sent me when Jesus had thus said he was troubled in spirit and testified and
said barely barely I say unto you that one of you shall betray me then the
disciples looked one on another doubting of whom he spake now there was
leaning on Jesus's bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved Simon Peter
therefore beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake he
then lying on Jesus's breast saith unto him Lord who is it Jesus answered he it
is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it and when he had dipped
the sop he gave it to Judas Iscariot the son of Simon and after the sop Satan
entered into him then said Jesus unto him that thou doest do quickly now no
man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him for some of them
thought because Judas had the bag that Jesus had set unto him by those things
that we have need of against the feast or that he should give something to the
poor he then having received the sop went immediately out and it was night
therefore when he was gone out Jesus said now is the son of man glorified and
God is glorified in him if God be glorified in him God shall also glorify
him in himself and shall straightway glorify him little children yet a little
while I am with you you shall seek me and as I said unto the Jews whither I
go you cannot come so now I say to you a new commandment I give unto you that
she loved one another as I have loved you that she also loved one another by
this shall all men know that she are my disciples if you have loved one to
another Simon Peter said unto him Lord whither goest thou Jesus answered him
whither I go thou canst not follow me now but thou shalt follow me afterwards
Peter said unto him Lord why cannot I follow thee now I will lay
down my life for thy sake Jesus answered him wilt thou lay down thy life for my
sake verily verily I say unto thee the cocks shall not crow till thou has
denied me thrice let us pray dear Heavenly Father I thank you for
Steadfast Baptist Church I thank you for the soul saved today I ask you please to
help us to give Jesus Christ the preeminence and to seek unity in this
church and ask you to bless Pastor Shelley as he preaches to us in Jesus name
amen. Amen. I want to look back at verse 34 again the Bible says a new
commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye
also love one another and Jesus is very clear that we should love one another
and that's the title of my sermon this evening is that we should love one
another this is a very important aspect of Christianity and Jesus even says this
specifically in verse 35 by this shall all men know that you're my disciples if
you have one love to another here's the reality not every saved person is a
disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ what is a defining mark of a true disciple
of the Lord Jesus Christ is one who shows love towards other Christians and
towards one another and if we truly want to be disciples of the Lord Jesus
Christ if we want to set the right example we must show love one toward
another this is reiterated many places in scripture I want to go to one more
keep your fingers growing right back go to 1st John chapter number 4 and I want
to look at an example here where the Bible also mentions the same thing but
for a second time I'm not going to go to every place the Bible tells us to love
one another this is a common theme in the Bible described in many places but I
do want to point out a few ways in which we can discuss what does that look like
what does it look like to truly love one another the Bible says in first John
chapter 4 verse 7 beloved let us love one another for love is of God and
everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God he that loveth not knoweth
not God for God is love the example of love in the Bible is demonstrated by God
the Father and we are to follow his example and because we've been born
again spiritually speaking we now have the capability to love as God loved us
and we should walk in the spirit and do our best to exercise love one toward
another go back to John chapter 13 what does it look like to love well I believe
that the Bible shows us many things I want to point out a few examples of
loving one another and the first one that I want to point out is the idea of
serving one another to love one another would be through serving one another
that is illustrated for us in this chapter that we just read look back at
verse number 13 the Bible says this he called me master and Lord and you say
well for so I am if I then your Lord and master have washed your feet he also
ought to wash one another's feet for I've given you an example he should do
as I have done to you verily verily I say unto you that servant is not greater
than his Lord neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him if you
know these things happy are ye if ye do them notice that the Lord Jesus Christ
is often telling us things that are conditional these are not things that
are automatic these are things that are up to you you have the free will we have
the choice to decide to be a disciple of Lord Jesus Christ by our actions we are
known as the disciples of Jesus Christ by loving one another and one of the
ways in which we can love one another and the ways that will be happy is if we
serve one another we have to understand that loving comes through serving and
if someone truly loves you they will serve you. That is what true love really
looks like and we think of the example the Lord Jesus Christ gives us and
illustrates for us is one that is a master and a Lord. Someone that is in a
position of authority. A position of authority demonstrates its love by
serving. Sometimes we think of leadership as always being about the person that
gets to make all the decisions and having power and everybody's there to
serve them. But the Lord Jesus Christ is illustrating for us a very important lesson here that those
who are in charge demonstrate their love by serving those on whom are under his authority.
Where we could look at this in many different cases. A pastor who loves his congregation
is one who will serve his congregation, not one where his congregation will serve him.
And we have to understand that in any position of leadership, whether you're a soul winning
leader, you're a song leader, whether you're a boss at work, whether you're a husband,
whether you're a mother, no matter what position you have, if you truly want to love those
who you have authority over, you must serve them and that is how you will demonstrate
your love for them. And we have to be very careful, you know, when we have a position
of authority, that we don't use that authority in a selfish manner. It's very easy to just
tell people what to do and to force everybody to accommodate to your wishes and wants, but
a true genuine loving leadership will serve. And we have to understand that God served
us. God served us by sending us His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ's
ministry is marked by Him serving us, by serving the Jews, by healing the sick, healing the
lame, by preaching the gospel, by feeding the hungry, by basically just ministering
and serving and loving. Jesus did not come to sit on a pedestal and have everyone serve
Him, but rather He came to serve. And the Bible even illustrates that when we go to
heaven that the Lord Jesus Christ will continue to serve us even in heaven. Now do we worship
and serve Him? Yes we do. And I'm not taking away from that, but the Bible even says that
the Lord Jesus Christ will serve us at the table and that He will still do good unto
us. And a good leader will serve his subjects. And that is how you demonstrate the love that
you have. When you have an opportunity to be around people that are under your authority
or your leadership, you must do good unto them by serving them. Look at chapter 15
and look at verse number 12. Now some people when they read the Bible, instead of trying
to understand the spirit of the Bible, they just try to do exactly what it says. So there
are churches today that you go to, and after the service, we're all going to get a bucket
of water and we're going to all literally wash each other's stinky feet. And they think
that that's what that means. And look, I'm not going to fight somebody who wants to literally
wash another person's feet because there's nothing wrong with that. We don't want to
miss the point and think like, "Well, I went to church and I literally washed someone's
feet so I'm good." No, it's about just serving people in general. That's the principle.
That's the spirit. And we want to make sure when we interpret the Bible that we don't
get this over the top draconian view of the scripture and just try to do only the letter
of the law. We want to figure out the essence and the spirit of what the Bible is saying
and then make proper application for it. And so we have to understand that we need to love
one another and not just say, "Well, I checked the box. I washed someone's feet this week."
That's not what we're doing. We're not just checking boxes. We're recognizing that we
have the right attitude and spirit and we need to actually love one another and not
just checking some kind of a box. People would love for me to just give them a little piece
of paper that it's like, "Here's how to be a good Christian. Just check these boxes."
Or, "Here's how to be a good husband." Or, "Here's how to be a good wife." Or, "Here's
how to be a good parent." Or, "Here's how to be a good child." Or, "Here's how to make
money." It's like, "How do I make money? How do I get married? How do I do things?"
They want a checklist, but I can't give people a checklist. Who should I marry? I do have
some points and some tips that I think are important, but at the end of the day, there's
always reading between the lines. There's always the spirit and the attitude behind
these things. We have to use our discretion that God has given us to make wise decisions.
As God's people, we need to have an attitude of loving one another, not just seeing, "Well,
I checked off this list." Or, "I did these things. I go soul winning, therefore I'm loving
automatically." That's not necessarily true. We want to make sure that we're not balancing
and measuring our life based on a checklist, but it should be more based on a spirit and
an attitude that we have. And God very much cares more about our spirit and attitude than
He cares about a checklist, evidenced by the fact that the poor widow woman who only gave
two mites, Jesus Christ literally said that she gave more than they all. Proving that
God didn't care about the monetary money that she gave, He cared about the heart and the
attitude and the spirit that she had when she gave. And here's the thing, God cares
more about the spirit and the attitude and your heart towards your actions than the actions
themselves. And we have to be very careful that we have the right attitude and the right
heart and the right spirit as Christians, and this is what demonstrates the Holy Spirit.
We allow our flesh, we crucify our flesh, and we allow the Holy Spirit to come inside
of us and fill us and allow us to do the works that He would have us do, and charity and
meekness and in genuine sincerity, actually wanting to serve people. You could wash someone's
feet and hate it. It's called people that have the Chinese pedicure place or whatever,
right? I mean, don't they? That you come in and they're all nice and they're like, "Oh,
you look so pretty," right? And then they're like, "Ting ting ta ta ta." You know, and
you're like, "What did you say?" And they probably were saying like, "She's, you know,
a stupid white girl or something," right? And she didn't even have the right spirit.
But you know why she did it? Because she got paid. Not because she actually loves you or
cares about you. And the reality is, again, it's not about, "Well, I checked the list
of washing someone's feet. I checked the list of all these things that I found in the Bible,
therefore I'm good." No, it's about the spirit, it's about the attitude, and it's about the
heart that you have. And if you don't love other Christians, you're violating a very
important principle that Jesus Christ is giving us here, that we need to sincerely and genuinely
love one another, and we do it by serving one another with an attitude of sincerity.
I genuinely want to serve you. I genuinely want good for you. The Bible says in John
15 verse 12, "This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man may lay down his life for his friends."
So Christ is not asking us to do something that he doesn't do, and good leadership and
good authority is not asking for people to do something that they themselves would not
do, or that they themselves have not demonstrated.
And so therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated an ultimate sacrifice of even laying down
his own life, being willing to make his own personal sacrifices for the betterment of
others.
Skip to verse 17, and it says, "These things I command you, that ye love one another."
Verse 18, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
If ye were of the world, the world would love his own.
But because ye are not of this world, but I have chosen you out of this world, therefore
the world hateth you."
So we're not talking about the world here.
I wanted to read that verse not because it's necessarily directly related, but it's to
help to give us balance and context of what we're talking about.
This is not saying love every person.
This is also not saying every person will love you.
The world will not like you if you're a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The world will hate you.
The world will say everything you do is wrong.
But what we can do is we can love one another regardless of what the world thinks about
it, regardless of what the world does.
And we should be very careful that we love one another as Christians.
Now go your way to Romans chapter 13, Romans chapter number 13.
Point one that I have this evening is we should serve one another as a demonstration of our
love.
And if you want to be a really good father, you should serve your children.
If you want to be a really good mother, you should serve your children.
If you want to have a really good marriage, you husbands should serve your wives.
Not only tell them what to do, but you should also serve them and appreciate them and do
good under them.
And you know what, obviously the reciprocal is true.
Wives, if you want to have a good marriage, serve your husband.
Children, if you want to have a good relationship with your parents, serve your parents.
I always say this, a good marriage is two people trying to serve each other.
And when you have a bad marriage, it can be one person stopped serving, but what happens
is the other person then kind of gives up too.
And the only way to fix it is for one person to start serving again and hopes that the
other person will reciprocate.
You can never, ever force someone to reciprocate love.
It's called free will.
God created free will.
And unfortunately the reality of free will is that most people don't make the right
decision.
We can only go so far.
And isn't it so sad that God was only perfect and loving towards us and yet so many people
still reject him?
Isn't that sad?
But you know what?
He doesn't stop being good unto us and he doesn't stop loving us and he doesn't stop
trying to serve us.
And so we should, in the relationships and the situations that we have, reciprocate and
model God's behavior in the same way that we're going to continually love and continually
do good even when it's not reciprocated.
What we don't want to do is wish ill or do evil unto those that are our brethren, those
that are Christians, those that are saved, those that are the important relationships
that we have.
Romans 13 brings us up.
In verse number 8, "O, no man anything but to love one another.
Free that loveth, another hath fulfilled the law.
For this thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal,
thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment
is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."
Notice the Bible says that love worketh no ill.
So point one that I made this evening is that if you love one another, you will serve
one another.
Second point is if you love one another, you will wish no ill.
You're not going to work any ill towards one another, okay?
And unfortunately, a lot of people will get mad at other Christians, they'll get mad at
their brethren, and they'll wish ill upon them.
And that's just not biblical.
Go if you want to Galatians chapter five, go to Galatians chapter number five.
You know, I personally do not believe it's ever right to curse your brethren, okay.
Now obviously, we could have a circumstance where someone's wayward or someone's causing
a lot of problems, and we say, God, I don't know what this person needs.
I pray that even if they need something negative in their life to help them, then your will
be done.
But I do not believe that we should wish ill for our brethren, period.
I do not believe that we should wish for God to do anything negative to them.
And the Bible is very clear that we are to bless them that curse us.
We are to bless them that despitefully use us.
That we are not to overcome evil with evil, but overcome evil with good.
And so I believe when we're talking about fellow believers, we're talking about other
Christians, we should only ever wish for their good.
We should not curse them or wish for their evil or wish for their ill.
And we should certainly not work any ill towards them.
Galatians chapter number five, the Bible says in verse 13, "For brethren, ye have been called
unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one
another."
So that's the point one that we made already, right?
"For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself.
But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another."
So notice, we could just be loving towards one another, but what is a common temptation?
It's to bite and devour one another.
Now, why would someone bite and devour?
Well, it's because someone does something wrong.
And then when somebody does something wrong, someone attacks them.
And then because they've been attacked, that person attacks them.
And then that person attacks them.
How does it end?
You know how it ends?
Someone says, "I'm not going to attack you anymore."
You can't fight fire with fire always.
Okay?
Sometimes you just have to say, "You know what?
You did me wrong, but I'm just going to go ahead and let it go.
I'm going to give you this word 'grace.'"
I think that most Christians, sadly enough, don't even know what the definition of grace
is apparently.
Because the word "grace" means they have done you wrong.
"Oh, I'm very gracious."
Okay, show me an example of someone criticizing you, attacking you, doing you wrong, and you
not retaliating.
They're like, "Why would I not retaliate?"
It's called grace!
Grace is giving somebody what they don't deserve.
It's not giving them what they do deserve, it's like, "Well, they deserve to be attacked.
They deserve to be called out.
They deserve to be responded to.
They deserve for me to hit them in the face."
Okay, but that's not gracious, is it?
That might be what's just, that might be what is reciprocal, but it's not grace, it's not
mercy, it's not long-suffering, it's not charitable.
We have to understand that the word "grace" implies error.
You cannot extend grace to someone that has not trespassed against you.
You can only extend grace to someone that trespasses you.
It's like, "Oh, I'm so gracious.
The guy that bought me a really nice car, I said thanks."
That's not grace.
That's expected, okay?
Grace is the person that did something bad to you and you treated them well.
You treated them better than they deserve.
And we have to understand that love worketh no ill.
Even though they may have trespassed against me, I don't have to do something to them that
causes ill towards them.
I don't have to attack them.
I don't have to speak evil of them.
I don't have to call them names.
I don't have to reciprocate.
Obviously, there's a time and a place to help your brother know that they've trespassed,
right?
"Hey, you did this and this is wrong.
Hey, I didn't appreciate that.
Hey, you shouldn't do this."
That is not attacking someone.
You know, the Bible makes it clear that we should, at times, reprove and rebuke our
neighbor.
That's not wishing them ill.
That's just saying, "Look, you shouldn't do this.
You shouldn't say this.
You shouldn't call this."
But that's not retaliation.
That's not going, you know, outside of the biblical parameters.
But in many cases, even when you call someone out, they don't respond correctly.
And you can do this.
Let it go.
And sometimes you can just even decide, "I'm not even going to...
I'm just going to let that one slide.
This person did this."
Whatever.
You know, this person, you know, said something, did something.
We shouldn't take heed to all words that are spoken.
That's what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes, chapter number seven.
We've already addressed that recently.
But hey, some people say dumb stuff, sometimes you just need to let it go.
And if you can't let it go, tell them.
Once you've told them, let it go.
You say, "I don't like that."
Okay, well then you're not gracious.
You know, we need to love one another.
And you know what?
If we just constantly retaliating for every little grievance, then pretty soon we won't
like any...
We won't like each other at all.
You want to like people, you need to give them grace.
That's what people really appreciate.
And this passage brings up examples of people not doing this.
Now, I want to keep reading in this passage a little bit more because this is a really
important point that's being brought up.
Look at verse number 16, "This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill
the lust of the flesh, for the flesh lusted against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh."
And these are contrary the one to the other, so you cannot do the things that you would.
But if you be led of the Spirit, you're not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft.
Notice this word, hatred.
When you're hating your brother, you're in the flesh.
There's no reason to hate your brother.
Variance, emulation, wrath.
When you have wrath towards your brother, you're in the flesh.
Strife.
When you're at strife with your brother, you are in the flesh.
The Bible says only by pride come with contention.
Did we forget that verse?
If you have contention with your brethren, someone's prideful.
Because the reality is, if I trespass against you, and it's clear, and you point that out,
I should immediately say, "You're right," and fix it, right?
So if no one's prideful in this situation, there's no strife.
Where does the strife come in?
Someone is going to be prideful.
Either A, the person won't admit they're wrong and take ownership, and they're prideful.
Or B, the other person cannot extend grace and let things go, and because of their own
pride, they continue to fester the problem.
But the reality is, if we love one another, we would extend grace and we would not cause
strife to continue to go.
We would humble ourselves and allow us to be wronged.
I mean, do you not remember what Jesus Christ said, "Turn the other cheek"?
I know that we love to preach about the reprobate doctrine.
I know that we love to preach against sodomites and all these God haters and all this stuff.
You know, sometimes we need to take the lessons of the Bible and apply them to ourselves.
And Jesus Christ literally said to turn the other cheek.
Now is that to a reprobate?
No.
We're not talking about that.
But here's the thing.
What is, I mean, how many people in here would like it if I walked up to you and I just slapped
you across the face?
Wouldn't that be embarrassing?
Wouldn't you be like, "What in the world?"
I mean, who would want me to just bring you up right here and just smack you across the
face?
And what did Jesus say do?
Turn to the other cheek.
That's what our Lord and Savior told us to do.
But how many Christians today are willing to be publicly humiliated multiple times in
a row?
That's a loving person, isn't it?
That's a loving person that would say, "You know what?
You did me wrong, but I'm not going to respond.
I'm going to turn the other cheek right now.
I'm going to allow this to, I'm going to let this go."
And at the end of the day, that doesn't mean you couldn't say, "Why smidest thou me?"
Jesus said that to the Pharisees, did he not?
Jesus was asking, I mean, the Apostle Paul asked questions like, "Why are you doing this?
This isn't right."
I mean, if someone does us wrong, we can say that, but he's not going to withdraw himself.
He's still going to put himself out there.
He's still allowing them to even make bad decisions.
We need to walk in the Spirit.
What does walking in the Spirit look like?
Turning the other cheek, not causing strife, not being prideful, not having wrath, not
having hatred.
If you are hating other Christians right now, you are wrong.
If you're wrathful towards other Christians right now, you are wrong.
Now is that, I'm not discounting proper reproof and proper rebuke.
They have their place, but we should at the same time extend a lot of grace and a lot
of long suffering, even when people are wrong, when they are wrong.
Now what does the Bible, let's keep reading, verse 22, let's skip, "But to the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace," notice this, "long suffering, gentleness."
What is long suffering?
Giving people space to fix their issues.
What is gentleness?
Obviously, it's not being harsh, it's not being condescending, it's allowing people
the opportunity to get things right in a calm, kind, gracious manner and spirit.
We should be gentle.
You know, we as God fearing people should be gentle people.
We should be gentle to our families, we should be gentle to the lost.
Hey, when a visitor comes in, "Hey, what do you think about fags?"
It's like, "I don't know."
"Oh man, you're an idiot, aren't you?
You're like a fag loving idiot, aren't you?"
You know?
You don't agree?
We think we should shoot them in the head right now.
Do you agree or disagree?
Is that really being gentle?
You know, what if someone came in dressed inappropriate and we're like, "Why are you
dressing like a hooker?"
You know, it's like, let's just be honest, it's not being gentle.
Now again, there's a time and a place for hard preaching.
I'm never going to stop hard preaching.
But in my personal life and in my conversations with people, you know what, I'm not going
around just trying to be as harsh and critical as I possibly can, and we should sometimes
be gentle and even when people make mistakes or people are wrong or people are confused
or people are just frankly stupid, it takes every fiber of my spiritual being to not attack
physically flat earthers, okay?
Like it makes me viscerally angry, okay?
But I've, you know, and I've preached hard about that.
Anybody in this room knows that that's true.
There's been plenty of times where someone comes up to me and they start telling me about
it.
And I'm just like, "Oh, okay, yeah, I think that's wrong, you know, the Bible is really
clear on this."
But inside I'm thinking like I just want to, you know, scream and yell and rip this guy's
head off, you know, like that's how I feel, okay?
And I'm not even saying that I'm perfect.
I'm not even saying that I haven't gotten the flesh in these areas sometimes.
I'm not even saying that I'm always like that.
But of course that is what we should do.
That's what we would do if we were walking in the spirit.
When people make mistakes, not just ripping their head off, not cursing them, not wishing
them evil, not calling them a fake and a phony and a fraud and a weirdo and whatever.
And look, everybody wants to just be quick to throw out all kinds of accusations when
they're in the flesh and they're too emotional.
We as Christians are not demonstrating being disciples of Christ when we act like that.
The disciples of Christ are loving.
Disciples of Christ are turning of the cheek.
The disciples of Christ are compassionate.
The disciples of Christ are long suffering.
The disciples of Christ are gentle.
It also says here in verse 23, meekness.
Meekness is similar to humility, having an opinion of oneself that I'm not better than
others and recognizing that we all make mistakes.
It's very, very easy for people, especially that have high standards, to think highly
of themselves and to think, "Well, I would never do that.
I would never say that.
I'm not so stupid.
I'm not so foolish.
Oh, look at me.
I'm better than you.
I can't believe you haven't come to the same conclusions as me.
You must be, you know, retarded or something."
Forgive me for that word if you don't like that word, but go over to 1 Peter chapter
3.
You know, people throw out pretty insulting language, and I'm using mild language, okay?
Some people use some extreme language.
This is not being gentle.
This is not being meek.
The Bible talks about Moses being the meekest man upon the face of the earth.
What did that mean?
He did not hold his position of authority because he thought so highly of himself, but rather
was a humble servant being used by the Lord.
If we think about his entrance into his position, he was not saying, "Of course you picked
me.
I'm the guy, obviously."
He was even somewhat level of uncertain about being used by God and feeling humbled and
appreciative of God using him as that vessel for the Lord's service.
And we should always approach any position, any status, any knowledge that we've acquired
with meekness.
Not saying like, "How dumb are you to not know this?"
But rather saying, "You know what?
At one point I was like this person.
At one point I struggled in this area.
At one point I had issues."
And saying, "You know what?
I need to take the effort and energy here to be kind and gentle on him."
Did I have you turn to 1 Peter?
Look at verse 8 of chapter number 3, okay?
The Bible says, "Finally, be all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as
brethren, be pitiful."
Be courteous.
Be pitiful.
What does being pitiful mean?
In a dictionary it kind of has two senses at least.
One sense sometimes is like pathetic.
That's not what we're talking about.
It's talking about having pity.
So it would be similar to the idea of compassion.
We should have compassion.
And it's not only to the lost, it's also to our brethren.
"Hey, I can see why you're upset. Hey, I kind of understand where you're coming from. Hey, I can see your point of view. Hey, I can see how we disagree, and that doesn't make you a bad person for having a different opinion than me."
The spiritual person can have pity on other people. And you know what? Pitying people when they're down. It's really frustrating to see people say like, "I think this person's making a bad decision."
And then they can't even be pitiful towards that person or having compassion towards that person. They have to attack that person. They have to be vicious. They have to be harsh. They have to be extremely judgmental.
But they can't lovingly look at someone they think is wrong and have pity or compassion or mercy or grace towards that individual.
Let's keep reading here. Let's read verse number nine. "Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrarywise blessing, knowing that ye thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing."
The Bible says in verse 10, "For he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile.
Let him eschew evil and do good.
Let him seek peace and do it.
You know, when we speak, we should take the opportunity to seek peace and not render evil
for evil, not railing for railing, not working ill towards our neighbor, not increasing strife,
not increasing wrath, not increasing hatred, increasing grace, long-suffering, mercy, being
gentle, being pitiful, having compassion and seeking peace. We should be peacemakers. Blessed
are the peacemakers is what Jesus Christ said. This is the attitude and the spirit that we
should have.
Go back to Galatians. I want to go back to Galatians chapter number six. It's easy to
say that you're loving, but most people just aren't. In fact, if you're not even saved,
the Bible says you can't even love anyways. Real love comes from people who are saved
that are walking in the spirit who are able to actually get out of the flesh. When you're
in the flesh, you don't have real love. And most people think love is reciprocating good
for good. That is not love. Love is reciprocating good for evil. Love is helping people when
they're down. Love is serving people that are under your authority. Love is not working
ill towards your neighbor. It's only doing good and seeking peace. And even if you think
someone's wrong or has done something wrong, what does the Bible say in Galatians 6 verse
1? "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such
a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted, bear
ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." We are to love one another.
When your neighbor's animal falls in the ditch, you're supposed to pick it up. When the good
Samaritan is going on his way and he finds a man that's been beaten up without money,
he serves him. He doesn't work ill. He's not even necessarily somebody he knows. He's
not even somebody he should help. That is what it means to love. That's what it means
to do good. How many pious religious zealots just walked right on by? The Pharisee, Levite,
they don't even care. What is God saying? Hey, I want the Samaritan who's not even
that great of a guy, but love. God appreciated him more. And I think sometimes we think like,
I'm not like other men. I thank the God that I'm not like other men. I go to the new IFB.
I go to a fundamental Baptist church three times a week. I tithe of all that I possess.
I even tithe on gift cards. I tithe on the gift card I get from memorizing the soul winning
verse or the verse of the week. I've memorized every verse. In fact, I've never missed a
service. I sing the songs the loudest. But at the same time, they have no compassion
towards their brethren. They have no pity. They return railing for railing, evil for
evil. Well, you know, that person's not a loving person and they're not even a
disciple. Being a disciple is not a checklist. It is a spirit and it is an
attitude of love and compassion towards your brethren. If you don't have that, if
you haven't been constantly showing grace, mercy, and long-suffering to people
that have done you wrong, I question if you're a disciple of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the good Samaritan, you may look at him, he doesn't go to the new
IFB, he doesn't go to a good church, he doesn't have all the checklists that you
have. But you know what? He showed love when a lot of people wouldn't. And you know
what? The Lord Jesus Christ is commending him. He likes him. We can always look to
ourselves and think we're so much greater than we are. But you know what?
Even if you could recognize, even if objectively, I'm right and they're wrong,
what does it say? We're supposed to restore such one of the spirit of
meekness. Meekness. It's frustrating when I've seen people doing something that
they believe someone's done wrong. And again, it doesn't really matter what the
truth is. If you believe someone's done something wrong, what should your
attitude be towards that person? Meekness. Not being harsh, overly critical, acting
like you're superior and better than them. You know, I try, you know, and I'm
not perfect in this area, but hey, when someone's wrong, let's try to
lovingly help them figure out how to fix this or come alongside them and not just
judge them super strict and not just be really condemning and not just, "Well, I
would never do that. I would never make that mistake. I'm not like that. I stand
completely against that." Okay, well, you're great. Congratulations. You're so
amazing. Your marriage is so much better than everybody else and your relationships
and your walk with God and your Christianity and you're so much more
knowledgeable. You know what? When someone's going down, that's not a time
to congratulate yourself, especially with these really vague virtue
signaling statements. I stand against sin. I stand against abuse. Oh, you're so
amazing. Find me the person in this world that has a public statement that says I
stand with abuse. I would love to see that public statement. You know, and people
love to congratulate themselves about how I wouldn't do this and I would be
like this, especially when they themselves have not even crossed the
finish line. They're boasting themselves before they've even taken off the
harness. And you should be extremely careful when you're judging people for
failing in an area that you haven't even gotten close to finishing yet. Go to
Matthew chapter number seven. Go to Matthew chapter number seven. What is the
attitude? If you believe someone's at fault, it doesn't say don't address it.
It doesn't say don't try to help them. It says to do it in the spirit of
meekness, considering yourself, saying, "Hey, we can all make mistakes." You know,
the Bible says about David, he's the man after God's own heart. Do you really
think you're better than David? And if David can sin grievously, which he sinned
grievously, adultery and murder? I mean, that is rough. That tells me that anybody
in this room could commit some serious sin. And we should always be considering
ourselves to say, "You know what? I'm not so much better than anybody else that I
couldn't commit a big sin, that I couldn't have a blind
spot, that I couldn't have an issue." And it's really frustrating when Christians,
especially fundamental Baptists, like to pretend that they have it all together
and that they're not capable of making mistakes and they judge extremely harshly
in areas that they themselves have never even competed in yet. What does it say in
Matthew chapter 7 verse 1? "Judge not that ye be not judged for with what
judgment ye judge ye shall be judged and with what measure you meet it shall be
measured to you again and why beholdest thou the moat that is my brother's eye
but considers not the beam that is in thine own eyes." A lot of people are very
quick to judge not necessarily doing it to themselves. We should always be
judging ourselves more harshly than others. We should always be looking to
ourselves and that'll help you have a meek spirit. That'll help you have a
good attitude. You know whenever you're you're thinking about someone else's
faults, which we all do, okay, we all we can't stop thoughts. You're gonna always
be you know inundated with this idea of well I think this person got this wrong
or this is an issue or I don't like this. You should then stop immediately and say
well what about me? Do I have an area, do I have an issue in this area? What
about other areas that are similar? Do I have an area, do I have an issue in this
area? Who am I to judge? Do I, does it even make sense? Am I doing this in a
spirit of meekness? And again if you go through all that checklist then of
course you know sometimes we have to correct brethren sometimes we have to
approve but we should always be careful with what judgment we judge because it'll
be judged back to us and not by humans by God. God is the one that texts this
and I'm gonna be honest with you I want the maximum amount of grace that God can
give me. I do not want the least amount of grace that God's gonna give me and if
I want that the only way for me to procure that is to be gracious unto
others. Now does this mean now we just tolerate everything and love everything
and we become this liberal leftist that just you know loves everything that's
evil and wicked because we want to err on the side of grace? Wrong. We always
have balance but at the end of the day we have to go through a checklist of
saying what about myself? What about my issues? What about my areas? Am I being
equal? Am I being a hypocrite about this? And making sure that we're helping
people with a spirit of meekness. Go to Hebrews chapter 10, go to Hebrews
chapter number 10. If we want to have a good church it's only gonna be if we
love each other and you know what the measure is for how we love each other?
Not liking the people that you like. Not being nice to the people that are nice
to you. You know what? It's being gracious under the people that you
disagree. It's being kind and long-suffering with people that make
mistakes. And it's being meek when people do you wrong. That's how we tell if we
have a loving church. Because we're gonna we're gonna upset each other
constantly. People are gonna do you wrong. People are gonna say things that are
dumb. Girls are gonna be mean. Get over it. You know? Guys are gonna be dumb. I
mean it's basically guys can be dumb. Girls can be mean. And that's just life.
Kids are rough. Kids are wild. Okay? And and man is simple. Man likes to just make
mistakes. We like to criticize. We like to be harsh. But when these things happen,
you know, we don't have to have strife. Contention only comes by pride. Only by
pride cometh contention. It takes two to tango folks. And if you cast out the
scorn or then you have no then you have no problems. I believe that our church
can be a great example of love. But we have to make sure that we're serving
one another. And we have to make sure that we're not wishing ill and we're
not working ill towards one another. And thirdly, we need to make sure that when
we provoke one another, that we're not provoking each other with wrath, envy, strife, railing,
we're provoking one another with love.
Look at what it says in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24, "And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works."
When you upset somebody, let me ask you this question, are you upsetting them by provoking
them to love or are you provoking them to wrath?
Saying, "Hey, I want you to come to church with me.
Hey, let's be nice to this person.
Hey, let's be gracious to this person.
Hey, let's go soul winning.
Hey, let's not do that.
Hey, let's not act that way.
Hey, let's help this person."
That's provoking someone unto love and to good works.
But you have so much opportunity.
There's power in the tongue of life and death.
The power of life and death are in the tongue and, you know, you're going to reap the benefits
of what you do.
You're going to reap what you sow there.
If you're constantly provoking people unto love, you're probably going to in return receive
a lot of love.
If you're constantly provoking people unto wrath and anger and hatred and variance and
all these different things, you're going to probably receive a lot of what?
Hatred, variance.
You're going to reap what you sow.
And we as God's people need to make sure that we're provoking one another unto love.
Encouraging people to love more.
Encouraging people to have good works.
Encouraging people to do right.
Not just being like nuts to you, I can't stand you, you're evil, you're wicked, I hope you
get hit by a car.
You know, whatever.
And again, I like memes like the next guy, but I just don't want to just make all these
memes attacking, say, people and just making them feel isolated and embarrassed and, you
know, taking advantage of someone's faults or issues or whatever.
You know, we should be careful that we're not just always just being joking, that we're
not serious.
If you only ever joke with people, you'll never have close relationships.
In order to have really close relationships, you have to, the majority of the time, be
serious with them.
You have to be serious with them.
And again, I love jokes as much as the next guy, okay?
My personality is the type to take nothing serious.
I grew up as arguably one of the most sarcastic people to ever live, okay?
I can be more sarcastic than you could ever imagine, all right?
And I grew up as a very sharp tongue, you know, I would, I can criticize people, I can
make fun of people, and that's not, that's not good.
But I have to, I have to exercise control and temperance in that area and say, yeah,
this would be really funny for me to say about this person, but I'm just not going
to say that one.
I'm not going to think that, I'm just going to text my wife, okay, all right.
And we have a fun conversation together about a lot of things, okay.
But you know, I don't, I don't want to go around just trashing people and making people
feel uncomfortable and attacking people.
You know, if I have an opportunity to speak, why don't I speak in a way that provokes them
to love more or to do good more or serve Christ more or something positive.
You know, that's what we should spend our time and effort and energy doing, edifying
one another, building one another up.
Go if you would to Ephesians chapter four, how can the world tell that we're truly God's
disciples by loving one another?
How can we demonstrate that we're letting the devil win when we're not loving one another?
When we're rendering evil for evil, railing for railing, we're not turning the other cheek,
but in fact we're having these stupid power slap conferences.
Who knows what I'm talking about?
This like major, this has become like super popular where people are trading slaps with
one another.
And I'm thinking like, how is this our world that we live in?
How is this even entertaining?
I'm not trying to criticize you if you watch this.
I'm just saying personally, it's like up there with NASCAR for me.
It's just like, this is so silly and it's so weird.
I'm just, I'm just like, what, what, what is wrong with our culture?
That we're, I guess it's because we, we all got on rumble and it's like, they have a major
sponsor on rumble or something.
So it's like, anytime you go to the site, it's just like all these stupid slapping videos
are up there.
And I'm just like, I don't want to watch this.
Not interested in this.
And it's like, this is what the world is like.
The world is just a big slapping competition.
Some people, that's all they use social media for.
Is it just going up?
They're just finding someone to slap and they're just seeing who, who can slap the hardest
until someone gives up, right?
And it's just this big slapping competition of just like, well, I can slap the hardest
or I can slap the fiercest or I can take the most slaps or something, but you know, that's
just not Christianity.
That's not loving one another.
And again, if you compete in this, you're weird, but I'm not going to fight you, okay?
I don't want to have a slapping competition after the service or anything.
But like spiritually speaking, this is not be how we act.
We shouldn't be just trying to see how much we can slap each other.
We see how much we can serve one another, provoke each other into love and good works.
I want to read these verses again today.
It says in Ephesians chapter four verse one, "I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech
you that you walk worthy of the location wherewith you are called."
Verse two, "With all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering for bearing one another
in love."
Verse three, "Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
You know, we have only so much energy each day.
Let us spend our energy and effort endeavoring.
That's a strong word, to keep unity.
And that's what I want for all of the relationship.
You know, I want my mom and dad and my brother and sister who, you know, while we don't have
the same relationship we've had in the past, the efforts that I have to be around them,
I want to endeavor to have some unity.
Now, if I can't, I can't.
You know, the Bible says a man's foe shall be they of his own household, and that's
an unfortunate reality for most of us.
I think a lot of us could testify that we've had some strained family relationships as
we've gotten older, maybe as a result of making decisions about church, about your decisions
for Christianity.
And some people will criticize, and I've heard this, and they say, "Well, if you become
a fundamental Baptist, they teach you to like not be nice to your family anymore, not hang
out with your family anymore, like abandon your family or something."
And you know what, I think that's an unfair criticism, but at the same time, I want to
make sure that we're careful that we're not actually guilty of that.
Because, you know, I'm not trying to like not have a good relationship with my brother
and sister or in family members.
I want to endeavor to keep the unity.
But obviously, if they separate, if they don't want to have fellowship, it's like, "Hey,
come with me to church.
Hey, let's talk about the Bible.
Hey, let's do the things that make sense."
You know, sometimes there's going to have to be a necessary separation.
If they're like, "We're going to go to the bar, we're going to go drinking, we're going
to do these things that are inappropriate," then you just say, "You know what?
I can't join you for that, why don't you go with me to church instead?"
You know, I'm provoking them under love and good works, and I want to encourage them to
do the right thing.
And we should always do this for all of our friends, family, and the situations that we
have, where we're provoking them to do the right thing, and we're encouraging them and
trying to keep unity.
In a church, unity is so important.
That's the only point of a church.
And most churches today, they're not rallied around this point.
A lot of churches today, they're rallied around the fact that we all live five minutes from
this building.
Let's just be honest, most churches today, the only unity that that church has really
rallied around is their geographical location to that property.
And that is an important factor because if you're not within certain range, it's not
practical.
Okay?
Obviously, we all have to live within a certain level of geographic location to come to a
church together.
But that shouldn't be the most important factor.
The most important factor should be that we're here to unify and rally around Christ.
That's what it says in verse four.
"For there's one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through
all and in you all."
So we're here gathered around the one God that exists.
We have the one Holy Spirit.
We have one faith.
Our one faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're not here in a mixed bag of some people who live in works, some people who live in
baptismal regeneration, some people believe in Hinduism, some people don't even believe
in God.
It's like no, we all are unified around the King James Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ, salvation
by faith, and whatever differences we have outside of this, we should work on trying
to still be unified.
You know, it's going to be diversity of spirits, I'm sorry, of administrations that are given
through the Spirit.
We all have different roles, we all have different places that we're coming from, but we should
always endeavor to keep unity, and that's important in any church, in any area, and
as the body of Christ as a whole, I believe, that even when we're outside these walls,
we should endeavor to keep unity with other brethren as much as possible, and to be friendly
towards other Christians as much as possible.
Sometimes you have to separate.
David separated from Saul, but you know, it wasn't because David didn't want to hang out
with Saul, it's because Saul was trying to physically kill him, okay?
So when you come to me and like, I feel like I have to separate from this other Christian,
I'm going to be like, "How many times has he thrown a spirit at you?"
And you're like, "Well, you know, he called me a bad name one time."
Well, you know, that's not legitimate to separate.
You know what, you can still be friends with people that don't act perfect.
Now, when they're trying to physically kill you,
yeah, okay, let's separate from that person, right?
I mean, at that point, it's like let's not be around that individual
for your physical safety.
I get that.
And you know what, there's some times that brethren
cross a line in 1 Corinthians chapter number five
because they're in serious sin, like drunkenness, idolatry, railing,
these type of evil sins where you have to say,
"You know what, we would love to be around you,
but for now, you have to fix this issue.
And we're not saying we're better than you,
and you know I'm willing to help you,
and I'll pick you up for church,
and I'll try to be accountability for you,
and I'll encourage you,
but I just can't hang out with you the same
until you fix this area of your life."
And restoring one in the spirit of meekness.
This is what love looks like.
And of course, you know, the world doesn't understand love at all.
And the world won't.
The world's going to hate us.
They're in the flesh.
They can't understand this.
And we still have the flesh.
I think that some people don't realize.
A saved person has the flesh.
If you're in the flesh, you're going to act just like every other unsaved person in this world.
You can do some horrible things.
I mean the Bible just has countless story of saved people acting really badly.
Saul acted really poorly.
But you know what?
We shouldn't attack Saul.
Okay?
We shouldn't try to kill Saul or something like that.
And when we have fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that aren't acting appropriately,
we should still love them, be gracious unto them, be kind to them, be long-suffering unto them.
We should be gentle.
That should be our disposition.
And the devil wins when we as Christians stop being disciples.
The devil wins when we stop loving.
The devil wins when we are not gracious.
And the devil wins when this church stops having unity.
We need to always strive to have unity one with another and be gracious one to another.
And I'm challenging you to not only like the people that are doing good unto you, I challenge
you to not only like the ladies who have only said nice things about you, I challenge you
when someone does something wrong for you to restore them in the spirit of meekness.
And to be careful how you judge, be careful how you act.
And those that are outside these walls, let us be a good example of people who love and
say, you know what, I'm not going to be this person that's just going online and just trashing
everybody and talking negatively about everybody and judging other people harshly and kicking
people when they're down.
And when I disagree with you, you're wrong and stupid and evil and wicked and just a
terrible person.
And a lot of people are going to act like that, but you don't have to.
People are going to lie about you, but you don't have to lie about them.
Had pastors slander us and slander me, and I said, "Hey, that's wrong."
But I don't have to slander them.
I don't have to return railing for railing.
And I can still wish for their good.
Well I hope God destroys your church.
That's a bad attitude.
And you know, there's a lot of pastors, let's just be honest, we're independent, fundamental
Baptist.
Virtually every pastor out there, I disagree with something.
There's no way I'm going to find a pastor.
I agree with every decision they make, every single thing they do.
You know what?
I'm not going to pick them apart.
You know, I think it's wrong and dishonorable when people do this and some people do this.
They'll like make videos literally criticizing someone else for every single thing they can
think of.
Like there's, here's my video series of every single thing I can think negatively about
this person.
That is not the right spirit.
Okay.
I mean, I'm like, how can you genuinely say that you have a spirit of meekness and gentleness
and kindness when you're just like, here's every red flag.
Here's every grievance.
Here's every problem I could possibly think about this person.
Cause I mean, what if we all did that to everybody?
I mean, what if I'm just like, all right, I just want to let, I'm just go down the list
of the church role and I want to tell y'all every negative thing I think about y'all.
That'll be a fun.
What if you did that in your marriage?
Look, your wife has a way longer list than you.
You don't want to play this game.
Okay.
And she remembers way more.
You know, this is not what we want to do.
This is not Christianity.
This is not how we want to handle ourselves.
Okay.
Now look, if it's a literal false prophet, son of Belial, you cannot criticize them enough.
I will never, I will never attack you for how much you criticize false prophets and
wolves and reprobates.
I approve your message.
I automatically approve.
I don't even have to read it and it's just check mark.
Okay.
But when it's Christians, when it's other brethren, love cover the multitude of sins.
We should have a different attitude and a different approach towards those individuals.
And even when you don't like people and you disagree, hey, call them out when it's needed,
necessary, but be careful how you judge because I sure wouldn't want someone making videos
telling me everything that I've ever done wrong and some people try and hey, I got a
problem.
I could preach against myself pretty well.
I could make myself seem like a pretty bad guy if I thought about all the negative things
I think about that I've, the decisions I've made, problems I've had, and my wife is even
better at it.
But let's, let's not, let's not be like that.
Can we, can we try to love one another and do what Christ really said?
Can we actually have some disciples?
Well, it's up to us.
If we do these things, then we would be known as Christ's disciples.
And you know, I would love for when Christ returns or for him to look down from heaven
and think like, hey, there are still some disciples on this earth.
They didn't all vanish.
They didn't all stop loving one another.
Let us take these words of Christ and let us look inward.
Some of you might be thinking like, man, there's someone that needs this message.
You need it.
Someone needs to make a change.
It's you.
Someone needs to start being more gracious.
It's you.
Someone needs to stop fighting.
It's you.
All right?
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for giving us this special message from your Son of how
to be a disciple.
It's to love one another.
This is very difficult.
This is a very challenging task, but you've modeled it so well for us.
Thank you so much for how long-suffering and gracious and kind you are to us.
I pray that we would also take that same spirit and the same attitude and we apply it to others.
Be very careful when we approach other Christians and other brothers in Christ and that we would
try our best to love one another, that we wouldn't allow ourselves to bite and devour
one another, that whenever we perceive fault in a spirit of meekness, we would try to restore
such in one.
Please just help our church to be unified around you and unified around core doctrine.
And I pray that we would also have a gracious and kind spirit to those that are outside
these walls, to our family and to our friends and to other fellow believers.
Thank you for your example.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, in closing let's go to song number 288.
Song number 288.
Number 288, I am resolved.